Eamonn

As far as I know, our local United Ways, are still supporting Scouting. I know I have said this before, but what the heck. Somehow a rumor got started that the local United Way, was no longer going to support Scouting. All hell let loose, our local power company Allegheny Power, and it's employees said that they would stop collecting money. That week there was a Headline in the Greensburg Trib. Saying that they were STILL SUPPORTING SCOUTING. I still donate to the United Way, but only to be a real pain in the you know where. My Company is based in Pittsburgh, and are real big into the United Way and we even have our own Neighborhood Network. I always list that I want my money to go to the Westmoreland Fayette Council not our good friends in Greater Pitt. This for some reason causes all sorts of problems. I have had our H/R department call me and ask if they could send it to Greater Pitt. Needless to say I say that is not what I want. Last year it took till August to sort it all out.

Hey Marty (If I can be so bold) I think that you will find that most of those that Staff a Wood Badge Course, are really glad that you are there. Without you there would be no course. They are there to serve you. Yes it is great when everyone is there in their "Sunday Best Uniform." However I served on a course last year and we had one Lady, from my Council who didn't have the uniform pants. The Course was not being presented in our home council. However over the years I have "Bumped" into this Lady. The Lady is African American,and comes from one of the poorer areas in our council. She runs a pack where all the boys are also African American and does a super job. When I saw her name on the list of who was attending, I had no idea who she was. It was just a name. But when I seen it was her, I was so happy that I could have kissed her. Pants or no Pants (So to speak) As far as this hat thing goes. It does state that hats for female leaders are an option. If we want to follow the letter of the law: No Cub Scout Leaders can not wear the campaign hat. I have no idea why they can't, but it is very clear that they can't. Still thinking back to when I did the old Cub Scout Trainer Wood Badge all the staff wore them. We participants wore the Blue and gold cap. I'm hoping that everyone who shows up for NE-IV-153, will be happy to wear our course cap. However if one of the female participants is unhappy about wearing a hat, that will be fine. If after the course you want to wear a campaign hat - I promise not to tell anyone. I will be taking a campaign hat to the course to wear for a few minutes at a campfire. My Wife tells me it was my knees that she noticed first when we met at Camp Conestoga 26 years ago this month. So maybe with the hat and my good looking knees, I will be very dashing, and yes I have the accent to round it all off.

What is a "Service Cap"? What does it look like ?

Looking at the Female Leader Uniform Inspection Sheet (ISBN 0-8395-4281-X. #34281A 1999 Printing) And the Male Leader Uniform Inspection Sheet (#34284. 2001 Printing) Female Cap (Optional) Leaders wear the same visored cap as the youth that they serve - blue and gold for Cub Scouting. Blue and light blue for Webelos Scouting. Olive and red for Boy Scouting, and brown and blaze for Varsity Scouting. Campaign hat may be worn at troop option by Boy Scout Leaders. Male Headgear. Boy Scout leaders wear the olive and red visor cap, or the campaign hat. Cub Scout leaders wear the blue and gold visor cap. Webelos leaders wear the blue Webelos visor cap. Varsity Scout Leaders wear the blaze visor cap. Hey I copied it word for word.

Not sure if there is a moment or event. In fact I'm not sure if I would use the word proud. There are so many things and people that I am very grateful for. The Big Guy up in Heaven, has given me more then my fair share of blessings. I tend to be very emotional, so things have a way of getting to me. Everytime I hear the song "Proud To Be An American" I think back to the fireworks display at the end of the last jamboree, and think what a great time those boys had. - And I'm pleased to have played a small part in making it happen. When I put my uniform on.I am thankful for everything that Scouting has done and is still doing for me. One day soon I will live up to that Law and Promise, but for now I will keep on just doing my best. I look at the pathes and knots, and while deep in my heart, I know that there are so many people who are or were far more deserving then I. It is still nice to think, that some people thought that highly of me. - Now all I have to do is live up to it. My Wood Badge; Everytime I put it on. There are memories. Memories of good times and great leaders. I look at my son, and then maybe the word proud is the right word. He is the good and loving person that when he was born, I hoped and dreamed that he would become. My Wife who over the years has put up with me and who at times has been so mad at the time I spend away from home, but yet has stood behind me. I could go on and on, but I am proud to be in this organization. Grateful that maybe in my own little way, that I can make a difference. Still no matter what, I owe far more then I can ever give. Still when my time comes to stand by the gates of Heaven and Saint Peter asks me "What Did You Do?" I will answer "I was a Scout."

