gwd-scouter

OGE: Nope, sedan chair never quite made it. I do have some wonderful memories of the support from the Scouts and Leaders when I went through the OA Ordeal. The best was them trying to get me to talk by saying things like: I was the new local Republican campaign chair. LOL!

This may not be a popular position here on the forum, but I have always told my scouts and parents that I thought the First class rank was the most important rank in Scouting. In means the Scout is capable of taking care of himself. The further ranks are more about leadership. In our troop, when I took over as SM, the First Class/First Year mantra was thrown out. I saw too many scouts before then barely capable of putting up a tent that were first class. Interestingly enough, our Troop grew over the years when this policy was put in place. Our Scouts LEARNED and became proficient in what

Beavah gives a good description of a Troop Committee. Ours, finally, has no ASMs on it. When I stepped down as SM last year and moved to Committee Chair it was my main objective to build a real working committee. Hooray for us that we have that now. We have a treasurer, advancement chair and a fund raising chair. It wasn't always this way for us. For years, we were a tiny little troop with only three adults doing everything. Now, because our Troop has become quite popular because of our AWESOME program (LOL), we are overwhelmed with adults. Be careful what you wish for.

Hi Scouters! Been away for a while from the forum. Very busy with the troop and all. I stepped down as SM last year after a really fun seven year run. Oh my gosh, the turmoil and triumphs over those years (fairly well documented here in the forum). Happy to say the Troop is still growing, but at a nice steady pace instead of the insane sudden influx we experienced a few years ago. A solid Troop of 26 boys with a fantastic SM at the helm, a fully functioning PLC, and awesome ASMs at his side. Patrol method? Oh yeah!!!!! I serve as the Troop Committee Chair now and it's a good place for me.

Oh yes, Eric was in Alpha Phi Omega at Clemson. Patrick's college doesn't have a chapter, but he's trying to get one started.

Hi 00Eagle. My sons are both Eagle Scouts (2001 and 2010). Elder son was still actively involved in Scouting until last year when he got a full time job after college graduation. Younger son is going on his 6th year working at summer camp. I don't think either will ever leave scouting completely, as older son still goes up to camp to help out at the waterfront when he can. The program meant so much to them and they try as they can to pass that along to the younger generation. Wishing you all the best. Yours in Scouting, Karen

The internet postings have been going on since then, too. Come up every year.

Stayed up to see the lunar eclipse, but too cloudy in my area to see anything. Oh well, Happy Festivus.

Watching C-SPAN's Washington Journal this morning, the host was reading headlines from several newspapers. One was about DADT and stated that the service chiefs want at least a year before implementation in order to train the troops. My question, and I am not trying to spark a debate about the merits of DADT, is: what kind of training of the troops is necessary? Our military is the best-trained, most professional, most disciplined force in the world, right? I just can't imagine what kind of additional training they need before homosexuals are allowed to serve openly. Not being snotty

Maybe we should just do away with health insurance altogether. Rich folks, of course, will be able to pay for what they want or need and will keep the doctors, hospitals, medical device companies, etc. in business. Poor people will have to rely on the generosity of strangers. How about all the faith-based and charity organizations we keep hearing about? Old people, those that aren't wealthy of course, will just have to die instead of getting expensive treatments to prolong their lives. The rest of the population? The middle-class people? Well, presumably if they were allowed to

Congratulations to your son. That is quite an honor to receive Vigil, especially when still so young. Then, to become an Eagle Scout only a month later. Fantastic! I can certainly understand your pride in your son's accomplishments and do doubt you and your wife played a big part in guiding him along the way.

"this guy is a sincerely sensitive person who has a soft spot for children" Careful, Pack, someone could find hidden meaning in that statement. Awe, now I'm being a mean-spirited liberal again. Heh heh

John Boehner choked up and had tears in his eyes during a press conference the night the Republicans won back the house. He cried again on Barbara Walters when talking about children and the American Dream. Mitch McConnell choked up today during his remarks about Judd Gregg leaving. You may also remember his breakdown and outright sobbing last February as he said goodbye to his Chief of Staff. I suppose I could view it as these men showing their humanity, despite their sometimes hateful rhetoric that left me feeling as though they have no hearts. Then again, maybe they aren't fully

Our Troop does something every month year-round. We do, however, take a break from regular Scout meetings while the guys are out of school for the holidays. Just before Thanksgiving we take a backpacking trip. This year, we had two weekend trips back-to-back: one shorter, easier trip for the younger guys and a second 30 miler on the AT for the more experienced Scouts. December is our annual trip to our Council Camp, Camp Old Indian. Even though we are in South Carolina, the weather can be quite varied in December. Some years we had 60 degrees, other years temps in the teens. Last wee

