Scoutmaster questions and answers: Dr Archer March 18, 2019
Troop 649 has had many experiences in scouting. However, these activities would not be possible, without a great scoutmaster to run and guide the troop. Our Scoutmaster is Dr. Roy Archer who became a member of Troop 649 in 1975 and became scoutmaster in 1976. He has been a scoutmaster forty-six years and has been an active boy scout for sixty years. He states that the troop was started around 1936, and in 1938 the troop had its first Eagle Scout. The troop was inactive during the 1940s because of WWII and didn’t come back into existence until 1946. Since its creation, the troop has produced 222 eagle scouts, and of the 222, 200+ eagles have come to the troop with Dr. Archer as scoutmaster. There have been three scoutmasters including Dr. Archer for Troop 649. The first scoutmaster was Dr. Dannanberg who was very active in the Rotary Club. After him his nephew took over for a year, then Dr. Archer took over in 1976. The troop has always had the Rotary Club as their sponsor. Outside of scouts Dr. Archer was in the army national guard for 27 years and achieved the rank of Colonel. As Colonel, he was in charge of the National Guard for San Diego and they were based out of the national guard armory.
Troop 649 has been praised as the most active troop in Escondido county. Dr. Archer has said that the troop is the most active in San Diego County because we have had several assistant scoutmasters that liked camping, canoeing, hiking, etc. The troop being active can also relate to his connections to people at Palomar College. Dr. Archer is an Eagle Scout and is most fond of teaching younger people skills and manners of scouting. Dr. Archer also encourages younger scouts to take the positions of leadership or positions where they are somebody who will direct others in the way to go. Dr. Archer sees the new scouts learning life skills such as First Aid, being more tolerant of religions, and growing with their peer group. He also stated that Parents gain something from scouts, they gain educated children, children who learned leadership, and children who learned to take on responsibility.
Dr. Archer encourages parents to help and guide their son’s through scouts. Dr. Archer suggests parents sit down with their son to look through the scout book in order to understand what they can do to guide the scouts up through the ranks. Dr. Archer gave this advice to the girls coming into scouts “ I would advise them to enjoy the program. I would advise them to grow up with the boys as if they were a brother as if it’s family and I’m quite sure we're going to have mothers going on campouts with the girls as well.” Why should kids join scouts? Dr. Archer says “ To learn to become adults to become more responsible as I have mentioned before you learn different skills like first aid, and you become more tolerant of other people, you learn leadership [and] you become a great leader.”
Troop 649 has been praised as the most active troop in Escondido county. Dr. Archer has said that the troop is the most active in San Diego County because we have had several assistant scoutmasters that liked camping, canoeing, hiking, etc. The troop being active can also relate to his connections to people at Palomar College. Dr. Archer is an Eagle Scout and is most fond of teaching younger people skills and manners of scouting. Dr. Archer also encourages younger scouts to take the positions of leadership or positions where they are somebody who will direct others in the way to go. Dr. Archer sees the new scouts learning life skills such as First Aid, being more tolerant of religions, and growing with their peer group. He also stated that Parents gain something from scouts, they gain educated children, children who learned leadership, and children who learned to take on responsibility.
Dr. Archer encourages parents to help and guide their son’s through scouts. Dr. Archer suggests parents sit down with their son to look through the scout book in order to understand what they can do to guide the scouts up through the ranks. Dr. Archer gave this advice to the girls coming into scouts “ I would advise them to enjoy the program. I would advise them to grow up with the boys as if they were a brother as if it’s family and I’m quite sure we're going to have mothers going on campouts with the girls as well.” Why should kids join scouts? Dr. Archer says “ To learn to become adults to become more responsible as I have mentioned before you learn different skills like first aid, and you become more tolerant of other people, you learn leadership [and] you become a great leader.”
By Thomas Weston of Troop 649, in the Kraken patrol.