Eagle92

One of my lodge's problems is that the area we do our ceremony in is rather small area. It's a natural area and was chosen for, for lack of a better word, intimacy of the location. Memebrs who are in the audience do have a hard enough time finding a spot. If every scout brought their parents, it would be a nightmare. EMB said it best.

The problem I had with the family members, besides the videoing of the ceremony, is the fact they also brought younger brother as well. Kinda ruins it for him IMHO.

I think trainer is condusing the CS specific trainings with IOLS. Once you take it, you are good to go with BS camping. Still need BALOO and the Web Leader one though. Your council requires trainers to be WB trained? I'm glad i'm not in your council as we would never have staff.

For dancing I am either Northern Traditional, or Southern Straight. I prefer Straight at the moment as there are more tradish dancers, and only 2 or 3 Straight dancers. When I did ceremonies back in the day, I started out doing the typical Plains,but after some research and talking, got the chapter to switch to Houmas, a Louisiana tribe. Now my chapter is in the process of making Tuscarora regalia. Depending upon where in AL, i can get you some info. I have the Swanton bookin my possession, and it may be a Google Boook since I belive the copyright has expired. Plus it was a GPO book . PM me.

In referenmce to the troop level awards, my old troop gave out the 'Red Jacket Award" It was basically the red BSA nylon jacket, withe the troop logo patc instead of the universal emblem. It was given to dedicated scouters in the troop. Wish I could find mine, but I have a feeling it was left behind with my mom and destroyed in Katrina.

I have to agree with Gern, if you get teh jungle boots, DO NOT GET THE CHEAP IMITATION ONES! I also go the cheap ones. sole came off with in a week. Luckily the owner of the store is a great guy, refunded my money and very quickly got it back when I bought the milspec jungle boots. They were great and lasted several years

Me personally i don't want non-members, except candidates, at ceremonies. I try to allay their fears and explain the entire process. adn discourage them frm attending. But it is their right, so let it go to the LA. NOW I would especially discourage an active Scouter from participating as he may become a candidate in the future. Knowing about the ceremony in advance DOES take away. Now what I REFUSE to allow is non-members photographing or videoing the ceremony. had that happen at the last Ordeal with my lodge. I brought to the ceremonies chairman's attention and eh delt with it.

Bob, Welcome to the forums. friendly word of advice, please do NOT call ceremonial and dance attire "Costumes." Call it regalia, attire, clothes, but not costume. While I know according to the Oxford English Dictionary 2nd. Ed. (OED2) costume can correctly describe any set of clothes, it most common definition, as in Halloween Costume,is considered derogatory and insulting to Native Americans, and they have asked the OA to refrain from that term. Now as to find info on Seminole regalia, Look at the Seminole nation's website as I am sure they have traditional attire there. Swanton's books from teh early 1900s are excellent, especially since he was an ethnologist on SE Native Americans. PM and I can send you some photos of an OA ceremony team in that type of regalia. Now dependin upon who you were talking to in that lodge, it was either Creek reagalia ( those living in GA) or Seminole regalia (those living in FL). PM me and mopre later,

Yep we do make a difference. One of the best moments for me was seeing a few young men who I recruited to be Cub Scouts become Eagle. I was a DE and started their unit. Seeing them grow up an be positive influences is awesome. The really interesting thing is this. Look at BP, and his idea that started with 20 boys and his nephew on Brownsea Island in 1907. Look at all the lives impacted by BP, either directly or indirectly. We as leaders are part of that legacy, and we will continue to make an inpact on youth long after we are gone by influence we had on the next generation.

I didn't notice the OUR in your post. That or I am starting to go into CS mode as oldest is just now becoming a TC, I'm signed up to be his TCDL, and I am staffing CSDC. But the Beav and HICO are right in that this IS when parents are supposed to ease back and let the scout do his thing. YOU do not need to be involved except to bring him to meetings, support him along the Trail to Eagle, and possibly help out when the troop needs you, i.e. fundraiser, bringin a covered dish to a COH, etc. YOU do not need to do anything as it is the SCOUT'S RESPONSIBILITY. I know it's kinda hard to let go as I've seen it with new parents entering my old troop. They couldn't get the idea that a 11 y.o. can do so much when given the opportunity and direction FROM AN OLDER SCOUT. I pray that I can let go when my boys get to scouts. With 9 years of CS ahead, I hope I can remember to let go when the time comes 'cause CS leaders who move up to the troop are the worse ones letting go If your son want to go to summer camp, LET HIM. You don't need to go, heck I encourage a vacation WITH THE SM HAVING YOUR CONTACT INFO JUST IN CASE. That way the scout is on his own, and if he does get homesick, you cannot get him as he will get over it. IME it's the down time at nite on the wed or thrus. of camp that homesickness fall is. rets of the time he will be tooo busy. LET YOUR BOY DECIDE WHAT TO DO AND SUPPORT HIM.

