RememberSchiff

We define cold weather camping by the extra gear brought to stay dry (layers), warm (bag liner) , and sometimes mobile (crampons, snowshoes). Good exercise for QM's and PL's to extend 3-season gear into winter and keep scouts safe.

Election Day, please remember to vote (Like) early and often.

Yes I bolded the author's content. Interesting how recent forum topics are calling for a return to focusing on the outdoors, character building, community service, leadership ...

Update: 10/19 Sea Scout Ship 198 is back afloat. On Oct. 18, the Sea Scouts took to the water once again with a trip to Cape May, N.J., capping off their trips for the 2019 year. This October, four members of the troop qualified for the William I. Koch International Sea Scout Cup at the Northeast Regional Race. Sarah Krajewski and Ellie Cerchio placed first in the competition, while Carson Watts and Chris Dean placed third, beating out Sea Scout groups from all over the East Coast. More details at source: https://www.capegazette.com/article/lewes-sea-scouts-return-water-after-boat-fire/191364

Another well-considered article about the importance of character building for future "elites" (leaders)...the importance of aṣabiyyah The American Interest : How Do America's Elites Stack Up? by Seth D. Kaplan. lecturer at John Hopkins University ... "As a start, the (educational) institutions that select and groom elites need to prepare them for stewardship, as Weber argued. The overemphasis on merit and achievement (and wealth) has reduced the importance of character and virtue among elites, undermining the values and norms that once predominated across society, with a clear impact on everything from the political arena to the financial markets to the dating scene. This requires transforming how young adults are trained and evaluated. Schools should bolster civic education and character-building programs (for example, the Boy Scouts, at least in its original form), and evaluate students on moral behavior as well as through test scores. Universities and graduate schools should prioritize personal character in applicants. Essay questions today probe for volunteerism and a commitment to helping society, but schools interpret these as another form of achievement. Curriculum should encourage cooperating with stakeholders, responding to the public good, and being invested in a particular place instead of pursuing individual ambition alone. For example, MBA students are often taught that profit-making is the primary—or only—objective of a business in the United States; in other countries (such as Germany, Japan), education, culture, and government policy make the needs of employees, the location of operation, and the broader society just as important. (American politicians who bully companies, such as President Trump, have a point, even if their method is crude and comes late in the game.) Student and business leaders need a renewed focus on the moral sentiments—what we owe others—that Adam Smith saw as the essential underpinning to capitalism. How do we better understand our duties to others? A national service program would give elites experiential knowledge and greater connectivity with other Americans. Higher incentives for living, working, and opening social capital building organizations in less well-off neighborhoods might encourage more people not just to signal their concern but actually to make a personal sacrifice for the benefit of the country. Encouraging elite undergraduate and graduate schools to instill a code of conduct and to mandate or at least strongly encourage service in an impoverished area, similar to Teach for America, would help change values. Instead of just promoting semesters abroad, they could also promote semesters of service at home. Tuition could even be reduced or forgiven for commitments to serve in a rural or inner urban city job for a minimum of five years." ... "The problem is how the culture currently frames this (social) contribution (by elites) . What is valued is not what is needed." https://www.the-american-interest.com/2019/10/30/how-do-americas-elites-stack-up/

Psychology Today Nov 1, 2019: I've had a ritual with my son for a number of years now. It started when he went off to college, 3,000 miles away from home. Whenever he was going to parties or out with friends or on a date, I would simply text him an eagle emoji to remind him that he is an Eagle Scout and that he should always behave like one. He’d always reply with the response, “Always!” The character education and life skills taught in scouting are invaluable and perhaps needed now more than ever in our very challenged society. Good article: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/do-the-right-thing/201911/are-the-boy-scouts-still-relevant-and-worthwhile-today

Boy Scouts in Virginia helped the Frederick County Sheriff’s office convert a van into an incident response vehicle, they also helped put together a new command post that has satellite service. Boy Scout, Jonathan Williams says this project is part of his path to becoming an Eagle Scout. “It’s really hard getting up to a Life Scout, service hours are the hardest part, but I figured this one would be good because this will help save lives”, Williams said. Sergeant Dave Ellinger helped make the project possible. He says the idea came from their 1033 program which transfers excess military equipment to civilian law enforcement agencies. “They said they had a command bus they were trying to convert over but was too much of a project but they wanted it to go to someplace that would use it. Jonathan was looking for an Eagle Scouts project it would take six or eight weekends to get it done it would have an impact for a long time,” Ellinger said. Both vehicles were fixed from top to bottom with new interior design, computers, radios and more. the boy scouts had the ultimate hands on experience.... Video and more details at source. https://www.localdvm.com/news/virginia/boy-scouts-in-virginia-work-on-a-community-project-with-law-enforcement/ Mod note" This Frederick County Sheriff's office has a solid history of working with scouts and Explorers. Scout Salute.

