Eamonn

Narraticong I hate to be disagreeable. But... Yes there is always a but. When you say:"My guess is that 95% of the grass roots leaders and 99.9% of the boys do not know or care about mission statements, value statements, etc." I kinda think a lot of people who have been involved or taken the 21st Century Wood Badge, might beg to differ. Eamonn

At times I'm easily confused. One Doctor's office we visit has copies of Prevention Magazine in the waiting room? Along with Prevention there seems to be a lot of copies of Guideposts. (I used to keep OJ's copies of Boy's Life now I drop them off at our local Doctor's office.) When Her Who Must Be Obeyed sends me to the store, I do a far better job when I have a list of what she wants. Without a list I seem to stray into the music department and forget why I went shopping in the first place. Very often at Christmas, I'll return home from Christmas shopping and find I've bought myself lots of new stuff. Sometimes I feel bad that I do a better job with the 12 points of the Scout Law, than I do with the 10 Commandments. Every now and then I'll look over the Methods of Scouting, just to see if I'm on track. When things seem to not be on track, I at times will go back to the old 11 Leadership Skills. Very often if I'm honest with myself I'll see where I messed up. So having a Mission Statement does help. Sometimes I do have a hard time with mixing up Vision and Mission. My problem is that I tend think of the mission as the vision of the future and not as what I'm doing. While both the Ship and I have goals, we don't really have a long term strategic plan in place. I have been involved with what might be viewed as several successful Scouting units and we never seemed to have a long term strategic plan in place. Could it be that we were just lucky? Eamonn.

I have been informed that an a SE can if he or she wishes set the financial goals or re-set the financial goals needed for Quality District. Quality Unit is a National Award with the requirements set by the National Council. Councils and Districts can not and should not change the requirements any more than they should try and change the advancement requirements. While supporting the Council by selling popcorn is a good thing, there can at times be valid reasons why a unit may not be able to participate in the sale. I'm thinking if the sale falls at about the same time as a CO fund raising event? Our Council has a very long list of requirements that a unit must meet, one of which is participation in the pop-corn sale, if all the requirements are met the unit receives free rank advancement for a year. Sadly our Service Center doesn't stock Sea Scout Advancements! Our Sea Scouts are not good at traditional popcorn sale so we tried the show and sell. We stood outside Wal mart, which didn't go very well, so we then went door to door. Lots of units were very upset, they claimed we had taken their sales. We are not participating in the popcorn sale this year. We gave the District half the money from our golf outing about $5,000. So we are not going to do popcorn or try and find the time for the FOS presentation. We (The CO, Committee and Quarterdeck) feel we have done our bit. I'll admit I was behind telling them that we had!! While I understand that no one who works in the service center knows anything about Sea Scouting. I have been a little surprised about how far they will go not to support us! By refusing to extend their 501(3)© when it came accepting donations of boats, (The Elks,our CO is not one.) we had to spent the money to form our own. Money we didn't have at the time. Money that I more than lightly would have given to FOS or given to help the Council. So while I know I'm a little - Shall we say peeved? I do think we need to support our local Councils. But... Yes there is always a but!! We need to look at why we are supporting them. They are there to support Scouting in our local communities. If they are failing to do this we need to let them know. I'm not saying we don't support them, we just tell them that we are not very happy. I sent our Council President a note informing him that the $815.00 I spent setting up a 501(3)© was money that the Council wasn't going to get and informed him that now that we are a public charity we will be seeking funding as such. This didn't cause much of a stir until someone found out that the United Way,is donating money to us while cutting the Council off.(They were getting $86,000 a year, we got $750.00!!) The Key 4 thing may not seem like a big thing, but in most Districts the Key 3 is selected by the Nominating Committee and the District Chairman selects the other Chairs, just as the District Commissioner selects the Commissioners (who are of course approved by the Council Executive Board) So this really isn't how things should be done. Eamonn.

