Fun Food (Burp) and Other Jumbo Jamboree Facts

By W.E. Butterworth IV

WHAT EXACTLY DOES IT TAKE TO turn you jamboree Scouts into 30,000 happy campers?

Glad you asked.

Let's start with what fuels you guys: food.

Anybody for a burger? Great!

Fire up one of the 7,516 propane gas stoves to fry up the 3,000 pounds--that's 1.5 tons--of hamburger patties.

To make sandwiches or toast or to sop up your yummy dinner gravy, grab a couple of the 1,209,000 slices of bread.

If you do not care for dry toast, no problem. Help yourself to the 20,000 pounds--the 10 tons--of butter.

Thirsty? After all that, of course you are! Say "when" with 25,000 packages of cocoa, 190,000 quarts of milk, and 250,000 pints of Gatorade.

Ouch...Medic!
Now, no one is suggesting that you will get sick or hurt or anything like that. As long as you keep everything in moderation--that means easy does it on seconds and thirds in the chow line--you will go home happier and healthier than you arrived.

But Scouts are ready for anything--Be Prepared!--so feel safe, in the fact that nearby are:

a total of more than 400 doctors, nurses, medical technicians and support staff representing private, state, Federal, and military medical and health organizations;
19 24-hour medical centers (one near every subcamp), each staffed by five physicians and four registered nurses or emergency medical technicians, and four medical orderlies;
five 24-hour jamboree headquarter medical centers, staffed by 14 physicians, eight registered nurses, and eight emergency medical technicians;
the U.S. Army's 85th Evacuation Hospital, a 24-hour, air-conditioned hospital with three wards totaling 60-plus beds;
two U.S. Army medical helicopters for emergency medical evacuation;
4,000 wool blankets;
5,000 folding steel chairs;
4,200 folding aluminum cots;
4,000 field desks;
4,200 pillows and pillowcases;
300-plus general purpose medium-size tents, 16-by-33 feet;
1,500 general purpose small tents, 17 feet 6 inches by 15 feet 6 inches;
25 complete medical chests with mask, gloves, goggles, etc.;
1,300 central showers and latrines.
And there's more, much more.

A Temporary City
All you Scouts turn Fort A.P. Hill into a miniature city. For 10 days, it ranks as Virginia's 22d biggest 'burb. The jamboree has its own daily newspaper, bus system, light and power sources, water supply, telephones, bank, fire department, post office--even its own ZIP code! (Don't believe it? Try 22428-0001.)

What? You want more? O.K., just one more. But remember, you asked for it:

• The sewage system easily handles the 40 tons of solid waste generated by the more than 80,000 visitors.

Source: Boys' Life, Jul93, Vol. 83 Issue 7, p56, 1p