Adult Patrols

[SR540Beaver]

E,

 

How did you get 90 scouts and equipment to a location without non-uniformed adult assistance? A few weeks ago when I was Campmastering at our property just outside of town, a small troop hiked 5 miles to camp down backroads. All they carried was their daypacks and the adults drove the trailer to camp with all of the equipment. We sometimes go 150 miles to camp. Asking a parent to drive 300 miles round trip on a Friday night and then do the same on a Sunday morning isn't such a good option regardless of whether it is 10 scouts or 100.

[OldGreyEagle]

Whats worse is that I knew that Michael J Pollard who went on to fame and fortune in the movie Bonnie and Clyde was the lead male kid in that episode

[Eamonn]

SR540Beaver

The Troop owned and operated four 15 seat vans, with custom made roof racks.

Very often we would send the Scouts to camp by train while the equipment was taken by van.

For summer camp we all went by Train or some form of public transportation.

One local Troop had a 52 seater bus which they let us use if they weren't using it and if it was working.

We looked into buying a 52 Seater bus, but the mini vans were cheaper to maintain.

When we visited the States we rented a school bus for ten days.

The English Scouts thought this was neat as they had seen them on Sesame Street!! The "Neatness" wore out on about day two! Even my leading them is a burst of "The Wheels on the bus" didn't seem to help.

Transporting 14 Patrol Boxes,dining fly's and tents (In the UK we used 8 man tents with six Scouts in each tent) was at times a challenge!!

For summer camp we tried to take as much food as we could with us.

Please don't tell anyone.

One year I tried my hand at smuggling!!

We were camping at the Scout Center in Rotterdam in Holland. I mentioned this to a friend of mine who was the bacon supplier for the hospital I was working in. He donated three whole sides of smoked bacon, which had been imported from Denmark.

I hid the bacon in among the tents and other equipment. All the time thinking I was going to be caught and sent directly to jail, not passing go and not getting my $200.

As we neared the Dutch customs, pangs of guilt hit me!! So I stopped and went through the area for vehicles with something to declare.

As it happened the Customs Officer was a Dutch Sea Scouter, he laughed when I declared my bacon! Later that week he came to visit us and the following week his Scouts and some of our Scouts went cycling together.

We of course fed them boiled bacon, potatoes and cabbage.

Strange thing was that the Scouts complained for a couple of days that the tents smelled funny!!

I wonder why?

Ea.

(That was the end of my days as a smuggler -Failed again!!)

[ASM915]

Here's an idea to keep the new parents from interfering with the boy program.

Use the Adult Patrol. Free up an ASM and or other adult leader, or even a senior scout if one is available. For some of the open time, have these leaders run a troop Outdoor Leadership Skills program, especially for the green new parents that aren't use to camping. Not every new parent, even if they are use to camping, will know how to supervise (sorry, keep a watchful eye over) an ax yard. They may have only used a Coleman stove and have no experience with backpacking stoves, Camp Chef setups or Dutch Ovens. Have your YP officer cover YP. Cover First Aid. The list is endless and can be spread out over several camp outs. Keep them interested and busy for some of the time and then have coffee and BS part of the time. Hopefully this will keep them out of the boys hair, and teach/show them what Scouting is all about.

 

As for camping, we try to have all camping adults YP trained before going on a campout. Also CPR. Everyone is CPR trained except for the new crossovers, Scouts and adults alike. We're fortunate enough that we usually have at least an EMT if not a Medic on every campout. When a new scout joins, I try to get the parent to come onboard the Committee and start getting trained. If the parent is a camping type, then we try to educate them on how Scouting prefers to do things and why. If they have good ideas, we try to incorperate them if possible.

[EagleInKY]

We don't completely emulate a patrol. For example, we don't have a patrol leader or any other POR. But we do separate the adults and try to keep them working, playing, eating & sleeping separate from the boys. We refer to our adults as the "Old Spice Patrol" or "Team Old Spice", which goes back to an occurrence at Summer Camp a few years back. (Although last year it was suggested we should rename ourselves to "Team Motrin".)

 

I find that, especially with setting up camp and cooking meals, the adults can model good patrol behavior for the other patrols.

[scoutmaster52]

Troop runs two adult patrols. one is the Eagle patrol(every one wants to be an Eagle)with the yell Eagles fly high! The name also coresponds to our highschool team. The other is a breakaway patrol that is really our fundraisers. They are the Momma Bears. Don't mess with your momma! is their yell.

[John-in-KC]

My opinion...

 

When adults model patrols, it should be a training environment away from the youth. By exception only should Scouts see us participating in the Grand Game.

 

When we adults are in camp as Scouters to the youth, we should be far off to one side, far enough from the youth that they have freedom to do the Grand Game, and close enough that we can provide resources if asked.