Being more of a Dr Who man myself, I wasn't much of a Star Trek fan! My first encounter with "This Mission Thing" was when I read it on the back of a salesman's business card. He was a beer sales rep from Budweiser! I sometimes wonder if we can learn something from big business? Some years back the Japanese beer drinkers seemed to have taken a likening to Dry Beers. Soon the American brewery's were brewing this stuff. No one asked me, but I thought it wasn't very good!! Anheuser-Busch jumped on this band wagon and launched Bud-Dry, with a $75 Million campaign. It failed. (I think because the beer wasn't very good) Rather than admit defeat Anheuser-Busch repackaged it and relaunched it with another $65 Million advertising campaign. It failed again. Maybe it's a big seller in Japan? I'm not sure if they still make it or not? Still once you put aside the fact that the stuff wasn't very good or maybe was just a fad? (Molson Dry,is the number 1 selling beer in Quebec grocery stores.) I have to admire Anheuser-Busch for seeing that something wasn't working and trying to do something about it. Very often in the BSA I think we all see that something isn't working and try to defend the BSA. Of course maybe if we all move to Quebec maybe it would work just fine. Still $140 million for a failed beer? Anheuser-Busch mission: Be the world's beer company Enrich and entertain a global audience Deliver superior returns to our shareholders Two out of three? Eamonn.

Fred I find it a little odd that the mission statement would change and not be on the web site? Eamonn.

I didn't read very much of the 8/9/2006: 12:09:48 AM posting. I started and found it very boring. Then sad to say I started to think it was more of the same old same old. While it might seem like avoiding the issue. I keep thinking of the The Serenity Prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. I know I can change things in the Unit I serve, if I want I can get involved in the District and Council and maybe my attending the Area Meetings does help make some changes in this end of our state. Like many of us I don't like seeing things going wrong. I wasn't happy when the Roman Catholic Church came under fire and I wasn't happy with the way some Bishops managed or mis-managed the situation. A few friends of mine asked if I was going to leave the church? When I gave the matter some thought I asked myself who do I serve by belonging to the church? It isn't the Priests or the Bishops. I can't change what is or has happened in Atlanta, Florida or Chicago. I can look at where they went wrong and do my best to ensure that it doesn't happen in the Unit, District and Council I'm in. If each of us take care of what we can take care of, we will serve the youth we are in this organization better than by searching the USA for unhappy people. Eamonn.

The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law. Years ago back home in the UK, I don't remember us having a vision or a mission statement. I seem to remember us having a purpose. "The purpose of Scouting is the physical, spiritual and mental development of the young person so he can take a worth while place in society" At least that seems to ring a bell. I have to admit that " to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes " Does get the little gray cells working. As does the word "Instilling" The Good Lord knows that I'm not by any means a saint or anywhere near that standard. Still I like to think that I do try my best to set a good example to the youth I serve. I think keeping an open mind and allowing the youth to use me as a kind of sounding board is an important part of helping them make ethical and moral choices. At Wood Badge we spend a lot of time talking about mission and vision. The starting point is personal values. This brings up the question "Where do our values come from?" Do I or will I play a part in setting up the personal values in the Scouts I serve? Is this where the "Instilling" Comes into play? Will the fact that someone is a Scout in time or over time improve their personal values? A little later at Wood Badge we move on to setting goals. I really want all the kids I serve to be happy and caring people, while they are still kids and when they grow up. Is that a goal? Most of the time I spend in Scouting is spent doing other things and there are times when what I'm doing seems to over-ride even the most basic things. I seem to take it for granted that the good turn is just going to happen, that I'm doing my best. The vision and mission seem to get put on a back burner, sometimes they don't even get to the stove. Eamonn

As you might have noticed I'm not a Spam lover. I somehow managed to avoid it for about 16 years (I left Holy Cross at the ripe old age of 11 -No thanks to the diet!!) Her Who Must Be Obeyed is not a good cook. One night just after we were first married I came home and she announced that she had cooked dinner. There it was Roast Spam with cloves stuck in it, cooked in ginger ale!! At the time I thought it was some kind of American specialty. Eamonn.

Back when I was a little Lad one of the menu items at Holy Cross School was Spam Fritters. The quality of the spiced Ham remains very questionable? I think maybe it should have been called Spfa (Spiced Fat) It was dipped in a batter similar to that used for Fish and Chips, deep fried in the lard that had been used to cook the fish and chips. Stacked up so it got really greasy and served in a pool of grease. I suppose spam with fish over-tones is an acquired taste? I seem to remember that the day we had Spam fritters we also had prunes and custard for dessert. I'm unsure if this was some sort of penance? Maybe it was part of my Catholic education? Eamonn.(This message has been edited by Eamonn)

