Eamonn

All this going on and I missed it!! I was driving to the post office yesterday and I drove past one of the big houses we have in town. Our small town is known for it's Edwardian buildings and architecture. The house looked kinda sad. At some stage some twit had painted all the brick work, it was peeling and coming away, the grass needed mowed and the weeds were growing around up around the building. A sign hung outside the building stating it was the home of the Scottdale Historical Society. The house had been owned by an early rich family that is somehow connected to Her Who Must Be Obeyed. About 15 years ago a group from the local chamber of commerce had bought the building. They outbid me!! I was going to turn it into apartments. At that time I was seen as the bad guy. I had no intention of preserving the building, no real interest of the history, it was just an investment to me. In fact someone called me a land grabbing Limey!! The building requires a lot of maintenance and I was ready to spend a fair amount of cash to change it into six apartments. When I didn't get it I wasn't upset, I moved on to the next project. At first the people involved in the house were so very busy they found the money to buy period furniture and cleaned the house up. Then the roof which is slate needed replaced and the heating system needed to be replaced, they didn't have the funds. Soon interest faded and the house fell into bad repair. The house which for a couple of Christmases was decorated and opened wasn't used for anything. The group that were behind buying it stared to argue and had a big falling out. Many of these people used to come into the bar. The ladies that decorated at Christmas were upset, many had went and bought or made the decorations themselves. The guy who had sanded the floors was mad when the roof leaked and ruined the floor and all of his hard work. As I drove past I thought about what had gone wrong. I think everyone had good intentions. Maybe they just went about it wrong. There was /is a need for different groups with different skills to make a project like that work. People who have practical skills and people who can take on the administration, fund raising and so on. As it is now no one is happy and the house is falling apart. I believe that Scouting is a game with a purpose. We need all the different groups to work together to make it work. I look at the new WB Course as the place where we can bring all the groups together and show them how they can work together. The game part is very important, if we don't have the game and people who can pass on the skills to the youth the game dies and it's not fun any more. We also need the people to support those who are working with the youth, the more time they spend not working with the youth the less chance they have of making it fun. When we start fighting and trying to make out that one group is more important than the other we are shooting ourselves in the foot. I feel sure that Kudu does a wonderful job with the Scouts he serves. I think maybe if we were able to give him the funds and the support he needs that there is a good chance he might be able to do a better job. But for that to work we need to have a clear idea of what we want to do and where we are going. Of course for that to happen we all at times have to be willing to compromise. Eamonn.

The Vision thing can take a very long time!! Think back to the presentation at the course. The church builders wanted to ensure that the wood was there. The mission was planting the acorns. The acorns did in time grow into oak trees, which were in time used to replace the wood needed to save the church. All that sounds kind of easy. I don't want to give too much of the course away. So I'll go back to my apple pie. The Vision is to have a great tasting dessert for the Ship that everyone will enjoy. The Mission is to make the pie. Before you start you need to know what you want. Is the apple pie what people want? Maybe some other pie might be better? Maybe pies are wrong and brownies are what everyone wants? It seems a little silly putting all the time effort and money into making a pie that no one will eat. Even by changing the pie to brownies the vision of a great tasting dessert for the Ship that everyone will enjoy remains. When you think about making an apple pie, there are lots of different ways of doing it. You can buy a frozen pie and bake it. Use canned apple pie filling and frozen pastry. Do everything from scratch. All these different ways will end up with some sort of an apple pie. This is where the goals come in. The goals will change depending on how you are going to make the pie. Making it from scratch has a lot more steps that need to be done in a particular order than just baking a frozen apple pie, but even the frozen pie needs to have things done before it can be baked. No matter which way you decide to go about making the pie some steps will be the same. At some stage someone will have to come up with the ingredients needed for the pie. This will mean that someone will have to go to the store and pay for the ingredients that are needed. Some equipment will be needed to cook and prepare the pie. Some will be big things like the oven, some will be small like a knife to peel the apples or a can opener, an oven cloth to remove the pie from the oven. When we first bake a pie we will forget something!! We learn from this. As we get better at baking pies we might try and make our pies better. We might egg wash the pie, of course that means we will need more ingredients and some more tools. Trying to "Sell" the idea of a great tasting dessert for the Ship that everyone will enjoy.Is a leadership skill. You might have a long term vision for the ship. But maybe right now the vision that the Scouts have needs to be short term. More of a goal. When we started we had a membership goal, which we reached, a financial goal that wasn't big enough!! And the goal of sending someone to SEAL. The Scout who was selected dropped out a month before she was to go!! We have our goals on paper and look at them every-time the QD meets. Some months it looks like we are moving ahead and we take great joy in that, other months it seems that we are moving backward. I'm sure that not all the acorns that were planted grew into mighty oak trees! Some didn't make it more than a month till a squirrel got them, some got trampled on. Some may have been collected and never planted? I'm sure for a while the guys who planted them kept an eye on them, but after they were no longer around I wonder who took care of the Little oak trees? Right now the Ship is the acorns that have just been planted. Some will grow, some the squirrels are going to get. My big vision is making sure that someone will take care of the small trees after I'm gone and I'm eating apple pies with the Great Skipper in the sky! Eamonn