 

If we don't know how to cooperate, work nice, and honor the Scout Law in our daily (and Scouting) lives, we have no business being Scouters.

[BrentAllen]

"When we adults are in camp as Scouters to the youth, we should be far off to one side, far enough from the youth that they have freedom to do the Grand Game, and close enough that we can provide resources if asked."

 

I agree, the adult patrol camps away from the boys, but they camp as a patrol.

 

When that new PL is having a bad day at camp, with chaos at his patrol site - boys not working together, goofing off instead of preparing meals, arguing over who is supposed to do what - the SM or ASM can have a conference with him at the adult patrol site and let him see how things can be done, what he should be striving for. For a new PL or even a group of new Scouts that have never seen how a patrol should operate at camp, the adult patrol is a great opportunity to model.

 

We adults don't compete against the boys in the knot tying relays or lashing games or other patrol competitions. We are usually too busy being the judges and referees and photographers. We do fall in at opening ceremonies and we do exhibit as much patrol spirit as we can. We teach our new members and guests (new dads) some of the T21 skills, which most are happy to learn. We have a duty roster and everyone splits up the jobs. This helps the new dads see and learn what is expected of his son in his patrol. Plus it keeps the new dads busy and out of the boys' patrols.

 

When that older Scout turns 18 and stays involved with the troop, a special ceremony is held when he graduates into the adult patrol. This changing of patrols helps everyone with this transition. The 18 y/o sees he is expected to camp with and act like the adults. The Scouts see him as a member of that group, and not as one of their own anymore. I've seen some real problems when this distinction isn't recognized by everyone.

[John-in-KC]

BA,

 

For reasons I discussed offlist with Eamonn, and will not do so here...

 

Scouters can and should as a team when supporting Scouts on site, be it LT camp or a weekend.

 

If adults start calling themselves Patrols, getting flags, doing cheers, then they are crossing the boundary of being support to the youth program members and are trying to vicariously participate in the YOUTH PROGRAM.

 

I will not fight my way out of that accusation ever again. There is no way in Hell I will participate in a Troop where the adults pretend to be youth. I have my own private reasons for this.

 

I trust I've made my position as clear as it will ever be.

[Stosh]

I'll go on record as not interesting in having an adult patrol in the troop. I don't think the troop corps of officers should be a patrol either even though in many repects both groups function as such. If a PL has a problem and the adults are off in their patrol grouping and so are the older boys of the troop officer corps, where's his help?

 

I try, and I suggest to the other support corps to hang out, be available, and be there to help when needed. If a patrol wishes to invite their patrol advisor to their mess, they should have the opportunity to do so. If they want the SM to sample their new menu item, great, but he shouldn't be off some place where he can't be found.

 

Boys really don't want to go off and hunt down help, they want it nearby, just in case. Be available.

 

Stosh

[John-in-KC]

Stosh,

 

I'll absolutely agree. To my way of thinking, the adult area should be just far enough offset from the youth that we're not constantly watching them. That can be as little as 50 or as much as 200 yards apart, site dependent.

[Its Me]

 

John-in-KC, your argument appears weak. Some how the youth participants in the game of scouting will have their character and development go into a downward spiral if a group of adults sign a song or give an occasional cheer. I disagree.

 

And most who don't like the adult patrol tend to exaggerate the amount "patrolness" that an adult patrol will have. From my understanding the adult patrol's net effect can be a positive influence on the troop by: setting an example, collecting and organizing adults (see the April 2007 thread on PL leader sleeping with parent), providing a bonding experience and favorable social environment for the adults volunteers.

 

(This message has been edited by Its Me)

[John-in-KC]

It's Me,

 

It may be weak, but it's mine. Since EagleSon aged out of the Boy Scouting youth program last spring, I have a tiny bit greater freedom in choosing where and how I will serve the Grand Game.

 

When he's off to college next year, I have a lot more freedom!

 

I can set my own terms on where and how I serve, within the broad limits of the Scouting road...

[Hunt]

Whenever this comes up, it seems to me that the problem is too much of a black-and-white understanding of what an adult "patrol" is. I think there's a continuum in how "patrol-like" the adults are. In other words, if the only thing that makes them a "patrol" is that they camp and cook together, and call themselves the Geezer Patrol, I can't really see the objection. On the other hand, if they were to really organize as a patrol, with a PL and APL, etc., then I can see the objection, especially if they can be seen as competing with the boys, or doing their own thing rather than being available to the boys. Having a flag with a rocking chair on it is somewhere in between, I think.

[Stosh]

I like the idea that the SM is an "honorary" member of every patrol, a "buddy" to every lonely scout, a mentor to every PL, a guide for every ASM, a calming effect on every PLC, a rock of stability for every committee meeting, and a pain in the neck for every DE. If the adults find it necessary to patrol up, the SM should remain separate just like he would for any other patrol.

 

Stosh