Venividi I was trying to show by using Ed's scenario just how dumb it sounded. I firmly believe that I and I alone am responsible for my actions. I have read all the warnings about smoking. I still smoke. The guy at the local store knows when I go in to grab a carton. He is making a few dollars, but the choice is mine. Two Lads get into a fisticuff fight. It takes two to fight, but the others around should in my view try and do what they can to brake it up. On no account should they be standing around goading them on. One year we took the Troop over to Ireland and a group went on a shop lifting spree. We caught them. A couple tried to use the "He made me do it." as a defense, I don't buy into that idea. We had/have a Troop in the District who had an on going problem with their CO, a church. The church complained that the Scouts damaging the bathrooms and leaving the place in a mess. The problem was on going, even after repeated warnings. In the end the church choose not to recharter the Troop. I supported the Church(Not the church that I belong to.) Sure in this case everyone suffered, but it was the best thing to do. No one seemed to know who was doing the damage, but it was being done week after week. I have to admit to being surprised and disgusted at some of what I have seen done to the bathrooms at camp. I'm not talking someone leaving a mess, I'm talking out and out horrid damage and destruction. Trying to prevent it doesn't seem possible. As the bathrooms are open to anyone and everyone trying to blame the people who are in camp near the bathrooms isn't fair. Someone had the bright idea that we lock down the bathrooms. There are a couple of the old out-house style bathrooms still in camp, but of course they don't have showers. I know if I paid over $200 for a week at camp and found all the bathrooms locked I would be a most unhappy camper. But the Lady who came up with the idea was heard to say "That'll teach'em!" Guilt by association? Is a very tricky issue. As we try to do what we can to help guide the Scouts we serve toward making ethical choices. I sometimes feel that we forget about the choice part of this. While following the rules might be the ethical choice and to my mind is the right thing to do most of the time. I'd far sooner see a Scout do the right thing because it's the right thing, not just because he is following the rule. Going back to the thread. To go ahead and punish all 3 Scouts, doesn't give the Lad who hasn't owned up the opportunity to do the right thing. If? One Lad was not anywhere near the tent (Away doing his Ordeal?) what is he guilty of? If two Lads cut the tent, they are indeed both guilty. If one seen the other do it? He has to make an ethical choice. If we make the choice for him or go ahead and punish him, the idea of making ethical choices is gone. In some ways it's like Barry said about cooking Bacon. We can allow the Scout to cook the bacon and maybe he isn't going to do as good a job as an adult would maybe he'd do a better job with an adult watching over him telling him to turn down the heat, turn it over, take it off. But the Scout will learn a lot more by maybe burning the bacon. What's that they say about the journey being more important than the destination? Eamonn.

Hey Beav, I really liked the web site and did read the entire article that the SE had written. I think that him and I would get along well. By the way we are looking for a SE! Maybe at the end of the day we look at the glass? Some of us see it as being half full, with room for improvement. While others see it as half empty and evaporating. Eamonn.

I'll admit to being a royal pain in the you know where. If I see someone at a Scouting event doing something that he or she ought not to be doing I'll try and be as nice as I can and point out that they ought not to be doing it. At times I don't have the courage of my convictions. While at a Parking Lot Meeting after a Committee Meeting a week or so back a small group of young Lads (4) who I didn't know came down the street. A couple of them were smoking. I know I should have said something, but I didn't. Least ways not to them. Had I known them? And I like to think I know most of the Lads of Scout age in our big town (pop. 4,800) I would have said some thing. Maybe I should have done some thing? I'm just not sure what? I did mention to the people I was with that I'd love to get these Lads into Scouting. As I write this I wonder what I would have done if I'd known the two Lads who weren't smoking? What would I have done? I agree 100% that we should take care of each other. If taking care means that we prevent someone landing in hot water for doing something dumb, that's fine. But when I catch John Brown with a knife in his hand carving JB LOVES JE in the trunk of a tree and his is the only carving, I don't see punishing anyone but John Brown. I'm nosy enough to want to know who JE is? Eamonn.

I still see this as two different issues. " all of those in the tent were responsible. Even if they did nothing, they let it happen & shouldn't have." Is not the same as reporting what was done. Only the person or persons who did the damage should be held accountable for the damage. The others might well be guilty of poor judgment but they are not guilty of damaging the tent -If they didn't do it. I fail to see how anyone could blame, let alone punish someone for something that they didn't do. While being an accomplice might be one thing. If however you are standing in the 7-11 and a guy comes in with a gun to rob the store and you have no part in the crime. What are you guilty of? If being there and doing nothing and allowing the guy to rob the store is a crime? It's news to me. Eamonn.

