RememberSchiff

Historically, cowboys who carried revolvers left the hammer on an empty chamber to prevent misfire. Not an issue with modern revolvers. With semi's, we are trained to carry/draw with a round in the chamber. Would you have time or a hand available to rack the slide? Maybe, maybe not. Back to OP, we used .22's (even during ammo shortage a few years back) for Rifle Shooting merit badge. Firearms are tools and as such require training for their safe use . Safe is the gotcha - proper eye and ear protection is not cheap . Lead cleaning hand soap is often over-looked. Secure firearm storage and cleaning are musts. An interesting question to pose, say you are in a public area and you see a handgun lying there, unattended in full view what do you do? 1. Call 911 and leave area, tell others to stay away. Guns are dangerous and we don't want to disturb existing fingerprints. 2. Call 911 and make the firearm safe - point in a safe direction and unload it. 3. Call 911 and listen to dispatch instructions. 4. Something else or does the answer depend who you are and your firearm experience. My $0.02

IMO, a typical, non-engaged CO is less effective in selecting troop leadership than engaged parents. My $0.02

Related, a story of preventative measures at a scout camp done by the Job Corps forestry program. Job Corps is the nation’s largest free education and job training program for young adults from ages 16 to 24.

The teenager had been sawing off “widowmakers” for the past half hour — long branches periodically falling to the forest floor of Camp Baker (Oregon). He had just cut off a long one. However, instead of falling to the ground, the branch got caught in the lower tree limbs.... Bell is with the Yachats-based Angell Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center, which is working to clear an area so an ADA-accessible camp can be built at Camp Baker, considered one of the nation’s premier Boy Scouts of America camps. Job Corps is the nation’s largest free education and job training program for young adults from ages 16 to 24. While Angell works with a variety of trades, the group at Camp Baker are in the forestry program, which takes them to different sites around the region to learn in the field. Here, they’re taking out dying trees, cutting down dangerous branches from the living ones and making the place safe for Scouts. “Absolutely it’s dangerous,” Crunkilton said. “Once in a while they’ll get cuts and scrapes, but nothing major. The main purpose of the program, the main priority, is always safety. We’re teaching them the right way. It’s one of the most dangerous fields out there. Learning how to do it the right way is really important. We teach them all of our industry safety standards. If they’re running a chainsaw up in the tree, they always have two separate tie ins. In the event they cut one, it’s still there. There are always two hands on the saw. Wrap your thumbs.” Very interesting read at source: https://thesiuslawnews.com/article/top-of-their-field

Voting seems to be a common feedback method whether by feet or ballot. Odd that scouts elect their leaders in a troop but adults do not.

When local Boy Scouts Troop 1204 had its equipment trailer stolen in November, it lost camping supplies such as tents and lanterns and has an estimated value of about $5,000. Mt. Juliet, TN police Sgt. Cory Cook heard about the theft and began to think of ways the department could help the troop replace its trailer and camping equipment. So, he contacted Boy Scout Troop 911 to organize a service project at the department’s firearms training facility, and the scouts were able to collect more than 2,200 pounds of brass ammunition shells. The shells were swapped for cash, and it brought in $2,800 for Troop 911, which donated the proceeds to Troop 1204 to help cover the loss of the trailer. https://www.mtjulietnews.com/news/mt-juliet-police-sergeant-helps-boy-scout-troop-that-had-equipment-trailer-stolen/ Note scouts were outdoors, wearing gloves in photo above. Decline lead removal or other work in areas where lead has collected on surface as that requires special suits and protective gear. ~ RS

Take a break. Scouting will be here with plenty to do, AFTER you fully recover. ~ Rx from RS

Reminder: Public comment period ends soon January 22! To summit your comment https://www.savetheboundarywaters.org/?mc_cid=796bf110d5&mc_eid=b4ec4c1ca1 https://www.savetheboundarywaters.org/CommentPeriod2018

I think girls here will just wear recycled Boy Scouts of America (over right pocket) shirts.

During the government shutdown, lets help those also who help others at all times in all weather. Semper paratus. https://www.dvidshub.net/image/2833894/coast-guard-rescues-15-sea-scouts-1-adult-capsized-sailboat

Locking topic pending Moderator review.

Have you talked to SM's of other nearby troops?

In time,folks come to understand those methods are meant to achieve the aims of Scouting. They may argue that some methods are less important than others or not needed at all. " three things that seem to be frequently touted as what young people need for success in life: a formal education, a career path, and a "passion." I hear answers like this mostly from those with a career focus towards life - educators, employers. My older college graduate, entrepreneur son says you need a network, skills, and a passion. His employer is a MIT dropout akin to Jobs, Gates,.Dell, sigh at least Musk graduated. I hope my sons' lives will be balanced and not focused on a career. We need a new generation of involved citizens and when we find one, they get our vote. Consider the Girl Scout who at age 17 raised the minimum marriage age in New Hampshire and now she at 19 is an elected state representative. https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2018/12/04/cassandra-levesque-new-hampshire-state-representative My $0.02

Maybe @LeCastor and @WisconsinMomma can recruit her? I'd like to think that we scouters are supplying more people like her through Scouting - the Scout Oath and Law, YP, character building, good citizenship,... Ms. Nutter kept her head and followed her training while knowingly putting herself between a fleeing teenager and her kidnapper(s) who murdered both the teen's parents. Very Brave. Well done.