I enjoy being with groups of Scouter's. The Sea Scouter's in our flotilla are a wise, friendly and knowledgeable group. I know that by just being around them I learn a lot and pick up a lot of ideas. I in some ways miss attending R/T meetings. Us being the only Ship and there being only one active Crew, who didn't attend made my going seem like a waste of time. When I was District Chair we went with a News Sheet, now they have gone back to Announcements. Some people really love the sound of their own voice. The Cub Scouter's use the R/T Planning book and seem to all participate and have fun. The Boy Scout R/T Commissioner went MIA. They now ask a different Troop each month to take care of things. It doesn't work. The Boy Scouter's who do attend are the people who attend everything. As you look at them it seems that they are looking back telling you that: "You must be nuts." "That's never going to work" "We don't do it that way" Or they have been there, done that, and got the patch. Over the years we have handed out sorts of things, tapes, books, you name it. Sadly most of this stuff ends up with the unit leader and what happen to it then is in his hands. A couple of years back our Council Commissioner using his own money paid for every unit to receive the Troopmaster software. Last time I asked only about ten percent of the leaders were using it. I'm happy to see that it seems National is taking the decline in membership to heart and are willing to do something about it. Doing something beats the heck out of doing nothing. I'm unsure what benefits will be seen from sending out a DVD? If it ends up in the SM's case never to see the light of day again, the benefit will be very little. The group of Scouter's that seem the most energetic and ready to save the world are the ones attending Training's. Hopefully some clever Trainer will get what ever permission is needed, if any? And copy the DVD's with the idea of placing them in the hands of these new leaders who might use the ideas. Eamonn.

I was going to post something very unkind about how the guys in Texas finally found out that not everything has to be on VHS. I suppose by the time we get around to having anything for Sea Scouts it will be a pod-cast? Eamonn.

To the best of my knowledge we do not have a female Scoutmaster in our Council. I don't think I know if there is a reason for this. We do have several female ASM's. Some attended Wood Badge and them not being male didn't seem to ever come up. I have to admit that I was worried when we started to see females join the Ship as youth members. So far they seem more than able to hold their own and seem more focused than the boys. Still I really ought not use a generalization like that! If I'd said that the boys were more focused than the boys I be accused of being sexist. We don't have a lot of groups represented as Scoutmasters in our Council: No black Scoutmasters, No Jewish Scoutmasters, No Latino Scoutmasters. We do help cover our lack of diversity by allowing some guy who talks funny play at being the Skipper of a Sea Scout Ship. I think the hope is that if he messes up we can set him adrift and maybe he'll float home. Eamonn.

"we only had 5 channels to choose from," Wow!! We only had BBC 1 and ITV!! BBC 2 came later. Eamonn. (Now it's down to Masterpiece Theater on PBS)

I have never really been a lover of TV. Sure I watch the TV. But missing a TV show isn't a big deal. I was sad when West Wing was taken off, but I think maybe it was time. I can't believe that millions of people tune in to watch someone open cases. I do think that the game can be changed a little so that Scout skills are in each case. I do like the Amazing Race. I'd love to be a contestant. I gave up on sit-coms some years back. Right now there isn't a show on TV that I mind missing. When I look at the values shown on TV; the stuff our kids are watching it is really sad. Eamonn.

