Joshua Munguia

This past Tuesday night, Little Troop 5 has another Eagle Scout. Josh Munguia became the 21st Eagle Scout in Troop 5 history and my 16th as Scoutmaster.

Josh crossed over into the Troop in 2003. In fine Troop 5 tradition, Josh was a screaming Eagle, just under the wire before his 18th Birthday. Nonetheless, he pulled it off.

I have always enjoyed camping with Josh. He always understood his role as a leader in the troop. As with most of my scouts, we butted heads, but I will say that Josh was less so.

I have told this story many times, but will put it in my blog for prosperity. Josh was my 2008 crew chief at Philmont. For those that don’t know, Philmont is a 10 day high adventure backpacking trip in the mountains of New Mexico. Little Troop 5 took 3 adults and 8 boys in 2008. Josh’s role was to be our leader. The adult’s role is health and safety. As the trek moves on, the boy leadership becomes more important because the adults are physically tired. A good crew chief determines the true success of the trip.

I was real stressed bout this the 2008 trek. The crew of boys was probably the best physically gifted group I had ever taken, but they never seemed to mold into the “Philmont Team” I come to expect. Once we started on our way to Philmont, Josh took the lead. It was awesome.

I will save the Phillips Mountain story for a another time, were he really showed hit a home run, but what I truly remember about Josh and the trip was walking back to the bus after we turned all our gear into the quartermaster.

I had such a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction on how well the trip went. I turned to Josh and asked him “That was awesome, are your feet even touching the ground”. Josh answered with a huge smile on his face. “NO”.

Congratulations Josh! You are a well deserving Eagle Scout.