Eagle69

I shut down a Troop 17 years ago that had been Chartered for 43 years and the Council never said a word or did anything until 6 months later when someone called me to inquire about something, nobody even missed us not Rechartering.  I held onto everything for two years when I went to a new Troop as an ASM and brought 3 of my Committee people along on paper so we would have the base of adults to recharter if the opportunity came.  After two years the Preacher at our former Charter Partner said we want the space where the troop gear is so you have to get rid of it.  I kept a few pieces for myself and gave everything else away to other Scout Units.  The adults that were associated with the unit when it folded told me to keep the funds in the bank account as payment for 28 years as SM.

On 8/2/2021 at 12:00 PM, skeptic said:

We need to clarify that there are now two groups of Methodists, and they are not in agreement.  However, the traditional support of Scouting, the Methodist Mens' group, still supports the program.  Please be aware of this.  See this FB group.  https://www.facebook.com/MethodistScouting/photos/a.128216575250845/582219489850549

There is still only 1 Official Methodist Church,  anything else is just a part of the chatter that is been going on for awhile and has yet to be voted on.  I suspect that a change where there are two groups, Progressives and Traditionalists, may come about, but it hasn't yet.

The mailing I saw today included a draft Facility Use Agreement laying out the responsibilities or lack of of the Church, Troop and Council and it had places for signatures from each party.  I'll have to take another look at it tomorrow to see if it said it was required.  Depending on how a church's Board of Trustees feels regarding this, I could see where a church could really restrict a Troop and what it does with the church and it's facilities/vehicles.  It will be interesting to see how this all pans out.   My church hasn't had any Scouting Units since 2006 but I am still a ASM,  glad I am no longer a SM,  with a Troop sponsored by a Methodist Church so it will be interesting to see what they do.

Here in Arkansas the Bishop has sent a letter telling all Methodist Churches to NOT sign a new Charter Agreement after 12/31/2021, but instead to go to a Facility Use Agreement between the Church, the Troop and the Council. Scout Units will now become a group that meets at the Church instead of a part of the church and the church basically has no connection to the Troop.  This agreement has to be formally signed by all parties.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Quapaw Council in Arkansas announced May 27 that there will be NO Summer Camp.

I totally agree on the worthlessness of the skillet with the Trail Chef Kit and the cups weren't much good for anything but a measuring cup, however the rest of the kit was quite handy in my opinion.  We has cast iron skillets for cooking.

Thank you for the hep!

I need to update the email address associated with my ID on MYSCOUTING.ORG but clicking around on the website I can't find anyway to do it.  Any help would be welcome.

" According to the "Rules and Regulations", the DE should meet with the CO and determine their intent to recharter now or sometime in the future."

Ha, ha. 11 Years ago I shut down a troop that had been chartered for 43 straight years and never heard a word from the District or Council professionals.  I keep the gear in storage for several years hoping we would restart until the CO said we need the space and the gear has to go.  I gave some of it away to other troops and since I had associated with a new troop I gave them first dibs on gear they wanted out of our stock.  We had some gear that was specifically used by the leaders (tent, stove, cook set, lantern) and I took that myself for payment of 28 years as SM.

I have no experience with the new backpacking stoves, back when I was doing it only white gas was available.  As for static camping, we would go through white gas like crazy on a weekend campout, whereas a 20 lb propane tank lasts almost a whole season.  I haven't looked at the price of white gas in Wal-Mart lately but the last time I saw it at Cabelas I almost choked at the price.

I  can't fathom the new all in one WoodBadge with Power Point presentations inside.   I did a Walking Wood Badge back in 1978 where we were taught the 11 Leadership Skills.  Prior to the new WB the whole course was done OUTDOORS!  You slept outside, you did your own cooking outside, and your training was outside.  Of course lets not forget there was Boy Scout WoodBadge and Cub Scout WoodBadge, 2 totally different courses.  Fortunately nobody has ever mentioned to me that my Beads weren't any good and I needed to be retrained.

Here is the Leaders Guide for the Quapaw Area Council in Arkansas.  This camp is located about an hour Northwest of Little Rock outside of the big metropolis of Greenbrier off of Hwy 65.

http://www.quapawbsa.org/content/uploads/2016/03/2016-Leaders-Guide.pdf

Concurrent is fine.

"Our council AND national does."  Interesting.  I was SM for 28 years 1979-2007 and produced 26 Eagles and never turned in a Blue Card to Council. 

