Key 3 in Sea Scouting

[stricklat]

So i live in a council that has one ship in the entire council. My new DE and I are trying to get a new ship put together in my district. We could not figure out who makes up the Key 3 in sea scouting. We do not have a venturing executive(our district is rural and our council is very small). Is the DE the Squadron Director and the District Commissioner the Squadron Commodore? Or is it a completely new position? Please help. I know it sounds like a stupid question.

[Buffalo Skipper]

This is not a stupid question at all. How the sea scouting program is run is quite vague in the program literature and even the "official" material provide several options on how this may be done.

 

First of all, see http://www.seascout510.org/scouting_forms/Sea_Scouting_Council_Guide.pdf. This document is 10 years old, but no replacement has been issued, so I can only presume it is "current."

 

Part 5 is what you are looking at. But, as you suggest, there is no council venturing committee, the ship would fall directly under the District Committee, just like any other unit, and would be serviced as such. This can be difficult, as it is very unlikely that anyone on the DC will have any experience or knowledge of the needs of the Sea Scout program.

 

As far as a Sea Scout Committee Key 3, unless the PD or SE directs that there should be one, there is no need. The Council Sea Scout Committee would generally be headed by the Committee Chair (usually called the Commodore, a volunteer) and the Council Sea Scout Director (appointed professional, prehaps the PD). It is implied that Commissioner Service may fall under the Sea Scout Committee, but how this is to be organized or accomplished is not explained.

 

I would speak to your council Program Director or Council Executive, and ask how they want to set this up. For only one ship, it is unlikely that they will want to make any special arrangements. With only a very few ships, it is unlikely that the volunteer rescources in the council will have sufficient experience with the sea scout program to organize a separate committee to support the program.

 

With that said, if you do have a handful of volunteers outside the ship(s) with sea scout experience, by all means try to organize a committee. No offense to non sea scouting volunteers, but the program is sufficiently different from boy scouting and venturing that it can best be served by a separate organization, one with good experience in this program.

 

I hope this has helped.

 

 

 

[emb021]

There is a chapter in "Here's Venturing: District & Council Support for Venturing" on Sea Scouting.

 

For Sea Scouting support at the council level, you have basically 2 choices:

 

* Ships are supported just like any other unit.

 

* a council Sea Scout Committee is formed, headed by a Commodore (aka the committee chair). IF there is a Council Venturing Committee, the Sea Scout Committee sites under it, otherwise it would be another committee under Program. The Committee would provide training and program support for ships in the council.

 

Since you only have 1 ship, having a committee seems overkill. However, having some group of people supporting sea scouting CAN help in growing the sea scout program. Otherwise you have people with little or no idea of Sea Scouting (or carrying about it) promoting the program, providing training, program support, etc.

 

 

Oh, to answer your original question, the Key 3 in Sea Scouting, at least at the council level, would be (these are the traditional titles):

 

* Squadron Commodore (aka Council Sea Scout Committee Chair)

* Portmaster (aka Council Sea Scout professional)

* Squadron Boatswain (youth, either elected or appointed)

 

BTW, the Portmaster can be a DE with other duties. In the 2 councils I work with, the responsibility of Sea Scouting is just another duty for the professional.

[Eamonn]

The District key 3 is made up of:

The District Chairman.

The District Commissioner

The District Executive.

 

Unit Support should be managed by the District Commissioner.

The District Committee as a rule has within it smaller committees. Most Districts have:

A membership committee

A advancement committee

A camping and activities committee

A finance committee.

These smaller committees can vary a little from District to District. But should have knowledge about all the sections and strive to include and meet the needs of all the sections. (Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, Venturing of which Sea Scouting is a part of.)

In most Districts the people who serve on these committees have been involved in Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting but have very little knowledge of Venturing and even less about Sea Scouting.

When we started a Ship, we were the only Ship in the Council and there hadn't been a Ship in the Council since sometime in the 1950's.

In the early days we relied very heavily on the Flotilla to help us find our way.

Don't get hung up on the titles!

Contact your nearest flotilla and they will put you in contact with people in the know.

Sea Scouter's are among the most helpful and generous people in the BSA.

With so few Ships in so many Council's, it isn't surprising that Districts don't have all the support and training's set up within the District /Council.

You don't post what are you are in?

Here in the NE-Region we have some outstanding Sea Scouter's who are really super and can't do enough to help a new Ship.

Eamonn.

[Kahuna]

What Eamonn says is correct. The District Key Three is just as he said. There is no Key Three as pertains to Sea Scouting. If you have a lot of ships in your council, you can have a wardroom, a flotilla or squadrons, but those have nothing to do with the Key Three, council or district.

[emb021]

"There is no Key Three as pertains to Sea Scouting."

 

Yes there is, and I gave it. It's just not required like it is for Key 3 for Council & District. And as I said, for a one ship council, I think it would be overkill. But we do speak of 'key 3's where it related to OA, Venturing, and Sea Scouting.

 

"If you have a lot of ships in your council, you can have a wardroom, a flotilla or squadrons, but those have nothing to do with the Key Three, council or district."

 

Uh, you're mixing several different things.

 

A wardroom is usually a roundtable for Sea Scout leaders.

 

Flotilla is what is known as the Region within Sea Scouts. Most regions have a commodore, boatswain, and staff director.

 

Squadron is the council organization for Sea Scouts, which is your council sea scout committee. So at a minimum you'd have a commodore and staff director, if not also a boatswain. So you would have a 'sea scout key 3', or be working toward it.

 

 

[Kahuna]

Jeez, I really get so sick of everybody knowing everything. It just makes me feel so inferior and stupid sometimes.

 

I will say again, there is no Key Three in Sea Scouting. If you have something you want to call a Key Three, fine, but it isn't.

 

I'm not mixing things up when I speak of wardrooms, squadrons and flotillas. No, they are not the same thing, nor are they necessarily as you describe. Council and region practice determines if those things exist and and what they are called.

 

There is no Key Three in Sea Scouting.

[Eamonn]

I have to admit to not having ever heard of a Sea Scouting Key 3.

That doesn't mean that there isn't one or that there hasn't been one.

I know all about District Key 3's.

Having spent a fair amount of time serving as a member.

What I posted about the District Key 3 is not far off the mark.

I really don't think that just because a District has a Ship that the District Guys (Chairman, District Commissioner and DE) have any need to take on titles (Squadron Director and Squadron Commodore)

To be honest I have never heard of a Venturing or Sea Scout Key 3? Just as I have never heard of a Cub Scouting or Boy Scouting Key 3.

When I look at the four main purposes of a District I don't see the need for another Key 3?

I do know of some Councils who have a Council Vice President for Venturing. In fact I had a fellow who held that position in a local Council in a WB Patrol that I was a TG for.

He seen his role as developing plans for Venturing and doing his best to help establish Venturing in that Council. I really can't remember if that Council had or what they had set up at the District level to deal with Venturing?

The District I serve seems to do OK allowing Venturing to fall in line with the traditional units, using District chairs and the like to help as and when needed.

Jerry Clark who sits on the NE-Region Area 4 Committee is a member of the same Council as myself and as far as I know he has not voiced that we are doing anything wrong. (Anyone who knows Jerry knows that he isn't one to let things slide.)

Eamonn.