Simply return Scouting to camping:?

[Eamonn]

Simply return Scouting to camping?

Sounds like a plan.

Before I was married as a single adult leader, I was fortunate in having two ASM's who were also single. We all worked Mon -Friday, with weekends off.

Getting away to go camping or do outdoor activities with the Scouts wasn't hard.

One weekend a month we all were on the Service Team at a UK national camp site (Walton Firs.)So loading a couple of Patrols into the Scout Vans, on that weekend wasn't much work.

The Patrols just needed to buy their food for the weekend and load their Patrol equipment in one of the vans.

It wasn't unheard of for us to be away three weekends out of four.

Without the responsibility of having families spending two weeks at summer camp was also easy.

While I'm not an active SM or youth leader at present. I know that them good old days are long gone.

Where I work we have fixed pass days. People wait for years to get weekends off, sometimes ten or more years.

I'm lucky that our department is small. But when it comes to choosing vacation dates everything is done on seniority. Guys with the most time in pick first and these guys can have six weeks or more vacation time.

Some people are left with very slim pickings as dates in the summer months go fast.

While I'm guaranteed any leave I put in for as long as not more than one person is off and I give thirty days notice, I can also request days without the thirty days and hope it will be approved.

It's not that I don't get a lot of vacation time. I do, with holidays about seven weeks a year.

It's just finding time when to take it all.

Being married of course means I need to use time for family activities and stuff.

HWMBO just wouldn't take very kindly to me not being around for the big holidays or not taking a family vacation.

I think it's even harder for guys who have young kids or have both girls and boys at home.

 

When I look at the shambles that the Scout District where I live is in, I am at times tempted to start a Troop.

I know this is going to sound very egotistical, but I'd like to just prove that Scouting in my area can work if given half a chance.

Still this time restraint thing kinda holds me back.

Even though I know that there must be ways of making it work.

My pass days are Sunday and Monday so finding twelve or fifteen days for weekend activities wouldn't be hard.

I really see spending a week at a Council ran Summer Camp watching Scouts run from Merit Badge class to class as my idea of purgatory, so finding a week in the summer when Scout Camps are up and running is not that important. I'm sure that if the Scouts wanted to attend a Council run camp there are people who could be trained to take them and endure the madness.

Then I have yet another problem!

As I get older I'm becoming more and more aware that I'm not as patient as I once was.

I'm not sure I'm up to dealing with young Boy Scouts and their parents. Eleven year olds would drive me nuts.

Before anyone chirps in about Venturing! That's not an option. I see it as a waste of my time and the time of the youth involved. -If it is working for you?

That's great! More power to you and keep up the good work.

I just know it's not for me.

For now I'm kinda happy not doing much. I'm still a member at large. Still donating a few dollars here and there.

Have been asked to think about returning as District Chair. But with the way things are going I think the days of the District are not that great and am starting to think that not having the District as I know or knew of it might be a good thing. Or might be yet another step into there not being a Council!

Still the big thing would be managing the time factor.

Ea.

 

[Basementdweller]

Eamon

 

You just seem to be a more hands on kinda guy. A District position seems to be a waste of your talents.

 

The youth are the reason we are here, not the political adult structure that scouting has become.

 

Start that troop. Make it the best ever.

[packsaddle]

"You just seem to be a more hands on kinda guy. A District position seems to be a waste of your talents."

Eamonn harkens back to my boy scouting days as well. We camped and we did it every way there was to do it. We went to national parks, we backpacked, and we just hiked and explored. We didn't have internal frame packs, heck we had to make our own external frames out of steel conduit and then figure out how to strap the canvas packs to them. Brutal.

We did almost nothing but camp and hike and camp back then. We were children of the forest, at least I was, and I and my cohort loved it (I still do). We all still revere our old scoutmaster from back then (thank goodness he's still alive).

So I think Eamonn's on the right track. Kudu too, except sometimes seems a bit obsessed with trying to change what the organization has done to scouting...(my hat's off to Don Quixote, I hope he is successful).

Trouble is, it is difficult-to-impossible for some populations to get access to the resources that we had literally in our backyards back in the rural South. There either has to be a mechanism for gaining that access for urban populations or else the program has to be flexible enough to allow for the lack of that access in some way.

 

I am thankful for Eamonn's thoughtful counsel here in these threads. I can't fully understand the problems he faces where he is but I am certain that he is making the best decisions about his involvement and whatever those are, he's doing a great job at it.

