gwd-scouter

Eagle90 - ouch! that certainly was a challenge for your single junior leader. LisaBob - yep, that "boy led" stuff does work if the adults are patient and keep working toward that goal even with the setbacks and have a sense of humor along the way. MTM-our PLC had no choice on the schedule of the District's fall camporee so we had not control at all over the fact that it was the same weekend as their band competition. We do schedule all of our own troop campouts around adult leader's schedules and school calendars. Also, with only 9 guys in our Troop, the fact that the three oldest Scouts and leaders are also in marching band is something we just can't help. No competitions in November so we're looking for a full contingent on our campout for that month.

Out of nine Scouts, all but two sold some level of popcorn and only one filled his order form. The promotion for fill it up in our Council is a day at Clemson University meeting the coaches, players, participating in clinics, really cool hat, and other stuff. Very fun and eagerly anticipated by those that attended last year - the first year. The one Scout in our troop that filled his form did so last year as a Cub and loved the day at Clemson. In our District, we had many many more Cubs fill the form than we had even come close at the Boy Scout level.

Hi everyone. Returned from last weekend's Fall District Camporee. Excellent camporee. A complete change from what we've had for the past few years, which were more individual games and professional entertainment for the campfire. This year's was all about patrol competitions. "Shotgun" start with all the patrols scrambling off to find an empty station to begin completing their score cards: first aid, emergency prep, cooking, knots, orienteering, citizenship, canoeing, nature identification, fitness, communication skills. Patrols also received points for putting up gateways at their camp sites and for having skits during the campfire. I'm told that our District now plans to hold this event every fall. The campfire program was a lot of fun. I haven't been to a camporee with scout provided skits and songs for a long time. Who says boys won't do skits? Who says boys won't sing songs. It was a marvelous program and from the sounds of laughter and enthusiastic applause from the audience, I'd say everyone had a good time. At last night's Scout meeting, our guys did their skit for those guys that weren't able to come to the camporee. The only downside to the weekend was the rather small number of scouts. Out-of-town marching band competitions took a good number of boys away in addition to Clemson's homecoming game. For us, our three older Scouts, and the guys we rely on to lead the other boys, were gone to band competition. Couple of other Scouts were at Clemson homecoming. We only had four Scouts with us: 1 2nd class seventh grader, and 3 6th grade new Scouts. What an interesting weekend it was. Gotta give credit to our 2nd class Scout who took the reigns of responsibility and really did try to lead and help the others learn what to do. I overhead him telling our newest Scout (just joined the Monday before we left), "don't worry that you don't know how to do anything, you'll learn as you go." Very nice, I thought. Husband and I were a bit worn out after the weekend. Returning home we sat and talked and wondered why we were so tired. Everything went well, we had beautiful weather, boys had fun. Aha, we said together, the older boys weren't there! Yep, we've turned the corner and our older Scouts are actually running things, keeping the younger guys on task, helping and teaching them. We were tired because those guys weren't there this weekend and we had to do so much more teaching and guiding the younger boys. This is not to take anything away from the four Scouts we took to the camporee. For four guys that really didn't know what they were doing, they caught on fast, were eager to learn, made many mistakes, and had fun all the while. Indeed, they were not too enamored with their soggy cold french toast Saturday morning, or the fact that they didn't think of cooking the sausage that was to go with it before hand, but they learned something in the process. At last night's meeting when they were telling the older Scouts about the weekend, one of the things they mentioned was that they need to learn to cook better. I really liked that. Not, "we'll never make french toast again," but, "we need to learn to cook better." Older Scouts had their PLC last night and are planning a couple of meetings about basic cooking skills. So, next week, they're starting the meeting a little early, letting the guys know not to eat before coming, and older Scouts will teach younger Scouts how to plan for and cook pancakes and sausage. Excellent.

A week later and we still have the one new Scout mentioned earlier. Of the two folks I did manage to talk to, have not seen them yet. New Scout did mention that he talked with one of those guys at school and he really does want to come to Scout meeting this coming Monday. I had the guys that go to the school look over the list to see if they knew any of the boys. They did recognize some of the names and plan to talk to them at school. Side note: new Scout went on our fall camporee this past weekend. Said that was the best campout he's ever been on and Boy Scouts is awesome! Spread the word at school young man, spread the word. Kudu, I appreciate your earlier advice on this issue and I'm sure you would tell me at this point to try again and call those folks I didn't reach. It's is reasonable advice and I do want to recruit more boys to our unit. But, my opinion here differs from yours. I made the calls, I left messages, and I followed up with a mailout of our newsletter and calendar with all my contact information to those people for whom I managed to find addresses. I'm done. Thinking if I was on the reverse of this situation, receiving more calls from someone asking my son to join a troop/pack/whatever, would seem like badgering.

