kraut-60

Our Troop really enjoys visiting Eagle Cave in SW WI. No meals to prepare, no duty roster, just getting good-n-dirty crawling through the nooks and crannies and sleeping in a real cave for an overnighter. we also go bicycling on the Sparta-Elroy bike trail in Cent.WI

BW; The discussions we have had so far are very positive ones...no gripefest yet...and as the RTC, I would steer the discussion to solutions and not just belly-achin and sour-grapes. I intend to implement the "will to do" and "skill to do" as well as encourage the fellowship that need to be a part of all Boy Scout Roundtables. I avoid teaching the "how to tie a knot" school of RT thought...I encourage new Scouters to go and take training when its offered for their given position in Scouting. I will include the dates/times/places/contact info for training in my district/council in what I call "The Roundtable Crib Sheet"...this is a hand-out I make up monthly that includes the monthly suggested program/theme with its corresponding weekly troop meeting outlines and monthly activity/campout outline. I include items of Scouting interest from sources on the internet as well as this forum. For the Cubbers and the Boy Scouters, I do a "knot of the month" that covers a knot that we wear...I describe the knot or show an example drawing of it and talk about what is required to earn the given knot and if there is a scoreboard/sign-off sheet for it, I have copies availible for those interested in it. For this years RTs, I plan to do a back-to basics section for each RT, this will cover the 8 methods of Scouting and will entail having myself or one of my staff describe the method and then open the floor to a roundtable discussion of how this method works for each attendee, or how its not working, so we may be able to offer solutions as a group. I want all attending our RT to be able to contribute to it. Each RT will also feature Patrol method emphasis. I am using the SM handbook and the PL/SPL handbooks in preparing my topics and discussions, as well as the troop committee guidebook. I am looking for ways to increase attendance at our RTs. Do you have any suggestions for that?

Great feedback here ladies and gents! One common thread through many replies is having two way discussions and making time to have them...I started to use this feature in my last years RTs to a greater level of participation.

Eagletrek; I became the BS/RT Comm. as a ticket item (WB C-19-06). I plan to continue as BS/RT Comm. I do enjoy a cuppa joe though...I have had some increased participation with the forum model of comparing notes across the table...seems all attending want to have a turn at what works or dont work and hear how others are doing it. I like the comment re; training newer Scouters...perhaps having an RT just for this purpose would help? I could see having the "veteran" scouters help pull this off. Good feedback, keep it coming. ps...I agree, the "ounce-o-mints"(announcements) could be just as effectively e-mailed...and cut the yawn factor too.

I serve as the Boy Scout Roundtable commissioner for my district and I am entering my third year of service in that capacity. I would like to hear from members of the forum on what they would want at a Boy Scout Roundtable...feedback is a gift...thank you for listening, I look forward to everyones input.

OGE; Any explanation regarding my inflammatory statement will likely fall short of satisfying the answers your post demands. What I posted was rude, arrogant and un-scoutlike...I would like to offer my apology to any I have offended by my ill-mannered post that equated the Democratic Party as the National Socialists of the present times. I would ask you here OldGreyEagle to please suspend my membership in this forum...its clear I am out of my depth here and dont deserve the priveledge of posting in this forum.

Who should retain the blue card for a partially completed MB? The Scout applying for the MB or the SM or Adv.Chair from the TC?

Its a safe bet the moderators could be Organians...but certainly not Ekosians.

GaHillBilly; Packsaddle got the answer 'fore I could reply, and he's right..we are fortunate to have this forum...back to topic, boy howdy and jeepers palomino, does Sarah ever have 'em checkin their sixes to see if any tail feathers are left...I love the fact we still have a few REAL leaders that arent career politicians...John McCain and Sarah Palin...Change that makes sense!

GaHillBilly; You drew fire by benefit of my post in the now closed thread "GOP sez pregnant at 17 ok" in the issues and politics section. I brought the ire of the moderator down on myself as I posted what amounted to a violation of "Godwins Law". I agree with your post that genocide on an astronomical scale was not the exclusive domain of the German government in power between 1933-1945. Fell free to PM me where we can discuss our views without the PC polezei looking on.

Keeping the originals is at best very unlikely and I see it as unrealistic to expect a Scout to retain all the MB apps he has earned. The Advancement Detail Report I get from our local service center/scout shop shows all the ranks and merit badges a scout has earned and kept on record with council, providing of course, that the advancement reports were/are kept up to date. This is the paperwork we use to check and ensure an Eagle candidate has all his rank and MBs on record for the EBOR and to verify nothings missing.