I see this as two issues. On one hand we have who ever did the dastardly deed. He is responsible for his actions. If there is a consequence to pay he should be the person responsible for paying it. One the other hand we have the responsibility of the group. This brings up all sorts of questions and issues. The size of the group? Some one does damage at camp. Do we hold the entire group of people in camp to blame? The consequence? One person did the damage -Does everyone pay? It brings up questions of loyalty. Loyalty to the person or the group? Before we take any action we would need to be sure of the facts. Maybe they did nothing because they just didn't know. I agree that doing nothing shouldn't be an option. I just don't agree that group punishment is the way to go. Eamonn.

How very sad. My heart goes out to the family. I will keep them in my prayers. Eamonn.

I'm not going to talk about chipmunks. Of course anyone who sees some one doing something that he shouldn't be doing, should in some way try and stop him or prevent him from doing damage or harm. Just as I would hope we would try and help anyone who needed help. There are times when a group might have to share responsibility for doing or not doing something. We have had Patrols return from a camp out, who have not returned the equipment the way it should be returned. Everyone seems to want to point the finger or appoint blame. While the Patrol Leader is where the buck stops, the Patrol is to blame and the Patrol should share the task of putting things right. Some years back a Lad from our Troop stuck an ax in a tree. The Camp Warden (Ranger) seen the tree and the damage done. I was embarrassed the very idea that one of "My" Scouts would do something so stupid, upset me. It hurt my ego. As it happened I knew the Warden very well. He asked to talk to the entire Troop. Which he did, he explained how the damage could be life threatening to the tree and how this behaviour just wasn't acceptable. He then dismissed the Troop and asked to speak with the Patrol Leaders. He informed them that his first thought had been to send the entire Troop home (Over 80 Scouts). But he realized that punishing 79 or more Scouts for the stupidity of one wasn't fair. He then asked them if they would take care of the Scout's Own Service the next day. This was back in the UK. He asked them to use the English Scout Law which reads: A Scout makes good use of his time and is careful of possessions and property. As a theme. The SPL took charge. Tony the SPL was a very clever Lad, he had the Scout who had done the damage read the bible verse: Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. Boys of Scout age have a very strong feeling of justice. To go ahead and punish one for something that he sees as not being his fault or he perceives as being wrong, does unrepairable damage. Some people seem to think that punishing an entire group builds team work. I think it builds resentment and shows lack of understanding and leadership. Back when I was at school someone had damaged the bathroom by the gym. The Games Master wanted to find out who had done it. No one came forward. At first he threatened to slipper the entire class (Whack them with a gym shoe) But he settled on keeping everyone in detention. The reason no one came forward was that the damage had been done by someone from another class!! While of course we weren't happy, the damage done to his standing in the eyes of the students was at an all time low. I'm sorry but I see this blaming everyone as a sort of bullying. It isn't fair, it isn't friendly, it isn't kind. It just seems like an easy out for the person in charge. Eamonn.

Knowingly letting someone destroy property is the same as doing it yourself. That being the case maybe we need to re-write the Oath and Law: On my honor I will do my and make sure everyone else does his best best To do my duty and their to God and our country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. A Scout is and will make sure that everyone he is with is..... We don't know who was in the tent when the damage was done? One Lad might have not been there as he was away. Do you really want to mess with anyone holding a knife? If you are the passenger in a car that gets stopped for speeding? should you also get a ticket because you let the driver speed? If all 3 Lads done the damage all 3 are guilty, but we each of us are responsible for our own actions and punishing the innocent doesn't seem in keeping with the Scout Law. Eamonn.(This message has been edited by Eamonn)

