Dan Williamson

Be prepared. Snow??? Is that the white stuff that hits here maybe once a year and shuts everything down? But as we say...if it ain't raining you ain't training. Summer camp....two weeks ago...raining as it only can in this part of Virginia...troop campfire night...boys put on their ponchos and told ghost stories around a roaring fire in the pouring rain...couldn't have pulled them away from that with a team of Clydesdales.

Hatchet, ax, good. May not be good if you don't do anything or go anywhere or only backpack or only do one thing...but if you want to let young men experience different things and learn self reliance then hatchet and ax...good...as are many other tools. I don't always use my 1/2 inch socket wrench but I got one and know how to use it. And there is risk in most things...bet the people that are concerned about hatchets and fingers will let their boys drive cars when the time comes...much more risky business.

Report From Camp...We returned from Camp Pipsico (Tidewater District in Virginia) yesterday. All the boys got their Totin' Chip on Tuesday evening and immediately started doing the expected...buying hatchets, chopping wood in the axe yard, etc...no injuries. The next night (Wednesday) we did the Fire'em Chip requirements. Next day they all we to the camp Trading Post and bought the flint/steel fire starting kits. That same night our smallest boy went out on the overnight for the Wilderness Survival merit badge. (He is really tiny for his age, has a problem digesting food, but has a huge spirit. His little body won't let him do some things very well...like pass the swim test.) It started to rain but he was the only Scout to get a fire started and all of the others flocked to his fire. He is now a local hero and ten feet tall. This is what it is all about.

Scoutnut, et al, I'M NOT TRYING TO SHORT CUT ANYTHING. I am very strict about things like this but usually default to common sense when "rules" are not clear or unspecified. They are going to earn the Totin' Chip. The circumstances matter in my mind. In this case the Scouts crossed over as a group (12 of them) to the same troop and their Webelos adult leadership came with them. Me included. I went from Assistant Cubmaster and "parent who went to all Webelos Den meetings" to Scoutmaster of their troop. The Den Leader and Assistant Den Leader became the Asistant Scoutmasters of the two new Scout patrols that this cohort of 12 formed. We diligently went through the Boy Scout joining tasks with this band of 12 even though the tasks look and smell like some of the last tasks they completed as Webelos. So what you are saying, for example, is that last week they could carry a pocket knife but this week, since they became Boy Scouts, they can't carry one. To follow that rat down the hole they would not be allowed to wear the same pocketknife they have been wearing for a year with their uniform at camp (technically even on the trip TO camp- since they will travel in uniform) UNTIL they have earned the Totin' Chip which covers the same pocketknife but goes further into the ax and saw. Believe I'm reaching logic burnout here.

Earning Eagle still matters at those institutions that still matter. I just helped one on my Eagles fill out his applications for acceptance to the Virginia Military Institute and an application for an Army ROTC scholarship. On both applications there were separate sections for Eagle Scout and other Boy Scout data. There were no special discrete sections for sports or student government, etc. All of that stuff was lumped together in a "tell us what you were invloved in in high school" section. But Eagle Scout had it's own section on the application. So obviously it matters to them. I would not feel disappointed by those colleges who no longer consider attaining Eagle Scout a good thing....I just wouldn't give them my business. Obviously they have lowered their standards. Don't apply there. Have nothing to do with them.

It doesn't pass the common sense test that a Scout was autorized to carry a pocketknife as a Cub and now all of a sudden he can't. Even a 10 year old can see the injustice in that trail of logic. I can understand getting the Totin' Chip for the purpose of working with an ax and saw but I can't understand revoking a boys right to carry a pocket knife IF he has previously earned the Whittlin' Chip.

Help...We are short final for summer camp and want to complete requirements for Chip. Many of our new Scouts earned the Whittlin' Chip in Webelos. Q..Is the Whittlin' Chip still valid for them? I know that the Totin' Chip covers ax and saw in addition to pocketknife and should be earned anyway BUT is the Whittlin' Chip still valid for those boys who crossed over or is it a Cub Scout only thing.

Help...We are short final for summer camp and want to complete requirements for Chip. Many of our new Scouts earned the Whittlin' Chip in Webelos. Q..Is the Whittlin' Chip still valid for them. I know that the Totin' Chip covers ax and saw in addition to pocketknife and should be earned anyway BUT is the Whittlin' Chip still valid for those boys who crossed over or is it a Cub Scout only thing.

A major part of the cost issue that few people have discussed here is that the Scouts outgrow their impractical uniform at an alarming rate. Pants mostly. A uniform pant that is constructed similar to the Army BDU with double knees, double seat, great pockets and growth tabs for letting out, thereby allowing the Scout to grow into the pants, makes too much sense (they can be had as shorts too, a variety of colors [even green] and made in the USA). I have been accused of being a fanatic over uniforminty since I insist that Scouts and leaders wear the troop hat and neckerchief, tuck in their shirts, and button their pockets. I'll put their appearance up against 99% of the troops I have seen. But I have to admit to be lenient on the pants. I would have to buy at least three pair of official pants a year just to keep up with my own son's growth. The several boys in the troop who come from broken and low income homes could never keep up. And while we are being fanatical...there is no such thing as a class A uniform or class B uniform in the Boy Scouts. Oh by the way, those are military terms and I find it ironically oxymoronic (or words to those effects) that those who are "bothered" by the use of military like pants use the distinctly military terms to describe something that doesn't exist. The Scout uniform SHOULD be practical enough to wear camping and hiking and not just for meetings and courts of honor. We wear our shirts, hats and neckerchiefs to EVERYTHING and stow or ground the shirt and neckerchief if there is a physical activity requirement or practical reason to do so. Nightly campfires are conducted in uniform no matter the venue. I also believe we as leaders have an OBLIGATION to tell the leadership at all levels above us what we think about the uniform. I certainly do.