Trying to get them there? Make two lists. On one list the things that don't seem to be working. In my case: E-mails, Nagging!! Over doing the guilt-trip thing. Doing nothing. On the other list things that do work or you haven't tried. Some of our Scouts are gung-ho on advancement. Nearly all of our Scouts love to eat and cook. (Beware of them small red peppers they are hot and seven or eight of them hurt in chicken) They enjoy caving and all night bowling. Try tying something they like to the other activity. On the day of the QD -Training go all night bowling. Some really clever person in the forums I think it was Hunt posted "More carrot and less stick" We talk the talk about Scouting being fun, but we have to make sure that we are delivering the goods. Try and set up a weekend with another well established, well ran Ship. Leave the Scouts from the two Ships alone to find out for themselves how things are done. Some activities seem to go better when I don't participate in them. I act as driver and then hand them over to the people in charge. That way they can't fall back on me but when they return they can't wait to retell me all about what they have done, what went wrong? And what went right. They really seem to appreciate the idea that I trust them enough to do stuff on their own without me!! One thing that seems to work for me is when we have a long drive, I have the Boatswain download the maps and he sits in the passenger seat, we use the time to discuss things and I look for openings to offer him wise words of Eamonn. Eamonn. (Save me a brownie!!)

I have some thoughts!! Please don't take them as being unkind or think that I'm pointing fingers. I'm really not trying too!! * As a Skipper or SM it's your job to train the youth leadership. * We (The Adults) are there to serve the youth members -They are not there to serve us. * It is going to be be hard in a new unit. You can't fall back on tradition or past learning. The "Monkey see, monkey do" thing isn't there just yet. * Maybe till things get on firmer ground: Have a fixed Agenda for the Quarterdeck Meetings. Remember this program is new to all of the Scouts. If the Ship you serve is like the one I serve? The Scouts dig out their Sea Scout Manual ten minutes before the meeting and rarely look at them till ten minutes before the next meeting. But they are very busy people. We found that having a theme for each month (3 meetings) worked well. At the QD Meeting each member takes on the Training Session for one meeting. I help out by providing information about where they will find the stuff they need. This past meeting our Store keeper did an outstanding job with Semaphore, he found a great resourse on the web. Our Boatswain's Mate brought his pair of hand held walkie-talkies and covered a lot of the requirements for Marine Radio. The idea of him bringing the radios from home came from me. The Boatswain is making interactive boards for Compass and relative bearings. He has been working on T-shirts since last June!! (He wasn't Boatswain then.) Accept the fact that things may not always go as you might like. The Halloween Dance that was planned for last years Halloween turned out to be a Valentine's Day Dance. We need to find a way of holding them accountable while we remain flexible. Eamonn.

Eagle309 I like to think we have a really good Lodge. I'll admit that I'm a little biased. I'm very close to the Scouts who have held office in the Lodge and the section for the past few years. I'm happy to hear that your Lodge is offering a training for the OA rep. Sadly I've always seen that position as being a Micky Mouse patch wearing position. So my hope is that with training I will be proved wrong. I didn't get to go up to Summer Camp this year. I normally get up for a few of the parents nights when the Tap Out /Call Out ceremony is going on. I watch as proud parents click away with all sorts of cameras. Last year OJ was involved in the unit elections. He was Administrative Vice Chief and took care of the unit elections in our District. I don't think the elections really put anyone out. (Other than me. -I paid for the gas he used!!) He contacted each unit and asked for a invitation, the unit informed him when and where would be good for them. The Lodge has four weekend meetings a year and a banquet. The meetings are well publicized, in fact most have been on the same weekend for a very long time. Each individual Scout decides when he wants to go up and take his ordeal within the time allowed. I think there is a time limit of a year, but don't quote me! Nearly all the OA members go up to the weekends as individuals. It isn't a Troop activity. Of course a lot go up with Scouts from the Troop they are in. As everyone knows when the weekends are, most Troops avoid planning activities on them weekends. While not everything in the OA is perfect, I do think it does a great job of holding the interest of the older Scouts. I know that is the case of my son. Of course he now has the wonderful world of Sea Scouting!! It's great that you have a committee that cares so much, but they might do well to take the Committee Training and there are times when the SM has to tell them to mind their own beeswax. Eamonn.

