SiouxRanger

As a BSA Certified Angling Instructor, there are many freshwater lakes which have little to no structure in them to nurture fish populations. There are likely all manner of artificial fish reefs that could be made to improve fish habitat from all manner of things otherwise destined for landfills. This whole concept needs serious thought by folks with more credentials than me.

Yep. 1. Scouts hear skills and get to practice them. (Once) 2. Write them down. (Twice) 3. Review to meet with MB Counselor ((Thrice) 4. Explain to MB Counselor (???) (Ah ha-this is a "look-before-you-leap" situation..." 4th"? That's not really a good answer...FRICE. (Well, the suggestion of one source-apparently no accepted term for 4th in the sequence. )) Scouts have to work though the material about frice times-lots of rehearsals of the material to aid in recall. Not perfect but better than having to wake them up to give them their Blue Card. Every time I reviewed my college notes for an exam I'd put a tick mark in the upper right hand corner. Four tick marks and I was done with review.

Doing the 'right thing' is what it is all about. "Kind" is 6th on the Scout Law, but should be second behind Trustworthy.

At a climbing silo, (a former grain silo now a technical climbing facility), a scout was looking down to rappel. He was terrified. He fiddled around, looking down many times, clearly reluctant. He wanted to rappel but was afraid. Maybe 10 minutes of hesitancy. I told him he did not need to rappel-it was OK not to. (I don't like heights.) He finally got up the mental gumption and did the rappel. Huge smiles all around. A huge milestone.

I saw a scout in tears attempting to re-enter his swamped canoe for his merit badge, half a dozen attempts, with the greatest camp-staffer-of-all-time watching patiently in another canoe, calmly encouraging the scout. The scout finally got the job done. It was painful to watch. But a milestone accomplishment in that Scout's life.

So, of all the bugs, rain, heat and sweat (and, hello, frustration), what are THE moments that rewarded you most for your efforts?

At a troop meeting not long ago, I was showing the Scouts how contours worked/meant on a map using 3D models I had made of selected areas on Philmont. One particularly bright Scout looked up at me from the map and models and said, "That is cool." I replied, "It IS cool!" No cellphone. Just knowledge. And wonder, and the Epiphany. (What is this new world I see?) A highlight of my adult leader years.

Fred8033 is a treasure here. Among a choir of voices of reason. I thank Fred8033 and all of you for your guidance, wisdom, and balance.

OK, I'm in for 4 Upvotes, 2 Thanks, and a dozen chuckles.

Actually, you probably are closer to or in the majority. As a small town lawyer, well, I also have a degree in Psychology. The field of counseling has advanced far beyond my studies 50 years ago. Many clients, and more broadly, members in their families, have psychological issues, which dramatically affect the course of legal proceedings. "Just a mere lawyer here," but psychological issues are about 80% of what I do. No kidding. Counselors now have a much more refined understanding of issues, and I would strongly recommend you meet with a counselor, and if that meeting is not helpful, try another. Philosophical approaches vary. Every life is a flower. That flower exists only once. It has unique value. That flower projects itself to the world and passersby partake of its bounty. And the flower may not know the benefit it has bestowed. But the flower's not knowing its effect does not diminish the flower's beneficial effect. You have many friends. Certainly here on this forum, including me. And if not the answer, it is a darn good start. SiouxRanger

This world is filled with the ignorant, the distracted, the uncaring, the self-satisfied, mightier-than-thou types, the bullies, the abusive, and the downright cruel. It is difficult, once traumatized by one or more of them, to recognize that that they are in the minority, and further to recognize that once one has suffered the brunt of their assaults, that the vast majority of folks do not have those emotional failings and are your friends and do treat you kindly. A police detective friend of mine once said that his dad advised him about my friend's work, "Son, don't go where there are bombs.." Well, the lesson there is "bombs" aren't always physical. There are emotional bombs. And emotional bombs are much worse than physical bombs. Physical bombs only explode once. But emotional bombs, well, the victim can resurrect the effect of the emotional insult, time and again, and thereby the damage is repeatedly inflicted. So, "don't go where there are bombs." That is, don't give a second thought to prior insults. Those insults are dead, and from " the ignorant, the distracted, the uncaring, the self-satisfied, mightier-than-thou types, the bullies, the abusive, and the downright cruel" and why would you let those folks control your life? It is easy to move on-just shut that door.

