03/02/2026
The boys of Troop 800 had an exciting weekend of camping at the VA State Military Reservation and learning about Aviation. The boys settled into the barracks Friday night after our arrival in preparation for a very early day on Saturday.
Saturday started out with a quick trip down the road to the Military Aviation Museum in Pungo. The boys spent about three hours in the classroom with the retired military pilots learning about Aviation. After their classroom session and building and test flying their model airplanes, they all took and passed a final exam and every boy on the trip completed all the requirements for the Aviation Merit Badge.
After a quick break for lunch, the boys got a very entertaining and informative guided tour of both the World War II and World War I airplanes in the collection at the museum. This also included getting to see an actual World War II flight tower which was rescued from destruction in England and moved brick-by-brick and reconstructed at the museum.
After returning back to the barracks, the boys enjoyed a dinner of shrimp pasta with sauteed peppers and onions and Thai chili sauce followed by fresh-made chocolate chip cookies with ice cream, chocolate sauce, sprinkles and whip cream.
The boys got up early Sunday morning and after breakfast, we headed up to the Army National Guard air station at Richmond International Airport for a private tour of the Army Blackhawk helicopters. During a short classroom session, the boys learned about the flight gear the crew uses and each scout got the chance to see and hold an M240H 7.62mm machine gun (supervised and unloaded of course). During the orientation session, the flight crew handed out Blackhawk badges to the boys as they participated in the conversation and answered questions.
After that, we headed out to the tarmac where the boys enjoyed an educational tour of an actual Blackhawk helicopter and got the chance to explore the cargo bay and sit in the gunner and pilot seats.
Then, we headed back to the church to send everybody back home to their families after another safe, fun, educational and productive camping weekend.