I 'm not the most handy person to have around the house. I'm however an outstanding Chef. I have cooked for a couple of Prime Ministers and a couple of members of the Royal Family. Before moving to the USA I was employed as the Executive Chef for the BBC. I love food. I happen to love cooking, it is one of the few tasks that requires the use of all of your senses. You can see, smell, taste, hear and touch what is cooking. I have a passion for food. Back when we had the restaurants running, I was very happy when the local community college asked if we would accept interns. Of course the students ranged from the good, the bad and the ugly. One didn't last two hours! But that's another story. I had a couple of really good chefs working for me. I know I guilty of paying them a little more than they would have got working else where, but I wanted good people and expected good work. Talking to my meat supplier one day, he offered me whole legs of veal at a really good price. I bought them. Feeling very pleased with myself at our next staff meeting I mentioned to the chefs that it would be a good idea if they broke down the legs with the interns. I had lists of what we could use the different parts for. Sadly our chefs had never broken down legs of veal. They were used to them coming in already broken down. Of course they wouldn't be able to show our interns because they didn't have the skills in the first place. In the end I broke down one with everyone watching and let them work on the others. The need to know how to break down a leg of veal is not the most important thing that a Chef needs to know, some might say that there is no need to know, or that it really isn't a Chef's job. At the risk of sounding like "An old timer". I still think a Scouter should have a good grasp of outdoor skills. I worry that we are spending so much time on Leadership and theory that we will in the very near future not be able to provide the youth we serve with the skills they need to take on the challenges, adventures and excitement that makes Scouting fun. I fully accept the fact that outdoor skills are not needed to make Scouting and the purpose of Scouting work. Still,the skills are needed to hold the interest of the youth members. When we fail to hold their interest, they become bored and quit. Which of course means that the purpose goes out with the bathwater. I'm saddened when I meet a 15 year old Ex-Boy Scout, who is an Eagle Scout. Who can't read a map or a compass and has allowed this lack of know how to prevent him from ever going on a hike or enjoy the great outdoors. To put it very bluntly I feel that we the adults have screwed up and let him down. I'm worried that in time He will return as an adult leader, still not knowing or ever learning the needed skills and then the cycle continues. I have an adult in the Ship, who has two sons in the Ship and in a Troop. The adult came in as an Assistant Cubmaster, went on to become Cubmaster and has for the past five years or so been a ASM. He is a super nice guy. But he knows squat about Scouting. He has never learned the skills and seems happy to leave that "Stuff" to someone else. Both Boys are working on Eagle projects, but I've met Cub Scouts who have more practical skills. I do not feel that when we are out on the water we need adult passengers. Thankfully he understood this and is now happy to sit in with the Scouts as we cover what I think are the essentials. But this is five years after he became an ASM. The truth is that there isn't anyone in that Troop who really knows enough to be able to pass things on to the youth. The Troop has made advancement an aim not a method and seem willing to either by-pass the stuff that they don't know or leave the teaching of it to a week spent at Summer Camp. Then as the Skills are never used as part of the program they are either lost or forgotten. I know some will say that we should offer more Training's for adults in order that they can learn this type of stuff. Maybe that's true? But until we can really accept that knowing this stuff is really important they are not going to take the time. The Troop OJ was in boasts of how many ASM's they have. Summer camp will see about 30 Scouts and about 20 Dads in attendance. The Dads /ASM are there to keep a watchful eye on their kid. They rarely leave the Troop Camp site and when they do its to eat and answer calls of nature. The Troop will have these Dads run Merit Badge Classes during the down time at camp. Scouts will return from a week at camp with all sorts of merit badges. Sadly again because not everything that they need is on hand for practical purposes they will skip over them bits by talking about them. Back in the UK when I was a new Leader, when you had proved that you had knowledge of practical scouting and some know how of the running of a Troop, there was a small patch with one Wood Badge bead on it. We called it the Peanut Badge! Maybe we need something like this for our leaders to ensure that they have the practical knowledge to be able to deliver the program? Eamonn.

