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eolesen

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Everything posted by eolesen

  1. Personally, the full BSA uniform looks good, but is over complicated compared to Scouting elsewhere. In many countries, the uniform is a necker and t-shirt. If a pack or a troop decides that is the uniform, so be it.
  2. Sheesh... You came here seeking counsel. It's been given. Some of us here have seen this happen before. You've got decades of Scouting experiences behind some of the opinions voiced here. And yet, you are dismissing it and continuing on a path that is destructive, not constructive..... You've sent anonymous emails (which can't be proven) to undermine the original leader, phone calls or emails galore to the council, and now meetings being set up thru your mom's connections to the board, with the intent of demanding justice and firing volunteers...... Where is any of this re
  3. Saw the comment about Perkins... Yes, it is small, but "staying in council" issues aside for a second, if you're looking for the large camp experience, you've got Sid Richardson about an hour away from you... Thousands of acres, or so it seems. Plop camping not required -- some troops even do their Philmont training up there. Love the large bunkhouses... Look up elk hunting tents and you'll see the same designs minus the bunks. Tent fabric is shipped along with the hardware minus poles. Instructions include specs on how to have metal conduit cut to length to fit the brackets. Cuts t
  4. I have no problem with adult patrol patches. I'd much rather see those than a fruit salad of knots on the adults. In my first troop, the adults were the Buffalo patrol on campouts. It was either due to the profile of many of the adults, or perhaps a Wood Badge thing. Either way, we camped separate, cooked separate, and essentially functioned as a model patrol. For fun, the SM had some patches done in pink for some of the female ASM and committee members who were more hard-core outing leaders. They loved it, and we got more than a few requests from other troops to buy/trade those pin
  5. Yeah, this is just a step away from the boy being labeled as a sex offender, and that goes public and will follow him forever, even as a minor it's public info. This isn't protecting the boys -- it's making sure that all the bases are covered for the Council and for the adults.
  6. To be blunt, if the anonymous emails is what got your wife kicked out, the sacrifice you should be making is to butt out entirely. Fall on your sword. Get out of the way. Putting your need to make things right ahead of your wife and daughter is just digging a deeper hole that they ultimately will be stuck in.
  7. I'm not a fan of troop tents at all, and understand that when the boys raised the funds, it's hard to say no... If you have the Eurekas, A Scout is Thrifty. We let the boys bring their apartment sized family tents for car camping, but I'd seriously rethink buying a second set of tents for the troop. Is there other gear that is in need of replacement or procuring? Maybe you should let them try using a family tent before spending money on an experiment or a whim. If it works well, commit the funds. I know too many people who bought boats, jetskis, four wheelers, motor
  8. Welcome to the biggest problem with " new boy patrols" and why we don't use them.... The only way I've seen a NBP really work is to have an experienced Scout (Star or Life) be their PL or to have a TG assigned to oversee the inexperienced PL. The flipside of this is that they while might have a lousy time, they will probably think twice for the next campout, provided half of them don't quit over a bad experience... Planning form is a good idea. There are dozens available on the web -- just google "campout planning form" http://www.usscouts.org/netresources/forms/gencampout
  9. A Scout is Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, and Kind. I ask the offender exactly bullying fits into those four point of the Law, and that usually is the end of it.
  10. I've been an ASM for most of my unit Scouting career, but there was a very short time when we returned to our old troop that I wasn't officially registered as an ASM, and a shrewd committee member roped me into sitting in on a couple BORs. A Scout is Helpful, so I obliged... Halfway thru, I started asking a few questions that weren't on the notecards the coordinator had passed out with the prepared questions. Her canned questions focused on how the Scout had done things, what they found fun, what they'd like to do... Halfway into the session, I asked a few questions not on the
  11. "I know of a wonderful young man who was denied Eagle by his SM due to SM's view of the Scout not being active enough. This Scout had completed ALL requirements for Eagle, but because he was away from the troop (working at SCOUT Summer Camp!) the SM would not sign off on the requirement for being an active member of the troop! He tried to switch troops, but there was not enough time for him to be active in the new troop for the 6 month requirement. I wish this young man had pushed the issue, because he IS and Always will be, an Eagle Scout in everyone's eyes except that one SM. " Maybe I'
  12. Hard as it may be, it's probably time to let sleeping dogs lie, and put the girls needs ahead of the adults' egos. start up a new troop if the council is open to the idea. Takeovers/coups don't end well for anyone, and may cause even more damage to the program. If others want to support you and follow you to the new troop, welcome them with open arms. If not, part ways as friends. Scouting is a great experience when adult personalities don't get in the way... Moose, since the GS Council owns the charter (there is no CO), I've seen where they are a lot more h
  13. Moving the troop over to the new CO is certainly something that you might want to consider proposing. If nothing else, it provides some continuity for the boys who've aged out of the unit, and also some instant tradition. When I was a unit commissioner, I had a troop that sounds much like the one you're leaving. Small, no real source of new boys, and not a lot of motivation to stay chartered. They wound up changing meeting places, moving ten miles away from their "traditional" place. Some of the boys made the move, some didn't. They also found new boys in the new neighborhood. So it can
  14. Hate to be sexist, but I have to... mostly tongue in cheek. The message home from camp was obviously written by a dad and for other dads. My son can tell me three or four words about how his day is, and I'm OK with that. I'll repeat them verbatim to my wife, and she'll ask ten questions about what those four words were really supposed to mean... In case you didn't know this, Dads are very literal, and don't add unnecessary details. We don't always see a reason to ask for more details than are required. They read that cryptic message, and see no reason to read anything more int
  15. The parable about hiding your light under a bushel comes to mind... If he provided the addresses, I'd do it. Intended as such or not, I see his wanting to send the announcement out to extremists as a form of witness. It's a tactful way of saying that yes, there are still people who demonstrate what it means to be physically strong, morally straight, and mentally awake, especially if the recipient chooses to live a lifestyle which goes against that which we say we believe in.(This message has been edited by eolesen)