Well, seeing as I am fresh from my most recent "loss" for my side in the closed topic of pregnant teenagers...I am already to shift the focus and fire of that discussion to the lefts favorite field leveler...PC, political correctness. I see PC as little more than the strategy of the loser in an argument where fact is trumped by feelings of "this isnt fair"..."I'm offended by...", in other words, that truth and fact are all re-negotiable provided we get the result that suits our argument or purpose. Godwins Law is pure PC. Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that the PC shells seem to land on the Right most of the time? I may be defined by my point of view and politics...but I will never invoke the PC POV in my beliefs and ideas...the biggest of which is the left has always represented a strictly socialist agenda that seeks to mandate mediocrity for all in the name of "fairness". Political correctness at its extreme existance would likely resemble the Soviet Union of the late 1920s...one party, one leader, one class of people, health care for all, severe penaltys for any that refuse to join the utopian workers paradise...Communism...the cancer of the twentieth centurys largest failure in government...millions of lives snuffed out and millions of lives stunted in their spiritual growth as only "PC" thoughts and printed words were allowed. History was also revisited by the soviets...people that were noted and prominent members of that society were jailed and/ or liquidated...simply on the whim of the leader. These people were literally airbrushed out of photographs...like they never even existed! Familys and values meant little to such creatures that communists are and were...but PC mattered, it was after all the strategy of the lie that lent the socialists/communists the so-called validity they based their ideologies on...Think about it!

Experience? I would only be retracing the steps of many others on the trail that is become the subject known as Sarah Palin if I were to offer why I feel she is the right person for the position she aspires to...I simply feel she shares a common vision for the America we can be with the American people she came from...the middle class, blue collar, union member, firearms owner, family centered...God fearing. When we came to be Scouters, were we experienced? Maybe a little, but probably not as much as we needed to be...so we sought training and mentoring, we attended the training we needed for the positions we found ourselves serving in...we persevered because we believe in why we're here and what we're doing...Sarah will do just fine so long as she has the fire in her eye of patiotism and remembers she serves the people who elect her. The pundits and pontificators can say what they want...but I do believe Sarah has 'em running a wee bit scared...GOOD!

Amazing! The very bunch to co-sign sexual irresponsibility(the left), are taking the Right to task on account of a pregnant girl who intends to marry the babys father and has the support of (at least)her family...You leftist socialists need first to take aim at the "Baby Mommas" and the fluid donors who impregnated them, thus increasing the tax burden the middle class will be forced to fund in the name of decency and doing the right thing? The left in this country is on par with the NSDAP...look it up, they too promised cradle to grave care...what they delivered on above all was grave! Think it couldnt happen in America? elect BO and find out! Rooster7; you and I have disagreed on other issues, but here I side with you and BW...the Democrats are the Nazis of the 21st century!

I like your Troop QM's procedures...very take charge and hold responsible. If you are so large as to have 65 Scouts, you might consider limiting the Scouts able to draw equipment at the designated times to the Patrol QM or a patrol member designated by the Patrol Leader as the acting Patrol QM.

Allright OGE...back to topic! I will cast my vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin. I see these people having beliefs, ideas and values nearly reflecting my own. Sen. McCain also gets my vote for his being a veteran as well as a POW who didnt accept the offer of parole the North Vietnamese government offered him as a consequence of his fathers then position as CinCPac (commander in chief-pacific). He kept the faith of a warrior and a patriot...he is a leader then and now. Sarah Palin may not have the longest track record of a person serving the public interest, but my impression of her is that she knows that she must serve the people who elected her...whether it was the constituents of Wasilla AK...the people of the state of Alaska, or now the citizens of the United States...she is a leader. While I will not vote for Mr.Obama and Mr. Biden, should they be elected, I will give them my support as every true American SHOULD DO...irregardless of any sour grapes. The Presidency is an office that I wouldnt want for myself, but I believe we need to respect those that step up and bear up the mantle of a overall consuming public service. And we need to stop laying the blame for everything that goes wrong at the doorstep of the White House...We are Americans...we won 2 world wars...we sent men to the moon...we outlasted the Soviet Russian threat to world peace...we are capable of working from the community level in bettering ourselves, our cities and towns, states and ultimately our country,....and perhaps the world.

Sorry John, What I supposed would have been referred to as NLE after 2002 and was for new scout leaders at the time...the name it was called doesnt readily come to memory...any other items you care to nit-pick me for? Or is correcting errors on others posts your main purpose here?

Because they can? Parties change? People change? I dont really have a good answer why people will switch allegiences...

F- Scouter, I'd have to guess they were traveling in uniform.

Cub Scout NLE Sep 99 Cub Scout den ldr specific Oct 99 Boy Scout OLS Apr 04 Boy Scout SM specific Apr 04 WB C-19-06 finis ticket 3-08 UC specific 10-07

I just seen a pair of the new greener switchbacks in supplex nylon at our scout shop friday...they seemed identical to the olive green originals until I examined the lower legs...NO zippers to accomodate removing the lower legs while wearing boots...BIG MISTAKE! If you get these new pants and intend to hike in them, be ready to pay a seamstress to hem them AND put in lower leg/ankle zips. You can elect to leave them zipper-less but must still be hemmed. I dont "get" why the switchback originals had to be changed regarding the functional feature of allowing the wearer to remove the lower leg portions...just to accomodate the "need" for hemming to fit? I wear a 30" inseam but settled for 3 pair of the original SBs with 32" inseam as thats all that was availible...extra length? sure...solution? Get a pair of elastic straps about 1" wide, slip 'em over the boot and blouse the bottoms of the pant leg in...keeps the pants from getting walked on and frayed, plus looks cool and prevents stuff from going up the leg and in the boot top...or zip off the tops when the morning heats up enough. Does anyone posting here know if their scout shops are/will continue to sell the older Switchbacks?...the one nearest to me (Janesville WI) has cleared the shelve of all the older uniforms for the new "Visine" uniform (got the red out).