I'm sorry Ed I just can not and never will agree with you when you state: " Even if they did nothing, they let it happen & shouldn't have" If we were both standing around and no Scouts were within ear shot I know what term I'd use!! Eagle309 seems like a very nice fellow. I know that I'd be upset about the tent. Still the tent can be repaired or replaced. The bigger issue is finding a way to get this Lad to make the right choice. As I see it, if it were me (And yes I'm aware that it's not me!) I'd look at my options. I could choose to do nothing. I don't like this very much, apart from anything else it doesn't seem fair to the Scout who owned up and paid for his "Crime" I could get all 3 Lads together and pull a "No one is going anywhere until I find out what really happened" But I think this might only make the guilty party make things worse by telling more lies and it could end up as a "He said, you said" type situation. These are never good and as a rule don't get anyone anywhere. Of course I don't know the Scout, but most Scouts I have known don't tell the truth because they think that they will end up in more hot water. I'm left wondering what my motives are? What do I want to happen? Much as I don't want to have to use Troop funds to repair or replace the tent. Is the tent and the money what I'm worried about? Looking at the title of this thread it doesn't seem that this is the case here. I think I would have to find an opportunity to let this Scout tell me what really happened. This might be at a SM conference or just finding the right time and place. I'd be very honest and let him know that I was unhappy about the destruction of the tent and while there would be a consequence for the damage, it wasn't a hanging offense. If he didn't "come clean" I'd point out that I had discovered from a reliable source, that it was him that did the damage. But I was now more upset that he wasn't living up to the Oath and Law and had let himself down by not being man enough to own up. I'd then pass the matter over to the Troop Committee. Eamonn.

It's not a bad thing at times to remind everyone that they only serve for one year at a time. Our Council also has term limits set for some positions. At times when people tell me that they used to be a Scout. I inform them that they still are a Scout, the Oath that they took didn't come with an expiration date. They do however need to do the paperwork and fork over the cash to be a member of the BSA Eamonn.

Great Stuff. Thanks. Eamonn.

When a new thread starts, I sometimes try and guess who is going to say what. Very often someone new to Scouting will ask about something that is a hot issue. Some examples of hot issues are: Paintball. God./ Religion. Uniforms. Girls. These are all covered in the rules/ guidelines or whatever you want to call them that the BSA puts out. When a new person asks, I think we owe it to them to inform them of what the BSA rule is. This isn't a matter of good or bad advice. It has nothing to do with supporting or not supporting anyone. It is just informing them what the rules are. We do discuss some things where there is no clear rules. Cell phones a little while back seemed to be a hot issue. The forum members seemed to be split about 50/50? And everyone seemed to have an opinion. A little while back when I was trying to teach OJ to drive, I made a big thing about not going over the posted speed limit. Some time later he had been on the Pen-dot web site and seen that you didn't get a ticket until you were a few miles over the posted limit. To his way of thinking this meant that he could set the cruise control 10% higher than the limit. So while it might be true that he is going to not get a ticket for doing 68 MPH in an area posted at 65 MPH, it doesn't make it right. Was I wrong for not telling him about the 10% rule? I don't think so. None of us know what the people who visit this site take from it. I really don't want anyone ever saying "It must be OK because the guys in Scouter.com said it was!! Eamonn.

"most parlor scouting meetings I've been to are somewhere between mediocre and dreadful." A few years back I was staffing a WB Course hosted by Bucktail Council at Camp Mountain Run. Each day one of the staffers would post inspirational messages all over the place. One spot he seemed to like a lot was on the mirror over that hand-washing station in the mens room. One day as I was having a pee I looked at the mirror and the message of the day read: The future of Scouting is in your hands. That made me laugh. Another day the message stated that Scouter's were Imagineers. That made me think. We can go to the PLC and ask what they are going to do about attendance at Troop meetings? Or we can go to the PLC and ask them why attendance at Troop meetings isn't as good as it should be? If we (the adults) are willing to accept that Troop meetings are "somewhere between mediocre and dreadful" passing a rule to ensure that everyone suffers just seems silly!! As the imagineers we can do better. Most meetings seem to lack planning. Maybe cutting back the meetings from 4 a month to 3, with the PLC meeting to plan the Troop meetings might be the answer? Maybe just having the plan written down and everyone knowing what and when they are to do would help? We found that a strong well run inter-patrol competition with points for attendance and a few other things went a long way to improve attendance. While some Troops like following the same schedule each week, we found that doing the unexpected and catching the Scouts off guard added to the Troop meetings. These normally took a lot more planning. Random acts of complete silliness added a lot of fun (Race to the nearest Micky Dee's buy each patrol member a milk shake. Winning patrol is the first one back with empty cups -Each member must drink the shake. The money comes from Patrol Dues.) I'd much sooner see a Scout at a meeting because he wants to be there, than see a Scout attend because of a rule. Eamonn.