I would loved to have been a fly on the wall when the 21st Century Course was being put together. While I don't know. I do think that to keep the Patrols or not keep them was a big debate. The UK course (Yes even the courses at the Happy Land) doesn't use Patrols or patrol names any more. At times I think the fuss about Wood Badge patrols is a little out of hand. I remember a female Cub Scouter who was heart broken when she came to the old course and found out she was a Bob White. As to why the Staff should remove all the extras off their uniform. I think it has to do with what the course is about. It isn't about the Staff. They are there to present the syllabus and serve the participants. Gonzo1 I don't know when you took the course. If the course if following the syallabus of the course that is offered today there isn't time for sitting under trees and having a sew. The course is about Leadership, not sewing. About this time last year I was the SM for a Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster outdoor skills course. Two of the staff had attened the course I directed. Some of the Patrols did sew Patrol Patches on during the time between the weekends. They were still wearing these patches, I very nicely asked them to remove them. As staff members on a Council course this was a bad example. Eamonn

I have been playing with different ideas, activities, presentations -You name it!! For our next Quarterdeck Training, which is coming up near the end of January. As sometimes happens when I play with this stuff it gets my little grey cells thinking. The $64,000 question I keep asking myself is "How good a Leader am I?" I know that I'm a good presenter. I can spend the weekend of the QD Training and the Scouts will have fun and will come away full of ideas. But as their Skipper, the method that will carry the most weight is my example. Other than Powder Horn, I have attended just about every BSA training and have presented most of them. So my redoing them seems a bit of a waste. I think I'm having a problem getting used to dealing with these "Young Adults". Maybe because I have to work a little harder on the Servant Leadership concept. Bully is a nasty word.But looking back to my time as a Boy Scout Leader, I think I may have been a bit of a tyrant. If a Lad was a member of the Troop my expectation was that he would be there. If he wasn't I was unhappy. I did what I could to try and make sure he was there. Sure I accepted the reasons given for not being there; School plays, sports, illnesses. But I was unhappy. Almost as if part of me was saying "How dare he miss my meetings!" As you can see a lot of it was all about me. Working with these older Sea Scouts, they are a lot more busy than the Boy Scouts. In fact they are a lot harder to work with than the adults. Maybe because most of the adults were people I'd hand picked and adults seem a lot easier to contact than a busy teenager? I know that at times I'm very selfish. But I don't think this is as bad as it sounds!! I know that before I can take care of others I have to take care of me. If I know how I'm doing or feeling I can use that to my advantage or I can make sure that I either avoid situations where my not feeling up to snuff will get in the way or put that feeling to one side. Sadly it doesn't always work. When Her Who Must Be Obeyed got sick, a Scout send me a e-mail saying that he wasn't able to something and I replied with a very sarcastic e-mail. I know I hurt his feelings and I did later apologize. When I look at my being a leader. I find that I enjoy being a leader. I think that's important. No one is forcing me to be a leader and I'm free to leave at any time. At times I do manage to mix up Leadership and Management. Back when we had the restaurants, I left a lot of the management to my wife. She is good at managing things, but I'm more of a people person so I tended to focus more on leading the people who worked for us, some of them were leaders of teams in charge of specific areas and some were just natural born leaders. I have read a lot of definitions of leadership. Again I think it's important to have a good idea what the task is. I like: " Leadership is the skill of influencing people to work enthusiastically toward goals identified as being for the common good." As a Scouter I do believe that leadership is a skill.A skill is a learned or acquired ability. Therefore, leadership is a skill that can be learned and developed by anyone with the appropriate desire coupled with the appropriate actions. The other part is "Influencing people". This is the part I have problems with!! Influence!! When I think about "Influencing people" I think about power and authority. Sadly at times I think I'm guilty of leading with power. When I had people working for me I had the ability to force or coerce people to do my will, even if they would choose not to, because of my position and might. Many times when I read what is posted I can't help but think some Scouter's are trying to lead by "Power". Authority is different,authority is about getting people to do your will simply because they were asked not directed or demanded to do so. I really want to be better at leading that way. As I have been putting together this training I have given some thoughts to what are the traits of a good leader? Please feel free to tell me if I have missed any or if you think I should delete some: Honesty, Trustworthiness Good Role Model Caring Committed Good Listener Hold People Accountable Treat People with Respect Provide People with Encouragement Positive & Enthusiastic Attitude Appreciate People. It's getting late so I'll finish this later!! Eamonn

