TAHAWK

Our OA was dead, dead, dead. No activities of any kind for a year. Zip. Then they got a new adviser and Lodge Chief. In two years, its better than anyone (even OFs) can remember.

Based only on experience, at least from 1954 - 1967, there was leadership training to be run by SM and SPL in the troop; one day district level leadership training, and a one week (really five-day) leadership course put on by Council. The training materials for the district and council-level courses were primarily based on active applications of the information from Bill's 1950 edition of the Handbook for Patrol Leaders. Of course, we thought Bill knew his stuff, not understanding that he was pumping out toe fungus and week-old fish. Terrible staff overcomes even prime training material, and many here seem to have been "bitten" when young by terrible staff. My SM , in an unusual behavior for him, responded to complains about one course by saying the guy in charge "Can make kids hate chocolate."

The tools were better then. That's it !

Many, including the former national head of training and the Scouter Formerly Known (in Scouting) as "Andy," have complained about the failure to train in the Patrol Method. One described the Patrol Method as having been "mislaid" by the authors of training materials. The 2014 syllabus is an improvement but is still lacking as compared to the sum of the current authoritative statements by BSA. Much less does the syllabus measure up to the words of the man who BSA expressly hailed as “the foremost influence on development of the Boy Scouting program†Bill Hillcourt. Not to mention or B-P. .Again, the syllabus does not even have as its goal that the participant understand the Patrol Method - just parts of it. Perhaps that is as much clarity as could be tolerated. Nor is the Patrol Method described in any other single piece of current BSA literature. All the ingredients are still there, but they are not gathered on any list or in any chapter or article. If you recognize the pieces when you see them - scattered here and there -- the sum of the parts would make Bill smile. For example, did you notice that, "[The patrol is] the place where boys learn skills together, take on leadership responsibilities, perhaps for the first time " The contemporary syllabus says most patrol activity is in the troop context - perhaps an accurate a description of our declining Scouting age but rather contrary to the Boy Scouting notion that a Scout experiences Scouting primarily in the patrol context, not the troop context (It's the "Patrol Method.") The Boy Scout, for example, only" sometimes join with other patrols to learn skills and complete advancement requirements." B.S.A. website 2016[emphasis added]. To what extent have we seen that the very opposite is more common, and with adults doing most of the teaching? How can we be sure what the adults think they are "implementing"? Are they refusing to follow the rules, as some here advocate, or are they simply unaware of what Scouting is - the program that they are honor bound to support? I am hopeful enough to believe that if the typical adult were told what he is supposed to do and why, he would be likely to offer Boy Scouting to youth. That could be helped along by recognizing those "troops" that are Boy Scout troops. "So, I don't think anyone is denying the importance of a patrol method, but there seems to be a difference of opinion when it comes to implementation and flow of authority in the various models." Headwaters District Scoutmaster of the Year for 2011 and PLs/SPL: "It's all optional. I can do whatever I want. I'm the Scoutmaster." (This is the troop where none of the "patrol leaders" knew to which "patrol" they had been assigned three weeks after they had been appointed by the SM/SPL.) "Why if you had them split up into patrols, the patrol leaders would have to take charge."

As do I, again with no complaints. But what part of the method is described has only been there since September, 2014. For the nearly previous fifteen years, the syllabus section "Working With Youth - the Patrol Method" had not one sentence on the method. Indeed, the word "patrol" did not appear in that section of the syllabus. Information on the method was scattered incompletely about the rest of the syllabus and in the AVs, and there were references to places where other aspects were discussed, as in the SMHB. Still, as now, the presence of that syllabus title excused covering the material. Better to light a candle.

It was a heart - after it was mounted on an OD rectangle. Some troops opted for a large enamel Heart pin (not as large as the cloth Heart).

"'Things running smoothly is not the standard.' Does that mean that things running poorly is the standard?" The boys doing the running is the standard. If they are trained and supported properly, smoother running tends to come with experience. ""The supposed need for a smoothly-running organization is, in fact, the most common rationalization for adult-run troops.' So it's most important to have the adults running the show in order to ever have a good program under the BSA structure of operation?" Not even close. No need to invent errors on my part. I make enough of my own without that. If we cannot distinguish between adults as teachers and resources and adults "running the show," we cannot have a rational discussion. Nor can you be a successful Scouter in a Boy Scout Troop which has been based in the U.S, for at least eighty-five years on the distinction and on the Scouts and Scouters playing their respective roles. You can, of course, do almost anything you want in the way of inventing your own rules. Many do it. I'"It's BSA - through BSA adults - that says a troop is supposed to follow the Patrol Method that you elect not to teach. ' But the patrol method is what is taught and that's what is instrumental in things running smoothly. " And one might deal with the reality that the Patrol Method, like B.S.A.'s other methods, is mandated by the voting members, staff, and writers at B.S.A. - all of whom are adults. And I only wish the Patrol method were again taught in Scoutmaster training. It is not. Teaching it is not one of the learning objectives. One can find the information only with some effort and if one knows what you are seeing scattered here and there. "'The problem that I see is that BSA is only "saying" and not doing. Apparently, if you feed the metrics, you can ignore almost all the rules, even the clearest ones.' Maybe the anomaly lies in the fact that there are those out there that can't grasp the possibility that there are troops out there that aren't sitting in the middle of the Bell Curve." I take it this is an attempted "shot," but you are too subtle for me. Wait! Your method troop is way up the curve; right?