Gee, seems like a threat to me. But, probably more like an inexperienced scouter believing he is doing a proper job by working on merit badges so scouts advance, not realizing that advancement is secondary to learning leadership by doing. And that failures from which lessons are learned are more valuable than a series of successes where the scout has no clue why things succeeded. And, in 25 years of attending virtually every troop meeting, never seen one where the entire meeting was entirely merit badge instruction. And, in all that time, maybe only a dozen where there was any merit badge instruction at all. Personal Fitness is amenable to group treatment as far as the various exercises. All the scouts do their exercises and their performance recorded. I am generally opposed to scouts earning a merit badge in a group. Where they sit through an hour of class and walk away with a merit badge. I don't think that comes close to the how a merit badge is to be earned. I do support group instruction where the scouts fill out their merit badge workbooks and THEN meet with a different counselor to actually counsel the scout on that badge. The scout learns at the group session, but has to record what the scout learns and then discuss that knowledge with a different counselor. I favor a unit having a Troop Meeting Agenda form, with the major parts of the meeting are identified on the form, eg, Opening, Activity 1-Training, Activity 2-campout prep., Activity 3-merit badge work, Announcements, SM Minute, Closing. And with a start time for each segment. (And that format is one of many which are appropriate). But the Scouts should actually fill out the form in the PLC (for each meeting for the next month) and submit it/them to the SM for approval. I'd suggest just keep asking questions of the procedure, provide several troop meeting agenda forms from the web. Have the troop committee take up the matter, and see if the adults can get an agenda form before the scouts for them to use as guidance to plan their meetings.

And that is why Scouting is so valuable. Not lost in the woods in a blizzard, nor a survivor of a canoeing accident in Canada, or airplane crash in the Andes. But just right here where I sit, in a house in South Texas. CRISIS! The Program develops/instills knowledge, insight, judgment, and wisdom. For reasons I do not understand, I have never seen an instructor mentioning WHY the information they present is important.

In the middle, Eisenhower? And who would portray anyone or anything larger than him? So, if it isn't Eisenhower, isn't the pinnacle of scouting an educated, benevolent, self-sufficient scout? So, who are the other two? Appearing to coddle the scout. Did someone at National approve this?

I have 4 grandchildren, the two oldest are girls. I find no comfort in the idea that one of them may die because they could not make fire to warm themselves because they could not learn the skill that would save their life, being precluded from being a scout. "Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it. Mark Twain." Twain facetiously makes my point. So, why spread knowledge? Because spreading ignorance kills people.

If the "benefits" of "Scouting" are considered to be so valuable WHY would we even think to deny them to one-half the population of our kids? (females).

Not RS, but the statue. I do hope that is clear. (RS is a gift to this community.) And not the caliber of the statue rendition. It is a quality job. But the idea that a mythic rendition of the female involvement in, contribution to, Scouting is appropriate-that "mythic" has anything to add. It doesn't. The "myths" are living. I know and respect them. AND FOR THAT MATTER, (rant alert, my first ever rant) I grew up in a family where the women were beyond capable. Mom had a Bachelor's degree from a land grant university-in Mathematics (statistics), second in her high school class, and read 10+books a week for decades (more than I can read in a year-me just dumb lawyer). My two sisters earned 3 college degrees between them and had higher high school rankings than me. My brother, exceeded them all; my dad 3rd in a high school class of 600 with a degree in mechanical engineering. (Thankfully, through Scouting, I have the skills to live comfortably under bridge.) It always makes me feel like I am being condescending to women to make the point that "females are capable and worthy of note," implying that I mean that females having knowledge, judgment, or wisdom are an exception to the rule or are merely a footnote to the greater story of males being the "supreme repository of knowledge, judgment, and wisdom. I am officially tired that my support of women being characterized as such. One finds knowledge, judgment, and wisdom wherever it resides: male, female, a rock, a bug... The astute learn from whatever source knowledge, judgment, and wisdom arises without reference to the source.

