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  1. By Larry Geiger on January 25, 2012 in Scoutmastership,The Patrol System Adult leaders often say things like; “I don’t override the boys decisions at all. ” “I asked them what they wanted to do.” “This was their decision.” What most of us fail to recognize is that many of these ‘boy led’ decisions were probably coerced, at least in part, by the presence of adults when they were discussed. It’s not that the adults shined bright lights in their eyes or twisted their arms behind their backs – it is much more subtle than that. When adults are present youth leadership – th
    5 points
  2. After being a leader what have you found out about yourself? District / Council campouts that are packed 8 am to 10 pm with program have shown me I do A LOT of "boredom eating" and sitting. Yesterday over the course of an entire day I walked ten miles only eating at the designated times. I don't need to nap, I don't need to scrounge for candy all day. Big revelation for me really.
    4 points
  3. The statement you posted says: That's because they got outed in 2018:
    3 points
  4. HEHEHEHEHE. Last camporee I ran, sheath knives were REQUIRED for several events. It was a wilderness survival camporee. Talk about freaking people out. I had to put out an addendum stating sheath knives are allowed by BSA and state law. I even had to post links to BSA literature and Scoutstuff.org to prove it.
    3 points
  5. We have started wearing red epaulettes, Eagle mentor pins, and multiple temporary patches just to tweak the UP...sorry ID. Granted they will need to come find us in the woods, but our spirit is there
    3 points
  6. Please note that we have denoted all uniform police to insignia dorks. Use that term in all future posts.
    3 points
  7. Please be like the Woodbadgers who use the training to help them be better leaders in the troop. Please don't be like the Woodbadgers who see it as a justification to be condescending to non-Woodbadgers. I encountered a few of these types at Camporees. One simply couldn't accept that my entire group there was first and second year scouts plus 1 older scout with special needs as a reason why the adults had to provide more teaching assistance than ideal.
    3 points
  8. I've found I like simple camping the best. Less gear, gear that is elementary/low tech, food that simple fare but high quality. A real camp fire...for cooking..conversation...listen to the wind blowing through trees. Acceptable number of hissing, over-bright propane lanterns: zero. Etc.
    3 points
  9. I soooooooooooooooooo wanted to make beer cheese, but alas, the rules say no. So, this weekend, I, along with our 2 other adults, made pork schnitzel, spaetzel, German green beans and homemade applesauce. Lots of butter involved here. For the pork schnitzel, get thin sliced boneless pork chops. Slice off any fat and pound even thinner. Then dredge in flour. Next in egg/milk. Finally in Italian bread crumbs. Sautée in butter 2-3 minutes for each side. Slice of lemon. Cook the spaetzel to the directions on the bag. Add butter. Get fresh, trimmed green beans. Boil for
    2 points
  10. District has a winter event, we have stopped attending. Basically run by the adults in the OA, complete with (I kid you not) 20 page handbook. Troops and patrols are told what they should bring, how they should dress, are evaluated as such. I asked one time why not send out a list of events, patrols bring what they think they need? Blank stares. My final straw was when the SPL and I went to the Friday meetings and there was a 20 minute diatribe on Safety. Yes be safe, but Good Lord. Then another 15 minutes health lodge processes. MY SPL leaned over and asked if we couldn't just han
    2 points
  11. Since it was brought up, I'm a knife nut. I usually have a few on me and even a machete when camping. With that said, the council-owned property rules in writing say no sheath knives. I'm ok with that as long as can bring my machete. The down side of sheath knives is the weak pleather sheath worn in the front with a "western 628" type in it. As a paratrooper we had our jumpmaster knives on our legs without stabbing ourselves. Just a quality sheath worn the right way to be safe. And, machetes still rock!
