"Who Cares Where You've Been"?

Hi Scouters!!

I have finally finished my "testing period" for the new connection and the
new ISP, so the changeover's completed at this end. I have two postings,
this one and some GREAT NEWS I want to share with my fellow Scouters
and youth leaders about a super Scouter over here....

Last night, I went to the local District's Recognition Banquet. It was an
excuse to have dinner with Scouters, really, and I was glad that I went.
I was "tipped off" that one of our Scouts-L Scouters would be getting a
District Award of Merit, and I wanted to make sure that I was there to
congraduate him on behalf of all of us in this forum. So I had two reasons
for being there.

During the "meet and greet" part of the Banquet, I was approached by four
Scouts-L participants, all of whom don't post to the list but have been
reading our postings over the past couple of years. These were the same
folks that when I announced that I would be coming to Germany, quickly
informed the Council Executive and other key Scouters which resulted in a
mini-"welcome back home" series of meetings when I first arrived. I wasn't
there...the Army moved me someplace else and didn't bother to let them
know....but I deeply appreciated the attempt and sentiments.

All four of these Scouters asked the same question: "When are you going to
post to Scouts-L again and tell everyone what you've been doing??" I
replied "I don't think anyone cares...and the list is humming along as
before." I added that I haven't been able to do a lot of Scouting since
being here anyway, and the group's supposed to focusing on youth issues and
concerns; not military issues. I also added in one guy's case, that I've
received a lot of email (before and after my "massive loss of data" back
last month) from Scouters and others wanting to know if I'm still around
(which
prompted me to crosspost the note with my new email address).

The emails have still been coming: like this one I recieved from Mike
Golrick today:

>Would you consider posting a brief (is that an oxymoron---brief & Mike
>Walton in the same sentence 8-> ) update on where you have been & >what's
been happening.

Here goes:

I've been in Europe since August and will be leaving either at the end of
this month or the end of April. I've been doing three jobs, which are
described
on my webpage (click on "What's New" and read the part about my jobs).
In September, I got ready to go on a contingency mission to Africa with a
military command. Most of October and part of November I spent readying
myself for that mission, which went off in December (without us
Reservists). I also went home for a four-day leave to sign adoption
paperwork and to see my wife. I returned in December and got ready for the
next deployment, this time down to Serbia and Hungary. I returned before
the end of the year, and readied myself for the trip in Feburary to
Sardinia, off the coast of Italy. Before I went to Sardinia, my wife came
over and we had a SUPER two weeks...it started off rather slowly, but she
was impressed with my planning and the places where we did go...I am still
in awe of her travel flexibility!! During my three weeks in Sardinia,
(where I had lots of free time to catch up on my webpage designing and
ended up losing everything twice!), I interacted with a group of
developmentally disabled youth and their providers and caregivers...it was
a super experience!! I came back two weeks and a half ago, have been
working on the Reserve Component re-deployment stories and have been
getting ready for my own redeployment back home.

I have been to the local Council office three times since being here (the
office is located two hours away), have been to two District Roundtables
and to a OA function, made plans for a OA service day District-wide to take
place next month (hopefully), and was registered for the Klondike Derby and
the Fall Camporee until the Army had other plans for me. As always, I have
been to four Courts of Honor, including two Eagle Courts of Honor (and have
plans to attend two more before I leave here) and finally
have displayed Scout Spirit by wearing my green trademarked jacket with the
old OA patch on the back and my "forestmeister's kopf" (forestranger's top)
to places in Germany, Austria, France and Belguim, which has resulted in me
earning two Recruiter segments (which I haven't sewn on yet) and a
Bararossa District coffeemug (which I have been putting to good
use!!). It's those *little things* that can influnce someone to become a
Scouter!

Finally, my Sergeant Major showed up here in November, and we've been
showing the rest of the staff what happens when you put two Wood Badgers,
two Eagle Scouts and two writers in the same office!! Dan Coberly has
received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award during a PA
conference at the start of last month...the Secretary of the Army made the
presentation, as a fellow DESA holder and Eagle Scout. So we've been
working on that "great news story" in light of the present "pooh-poohing"
of Army Non-Commissioned Officers by the press (I'm referring, of course,
to the rash of sexual misconduct issues circling the Army's NCO leadership
from the top guy downward). By the way, you can read about Dan's
personal achievement and get a NICE picture of the DESA and him getting it
from http://users.aol.com/coffeeweb/coberly.htm starting Monday
morning!!

That's it!

I truly miss ALL of you (even those of you over in the corners over there,
there and there, just reading and "don't consider yourself important or
experienced enough to post anything here") and am glad to be back here
learning from all of you as I share my knowledge and experiences with you.
Those of you in the corners -- you *are* important and experienced enough
to those you work with and those youth that you influnce. Please don't let
your lack of a "title" or "position" nor "tenure" keep you from asking
questions, from making comments, or from contributing in other ways on this
forum. We ARE ALL LEARNING AND SHARING from each other here, and as I've
wrote so many times, "nobody here has all of the cards"...
there is no one real expert here, and I for one, enjoy that feeling. I
come to
this forum everyday with my brain open and my printer on to learn and share
from each person that posts, whether or not I agree with them. And if you
don't believe this comment, ask my wife please....I go into a kind of shock
when I CAN'T get to this bright campfire and at least * read* the comments
and information from all of you!!

So please, if you're like three of the four Scouters I talked with last
night, and are just sitting there reading, please consider asking those
questions and making those comments that your're yelling at your screen or
on that piece of paper...we can't hear them, and I for one welcome all of
the divegent comments and the many questions that together we can answer,
provide you the information, and assist you in being the best youth leader
advisor or coach or worker that you can become! So please post them here!!

I guess there's a LOT of people that "cared where I've been"...thanks for
the concern, Mike and so many others...and thanks for holding my seat around
the "virtual campfire" that Scouts-L has become! I'm glad to be back!

Settummanque!

Mike Walton ("no such thing as strong coffee....") (502) 827-9201
(settummanque, the blackeagle) http://www.vhm.com/~uscardnl/
174 Chapelwood Drive, Henderson, KY 42420-5036
blkeagle@dynasty.net or kyblkeagle@aol.com
---FORWARD in service to youth ----

• Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
• Next message
• Previous message