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Your crew should have several copies of the Venturing Leader Manual. This will answer a lot of your questions. Also, you should run the entire crew thru the New Crew Orientation video AND the new officers thru the Crew Leader Orientation (see the VLM for this syllabus).

Be sure also that you and the rest of your adult leaders have gone thru training also (New Leader Essentials, Venturing Leader Specific Training).

And try to get your crew (ALL your crew) thru Venturing Leadership Skills Course. If you council/district does this, do it thru them, otherwise do it within the crew or in partnership with another crew.

There is no such thing as "Venture Scouts" in the BSA.

They are Venturers. Please use the correct terms.

Sounds like one of several of this 'outward bound-type' 'boot camps' where they take these 'at risk' teens in the wilderness to straighten them out.

AFAIK, there is nothing 'scouting' about these programs. But I don't claim to be an expert. Several of the evening 'news shows' (20/20, 60 Minutes, etc) have done segments on them.

"The lawsuit was filed on behalf of religious leaders who oppose the use of government funds to support the Scouts."

I would be curious as to who these 'religious leaders' are and what religion(s) they represent.

Claiming that we violate the 'establishment of religion' clause or that the BSA is a 'religiously exclusive private club' is nonsense. The BSA expects only that you can meet the concept of 'Duty to God' as YOU see it. It does not require that you believe in a particular religion. Most "religiously exclusive private clubs" require that you accept THEIR *particular* belief. The BSA does not. Same thing with 'establishment of religion'. It usually means establishing a particular religion.

Keep in mind that "Duty to God" is a world-wide fundamental principle of Scouting. Without it, we aren't doing scouting.

This weekend, I decided to take a look at a couple of books in my personal library, to see if they were a source for info on Wilder.

The Golden Book of Scouting, written for the 50th anniversary, is the source for the story on Kimo Wilder becoming Chief Seascout, and paying for the cost of the salary of the Sea Scout Department out of his own pocket.

William Murray's History of the BSA book is the source of saying the Department of Sea Scouting was composed of 3 people: Wilder, "Skipper Horton", and a third man who served as their secretary. "Skipper Horton" is obviously Herbert G. Horton, who apparently held the title of "Chief Pilot", not Skipper, and was a naval reservist.

Also, while Wilder's Sea Scout Manual is the first true BSA Sea Scout manual, its actually considered the 4th. Warrington B-P's, Carey's, and Longstreth's are considered the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

Michael Brown

Yes, James Wilder was our first and only "Chief Seascout". He was the only one to ever hold that title.

Something I read a while back (uncertain of the source) indicated that Wilder received no salary, and in fact, funded the Sea Scout division at the time out of his own pocket. It was due to this that I have never thought of his as a 'professional scouter', but as a volunteer.

Michael Brown

This is why we have stuff like ScoutReach.

Found the issue. Scouting Magazine for Sept 54 had a ad for the new red jackets for Explorers and their leaders. So it started there, then was expanded to other leaders and then boy scouts.

Michael Brown

Something to add to this (am aware of much that has been touched on).

In my recent studies of the Lone Scouts of America program, I was suprised to see issues of the "Lone Scout" refering to is a the 'white boy's' magazine. I pulled out Mitch Reis's history of the Lone Scouts and re-read it, and found that the LSA decided they were for 'whites-only'! Apparently this was something that was discussed in the early issues of the "Lone Scout" and it was decided they wouldn't allow blacks.

One thing that suprise me about this was that many times I've read that William Boyce was who had insisted at the begining that the BSA be opened to ALL youth, regardless of race.

Michael Brown

It should be. I spent a lot of time creating and mantaining that site. It got its start from my being sick and tied to explaining the historical background of Venturing and its awards.

Michael Brown

I am the source of information on Herbert G. Horton. From my conversations with his grandson, HGH held the position of "National Chief Pilot" of Sea Scouting, which was the term for the National Director. Kimo's position was "Chief Seascout". I've always viewed that term as being a volunteer position, not a professional position.

Horton contributed a great deal to the Sea Scout Manual that Kimo put out. He apparently wrote whole chapters of it, and did artwork. Horton's grandson has an enscribed copy of this Manual, which comments by Kimo crediting him for his work. Horton was a Naval Reservist, btw.

Back on Wilder. I am aware of him writting 2 books in the Service Library: the Pine Tree Patrol and the Yucca Patrol. Here is a link to scans of the Pine Tree patrol booklet: http://www.netwoods.com/ftp/pinetree.zip; and here is a link to scans of the Yucca Patrol booklet: http://usscouts.org/usscouts/history/yucca.pdf

Hope this helps

Michael Brown

I have Scouting Magazines from the early 50s that announce the rollout of the NEW Red Jackets for Explorers. The jackets were only for explorers and their leaders. Other scout leaders had an olive green jacket at the time.

Michael Brown