Sorry to hear that. As for most troops I've been with, the camping is usually once a month. Grant you psychotic leaders like myself will also do OA activities, conduct training, staff district and council events, and even help another unit out, but mostly the troops do one campout a month. As for the scout your son doesn't like, well he will work with people throughout life that he doesn't like. Might as well get use to it. Also if your troop is following procedure, patrol realignment will occur in about 6 months or less, depending when unit elections are, so he can join another patrol with out the individual. As for a Webelos III program, trust me they do not work, and are more adult intensive that a boy-run troop. Usually you will only need drivers for events with a boy run unit, whearas adult run want more adutls involved b/c they youth are not doign things for themselves. Finally if your son is really into Scouting, and you and your wife are truly supportive, you will allow yous son to go to summercamp instead of waiting to fall. Summercamp is truly where scouting happens and most advancement occurs. That's b/c you eat, sleep, and breath scouting that one week a year. depending upon the camp and the quality of the first year camper program, , you son can get 90% of the T-2-1 requirements completed. If he doesn't go, he will eb further behind than his friends. TRUST ME I was oen of those scouts who didn't go my first hear, and it took me a year to get where my friends got by goign through the First year camper.

Reunion is gonna be sweet. I'm active with croatan still so I talk to the current staff folks, and they are working on making it nice. Good news is that our SE, Ray Franks is an alumnus, so I think it's gonna be a very nice weekend. Trying to talk the powers that be into giving out the Camp Bonner Staff CSPs for those of us who attend the reunuion. I sure hope they do as it is a nice patch. And don't forget, SR-7B conclave will be at Bonner next year. We're #1...17(This message has been edited by eagle92)

Well if the camp in question is Tiak, I looked up Camp V-Bar's fee schedule since that camp is Pine Burr's geographic area, but run by SE LA Council. V-Bar's early bird fee was $195, and the current ifee is $205. While it may be a little cheaper, I also know that they have had help in restoring the camp from Katrina, so that may explain the difference. Also I know that they have outside groups use the camp, hence only 3 weeks of summercamp, and that may also help with costs. "V-Bar, V-Bar where we se the stars SHOUT for the camp that means oh so much to me!"

We also have a unit that makes repro community and state strips. Unfortunatley they don't make them in a 'all-in-one 'package. Looks spiff if you ask me.

If you ever worked at camp Bonner outside Chocowinity, NC, then this is for you! I know there are a few Bonner Alumni on this site. http://eccbsa.org/forms/40th%20Camp%20Staff%20Reunion%20Guide.pdf

E, Are you suggesting that we do what they do in other countries, i.e. 4th Seal Sea Scout, 109th Glasgow, 3RD SOMETHING FLEMISH (Smurf Troop) [sORRY I cannot rememeber the troop's name, just that their name tape was blue and had Smurf Troop underneath b/c Smurf creator Peyo was the first SM of the troop if memory serves me], etc. It won't happend b/c that would be way to confusing for national. let's face it, national can not even keep up with OA lodge numbers, we now have to use council numbers for NOAC.

Yep white on red numbers for ALL CS and Venturing affiliated folks. To bad I bought that trained patch and green on tan numbers for my CS uniform. HOWEVER, once offical, always official and when the uniform police come after me, just gonna have to pull out the original brochure on the centennial uniform.

I posted this info for a few reasons. 1) To show the ineptitude of national. This should have all came out back in August when the new unis showed up. This makes national look bad and lessens the confidence many have in national's decision making policies. 2) To show some of the frustration leaders, particularly the new leaders have about the new uniform roll out. 3) In my neck of the woods uniform IS a big policy. Twice a year for scouts, at council camporee and district camporee, and at least once a year for Webelos, Webeloree, a uniform inspection is done in which the inspection points are taken as part of the overall score. There have been some discussions because the uniform portion of the scorecard. 4) Personal. Yes I think my son joined the best pack in the area. But no unit is perfect. The one thing I would like to change with the pack is uniforming. I don't care if the scout or leader wears a brand new uniform or hand-me-downs. Just get him a complete uniform. I also don't care if it take time to get the complete uniform, but please make an effort to wear something similar while you are in the process. heck I know how expensive the uniform is, and how difficult times can be. But try to wear blue shorts or pants with the shirt. I think as leaders we need to make every effort to set the uniform example. With the ineptitude of the what has happened, you have some leaders with new shirts with the red numbers, and some with green. yes we are setting the example as best we can at this point, but how does it look to new parents and scouts? Grant you it's not alot of money for 3 numbers, but it still money I could use for something else, like a pack camping trip, Eagle project fundraiser, etc.