SueM While things might have changed? In my copy of the Administrative Guide(Page 24) It states that : 1. During a Wood Badge course, staff members will their normal Scouting Uniforms. (it then lists the uniform.) 2. The uniform should only have the following insignia: * Council Strip * American Flag * World Brotherhood emblem *Shoulder loops signifying their branches of Scouting. Looking at it I just now noticed that it makes no mention of a position patch? It goes on to say that on the final day the staff wear the Wood Badge neckerchief, woggle and may wear the appropriate uniform for their volunteer position. I think the correct answer to the question that wmjivey asks is that no one should be wearing a patrol patch. It was part of the old courses, but Patrol Flags are now used. There is no time in the course for a sewing session. Patrol patches are not part of the adult leader uniform -Adults who serve in non-Boy Scout positions have no dealings with patrols. A patrol patch is not worn on a Cub Scouter uniform, a Commissioner uniform or a Venturing uniform. Patrol patches are not to be worn on the course. My guide is 4 years old- So maybe things have changed? Maybe Red Feather might have a more up to date guide? Eamonn.

Thanks. "undiscovered FEATURES." Kinda think that might be said about some of our Scouts. Eamonn.

I wasn't really thinking about Wood Badge. Our Council is in a Wood Badge cluster. There are six Councils in the cluster. The idea was /is that by a different Council offering to host the course we would have more courses that would be filled. I'm not all together sold on the idea, as it seems very few people are willing to travel and I know that the Councils that are hosting the next years course seem to talk their members into waiting till the course is on their doorstep. We did have a Scouter who had served in our Council but now serves in Chicago travel to the course we hosted. From a CD's stance selecting a staff from people you don't know is not the best idea in the world. I had planned on attending Sea Badge this year. The NE-Region course is in Connecticut. I thought that was a long drive! So when I found a course in Cleveland, I thought I'd go there, but then they moved it to Michigan. Hopefully if Her Who Must Be Obeyed is feeling better next year I'll go and who knows maybe I'll find a course closer to home. - But Hawaii sounds good. Eamonn.

My bad. I used your old e-mail. Eamonn.

I just e-mailed it. Let me know if you have it. Eamonn.

I don't know how strong Sea Scouting is in your area -Other than the 3 Ships you mention? We are at this time the only Ship in our Council. While the Metro Council next door has two Ships listed one of these is a "Paper Unit" and has been for some time. I talked with the Skipper and he informs me that all the Sea Scouts are in college?? The other was a new Ship that I now think has folded. The nearest Ship to us is in West Virginia, while it's only about 50 miles away it's kinda hard to get to and the distance makes looking in for a quick visit a little hard. I think Sea Scouting is a wonderful program. I really wish we had more Ships in our area. We have seen a few Scouts leave for college and we have a few that are less than active. While I can see that the Ships on the West Coast who have really big boats can manage large numbers of Scouts, we can't. I have yet to work out what the ideal size /membership might be? I know that over 30 Sea Scouts was a bit more than maybe we could manage. I'm starting to think that a number of about 20 -24 might be ideal. Of course a lot depends on how active the Scouts are and what equipment you have. Our Scouts really like meeting and mixing with other Sea Scouts and other Ships. Next month we are going on a cruise with a Ship from Maryland on the Sea Eagle. While I will admit that there is something nice about being the only Ship in the area, sadly most people have never heard about Sea Scouting and I've lost count of the times I have had to explain that we are part of the BSA and we are a coed program. I would like to see Sea Scouting establish a presence in our area and I'm willing to offer advice and words of encouragement to any one who wants to start a new Ship, but right now my main thing is the Ship that I serve. I suppose in some ways I'm like the retired Rear Admiral and can see where he is coming from. Having several Ships in the area would be nice. Right now it seems our Scouts are so very busy with so many things going on trying to get them to sign up and commit to things is like hard work. The deadline for the paperwork and money for the Winter Training weekend was yesterday and only seven of our Scouts have signed up. We have to have a male and female leader, so we now have three adults taking seven Scouts! I know the adults will have fun and enjoy the weekend but if there was a Ship in the area we could offer to take them along, fill a mini-bus and keep the cost down. Last year we met with the West Virginia Ship and a Ship from Maryland to help prepare our Scouts for the Regatta. Again having other Ships close by would make this a lot easier. While you don't want to live in each others pockets, having other Ships near by could be a really nice thing. Eamonn.