Bob White, is right. Just for fun I went to the Scout Stuff Site, and was unable to find a Cubmaster Cap. I know that there is such an animal, I have one some place thay I bought when I attended the "Old" Cub Scout Trainer Wood Badge. I have been informed by the powers that be at the Wood Badge Course Directors Conference, that the Campaign Hat,is not was not and never will be the head gear for Cubscouters. As the proud owner of two of these hats, I can attest that they are a pain. You have to keep them dry. So you spend $5.50 on a cover. Then you have a wooden thing to keep them from bending, I can't remember what that cost. Then everywhere you go, you have to be on the lookout for someplace to put the darn thing. On the "Old" Boy Scout Wood Badge course, as a staffer I would drop hints to the patrols, so that they would make a hat rack. The new course has all of the programs, and while there is a cap for Cubscouters and Boy Scouters, I don't think that there is one for Crew Leaders. As the course director for an upcoming course, I put a cap in the budget, so everyone will get the same cap. As you might be able to tell, I don't like hats, caps of any sort. What I think is really strange is how some of the boys, who are never without a cap, moan and groan when they have to wear a Scout cap. As to what hat or cap to wear "In the real world" I don't think anyone is going to say a word if you are wearing the wrong hat. My DE, (female!!)tells me that she thinks men wearing the campaign hat, look sexy!! Maybe I will start wearing mine ? On second thoughts - NO -it wouldn't work.

GO TO THE SCOUT EXEC. DO NOT PASS GO DO NOT COLLECT $200. GO TO THE SCOUT EXEC. ASAP = TODAY.

Cub Scouting is about families doing things / Activities, as families. I don't know what happens in other parts of this great land. But here in our corner of Southweastern Pennsylvannia, we hold a school Sign-up night. On this night, the Cub Packs are in the schools recruiting both Cub Scouts and Adult Leaders. Over half, if not more of these Adults are female, and most have no back ground in Scouting. We spent a fair amount of time explaining that being a Tiger Cub Partner or becoming a Den Leader is not rocket science, we then as quickly as possible get the Den Leaders trained. Most are very happy being a Den Leader, until they get to the Webelos Scout Den. When they look at the names of some of the Activity Pins, there is a lot apprehension. Again we explain that we are dealing with young boys and history has shown that help is available. Still we do lose some of these Den Leaders or at this time they decide "Now is the time for Dad to get involved" They are not trained to take these young cub Scouts out on Canoe trips or other "High" Adventure activities. IF they thought that was what they were to be doing, they never would have signed up in the first place. I serve as the District Chair. For what many would think is a small district. We have 3 Crews.16 Boy Scout Troops and 26 Packs. All the Leaders we have do their best to serve the units that they are in. As far as possible I try not to get them involved in "The District". Some of the troops are into Bike Trips, that is what they seem to do a lot of. We have a couple of troops that seem happy to camp once a month at the same camp site. And we have a couple that do a fair amount of water activities. The rest are a mixed bag. These units are busy serving the needs of the youth in their own unit. They don't have time to start providing Leadership for District Events. Yes we do have a District Activities Committee. This Committee plans and runs the District events.We hold a Mall Show. At this we run the District Pinewood Derby. Cub Scout parent and son cake decorating Competition. Cub Scout Poster Competition and the Boy Scout First Aid Competition. They help coordinate the District Ski Day, Cub Scouts are invited to come and take a lesson. And they coordinate two District Camporees. All the Scouts who attend our resident camps. Be they Cub Scouts Or Boy Scouts are offered the oppertunity to use our Boat Docks, where there are canoes and row boats and a trained and paid staff. The Staff know the rules and follow them and that is why they are there. We as a district do not have the man power to start running this sort of thing. As it is we are in danger of interfering with a Troops program for 4 months maybe 5 if you count Summer Camp. That is not why we are there. We would make recruiting Adult Leadership a lot harder then it already is, if we started to "Beef Up" the cub Scout program.

Take a look at: www.whitestag.org Hope this helps

Picked up number one son last night from JLTC. As Council Training Chair. I was invited to the Feast. I love that word. We don't use it enough. There was mud everywhere, thanks to all the rain. It had rained eveyday. I spent some time with the participants, most said that they would like to come back next year as staff members, and that they had a lot of things that they wanted to try back with their troops. O J, felt that the Scoutmaster could have done a better job and that he didn't stick to the syllabus as much as the last guy did. (Twas me.) They lost their SPL, just before the start of the course. Due to a mix up with dates they closed on Friday night after the campfire. This is a great ceremony - Up there with what we used to do at some other course that we still do, but it has changed. Talking with the Adult staff, we think that we will move it next year and hold it after camp in August. There has been a rumor that there will be a new course out soon - Anybody hear when ? I am going to look into what is happening at camp Alpine to see if they do have a course for the youth staffers. OJ, is home for a week then he is off to summer camp. It's not fair all I get is to pay for it. But I can't think of money better spent Well maybe if I was the one going ???

