flyingember Posted July 23, 2003 Share Posted July 23, 2003 How active is your troop in honor camping? Do you like the local OA lodge or do you feel that it needs improvement? I ask this because of a bit of irony. Nationally, all but two councils have an OA lodges (One in MO, one in CA). Over a dozen have a second honor program running at the camp (I don't have exact numbers). The councils with a second program are the stronger OA lodges that I've seen. (My opinion only) While OA is pushed heavily to be by the rules and to be nationally spread, the Chief Scout Exec was made an Honorary Chieftan in the Tribe of Mic-O-Say this very summer. If you think this is rare, the previous chief scout exec was a chief of the Tribe too, and an assistant is also a former chief. http://www.mic-o-say.org/MicOSay/Williams_Roy.html What do you think of honor camping in the US when nationally the program is one thing, and the leadership is supporting something which is not officially supported? http://www.flyingember.com/index.php?topgroupid=1&groupid=7 This is my research into just one program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acco40 Posted July 23, 2003 Share Posted July 23, 2003 I don't think it is really an either/or situation. For example, the article you quote contains this about Mr. Williams, "Mr. Williams is a recipient of the Vigil Honor of the Order of the Arrow and holds the Distinguished Service Award from that organization as well." It would be a mistake to take that fact and construe it to mean that he does not support Mic-O-Say. The converse is also true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJCubScouter Posted July 23, 2003 Share Posted July 23, 2003 I have never heard Mic-O-Say mentioned except on the Internet (including here.) Is it a regional thing? If so, the region does not seem to include New Jersey and adjacent parts of NY and PA. Unless I have missed it, both as a youth and adult member. OA, on the other hand, is strong and well-promoted in my area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acco40 Posted July 23, 2003 Share Posted July 23, 2003 Venture to St. Joseph, Missouri (the Show-Me State) and you will see that Mic-O-Say is a regional organization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bt01 Posted July 23, 2003 Share Posted July 23, 2003 The troop that I ama member of is not a camping troop. This is from the Committie Chair and the Scoutmaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGreyEagle Posted July 23, 2003 Share Posted July 23, 2003 Then what kind of troop are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJCubScouter Posted July 23, 2003 Share Posted July 23, 2003 btps, what does that mean, "not a camping troop"? You do SOME camping, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bt01 Posted July 24, 2003 Share Posted July 24, 2003 The only camping the troop does is summer camp. BT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bt01 Posted July 24, 2003 Share Posted July 24, 2003 old grey eagle I can not till you what type of troop they are. When I as asked to join the troop was about to fold. There was two other individuals th(aldults) that joined at the same time. We deleivered the program to the youth. That included camping trips, scouting programs and summer camp. The troop grew from 10 scouts to 35. Over the years the troop changed. Earlier this year, at a committie meeting with several scoutmasters, I asked them if thye scouts where interested in camping, hiking or in any other outdoor activity. At this point nothibng is working. At the last committie meeting the comment that the troop is not a camping troop was made. Yes, I can live with this statement and way of thinking. I just move on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGreyEagle Posted July 24, 2003 Share Posted July 24, 2003 Good Luck and Godspeed btps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingember Posted July 24, 2003 Author Share Posted July 24, 2003 yeah, mic-o-say is regional, although having over 75,000 members in the two big groups in 75 years, we're spread all over the place. It's also slowly expanding as per my personal webpage linked. Anyone in the midwest has heard of the program. our members are well known at Philmont I know specifically. acco40: it wasn't that so much as there's officially no support for programs other than OA, and this, in my opinion, shows otherwise. Oh, and try Kansas City for regional. St Joe is small by comparison. NJCubScouter: how many active members does the local OA have? You're in the center of the program regionally so I'm wondering. I'm not trying to show off in any way, but we have over 8,000 active members. Each ceremony sees in excess of 1500 people attending them. At the 16 year level there's 200+, at 18, 65 or so. 12 times a summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eamonn Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 flyingember, Please don't get upset. But until I read your posting, I, like the gentleman from the great state of New Jersey, had never heard of Mic-O-Say. If someone had asked me about it, I would have thought that thet were talking about one of my Irish relations. So many thanks for opening my eyes. Here in our little hamlet, we have Wagion Lodge 6. I have just asked the Vice Chief of Admin, how many members are in the lodge, he tell me that he has no idea. This might be because he is busy IM'ing and does not want to be bothered. But I think it is safe to say for the size of the council we have a lot of OA members. Every year the OA, does an outstanding job of getting our camp ready for summer. We do not have a full time Ranger, in fact we don't have one at all !! So this is a lot of work. As you walk around our Camp, you will see many improvenents, some big and some not so big. The work that was put into this was for the most part done by the OA. The attendance for a normal weekend is a little under 300. Again given the size of the council, I feel that this is good. As for the Troops involvement in the Lodge. I have never given this much thought. My thinking was that membership in the Lodge was an individual thing. As for improvement. The Lodge is always being improved, every year there are elections and those who run and those who win, are doing their best to make the Lodge better. While the numbers that you give for ceremonies are very impressive. I would remind you of something that Baden Powell, said. "It is better to do good, then be good." As far as I know, most of us OA members in Wagion 6 are happy to be where we are at. Eamonn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJCubScouter Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 Flyingember, I do not know how many members my local OA lodge has. I guess I am not actually a member of the lodge at this point, having last paid my dues when I was 18, which was 27 years ago. And the lodge no longer exists, though I live in the area covered by the lodge into which it was merged. (In other words I grew up in Council A but now live in Council B, except about 4 years ago A and B merged and now it's all Council C, and the OA lodges followed suit.) I'm told I can present my membership card from Lodge A, pay my dues and join Lodge C, which I haven't gotten around to doing yet. My son is 11 and not yet Tenderfoot, so OA is not an issue for him yet. The only statistic I do know is that when I look around at troop meetings, there are 2 or 3 adults and 3 or 4 boys wearing flaps, out of about 8 uniformed adults and about 25 active boys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGreyEagle Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 Put me in the "never heard of you guys anyway" crowd, and I grew up in the Chicago suburbs. But, having said all that, why did Mic-0-say start anyway? What does it do, fill us poor ignorant saps in(This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Old Guy Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 "But, having said all that, why did Mic-0-say start anyway? What does it do, fill us poor ignorant saps in" Visit their web site for more information. www.mic-o-say.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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