SWScouter

OneHour, On p. 5 of the Boy Scout handbook, it says, "A graduating Webelos Scout who has earned the Arrow of Light Award has completed the Boy Scout joining requirements. With the approval of his Scoutmaster, he will receive the Boy Scout badge upon joining the troop." To me this means that the only thing the new Scout needs to do is have the Scoutmaster Conference in order to receive the Scout badge. Are you saying that the new scout has to redo the rest of the joining requirements? SWScouter

So Gags, how did the campout go? Did it rain? Did you use plastic tarps? Did everyone stay dry enough? Enquiring minds want to know. SWScouter

I earn a good salary, live in a nice house, there is no lien on my truck and soon there won't be one on my wife's car either. I'm not extravagant but I like nice things and I tend to buy more on quality than price. I do spend time looking for the better deal. I'd have a lot of trouble plunking down $900 for a purse, even one for my wife. Yesterday my son and I went through his closet and dresser pulling clothes that no longer fit him or that he just isn't going to wear anymore. He sure has a lot of clothes. There's less now but he sure seems to have a lot more than I knew of. I wonder if it is possible for my family to go a month without buying a single piece of clothing. My wife says the kids grow, so no; I can easily go several. This weekend I was at an OA ordeal. There was a lot of neat lodge patches there. I'm not a big patch collector but there was a couple sets of patches that really caught my eye. I fretted over whether I should get them for most of the day. I figure for every dollar I spend on me, I need to match that for my wife if I want to keep the pain level low. I paid $80.50 for patches. I wonder what my wife will buy now. I know how much money I make and how much I spend on mortgage, utilities and other bills. I know how my family and I work to live within our means and save for our future. I know how my family and I concern ourselves with being able to afford this or that large purchase and how it may affect our lifestyle. I think we're doing pretty good, better than most. Yet I see a lot of people with cars and toys and such that would be a big burden for us. I really wonder how they can do it. I imagine I could too if I didn't concern myself with those things I mentioned above. SWScouter

As far as tips or tricks for having a den create their flag I have a couple. If it's just going to be free, form just let them go at it and have fun. If they want a logo on it, for example a fox like the den's I work with. Have them draw a good version of the logo the correct size, then trace it onto the flag. That way it can be placed correctly and they can have several chances to get it right. For the Fox Den's flag, my son drew a small version of the logo, a size he was comfortable with, and I scanned it into the computer and printed out the size we wanted and then traced it onto the flag. Obviously that would be tough to do on a campout. Good luck, SWScouter

When I became a den leader, the den purchased the standard den flag with the den number. The den used this flag through the wolf and bear years. They had no flag as tigers. Before the den crossed over to Webelos, the boys picked a critter (fox) as their den name for when they became Webelos. They designed a fox logo and put the logo on a new den flag that they (mostly my son and me)made. We have also made den t-shirts with the logo. The logo looks really good. I showed them a number of totems from fox woodbadge patrols and they modified one that they liked. The den has several ribbons and such that they have won/earned since they were wolfs that they display on the flag. It's really gotten hard to see the flag with all of the stuff hanging from it. The den brings the flag to most of the activities it does such as den and pack meetings, camp, etc. SWScouter

NIscouter, Yes I am. I'll PM you with how to send it to me. Thanks, SWScouter

Dug, Just to be a little picky, it's one term of 4 months and two of 6. Granted that's only 2 months less than 1.5 years. Also, they are "Positions of Responsibility," not leadership terms.