I know I should spin off. But.... I'm having a problem with power point. I want to play music all the way through the presentation (several tracks) The music seems to want to stop between each slide. Any help that a dummy like me can understand would be a big help. Thanks. Eamonn

A very good pal of mine is involved in the Powder Horn Course that Greater Pittsburgh Council is hosting. Jerry, works at Laurel Caverns and his son is employed by the white water rafting company in the area. He has been involved with the rappelling program at the action area at the Jamboree for a number of years. I like to think that where I live is about the best area in the entire USA for Scouting activities. We are about 45 miles outside of the Burgh. Maybe not the best area for sailing but we have our Three Rivers!! I have not attended a Powder Horn Course and have not played any part in helping with one. At the risk of sounding a little conceited I don't really see the need for me to attend. At the risk of offending some I tend to think of it as being a little like a BALOO Training for adults who are new to Venturing. A couple of years back a group of adults from our Council went to Cleveland for the course. They had a great time and participated in a wide range of activities. I know these guys well. Sure they found out all about what Cleveland has to offer, but so far they have yet to ever return! They have never taken a group to any of the events or places they spent two weekends finding out about. While of course we can't expect to have everything on our doorstep, I do think that Powder Horn is a course that should be taken close to home. Eamonn

"If BP had started scouting in 2006, what would it look like? " When I joined the Boy Scouts as it was then in England in the 1960's as a Wolf Cub (the program not the rank.) As far as I know things hadn't changed much since Wolf Cubs had started in 1916. About this time the Chief Scout's Advance Party started meeting (1964) The Advance Party Report was published in 1966. Sweeping changes were made.The Boy Scouts Association became The Scout Association. Uniforms were changed, advancement requirements were changed, the Oath and Law was changed. This was all changing about the time I became a Scout. In the 1990's the program was looked at again and once again changes were made. Over the years Scouts and Scouting has in different countries under gone a lot of change. While I agree with those who state all the good and fine stuff about: Citizenship,Character building and fitness. I however think that for any program to work it needs to appeal to the people we serve. I have yet to meet a Scout who joined Scouting to have his character developed. Kids join to have fun, participate in adventurous activities and be challenged. When Scouting For Boys hit the streets in 1908 and the The Scout newspaper for boys came along they captured the imagination of the young Lads in England at that time. It didn't hurt that BP was a national hero. It didn't hurt that England was a very powerful nation with the British Empire. BP is reported as saying that it is better to do good than be good. Maybe? Over time what was once seen as doing good has changed? We no longer think that teaching people to read the Bible and play cricket is enough, we don't look at the working class as lazy good for nothings. Still some things have not changed. We still have willing volunteers who care enough about kids that they are willing to give up their time and some of their hard earned cash to work with kids. We still have kids who want to spend time together having fun, participating in adventures and being challenged. Sure we have found new ways of being entertained and we like to think our communications are better than they have ever been. So "If BP had started scouting in 2006, what would it look like? " I think it would be a game with a purpose. The game would be all about fun, adventure and challenges. The purpose would be found in the Vision and Mission statement of the BSA. Over time we know that things will change. Changes are inevitable, uniforms will change and maybe go away? Maybe the Scouts we have today will be the last to enjoy sitting around a blazing campfire? Maybe all of the sections will go coed? But as long as we have caring adults who are willing to spend time with our youth somethings will remain the same. Eamonn.

