Gunny2862

Or my Drill Instructor (Senior Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Ryan!) who never told me my rifle was CLEAN but rather that It could be put away for now. Having held more than a few inspections myself - It has been extremely rare that I have ever held a CLEAN (or at least couldn't find anything) rifle. Carbon gets everywhere when you shoot those things.

I'd try to make an intelligent comment here but only those who have had the opportunity to attend, or see the syllabus for, IOLS know what is actually involved. So, I'd still suggest that there could be some kind of written/practical pretest that focused on requisite skill rather than specific terminology where one could test out of IOLS. Actually being the glutton for punishment that I am, I'd just as soon go to the course(Can't train to much, until you reach muscle memory, or can't afford it) but it is weird to me that such a required program is only done once a year by my council. Another district is doing it but can you believe over a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday in October? Even if I could get out of work I can't miss my college classes.

Where I'm at now you can get something called Cashew Chicken - I know you're thinking,"We have that.". Well, the Cashew Chicken here starts with rough cubed tenderloins, breaded and fried, served on a bed of rice with a brown oyster sauce and garnished with green onion and cashews. It's really very good and I haven't encountered it anywhere more than 50 miles from where it claims it started, Springfield, MO. I really miss Cuban sandwiches and Tampa style crab cakes and there was a place on the docks between Tampa and Brandon that made some "Miss Lucy Potatoes". They went out of business when the patriarch died but my mouth still waters when I think of their menu... Man, It's still three hours to lunch.

Kick it BOB! Oh, it sounds like you already have! Congratulations! Now keep the training going.

Try the tune to the Itsy bitsy spider, I don't know if it's right but it works.

Eamonn, I don't think you were a bad parent. Your son wanted some space... you gave it to him... but were still available to him and supported him, from what I can see, in every way. As to the troop you state that:"As his parent I did attend the troop activities I was invited to attend. I toddled off to COH's and Parent's Night at camp. I supported most of the Troop fund raising events, by selling stuff and buying stuff, most of which I could have lived happily without. I was never asked to do much else." I wish all parents would do at least this much. If your aren't asked then it's up to you to analyze your life at that stage and decide if you want to volunteer. If you had been asked you give every indication that you would have helped out! I think that is great and wish that every parent would help when they could and were asked. I'd have been happy to have had you around.

The backward planning is also a great finance plan. Instead of making payments to a credit card - make payments to a savings account and go buy it with cash. You save finance charges - make smaller payments - earn interest while you are building up enough to buy the item and have the opportunity to look for and negotiate a deal. All things I wish I had started doing earlier...and of course it's only backward planning in todays credit crazy culture.

ASM59, I'm sorry your UC was so sorry, but that DE sounds like someone to buy lunch and see what resources are available. beasties mom, I'm sure the problems in your unit didn't happen overnight. Just take the issues one at time and you'll find your program growing. In my perverse way of seeing things - at least you know you have problems, so you are looking for ways to fix them and not just sitting there wondering why things aren't working. Let us know if we can help.

Well, as with all things Scouting some of our committees, Councils, and Commissioners are better than others. Having been a new ASM, I didn't really expect to have contact with the Commissioners - I figured they were talking as necessary with the Scoutmaster. I will be going to the next Roundtable as a new Scoutmaster and will attempt at that time to find out from the attending Commissioners who is my new friend. The question for those who have bad service from their commissioners, is have you tried to find them or have you just been waiting for them? I know, almost everyone who has posted here has given the story of finding them at least once. But if my Commissioner was getting an award for my having started a new pack/troop I'd want to see if he was really just a placeholder or on the ball and had somehow missed me. I hope to eventually report back that I have found a new friend in Scouting...

Well, in my experience... (Pooh says)oh bother. But thanks for the link!

Since I have had my words taken differently than I meant them at least twice so far. I am not saying there that we all must pray to the same deity. I was saying that the discussion could be inclusive... I also like Johns "next to the last" post prior to this one.

Have you the knowledge(it's pretty easy)of how to leather stamp? The Leather hand grip for a hiking stick is pretty reasonable and so are the lettering sets - especially with future use or when loaned by another scouter. So, maybe the Scout emblem to show their "hopefully upcoming" status, an arrow of light stamp to show their recent achievement, and stamp in the pack number"Pack xx". This also gives them a reminder of where they've been as they progress through Scouting. We are putting new mementos on our grips as we go on special trips and putting the occasional medallion on the stick, also.

Sometime in the past one of our parents made a bookshelf out of plywood and stained it for us. We then just put the Merit Badges books in alphabetically, and any other material that goes there is alphabetical by type of material. By estimation only, and without having it in front of me, it was probably just one sheet of plywood and 25 or so wood screws. Possibly one 2x4 cut up and put in there for braces. The shelves are tipped so that they are leaning into the back of the unit rather than flat, with an open back and a retaining piece of wood to keep the books from sliding out the back.

My mom did the same thing but never figured it out, tee hee.

Another thread posted an article that said that adults had read or half read 4 books annually. I have got to be at around 15 or so this year alone. How about you? I'll allow for graphic novels(you know who you are) but no comic books. Magazines don't count either.

Thanks Gern. for making it possible to re-raise my flag of why not have the Council or National training office give credit for alternate experience/ accreditation and then issue a BSA cert for that. Why does my many many nights outdoors in all kinds of weather in various locales count for nothing as far as the BSA is concerned?(I know, I know, CYA) I feel certain that there are others out there who have the experience but not the certifications.

