allangr1024

Your patrols can choose whatever name they want. The BSA police are not going to swoop down and can the program. The scouts are to have fun, and you are to empower them by letting them make decisions like this on their own. Your job is to make sure the choice is in good taste, and that they can get a flag made and patches acquired. The boys can always get blank patrol patches and draw their symbol on them, as well. I hope you are letting the boys make choices in the other areas as well. Do they get to choose the camping trips they want. Within the bounds of the program, they choose w

Barry, I have to say that I am very impressed with your post to this thread made on 12/6/2012. So much so that I am saving it to a stash of training materials that I have for new scouters to our troop. I have not paid that much attention to the process of Storming, Norming, ect. before, as I took a cursory look at it a while ago and thought at first that it was just a gimmick they did at adult training these days. But you have shown me that this is the thing that patrol cohesion is made of. I had a scoutmasters conference with a scout last night for Tenderfoot rank. This scout h

Last year in February our activity was rock climbing at an indoor climbing gym, but we stayed at a council camp. We usually prepare to winter camp down to 20 degrees, so everyone came along, and we had a good day of indoor climbing. But that night the wind came whipping down the plains, and the temps dropped dramatically. It was so cold that as we were cutting vegetables to put into a stew they would freeze. We could not defrost the chicken for the stew, so one of the adults went into town to buy some more. When he got back, and the boys were cutting the chicken for the stew, it froze. T

We went to Constantine in 2010. The boys had a great time, as they were really wanting a camp that centered on water sports at the time. We had a camp site right on the lake, and put up our own swimming hole, with rope lines and floats, and lifeguard, and everything. No one could go in the water unless an adult were manning the lifeguard station, and we did buddy checks every 10 minutes. They had a blast. The camp, as a rule, always messed up our paperwork. The records of advancement and merit badges we got from them took some time to get straitened out. If you go, be prepared to qu

I printed out some sections of the Dutch Oven Cookbook and at a troop meeting I laid these pages out on the floor. The scouts had a chance to look at about 15 different dutch oven dinner meals and select one that sounded good to them. They then had to use the recipe they selected to prepare the grocery list. The patrols were issued a dutch oven, and for the evening meal they followed the recipe and cooked their food. Sometimes it came out wonderfully, and sometimes not. The dutch oven pizza was not good, but the beef or chicken stews were. I would give the boys a choice of, say, 5

If you have that much resistance from the 15 year olds doing the leadership job, then there is only one thing to do. Replace them. You mentioned that you have a core of 11 through 13 year olds, and a 14 year old, who are enthusiastic and doing fine. OK, You call for new elections, allowing the 13 year olds to run for the PL jobs, and let the troop select a new SPL. Tell them that you need active troop members for the leadership positions, and so need new elections. We can not really have an active test for advancement according to the BSA, although the latest guide to advancement open

I have tried to recruit scouts from my troop, and know of some of the pitfalls. Here are some things to do. 1. Get the exact times the prospective den chief is needed, and where. This comes from den leaders and cub masters. 2. Ask for volunteers, especially if they need a POR, but any scout will do, especially if they were a Webelo. 3 KEY, KEY, KEY...Talk to the parent who will have to shuttle your scout to a den or pack meeting. Tell them why your scout needs to go to yet another meeting each week or month, get the parent on board. I have failed in the past to get my scouts to

We just came out of this situation of having a troop of 9. I had the troop of one patrol select a PL, and he appointed the other patrol (and therefore troop) officers. We gave him the title of single patrol leader (SPL) and he had to be duly elected by the patrol. If your SPL and ASPL were elected by the troop, you would do well to ask the troop if this election should still stand for a troop of one patrol. If you appointed these two, then let the single patrol decide. I would still have the single patrol come up with a patrol name, flag, yell, etc. Someone suggested forming two pa

For me, the biggest catalyst for change came in the 1970's as a result of sexual predators being found in the ranks of scoutmasters. I cannot say that we always had that problem, but in the early 1970's it seemed that every month we heard news of a scoutmaster molesting a kid. In fact, I remember a story about the danger of the BSA being sued out of existence if something was not done. The solution was the two deep leadership policy the BSA came up with. As a boy I remember often going camping with only the Scoutmaster as the adult leadership in camp. The BSA also went looking for the mol

When I talk to my SPL about meetings, I put the troop meeting planning form in his hands and tell him that for any meeting for the next month, he must come up with 3 meeting elements. One is the scout skill to review or teach. Then there is the Patrol Corner, where the patrols have to do stuff like meal planning for the next camping trip, take care of patrol gear, discuss what went on in the PLC, and make patrol decisions. The last part is a game, which is up to the boys. I encourage them to use the troop resourses guides to find good games for inter patrol competition. The SPL and Patrol

Jamist649, Welcome aboard. I have been SM for about five years now, and have learned some of what you are asking. For me, the biggest difference between the Cub scout and the Boy scout program, and one that many Cub Scout leaders miss in the transition, is what we call the Patrol Method. Since the age of Cubs is 10 and below, adults have to be the leaders, the planners, and the facilitators. BUT, this is not the case with the boys aged 11 to 17. As these boys get older, they are ready to take on the responsibility of leading the group. Some boys may need extra time, but others can,

