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Some other posts mentioning chainsaw projects and cotton sleeping bags makes me wonder if a thread about how WE did stuff in Scouting, way back when, and isn't it a wonder we are here to tell the tale... I will start off with a story I heard (because I was too young to participate) about. Our CO had a Cub Pack, a Scout Troop AND a Sea Scout Ship. The Ship was well known around the council, it being led by an old Chief Mate. One summer , they decided on an adventure, so they built a wood raft with 55 gallon drums lashed under it . Sailed down the Potomac and out into and up the C

So on things we could never do now, in the early 80's the only requirement for climbing and rappelling was money for equipment. You could call REI in Seattle (at the time you had to call 8 - 5 PST) and they would ship you what you wanted. We tied swiss harnesses and off we went. Kids had a great time. In the summer after we climbed the troop would go down the hill and swim in a river to cool off. Once we were rappelling on a large face (175' - 200'). When I went down to be the base the length of rope was fine. As the young scouts came down, as they did not weight as much, the

Sea Scout story reminds me of one an ASM told me of, and peaked my interest in Sea Scouts. His ship was located in Norfolk, VA. They did not have a designated vessel to use, so they went looking for one. They found a WWII PT boat in Bangor, Maine, but they had to work on it, get is USCG approved, and transport it back to Norfolk. They took the train to Maine, worked on it for a few weeks, spent a week getting approved, then steamed from Maine to Norfolk. I think all total it was 5 or 6 weeks spent getting the boat. Forgot to mention, none of the adults went with them, just the Sea Scouts.

In this case, the CO is a group that is dying out, has lost their meeting space due to it being uninhabitable by humans, which has resulted in our troop losing OUR meeting space. It's a whole other problem for me to tackle (along with rebuilding the patrol method, transitioning to a scout led program, and figuring out how to handle an integrated boy and girl troop. Add it to the list Good thing I like a challenge!

Did they drum up any new members?

One benefit you have, is that you can "start at zero" to rebuild. I have found this useful in the past: http://inquiry.net/patrol/green_bar/index.htm

Fine lines exist on how to challenge young people, or even adults. Many, likely most, would not be damaged by once common stunts like the snipe hunt. But, in the modern era, too many youth are unprepared for even a small amount of teasing, and too many parents overreact to it when it occurs. Society will not protect us from our own mental challenges and fears. Care needs to be taken, but much of that is the so called responsible adult being aware if someone is showing stress and removing them from the focus at a minimum, and maybe reviewing things with other adults and even the youth. It

There still is a BSA Ranger program run by NEGA over the summer at Frank D Merrill and Mt Yonah. Had scouts attend over the last several years https://www.nega-bsa.org/Ranger