Took the Troop to our District's fall camporee. Great weekend!

Something has changed in the past few years in our District. In years past, I've had the privilege of being asked to present awards won by Scouters I had nominated. Past couple of years, the District Commissioner presents all the awards and says a few words about the recipient. He kind of "wings it" in making the presentation. Does a good job for those Scouters he's known for a while, but very poorly for those he hasn't. It's sad because last year I nominated someone for the District Award of Merit and hoped I'd be able to present if he won (I am a recipient of that award). I was very happy that he received the award, but I do think I'd have done a better job at recognizing him than "this Scouter did a lot of work for the District this past year." Likewise, my husband was nominated by our Committee to receive the Scouter of the Year Award. Certainly some bias there, but almost all of our Troops nominated folks in their Troop for an award each year. Anyway, when he was called up, District Commish said "we received a nomination for this Scouter, he's done a good job for his troop." Again, kinda sad. Wish they'd go back to letting those folks that make nominations present the award if one of the nominees is chosen.

Kudu, I was not looking for reasons to put off making the calls. That comment came off a bit snotty, and I apologize if you didn''t mean it that way. Well, I made the calls. Most of them anyway. As I said, I didn''t have phone numbers for some. Only reached two people and they said they''d like to come see the troop. The rest were either wrong numbers or no one home. I did leave messages on machines. I too thought Sunday night would be a good time to call, but actually not overly surprised at receiving answering machines since Sunday night is a big church night in our area. Thanks all for your suggestions. If the two I talked to last night come and join, plus the one who joined the other night, that will make three - a thirty percent increase in our troop! I will make a suggestion to our DE for next year. Maybe he could tell me ahead of time when he plans to do the middle school recruiting and I could be there as well to hand out our Troop flyer and talk with the boys.

Yes, I am a bit hesitant to make cold calls. Well, OK, not exactly cold calls because the boys put their name on the list - but no guarantee they told their parents about it. Yes, some of them did not include phone numbers. Interesting idea about the reverse phone look up. Kudu, I remember your earlier post about recruiting nights, sign up sheets and making calls, so I will make the calls. I still don''t like the idea of hanging around in the school parking lot waiting for people to show up. I don''t think it makes much of an impression on prospective Scouts and their parents that we can''t seem to be more organized by having a sign up table, brief presentation, demonstrations, etc. inside the school.

Our DE holds recruiting rallys at our three middle schools. These have in the past been supported by local troops, sort of a "that''s our school" kind of thing. Never been hugely successful, but at least the attempt is made. Got a call yesterday (thursday) from our DE that he had a rally that day at the school, had a list of about 20 boys that signed a sheet saying they were interested in being Boy Scouts, and could I show up that night at the school to sign up new Scouts. Loved the idea, but...... The school was not actually open for us, we had to meet in the parking lot. We did (my husband and I showed up) signed up one new very eager Scout and his mother who would like to serve as a leader. DE told me that it was now incumbent on me to call on those names on the sign up list he gathered earlier to try to get those boys. Problem there is that most of that list (20 boys) have only a first name, barely legible handwriting, and some whose names I recognized as already being in other troops. Yes, I an desperate for boys in our troop as we only have nine now, but just how far do I have to go? DE came by my office earlier that day with the list of boys he rallied that day, said "you need to call these boys" and....well that''s it. He had the rally, but left the rest to me. I guess that''s probably the way it is, but it wouldn''t have been nice if he had told me about the rally ahead of time. Actually - the school where he did the rally is typically assigned to another troop in our district. They never answered his calls, so he called me. Last minute and second choice I don''t appreciate, but at least we got one Scout.