Hi Climber, Every scouter that attends Woodbadge training receives the tartan troop 1 neckerchief. Once a scouter has completed his ticket, then the troop 1 neckerchief is replaced with the "pink" one along with the woggle and beads. This should have occurred at the beading ceremony you saw. You might check out http://www.woodbadge.org for more information on Woodbadge and the regalia associated with it. SWScouter

After thinking about this for a bit and reading the other responses, I think what you should do is propose to the troop's adult leadership that it is high time that it starts to recommend adults for induction into the OA when it has OA elections. Explain that the troop has not been taking advantage of this in years past and it probably should start. The OA is the BSA honorary society and service organization and there is no reason that the troop scouters shouldn't be able to become a part of it. Personally, I would not bring up the fact that you want to become a member, but instead that any worthy adult scouter in the troop should be considered. I could not find anything on how a troop decides who to recommend to the lodge adult selection committee so I assume each troop can come up with its own procedure. Meamemg suggested it is the troop committee but I think it would be better for the troop leadership team (SM & SAs) to do it since they should be more aware of how the possible candidates interact with the boys and how he or she may be better able to serve the order. What I do know, is that this recommendation does not need to be made by members of the OA. SWScouter

Hi Laura, Scouters do not get elected to the OA like scouts do. Instead, they get recommended. When a troop has an OA election, if a scout is elected, then one adult from the troop may be recommended to the lodge adult selection committee. Once an adult has been recommended by the lodge adult selection committee and approved by the Scout Executive, then that adult is a candidate for induction into the OA. If the troop has more than 50 active scouts, then two adults may be recommended and so on for each additional 50 active scouts. That is, one adult may be recommended for each 50 active scouts as long as at least one scout is elected for induction into the OA. If you want to be recommended for induction to the OA, I recommend talking to the adults in your troop that will do the recommending and let them know your desire and why. SWScouter

I'm sure Baden-Powell wouldn't buy the pants. He'd buy the shorts. Personally, I have no problem with the pants or the shorts. I find both of them comfortable.

Laurie, I'm going to throw out the obvious. You also need a good Roundtable staff to help you plan and run the Roundtables. I'm on my district's Cub Roundtable staff. I run the Webelos breakouts and I would really like an another to help me and take over on those rare occasions I cannot attend. Best of luck, SWScouter

OneHour wrote, "at the OA Ordeals this past weekend, I met a young man who is about 16. He is only a tenderfoot." I find it interesting that a tenderfoot scout would be at an ordeal. I wonder why he was there... Back to the topic. Amouse, enjoy scouting. Others have already given you lots of good advice here. Look at your book, talk to your scoutmaster and make a plan. Good luck, SWScouter

Back in the 70s when I was a scout up near Seattle (read lots of wet camping), we NEVER used tents on backpacking trips. Each boy would bring a 10'x10' sheet of 4mil plastic. You can pick this up at any hardware store. What we did was one boy's sheet would be used as the ground cloth and another boy's sheet would be used as a tarp. We'd construct a lean-to or some such shelter with the tarp by tying a rope between trees and putting the tarp over. We would tie ropes to the corners of the plastic using small rock or pinecone. Use a two-half hitch on the tarp and taut-line for tying the end to a tree or stake (We never used stakes either; there are lots of trees and bushes to tie to in the PNW). For the ground cloth, roll the two uphill sides around some small sticks to ensure the water will go under it, not over if it does rain. Also, make sure the edges are well under the tarp. Good luck and have a fun adventure! SWScouter

Yesterday at the den meeting, we measured how the boys did on a number of things like push-ups and pull-ups for the Athlete Activity Badge. They are supposed to show improvement in 30 days (Yes, it's a lot like tenderfoot requirements 10a & 10b). It was very helpful to be able to demonstrate how to do pull-ups and push-ups. Especially the push-ups, young boys seem to have a lot of trouble figuring out how to keep their body straight. Of course, if a person is not able, due to previous injury or something else, effective demonstrations can be achieved without actually performing the activity. I think we're getting a bit off topic, sorry. SWScouter

