Patrol Method According To Green Bar Bill

[allangr1024]

"This is the patrol that has been making phone calls for a month now recruiting heavily in the Webelos boys planning on considering us for the upcoming year. 39 of them potentially could join and triple our numbers once again. "

 

I have not heard of having the boys make recruiting calls to Webelos. The thing that our district director says is to go to their meetings and invite them to go camping at Webelos Woods with us in the fall. I am not even sure we could get a list of Webelos to call. How does this work where you are?

[Kudu]

An interesting topic, Brent!

 

I have always thought that because Scouter.Com is dedicated to Green Bar Bill, there should be a separate Green Bar Bill Forum dedicated just to quoting passages from GBB and debating their relevance to Scouting in the 21st century. That way his techniques would all be in one place.

 

In the passages quoted in the first post of this thread, Hillcourt is calling for balance. The first one appears near the end of 81 pages about the Patrol Method. 81 pages! Compare that to the 3 pages in the current Scoutmaster Handbook, which among other things asserts: "Most patrol activities take place within the framework of the troop."

 

That is not the same as Hillcourt's Patrol Method, in which Scoutmasters train Patrol Leaders to lead Patrol Hikes on a regular basis without adult supervision: "You want your gang to become a real Patrol--and only a hiking Patrol is a real one." Handbook for Patrol Leaders, Chapter Six.

 

So when Hillcourt writes that a Troop is the sum total of its Patrols, he is talking about "REAL PATROLS."

 

How many Scouter.Com readers serve a Troop with "real Patrols" that hike without adult supervision on a regular basis?

 

One way to understand the difference between the Patrol Method and the "Troop Method" is in terms of training. In Scouting you get what you train for. The later printings of the 3rd edition of Handbook for Scoutmasters devote 25 pages to the training of a Patrol Leader (pages 200-208 + 208i-208xvi).

 

We no longer provide Patrol Leader Training. Now it is all about "TROOP Leadership Training." That is why the term "Troop Method" is so fitting.

 

Try to imagine a waterfront in which Scouts run for BSA Lifeguard every six months and are trained using Troop Leadership Training. How many Scouter.Com readers would allow their Scouts to swim in water over their heads?

 

So if we want to discuss what Hillcourt means by the relationship of Patrols to Troops, we must do so in terms of what Hillcourt called "Real Patrols."

 

Kudu

 

 

The Troop Leaders' Council as the Training Ground for the Patrol Leaders

 

In the meetings and deliberations of the Troop Leaders' Council, the Patrol Leaders are initiated into and guided in the parts they are to play in connection with their Troop leadership. Simultaneous with this, but at separate gatherings, is carried out their training for successful Patrol leadership, for their work as the heads of groups of boys clamoring for things to do.

 

This second phase of their training is, obviously, the more difficult and exacting of the two. In the meetings of, the Troop Leaders' Council the Patrol Leader may lean upon his associates, but in the meetings of his Patrol he must stand on his own feet, at all times giving his leadership. He must be trained to the point where he can do this. And it is the Scoutmaster who imparts this training.

 

[Stosh]

It would just so happen that the bulk of our current boys are last year's Webelos crossovers. The three packs that the boys are recruiting in are the three packs that they came from all chartered by the three grade schools in town. These boys are all from the class behind them and up until last year hung around them and basically know them. Once they get the name of one boy in the Web Den, then they can collect up the names of the other boys. We also last fall went to their meeting and did a presentation so the PL's would know at least from sight who these boys might be.

 

And by the way, we don't have the boys recruiting as a program process of the troop. Patrols that are short members, i.e. need 6-8 boys to remain a viable patrol, can "get their friends to join up". If this means they dip back a year into the Web dens, so be it.

 

At the crossover they have the right to greet the boys they think will be joining up with their patrol. The PL is the highest ranking officer in our troop. When his potential new member crosses over, he can step forward to welcome him. If no PL steps forward, the SPL steps forward and welcomes the boy.

 

However, the process does not stop there. At the first troop meeting, each crossover boy is asked what his preference is; he can join the patrol that was trying to recruit him, welcomed him or any other legacy patrol he wishes, or he can with his buddies start a NSP of their own. Each boy makes a specific decision on his own. If the boys aren't recruited, they can still choose any legacy patrol they wish. If they decide to form a NSP AND wish to have a TG they can pick any boy in the troop to assist them. If chosen, that boy has the choice to accept or reject the request. Although it is not promoted, the NSP also has the option to select any boy from the other patrols to be their PL as long as they are not bigger than 8 scouts. If they use the TG, they then select from their patrol membership a PL and APL.

 

Coming from a small town knowing who the boys are isn't really any problem and calling the scout office for a list of names would be a waste of time, the boys already know each other.

 

Stosh