    2 points
  12. @69RoadRunner, your camporees sound similar to ours (the ones outside of our district, that is). All units crowded together by decree, though there are plenty of woods and other open spaces to camp. Adults acting as SPL and PLs, with all of the scouts cooking together under one dining fly. Clueless people being loud during quiet hours. Then we add the dynamic of WBers, be they on the staff or self appointed, directing the troops and crews as if they were all cub dens under their control.... It's no surprise camporee participation is dropping like a stone around the BSA. At least
    2 points
  13. I lived and made it home. But there were kids this weekend that looked at me like I was crazy and it was their first time EVER. When I used the word "No".
    2 points
  14. Browing around on the Scouting Magazine website (scoutingmagazine.org), I came across a post about how to set up a dining fly. Very simple: if you've got a tarp and some rope, you've got the makings of a group shelter. Nothing to it. For some of us old timers, it's simply the way we setup our camps on each and every campout. But as I was reading the article, it occurred to me, never once in the past 10 years have I seen my son or his friends set up a patrol dining fly that way. The troop has several of these EZ-Up canopy shelters, and the boys just pop those up when we're at a campsit
    1 point
  15. The 3rd pot, sanitizing rinse method was first rolled out in B.S.A. literature in Boys' Life. It then appeared in the early "printings" (what is normally an "edition") of the 12th Edition Boy Scout Handbook at p. 327. later "printings" of that "edition" went back to the unsafe two-pot method, then back to three pots. The 13th Edition incorrectly puts the chlorine in the first rinse, where food particles reduce effectiveness, followed by a hot, third tub. (p. 308) This incorrect method is covered in the Scouting blog. Bryan on Scouting :https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2017/03/30/how-to-wa
    1 point
  16. No matter what the registration is for 2020 and beyond, I will continue to work with an inner city pack and troop. The youth need Scouting and I am helping to fulfill their needs.
    1 point
  17. The above link didn't work for some, so try this one to access the letter. (Thanks for catching, Walk) https://michiganscouting.org/a-message-from-the-council-leadership-october-20-2/
    1 point
  18. And this is for DesertRat77, Did my time near Colon and JOTC as well as Ft Clayton in Panama. The Panama Canal Council was great. Machetes and the occasional black palm thorn through any glove or in a leg. Not to mention, NEVER SLEEP ON THE GROUND!!!
    1 point
  19. Since you made everything else from scratch, try getting a spaetzle maker and making your own. Some 20 years ago someone from Germany brought us one. It's easy and tastes good. We're still using the same one.
    1 point
  20. Sorry I wasn't there. I never lament the lack of beer. But, I would have definitely lamented the lack of 1919!
    1 point
  21. Did the event book include twenty-seven 8 x 10 colored Glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of Each one explainin' what each one was?
    1 point
  22. I admit I and other adults ran the show. Goal was for the Scouts to compete and have fun. All the ideas for events came the previous camporee's SPL crackerbarrel. I did use the BSA's COMPLETE WILDERNESS TRAINING book by Hugh McManners for source material. As for the book, I admit it was 20 to 30 pages, plus 4 addendum answering questions various adult unit Scouters had. Edited. book had ideas, sources for additional info, and a section on sheath knives. As for knives, I got a Becker 21 kukri for Christmas and carried it that weekend.
    1 point
  23. Sounds like our neck of the woods too. I was director of a multi-district camporee a few years go. I tried to my best to buck these nanny-state trends. Had some success. At the cracker barrel I stressed my thanks and respect to the units that took the time to participate. That the oath and law covered 99 percent of what we expected that weekend. Our package was only a few pages, mostly dedicated to the events and schedule. So after a few moments I stopped talking and asked if they had anything for me. No? Okay, see you around camp. Ah, not so fast. One of my fellow staffers
    1 point
  24. And National is perfectly happy to walk the line with regards to outside vendors, anybody remember this, https://www.alamoareabsa.org/news/libertymutualmailing/?
    1 point
  25. When he was about that age, I once told Son #1 that if he kept throwing a tantrum, I'd take his litter sister to the Steeler game instead of him (his uncle had given me a pair of tickets) ... and I did. I'm not sure I ever told that story to my scouts. I wouldn't want them up at night wondering how they got stuck with the cruel adult leader.