LisaBob. We had a similar experience a couple of years ago. One of our Eagle Scouts made a video describing his experience in Scouting. The video was terrific with his voice in the background as pictures of campouts, white water, Philmont, etc. moved across the screen. This was presented at both services of our mega-church chartered organization on Sunday, with invitation to come to our troop open house the next Monday. Only one boy and his parents showed up. I heard similar stories from other Troops in our District. Cub recruiting continues to go well, but Boy Scout recruiting is seeing less and less sign ups each year. Heck, we are even having more trouble getting our Webelos to crossover to Scout Troops each year. It sounds like your district did a wonderful job in promoting your open house. Can''t think of a thing you could have done differently to make it successful. I will agree that our Scouts asking friends to join is the best way to get new Scouts, but even that isn''t providing us with a windfall of Scouts. I am beginning to think that it''s not simply that Scouts is uncool and therefore boys don''t want to join, but the parents are stretched too far already taking their kids to multiple extracurricular activities and just don''t want to add one more thing to the list. This, of course, is merely a personal observation.

Interesting post Grizzly. So it seems my council is not doing it wrong. OLS is required for some, encouraged for others. Ah, just love the word play in Scouting.

We hear at our roundtables every year that very few nominations are received by the District Committee. Sometimes they receive only one nomination per award. Sometimes none. I think there are a great many folks in our District that are deserving of recognition, but never receive it because either no one in their unit (or outside it) ever nominates them for anything or they are the more quiet type of leader, working in the background and making little noise about themselves so as to escape notice. I interact with a lot of leaders in the District, both at the Scout level and Cubs, so I try hard to nominate at least one person every year for something. I''m happy that the folks I''ve nominated over the years have all received an award.

I guess I''m not stating this correctly. In our Council, Cub Leaders and Committee people (Pack and Troop) are not required to take supplemental outdoor leader training since it is not required as part of their position training - regardless of whether they decide to someday go to Woodbadge. Boy Scout Leaders (SM and ASMs) on the other hand MUST take outdoor leader training because it IS required as part of their position in Scouting - again, regardless of whether or not they go to Woodbadge. So, at least in our Council, SMs and ASMs that go to Woodbadge are required to have OLS, whereas Cub Leaders and Committee Members are not.

Eagle-Pete. Thanks for the info on National''s requirements. In our Council, however, anyone attending must complete the required training for their particular Scouting position. So Cub Scout Leaders only have to take New Leader Essentials and New Leader Specific. No outdoor training class is required for their position - appropriate maybe, but not required. Same, for example, for Troop Committee members. SMs and ASMs must complete Essentials, Specific, and Outdoor Leader, but Committee members only have to do Essentials and Specific. That''s what I meant by SMs and ASMs having to do more required (prerequisite) training than others.

Our Council''s Woodbadge course requires each participant to have completed the required training for his/her position. I''ve not done Woodbadge, but I''ve always found it a bit unfair that Boy Scout Leaders had to take more training than Cub Scout Leaders in order to go to Woodbadge (i.e., the Outdoor Leader training for Boy Scouts is required in addition to New Leader Essentials and Leader Specific which are the only requirements for Cub Leaders. From descriptions of the Woodbadge courses I''ve read here, I see no benefit from requiring Boy Scout Leaders to have more initial training than Cub Scout Leaders.