At least there are now a few groups that I have heard of. Still I'm having a hard time seeing myself leading "Stairway To Heaven" at our next Parent and Son Weekend. Still if the FOS, needs a little help we might try "Money" Hey Bob White, have you ever heard the sound track to Smike, a musical based on Nicholas Nickley?

WHO ?

Have to admit that I don't know very much about California Judges. Do they have to list every organization that they have ties to ? Are these Judges elected ? If I were to appear in front of one, do I have the right to say "No not him, because he is a member of some organization that I don't agree with ?" If these Judges are elected, surely they would list what organizations they belong to and the people would get what they voted for. I don't think that I will apply for the job anyway. That will show them!!

Hey Mr. FOG (I was having a hard time with that name.) BEWARE OF BRITS. BE VERY AWARE OF BRITS IN RED WOOL JACKETS. dem dare brits git everywhere. The Real Reason why the coats were Red ? To hide the ketchup spills or was it Hot Sauce.

fotoscout. I don't have a problem with the age appropriate activities. I see nothing wrong with holding these back until such a time as the Scout is able to do them. In fact I would much sooner see a boy be introduced to an activity that he can manage, rather then some "Watered Down Version" Of the activity. When we look at Cub Scouting, we need to remember that this program is home and neighborhood based. Cub Scouting is all about helping families do things as families. When we stop doing that, we are no longer Cub Scouting. As for the District and Council involvement. I for one, tend to think that Districts and Councils can get in the way of the program. In fact we ought to have as little as possible to do with the program. This is the job of the unit. If we look at the Training that we offer to Cub Scout Leaders, we see that there is no way that they are trained to take on some of these activities. Webelos Scout Den Leaders are offered training in outdoor Skills and how to present them to boys of Webelos Scout age. These Scouts are not the same as the boys that are in our troops, they have very different needs. Having "Lived Through" Being a Den Leader and Webelos Scout Den Leader, I was kept on my toes the entire time, in fact if anything there was just too much stuff that needed to be done, the boys were active and busy all the time. They never felt that they were missing out on anything, they were just enjoying the program as it was, because that is what it was. I think it is also important to note that the Pack, does become an important part of the local community. Where I live it is a small town of a little less then 5000. Our Cub Scouting program is reaching over 27% of the available boys in the school district. With four packs. All four are chartered by different local churches. With so many boys in such a small area there are so many Aunts, Uncles, Grand-parents, who while not directly involved are still touched by what the Cub Scouts are doing. I think the program and the activities that we now offer are fine, but wonder if the urge to "Do More" is coming from some of the Adults ?

When we take a look at the Big Picture, and see how much good Scouts and Scouting has done and is doing. I, at the risk of being a little smug. Think that we do an outstanding job. Somehow, someway this organization has managed to cross the lines and even in this, at times hostile political climate, it continues to work towards our mission. If you had to make a list of "What Makes Scouting Great ?" What would you put on the list?

How does a Scout do Personal Management at Summer Camp ?

