How does world Senior Scouting work?
William H. Sills (whs@idcnet.com)
Sun Jan 25 16:10:00 1998
A few responses qand additional queries:.
Mark McCormack wrote:
The Explorer program is totally different to that here in Australia.
For starters for Venturers we do not have a rank system. We have a group
ofyoung people who elect an executive amongst themselves, this will be Chair,
Sea Scouts alone remain in the traditional Lord BP program in the USA's
Exploring Division. Our units, called ships also have elected youth leaders. The
ship's company elects the Boatswain, Boatswain's Mate, Yeoman (records and
minutes), Purser ($$$$), and Storekeeper (boats, equipment, etc.) The ship's
company is divided into boat crews (patrols) headed by a coxswain and assistant.
Local councils with a few ships form a Sea Scout Squadron with at least a
Squadron Chief Boatswain. The skippers (leaders) and boatswains meet regularly
as the Squadron Quarterdeck (Skippers & Boatswains Association). The larger
division of our BSA also have optional youth leaders. Area Task Force, Regional
Flotilla and National Fleet Chief Boatswains are elected youth.
Our Rovers never really took off as a program. In 1965, a serious
mistake was made by our BSA as a result of the turmoil of the Viet Nam era. Our
traditional, uniformed Senior Scouting programs and their rank tracks, except
for Sea Scouting, were discontinued by BSA. Air Scouting, Rovers and Explorer
Scouting were abolished. Remaining Explorers were originally prohibited from
wearing any rank badges and even their green uniforms were dropped (that was too
much and they quicly returned). One of the other reasons for the change was the
mpervasive belief by Boy Scouters taht the Eagle Award was not being emphasized
enough. Because Silver, Ace, Quartermaster were so much more challenging and
were gaining so much favour with older youth, it was felt that abolishing them
would bring boys back to Eagle. That is also where the refrain the "Eagle is the
top award in the BSA" began to be trumpeted. Another reason was that because of
Sea Scouting's previous nearly ten year success as a co-ed program, the
Exploring Division was planning to go all co-ed. (Exploring went co-ed in 1971)
Many older Scouters were appalled by the thought of girls earning a BSA award
that was at a higher level than Eagle.
Now, our BSA has begun to come around full circle. With the pressures
from homosexuals and atheists abetted by the ACLU, many volunteer leaders feel
that only "TRADITIONAL" ships and posts will be able to survive the onslaught by
the advocates of "PC" and the courts. Also, our lady Quartermasters have been so
incredibly impressive and their competence has been so outstanding that the
Quartermaster Award's value has been greatly enhanced as a result of their
accomplishments. This has served to alleviate any remaining concerns of the "Old
Guard" vis a vis girls earning Silver and Ranger. We all hope that those awards
return this summer and make our already great Exploring post program even
better..
> Treasurer, Secretary and so forth. It is normally the older personnel who
> hold these postions. All Venturer Units operate on the same premise as
> every other Venturer Unit. They will differ depending upon location and
> personalities but basically they all operate the same (this is the theory).
> This also goes for any swampy's (Sea Scouts) that are Venturers,
They call us "web-footed" Scouts in the USA.
> just that
> they have a slightly different focus. The best way to equate Venturers here
> is that with your Hich Adventure Posts.
> >
> > How does that work in Australia? Do you still have Rovers? We
> >discontinued that program in 1965. What are the ages of your Rovers and
> >Venturers and what do they do? Do you have Sea Scouts? Are any of the
> >foregoing equivalent to USA's Explorers?
>
> Yes of course we have Rovers, they were never abolished as it was in the US
> and UK. BP himself wrote the book "Rovering to Success", and is compulsory
> reading in most Rover crews.
>
> Venturers are aged 14-18 and Rovers 17-26. It is legal here to drink
> Alcohol at 18, and this is the major differnce between the 2. The other
> difference is having a car and a job and being in the real world. Rovers
> have big social gotherings called Moots and the Australian Rover Moot is
> held every 3 years. In Victoria there is 2 big yearly Moots, (surf moot
> which is on this weekend)(This weekend is a long weekend, it is the
> Australia Day Long Weekend). and in June there is Mudbash now held a
> Mafeking Park near Yea, which the Rover bought. remember June is winter
> here. Here in Queensland it is Banana Bash which is held during the Labour
> day long weekend in May.
Can young adult Rovers drink at your Rover Moots? What about cigarette smoking?
>
>
> >We all get along here in the USA even though many of our Senior Scouting
> >programs are widely divergent. Is that also true in Australia?
> >
> We all get along except with the Poobars, they are the ones how wear purple
> tabs.
Who and what are the purple tabbed poobars? They sound a little bit like birds.
<VBG>
> > As an Australian, you may have heard of our awesome helmsman,
> >Buddy Melges. He is a committeeman of our Sea Scout Ship Hathor (1),
> >committeeman and past commodore of Sinnissippi Council's Sea Scout
> >Squadron and is a member of the National Sea Scout Fleet Committee along
> >with another great yachtsman, Bill Koch.
These fellows are Americas Cup and Olympic sailors. Buddy was on your radio and
television quite a bit during the 80s and also in the early 90s. He and Bill won
back the Americas Cup and then coached our all woman's Americas Cup team.
> Excuse my ignorance but Who are they? Is this Something to do with the
> America's Cup that the kiwis have?
Well, you guys were the nation taht finally beat the USA. Then, it went back to
us and we lost it to the kiwis.
Does Australia with its incredibly rich yachting heritage have its great sailors
serve its Sea Scouts?
> No idea
Queries:Why did Australia try to abolish (Swampies) Sea Scouts?
Do you still have Air Scouts?
What percentage of available youth are Rovers?
What percentage of available youth are Venturers?
What are your numbers in comparison to the rest of the Australian BSA?
What would you suggest to make your program grow?
What support does "Senior Scouting" get from your BSA?
We kept Sea Scout Quartermaster and are bringing back Ranger and Silver.
Hopefully, ACE will also return.
Did you ever have Senior Scouting advancement beyond the Queen's Scout Award?
Do you think such an award or awards would be valuable?
YISS;
Bill Sills
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