    1 point
  26. I came to one council one to do an event only, was surprised that in an 1,800 acre reservation they had the troops all corralled in the big field when there were acres (literally) and acres of land they could have used. There was another whole camp they didn't use. Looked like some sort of really bad festival. Each troop have like 100 SF and the next troop guidelines were right there. Not sure what the thinking is for these
    1 point
  27. Das sieht lecker aus! You are a more ambitious camp chef than me. I'd probably just grill a few bratwursts and serve 'em up with sauerkraut and some good German mustard. Never tried serving them on a scout campout though....mostly because I'd have to leave the beer at home, and Oktoberfest without beer is like a night without moonshine!
    1 point
  28. We don't do that camporee anymore (it was canceled this year due to lack of interest). The scouts didn't enjoy it and it was the only activity I went to because I had to, not because I wanted to. They crammed us all together, so you were sleeping in a tent, but not camping. A troop next to us got up at 4:30 to start breakfast. Well, the adults did. I got up and informed them of what time it was and the lack of sound insulation in my tent. I almost asked if they were cooking a <bleeping> turkey, but just went back to my tent. We do the Klondike Derby each year, but that's i
    1 point
  29. Easy solution - keep activities at the unit level, avoid the WB snobs AND the uniform police
    1 point
  30. Exactly what 69RR said. I see woodbadge snobs, just like uniform police. In our council, woodbadge will cost $250 each and some just don't have it in them right now. Then there are the WBers working their ticket and should get support from the wogglers. WB is good for the person when the time is right and they are ready. No one should be pushed, ridiculed or looked at for whether WB or not. Then there are the staff (3 beaders), and 4 beaders that have hierarchy. Just use the program as you need it. I wear my beads often, but the woggle and WB neckerchief less often. But, I
    1 point
  31. Is it true if I go to WB people will stop telling me to go/asking if I have been?
    1 point
  32. Here we go: From the form in 2018 From 2016: (2014 was the same) 2012- 2009- Javascript seems to have prevented the internet archive from catching further back than that but this is 10 years worth.
    1 point
  33. I'm addicted to the woods. When a week goes by and I'm not camping or hiking or just sitting around a campfire, I get antsy. I crave it. It's like a weird primal urge to get oudoors. Also, at summer camp I really enjoy a salad for lunch and dinner.
    1 point
  34. Battery operated "candles" might be an option, although they would pretty much need to be turned on at the beginning of the ceremony (the Scouts wouldn't have the fun part of lighting the candles). Another version I have seen is where each Scout has his or her own candle (like a votive candle). And as the Scout earns a new rank, the Scout moves his / her candle up a ladder (each ladder rung represents a rank). A very simple candle candelabra could be made out of a small log kind of like this:
    1 point
  35. Congratulations! I completely understand re the kids and their amazement at the word "no." As a former JROTC instructor, I saw the same dynamic.
    1 point
  36. I have carried a tick key in my first aid kit for a few years yet never used it. Over the summer at the camp I worked at, I got 3 ticks within a 24 hour period on the same leg. I’m still not sure how that happened, but that’s besides the point. I found them later at night, so they were on there for a few hours each time. I decided to try the tick key because I wouldn’t of been able to use tweezers in two spots due to it being an awkward angle. I must say, I’m a fool for never using this before. My ticks weren’t big but weren’t small. The key was so simple and effective. It took no more t
    1 point
  37. Actually it was official from August 1, 1984 to circa 2008 (if memory serves) with the full Cub Scout Diamond (Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, and Webelos patches) and after that with the full diamond or alone until June 1 2015. June 1, 2015 was when the Cub Scout Program was updated, and Webelos are only suppose to wear the tan and green uniform. But as mentioned Vintage uniforms are allowed.
    1 point
  38. Here's the quote from the Insignia Guide So, given that the Welebos diamond was wearable on a tan uniform at the time, it's still wearable if you can get one.
    1 point
  39. A moment of silence for the starry-eyed young scouter who evidently didn't survive the game of life.
    1 point
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