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‘Always be prepared’

New Boy Scout Troop 1140 bears fallen Urbandale Officer Justin Martin’s badge number

-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter Drew Lundgren, left, Cole Lundgren, and Ian Brunner give the Cub Scout oath during a pack meeting in Dayton this week. A new Boy Scout troop is being formed for boys in the Southeast Valley school district for when they graduate up from Cub Scouts.

BURNSIDE — A new Boy Scout troop being formed for the Southeast Valley School District will be Troop 1140, named after the badge number of Urbandale Police Officer Justin Martin who was killed in the line of duty in 2016.

Officer Martin grew up in Rockwell City.

“He was an Eagle Scout. His dad is the troop leader in Rockwell City,” Scout Master Jeremy Viles said. “Both him and his dad were extremely active in Boy Scouts, so we thought it was a fitting thing to use his number for the troop number.”

The new troop will fill a need for the Cub Scouts who will graduate this year to the next level of scouting, Viles said.

“Right now there is no troop in this part of the county,” Viles said. “There hasn’t been one for several years. I’ve been the cub master for the Cub Scout pack for several years now. We started that up about four years, five years ago.”

-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter Cub Scout Pack leader Cory Lundgren receives the donated food which was collected by Jace Hanson, of Burnside, who is in the Webelos rank this year. The kids brought in food from all over their communities for the annual scouting for food drive. Hanson will graduate into the Boy Scouts next year.

Viles oversees Pack 42 in Farnhamville, Callender and Gowrie, which has four boys nearly ready to graduate. Two are graduating from the pack in Dayton, Burnside and Lehigh, he said.

Cub Scouts is for boys in kindergarten through fifth grade.

“The boys are working on what’s called an Arrow of Light,” Viles said. “It’s kind of the Cub Scout equivalent to the Eagle Badge. They want to finish that up before we sign them into Boy Scouts.”

Southeast Valley is a big geographic area, he said. While Viles handles the western half of the new troop, Assistant Scout Master Monte Anderson will handle the eastern half.

Anderson is currently a den leader for Cub Scout Pack 624 in Dayton for the Webelos, the highest rank of Cub Scouts. Scout Master is Corey Lundgren.

Anderson learned about the new Boy Scout troop when Viles visited one of the meetings.

“He also mentioned he’d be looking for assistant troop leader. I instantly threw up my hand to tell him, ‘That’s me right here,'” Anderson said.

The new troop will meet at Burnside at the Southeast Valley Middle School.

Right now the Cub Scouts are wrapping up their Scouting for Food annual food drive, Anderson said. After going door to door and seeking donations or handing out letters, the boys in the Dayton troop have collected food they will deliver to the town’s food pantry.

The Dayton troop has one Tiger Cub, three or four Wolves, half a dozen Bears and nine Webelos — the Cub Scout ranks from youngest to oldest — Anderson said.

Once a Cub Scout attains his Webelos badge, he can begin working towards the Arrow of Light. Currently Dayton has two second-year Webelos, Anderson said.

To earn the Arrow of Light takes a lot of work.

“They’ve done some camping for it, they had to learn some knots for it, they’ve been working on it for two years,” said Viles. “They’ve done quite a bit.”

Graduating into Boy Scouts will let the kids continue learning vital life skills, Anderson said.

“I was a Boy Scout growing up. I did it in ninth, 10th and 11th grade,” he said. “And I still to this day use everything I learned as a Boy Scout. I pretty much live by the motto of ‘Always be prepared.'”

“In these small little towns, there’s really nothing for these teenage kids to go out and do. Unless they live on a farm and actually own livestock, these other kids that live in town there’s nowhere for them to really go and blow off steam,” he said. “They just end up getting in trouble doing oddball silly things they really shouldn’t be doing.”

“It’s a better opportunity. Plus, the morals and values that scouting teaches also helps. To help build a better community, and better community members as the boys get older. I definitely am all for it.”

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