Ya know, one of the really brilliant features of scouting, not often tied to the ideals (oath and law) is the patrol method. I find that the two can be used together to train young scouts in building their moral philosophy. How does this work? When we put 6 boys together to live in close proximity and to do the chores of life, like cooking, fetching water, setting up camp, etc., not only are we having them act as a team, but we are setting them up for potential conflict with each other. I see this at summer camp, where we usually have at least one shouting and pushing match. I saw one thi

Last year, since we only had 8 scouts (1 patrol) in the troop, we met for a special troop business meeting. I (the SM), had the only patrol leader officiate. I brought 3 years of our past calendars, along with two posters. One poster had the activities for outings from the Troop Program Features books. This list of over 20 activities were to give the boys ideas they could choose. I also brought a poster with over 20 locations fro outings, that included our council camps, state parks, and the federal nature preserve in our state. On a marker board, we put the months of the coming year, a

Welcome to the forums. One of the biggest differences between the Cub Scout program and the Boy Scout program is the idea of the boy as the leader. The scouts are to run the troop, not the adults. The adults, including the Scoutmaster and assistants, are to be a support, but not the decision makers. The boys are to be given real responsibility to make decisions for the troop. This comes from the idea of citizenship. Citizens of a nation have a degree of decision making power when it comes to how they are governed. The scouts will learn this aspect of citizenship when they are given

I might suggest the site www.scoutmaster.org . That has lots of such resources. As for the adults, I recommend three sites, which feature blogs and pod casts: www.scoutmastercg.com http://thescoutmasterminute.net http://netcommissioner.com/askandy Of course, do everything in the Scout handbook and the Scoutmaster Handbook.

Basement, I am not sure I saw the new CC, sthumer, say that this guy "demanded" the ASM job, just that he told everyone he had filled out the paperwork. This is an assumption. This new CC ought to approach this new scouter and ask him his intentions. I would like to know if the new guy has been in the troop long, where he got the idea of becoming an ASM, did he indeed do this on his own, or did someone suggest to him that he take this course of action. Did he see other new men fill out ASM applications, and assume that that is what new dad's do? Did the SM talk to him, or does the S

I have not had good results at all from packs or from den chiefs. I would go visit Webelos dens to speak, inviting the Webelos camping. Never very much response. I would send den chiefs who would be used either at pack meetings or at tiger cub dens. Not much contact with Webelos, and the den chiefs would be there for a month or two before quitting and saying that their mom could not take them to after school den meetings any more. The schools here will not really let us come in and recruit the fifth and sixth graders. Some schools will let the district director put up a booth at the

I have been using a hammock on scout trips for seven years now. I tried to use a military jungle style hammock once, but could not get the tie outs for the hammock top right. For several years I used a simple mesh hammock with a regular truck tarp. I put my ground pad in the hammock to keep my bottom side warm and to spread the hammock out. Very comfortable. Now I use a Hennessy hammock, and so have the built in bug screen, and I can use it as a kind of a chair. I first got the idea by reading the link below written by a scoutmaster in the northeast. I read HammockForums.net all the time

I have been going to Camp Hale for years. I wonder if this is the first summer camp that Porterman has been to. Or are you from Oklahoma or nearby at all. Daddy Longlegs in the tents? Yah, it is Oklahoma. Black Widow spiders in tents? Once in a while. But have you ever seen what 12 year old boys do to spiders they catch? Yuck. Food? Not gourmet, but there is variety, and plenty, and it is geared to the palette of the average 12 year old boy, who from my vantage point, eats a ton of it. I have been to out of council camps where you were afraid to eat the "Mystery Meat."

How do you know they use iodine tablets. The Katadyn tablets we used at Philmont were more like chlorine, and after you let the chemicals do their thing, you could not really taste them. These scouts could be carrying these tablets. I do agree that you should let the scouts select their water system, based on some coaching from the adults, and see what works on a shakedown overnight hike.

The best pillow for hammock use I have had is one of those horseshoe shaped pillows that can go around your neck, or that can just hold your head in place. With the slant of the hammock, this is a good solution for me. When I don't have that, I use my little extra cloths bag. I can do the same with that by pushing the cloths to the sides and creating a little pocket for my head. A regular bed pillow would be too much, unless it is somewhat thin, and my head just compresses everything almost down to the hammock bottom.

I have not read anything official that says that you cannot mix and match uniform pieces from different era's. I read a lot of recommendations that you do this to keep the scouts from being confused and thinking that non uniform pieces are ok. If you find some statement by the BSA, share it.

Our troop is in that condition. We elected an SPL (Single Patrol Leader), and have him meet with one APL and quarter master from the patrol to plan things. Not exactly a plc, but it is a decision making body, and the current leaders in those positions I expect to be on a true PLC when our troop grows big enoug hto have one.

We actually made the boys duct tape a SM or ASM to the wall. how about: Make a complete scout uniform out of duct tape. or: Make a shelter out of duct tape and sleep in it for one night.

I saw those dreaded words in your description of the meetings, "merit badge classes". I have to say that this indicates to me a couple of things. FIRST, you do not understand the merit badge program. Merit badges are designed to be done outside the troop setting. The scoutmaster gives an interested scout the name of a registered councilor, and the scout contacts this councilor, meets with him under appropriate supervision, does the requirements to the councilors satisfaction, and returns the councilors signature on a blue merit badge record card to the troop for record keeping. This l