Scouts and lost gear

[Eagledad]

>>Since your unit seems to be short on gear, hows about having all the funds from the next fundraiser go to replacing what has been lost or misplaced?

[raceboy]

It really sucks when equipment go missing.

 

My troop issues euquipment at school and collects them at the same place. No one goes back until the euquipment is cleaned, dried and stored in the Scout den. If time does not permit, we store it first and come back later to clean and rarely do we have Scouts taking equipment back to their homes.

 

If any of the equipment is damaged, the patrol repsponsible have to repair it or find some other monetary means to replace it. We try to avoid the monetary path unless it is really necessary.

 

I agree that good paperwork is needed to keep track of a troop's inventory and it has to be done by someone responsible ... preferably by a GSM, SM or ASM who will work closely with the QMs and AQMs.

 

[evmori]

While Barry is correct, my idea was since the Scouts would have to pay for 100% of summer camp, I'd bet mom & dad would be asking where a tent & dutch oven & bow saw & splitting maul & 7 tarps sitting in the garage came from!

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[SR540Beaver]

Barry,

 

Our two crews leave for Northern Tier this Friday at 7:00 AM while the old Beav twiddles his thumbs back in OKC and has to use his imagination when thinking about what the little Beav is up to. Thanks for the offer of dry bags earlier. We ended up purchasing a couple with the thought that they would be put to further use later on. Speaking of lost gear, he is taking dad's Petzl headlamp as his has mysteriously disappeared.

[Lynda J]

We stopped having troop tents for this very reason. Now each boy has his own tent. If they chose to share on a camping trip it is up to them to set it up. This way they are responsible for taking care of cleaning their own tents.

[acco40]

I think a few have touched on it but all should abide by it. Equipment should NOT be troop owned (except for a very few items such as a trailer, US Flag, etc.) but be PATROL owned. I don't like the idea of bringing personally owned equipment but it does have some advantages (better care, no problems identifying who the owner is, no responsibility for repairs, etc.). The idea of patrol equipment (tents, patrol boxes, stoves, etc.) is to promote the patrol method. If you do not use the patrol method to its fullest extent, you are not implementing the Scouting program.

 

The patrol method fosters sharing, responsibility, etc. Scouting is a program where the boys are safe to fail. Let them fail! Use it as a learning experience.

[SemperParatus]

John,

I suppose our troop is a few years older and has grown a bit faster, but we certainly share the same problem. We have tried the log and sign-out and patrol control and quartermaster check and no one leaves until its all packed away methods...but still tents find their way to the forgotten corners of basements and garages for months. I am sure the great methods suggested in the prior posts are workable, as long as they are consistently and slavishly followed. Unfortunately, people forget or are rushed or claim ignornace or have a special situation or whatever other excuse to cause process malfunction. Since our inception, we have done the troop tent thing, but for the past couple of years I really have come to believe that having scouts provide their own tenting is the way to go. While I sincerely hope that you can execute on better processes and controls, I expect that as your troop continues to grow this problem will likely continue. Understanding that a $50-$75 investment could be significant for some scouts, I would keep the supply of tents you have now for use by the new scout patrol and as loaners to those that cannot provide their own tent. I would suspect that most of your experienced scouts have access to a tent or are in a position to invest in one. Perhaps consider earmarking a portion of future fundraising dollars to 'tent grants' for scouts rather than troop tent purchases. Grants could be for 25-50% of tent costs for all scouts or just those in need. Good luck.

[SR540Beaver]

Guys, I'm telling you, it just isn't that hard. We still have a few servicable tents that are actually older than most of our boys. We write the date in magic marker on both the tent and rainfly when it goes into service. We've had to patch holes, replace zippers and poles, but we have some tents from the mid to late 80's.

[MarkS]

For the most part in our troop, the only equipment that goes home with the boys after a campout will be a wet tent. All tents are numbered and we have a white board mounted inside the door of our trailer with a list of the tent numbers and how has them.

 

A clipboard with lists on a chain attached inside the trailer will work too.