Appalling.

I personally know both them, and knew them at Philmont when they were Philmont Rangers. Note: Once one is a Philmont Ranger, one is ALWAYS a Philmont Ranger. One is never a former Philmont Ranger. Kathy Leach and Nancy Wells are among the finest individuals I have ever met.

It should be a statue of Kathy Leach and Nancy Wells wearing backpacks holding a map and compass. And none other. Anything less will not be accepted as appropriate.

Any number on how many scouts attending the current Jamboree?

I'll just add, nearing 68, that when things GO BAD they go bad INSTANTANEOUSLY. Even a second's interval to think is a luxury. (Lightning strike at Clear Creek, Philmont, 1975. Had about a minute while racing up a trail to the stricken campsite.) No time to think, analyze. Just react. And one reacts based on their training. (Training enhances Judgment.) ET, one does not have time to "phone home." That is why scouting is so important. I am convinced that in the few instances I have found myself in crisis situations I managed to make the right decisions based on my training and experiences in Scouting. (And everyone at that campsite hit by lightning ended up with relatively minor injuries.)

I hope I did not mean "put over head, and TWIST." I just meant to take the circle formed by the pant legs with waist unit and put one'e head through that hole.

Well, depending on your time frame of reference and the methodology then approved, wrapping a pair of pants around one's neck, and then anchoring it with a sturdy belt around a leg, has the possibility of going tragically wrong. Not sure I can envision all the ways, but all of those materials are unyielding, and an errant gulp of water, choking, losing focus and panicking, I can see how a scout could get into real trouble nearly instantly. Please do check the current Life Saving Merit Badge Pamphlet for the approved method. And as a gratuitous plug, please encourage your scouts to earn Lifesaving, even if they also earn the allowed alternative. I saved the life of a 3 year old when I was about 15 or 16, having earned Lifesaving. At a fishing resort in Wisconsin. Recounted elsewhere on this forum in some detail, but I was the only one of the 8 or 9 present over the age of 3. I was out on the pier and the children were by the shore on the boat ramp and when I turned to look at them, I just sensed something was wrong, I lept into the lake (against all the rules of jumping into unknown waters) and grasped a tiny arm and lifted the boy to the pier. Had I not acted he would have died. The water was opaque and there was no disturbance on the surface to indicate a struggling person below the surface. Only from the strange agitation (they were laughing and looking at and pointing at the lake) of the other 3 year olds on the end of the dock looking at the lake was it apparent something was wrong. Did earning Lifesaving merit badge save that life? I think so, but not by any use of the various lifesaving techniques I learned by taking the merit badge. But when learning a skill, the skills one learns as a scout to pass merit badges and attain advancement, also involves learning subtle techniques that makes the gross skills work. And, developing a sense of JUDGMENT. For some reason, all of the obvious, subtle, consistent, and the conflicting discordant clues I saw, the base knowledge that "seconds count," and that jumping into unknown waters is profoundly stupid, (all of these conflicting considerations just flashed) somehow I made the right call. I can still feel the "squish" of that boy's right forearm in the grasp of my left hand, and that the boy did not gasp for air (expecting him to do so) as I lifted him from the lake to the pier. Apparently, I had gotten to him quickly enough. And then he and his unspeaking cohort of 3 year olds disappeared up the 40' embankment and I never saw him again. Scouting allows youth to experience training and learn skills and hopefully develop a sense of judgment to evaluate circumstances they encounter and make good decisions. A law professor of mine once stated, "That were common sense so "common," it would not be so valuable." That is what I see the as the value of Scouting: the development of common sense.

Pin buckles work. Ring buckles, when lubricated by water-well, they don't seem to work reliably when NOT lubricated by water. Finding a pin buckle is the best bet. I'm a lawyer. In the law being able to provide good descriptions is prized-everywhere else, that ability is considered a disease. It was a memorable experience and I was very anxious.