To paraphrase Captain Ramius . Give him a thumb. One thumb only, please.

Mod note: Please remember this is a Contest not a Survey, your input matters and your vote counts! Thanks, RS P.S. And there will be a SurPrise.

I am looking at other non-profit organizations (4-H, Boys & Girls, Y, Red Cross) for better ideas. It strikes me as odd that the Executive Committee controls and not serves the Executive Board. No oversight. IMO, a see Chapter 11 addressing this, should be interesting. Initial ideas: 1. Fix the inconsistent and confusing nomenclature used in By-Laws! 2. The CSE should be the only member of the Executive Committee serving on Executive Board . CSE may not be Chairman of Executive Board. 3. Big Three downsized to a CSE (business) and Chief Scout (program, PR). 4. Reduce size of Executive Board but raise their meeting quorum to 50% or better (phone, txt, email). 5. Advisory Council should be member-elected (us) , selects Executive Board Members , and presents action items to Executive Committee. My $0.01.

P.S. My understanding from the 2017 Annual Report, (2018 Annual Report did not have this information) please correct me if wrong . Note the Annual Report and By-Laws use different names for committees. Quorums were finally specified in the 2019 By-Laws. National Executive Committee ( called National Council in By-laws) is comprised of 16 National Officers which includes the Big Three. According to By-Laws, quorum is 50%, 8 members. National Executive Board ( called Executive Board in By-laws) is comprised of "no more than 64 regular members", currently around 76 individuals. By-Laws specify members shall include Executive Board (16), Members of Regional Executive Committees and Area Commissioners, Local Council Representatives, Members at Large, Special Members. According to By-Laws, quorum is just 5%, so only 4 members needed. A lot of red flags here. Advisory Council is comprised of about 66 individuals chosen by Executive Board and are mostly from local councils. The Chairman of the Advisory Council serves as a Special Member of above Executive Board.

Hmm, I was not aware of this. Interesting idea.

Sorry about that, OP is now Verdana font . I hope that is more pleasing and web safe where original MS Comic Sans was not. ~ RS

National Executive Committee and National Executive Board too, but it will probably take Chapter 11 to get it done.

We helpful scouter.com moderators were brainstorming marketing slogans to help a fellow scouting forum beset by unhappy members when we soon realized that we too lacked a marketing slogan. What to do? Hire a marketing firm? Not us, we shall have a contest of wit, whimsy, and wisdom among us. The Contest is to write a slogan for scouter.com. Contestants will be any member or moderator of scouter.com Rules: Follow Scout Oath and Law. Only one entry per post (for voting purposes), but you may submit as many entries as you wish. The more the merrier. The Winner will be determined by the most Like votes received by Nov 8, midnight PST. Other votes- Thanks , Up/Down arrows will not be counted. The winner will be named on Nov 9. Prize: We will have a SurPrise . Let the Contest begin

I am not against bringing tech along for safety or to supplement our outdoor program,, however I have a problem bringing a home entertainment system along. If the PLC came up with this idea or other tech ideas (solar panel to recharge phones, ham radio, weather station, game cameras on an outing), IMHO it would have to be within the Outdoor Code, specifically Be considerate in the Outdoors. Another $0.02 from an old fogey who listens to owls ,

Yes I omitted product references in OP. I found "story" while researching weather-rated, wireless speakers for my security system. "Too cold for a manhunt" and "speakers at full volume" in the back-country perplexes me.

Back in the day, we acted shadow creatures using a white sheet and flashlights...or watched the stars. Recently, ten scouts and three leaders from two local Scouts BSA Troops from Montgomery, Alabama embarked on an overnight canoeing adventure,” explained McNew. “We were canoeing part of the Coosa River, which is a local whitewater river in Wetumpka, Ala., and camping on an island. The rule in our troops on normal campouts is that if it's not warm enough to play manhunt in the evening or at night near our campsite, then I’ll show a movie instead… On this particular occasion, McNew explained that since the clearing on the island was so small and they were all packed in so close to the fire pit, there was no way to safely have a campfire, nor room to have a campfire program. “So, instead, an old bed sheet was tied between two trees and two wireless speakers were tied to the trees on either side of the screen so we could watch a movie,” McNew said. “The wireless speakers work so much better than other options in a remote situation like this as there is no discernible lag in audio and they provide true stereo sound. ...Everyone enjoyed watching the movie before heading off to bed. Simple set up and simple tear down.” McNew added that during another recent shakedown hike leading up to his troop’s Philmont trek this summer, he decided to add about three pounds to each Scout's pack to account for some of the crew gear that they would have to carry this summer. “Each time we hiked about nine miles on the Pine Mountain Trail in Georgia with each Scout carrying one of the following: one of five speakers with a battery, the projector, the tripod, or the screen with a battery to power the projector,” McNew explained. “The Scouts were more than happy to carry the extra weight knowing that they'd be watching a movie that night. So we were in a backcountry campsite at least a mile from the nearest other campers with the speakers at full volume surrounding the Scouts watching the movie... Source: https://www.twice.com/the-wire/boy-scouts-of-america-troop-goes-skaa-wireless-when-with-mother-nature

