LindaBob

Sorry that I didn't see you question till now. It was in November of 2009, perhaps the same church, Epiphany Catholic Church, I believe.

That's interesting, Badger. It just shows how different courses have their own customs. Some use Ravens as critters, some don't, etc. BDPT00, that was funny about not mattering "a hoot", but our Owl Patrol did indeed have blue as their color. I know those patches and pins don't match up perfectly to our course's color scheme, but where we used those colors primarily was in our temporary patrol flags...the ones we used before we made our own patrol flags for the second weekend. The colors associated with the various critters, at least in the beginning when we used the generic critter flags, helped establish "patrol identity". On the second weekend, I presented my patrol mates with custom orange name badges with our own totem as part of the design. Here is the color rundown for our course: Beavers = Red Bobwhites = Orange Eagles = Yellow Foxes = Green Owls = Blue Bears = Black Buffaloes = Purple Antelopes = Brown Ravens = White (yes, it's funny that Ravens are "white"!)

My official leather WB woggle is 4-bight. During the course, we made 5-bight woggles out of white cord. During the second course weekend, our Troop Guide presented us with 5-bight woggles of orange cord, as the Bobwhite Patrol in our course is associated with the color orange.

A staffer from my course has since left me a message stating that the staff decided it was a good idea to make the 360 a mandatory ticket item, and the syllabus didn't actually prohibit them from doing that. Any thoughts about that? lrsap, that's funny, but it does sound like they are "adding to the requirements". I felt a bit foolish asking other Wood Badgers about the 360 on their tickets, and having them give me a strange look like they didn't know what I was talking about. The way our course was delivered, I thought that the 360 was always part of a Wood Badge ticket. I appreciate everyone's input.

Thanks for the replies. In my Wood Badge course (C-37-09), the 360 was required to be one of our ticket items, so I just thought that all Wood Badge courses were that way. I just started finding out yesterday that other courses didn't require it, and that it was "strongly recommended" in at least two other courses in my region. I guess the leadership of the individual courses can make it mandatory if they want to?

For those who've attended 21st Century Wood Badge, I'd like to know if the 360 self-assessment was a required ticket item, or whether it was only "strongly recommended". Many thanks! LindaBob

I got a few tips ahead of time from another gal who'd gone through the course. 1) A seat cushion for those hard benches (a lifesaver!) 2) Flip-flops to wear in the shower (great idea!) 3) A box of craft items as someone else mentioned with leather and/or vinyl laces, wooden and/or plastic beads, feathers, blank leather discs, glue, a wooden mallet and a hole punch that you drive through the leather with the mallet. Linda

When our veteran unit number changed to 60 this year, I wanted to order a patch with all the numbers plus our hometown on it, as I had seen with a different unit. Then I discovered that BSA discourages the hometown to be on it, which is why you can't order the hometown on the patch from BSA supply. The reason given was that certain towns in a given locality might be thought of as more "elite" than others. B-P wanted uniforming to equalize all Scouts, regardless of economic class, etc.

Thanks T, kcs, and LisaBob...it's so nice to meet all of you. kcs, are you planning to take the WB course in Pine Ridge? I sure hope it works out for you! Here are some things that I brought on another Wood Badger's recommendation that weren't on the "to bring" list: Flip-flops for the shower, and a sit-upon (some kind of seat cushion) that fits into your day pack, because you will be sitting on hard benches a lot. So glad I did! I used to be a Bobwhite... C-37-09

I'm a widowed Scout mom who started as a Music MB counselor, got my Adult Leader Training in Fall of '08, and just went through the Wood Badge course in May of '09. I'm training chair for my troop and have also helped revive Order of the Arrow participation. I love to write song lyrics to familiar tunes for all Scouting occasions! I used to be a Bobwhite... C-37-09

Thanks so much for the links, JFL...very interesting!

Thanks so much for the links, JFL...very interesting!

Owl62, Your last post matched up with my recent Wood Badge class, except that we also had a Raven patrol, which used the color white.