Fat Old Guy

No matter what anyone says, the Illiad should be read in the original Klingon.

"We've actually considered splitting this troop into two, but our CO will not allow us to." Have you thought of making two "virtual troops"? An "A" troop and a "B" troop? Each could meet on different nights and have an ASM acting as SM for each virtual troop. There'd still only be one chartered unit.

A military crease or "press" (military press is also a weight lifting method) consists of vertical creases that go through the centers of the pockets in the front. The back has three creases: one in the center, one on either side of the center crease that line up with the ones in front. In a shirt with a yoke, the creases stop at the yoke. Look at any Marine and you'll see military creases. BTW, they only add about five minutes to the time that it takes to iron a shirt.

This issue came up locally not to long ago and according to the wonks at the Council office, the CO has no claim to the unit funds. It was explained to us that the CO may redirect those funds to another unit that it charters but it may not absorb them into their treasury. Of course, the pros at the Council office might not know what they are talking about.

Bob White typed, " Your verbage was dynamic even if it lacked any actual accuracy." Which prompted me to ask, "what is verbage?" I looked in my dictionary and didn't find a listing. I looked on-line and found that it is a deliberate mispronounciation of "verbiage" to assimilate it to "garbage." What's "verbiage"? No, it doesn't mean "words," it means excessive words such as when someone explains how to read a clock when you ask what the time is. Another misuse that gets to me is the misuse of "begs the question." What does "begs the question" mean? It doesn't mean "require the question to be asked," it means "avoiding the question." Clinton begged the question regarding having s*x with Monica Lewinski. While I'm ranting, there's a frequent poster here who comes from the homeland of the English language whose writing are often nearly undecipherable because of his unusual manner of punctuation. The English language is rich and powerful tool but it works best when used in the proper manner.

To use my favorite example, sports, would you like to see a disorganized baseball league or team? Would you think that it was fun if the coach was making up the field assignments on the fly or no one had remembered to bring the water cooler? Organization can enhance the learning and fun. If the SPL says, "Line up" and the Scouts scamper to fall in, the games can begin that much more quickly. If the Scouts aren't chattering, the rules and objectives of the game can be explained. Disorganized meetings are not fun meetings. Well, maybe every now then they are but usually when you have a disorganized meeting, the Scouts leave muttering about "not doing anything."

" If you take it to a dry cleaner for the first pressing, specify that you don't want a military press. If you don't you'll end up with a pressed crease down the center of the blouse for the career of it." Whatsamatta wid dat? I like the military creases.

Our District day camp is $100 which surprised me. I don't recall paying that much for day camp for my son. $100 for five days of crafts and you have to pack your own lunch.

"hen I took 1st aid training 3 years ago, the instructor said if you do not use the new improved method of CPR, do not even bother. If you save the person, they would probably have brain damage." I feel sorry for all the people that were saved using the old method. I'll check on that with our resident CPR instructor who is also an ER doctor.

Bobo blathered, " or even read his posts, for quite some time." Har!

" I- and all the firemen I know- would rather have some blood and oxygen going to the brain rather than die while the Red Cross changes the breathe/thrust count yet again." I think that's the point that I've tried to make in the past. Bobo gets hung up on the modern technique. I learned CPR back in 1970 and I'm sure that the style that I learned is old fashioned BUT it could still save someone's life.

"I have just looked in OJ's bedroom he is asleep, worn out from the weekend at NLS. I was very tempted to wake him up just so that I could give him a hug." Go ahead, I do that. He just goes back to sleep.

"The previous uniform was not green it was called khaki." It was called khaki but it was green.

If you're a sci-fi fan, you'll remember that paper ignites at 451 F. So, I say "give it a shot."

"May I ask, what is your interest in scouting?" My son is a Boy Scout and I am a committee member. The big difference between Bobo and myself is that I don't believe that everything as it stands today is the best that it could be. I believe in following rules but I don't believe that you have to be happy about it. I pay my taxes but I don't enjoy it. :-)

" BSA has been doing this for 96 years; can there be any subject that hasn't been examined from every angle? Haven't all of the wrinkles been ironed out?" The wrinkles have been ironed out for the most part, the problem is that people keep crumpling the program up. One problem is that there is limited oversight and no incentive to follow the program. If your son's soccer coach was teaching his players to pick up the ball and run with it, they'd have immediate feedback about how wrong that was at their first game. The referees in Scouting don't carry whistles and don't have red and yellow cards to show. Add in that most parents worry about the quality of the soccer program but as long as their son is advancing and going camping, they don't care about the quality of Scouting. Maybe Scouting could use a system of oversight with penalties for units that have turned into "The Ol' Boys Camping Club," "The East Podunk Eagle Mill," or "Baby Sitters of America."