It seems that a good number of Councils are jumping on this mandatory training band-wagon. As I have posted before I'm not in favor of it. In a lot of the old movies, we see the car speeding to the hospital with the lady about to give birth any minute. The cops pull them over and next thing we see is the police cars escorting them to the hospital at high speed.The final scene is a happy couple holding a beautiful baby who they want to name after the policeman in charge. Fade to "They all live happily ever after. My big problem with this mandatory stuff is that once you post a rule and a consequence, you have two choices: *You stick to it. * Or you make so many exceptions that the rule and the consequence become meaningless. In theory this mandatory training seems like it will make everything better. I wonder if: The people who present the Training's are going to be willing to present more training's? At times when the people who work weekends and odd hours are going to be available to take the training? These trainers as a rule are people who also have other roles in Scouting. If Councils /Districts have enough quality people to present worth while training's? Attending a poorly planned and poorly presented training just to get the card and the patch is a waste of everyones time, and does nothing to help the Scouts we serve. How accurate the Council Training Records are? When I tried to find out who was and wasn't trained in our Council, I tried looking at the records and they were in such a bad state that they were about useless. While FScouter is correct when he states that "the committee chairman and COR that ensure BSA policies are followed and the program is being used properly." I have to wonder if in fact these people are trained? Many CC's and even more COR's are not trained and know little about training. When I was Council Training Chairman, I asked all the District Training Chairs to do an inventory of training (After I found out how bad the Council record keeping was!) In the end we we sent a note in with the rechartering packet asking leaders to tell us what training they had taken and when? Some people said that this wasn't the right thing to do. But my opinion was that if we can't trust the Scouter's? Who can we trust? I like to think that over the years I have and do support the Council, not only with FOS and James E.West donations, but in many other ways. Still if the Council were ever to send me anything that even looked suspiciously like a fine, I'd be inclined to tell them where they could stick it. If Councils with mandatory training are willing to be like the police who provide a motor escort to the pregnant lady and ensure that they (the Council) is doing every thing possible to make training available when the people who need trained are available and that each and every training is worth while, I might change my opinion. The Council also needs to inform each and every new leader that there is an expectation that they will take training and how long each training takes before they accept the membership fee. I'd also like to see each and every Board Member be fully trained -But that might be asking too much!! Eamonn.

Like you everything we want to participate in seems to be a five hour drive. I had hoped to take Sea Badge Training this year. The NE-Region is offering a course in Connecticut and the Central Region had a course in Cleveland, which wouldn't have been too bad, but they moved it to Michigan. I think I'm going to have to see how things are and hope that next year there is a course a little closer to home. Eamonn.

Like you we are the only Ship in our Council. So trying to find anyone "In-house" to provide training is not going to happen. Sure you might be able to sit down with the District or Council Training team and go over what is in the material. But you could just as well do that by yourself. In fact if you ask your council may allow you to do just that. I found that we had to rely on the Flotilla. Sadly we seem to be a long way from both the flotillas that should serve our area. In our case that would be the Liberty Flotilla: http://www.seascout.net/liberty/ Or the Chesapeake Flotilla: http://www.seascout.net/chesapeake/ We chose the Chesapeake Flotilla as it was a little bit closer to home and it seemed to me that they did a lot more. I took the Sea Scout Leader Training's that were offered by the Flotilla. Adult help is a tough nut to crack. It seems that everyone seems to think you have to be very knowledgeable about sailing and boating to be a Sea Scouter. Sure it helps, but at the end of the day we are dealing with young people and I'd sooner have someone who understood them and was willing to learn about the Sea Scouting side of things. Still you need to be ever vigilant. I was at a soccer game and I noticed that one of the parents was wearing a Coast Guard ball-cap. I asked him about his cap. He has attended a few meetings to go over Marine Radio with our Ship. I was talking to someone who said he was bidding on a book on e-bay, he sent the guy a message asking what Sea Scout Ship he was in. The guy said he wasn't but he had a long service record with the US Navy. He is now the Skipper of a very fine Sea Scout Ship. With the way things are at home for me I have had to tell the parents in no uncertain terms that I just can't do as much as maybe I'd like, they have to step up to the plate and take on some of the work. So far it is working. They all seem willing to do a little more. I just need to remember to let them. Eamonn.