600 straight months (50 years not 5000) of Camping!

[RememberSchiff]

Here's the cake version for those lacking time to read Troop 709's story... Peter, who came from the farthest away (Charlotte, N.C.) cut the cake at perfect time… 7:09 p.m.

Edited September 11, 2021 by RememberSchiff
Math error

[fred8033]

Ok.  That is cool.  I was always proud of our 10 months a year camping for 15 years.  That wins.  

Really, really cool achievement.  

[mrjohns2]

That is awesome!

[MattR]

Are we sure about this? 600 hundred months is 5000 years.

[johnsch322]

57 minutes ago, MattR said:

Are we sure about this? 600 hundred months is 5000 years.

Not quite....50 years.

[RememberSchiff]

7 hours ago, MattR said:

Are we sure about this? 600 hundred months is 5000 years.

Oops, must have been counting with my toes after a hike. 

[SSScout]

12 times 6o = 720 ?   12 times 100 = 1200 ?   

But then, who's counting....

[MattR]

1 hour ago, SSScout said:

12 times 6o = 720 ?   12 times 100 = 1200 ?   

But then, who's counting....

600 hundred = 600x100 = 60,000 months. 

But you're right in one way. If I have to explain the punch line then it's a lousy joke.

[SSScout]

AAAAANNNND that's how many one hour weeks?

[David CO]

I totally disagree with all of this record-making stuff.  The boys in the troop should feel perfectly free to cancel their activity, if the situation calls for it, without feeling like they are letting people down by spoiling a perfect record.  

I feel the same way about youth sports.  They are way over-doing it with the stats.  Too many boys are worrying about their stats when they should be focused on the game, getting exercise and having fun.

[InquisitiveScouter]

23 hours ago, David CO said:

I totally disagree with all of this record-making stuff.

Agreed.  I find it extremely difficult to believe that, over 50 years, not a single month was without camping.  Record keeping, weather, unit leadership, what constitutes camping (was it in one night in someone's backyard just to keep the record going??)...too many variables, with too much possible human error, bias, and stretching, to get to something like this.

Knowing what I know from 35+ years of Scouting experience, I glance sideways at things like this...much like a Scout earning (actually, "being awarded") every merit badge.

[fred8033]

On 9/11/2021 at 3:26 PM, David CO said:

I totally disagree with all of this record-making stuff.  The boys in the troop should feel perfectly free to cancel their activity, if the situation calls for it, without feeling like they are letting people down by spoiling a perfect record.  

50 years is hard.  But not every camp out is 85% of the troop.  Some might end up with a few scouts and a few leaders.  Some months might have multiple small camp outs.  One OA.  One new scout patrol.  One high adventure.  ...  Even then it's really hard to not miss some month over 50 years.

One thing I do miss.  Under our first SM, our troop never canceled.  Bad weather.  Bad scheduling.  Ya make it work.  

POINT:  Having a troop mentality that you don't cancel is important.  Otherwise, it does become a bit too easy to cancel one or two a year.

[InquisitiveScouter]

3 hours ago, fred8033 said:

Having a troop mentality that you don't cancel is important.  Otherwise, it does become a bit too easy to cancel one or two a year.

This^^^

The only reasons we cancel trips is if the roads are treacherous (ice storms) or we have a hurricane blow through

There have been many times we have changed destination at the last moment and camped in the field behind our church.

[Eagledad]

On 9/11/2021 at 3:26 PM, David CO said:

I totally disagree with all of this record-making stuff.  The boys in the troop should feel perfectly free to cancel their activity, if the situation calls for it, without feeling like they are letting people down by spoiling a perfect record.  

 

Record making stuff? Probably never enters their minds. And if it does, that is also choice.

My son had some friends in another troop who were famous for never wearing long pants. They always wore scout shorts, even in the coldest weather. I'm sure they some kind of record.

I don't think this is that hard of an accomplishment. Our troop had a least one outing a month the whole time I was there. It wasn't about records, it was about adventure and activities.  Patrol method needs a place to practice. Provide the place and the scouts will grow from practice. Very simple and it works. As the program matures and grows, so will the activities. There are some years we have at least 8 outside the program adventure activities planned and run by the scouts. We had some months with three activities. We were busy. Scouts weren't required or expected to attend all activities, so some of them were small. Some of those are a simple weekend experience and some are two weeks. The Scuba experience required several months of training to get certified.  There was no sight on getting a record, just having fun. Some troops are more active than others. Good for them.

Barry

[RememberSchiff]

Scouting Magazine 2006 article (~ 400 consecutive months)

The success of Troop 709's outdoor program is due to good planning, much of it done by the boys. And the Scouts are not averse to altering their schedule at the last minute, as they did last winter when the troop learned about an opportunity for rock climbing and cancelled the planned camp-out in favor of the new activity....

"The patrol leaders' council comes up with program ideas for the year," says former Scoutmaster Paul Newton. "They then go to their patrol members to find out what they want to do. The adults add direction to the program, [but] we try not to tell boys what to do."

Each monthly event is assigned to one of the troop's 24 assistant Scoutmasters; that person has overall responsibility for the activity weekend. During the outing, even the Scoutmaster reports to the designated Scouter in charge.

https://scoutingmagazine.org/issues/0610/a-wego.html