Eamonn, Now, you've really confused me. What do bus routes have to do with fundraising and checkwriting?

"I have seen troops like this that are very happy to STAY that way. there are parents who are very happy to send their boys off with the 'big boys club' and they never bother their heads about what scouting REALLY is supposed to be." As they say, "ignorance is bliss." If you enrolled your son in the local baseball clinic and found that they were teaching the boys that the pitcher didn't have to pitch from the mound, would you accept it? A game should be played by the rules, even if we think that those rules are silly (for one, I think that the balk rule is silly but I called them).

"I know you think Mike Walton has inside information that no one else seems to have." The reality of the situation is that he does and your own example hoists you as if it was a petard. It says that there are exceptions and it says "Among these are . . ." which means that the list is not complete. You have failed to prove your point.(This message has been edited by Fat Old Guy)

To be a "Committee Member," a person must be registered as such. If they aren't registered, they fall into the category of "interested person" or even "person who doesn't give a hoot." The Advancement guide states that a BoR must consist of at least three Committee Members. Since you cannot be a "Committee Member" if you aren't registered, it follows that you cannot sit on a BoR if you are not registered.

I found this at Mike Walton's web site, "Someone else wrote me concerning NRA (National Rifle Association) medals. Yes, they can STILL be worn FORMALLY with that same five medal restriction. The NRA used to have a formalized rifle marksmanship program leading to some nice medals for Scouts to wear on the uniform, and the BSA at that time permitted them to be worn. That permission has not went away, because some Councils still use the NRA's program (although they don't like to yell it out very loudly that they do!) as part of their marksmanship program at camp." Mike may be the only person on Earth who has a better understanding of Scout rules and regulations than Bobo Blanco AND he is never arrogant nor pedantic and he NEVER thumps the book. If you send him an email, it is likely that he'll send you chapter and verse on the issue. Remember there are many things that are approved that never make it into the book and are written of in double secret memos that only SEs read.

Shell, Maybe we should sit down and write a book with generic descriptions of poorly run troops. The problem with the old SM wasn't that he was a martinet, the problem was that he thought that rules were silly. Advancement was rubber stamped. Troop meetings were merit badge sessions with the blue card getting signed if you just sat there. A martinet might have been the better option, at least the Scouts would have learned to listen. LauraT7 is right, it is tougher to teach the boys to do things than it is to do it yourself. Just think about trying to get your kids to do the dishes or clean the bathroom. In the latest issue of Scouting magazine, there was a comment that it takes boys four times longer to plan something than it take adults. I can believe that because we have 40 or so years of experience and can draw on that. All too often, we expect the boys to plan the year's activities in an hour because we know that we could do it that way. As they said in the song, "Life in the fastlane . . ."

"Are there any pins that can be worn on a BSA Uniform besides year pins?" Assorted medals and that's about it that I can think of.

"Are there any pins that can be worn on a BSA Uniform besides year pins?" Assorted medals and that's about it that I can think of.

" I have read some(BobWhite v FOG)that are pretty intimidating" Hey! Hey! Hey! I don't think that I've ever jumped on a newcomer for asking a question or stating an opinion unlike our Bobo Blanco whose attitude is "The book must be followed without question. No one is worthy of having an opinion except those who have been blessed by BSA to recite the official opinions." As for why I crack on BW, we all know that it is because he's a pedantic, pompous, arrogant book thumper among other things. Now for your problem. There are two course of action and which you take depends on how much psychic and emotional energy you want to invest. Try to fix the problems. Talk to other parents to find others that feel as you do. Talk to your assorted Commissioners: Unit and District. Talk to the DE (if he'll answer the phone). Work with the unit to get things changed around. That can be a huge investment of time, energy and emotion. Talk to your son and see if he'd like to look at other troops. Ask him which of his friends he'd like to go with him. See if those guys (and their parents are willing to leave). As noble as staying and trying to fix a problem unit is, it can take years to effect the cultural change necessary to let the Boys do their jobs and convince the adults that they aren't supposed to be doing much of anything. From what I've heard, it usually takes about three years to change a troop around but that's half of a boy's Scouting life. That troop that I'm involved with was a bunch of overgrown Webelos dens until we started changing things two years ago. After two years, we have an SPL who wants to be SPL and wants to lead. We are still working on getting the Patrol Leaders to be PL because they want the job instead of just taking it to advance. We're still trying to get some of the adults to understand "let the Scouts do it." When my son crossed over, if the troop wasn't getting a new SM who wanted to change things, we'd have looked elsewhere. As it is, I stuck to help, partially motivated by laziness because the next closest troop is a half hour's drive away.