German_Beaver

As far as promotion, you could consider visiting each pack's leader meeting and giving a pitch about the new and improved roundtable. I am not sure what area you are in, so that could be a very overwhelming task. In my area, there are only six packs that are supposed to attend our roundtable.

I know the rule about you cannot be a Bear until you have completed the Second grade and are eight years old. But, that is the minimum... If I have a child who will be in the fourth grade next year who wants to be in a Bear den, can he? The only way that this boy will join is if he is in the same den as his best friend who is one year younger. Is there any kind of a rule about this?

Can anyone explain how my woodbadge course was numbered NE-II-146? I took it at Camp Freedom in Germany. This years course is numbered NE-II-151. I used to be a beaver...

BTW, I almost forgot the Camp Freedom Bob White cheer. . . "TASTES LIKE CHICKEN!" Of course, our esteemed Scout Master would not allow it.

Leigh, I will have to disagree with your husband. At Camp Freedom, the Beavers are definitely where is it at. I also attended Woodbadge at Camp Freedom and had a great time(and learned a thing or two as well). I think that the best patrol to be in would be whichever is closest to the dining facility and showers. Over here, scouting around the Army's calander is an all to familiar thing. But I think that scouts is especially important to the boys who's parent is deployed. We need to offer whatever we can to keep them meaningfully occupied. I see lots of boys, outside of scouting, getting in trouble when their authority figure is downrange. I truely have a lot of respect for you "temporarily single" parents who still have the energy to keep a scout unit up a running. Welcome to the forum and best of luck. German Beaver

Thanks Leigh I appreciate your info. I have looked over the TAC calander and I have seen these trainings. I was just not sure if I should attend OLS since I am still a Cub leader. I realize that all scouters are welcome, I just feel that I might be a little out of place. We will definitly be there at Normandy. My den of wolves can hardly contain themselves every time we talk about it. I sure hope that the weather is halfway decent for us while we are there. BTW, welcome to the forum! It is nice to have others over here to discuss how things work on this side of the big pond.

When I went to BALOO training, in the handouts there was a check-list to prepare for a camp-out. I started well before the campout with getting permission and tour permits and progressed all the way up to the campout itself. I cannot find my copy. Does anyone out there have a copy that they can email me or know where I can find one online? Even if it is not that specific checklist, I am looking for something to prepare my first time campers and their families. Thanks German Beaver

Maybe "like better" is a little strong. I look at it as more of a novelty item for the German kids. And I agree, I prefer a brat mit brotchen und senf any day of the week.

Torveaux, What the Germans know as a frankfurter and what we know as a hot dog are two different things. Their's is generally spicier and served on a brotchen (hard role) with senf (spicy mustard). The German kid's love our hot dogs with the soft buns. Although, the adults think that our bread is too soft, so they ask to put it on the grill for a few seconds and smash it down to harden it. We got a good laugh out of that.

We are in a Cub Scout Pack in Germany and we are also going to Normandy for the Camporee in April. I am told that there will be around 2000 scouts there from Tigers to Eagles. Anyway, to find some information on Scouts in Germany, look at the web site ScoutNet.de. If you find it in a search engine like Yahoo, you can have it translated. Email their contact person. I am sure that they would love to hear from Packs in the States. Most Germans who are web savy enough to be a contact person on this large of a site will speak English, but it would not hurt to try to be polite in German. My Den has become friends with a local Pfadfinder (German Cub Scout) group and we really enjoy the learning experience. The last time we met, we each showed charts showing the rank system and the uniforms. Their leader spoke good English and we have three scouts in our Den who speak Deutsch, so it worked out well. We sang a few songs together, same tune, different languages. It was a lot of fun. We are planning a cookout in a few months with them so that we can teach them what hot dogs and smores are. I doubt that my young Den will ever get a chance like this again once they move back to the States.

I appreciate all of your advice. Most of the things recommended I am already implementing. We have started a year long "camp training" with the scouts. Each month, I dedicate one den meeting to a camping theme (i.e. Tent set-up and care, outdoor cooking, packing for camp, menu planning, fire safety, etc). I attended BALOO training, but I do not think that they offer Webelos outdoor training over here. I have seen an Outdoors Leadership Training, but I think that is for Boy Scouts. I would love to plan a simple overnight campout, but the weather here will simply not allow it until April. And, being the ambitious guy that I am, our den is going to the Normandy Camporee in April. I question my sanity, but I have definite "buy-in" from the parents. Anyway, if this campout goes well and I still have Scouts in my den afterwords, I am thinking about doing some more Family Camping this summer. BTW, the odds of finding a backyard over here big enough for more than one or two tents would be a challange. Thats OK though, because we have council approved campsites that have buildings which are usable incase of bad weather. Thanks again for the warm welcome. I have already used this forum for researching several topics and you will probably see me pop in from time to time. German Beaver

I am trying to find the guidelines for a Cub Scout sleep over in the G2SS but I am coming up empty. Can anyone tell me where the references are that will make sure that I stay within the BSA policies. I have a wolf den and I would like to organize a "slumber party" at our scout hut. I figure that parents will have to be involved, but I have seen somewhere some rules about the adults sleeping in a separate room than the scouts, etc. I would appreciate any help. German Beaver

There seems to be a lot of us Life for lifers out here. I had all of my merit badges for Eagle, but not my service project. To make a long story short, I moved from a very active/productive troop to a very small/unproductive troop as a Star scout ready for advancement to Life. I was instantly the most experienced scout in the troop and was looked at to be in charge of almost everything. I did not see eye to eye with my Scoutmaster. I dropped out. Looking back, I regret not following through with to Eagle. I had great parent support when I was a Cub(father Cub Master, mother Den leader), but as I got older, I was left more on my own to persue scouting. If I had known what I know now, I would have contacted the district or council office to ask for advice before I dropped out, but I did not. I do, however, realize how much I gained from scouting and I still have a love for it that I am estatic to see in my son(Wolf scout). The values that I learned in scouts have guided my life and the skills that I have learned have a given me great variety of interests. As I get back into scouts with my son, I hope that he follows through to Eagle. He has talked with a few Eagle scouts and has said that he hopes that he is one some day(but that is an eight year old talking). I will be there with him the entire way as a scouter/volunteer. I hope that he gets as much out of it as I do.

I am trying to find an official reference to the Intrepreter Strip (IS) for Cub Scouts. I have been told by Pack leadership that Cub Scouts can not earn/wear the IS. However, I have seen several references on the web in which the requirement refers to "scouts" and not Boy Scouts. I have at least three scouts in my Wolf den who are perfectly bi-lingual and can meet all of the requirements of the IS. Any thoughts?

Guten Tag! Just thought I would stop in here first to "check in". I am returning to scouts after many moons now that my son is finally old enough to join. I was the assistant Tiger Den Leader last year and this year I took over the den of wolves. My son, as well as the other scouts in the den, have let me know in no uncertain terms that they like to be outside and are interesting in camping. If anyone has ideas of how to accomplish this with a group of eight year olds, I would appreciate input. I have read the G2SS and have followed a couple of threads concerning the subject with great input by Bob White and twocubdad. I do not want to "get around the rules", or find a loophole, I just want to introduce the outdoors to these scouts. Anyway, it is great to be here. I have already learned a lot and I know that I will learn a lot more. If anyone has any questions about the scout environment over here in Germany, just ask.