Yes. Agree to disagree, even if wrongly identified. " the improvement and continuation of Scouting in whatever form it works best. " or whatever form we have to work with? Thanks, RS @MattR @desertrat @LeCastor @John-in-KC

As you may know a kidnapped Wisconsin teenager escaped her captor and the first person she found was a retired child social worker Jeanne Nutter walking her dog Henry. Amazing, how at times, there is just the right person or group of people there at the right time when a need arises. She needed to be in a safe place. Safety, Safety, Safety, ... kids need to be safe...ask questions later, talk softly, few questions...dusk off my Child protection skills... no matter what I did that child was going to be safe - Jeanne Nutter. Scout Salute to Jeanne Nutter.

Ok then, we are getting off-topic. Perhaps this topic has run its course.

Richard Smith, 75, known to those on the trail and many in Canton as “Old Scout,” completed the Appalachian Trail hike in what is known as the “AT Flip-Flop.” Instead of hiking from Georgia’s Springer Mountain through to Maine’s Mount Katahdin, he hiked from Harpers Ferry in West Virginia to Maine, took a combination of trains and buses back to Harpers Ferry and completed the hike back to Springer Mountain in December. “Most people start their through-hike at Springer Mountain in Georgia and hike north to Mt. Katahdin. I didn't want to do it that way, because the trail (has) too many people hiking north at the same time. By doing a flip-flop, I avoided the crowds and had much more private time. There were days when I didn't see another person on the trail,” he said. ... Smith said some of his most fond memories are from hiking and camping with his son, who is an Eagle Scout in local Troop 465. “I tell everyone that I got as much out of Boy Scouts as he did. I never was a Boy Scout when I was a kid, but the scouting program has been an important part of my life,” Smith said. ... Hikers older than 70 account for only 2 percent of the through-hikes, while hikers ages 20 – 39 account for 70 percent. More at source https://www.tribuneledgernews.com/ledger/year-old-canton-resident-completes-appalachian-trail/article_88e061c8-15cb-11e9-b991-fbe801aba9ae.html

@Proudeagle welcome to scouter.com

In August, 1935, 30,000 Boy Scouts prepared for the Jamboree in Washington, D.C. President Roosevelt wanted "every nook and cranny of America represented in the Jamboree". Just before the jamboree, Roosevelt issued a Presidential Proclamation canceling the jamboree because of an outbreak of infantile paralysis (Polio). Some Scouts were in route by train when the word came of the Cancellation. Roosevelt had contracted polio earlier in 1921. Five scouts and their ASM from Madera, CA were preparing to leave on the train from Fresno, when the telegram came. “Don’t come to Washington D.C.” Their cross-country Plan B is retold in article: http://www.maderatribune.com/single-post/2019/01/10/Polio-didn’t-stop-Madera-Scouts https://history.oa-bsa.org/node/3143 In 1937, the rescheduled 1935 Jamboree was held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Madera scouts would be there. In 1938, President Roosevelt founded the organization that would later to known as the March of Dimes.

A parent's grief about losing the "Light" in their life. https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Cypress-Boy-Scout-s-legacy-lives-on-through-13524961.php “Scouting should be adventurous without being life threatening,” said father Stephen Knight, who is also an Eagle Scout. “If (the Boy Scouts) follow their own existing policies or improve the policies that they have in place, it could have led to a different result.” As a SM or ASM do you depend for the camp director or ranger to hit the siren or do you monitor weather and make the go call yourself? Have you found yourself and unit alone in seeking shelter? “Start everything with kindness, and the end will be OK.” - Elijah Knight, scout.

The chairwoman of Scouting Ireland’s board Aisling Kelly, a practicing attorney, has resigned after just three months in the position due to work commitments. Adrian Tennant has been selected as her replacement. "The current board has begun to introduce a series of emergency financial measures to deal with the cost of the unfolding abuse scandal, such as funding a victims’ support scheme. The board has suspended a 10 per cent rebate from local groups’ annual membership fees, that previously was paid back by the national office. The rebate had been paid towards providing support for the grassroots levels of the youth organisation. Membership fees in the organisation bring in close to €2 million, based on latest financial filings, meaning the decision could generate around €200,000. The board is also expected to make a decision on whether to increase membership fees in the coming weeks. Scouting Ireland has 40,000 juvenile members, and formed in 2004 following a merger of the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland and the Scout Association of Ireland. The majority of the 317 cases of alleged past abuse related to a period between the 1960s and the 1990s." Source: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/chair-of-scouting-ireland-to-leave-role-after-three-months-1.3752642

@AnotherDad welcome to scouter.com

@scotteg83 Was that Camp Hinds, Maine? Source https://www.pressherald.com/2018/08/08/tree-falls-on-unoccupied-cabin-at-scout-camp-in-raymond/

Jan 8, 2019 Update: His parents filed the wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday in State Court in Cobb County where the Atlanta Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America has its headquarters. Knight was crushed by a tree that fell on his tent during a thunderstorm on June 25 at Bert Adams Scout Camp. Knight and about 100 Boy Scouts from his Texas troop were camping at the 1,300-acre Covington camp, which is run by the Council.Representatives at the Council were not immediately available for comment Tuesday. more details at source https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/cobb-county/family-sues-atlanta-boy-scouts-after-son-killed-by-tree-while-camping/901143418