AIBU to not want to camp

[TellMeWhyIHateSundays]

I’m a scout leader and because of some of my other voluntary roles I’m a Duke of Edinburgh supervisor/assessor. I’ve been asked by another group if I’d help out with their gold expedition this half term as they desperately needed another supervisor.
Yesterday when I asked about details I found out that I’m expected to camp for four nights! I’m in my mid 50s and just a bit too old for this, especially as I’ll be packing up each day and moving to the next campsite so I can’t even take a decent sized tent with campbed etc! I’m just not wanting to sleep on a foam mattress in a tiny tent

What annoys me is that the two (much younger!) leaders from this group have a campervan they’ll be staying in. So they just assumed I’d be camping and ok with that. Nothing has been sorted about meals so I’ll be left to cook on a camping stove whilst they’re in their warm cosy van or paying to eat out.

Of in giving up my annual leave to help out AIBU to expect a bed for the trip?? I know they want to keep costs down but we could have found a bunkhouse, scout hut or hostel if we looked in advance. Taking care of your volunteers is surely part of the planning

Will make sure I ask the details before offering to help next time. Of course I’ll suck it up this time, not letting the young people down.

YANBU! I'm nearly 50 and a squirrels leader; I'm quite happy to help out on day camps etc but won't do tents. Everything hurts as it is, without sleeping on the ground and getting up 3 x night to go to the loo, I definitely wouldn't be doing it in October

Goodness me, just say no, not without a bed for each night.

Time to put your foot down methinks. They are being thoughtless at best and self absorbed dickheads at worst. They need a significant favour and have not spared one thought for you. It's all about what they want.

It’s really good of you not to let the young people down but the other two leaders don’t seem to have thought this through!

To support the kids.

If sleeping in a tent, putting it up, taking it down and cooking over a camping stove is trivial, why doesn’t one of the other leaders give up their bed in the camper van and do it instead of you?

Consider it their ‘thank you’ for you giving up your time and annual leave.

Alternatively, they could both camp and you could sleep in their van on your own.

I’m a mid 50’s scout leader too. I’d be grumpy about being in a tent for one night in October. I most definitely would not be doing 4 nights. I’d be too cold and the lack of sleep for that amount of time would really impact on my work for the next couple of weeks while I caught up.
Be firm. Just say no - I need accommodation. You are absolutely not being unreasonable. It’s very good of you to do it at all - they should be providing you with comforts where they can.

Tell them you have hurt your back and camping is out. They will figure it out.

I wouldn't martyr myself. Tell them what you need. If volunteers are that rare, they can fork out enough to keep them comfortable at night.

Op your definitely not being unreasonable to ask about B&B, it makes sense to me that you cook together.

Hope it goes well you're a star 🌟

Well you won’t be surprised to hear that we cancelled the trip due to the forecast! So enjoying a warm weekend in my house. It has raised some issues though that we will
discuss. I’ve realised that if we’re all camping (or in vans) we have nowhere to dry gear or a backup if tents are damaged or leak.
Ill now be insisting we sort leader accommodation for these trips as part of the planning. I wanted to check I wasn’t being unreasonable to not want to camp.

It sounds like an oversight. We have our leaders sorted, and OP has camped before, she'll be fine with the scouts.....

I completely agree with you that ta B&B is far more acceptable and you should not have to camp.

I see the camping problem is solved now that the trip is cancelled, I hope it can be rescheduled at some point and the scouts can continue the DoE.

Yip makes sense to me.

Just being curious, obviously the scouts on the Expedition are camping.
If they have an issue with tents or whatever are you allowed to give them spares?

Or take their wet gear and dry it for them over night?

I would have said yes to help up and to spend annual leave on it if they paid and sorted Airbnb.

People get very hung up on ‘the rules’. As if it’s some kind of pass/fail selection. As a supervisor/assessor in much keener on following the spirit of the expectation - which is to be self sufficient, led by the young people and for them to overcome challenges together. It’s meant to be challenging but fun and isn’t a Royal Marines selection weekend.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with us carrying spares of safety critical kit like tent poles or boot laces. In the summer we re-supplied them with extra water in the heatwave. That’s fine as long as they didn’t just bring a 500ml plastic water bottle.

This was their practice expedition anyway. Designed to learn skills and to plan for the actual one. And quite aside from the ‘rules’ if a tent blows away or a sleeping bag is sodden they still need somewhere to sleep safely till a plan can be made in the morning.

is a misconception that a DofE expedition must involve camping. It needs to be simple, basic self sufficient accommodation. So a bunk barn or hostel might be ok. I heard of an inner city group who did their bronze visiting the parks of London. Obviously not many campsites so they stayed in a hostel. The key thing is they went out and did it themselves

Thanks for that explanation my oldest has just moved up to explorers so DoE is kinda on the radar but I haven't thought about the logistics of wet or damaged kit.

Obviously it comes down to the actual assessor. I am quite chill any much more interested in whether they’ve challenged themselves and how they’ve overcome difficulties