Six Guys, and a Fourteen
Foot Tower
There I was at the JLTA (Junior Leadership
Training Academy), a two day Royal Ranger training event in Rocky Mount,
Missouri. I registered and was then placed in a class consisting of six young
men, three core instructors, and two secondary instructors. We had a couple of
big tasks for our two-day camp: one was to build a fourteen foot tower using
only rope and wood!
We began our task with lessons on how to
lash small pieces of wood together using the various knots that would be needed
for the project ahead. After that, we were assigned to complete a one-third
scale model of the tower that we were going to build. With only six of us and no tools to measure
the levelness or congruency of our bases and cross members, we struggled to
build our model tower. As we slowly worked, we fell behind schedule. In order
to try to regain lost time, we split up to accomplish our given tasks. I and
another guy ended up finishing the scale tower while the others went to prepare
the supplies for the real tower. And after
a good amount of work we finally finished! But our joy of completion was
short-lived and met with disappointment: the one-third scale tower did not
stand erect. Our members had not been lashed properly! A knot cramped my
stomach and it seemed to say, “How are we going to finish the big one and pass
the camp requirements? We do not have enough time to rebuild this one!”
I and my comrade proceed hurriedly for the
sight of our real tower. Upon reaching it, we reunited with our other four team
mates and after a brief exchange of information and progress on our given
tasks, we began; pleased to find that we had been given some special wooden
timbers that fit together with pegs and slots. This made it much easier to
secure the pieces in a level and congruent fashion! Inside I exclaimed, “Maybe we will finish!”
As we began lashing we discovered that the special pegs and timbers did not
provide rigidity, they only kept the wooden beams and cross members in their
approximate places while we lashed the pieces to together, the lashings
themselves provided the strength.
Over the course of tightly lashing the tower
we attached ladder steps onto the two end posts of one side, an x-support onto
the opposite two end posts for strength, a platform for the tower, put a
makeshift railing around the platform, and attached another two x-supports
between the opposite legs for strength and rigidity (refer to fig. 1). All of
this was done on the ground. Everything was lashed, and we were ready to hoist
it up! We got some of the adult men nearby to help us, proceeding to put stakes
in the approximate places needed to hold the tower upright after we hoisted it.
Then we attached ropes to pull the tower upright with, and after a short time
of pulling, we had the tower upright. We then drove rebar stakes far into the ground
in their proper places and attached our ropes to them with a tauntline hitch
knot. When all ropes were loosely secured we tightened down the ropes until
they were taught.
We had accomplished our goal! I stood in
admiration for a second, enjoying the work of my team and then everyone began
to mount the tower and beckon me to do the same. My mind said, “Ahh . . . I
should stay on the on the ground,” but conquering my fear, I slowly mounted. It
moved slightly under the weight of all six young men, but it held us. We had
done it! We posed for our pictures and rejoiced in our accomplishment, but it
was soon over and we went on to our other tasks and requirements.
I
learned that even when things look doubtful, it can turn around. The odds were
against me and my six team mates: the one-third scale model was a disaster, the
project was huge, and the manpower was small, yet it was accomplished as we
applied ourselves and worked. Glory be to God!
