danbrew

What did I get out of Wood Badge? I made some good friends that I probably wouldn't have otherwise met. There was no earth-shattering skill that I learned that would help me in business, no particular people skills, no amazing insights into Scouting - at least not things that I didn't already know. My ticket had items that I probably would not have done - service outside of my home unit and helping to make things better with a Scoutreach unit. I became involved with a Scoutreach unit based in a low-income housing community and has the pleasure, no, the joy, of helping those boys learn about Scouting. None of them had uniforms, none of them had ever been camping, none of them had ever had dinner over a campfire, none had been to a Cub day camp. They all have since enjoyed those experiences - all things that wouldn't have happened had I not had the Wood Badge experience. I can honestly say that experience changed my life. Many of those Cubs earned their Arrow of Light and several have transitioned into a traditional Boy Scout troop. How's that for a honest to God, life changing experience? Honestly? It could change their entire lives. I associate with Scouting because I generally like the type of people that also choose to associate themselves with Scouting. I want my son to develop relationships with children and families that share the same values I share. My experiences with Wood Badge were very positive - I'd do it again.

LOL, great question. My son just had his BoR for 1st Class last night and his non-spiral bound book is falling apart. We had already reinforced the advancement pages with clear packing tape and have decided to move to the spiral bound book. I just scanned the pages for his rank to date and saved it as a PDF. We'll put the original book away and use the spiral book moving forward. He does use the canvas-like cover that they sell in the Scout Shop, btw. Bottom line, those will be important as he advances in rank and especially important for an Eagle BoR if he goes that far.

Whatever you've done, whoever you are, the forums are working MUCH better today than I've ever seen. I know there's been a lot of folks posting about how slow and painful things have been lately (myself included). Thought I'd offer a work of thanks as it's a completely different experience today.

My $0.02 is that you'll likely get a much better response rate if you told us about yourself - are you a youth or adult member? Folks are more likely to dig deep if there's a story that goes along with the request. Things like what have you done to raise money so far? What's your Scouting experience been like to date? Either as an adult or a boy working towards Eagle? We're just around the corner from the Jamboree and the Scouters in this area, youth and adult alike, have been raising money left and right for the last year. Our Council has 200+ youth attending at probably at least that many adults that are Scoutmasters, staffers, etc. Good luck - look up the funny looken' guy on the rifle range - that would be me.

Here's how my son did his new shirt for Jambo. We just moved from his Webolos shirt to a Youth Large shirt and there's not a whole lot of room on the shirt, that's for sure...! We recently bought him three new shirts - two for Jambo that look like this one and one for his home troop. We put the veteran unit (40 years) directly under the Council patch and then the troop numbers directly underneath that. Then the POR patch was centered on the sleeve with the trained emblem on the hemmed sleeve.

The West award is for supporting the Council endowment fund - an often overlooked fund. Generally speaking, the endowment funds are setup to never consume the principal but instead to serve as a basis for future income via interest, dividends, etc. - thus providing Scouting to future generations. Scouting costs money. It's not uncommon for people to overlook the Councils when deciding where to make financial contributions - it's pretty natural to say "I'll give this money to my pack/troop/crew". Who wouldn't say that? The expenses that a Council incurs, though, are vastly different (and deeper) than those that an individual unit may face. How about the Bechtel family? Did they buy the naming rights for the Jamboree and the newest High Adventure camp? Seriously, I can't understand why they would do that. lol. Yeah, $50M is a ton of cash. They could put their name on the side of my house, kids, and dog for that kind of money. Yes, I wear the West knot. I made a contribution and continue to do so because I think it makes a big difference - and I think the Council will be better stewards of the money that individual units. People ask me all the time what the knot is for and I use that as the opportunity to tell them that Scouting costs money and there are a number of ways that they can help. fwiw.

Bravo, excellent comments.

I ended up deciding to fly to Charlotte instead of into Charleston, WV. TMS offers shuttles from both airports. The ticket was about $250 less expensive to fly into Charlotte instead of Charleston. Yep, I paid more for the TMS shuttle, but still came out ahead dollars-wise. Also, I would have had to have gotten up earlier to fly from Chicago to Charleston vs. Chicago to Charlotte. So... longer day, more money to fly into WV. I'm not exactly looking forward to the 3-4 hour drive from Charlotte, but figured I'd just bring a book and let somebody else worry about about the driving. I did give some thought to taking Amtrak into Prince, WV, but the Amtrak gods weren't on my side. The train from Chicago departs every other day. I need to be there on July 11th. The train departs Chicago on either the 9th or the 11th - meaning it arrives at 10:00a in Prince on the 10th or 12th. So... flying for $300. I'm still $200 or so ahead of the options.