If they start with being able to do none, you can also do pushups, put a hiking stick across to chair seats, progress to across the backs of the chairs, and do negative repetitions from a regular bar combined with the ones listed above - start with the chin above the bar and as slowly as possible lower to the normal starting position, this method should normally be done every three days or less often as it produces a lot of tearing and requires more time for regeneration/growth. This can also accelerate their ability to do more, if they just need to get more and more pullups to add to their development.(This message has been edited by Gunny2862)

IMMHO, First in a year is doable but part of it depends on how active the troop is. We have seen some posters in other threads talking about one night or less of camping per month except for camp week. Combine that with not utilizing a considerable amount of meeting time with T-2-1 instruction and it would look impossible for others to be doing it. But if you are getting an entire day and a small portion of two travel days and two nights each month in addition to the camping it makes the opportunities more accessible to the boys and the speed of their advance thru the advancement program much more reliant on the boys individual drive to complete each step. And you still have the weekly meetings to use for some of it. One month tenderfoot may happen but I would think it would have to be the exception and would also have to include the initial physical test on the first day.

So any self-avowed member of the uniform police want to count 'em up on this thread and see how many of us posters are "doing the right thing", "trying to do the right thing", and "just on on own program"? No names please, just numbers.(This message has been edited by Gunny2862)

I agree about the weak training for SM's only from my own experience. It will take AT LEAST a year for me to get my trained patch, if I can get to each once a year training event in Council. So with the idea that the training to get that patch doesn't meet a lot of peoples idea of being ready for real world outdoor leadership then why would I think that the Council or Commisisoners will run with the ball on getting the kind of training we have discussed above set up for the SM's and Assistants?

Thanks for clarifying Trev! I do absolutely agree about the danger of a flame igniting the detritus around it but that goes for any flame, even from a stove. I echo Pete's question. Is this hijacking or an extension of where the tread is going? If hijacking, let me know and I'll open the ball elsewhere. Thanks. And open the ball on; Which has a lower carbon footprint(CF) - packaged Petrochemical fuels and what it takes to produce and package and recycle the packaging or landfill it, or deadfall which will naturally decay with the no production or packaging CF. And wouldn't this consideration be a part of treading as lightly as possible in the outdoors?

I think adc294 may have left the building but his question actually may pose another one... as read "Under one God... but who is God?" which we really haven't touched. And the reading we have been taking so far it appears to me,"Under one God... but whose God?" The thing is that the first question, which we haven't dealt with - presuming one acknowledges a God, could be an inclusive excerise. But I have already shown that it inherently DISCRIMINATES against a group by leaving them out of the discussion - why would they even want to talk about the non-existent being - unless they also enjoy discussions regarding unicorns, etc. And it is clear that not only do some of us believe that some organizations legitimately practice discrimination, the VFW I think has already been cited. But when entering the discussion some religious beliefs require the discrimination not necessarily against other beliefs but of the gods of those beliefs as as been shown by John-in-KC. This shouldn't mean that we are to have less than fully courteous behavior towards or less than full tolerance of those who believe differently than we do but in some cases it might mean that one's belief system might preclude endorsing that same belief system. And on the topic of the loaded word "Discrimination" we discriminate all of the time - "That's poison, this (in limited quantities) is water." See I just discriminated at least twice in one sentence. Discrimination is at some levels simply deciding that there are at least two states to one thing or, two or more things. Yes, there is clearly the discrimination where people are (discriminate and insert your choice here "unfairly or illegally") kept from doing things others are "allowed" to do. But it is also disingenuous to raise the red herring of being unPC just because one uses or avoids the word. It's good debate if the judges and your opponents don't catch it but are we debating or discussing?

OGO, I think it looks pretty neat. Where I am at there is almost always more than enough deadfall. Trev, please enlighten me. I am not certain what you mean by it's not LNT unless you prohibit any form of natural wood use. That isn't the ethic taught by my LNT instructor - more that fire doesn't need to be any bigger than you need(which might include none - even your stove is considered non-LNT by some - who insist that ANY fire is anti-LNT) and this looks like a good way to limit the impact. Yes, as always with a fire you might need to put a rock under it (or set it on a rock so as not to disturb the rock)or in some other way take precautions to reduce the risk of lighting any natural tinder but don't you do that with your stove anyway? And the websites literature states that you can even set it on two sticks and it stays cool enough that it won't light them. Not being confrontational, just trying to find out what you meant by the stove not being LNT.

Can someone who knows where to look follow up on those requirements for the contingent leaders, please?

local1400 makes a valid point - but what serving SM really only does an hour a week? And if so you must have an excellent committee. The other end of this discussion is the end that I was (kindly)taken to task on. How much training is enough, shouldn't it be an ongoing experience that covers the things you actually need to be able to do versus just managing an activity. Or with the information we have are we statistically safe enough? (Safe Enough?) la voyuegers suggestion of an ongoing progression of skills which lead to recognition for attaining them as well as real world capabilities sounds great to me. It doesn't stop a "fenced in suburbanite" with an entry level skill set from volunteering and will hopefully inspire a drive towards benefiting the boys more as the leaders skills increase and which just happens to feed their own personal development. Although without making it one's profession I still don't see how you are going to be able to get to Wilderness EMT. Or is there going to be a required set of standard certs at each level, or will it be mix and match of any number of certs as long as you meet the required number of certs for each level? My own bugaboo about this still remains cost of attending these programs; out of pocket and lost time costs.