[Kudu]

packsaddle writes:

 

Kudu too, except sometimes seems a bit obsessed with trying to change what the organization has done to scouting...(my hat's off to Don Quixote, I hope he is successful).

 

Me? Return Scouting to camping by debating "leadership skills" believers on the Internet? Not to worry: I'm just gathering material for a more practical project.

[UCEagle72]

We didn't have internal frame packs, heck we had to make our own external frames out of steel conduit and then figure out how to strap the canvas packs to them.

 

Nah ... made the wooden one that was in the Fieldbook!

 

The Fieldbook was my favorite Scout book - wore out two by the time I was 18.

[Tampa Turtle]

Since I rely on Eamonn to keep the discussion cheerful and centered it kinda bums me out.

 

I agree do something with the kids.

 

I find that being married with two kids the one weekend a month camping plus other meetings and events takes it's toll. I am lucky to work at a place that is both family and scouting supportive; my last job wasn't and I am sure it cost me money and advancement.

 

Certainly seems a lot more work to plan a camping trip than it used to be.

 

I would like BSA to be much more outdoor oriented.

[Jeffrey H]

Simply return Scouting to camping? That would be great. I would like to see more Troops simply camp for the sake of camping, for the enjoyment of camping, to sharpen outdoor skills.

 

I was at an Eagle COH last week and included in the program was the Eagle Scout's accomplishments. It noted that he had 31 camping nights during his six year tenure as a boy scout. For me, Thirty-one nights of camping is something I would not list as a Scouting accomplishment. However, that's where we are today in Scouting. You can make Eagle and pretty much keep camping at a minimum.

 

 

[qwazse]

How 'bout this ...

 

Don't offer to be SM, but offer to help coordinate a couple of non-camping troops in an "outdoor experience." Something along the lines of "I know of this really great spot where boys like yourselves would love to camp.

[OldGreyEagle]

So, if you want to camp more, who is saying not to?

[perdidochas]

31 days of camping as an accomplishment?

 

If you count summer camps, my oldest has done 28 days of camping in l yr, 5 months of being a scout. My youngest (in 5 months of being a scout) has done 10 days of camping.

[Basementdweller]

perd.....I was thinking the same thing my scout in 2 years has nearly 80 days, if you count his cub career probably closer to 120. What a sad sad scouting career for the new eagle! As a scout I would be embarrassed by that low a number.

 

Now stepping back, what a sad state the troop must be in if he is bragging about that amount of camping.

 

5 nights a year that is pathetic. The new scout patrol most are not 11 years old yet, has 15 nights already under their belt, and this weekend it will be 17.....and they joined in February.

[Jeffrey H]

Now stepping back, what a sad state the troop must be in if he is bragging about that amount of camping. 5 nights a year that is pathetic. The new scout patrol most are not 11 years old yet, has 15 nights already under their belt, and this weekend it will be 17.....and they joined in February.

I agree.  5 nights a year is poor, but he met the written requirements as laid out by the BSA national program.  Most of the camping he did was in his early years with the Troop and he did not attend any campouts in his final 2 years with the Troop.  His Troop is in good shape and has an active camping program, but this young man chose not to camp much.   He camped just enough to make it through the written requirements for Eagle.  That's not his fault but a BSA program that does not see the value in camping for advancement to Eagle. 

In my calculation, one could make it to Eagle on just 23 camping nights under the current written requirements:  3 seperate overnighters required for First Class and 20 nights camping required for the Camping merit badge.  Even if my calculation is a little off, it would still be a pathetic number.

 

[Tampa Turtle]

Man my boys hit 21-23 by the time they were Webelo I's and we were a non-camping Pack. They did 6 in Tigers...

[Engineer61]

You know...at least for my Scout ... he would be completely happy if ...

 

... you camped twice a month ...

 

... dropped the boring Eagle MB's ...

 

... added more fun MB's ...

 

... dropped rank advancement completely.

 

Just sayin...

[Kudu]

Troop camping supplemented by a couple Patrol hikes every month?

 

No boring Eagle (schoolwork) Merit Badges?

 

A program of "fun" (hardcore camping) badges?

 

You know...(at least for outdoor boys)...a program designed to make Scouts "completely happy."

 

Sounds like Baden-Powell's program.

 

Just sayin'