Shooting Sports

lol. no kidding. i lost a lot of "face" with this one but used it as an example of how quickly things can go wrong... it definitely took my "i know everything" down a notch and reminded me that accidents do happen.

From the Guide to Safe Scouting: The online version of the Guide to Safe Scouting is updated quarterly. Go to http://www.scouting.org/HealthandSafety/GSS.aspx. VI. Chemical Fuels and Equipment Purpose This policy directs Boy Scouts of America members how to safely store, handle, and use chemical fuels and equipment. Safety and environmental awareness concerns have persuaded many campers to move away from traditional outdoor campfires in favor of chemical-fueled equipment used for cooking, heating, and lighting. Be aware that chemical fuels and equipment create very different hazards than traditional wood, charcoal, and other solid fuels; this policy defines how to address those hazards. Before any chemical fuels or chemical-fueled equipment is used, an adult knowledgeable about chemical fuels and equipment, including regulatory requirements, should resolve any hazards not specifically addressed within this policy. Definitions Chemical fuelsâ€â€Liquid, gaseous, or gelled fuels. Approved chemical-fueled equipmentâ€â€Commercially manufactured equipment, including stoves, grills, burners, heaters, and lanterns that are designed to be used with chemical fuels. Prohibited chemical-fueled equipmentâ€â€Equipment that is handcrafted, homemade, modified, or installed beyond the manufacturer’s stated design limitations or use. Examples include alcohol-burning “can†stoves, smudge pots, improperly installed heaters, and propane burners with their regulators removed. Recommended chemical fuels White gas (Coleman fuel); kerosene; liquefied petroleum gas fuels, including propane, butane, and isobutane; vegetable oil fuels; biodiesel fuel; and commercially prepared gelled-alcohol fuel in original containers. Chemical fuels not recommended Unleaded gasoline; liquid alcohol fuels, including isopropyl alcohol, denatured ethyl alcohol, and ethanol; and other flammable chemicals that are not in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions for chemical-fueled equipment. Storing, Handling, and Using Chemical Fuels and Equipment An adult knowledgeable about chemical fuels and equipment should always supervise youths involved in the storage, handling, and use of chemical fuels and equipment. Operate and maintain chemical-fueled equipment according to the manufacturer’s instructions and in facilities or areas only where and when permitted. Using liquid fuels for starting any type of fireâ€â€including lighting damp wood, charcoal, and ceremonial campfires or displaysâ€â€is prohibited. No flames in tents. This includes burning any solid, liquid, gel, or gas fuelâ€â€including tents or teepees that feature or support stoves or fires; and any chemical-fueled equipment or catalytic heaters. Store chemical fuels in their original containers or in containers designed for immediate use. Securely store any spare fuel away from sources of ignition, buildings, and tents. During transport and storage, properly secure chemical fuel containers in an upright, vertical position. So... there is nothing in the Guide to Safe Scouting that says liquid fuels are not permitted. Most people think of white gas when they think of liquid fuels. Our troop uses propane and I can think of few reasons that liquid fuels would be a better choice. Sure, if you have a high adventure patrol and they're going to Philmont, maybe something like an MSR stove would make sense. However... I'll recount a brief story that happened to me a few weeks ago. I've been using liquid fuel stoves since I was a Scout. I've got literally decades of experience in camping and using these stoves. We were working as a troop on some 1st & 2nd class rank requirements and were going over the stoves. In keeping with the "adult should supervise" part, I was right there. I broke out the MSR stove and showed the boys how it worked. They were all to get familiar with it. The MSR stove requires that you pressurize the pump/container and prime the stove by allowing a little bit of liquid fuel to pool under the burner. You light it and it heats the stove and then you open the fuel line and off you go. I've done it hundreds of times. Uhhh... this time was different. I (not a boy, but me) bumped against the stove and the liquid fuel (white gas) that was pooled under the burner spilled on the table that we were using to demonstrate the stoves. Of course it was on fire and before I knew it, within seconds, half the table top was aflame. Oh $(#*$#%!!. Yeah, I know, what the heck were we doing this inside for? It was in a big rustic lodge where we were all doing cabin camping. All sorts of things went through my mind - none of them good. I got the stove outside and other leaders quickly extinguished the fire. I would have never, ever, in a million years thought this could have happened. I did a bunch of things wrong - doing this in the lodge, bumping the stove, etc. It could have ended badly. I know you're probably thinking, well, no kidding - don't do stuff like that indoors. Prepare your area. That could never happen to me. I got complacent and had visions of a really horrible outcome. So... while the BSA doesn't have specific rules against liquid fuel, carefully consider when you really need it and when you can use propane. We're in Illinois and propane works 99.9% of the time. I'll personally never use liquid fuel with Scouts again. And, btw, perhaps the camp had a specific rule for reasons just like the one I describe above. Believe me, I feel pretty stupid. And was stupid. I share this story as an example of how bad things could have turned.

