Mike Walton

Greetings! Many Scouters and others have asked three key questions which is the purpose of this page:

Who are you REALLY?

What I am NOT is an electronic version of "Pedro, the Boys' Life Burro, " someone who is online from the BSA to answer and respond to various questions and issues. I am NOT a member of the BSA's national-level professional staff (notice the usage of silver shoulder loops). Likewise, I am NOT a member of a local Council's professional staff.

I am NOT a "made up person" representing anyone at the BSA's National, Regional or local offices, either! I am a REAL LIFE PERSON. I know for some of you, it's hard to believe...but it's very true!

My name IS Mike Walton. I was a Cub Scout, Boy Scout and Explorer. I also served as a volunteer at the unit, District, Council, Area, Regional and National levels and was a Paraprofessional for close to four years, quitting to qualify for entry as an officer in the U.S. Army.

I am still a commissioned officer in the United States Army and have served in the Army Reserve and the National Guard of my home state, Kentucky. In the last close to 20 years, I've seen much of the globe and have been to several places more than twice. I'm a Desert Storm, Joint Endevoir and Joint Guard veteran and have taken part in several contingency missions which I'm very proud of as a representative of the American people.

You look like a General in the Scouts. Are you one? Can you explain all of the badges you proudly wear please?

Thanks for the compliment. Actually, I am more like an old Sergeant Major or Chief Master Petty Officer -- one of those "old guys" that have been around the program for a long time and can tell you many things about the program today and in the past. Some people say that I don't "have a life" even though I really do have an active life. Others have stated that "I'm a show-off", wearing "every badge I've ever earned or received". In reality, I could not fit everything I have received or earned over a thirty-plus year period on my shirt, nor would I want to do so if I could. I only wear 15 of the 19 awards I have received or earned; some I have refused to wear simply because I feel they were just "given" to me as an excuse and not for anything I have truly performed or was deeply involved in. And there is one - my Eagle Scout Badge with the Silver and Gold palms - that if I would only wear one "knot insignia" on my shirt, that would be the one I would choose.

I am very sensitive to wearing the shirt you see above to formal Scouting events; there are other events in which I will "tone down" the "Christmas Tree", as my Jessica calls this shirt and wear instead another shirt with much less items on it. Frequently, that is what I would wear to Eagle Scout Courts of Honor, shifting the "wow" from some guy standing in the back or middle of the room to the person being honored with the highest award in Boy Scouting: the Eagle Scout Badge.

I have had an interest in knowing as much as I can about Scouting since childhood, and instead of keeping it all to myself, I share what I know every single day with other volunteers and professionals in a number of different ways...mainly in three ways: through speeches and personal appearances during training and service events in local Councils and through speeches and personal appearances at Courts of Honors, District/Council dinners and other special events; through articles appearing monthly on the Internet's World Wide Web as well as in two national Scouting publications; and through my answering and explaining Scouting policy, lore, and historical bits online through several electronic mail forums and USENET Newsgroups.

The awards I wear can be earned or received by any volunteer, and in the grander scheme of life, I hold only a few of those special awards. There are many, many others whom have received or earned many, many more of these than I have. I do not hold any of the national BSA "Silver Awards" but I do hold two local or Regional "Silver" (Silver Big Horn and Silver Scouter) Awards. Nor am I a Vigil Honor member of the Order of the Arrow. Those things will come to me some day.

I am a holder of the Arrow of Light (Cub Scouting), Eagle Scout (Boy Scouting) and Exploring Achievement (Exploring) Awards. Additionally, I hold the William T. Hornaday Conservation Award, a Heroism Award, and the Youth Leadership in America Award as a Post President. I have earned a youth and received adult religious emblems; and has been honored with several awards for service to a Council Exploring Division, to the Exploring program of a local Council, and to rural and urban youth in the central western part of Appalachia.

I have received training awards as a Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Exploring, and Sea Exploring leader; training keys as a Scoutmaster, Explorer Advisor, and Commissioner; Awards of Merit as a Scoutmaster and as a Commissioner; and I hold the Wood Badge and Sea Badge advanced training awards.

On my uniform shirt I wear an international Jamboree emblem (called InterCamp) in which I attended and later served on staff of for three years; and an Order of the Arrow Lodge flap from one of the three Lodges in which I did most of my service within (Zit-Kala-Sha); the other two Lodges are Black Eagle (in Europe) and Kawida (in central and eastern Kentucky). I swap out flaps from all three Lodges frequently with the flap from the local Council's lodge in which I'm associated with when I'm there...

You won't find an Eagle Scout Badge on my shirt, but rather a square knot (if you look really close in the above photo, it's in the center of the second row...adults wear the square knot associated with the award; youth members wear the actual award).

What or who is this "settummanque" you place on the end of your postings and articles? What does this have to do with Scouting?

"Settummanque" is me. There is a separate page which explains why "sekkettummanque" was chosen for me and why I choose to use "settummanque", a "condensed version" of that Delaware Indian name. However, the page does not explain why I use it on my postings and articles which are found online.

If you were to use any search engine and ask it to search for the name "Mike Walton," you will find a Mike Walton whom studies agriculture in North Carolina; another Mike Walton whom is an award-winning photographer; and still another Mike Walton with a rather strange but appealing website. Online, I have discovered more than 15 individuals with the name "Mike Walton" and another four or five using "blackeagle" or "Black Eagle." Neither of those individuals are me.

In the earliest days of my Internet experience, during those days in which the only place my thoughts and experiences were archived was on America Online (tm), I could enter in "settummanque" and find every posting I have ever made there. I did this once to find material in support of a graduate research paper. I thought about that and decided that from that time onward, I would continue to use "settummanque, the blackeagle" to further "narrow down" those postings which were written about me as well as those I have wrote. So far, it has worked well, with more than 800 pieces of email written by me archived on three Scouting-related sites. I use it to help you as well as to "authenicate myself" along with my email address and other elements of my postings.

And yes, the word "settummanque" is a trade and service mark I use in connection with what I do when I'm not an Army officer, and that is to co-own Blackeagle Services of Kentucky (now called Rose Walton PC Coaches).

Thanks for asking those questions....

Settummanque!