Last month, Ann Arbor Pack 5 invited me back for a brief ceremony that briefly recognized my “retirement” as its cubmaster earlier this year. Now based out of Bach and Eberwhite Elementary Schools, the pack was officially Chartered by the Boy Scouts of America in 1936.

My service came between years 70 and 73.

Seems pretty insignificant when you look at it that way; even smaller when you consider the whole of a highly organized, time-tested national program that’s 99¾ years old today.

How could any of us think of making a difference now?

As a businessman, I might be tempted to look at efficiencies and technology when self-assessing my time as a cubmaster.

“Why, under my watch, we put into place a system for handling advancements and recognitions online.” The pack now has a unique approach to Friends of Scouting that’s significantly increased the help it provides to fund initiatives ranging from camp improvements, to helping less-fortunate youth join the Boy Scouts.

I’d also like to think that we significantly raised the bar on our commitment to environmental stewardship — elevating “Leave No Trace” from sensitivity to a given, in everything we did together. (And a lot of what families now do routinely outside of Scouting as well, I believe.)

But that’s not what was on my mind when I returned to Pack 5 on Oct. 15. Rather, it was first the young man who came up to me, now a fifth-grader and “Webelos II” Scout, properly presented in every way with his uniform. Last fall, when he’d just earned the privilege of wearing the tan shirt more commonly associated with Boy Scout Troops in anticipation of his Spring 2010 cross-over, he approached to me as a “Webelos I” just before one of our Pack meetings with a question.

“Mr. Deaton, how do I get those blue shoulder-loops the other Webelos are wearing?” The easy answer would have had his parents return to the local Scout shop, where they’d bought the basics he already had. Instead, I removed the ones from my own uniform and fitted them to his.

I noticed that he was still wearing them now, a year later.

My last pack meeting as leader was actually in conclusion of the 2008-2009 school year. I led those activities like I believe I’d done all the others, officiating the program, making announcements, and, of course, awarding patches and pins that symbolized the hard work and successes to-date my Cubs had achieved in what for some I’m confident will ultimately lead to the rank of Eagle Scout. With that, I made a brief statement about my “moving on” and closed. Post-meeting, I sat down in that same room with our unit commissioner, who was there to assist with some financial matters on the adult-leadership agenda.

Then a third-grade “Bear” Cub walked up to me, but just stood there, eyes welled-up. His dad was standing right behind him. We’d been through Pinewood Derby races together; an overnight at the AirZoo in Kalamazoo; and serving who-knows-how-many pancakes at fall pack fundraisers which are a warmly-anticipated annual tradition in the Eberwhite community (and beyond).

“What happened?” I asked, just loud enough to include Dad in the question, but looking at my (now former) Bear Cub.

“He’ll miss you,” Dad responded. “He wanted to say ‘Good-bye.’”

As I hugged him, I said that I’d miss him, too. And, with this column for AnnArbor.com, I can honestly say that I have and do. As a cubmaster, it’s not always possible to build the sort of closer relationships with the first- through fifth-graders under your charge as it is for their individual (grade-level-specific) den leaders. And sometimes one can fail to fully appreciate those close relationships until they’re staring you in the face.

Through teary-eyes. Or treasured shoulder-loops.

Although I was, myself, a Cub Scout once-upon-a-time, my long-overdue return to a pack didn’t come until 2006. My son had been a second-grade “Wolf” Cub, so I knew the other dads and moms who were leading this Unit, and they knew me. The cubmaster then asked me to step up and serve as his Assistant Cubmaster, because he “could use the help” with planning and paperwork. Well, as I said above, “efficiencies and technology,” right?

A few months later, his unexpected job transfer led to a change of patches on my left sleeve with four weeks’ notice, as I recall. If ever there was a person who cried out to be the poster child for, “OK, so I’m the cubmaster, now what?” I was that guy. Moreover, my immediate predecessor had undertaken to leave his own mark on Pack 5 by creating a Spring Cabin Campout the year prior.

I’d missed its inauguration, unfortunately. Because, with that same four-week notice, I was now completely responsible for delivering on the promise made to do it again.

It would be difficult to overstate just how “under-optimized” my performance that weekend would have to be objectively considered. But in hindsight, I see that it quickly taught me three core messages that have instructed everything I’ve done since in Scouting, regardless of position.

1. The boys had a great time, and the outing came off both safe and consistent with founder Robert Baden-Powell’s directive that we provide “a game with a purpose.” What was lacking in detail and perfect implementation, was, rather more importantly, served by relationship and respect for the Cub Scouts who rightly remained our focus. Lesson: It’s fundamentally about the boys we serve.
2. A glitch that hit the moment we arrived showed me just how much I needed the den leader and assistant den leader who arrived with our group that first night. We came together as a team, went with the flow, and built up one another at all times. Lesson: Don’t try to go it solo.
3. “This is the Boy Scouts; we have a procedure for everything,” says our fantastic Huron Trails dstrict training chair. Within that aforementioned four-week window, “BALOO” training was offered, I took it, and went into my first (humbling) effort with exactly the fundamentals I needed to do the job that had been laid upon me.

As a Scouter, I was never alone.

You can and should make a difference as a leader in the Boy Scouts of America, not despite its history now going on 99¾ years, but because of it. I have found it to be an organization that is deeply committed to the values for which it stands, but structured in a way that deals with the reality that we are human, never expected to be perfect.

Sometimes it will be blazingly apparent where you’ve made some impact. Other times, you may be surprised by the one life you’ve touched for the better. I’m further confident that there are helps we’ve rendered with reach we’ll never even realize.

That’s why this is the organization in which I primarily volunteer my time.

Thank you, Pack 5, for the opportunity you’ve trusting me to serve your wonderful boys, as well as my own son.

Dell Deaton is a volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America, Great Sauk Trails Council. He currently serves as Chaplain with Troop 446 in Saline and Huron Trails District Vice-Chair for Membership. See our Council website at www.gstcbsa.org for more information on Scouting in this area. Also check out /scouting_dell to Follow me on Twitter.