Sea Scouting
Calvin H. Gray (405geezer@IGG-TX.NET)
Mon, 6 Jul 1998 10:48:45 -0500
A friend forwared this message to me, and I thought it might be of
interest to those of you involved in Sea Scouting.
YiS,
--
Calvin H. Gray
Scoutmaster, Troop 405
Georgetown, Texas
mailto:405geezer@igg-tx.net
mailto:scoutmaster@troop405.org
http://www.troop405.org
Fellow Sea Scouters:
Happy Independence Day to everyone. I hope most everyone is
getting out on the water today.
In the last couple of days I have received information from the
National Office about how the Exploring-Venturing split will directly
effect Sea Exploring in terms of who goes where.
The following specialty codes will be transferred to Learning for Life
and will no longer be associated with Sea Scouting: 0907 (Coast Guard),
0913 (Navy), 1339, 1739.
The following specialty codes will become a Venturing crews but will
fall under the new Venturing Sports cluster, and will therefore no
longer be associated with Sea Scouting: 1204 (Sailing/Boating), 1205
(Merchant Marine), 1206 (Scuba), 1207 (Recreational boating), 1639,
1945, 1646.
Only specialty code 1208 (Sea Scout Ship) will remain in Sea Scouting.
The question I can here being asked is, "So who cares?" The
answer should be, "You do." If your Ship is in one of the specialty
codes slated for separating from Sea Scouting, you will no longer
receive Sea Scouting mailings, and your youth will no longer be eligible
for Sea Scouting advancement or participation in Sea Scouting special
opportunities (such as the Eagle cruise). Additionally, if your Ship is
slated to be transferred to Learning for Life, your youth will not be
able to work towards Eagle Scout rank.
According to my database of Ships, over half of the Sea Explorer
Ships nationally are coded something OTHER than '1208.' That means that
in less than one month, Sea Scouting is going to see a 55% membership
and unit drop. That should give most of us pause for worry, since our
influence within the overall Scouting program, as well as our ability to
garner scarce resources, will see a parallel drop. I don't know about
you, but I'm very concerned.
What should you be doing about this? Ensure that EVERY Sea
Exploring unit in your council, regardless of its flavor (traditional,
recreational, scuba, oceanography, etc.), is registered with specialty
code '1208.' To do this, you must contact your council Registrar and
have her/him take care of it. PLEASE do not assume that someone else if
going to do this for you. They won't. If you have Sea Exploring
responsibilities at the Area or Regional levels, please do the same in
your 'turf.'
Time is short. The great split will take place on August 1st.
Anything left un-done at that time will hurt our program.
Questions? Please ask now. Let's get on this folks. It's OUR
necks. Only WE can save them.
Bruce
Bruce Chr. Johnson
Skipper, S.S.S. Columbia Ranger
Columbia, Maryland USA
commodore@mail.seascout.org
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
