FEATURE
While attending Teach Elementary in San Luis Obispo, David Forrest remembers being recruited into Scouting. The local scoutmaster came to the school and “pulled all the boys out of both fifth or sixth grade classes, and said, ‘You guys want to go camping?’ And, we were like, ‘Yeah.’”
Soon young Forrest was walking into the “shack” at the back of the SLO Elks Lodge, longtime home to Troop 322, the same troop he now leads as scoutmaster.
“Yes, I’m the scoutmaster of the troop that I grew up in,” he smiled.
Now retired, his Scouting background served him well in his long career.
“I joined the National Guard in high school,” he explained. “I was a traditional reservist, and I spent 18 years in the Guard and 14 in the Reserves.”
He eventually reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. Weekend drills and annual training requirements eventually led to two deployments in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. In between, he worked as a correctional officer, and when he retired, he decided to volunteer with the organization that shaped his youth.
He’s now in his early 60s, and he’s been scoutmaster since 2020. He plans to continue in the role as long as he can “stay fresh” and “physically do it.”
“I didn’t get up San Luis Mountain as fast as they did, but I got there,” he joked about his Troop’s recent night excursion up Cerro San Luis.
Girls welcome
In San Luis Obispo County, Scouting is alive and well.
There are six Cub Scout packs and six Scout troops between Paso Robles and Arroyo Grande. Scouting America—formerly the Boy Scouts of America—changed its name on the organization’s 115th anniversary on Feb. 8, 2025. Admittedly, the organization has had its critics, but it also changed some of its rules and policies over the years to become more inclusive.
One big change in Scouting is now allowing girls and women to become Scouts, though troops are still largely segregated.
“You have separate troops—girl troops and boy troops,” Forrest explained. “But when you do something outside of your own troop activities, like at the district level—we had a Rendezvous in the last couple of years, we used to have Camporees—they worked together. Also, in the Order of the Arrow [Scouting America’s National Honor Society], they work together.”
Fourteen-year-old Isla Davis is in Troop 414, a girls troop from Arroyo Grande. She is homeschooled and has been in Scouts for a little more than a year and a half, and she’s already reached the First Class rank.
“I have a good troop with good Scouts who helped me get through it,” Isla explained. She hopes to reach Eagle and “also get some Eagle Palms too, if possible.”
Eagle Palms recognize further achievements after reaching the Eagle rank, like extra stars on a general’s uniform.
“I like learning all the different skills that there are in Scouting—first aid, orienteering, personal fitness, swimming, stuff like that,” she said. “I also love to go camping and backpacking, and then I love hanging out with the girls. Since I don’t go to regular school, I don’t have the chance to meet that many girls.”
She was in Girl Scouts in Houston but joined a Cub Scout pack when she moved here, though COVID-19 disrupted pack activities. She hopes other interested girls will join Scouting America because it teaches “a lot more skills” than Girl Scouts.
“Scouts is basically a program to prepare you for life, figure out your interests, and—especially if you’re an outdoorsy person, but even if you’re not—it’s a great program to experience,” she said.
If she was lost in the woods, would what she’s learned in Scouting get her to safety?
“Yes, definitely!”
Skill building
“When I have my first scoutmaster conference with a new Scout,” Forrest said, “I explained to them that Scout to First Class is where you learn your scouting skills, and then Star, Life, and Eagle are centered around leadership, service, and merit badges.
“What merit badges do is introduce the scouts to either a hobby or a profession.”
It’s no small thing for a Scout to earn a merit badge. For instance, to become an Eagle Scout, one of the required badges is the Camping Merit Badge. The Scouting America website lists 10 main requirements to earn it, and under each requirement are many sub requirements including viewing 29 educational videos and studying a dozen informational websites or PDFs and then demonstrating to your counselor that you’ve mastered the information.
If Scouts reach Eagle, they’ve been trained to be confident leaders. Military and law enforcement recruiters seek out Eagle Scouts because they’ve got a lot of skills and leadership abilities recruiters are searching for.
