Camps, Castles, and Camporees!

As early as 1948, American Boy Scout troops had been organized in various military communities in Germany. Most of them were organized without any help, and the organization depended a great deal upon the memory of enthusiastic men who had been Scouters in the United States. 
In 1948, Military High Commissioners invited Scouting to set up a program in Europe (and Asia) under the Displaced Persons Program of BSA.

However, Scouting became formally started in May 1950, when a letter was received by the National Council from Lt. Col. Curtis L. Williams of the European Command asking for information about the organization of a Scout council and  the employment  of a Scout executive. By 1950, twenty to thirty American Scouting units were operating in various spots in Germany and Austria. These were related directly to the Direct Service Department of the Registration Service of the Boy Scouts of America.

Late in 1950 a conference of representatives from the various American military installations in Germany was held to study the steps which should be taken to put the fast-growing American Scouting program in Europe on a firm basis and to provide better guidance and coordination. Under the sponsorship of General Thomas D. Handy, commanding general of the European Command, an extensive study was made which resulted in a set of recommendations calling for the organization of a reasonable facsimile to a stateside council.

General Handy appointed a EUCOM Scouting Advisory Council. Lieutenant Colonel Williams became the first president of this advisory council.  In 1950, when that program was expanded to include US military and civilian personnel and their dependents in the area, it became known as the EUCOM (the US Army’s European Command) BSA (or Scouting) Advisory Council which held its first meeting November 14, 1950, where they approved a constitution and bylaws. So, in seven months a council was launched. While the Boy Scout Council initially took the name EUCOM Scout Council, it eventually settled on the moniker Transatlantic Council to better represent the geographic dispersal of troops.  At various times they stretched from Iceland to Morocco, though the majority of their members were always centered in West Germany.

Since then, Scouting has served American families in Europe- and then in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. With the addition of the former Direct Service Council units into TAC in October 2014 , we have become the largest geographic council in Scouting America. Local Scouting has ebbed and flowed as bases and embassies expanded or as world politics dictated changes to orders of the day. However, all over the territory of the council, parents have become leaders and youth became Scouts, embarking on Key Adventures that would last them across their lifetimes.

Today our programs teach young people to “Be Prepared!” for adventure, education, service, and leadership through things like hiking, camping, activities, community service, and just having fun with friends. Scouting in Transatlantic Council brings adventures to youth that they can’t get anywhere else. Camping on the D-Day beaches of Normandy, climbing volcanoes, winter adventures in the Swiss Alps, aquatic activities in the Adriatic Sea, hikes in the deserts, white water rafting in Germany, bulls-eyes at Day Camp, and just too many other adventures to list on this page. This is what the Transatlantic Council is all about.  Here’s to 75 years of Scouting Overseas- with many more to come!