BSA Troop 2005 — How to Join

While there are other troops and activities in northern Virginia designed for boys with more severe impairments, the goal of Troop 2005 is to provide the scouting experience for "in between" boys who can function socially and have the capability to take full advantage of all that scouting has to offer, but who might have trouble "clicking" in a regular scout troop.

The boys in our troop have different challenges, such as ADHD, anxiety, mild learning differences, or are on the mild end of the autism spectrum. The type of boy that we seek interacts well with other boys, but has impairments that make most scout troops a difficult fit. The Troop's goal is to challenge each boy to learn and to grow through the scouting experience into the young man that he can become.

We do this by offering the same opportunities for activities, merit badges, and rank advancement as any regular scout troop, and we try to make the troop as "boy-led" as possible. We do make accommodations due to particular issues faced by individual boys. We also ask for more direct
parent involvement than a normal scout troop would require. For example, a parent typically accompanies each boy on campouts and sleepovers. We also ask each parent, together with his or her son, to take charge of organizing at least one troop activity for the year.

For More Information:

Brad Ashton, Scoutmaster
703-549-7295
wbashton2002@yahoo.com

Chip Garber, Assistant Scoutmaster
703-585-9637
charles.garber@uspto.gov