Scout Experience Could Boost Chances

March 19, 2007 — -- The Boy Scout's motto is Be Prepared, but just how prepared is the question many are asking after the disappearance of Michael Auberry during a Scout campout on Saturday.

Auberry, 12, went missing while camping with Boy Scout Troop 230 in Doughton Park, a 7,000-acre wilderness area located along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

The park's 30 miles of trails are moderate to strenuous, and temperatures fell into the 20s Saturday and Sunday night. The rugged area must be one scary place for the boy, lost and alone.

Auberry has been a Scout for about a year. He was dressed appropriately for the weather in a red coat with fleece lining, gloves and a hat, according to Scout leaders at the scene. But survival experts point to another factor in Auberry's favor -- his experience in the Boy Scouts.

"He's been around the Boy Scouts for a while. Even with a little bit of knowledge, I think his chances are pretty good. … You take two kids missing from the same school, one from the Boy Scouts and one who isn't. It's the Boy Scout who is going to stand a better chance," said Tom Brown Jr., who runs a tracking school in Waretown, N.J., and is a survival instructor with more than 30 years of experience.

There are two pages worth of requirements to earn a Boy Scout Camping Merit Badge. Scouts are required to "show that you know first aid … and how to prevent injuries and illnesses that could occur while camping, including hypothermia and frostbite …" and "make a written plan for an overnight trek and show how to get to your camping spot using a topographical map and compass." Scout leaders say it takes the average Scout more than two weeks to attain the Merit Badge.

To earn a Wilderness Survival Merit Badge, Scouts are required to "describe from memory the priorities for survival in a backcountry or wilderness location" and "tell five different ways of attracting attention when lost." It is not immediately known which, if any, Merit Badges Auberry holds.