Last night, we had our year-end Court of Honor. It was a wonderful ceremony with ranks and merit badges given out to the Scouts. Very cool that five of them earned the special tracking merit badge - they were very proud of that. At the end, I announced my resignation as Scoutmaster. What a fantastic seven years I've had watching "my" boys learn and grow. While I am sad to step down, the time had come. I could no longer be the kind of robust and energetic Scoutmaster I had been and wanted to continue to be. As my health began to fail a few years ago, I wondered what would happen to o

Just an aside about informed consent. When we prepare consent forms for a new study, we must be careful to make sure they are not written above an eighth grade literacy level. Not all that easy when dealing with genetics. I can't believe I forgot to mention the most important source of my news - Facebook. That's right. I can always count on reading a non-biased, fact-based, fully informed post from a friend, who reposted from her friend, who got it from her boyfriend, who posted after reading it on his buddy's page, who got it from his sister's, boyfriend's, mother's, Farmville Neighbor's

I watch C-SPAN most of the time. Washing Journal in the mornings is an interesting few hours of conservatives and liberals and their talking points, along with call-ins from folks around the Country giving their, usually biased, points of view. Can be very entertaining at times. Then, when in session, one can watch the House and Senate in action, or inaction as the case may be. The healthcare debate in Congress was mesmerizing. Want to really know what your Congress critter is saying and not just the talking points you hear on the news? Watch C-SPAN. C-SPAN's Book TV and Newsmakers progra

"I listened to the healthcare bill debate over the various news outlets and I have not heard of republicans attaching amendments or being included in any form in the healthcare bill." I also listened to the debate, but not on news outlets. I watched it happen on C-SPAN. Contrary to what most people believe, the Committee meetings about the healthcare bill were aired on C-SPAN's various channels. What I saw was a lot of republican amendments added that they ultimately voted against. I was disgusted listening to town hall meetings last summer and the rants from people who clearly had no clu

Our choices in SC for Senator were Jim DeMint and Alvin Greene. Some choice, huh? There was also a Green Party candidate on the ballot. None of the Above would have been a very nice option.

So, Murkowski won the write in campaign even if some folks didn't spell her name quite correctly. Still, voter intent...right? Haven't we heard for so many months about how the "people" have spoken, the "people" want this, polls say...etc. Seems to me that what Americans want is only important to politicians when Americans want the same thing as said politician.

"If you want to find that racist boogy-man you can. Just say it's there and POOF there it is." OK, that's a fair criticism, and chances are if I was still living in Wash, DC suburbs I may not have these feelings. Heck, I'd likely still consider myself a conservative. However, when I moved to South Carolina twenty plus years ago, I found racism to be openly alive and well. Not just under the surface and hidden politely, but in your face racism. It was quite shocking.

Pack - apparently the American People just did what you propose. At least that's the way I'm hearing the spin. You know, regular folks with good ol' common sense and American values on their way to fix things in Washington and do what's right for the people. Oh wow, I really have gotten cynical recently.

Beavah, I'm surprised at you. Did you really think you could get a reasonable discussion here on this topic? Not even a page yet and already you've been slammed by the typical right wing answer "It's all Obama's fault," but has nothing to do with who or what or what color he is. It's all just Obama's fault. OK, here's my rant: I, too, have often asked the question about why there was no outrage before Obama? Where was the outrage about government handouts with the prescription drug plan? Where was the outrage about deficit spending with two huge tax cuts. Oh yeah, both during two war

Speaker-elect, John Boehner, will get a raise when he becomes Speaker of the House. Haven't heard him say he'd turn down his raise. I seriously don't expect any of our representatives to turn down their salary or raises or whatever - comes with the job. If we, the people, don't want to pay our representatives their salary or give them their benefits and pensions, then I suppose it is up to us to change it.

For a while I wore all my knots. Then, I bought a new shirt and didn't bother to put the knots on. I rather liked the clean look. I very close friend and fellow Scouter died last summer. He was really into knots. He knew them all, what it took to earn them, and was always promoting them at roundtables. In his honor, I sewed all my knots on my shirt to wear at his funeral. After having a clean shirt for so long, I think I look a little silly with all those knots now. Just my personal preference, and not to disparage anyone for wearing their knots, but now that I am a Scoutmaster I will probably