Dean, The execs in charge of training division threw a hissy fit and stated that the skit was hazing. Yes we had one LFLE get upset, but the rest of the Geese had a good laugh. I wonder what the exec staff would have thought of Boudreaux's Candy Store, especially if I got that Cajun accent going.

In some respects I'm glad I bought a new shirt to be my CS shirt and am saving my BS shirts (2) for 5 years from now. But with all the uniform changes in reference to the new shirt that are occuring weekely, this is ridiculous. I am just glad that '"Once official, always official" is the policy. When the uniform police come after me at the fall camporee for buying green numbers and trained strip on my CS uniform, I can bust out the original pdf which shows CS leaders with the green numbers and trained. Also in reference to the Webelos photo, notice that he is not wearing the new shirt, but the ODL shirt.

Well national has updated the 2009 Uniform guide from 2 weeks ago. according to this link http://scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/images/pdfs/uniformguide.pdf Male CS leaders only are going back to WHITE ON RED Numbers, so there are no RED ON TAN numbers now. No mention of White on Red Numbers for Webelos or female CS Leaders. OK Scratch that last one from this link http://scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/images/pdfs/FemaleUniform.pdf Female CS Leaders Do wear white on red numbers. Ditto Webelos white on red for Wbelos. http://scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/images/pdfs/WebelosUniform.pdf Also the will be a red trained strip coming out. SOOOOOOO my question is this: Can all the CS leaders who got green numbers and trained strips exchange them for the correct ones now? Also anyone notice the new BS HB on this link http://scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/images/pdfs/BSUniform.pdf

I don't remember what camp we went to, but we did visit one near the training center. I don't think it was a council one. No camping just an afternoon of stuff. They provided dinner, and we did a campfire program. Some DEs got into some trouble with the Owa Tago Siam Skit. Is all I really remember.

BP, Again I don't kow what is current, but in '98 the purpose of having compelted CSBLT, SMF, and EBLT was to give us a basic understanding of program. Every DE, EE and LFLE, had to have taken those courses prior to PDL-1, otherwise you made up for it on your own time durign the course. But you are right the course focused on the 3Ms.

Now if they made CS thongs for the ladies, I'ld have to get the wife a pair so that she can be in full uniform

Jet, I wish I could have kept them away. We did have a few takers, but not many. Also another problem is that out training records were way out of wack. Only a handful of folks were considered trained, and those were the ones who just went through courses since I too over. Heck I and others who were trainers, including some PTC trainers, were considered "untrained." As for those 'red, white, and blue" know it alls, have you ever considered that maybe they do have the expereince already and training? I know when I did SM Fundamentals back in the day, there was not much I didn't already know. Then again I had gone through BROWNSEA 22, had an excellent SM and SPLs who trained me as a youth, and had some great mentors when I turned 18. I also staffed JLT and other trainign courses, and worked in supply so I had lots of knowledge, skills,and abilities. And recently I underwent BALOO. I admity I was one of those know-it- alls since I organized and staffed district and council level cub camp expereinces. I joked with friends abotu why I needed the course. But whenthe time came, I had that cheerful disposition, sat back and had soem fun. Again not much learned except a new knot I need to practice more on. ;)But it did give me a chance to meet some of the unit leaders in my district, especially the pack my son has joined. Now why would I undergo all that training again? Well first and foremost I see the BSA turning into the Girl Scotus with all kinds of required training in order to go outdoors. I started thinking about this and realized that as we get more and more urbanized, people do not have the outdoor skills like they used to. So yeah the eagle who's been there and done that may be bored becasue he does have the basic skills. Me persoally if I want to take oldest and his pack camping, I want to be able to have the credentials to do that and be anotehr resource to the pack. Another reason, and here's one you can use, is that I love training people. I love passing on the skills and knowledge to others. And I bet if you ask, those Eagles would also be willing to staff training. Just make sure you discuss current policies and procedures before you let them rip. Between being an OA chapter adviser and District trainign chair, I don't knwo which job I loved more. Those Eagles ARE a valuable resource to use in training. So get them working for you. And whielthey are staffing the event, they can also attend someof the other sessions and be offically trained and get that pocket certificate.