  16. Oh, you're only getting started with the phone calls and talking and talking and talking.... Congrats.
  17. Not trying to cheerlead for TM, but if price is the main consideration, TroopTrack ($99/year) is higher than Packmaster or Troopmaster ($70/three years) or even ScoutManage ($50/year). Adding online access to Troopmaster is $60/year, which still comes out to be a little cheaper than TroopTrack. Personally, I like the fact we aren't dependent on an internet connection, which we haven't had available at the meeting places for any of the troops I've been registered with. The portability also allowed us to bring the advancement laptop with to events like merit badge college or summer camp. B
  18. Yes, we tried that. With all the dust being kicked up by the wind and stampeding Scouts, the bar of soap was constantly getting caked in dirt...
  19. You get what you pay for. I'm on my third troop using TroopMaster, and while it is only as good as the person updating it, we've had great support over the years when its been needed. Haven't used PackMaster, but I suspect the support is coming from the same folks.
  20. Having a flu bug or other outbreak is definitely something that can happen whenever you get 300-700 people in the same place for a week, and yes, the poor hand-washing habits of one or two can easily bring down many others. It also doesn't take much for a not-yet-recovered Scout to bring along an airborne bug from home, and have it spread like wildfire within a tent, a lodge, etc. where they're in close quarters with other boys. We were at Raymond (near Flagstaff) and there was definitely something going around. Many staffers had a hacking dry cough from the dust clouds; some campsites we
  21. Simple for some troops... They don't buy troop tents (too late for y'all). Scouts usually take better care of their own equipment. If it molds, they're on the hook to clean up the mess, not some poor QM. Part of your problem might be the "bring it back at the next meeting" requirement. It might take a day or two longer, but emphasize "bring it back when dry" instead... Another option if you have a shed or a basement at the church or hut to borrow... Drying hooks in the rafters, and line to hang them from. This is how Northern Tier deals with all returned tents and packs, and it s
  22. How you plan your water depends on where you are camping... Here in the desert, water can't be taken for granted even when we're on a Scout reservation.... If we know there's a reliable potable source when base/car camping, the blue water cubes from Walmart go a long way. I have a 6 gallon Jerry can we use to run water from the spigot to the cubes if we are within walking distance. If not, we load up on the way in, and top off as needed. Because water is heavy, we don't carry it in the cubes all the way from home unless it is within a 30 minute drive of the church. This actually sa
  23. BB, me thinks you're heading for either a case of burnout, a divorce, or both... Your loyalty should be to your family and boys. Period. Pick one registered leadership position plus OA. Enthusiasm is one thing, but life interrupts regardless of your best intentions, and having you wear multiple hats does a disservice to you, your boys, and the troop. At best, you'll be losing out on your time with your sons. You essentially stop being a parent when you're trying to run everything..... At worst, the unit is going to fold because you've let yourself become a single p
  24. Nothing beats a good shakedown and packing the vehicles the day before you leve... It won't stop the kid from bringing a phone in their daypack, but it does cut down on the illicit case of soda... It's also good for the parents to see what the other kids *aren't* bringing, and some ideas on what type of gear the older kids have collected. With first years, we did a preliminary on Thursday where the bags were checked out by more senior Scouts. That gave the boy/parent time to get the missing items before the real shakeout and packing.(This message has been edited by Eolesen)
  25. At camp, one of my boys comes up to me and motions at the campsite across the road.... Three boys, standing perhaps 2' away from each other, the middle kid swinging a hatchet wildly over his head on a live limb of a pine tree... I walked over, asked them what they were doing, and after they answered, told them what I thought of it, and that all three would have had their TC torn in half if they were in my troop (why bother with corners?...). Their adult leader was standing 20' away during the whle lead-up, and never said anything until I walked away... As with the trash-l
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