Dimitri Todd is a 17-year-old homeschooled Scout in Troop 322. He’s been in 322 for six years and reached Life rank and is “working on Eagle.”
“I just need to figure out my project and get a few more merit badges finished up,” he said.
He’s thinking about building some tables and a play structure for a rural school in need of both.
“I’m really big on connecting the community, and it’s a really nice community,” he said.
Todd is also in the Order of the Arrow.
“I’m pretty involved in that, one of the more involved Scouts from our troop in it. I’m just really big on service and helping, and Scouts just provides that.”
“It’s a good environment,” Todd asserted. “It’s building you for life before it happens. We do board of reviews, and those are like a job interview. I got a summer job last year, and the interview is exactly like we practiced.”
Like Isla, as a homeschooled student, Scouting provides a social life.
“I’m not very connected with a lot of other people my age, and Scouting just provides that support and caring for you when you feel alone. I just take a lot of opportunities to meet people. I’m very social.”
The things Scouts learn can have real-world applications. Forrest recalled that after a CPR class, three of his Scouts saved lives. In one case, twin Scouts recognized the signs of heart attack in their grandmother and took her to the hospital. In another case, a Scout performed CPR on his own father who collapsed at home, keeping him alive until the ambulance arrived.
The entire Scouting system is designed to build responsibility and leadership.
“I had the benefit of being in a Scout troop that was Scout led,” Forrest said. “The adults were there to facilitate, keep things safe, but us Scouts, as we got older, we got leadership positions. We planned and led campouts.”
Forrest runs his troop the same way, with monthly Troop Committee meetings where he facilitates and supports leadership’s plans.
The great outdoors
The Scouts of 322 do a lot of camping: San Simeon, Zion National Park in Utah, Arroyo Seco, winter camping at Bridalveil Creek, Santa Margarita Lake and its across-the-lake campgrounds, Lopez Lake, Pinnacles National Park—they’ve been all over.
Forrest has also taken his Scouts to the four national High Adventure Camps: Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico focusing on backpacking; Northern Tier in Minnesota focusing on winter activities; Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia focusing on outdoor activities like zip-lining, ropes courses, shooting opportunities; and Sea Base in Florida focusing on scuba certification, sailing, and STEM-related adventures.
“We did Philmont in ’23, Sea Base in ’24, and Northern Tier this last summer, so I have Scouts that are what they call the Triple Crown. They get a letter and a patch,” he said.
In California, they’ve been to Camp Oljato on Lake Huntington and Camp Emerald Bay on Catalina Island.
Joel Davis, Isla’s 16-year-old brother who’s also homeschooled, is a member of Troop 322 who’s reached the Life rank—and he’s one of Forrest’s Triple Crowns.
“It was amazing,” he said of the three High Adventure Camps.
He started in Cub Scouts in Houston when he was 6 and “bridged” from Cubs to Scouts when his family moved to SLO County in early 2020, he explained, noting his goal is to become an Eagle Scout. “To become Eagle, you have to earn a certain number of merit badges, you have to do community service, and, of course, the most popular thing, your project that helps out the community.”
Joel hasn’t entirely decided on his project but said, “Most likely I’m going to be planting native trees. I really like the outdoors. I love going camping, especially backpacking.”
In addition to first aid skills, he believes the most important thing he’s learned from Scouting is “how to appreciate nature. I just developed a love for the outdoors, especially when I’m camping. Sometimes I get my sleeping pad, go out, and just lay in the woods. Just taking in all the nature.”
In his retirement, working with the Scouts has given Forrest’s life renewed meaning.
“This gives me what I lost when they retired me from the Army,” he said, “but I don’t bring the Army brand to Scouting. I bring the Scouting brand to Scouting. I still get the opportunities as a leader to mentor them, add to the beginning of their lives.”
This article appears in Get Outside – Winter/Spring 2026.