You absolutely get it. It WAS an honor. All the really cool Scouts were Arrowmen. Decisions made by incompetent people are seldom of high quality

Things running smoothly is not the standard. The supposed need for a smoothly-running organization is, in fact, the most common rationalization for adult-run troops. It's BSA - through BSA adults - that says a troop is supposed to follow the Patrol Method that you elect not to teach. The problem that I see is that BSA is only "saying" and not doing. Apparently, if you feed the metrics, you can ignore almost all the rules, even the clearest ones.

So you have no SPL. Is that the case with more than one patrol?

No BSA table of organization I can find shows one patrol and an SPL. One patrol, it seems to me, means no SPL because there is no SPL job. If a troop is, as BSA now says, composed of Patrols, rather than Scouts, one patrol is a "troop" for bureaucratic/metric purposes only. The question has come up on the Scouting blog, but BSA never took it on that I can find. You know BP started Boy Scouts on the basis of patrols, with troops coming along later, and Bill insisted the the patrol was "the unit for Scouting." An SPL is not supposed to be a patrol member so how can he "vote with the patrol he's part of"?

The boys do not make up all the rules for Boy Scouting and have never done so. The BSA rules and regulations in 2016 require the Patrol Method, and neither Tom, Stosh or Joey or George defines the Patrol Method, even if B.S.A. is clumsy about it.. Your right to refuse to follow the basic rules is no greater than the right of some harry-armed biscuit-burner to run his troop method/all adult-run troop. There is a lot of flex, especially given B.S.A.'s struggles with English prose, but it's not suppose to be "all optional." Why follow the rules? Why follow the Scout Law that requires you to follow the rules? There are activities beyond the patrol level, such as inter-patrol and inter-troop competitions. There are opportunities that require an adult to sign the paperwork. Nothing wrong with troops existing for the administrative convenience of patrols of which they are composed. And who made any of us the final arbiter of the "true patrol method" in contrast to what B.S.A. says is the Patrol Method since before we were born?

Really great idea, qwazse. They can come back and see how what they did has turned out over time. I remember twenty plus years after the fact locating trees we had planted.

Making any learning into a game makes the learning more attractive to most boys. "Interestingly, in my search for something else, I did run across this Trained strip. The site says it's from the 50's, but I'm assuming it wasn't that common as this is the only reference I have ever seen to one. I've actually been using the "newer" mylar patch since I started as an ASM. I've worn it for years and nobody has commented on its shininess, or it being green." Those segments, worn directly below the badge of office on the left sleeve, were still around in 1970 and cost $.10.

It would be nice to have the majority of troops follow the rules before working on ways to ignore them. The SPL does more than support the work of the patrols. He leads the troop-level activities that, under his leadership, the patrols have planned in the PLC. He represents the Scouts, through the PLS, to the Troop Committee on occasion, such as presenting the suggested annual program for the troop. He represents the troop at meeting of troop leadership, such as at camporees and planning of those activities. The SPL is a voting member of the PLC in Boy Scouting. The PLs are the only other voting members, unless someone decides to ignore the rules. If the troop only has one patrol, no need for an SPL. If we decide to ignore the rules, how do we decide whose unilateral changes in rules are to be given weight? My previous SM who says "It's all optional" (as he acts as a one-man-band SM/SPL/PL)?.

It's the human condition. The "average" guy is better than half the population. And human rocket scientists at NASA confused metric with English measurements and BOOM! Or do you own any shares in SpaceX? Many died on the way up or down Everest. >250 thus far. No one died here. Just a screw up that should embarrass those who ignored the rules and made up their own "better" ones. Even the simple can be difficult to obtain. Patrol Method seems simple to me, but how many troops understand that a "troop is made up of patrols" rather than made up of Scouts -- or understand what those words means if they bother to read them in the current Handbook?. And do I not see a council error (district acts on behalf of council by delegated authority in advancement matters) being related, not BSA? Not that BSA wins prizes for use of English, especially in the IT realm.

Since elections became mandated, the Scouts elect the SPL. Of course, some make up their own rules, typically that adults run everything.

The BSA system uses volunteers - mere humans who can and do make mistakes despite their training. (We just had a B of R "postponed" when the candidate showed up in "old" (pre-2010 I think) trousers and a brand new shirt. ("Out of uniform"). Turns out the chair of the board had personal ideas that he felt trumped National "guidance" on B of Rs.

Exaggerate much?

A fruit basket is a nice gift. Showing appreciation for the super is fine. Now for a service project. What needs done? Weeds? Trash? Mulch? Think of something within the abilities of the boys that they can understand to be of service to the co-op and its community.

Ponder this: B.S.A., The Boy Scout Handbook, 13th Ed. at p. 25 (2016). Not "made up of Scouts"; "made up of patrols." I wonder if it is a typo. I hope not.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the adult position patches went on the sleeve. 1960's. The adult patches were round. The First Class cloth badge was rectangular then. SM's badge was silver and green ASM's badge was gold and green. No more adult Eagles as of 1965. Unofficial: http://adulteaglescout.com/

Many councils are offering IOLS at summer camp with no fee. You might check on yours.

All pages are paper about like the covers on old Life magazines. C.H.Lawrence (of those days) was a well-established children's illustrator http://childscapes.com/bookpages/Lawrence.html http://www.hangfirebooks.com/si/023448.html

We use a shorter field.