Rethink being SM with your young family.   They may tell you it is 1 hour per week, but the "one hour per week per boy" joke is not far off.  I started as SM about the same age as you did, but I had no wife or family so my time was my time.  I did this for 28  years and went back to being an ASM where now I decide if I want to go on this outing or come to that meeting.   To succeed as SM you will need to attend monthly Roundtable, Training, etc, all of which will eat into your family time.  I would say wait a few years and then give it a go when your son is part of the program.

Cableas used to have a piece of hardware  you could attach to a 20 gal propane tank and use to refill the small disposable ones.

I can't find it on their website but Amazon has one:

http://www.amazon.com/Onlyfire-Universal-Regulator-Accessory-Cylinders/dp/B00X7OHXOC/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1450455241&sr=8-16&keywords=propane+tank#Ask

Once upon a time, there was a backpacking WB; one of my good friends took it and loved it. It was at Philmont.  I believe there was also a canoeing done at N Tier or Land Between the Lakes, when it was a national HA base.

I did a Walking Wood Badge council sponsored course way back in the late 70's.   We were constantly on the move with sessions being interspersed as we went along.  From the first night we were pitching ou tents and cooking our own meals.  It was a bit different from the static course at the time, but even that was done outdoors with patrols doing their own cooking.  I never understood why BSA created the current couse that is done inside with Power Point Presentations, catered meals, sleeping idoors and combinng Cubs and Boy Scouts.

Get Cast Iron Skillets and teach the boys how to take care of them and you will never look at anything else again and the nice thing is if they mess them up by not following directions you can, with some effort, make them useable again.

I can't believe that BSA has discontinuied the nesting Patrol Cook Set, that has been around forever.  The skillets weren't anything to write home about, but having the nesting pots was great.   My troop went inactive and after a few years the CO said they needed the space where all the gear was so i had to get rid of it, I made sure I kept the BSA Cook set that i had bought 30+ years ago for the leaders to use.

Back when I was SM our troop made 2 trips to Rocky Mountain National Park, 1 trip each to Pecos Wilderness in New Mexico,  Porcupine Mountain State Park on Lake Superior in Michigan, Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina, and Shenendoah National Park in Virginia with a side trip to DC.  We were a backpacking troop at the time.

Camp Rockefeller used to be the best protected scout camp in the country and also the place you didn't want to be when the missles started flying.   Back before disarmament there used to be several Titan II missle silos on more than one side of Damascus.

As a Scouter in the Quapaw Area Council, which owns Rockefeller, I'm glad to hear the praise.

As a single adult who has been a Scout Leader for 38 years(28 as SM),  I can attest to the fact that if you are fully involved in Scouting then there are lots of times that you put your personal life second.   I have a full time job, I own a house and have other committments outside of Scouting and there have been times over the years when some are of that have gotten ignored because of Scouts   Every leader I know had the same issues so the LDS folks aren't any different than the rest of us except to most of them it is a job they have been ASSIGNED to do and for the rest of us it is a job we WANT to do.

I was in Cabelas the other day and happened to take a gander at the price of Coleman Fuel and nearly fell out when I saw it was $16.00 a gallon.   It got me to wonder if anybody still used it to power stoves and lanterns or has everybody goine to Propane which is so much cheaper?    I can remember some campouts where we might go through a couple of gallons of fuel powering the stove.  That would be big time expensieve now.

Single male, never married, 38 years as a Registered Scouter 28 as Scoutmaster.  The topic never came up and there wasn't ever anybody hanging around saying they wanted my job.  I was recruited from another Troop to become SM and I was the ripe young age of  27.   All of my Scoutmasters as a youth had been my dad's age so I wasn't sure about taking the job.

Back in the dark ages, 1967, when all OA Stuff was done as part of Summer Camp, the "Tap-Out" and there was physical contact, was done at the Wednesday night Campfire, which was Parents Night.   The selected scouts/scouters when back to their campsites and got their blanket and reported to the gathering point where the Pre-Ordeal Ceremony was conducted, then they were placed in their spot to spend the night.   The next day was the Ordeal until late afternoon when they were released and allowed to go back to their campsite and be campers again.   The Ordeal Ceremonly was later that evening after dark, either before or after the Brotherhood Ceremony, which in our council actually involved really becoming blood brothers.  Afterwards all got together in the dinning hall for a cracker barrell.     Political Correctness, safety concerns, etc. have changed the OA from the mysterious and unique group it was.     I guess I was lucky in that my council had a great ceremonial team all the years with very nice costumes.