To those troops out there that prohibit women from serving in anything above a Committee position, congratulations on having enough willing and capable men around to be the SM and ASMs. In our troop I ask the question - where are the men? Yes, I am the dreaded female Scoutmaster. Coming up on three years in my tenure. I can''t exactly place the year our troop started, but it''s somewhere between 1998 and 1999. Since its inception, we''ve had five Scoutmasters (I''m the fifth). That''s a lot of turnover. At three years, I am the longest serving. I am blessed to have two male ASMs who are wonderful leaders and serve the boys well. A bit of history about our troop: My older son transferred to this troop in 2000 and at that time it was male dominated. A few ladies served on the Committee and I was asked to be the secretary while my husband was asked to be an ASM. I admit I didn''t take it very well. A few months in I began helping as Advancement Chair. I found out quickly that I was not welcome on any campouts, although I was asked to drive - you know drive ''em up, drop ''em off, come back and get ''em later. A couple of years of this and I was ready to leave. Husband was getting very discouraged too as he was tired of all the adult pontificating at meetings, adult planning for everything, adult cooking, cleaning, setting up camp, etc. etc. Older son was elected SPL, but was never allowed to do anything even though he took initiative with his ASPL. SMs changed every couple of years which brings us to when younger son joined the troop in 2004, now on its fourth SM. Troop adult leadership had dropped tremendously and all - the SM, ASMs and committee folks - were ready to quit. Their sons had all Eagled and they were done. Nice to find this out just a couple of months after we joined with younger son. So the search began for the new SM. Husband was tapped but he had to decline because of his work schedule. Other Dad whose son joined at the same time ours did simply was not interested. That left me. Months went by as the Committee debated back and forth. Finally, with the reality that the troop would otherwise fold, I was asked to be the SM. Upon making the announcement, all our former leadership left, along with three of our Scouts - one fairly new Scout and two Life Scouts. One of those Life Scouts was the son of one of our former SMs and stated when finding out that a female was going to be the new SM that a girl couldn''t take them to camp, especially summer camp - they''d be laughed at. So, there I was. Husband as an ASM, other new Dad agreed to be an ASM and me. No Committee left, although the former members agreed to help out until we could get a new committee formed. Add to that the fact that I was not yet trained, husband had not finished his training and the other Dad wasn''t trained. About a year after becoming SM, the ASM Dad decided he didn''t have the time to go on all out outings and wanted to become a Committee member. That left my husband and me only. Fortunately, our son recruited a friend whose Dad is very into camping and hiking and agreed to be an ASM. He''s the 2nd ASM I mentioned above. I continue to try to recruit for leadership positions in our Troop, which leads me to my question - where are the men? True, a lot of our guys are being raised by single Moms, but not all of them. I have asked every Dad of every boy in our Troop to step up and help out and none are willing. As it is now, we''ve just formed another new Troop Committee and it is all female. But we''ve come a long way in three years. We may still be a small troop, with only nine guys. But we''re active. Was contacted recently by two Webelos Den Leaders from two different packs. They want to come to our troop when they crossover. Both are led by very strong male Den Leaders and both have indicated they want to be ASMs. I know both these men from roundtable and from having a couple of our Scouts serve as Den Chiefs. (Note: As you may have read, I''ve been down this road before with Webelos Dens coming to visit but ultimately joining another troop, so I''m not counting any chickens yet.) They say they really like the way our troop is run, with the boys making decisions about what to do and where to go. I hinted at the possibility of one of them stepping into the SM position and both said that while that is certainly a possibility, they wouldn''t want to right away and want to spend a couple of years learning the ropes - yep, from a female! No, ours is not the ideal situation, but we''re making it work. The guys don''t seem to have any problem having a female SM, and as far as I can tell don''t act any differently around me than they do with our male ASMs. In fact, I sometimes feel invisible. Going camping with a bunch of teenaged boys, I know that what I see and hear from time-to-time would most likely not be said or done in front of their Moms. :-)

Well, it''s obvious how I''ve spent my free time today. Bequia, part of the Grenadines. Suspiciously difficult to get to because of a tropical storm off Hawaii, but the time-warp thing explains a lot.

Didn''t they start their 3 hour tour from Hawaii? That must have been some magic boat to land the castaways on the Island indicated by Packsaddle.

Guess I have it easy. One hour a week per boy as SM for our Troop = only nine hours a week for our small Troop. Hmmm, seems like more sometimes! Have worn and removed many many Scouting hats over the years and I am very happy to wear only the SM hat these days.(This message has been edited by gwd-scouter)

Merit badges are a new thing for us. I know, I know, many believe merit badges should not be included during Troop meetings. But, our guys have asked. Couple of weeks ago, they worked on pulp and paper merit badge. Much fun and mess in the making of paper. Older Scouts have mentioned they want to do wilderness survival merit badge (are planning a trip for early Spring) and they found out that one of our parents works for our County''s emergency preparedness organization, so that''s being talked about too. [Hey BrentAllen - don''t forget pallet races!]