Rooster7; Whatever "Catch-22" you perceive, and credit me with inventing is not my exclusive domain...I've met and talked with many good people who think and live similar beliefs. I in no way will be drawn into debating interpretations of the bible...especially in light of the fact that it was heavily edited by the "church" and its leaders to reflect the "beliefs" they thought suitable for consumption by the masses...many books were omitted and/or banned because they didnt measure up to what the "leaders" of the church felt was suitable for the people they "served". Religion is a fine thing...when taken in moderation and small doses. I am quite weary of the proselityzing that must be endured by many in public forums...and am especially tired of having bible verse trotted out and quoted as if doing so embellishes one with moral authority. I am grateful to live in our great country because people here can beleive freely in their own interpretation of God...being preached at by anyone who doesnt share my views, but takes them to task while assuming a moral authority is annoying and marks them as a religous fanatic...I hope you draw comfort from your beliefs...but do not denigrate mine for NOT matching yours. Kindly mind your own business.

I believe in God...I believe God is an "inside job", meaning I know that a pressence I sense and feel emmanates from within myself...I can draw comfort and direction from a dogma practiced and celebrated by others of like values and shared within the identity collectively known under the name a faith professes to be known as...hence a "religion". I was raised to be a member of the United Church of Christ, the UCC seems to be very liberal and inclusive of all. At this point in my life...I am not active within the church...this has not diminished my belief in a Supreme Being or entity, nor do I hold indifferance to those who are active members of any given faith. I feel that I enjoy a good sense of inner direction that comes from the "God is an inside job" perspective. Do not take this to mean that I am above any others beliefs or see myself better or smarter by benefit of my beliefs. For me, chuches and the varied faiths offer guidance and spiritual direction to those of an open mind and heart willing to trust outside theirself for answers they may not posess...Some people need religion more than others, some can find their own way, while being good people and being good citizens and the kind of people a community is made up of. We should not compartmentalize faith and claim one is better than others...throughout history, religion all too often was at the center of many conflicts that had great ammounts of human suffering...this is not an endearing point to look back on, however we live in the year 2008...perhaps we can look beyond the differances our many varied faiths enmesh and strive to evolve beyond the "us versus them" mindset, faith and religion should be a comfort to those who choose to participate within the given dogma of any religion... And one should also be free to follow inner direction...if one has it and uses it wisely.

Two Bear Scout Reservation. Was located near Weyerhauser Wisconsin. I believe its last season as a Scout camp was 1983. It was originally the Scout camp for the Stateline Council which merged with the Indian Trails Council in 1965 to become the Sinnissippi Council, which merged with Four Lakes Council to become Glaciers Edge in 2005.

I am a dedicated external frame pack user. The benefits offered by the EFP (external frame pack) have been gone over here so far and I will not repeat them. My son and I both use Jansport Carson 90 EFPs. My son first used a Jansport Scout, and he was happy with its performance , but noted that it lacked a cinch strap for the shoulder straps (another Scout I serve with has modified his Scout model EFP with a cinch strap salvaged from a dead Coleman hydration pack). I hiked at Philmont in '06 (crew 731-F), and I had no problems with my Carson 90...well, I had a small problem WAY before we left on the trek (during shakedowns) that was the draw-tight feature of the hip belt would loosen up a bit while hiking with the pack at trail weight(55lbs). The hip belt has a tightening system that has the wearer pull the slack towards the wearers center...what I did was put 2 keeper buckles on the straps and then a quick release buckle...the keeper buckles keeep the loose ends from folding under and the second keeper buckle ensures the hip belt doesnt loosen up. I would recommend this pack to anyone...especially those who ARE NOT experienced backpackers as I know the EFP is more forgiving of how its packed and does seem to carry more. Also, for trail hiking, such as found at Philmont...the EFPs just plain work. I have to mention regarding bungees as posted here before me...I wouldnt use a bungee to afix gear to a pack...but they are handy as all get out when you need to hang your pack up against a good sized tree trunk to keep them off the ground. Unfortunately, Jansport does NOT offer a rain cover for the Carson 90 or Carson 80 (both EFP), but the Granite Gear raincover from the tooth of time traders at Philmont works GREAT! and its BIIGG! It'll cover the pack and the tent,thermorest, even my folding stool. Jansport Carson 80 or 90...a good pack, and it lasts...get one,if you can.