On Rappel! (AKA Why not throw your children off a 42 foot wall?)

We recently had the chance for our Scouts to go to a fun filled day of activities on a military installation.  They rode in vehicles, rode in simulators, shot guns in simulators, checked out equipment and a helicopter and asked 888 gazillion questions.

They also got to use the training tower for rappeling.

This is the tower.  It's 42 feet at the top, we were told.

We were double booked with another group and they had exactly enough riggings for each boy, so us adults lost out.  I cannot tell you how bummed I am about that!  I REALLY wanted to try it and that's coming from someone who's not a daredevil.  It just looked like a blast, pretty much idiot proof and the rappel masters were great guys, funny enough to put everyone at ease but very calming and helpful with the few (VERY few) boys who were nervous about it.

This is my youngest kiddo.  He doesn't weigh enough to pull the rope harness on his own, so they rigged a rappel master up behind him to anchor him.  This is the practice wall.  He only got to do the practice wall (no way to rig him in tandem for the big wall) but he had an absolute blast.

The kiddo on the right is my middle child.  I think he'd have jumped off the wall face first if they'd have let him.  HE LOVED THIS!  I think he went down it four times before we made the boys stop because the poor rappel masters were there volunteering their time and we were sure they wanted to go home at some point.  lol  This picture is just so you can see how small kiddos look up there when you are on the ground.

Here he is coming down.

This is my oldest on one of his trips down.  He had a great time, too.  He took great glee that ALL of the younger Scouts did it with no problems and the only nervous ones were the older Scouts.  lol