Hi mk9750 Please know that you are missed -At least by one displaced English / Irish Fellow. Back in 2003 two brothers signed up for the Jamboree. I was overjoyed as a few years earlier I had received a call from their Mother saying that they were unhappy with the Pack they were in and I had advised her to try several other local Packs. I was sad when one brother changed his mind and when I asked what had happened his brother said that he quit Scouting so he could spend more time at church. I talked with Mom and she confirmed this. The other Lad went to the Jambo, has a really good time and seemed to be doing well. I really didn't have a lot of dealings with him as he was a Boy Scout and I was District Chair. Still I liked to keep an eye out for all the Scouts that I knew. He became SPL of his Troop, active in the OA and a Staff member of the JLTC. You can imagine how disappointed I was when I heard that he had quit Scouting. When we started the Ship I gave him a call. We talked for a while and he said that he was really interested in joining Sea Scouts, but there was a problem. It seems that who ever was in charge of the JLTC course had gone over the Oath and Law. TJ (the Scout) had said that he didn't believe in God. The JLTC Scoutmaster it seems had interpreted Duty to God as being a Christian. When TJ stated that he wasn't a Christian he was no longer welcome to serve on the staff. TJ, is 16 years old a very bright Lad, who writes really good poetry and essays. I met with him and explained that to be a Scout he had to believe in some form of higher power. He said that he didn't like church and church services. I explained that he didn't have to. I went on to say that there are a lot of different religions and beliefs out there and he needed to talk with his parents about this. I explained that I didn't know enough about other religions or beliefs to be of much help. As we talked he said that the JLTC Scoutmaster had informed them that the BSA only recognizes the religions where there is a Religious Award listed!! I said that this wasn't the case. I remembered that TJ and a group of other Scouts who had been at the Jambo had opted to attend the Buddhist services. We left it with me saying that it was all well and good if he didn't know if there was a religion out there that he might want to join. That he did believe that there was someting out there that might be called a God, he was going to talk to his parents (He did and I know because I called his Mom -She is now a Ship's Mate.) I noticed that on one long trip he was reading a book about Wiccans. I don't claim to understand or know all the answers. I do think that TJ is doing his best to do his duty to God, but right now he is having a hard time knowing what name to call him by. Eamonn.

I have no idea what changes the BSA might make in the future. The way I read what the BSA is stating there isn't at this time any wiggle room when it comes to avowed gay leaders: "We believe an avowed homosexual is not a role model for the values espoused in the Scout Oath and Law. Boy Scouting makes no effort to discover the sexual orientation of any person. Scouting's message is compromised when prospective leaders present themselves as role models inconsistent with Boy Scouting's understanding of the Scout Oath and Law" While it may seem a harsh thing to say. But right now if you are unable to accept the BSA stand point. Then this isn't the organization for you. My great hope is that one day the BSA will decide to allow value based organizations who charter Scouting units the opportunity setting their own membership standards. But even this could open an entire new debate. What happens to those who serve at a level that isn't the unit level? If the Lutherans are OK with Gay Leaders and the Roman Catholics aren't, what happens when the Lutheran Unit Commissioner serving the RC Unit is Gay? Back in the UK there isn't any policy stating that avowed Gays can't be Leaders. From what I have seen no one seems to take any notice one way or the other.While I'm sure there has to be some openly gay leaders, when they stated their position there wasn't a flood of new leaders waiting in the wings to take over local Scouting units. Eamonn.

Hi Congrats on making the grade. If of course you are sure this is what you want to do? You might also want to see how the rest of the family feels about this. Remember to include your son, while some Lads like the idea of Dad being the big cheese others are not taken with the idea. Take the time to read both the Boy Scout and Scoutmaster Handbooks. As you read them take the time to think about where your strong points are and where you are not so strong. Don't beat yourself about because you are not strong or good at everything. Some things can be improved with practice. Some will always be out there and you may never master. -In my case it's Stars and the night sky. I've over the years tried but I'm now happy to admit that I need to find people who are good at this and let them do their thing. Being a good Scoutmaster is not easy. I think it has more to do with relationships than being good with sharp tools, maps, compasses and maps. If you are going to do a good job of leading you need to know where you are going and what you want to do. Having a clear idea of when you will get there and what you expect once you are there is important. Break this down into bite sized items that you can really measure. Don't allow nice sounding Boy Scout lingo cloud things. This "Boy Led" thing is a great idea, but it can take a lifetime and may never happen. If you break it down into, holding regular PLC meetings, training the youth leaders, patrol camping and cooking it starts to make a little more sense. Over the past few weeks there has been several threads about wearing too many hats. Being SM is a full time job, being a new SM is really hard work. Resist the temptation to take on other roles. A big thing for me was finding another adult that I really like and enjoy being with to work with. Scouts are a lot of fun, but at times having an adult that you really know and like at hand can be a lifesaver. One very important thing never to forget is that Fun is what makes this program work. Eamonn.