I tend to think that a quality leader will deliver a quality program. If the Cub Scouting program is delivered to the boys with imagination and attention to remaining Home and Neighborhood based, the boys will get a lot out of the program. While out of all the programs that I have been involved in with youth members, the Webelos Scout Den was by far the hardest, but at the same time a lot of fun for both the Webelos Scouts and myself. There just seemed so much to do and the activites were so varied I (not the Scouts !!)had a hard time keeping on top of things. Still I feel sure that the boys got a lot out of the program. Yes there were one or two who were not as far ahead as some of the others when it came to reading and writing things, that needed to be read or put down on paper. But that was part of my job as a leader to help each of them as individuals. Hopefully we do that with each and every boy /girl in our programs. While we don't break or even bend the rules or the requirements, we do find a way of making them work. There are ways of ensuring that a Cub Scout or Boy Scout is in the program along with the boys that are in the same grade as he is in. For example a parent may hold their son back a grade in school, that boy can then move along in our programs at that grade level. A number of years back, English Cub Scouts started going to camp in a big way. This seemed to be a good idea. Camp sites were filled and money was spent improving the facilities. As they operate as a Scout Group, the equipment was now being used a lot more and everything seemed to be going well. But then we noticed that the boys were not staying in the troop. We had lost the "Carrot" The lure of going to camp was gone. To make matters even worse, when the Cub Scouts went to camp with the pack, there was an entire army of adults who did all the work. This wasn't so when they went with the troop or with their patrol. Some of the troops started to "Beef Up" the activities, that they were doing by starting to do things that the Venture Scouts would normally be doing. So while the Cub Packs were doing well, the other programs were feeling the pinch. I hear a lot about the youth of today being so much more advanced then the youth of yesteryear. Most of it is a bunch of twaddle. Yes the youth of today is exposed to a lot of things that maybe we were not exposed to. Yes the toys are a lot more complex. But take a bunch of boys to camp, let them know that you really care for them and what they are doing. Challenge them to do something and these kids are no different then the bunch that BP, took to Brownsea Island. At times I think that we are cheating the Scouts that I meet, because we adults are not doing as good a job passing on skills that help them get more out of the program, as we may have done in the past. However, the training that I have taken and I like to think that the training that I present does go a long way to help our leaders and me to understand how to work with the youth in the units. I am aware that I'm not an expert on youth or a teacher. Still with almost 100 years of the program behind us, maybe we are doing something right. Some of us have looked at change, and while I for one do not have problems with change. The idea of changing just because someone else has, just seems a little daffy.

I thought that it was just my son who left the Personal Management till last. Oh Well.

U DA MAN Dave. Thanks.

U DA MAN Dave. Thanks.

In some other threads, I have touched on some of the points that Bob White, has brought up. However, it seems to me that the District Committee is in place to do a lot of the stuff that a new unit or a unit in trouble may need. It then becomes the role of the Unit Commissioner to bring these needs to the attention of the Assistant District Commissioner and or the District Commissioner, who report to the District Committee. So there is a unit that has a problem with Advancement, we dispatch the Advancement Chair. On the District Committee we have covered most all of the bases. So we have the people who are ready to help and I would like to think are the best in their field. One of the things that I think we do wrong is give the Unit Commissioner too much to do, most of it has little or nothing to do with being a commissioner. Why are Commissioners doing FOS ? If we look at the Commissioner Field Guide, and were to stick with what it says we would have Commissioner Service, that would blow our socks off. I do however agree that we need to move Round Table Staff over to Training.

Al, While I agree with what you say about the program. I can't remember ever making that promise. I must have been off that day ?

A few years back, I was asked to sit in on an Eagle Board. The Lad was a real nice fellow. Active in his troop and the OA. Played soccer for his school team, and not a bad student. All the paper work was or seemed that it was in order - Till we got to talking about the project. When he was asked about the date - It wasn't done on the date that was stated - It was raining that day. There were so many scouts helping - No there was only 3 of us- It rained the day we planned to do it. And so it went on. I said "This isn't what you wrote here" He said "I didn't write it" "Who did ?" I asked "Mr. Soandso, our ASM". The project wasn't that great. So we talked it over with the boy and he was willing to re-do it and get it done right. The then District Chair. was very upset, the boy was from the Chairmans old unit.(He was on the Board) I don't know what was said, but feel sure that it wasn't very pretty. We were very lucky that the boy seen that this was not the way that it ought to have been done.

I have been watching with great interest, all the goings on back in the Old Country. I also have a very close friend who serves on The Committee Of The Council. Which is the board that governs UK Scouting. This is the second big shake up of Scouting in the UK. The last one was in 1969, with the Advanced Party Report. A lot of the new ideas that they have come up with, are IMOHP, very good. I have bought some of the Program Books that they are now using. Some of the ideas, such as The Balanced Program are outstanding, their use of the web is a lesson to us all. There also seems to be a shift from Advancement to participation. Advancement is still there, but is not the "Be All And End All" As Robin has said, there is a lot more District Involvement. And this seems to not be working as well as they thought it would. As for the BSA, changing the age groups. I look at a well run Unit and see the Scouts (Pack/Troop/Crew) busy doing things and having fun. There is little or no need to change. These kids are getting the program and it works. There is more then enough for them to do and when the Adults do their job right, the program will hold the interest of all the youth. Over the past few months I have seen a few of our older scouts, join crews, but they are keeping up their membership with the troop. Where this will end? I don't know. At this time they seem happy to be doing both, but I think one day they will do what they think is best for them.