Gunny2862

Supposedly National already has an agreement with ARC national but its up to the councils to make it work.

I don't have any issue with this. I don't care who the instructor is as long as they know the material they are teaching. I can see where there are those who don't believe that anyone younger or less "educated" than themselves could have a hard time buying into having the boys instruct them. I run into this on the receiving end myself from time to time.

I think that is an incredibly good idea! Question - how can we do it and make it affordable enough that regular people don't have to quit their jobs and become trainers or guides to justify the cost? It should be affordable all the way up through the continuum.

For a freshman or older I might add Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. A treatise on critical thinking, disguised as a story about a man trying to find himself while reconnecting to his son.

If you are interested don't forget to look to see if there is an Alpha Phi Omega chapter at the school you are going to. Look it up.

I think you have just demonstrated a weakness (in that application) of a dynamic rope and one reason why there are static and dynamic lines. The dynamic line is made to elongate under load to reduce the shock load at the end. Because of the stretch it isn't usually used as a lifting or load bearing line. A static line would never have stretched that much without failing before it got that far. And would have reduced the work you put into it to lift your load if it didn't fail.

Thanks for asking the question, my son had been asking about it and now I know what to tell him!

I don't know the regulations yet but my understanding is that when my son needs a BOR and if I am the SM then I simply setp out and let Committee members, other Scouting adults and possibly even the ASM's sit the BOR. I intend to have the ASM's do my son's SM conferences to avoid the appearance of impropriety. But I can't see going to another troop unless you can't even raise enough adult help to run the BOR. I can see asking to sit in on someone elses BOR process as a non-voting member for exposure to different methods though. Surely there is something else going on here?

Nope, only rare trips back there any more. Closer to Sam's Throne in Arkansas now and some Bouldering at Elephant rocks - split the difference and you find me in the Ozarks. Did spend some time playing around near Idyllwild though. Didn't know what I was climbing in terms of any established climbing locale though. Have you ever gone to the apple festival they have near there? Apple Dumplings, mmmm....

Your points are very valid. Rock and tower work are very different animals, you can need to shorten or retire a rope after one bad abrasion on rock - you'll "almost" never see that on a tower. I personally like to know the history of my rope, I know where it has been, how many times it has been washed, how it was stored, and the environments it was used in - rather than having one handed to me with a list of: # of rappels, and # indicating hours, and falls. Which is why I am liable to be much more liberal with my rope than any organizational rope. I rely on my inspections and unfortunately I don't think my gut feel for any changes really translates to metrics of x number of anything. Any organization needs to be more stringent about their ropes because they will not keep track of all of the details of the ropes usage and storage, and the inherent subjectivity of the different users of the rope. To include that there doesn't seem to be a readily availible number to say "This size rope gets cut up after this number of..." I do like to take my cut up rope and hand it out for knot tying practice after I get as new color sling(rack) out of it.

I'm not a BSA trainer yet, but which resources are we speaking of, pray tell.

I think its integrity not self-respect. And while I hope that the currently serving forces have all of the good qualities I remember, it's true that Scouting and the Military have different aims - but both do tend to encourage leadership development. When you know how you feel about Scouting (hopefully good) it still takes more integrity than self-respect to wear the complete uniform. You can have all of the self-respect in the world and still not do the right thing.

Thanks OGE! Wingnut, that's the response I was afraid I 'd get.... Any other thoughts out there? To include appropriate parting gifts?

My personal Guide rope(10.5mm) got retired at a liberal 10(Short) falls with thorough inspections after each. But I did have about 170 hours in Joshua Tree and at Sam's Throne on it. I didn't track the number of belays, I tend to blind feel, and then look for wear after each excursion/day and track falls. (If you aren't falling, you aren't challenging yourself) I would never have let the same rope be used by the Scouts after the first 5 falls however - me is one thing, someone else is another. And as a personal rope, good rope isn't cheap. I don't see anything wrong with your guidelines except that the organizational beancounters will say its too expensive - until someone falls, the rope fails and the liability lawyers show up. I have seen good Static ropes used for a lot more than 250-300 rapells though. But, any rope should be retired at anytime when that "uncomfortable" feeling hits an Instructor or owner. Just an semi-experienced climber... no certifications unless you count Climb- on safely

Is there any one who does a "Recognizing the Outgoing Scoutmaster/ Installing the Incoming Scoutmaster" ceremony? If so, what do you do? If not; why not, or what would you do?