I can't be the only one... Something is seriously wrong in Scouter.com land. The forums aren't showing consecutive threads. New posts aren't showing up. It's extremely difficult to follow the conversation threads because of the way the posts are (or are not) being displayed. Forum software is slow, slow, slow. Yeah, I know, most everybody already knows this. Whatever we're trying to do with the forum software, well, it ain't working. In the spirit of offering a suggestion instead of just griping about it, is there a default setup that we could use? It would be nice if the forum here worked in a reasonably similar manner to the other 10 billion forums out there on the internet... I don't mean to sound as bad as this is gonna come out, but Scouter.com could be a fantastic resource for Scouters... it's just way too complex, hard to use, or has growing pains. Coupled with the registration problems that have existed forever (which may have been solved - donno, it took me over two years to register), it's just not working. I wonder how many people just throw up their hands and go elsewhere?

No, not really. Every time I introduce my wife, I'm introducing my wife. I'm not telling anyone anything about my sexuality. Sometimes a wife is just a wife. You say "...gay leaders want the same freedom to get dropped off at an event by their partner..." how would "don't ask, don't tell" impact that? It wouldn't. Let's be honest with one another here for a moment - we've had gay leaders in Scouting for as long as we've had Scouting. And I'm sure that "gay leaders have been dropped off at events by their partners" from time to time. And maybe even those inclined to wonder why Mr. Jones is always being dropped off by Mr. Smith, the youth really didn't "know" anything about the sexuality of the adult leaders. Sure, they may have guessed. They may have intuited it as they got older. But it wasn't out in the open so to speak. So what we're really talking about is that those who feel passionate about forcing the Scouts to accept gay leaders really do want to have "Joe the gay leader" instead of "Joe the leader". I'm not smart enough to know why this is so important, but suspect it has something to do with mainstream acceptance and changing the cultural and moral values of our country. But that's just a guess. I may not get it.

Beavah, excellent post. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. I won't be nearly as eloquent as you, yet I'll give it a shot. First and foremost, I believe this is an adult leader issue and rarely a youth issue. Granted, there may be older Scouts that are discovering "who" they are from a sexuality perspective. Respectfully, there are other venues within which youth should explore this part of their lives. As a parent I would prefer to discuss these issues with my son or daughter and would be very much opposed to this becoming a dialog for Scouting. I'd never support removing a Scout from Scouting that was dealing with an identity issue and verbalized such. As an aside, I'm all for happiness. If two people can love one another and they happen to be the same sex? Great, good for them. I am very much in the "don't ask, don't tell" camp. My partner is the only one that really needs to know about my sexual proclivities - whatever they may be. None of you, and certainly none of the youth in our Scout troop, need to know that I prefer blondes or redheads or Jack or Jill. Having said all of that, I am concerned about an individual that is so wrapped in his or her sexuality that s/he must be identified as Jack/Jill the gay Scout leader. Why can't it just be Jack or Jill the Scout leader? I think (and this isn't my viewpoint) that many people are fearful that gay men are going to use this as an opportunity to get close to young, vulnerable boys. The reality is that most adult leaders involved in Scouting today are there because they have (or had) kids in the Scouting program. Most gay men probably aren't going to have sons. So... right away, you're going to have people say "hmmm". It is a good point. Quite frankly, well before this issue became the lightening rod that it is today, if I'm honest with myself, I'd probably have kept my eyes open if a single man with no children in Scouting wanted to become a Scout leader. I guess that some would say that makes me homophobic. I say that makes me a parent that is safeguarding his children. I'd do the same with any adult male that showed an interest in my teenage daughter.