1. Upfront, National needs to respect and trust volunteers. Respect their time and money investment. Respect their privacy. Trust them to do their best in safely delivering the program. 2. Listen and respond to their feedback. 3. Train remembering #1 and #2. My $0.02

YES! When I was a Cub Scout in the 60s we still had arrow points, no plastic beads. No instant recognition either! More about Fun and Do than Bling. When I became a DL and WDL, I dug out the old stuff. We built crystal radios on wood breadboards, made kites from scratch (Cubs were some impressed with my target kite) whittled neckerchief slides and PWD cars, used hand tools, assembled a covered wagon, rode bikes, went to the shelter and walked dogs, climbed trees (that was a requirement back in the day), made Christmas gifts for parents... the new books were just used for parent sign off, not thrifty. Before kids were called "makers", they were called "scouts". Lets get that back. My $0.02

Same Boy Scout troop 175, now with a female Boy Scout troop 1175, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for the third time this past summer. Good information about what makes a strong program - scout lead, adventure, outdoor-experienced (not trained in classroom) leaders ....a little risk goes a long way in building the Scouts’ character. “We’ve engineered risk out of almost everything for teenagers these days,” Mead said. “One of the great things about a Scouting program is that it’s allowed to go into these environments where you don’t know what’s going to happen. We find on these trips, while we do strong safety overlays, it challenges people. You can’t suddenly go home. You are in hostile environments sometimes and you can’t just bail out. That’s an unusual experience.” ~ Scoutmaster Brad Mead “We run these types of trips every summer for our older scouts. We have taken them deep into the Amazon Jungle, sailing down the Belize Reef, exploring through Thailand, Rafting down the Zambezi River (Zambia Africa), SCUBA diving in Honduras, sailing through the Greek islands, and even a cultural expedition in Cuba,” said Scoutmaster Mead. “Properly prepared, teenagers can do extraordinary things. The Scouting BSA program provides those opportunities.” More details of experience and photos at sources: https://www.courant.com/community/simsbury/hc-va-simsbury-boy-scouts-mount-kilimanjaro-20191031-20191029-3t4wrtft5bfjlcrxvi2qzdrd3a-story.html http://simsburytroop175.org/troop-news/simsburys-bsa-troops-175-and-1175-on-top-of-africa/ We are proud of our adult leadership at Troop 175. It’s deep and experienced. Our Adult leaders have camped, climbed, fished, hunted and explored on many expeditions. They are all great teachers. In addition we have a very high participation by the Dads in our Troop and it is not unusual to have 10-15 dads on a trip. No experience is necessary and if you were never a Scout as a boy this is your second chance to learn the ropes. We have a Dads/Leaders Patrol, the “Usual Suspects,” on each trip and we eat very well (a source of some pride and a fair bit of competition) and share a lot of experiences as Dads and as professionals from all walks of life. Our Troop is Boy Led and our Boy Leaders are selected by the adult leadership based on their performance and ability to lead. The senior patrol leaders and patrol leaders share their wisdom and pass on their knowledge to the younger Scouts through our trip and advancement programs. The Boy Scouts is one of the very few organizations where boys can be put in leadership positions at ages as young 12. Good leaders often appear early and the fun of Scouting is watching them "take the lead". Troops are only as good as the boys who want to step up and take charge and the adult volunteers who are there to assist. This years boy leaders are:.... https://sites.google.com/site/simsburyboyscouts175/about/troop-leadership (older link, likely before girl membership ~RS)

I have wondered if there was an earlier radio net(s) similar to scouter.com K2BSA Radio Station

Hmm, I wonder if we could replace World Citizenship merit badge requirement with a WOSM scouting organization badge of a scout's choice. Sure, there will be some logistics and safety issues or maybe we piggyback with online course providers EdX, Coursera, etc.

LOL

Agreed. My recommendation, go back to old Tenderfoot requirements with its simple focus of Being Prepared for first campout. Get rid of Scout rank. All kids who join are scouts who start work on Tenderfoot requirements. Another $0.02