The Replacements, A Band of Brothers View of the Crossovers

[Hal_Crawford]

Our troop had about 16 members, over half of them in the 14-15 age range. We just bridged 8 scouts increasing our size by 50%. Before they arrived the PLC decided to put them in a NSP. The new scouts have arrived and a couple of things happened. Two parents told the SM that their boys had chosen our troop they didn't want to in a NSP (don't know why they thought we wouldn't do that) and the older scouts realized that this has a lot of uncontrolled energy and enthusiasm and as a patrol they might go thermonuclear, and oh yeah, none of the scouts really wanted to be the Troop Guide responsible for all eight scouts in the NSP.

 

New plan, the PLC has now decided that the new scouts will be distributed between the two patrols at next week's meeting. I was pleased that the leaders, once they saw the new guys as a mob, realized that their plan was not the best (and by the way, I thought the NSP was the right idea as well) and they adapted to the situation. Their decision was in part enlightened self-interest but mostly it was based on what was good for the new scouts and good for the troop as a whole.

 

BTW: I am a great fan of the book. It is difficult to remember that the Toccoa men were only a few years older than our senior scouts.

 

Hal