Your trip sounds similar to one our guys are planning for the Spring. At any rate, guys are going backpacking this weekend and I''ll share some of the more common menu items they''ve used for past trips. Cup of noodles/ramen noodles. Yes, just add boiling water. But, also add in a package of precooked chicken and it is much better. I''ve known guys to do that and also bring along a baggie of bacon bits to add which they also use for breakfast when making instant grits. Then again, small bits of beef jerky seem to be very popular among our guys as an addition to almost anything. We always tell our guys to repackage their food to help reduce weight and eliminate trash, but be careful about what you put in a baggie. Saucy meals leaking out of a baggie all over a guys clothes can really put a damper on the weekend. We get a wide variety of tastes for breakfast. A couple of our guys bring precooked sausage links and flour tortillas. They boil water on the backpack stove and drop the links in a baggie into the pot. They lay the flour tortilla over the steam to heat up, wrap up the sausages and yummy breakfast. Some go the poptart route, but later learn that a warm breakfast really helps on those cold mornings...good smells too. Some (my sons and husband in particular) enjoy hot tea along with a bagel and instant oatmeal. Nothing to do but boil water. My son is particularly fond of peanut butter and crackers for lunch or as a quick snack. He puts peanut butter in an empty film cannister (these things are GREAT for so many things - for instance, cream cheese for that bagel mentioned above) and uses fairly thick type crackers that won''t crush easily (triscuits are good, so are the thicker dip-sized Ritz and others). Another favorite with some of our guys is tuna. You can purchase tuna in sealed pouches instead of cans - actually there are many varieties of fully cooked fish and meats that can be purchased this way. We''ve had boys that insisted on buying the Mountain House type meals, but some have learned over time that they could make up their own version for less expense and tastier too. For instance, you can buy the packages of precooked rice (the kind that you can microwave in the pouch). The pouch can also be placed in boiling water to heat, or you can add some boiling water to the pouch, close and let sit for a couple of minutes. If you also add in some of the precooked meat mentioned above, it is a very tasty meal, very filling for two boys, and less expensive than the prepackaged backpack meals. Your point about not having refrigeration is good, but also remember too that some items just don''t travel well. It only takes one trip for a new Scout to find out that the PBJ sandwich Mom or Dad packed just isn''t very appetizing after bouncing around in a backpack for half a day! Our older Scouts always go over what to bring and give examples of food and demonstrations of preparation for the new guys, but someone ALWAYS shows up with that mushy soggy PBJ for lunch. The one thing our guys do very well is have little to no cleanup after meals on backpack trips. Carrying water for cooking and drinking is heavy, so they try to limit how much they have to bring. This probably isn''t an issue with your canoe trip, but something to think about for future trips.

I was at work. Heard about the first plane to hit the towers. Didn''t think much of it at first. Sporadic news at work - internet news feeds mostly. Then, heard about the plane hitting the Pentagon. Oldest brother works there. Serious concern at that point. So many conflicting stories coming in through the gossip mongers at work I just had to go home and listen to the TV news myself. Worried about my brother. I knew where my brother worked at the Pentagon and the news reports suggested the building was hit in the area where my brother would be. Husband came home that evening after playing golf. Didn''t turn on his car radio so had no idea what was going on. He came into the house and saw his wife (me) glued to the TV with a look he says "I never want to see again." Still worried about my brother at the Pentagon. You see, I knew he worked in the area of the building that was hit. No word from him, no word from his family. We all waited.... Next day, some time in the afternoon I heard from his wife that he was OK, but couldn''t come home - injured a bit - and working the damaged area in the Pentagon - he was pulling out bodies - his friends - people he worked with. Horrible Day and days after. Brother suffers still, so much death and destruction, friends lost.

Welcome to the forum, clc5105. In my post, I mentioned my son who is closing in on his Eagle requirements. He is our younger son. Older son, now in his 3rd year of college, is an ASM with our troop and attends as many outings as he can. He is an Eagle that is giving back to his troop, along with the time he gives to our Council through our OA Lodge and summer camp. Sadly, there just are not many of them out there. Congrats to you and your son for continuing to be active with your troop - even after your son earns his Eagle. We need more folks like you.

The recent thread Eamonn is referring to is so common in our area. If a parent gets involved with his/her son in the Troop (and that itself is a big IF), it has been my experience that they only stick around as long as their son is still involved in Scouts. Very few adult leaders in our District are in it for the boys - all the boys - and not just their son. It certainly explains the high turnover rate of ASMs and SMs in our young troop and others as well. I thought it was interesting the other day when my husband was asked "your son is close to getting Eagle, guess you''ll quit Scouting then, too." Husband''s first response was that he didn''t think his (our) son considered earning Eagle as a quitting point in Scouts. But his second response caught me off guard a bit. He said that after nine years as a Scout Leader, he is just now getting the hang of it, he''s having a lot of fun, and figures he''ll be in it as long as the need is there. My sentiments exactly.

Hey folks, before you start passing around the popcorn, better check out the latest news on "popcorn lung," a serious lung disorder brought about by inhaling the steam containing the flavoring chemical diecetyl when opening a bag of microwaved butter flavor popcorn.