Ultimately, I don't want anyone deciding what part of the 2nd Amendment should apply to me. The 2nd Amendment is not about sensible restrictions. The original intent of the 2nd Amendment was to arm the civilian population against a tyrannical government. When you ask "how do we know what the intent was?", consider that the founders of our country had just fought a war against a government. It's not about the right to hunt or the right to target shoot. It's about having the ability to defend yourself. Of course times change. You'd lose if you went up against a government. Look at the recent situation with the former cop out in LA - did anyone really expect that he would make it to trial? Of course not. You can't win against a cadre of guys with guns that are, well, gunning for you. Or when they bring in the tanks or the helicopters or whatever. But if the question was "what is the purpose" of the 2nd Amendment? It's to arm the civilian population. When we consider how times have changed, we can think about the right of self defense and how the government has no obligation to protect any of us from assault or worse. Since I don't have a full time law enforcement officer to follow me around and offer that protection, what's wrong with me making the decision to carry a firearm? Yes, I *could* do all sorts of bad things with a concealed firearm. But I could do bad things with my car, my baseball bat, my computer, etc. I'm far from "ultra" passionate about this issue, yet see nothing wrong with me having the same rights as those offered to a law enforcement officer or a politician that has the luxury of having those full time armed professionals following them around. My ask is to judge me based upon what I have done... not what someone is afraid that I could do. I know this next part is trite, but I have a penis. I'm fully capable of being a rapist. But I'm not. How about we simply enforce the laws that we have - you break a law, you use a gun, you do serious time. I'll close by saying the world would be a much better place without firearms. But that's not the world we live in.

I like what Twocubdad has to say about recognizing the adults and thanking them for their contribution to Scouting. On the other hand, I agree that Scouting is for the boys and all "thank you events" should be designed to focus on their achievements and to recognize their successes - many of which are significant for a youth. There's a world of difference in recognizing achievements in an adult and a youth. Having said that, though, I was one of those guys that had my beading ceremony at a Pack Blue & Gold. Myself and another leader planned it at the Blue & Gold for a reason - it was a dysfunctional pack and there had been a tremendous amount of drama in the last year or two with lots of families questioning the value of Scouting and whether they would continue their membership. The message I wanted to communicate to the parents was that there were leaders there that cared, that made investments in the Pack, that there were adults that were doing all they could to put on a good program that led to a better environment for the members of the Pack. The event was planned at the end of the Blue & Gold and should have been a 20-minute thing. Of course it went longer and there were some (maybe many) that were wondering what it was all about and were eager to hit the road after the B&G. I would do it differently today. It's hard to separate the pomp & circumstance that many districts infuse into the beading ceremonies - just as it is hard to communicate in a brief amount of time what Wood Badge is really all about and how it leads to a stronger unit with well trained leaders. At the end of the day it's about cheerful and selfless service to the youth we serve. You don't necessarily need to have a grand public recognition ceremony to highlight "look at me, look what I did". If I'm honest with myself, I'll confess that I did have some of those thoughts when planning the beading ceremony at the Blue & Gold. Looking back at it I believe that simply using the knowledge gained (and, for me, networking and getting to know some great Scouters outside of my immediate circle) through the Wood Badge experience would be better applied by putting on a great program for the Pack/Troop through new skills. On a somewhat related topic, I'm a big believer in adults wearing the beads and the knots and all that - just as we know that a boy wearing Life or Eagle rank has demonstrated a significant investment in Scouting, so do the regalia of an adult.