The method that our troop lives and dies by is its camping method! Of everything else we do this one seems to be the only inviolable rule. We will go camping every month and we will do two nights - and if we set up in the dark so be it. Other troops do faster(easier?)advancement, but if you want to go on outings we are the troop in this area for you. It is our primary selling point when people ask why this troop and not one of the others in town. Now when I say inviolable rule - we had an ice storm this last winter that shut down a city of over 250,000 for more than a week, almost two, and that month we didn't camp but the boys logged a lot of hours helping de-log the city.(This message has been edited by Gunny2862)

was posted in the RE: line of my post on "what do you really wear?"

New to Scouting and to the Troop and attempting to follow my Scoutmasters program as his ASM. To weekly meetings. I have been wearing the Short Sleeve shirt, Scout Bolo usually but not every time with Switchbacks - with Blue Jeans and Scout Belt when not in the Switchbacks, any socks and my ($1.00 garage sale, no visible wear even in the footbed Merrell)Grey hikers. At Campouts. Short Sleeve to travel, Scouting T-shirt underneath. Changeover on arrival for the sweaty work and activity uniform until ready to return. Activity uniform for campouts/ floating in our units case is any scouting t-shirt and anything goes for short, pants etc. Still wearing the Switchbacks for as long as as is practicable with one pair. Water shoes if appropriate - no open toed shoes. At Camp. I had only been Scouting about six weeks but had obtained Switchbacks which are the best option for me, and I attempted to wear them 75% of the time swapped with other cleaner shorts for meals, with the Short Sleeve or a responsible (D.A.R.E. camp, etc.) if not Scouting T-shirt. For an Eagle Ceremony and some Flag Ceremonies and Roundtables I have had on the Full Uniform to include socks. Within the troop I am already consistently more uniformed than anyone else. My intent is to go to the complete uniform, with perhaps some trouser variation of some switchback variety(I like some of Columbias' stuff), on all occasions in a few weeks. I have a campaign hat with Standard pin for non-rain or heavy sweating events but will probably change it out with one of several patterned or non-patterned camo boonie hats for camping, hiking etc. No unauthorized patches to date but I can already see an old goats patrol of some sort forming if only to get more adults to actually help deliver the program. Especially transportation.(This message has been edited by Gunny2862)

GPS units are not calibrated together, you are correct. But the information they display is interpreted by the datum set they are using. It is far more likely that you and your friend were using different datum - (the way the satellite signals are interpreted and then displayed by the receiver) than that they were significantly different in what they displayed using the same datum in the same place. I routinely utilize NAD83 or UTM depending on what I am trying to do. Benchmarking or General trail navigation respectively. I use the Garmin eTrex Vista. It does everything I need. I can upload National Geographic mapsets into it. I can upload or download map data (waypoints, tracks, trails) into Mapping programs. I found mine at Office Depot on sale for under $100. Most GPS units will require an additional purchase to do topographic work. I like Garmins MapSource and National Geographic Topo software - The National Geographic is available state by state and allows you to do exactly what I think you are trying to do - create a paper topo map with the trail highlighted. Try online for your GPS unit and Check Bass Pro outlet store for the National Geographic - I got it for about 60% off there. GPS is great and I occasionally make sure to leave mine behind to ensure that I haven't become dependent on it; but I must make three important points if you are hitting the trail with it. Know how to use and carry a backup compass with a map and have the paper map for where you are going to be. Mark your waypoint before you leave your starting point(car, camp, etc.) Carry extra batteries.

Hey Tommy, welcome to the forums!

I Love the idea and am a proponent of the "functional" neckerchief. But amazingly I have never personally seen a Boy Scout or Leader in a Neckerchief. Cub Scouts yes, Scouts no. Will be working it in with my troop as I can. But I have other fish to fry...

If you have both values of 2 being very large you may wind up with 2+2=6, is that also still math? Although I think this would at least be a color blind equation.

Thanks for the input! The only questions outstanding are further communication with the family and the registration issue. Does anyone have a hard answer about what to do if the child is automatically registered through his church and they still want him to come with us?

And I think that may be part of the sticky point here. I don't know about LDS Scouting meeting the churches goal but I really don't know if the parents goals are in line with the LDS organizations goals. Meanwhile the question stands.

Are LDS members required/pressured in some fashion to join their or another LDS Troop? Or are they free to join any Troop of their choice? I have a Mom who is asking aobut her child joining our troop but I don't want any issues with the numerous other LDS Troops in the area. I don't know why she doesn't want her son in her ?Stakes/Wards? troop.