Marlboro Scouts win award

On Oct. 6 in Sea Girt at the largest national scout gathering of the year, the Boy Scout/National Guard Camporee, Scouts from Troop 86, Marlboro, took home a very special honor. Out of 9,000 scouts attending the camporee, the color guard from Boy Scout Troop 86 earned first place in the National Guard best color guard competition.

The competition began at 10 a.m. at "The Big Rock" located outside of the New Jersey National Guard Armory. The Scouts were advised to bring their troop and patrol flags on poles. The announcement for the competition included the phrase "Be Prepared" and the Marlboro scouts came ready to compete.

As the phrase "Be Prepared" is also the Boy Scout motto, the Scouts of Troop 86 began preparing for the competition several weeks in advance. National Guard Sgt. Dan Coleman worked with the Scouts of Troop 86 for several weeks and helped them to master the six compulsory movements the color guard team was expected to perform: right face, left face, about face, present arms, order arms, half-right face and half-left face.

At the camporee four Scouts from the troop were selected to represent the troop in the competition: Kyle Earley, Ken Mohr, Justin Makin and Aaron Eckhaus.

Scoutmaster Bill Cain said, "I am always surprised at what our Scouts will take an interest in. When Sgt. Coleman came to our weekly meeting, he took the whole troop outside and taught them some basic drills and they enjoyed it. Winning the competition illustrates their discipline and teamwork, which are skills they will need to be successful in anything they do."

At the Troop 86 Court of Honor held on Oct. 8 at the Morganville firehouse, Coleman presented the trophy to the boys. The boys and the troop were thrilled to receive such a large trophy and jokingly discussed building a large troop trophy case to house this and future trophies.