I am our district membership chair and spend a lot of time with my DE working with the BSA systems. On the one hand, they've gotten a LOT better. On the other hand, when you extract the data from scout.net (or whatever they're calling it these days), it provides very limited options - csv is one. The vast majority of the reports are exported in a very ancient looking type of cobol layout - based upon the premise that the vast majority of the users are not technically savvy enough to manipulate the data (or they won't have the tools). It took awhile but we (me & the DE) finally figured out how to get the data out in CSV format and then do something with it. Once I get the data into a usable format I then build pivot tables. It makes it *much* easier to work with. I did have to spend a lot of time in Excel to manipulate the data to get it into a flat file format so I could build those pivot tables - I used a lot of text formulas. All in all, you really need to be an Excel geek to make the data usable. You also are probably dealing with the issue of the BSA feeling the data is confidential and they don't want to release it to just any joe. There's a lot of merit to that position despite how frustrating it is when we're trying to actually USE the data for something. The only suggestion I can offer is get to know your DE and be explicit about your data needs and how you would like to use the data. I took the approach of "help me help you" and spent time manipulating the data into a format that will help my DE do his job. Some DEs are more technically inclined than others though...! Some Councils are rolling out a new tool called "Council Booster" - it's a fantastic start that has a TON of data about the Council and the Scouting aged youth in the area. You have the ability to punch in a zip code, for example, and it will show you a map that identifies if there are Scouting-aged youth at a particular address. They're paying for the access to the data and, so far, we haven't found a way to extract the data from Council Booster. So... the challenge continues.

Like Twocubdad I wear the beads most of the time when wearing the Class A shirt. I am an ASM in the troop and we have a troop neckerchief - I don't typically wear the neckerchief though. If a formal troop event (Court of Honor, etc.), I'll wear the troop neckerchief and the beads. I'm also a UC and am the membership chair for the district, so if attending a district or council formal event I'll wear the tartan neckerchief with beads.

Looks like the links don't work (aren't clickable)... here's an example: http://www.scouter.com/forum/scouting-history/368462-my-trip-to-gilwell?s=a6db7a1334a7fbca3fba48f537a34755

I was in the UK last year and had a free day so set off to find Gilwell Park. Here's a quick slideshow...

I've seen a lot of ticket templates online - some courses may have specific templates that they want you to use. I'm a geek... and designed my own. The link below is to a Microsoft Word 2013 template - you should be able to open it in Word 2010 as well. If it asks you to login to my website, just hit cancel. It should open the document anyway as the file is on the public side of the website. If you run into problems opening it from the link below send me an email and I'll send you the doc - danbrew@hotmail.com. Enjoy! danbrew http://www.n2dan.com/_layouts/WordViewer.aspx?id=/Documents/Wood%20Badge%20Template.docx&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2En2dan%2Ecom%2FDocuments%2FForms%2FAllItems%2Easpx&DefaultItemOpen=1

Nice - we have our Adult Training academy in a few weeks at Elmhurst College. The boys are down the road at one of the local high schools at Merit Badge University and the adults are at Elmhurst. I've typically taught a class or two at the TA but am actually gonna take some classes this time.

It's never too early for the younger boys to begin to learn the EDGE method and to assume responsibility for their own patrols. The PL and APL for our new Scout patrol assumes the responsibility for tracking progress towards rank advancement for the entire patrol. I had a talk with the boys about how to address the issue of reporting on the patrol's performance and let the boys come up with the idea of building a spreadsheet that tracks the advancements. The PL is responsible for querying the others boys for their updates and then he turns them over to one of the leaders for entry in Troopmaster. We're also very fortunate that the older boys in our Troop enjoy teaching the younger boys and look at it as their responsibility to teach Scout skills and signoff their books.

Hey OGE - we're in St Charles. We're in Troop 60.

The Philmont Training Center is a great experience. I went out two years ago for the Webelos to 1st Class course and enjoyed the experience. I didn't necessarily learn anything there that I couldn't have learned in my Council, yet it was very nice to network with other committed Scouters and to take ideas back to my area from other parts of the country. I drove out there from the Chicago area with a good friend (we both attended the class). It was a great roadtrip and a time away from work and the wife...! We thought we would go out and see it before bringing our boys out as they weren't old enough at the time to go on a trek. My pal went back last summer with his two kids and they had a blast. I wasn't able to go back last year, but we do have Philmont as a goal for my son to do a trek in a year or two. I'll go back - if I can get fit (and stay fit), I'll do the trek as well. My son is off to Jamboree this summer and I'm on staff there as well. Assuming I meet my fitness goals - and I'm pretty close to where I need to be. Anyway, Philmont is a great experience. It was pretty moving to see all the enthusiasm from the boys that were there for a trek. I'm looking forward to going back.