ScoutNerd, I really don't want to bare with you. I will, however, bear with you. I really hope no one is advocating that an obese scouter is a person that cannot be a good positive influence for the scouts. I certainly wouldn't want to condone that. What bothers me though, and I see it a lot, as I'm sure many of you do too, is people that are obese (or whatever) through their own vices. I think this is a really big problem with our society and as such is in scouting in the US too. There are a lot of fat families out there. Mother, Father, and children. I imagine that nine times out of ten (or more) that it is a diet/lifestyle issue with the family, not a physical one. It is also a cultural thing. We like large helpings and the restaurants are happy to give them to us. Order a meatloaf sandwich at Claimjumper, it will have a slab of meatloaf two to three inches thick! That combined with the general weakness of people to avoid temptation and a fat society is bound to follow. I've gone to a lot of different Scout training that involved cooking food. So many of the Scouters leading the food preparation part can barely move due to their weight and they cook up these ultra greasy and fat ridden dutch oven recipes. There's always some comment about how "normal" rules for diet don't come into play when a dutch oven is involved. This is a travesty and I think it is really sad. Personally I would love to learn how to better use a dutch oven but I'm not going to cook up recipes that call for a slab of bacon to be cooked and everything else thrown in and no grease drained. I know there are lots of other tasty and healthy recipes out there. I sure wish they would be part of the training sessions.

If this just means signing up to be a Disabilities Awareness MB counselor and waiting for a scout to give you a call, then I don't think that would be a very good ticket item. If it means doing something like, e.g., organizing and running a DAMB workshop for a MB roundup I think that would probably be a fine ticket item. One thing to keep in mind is to make your ticket items SMART and under your control. For your question, what if nobody signs up. If the ticket item is the example I give above, that would be okay as long as you organized and offered the workshop. That is measureable and under your control. Whether anyone signs up, attends, completes is not completely under your control (some since you need to market it to some extent). Good luck, SWScouter

Does anyone know where I might find a copy of the music for the Back to Gilwell song? I don't mean a midi file, I know of a few of those. I mean the actual sheet music. I have a program that created the music from the midi files but it looks a bit strange in places. But what do I know, I'm a bit music illiterate anyway. Thanks, SWScouter

I'm in the Grand Canyon Council in AZ. It has a very large number of LDS units. Many of the district roundtables are at LDS facilities and many of the district and council leaders are members of the LDS church. Obviously, the LDS has a very large influence on the council operations. One time when I went to a district training session, another scouter asked me what stake (a grouping of LDS churches) I was in. I could have made some smart aleck remark like I didn't know I looked Mormon but thankfully I smiled and said I was not a member of the LDS church. That's how dominant the LDS is here in GCC. If you assume a scout or scouter is LDS you're probably right. Anyway, like scoutldr said, at camporees the LDS units here pack up and leave Saturday night. I find it really quite interesting that half the camporee attendees are gone before Sunday. SWScouter

KoreaScouter wrote, In a copy of the Eagletter my son just received, all the NESA scholarship recipients were highlighted inside. The $48,000 scholarship recipient (forgive me, I don't recall his name) had listed in his biography that he has earned every Merit Badge that BSA offers. Though I'm not sure if he is the same person mentioned above, it may be Evan Spencer. He is quite an inspirational young man. A short statement by him for running for an OA lodge office can be seen in http://www.wipalawiki.org/lodge/tom-tom/april2005small.pdf SWScouter

I would like to see more information on people that had a big impact on the BSA and its development besides the four you mention. I'd especially enjoy reading more of William Hillcourt. There's some good info here on scouter.com but it's fairly brief. I would also be interested in tidbits of E. Urner Goodman and Carroll A. Edson, founders of the OA. I guess there are two books available now about Dr. Goodman and the OA, I'll have to take a look.

As a youth I attended Camp Parsons on Hood Canal in Washington. That was back in the 70s. It seems I may have done some activities at Camp Brinkley or Omache too like my OA Ordeal. Last summer I took my Webelos son to R-C Scout Ranch near Payson, AZ. I was there for a week for Wood Badge too. SWScouter

Packsaddle, I agree, a trek of the proper distance may qualify for either MB. The point of contention isn't whether it qualifies for either but whether it can be used for both. Because of the footnote in the Hiking MB, I don't believe it can.

Except that in this case you are using Backpacking hikes for Hiking not the other way around. Please explain how the hike is not being used for both the Hiking & Backpacking MBs.

I just checked meritbadge.com too. The same footnote for the Hiking MB is there too. http://www.meritbadge.com/mb/061.htm SWScouter