anarchist

short hikes, fishing derbys (next spring), rocket launches (estes make nearly idiot proof kits (i even built one), bike rodeos, bike hikes -we have one that is near twenty miles mostly down hill (very slight elevation grade...had kids (sibs)finish on training wheels...)beach combing day adventure, spring birding hike, summer mud bash around some pond looking for tad poles etc. You can also do this in the snow with animal tracks!Out door cooking class with intro to dutch oven cooking (donuts from biscuit tubes is great fun!) How about knot pole races (horizonal pole -chest high with basic knot

Nutz it is! and my Kids and most of all an abiding desire to pay back the debt owed to the guys who led me up the eagle trail...though they couldn't find a way to make me drink...they tried to do... their best! nuff said.

GO for it! so long as it is good taste..why not?But let the pros do it... We 1. found a friend to Donate a good used trailer then 2. found a good guy to professionally letter the sides... all for "free"...or 'for the good of scouting'... and yes both benefactors are acknowledged in small print on the bottom edge of the trailer...nothing but complements from everyone who has seen it! Good luck...keep the tire pressure up, spare and jack handy and keep the wheel bearings greased!

great thread! less vitriol being tossed about... Mallway, Training, particularly the Webelos leader outdoor training (WLOT was the best i have had!) will help you keep your head above water. And the bs you were probably shoveled about only one hour a week...they lied... But if you jump in and use the life lines these folks are tossing... you will make it! Get others in the pack involved in training and know what? a few extra weekend to finish activities will be worth it four or five years from now when several of your scouts start running their own troop as Patrol leaders and SPL's! It

I have a question and a problem with many of the examples tossed out...it appears to me that most of these are 'double dipping' for credit... I mean...if I have to work for a goal...confirmation, say, why on earth should i get 'credit' twice? OA hours the same, the hours worked are for OA membership not service to the community...even though that is/or maybe the result... Ushering at church seems to me to be a duty to my church for my church 'membership'and part of my particiaption in worship...but cleaning the church or church grounds for the general good would be more in line wit

Hey folks!!!! pushing matches??? wacking people??? throwing things??? verbally belligerent towards leaders???? This one needs a committee-parent conference to see how or if this boy can/should stay in the troop, not advance towards eagle! If any 'contact' is meant to be hurtful, advancement should be the least of this boys mom's worries. S.M. should lay down the law to this one and fast! and no, you are not going to 'change' the boy ove

Interesting thread....I'm for separation... , and this is mostly to SR540Beaver, by separating brothers, in school you were given the opportunity (gift?)to do 'it' as an individual without a brother to be held-up as an example (either good or bad) or as a competitor. You were placed in a situation that 'forced' you to grow at least for a little while each day on your own without whatever influence your brother would have had upon you. Even when you two came back together (later in school) you had by then, grown and experienced situations that, left to your own devise, would have been..."di

GOOD GRIEF! We spend a great deal of time messing with P C -'cover our butts rules' instead for fostering fun and friendship...BSA and it's leaders have become afraid of their own shadows. They have seemingly forgotten that a little silliness is good the soul. Some of this fear (read PC regulations)is directly the result of the attempt to include 'special' kids. Boys, that perhaps in the good old days would not of been able to have the scouting experience are now accommodated. Sometimes its just accommodating spoiled kids with powerful parents.... As a parent of an "special" child

Trailers are great...if you need one! If you are a back packing only troop with LNT as your program, a small shed or closet should do... But camping is not just about LNT... it should be a life time orientation to the outdoors with all the possibilities, 'cause down the road few 'family men" will be able to take the family on a fifty mile LNT trek... but if they love camping in all its forms they might be able to pass a version of it on..even to their girls (sorry not PC)....or er non-scouting boys. If on the other hand you have base-camp oriented camporees to attend and like to trave

Give me a brake! Another sign that the P.C.'s have won... Singing is fun (REMEMBER THAT WORD? USED TO BE WHAT SCOUTING WAS) and yes... some, (those who have to be PC for the organizations sake) might say hazing... We have a similar 'tradition' and the troop has NEVER...never had something 'not' be claimed... The reason...maybe found in the Scout Law...specifically loyal, helpful, friendly and maybe even kind...though thats a stretch for kids (right?) If one of our boys appears 'embarassed' by singing for his gear...WITHOUT FAIL some (if not all)of his partrol or even the older scouts wil

Hi Scouter Joe, Thought I'd offer up a couple of annual activities that are our "troop must do's". Not knowing where you 'hail' from, you might find a similar area near you... The first started about six years ago and gleans about 75-85% attendance every year. It is a three day Beach Camp. We trek to Assateague Island on Marylands eastern shore and camp in the sand, right next to the ocean.. (where the National Park Service and State of Maryland allow it). We plan the trek for a period when the water is too cold to swim and make it a fishing and hiking (looking for the wild ponies - (r

As the chief cook and bottle washer for the adult kitchen (and slowing steping back as I train the newer dads), we feel camp and kitchen "washing" is important for every one. All of the Summer camps we vist have hot and cold water at the latrines and before mess call we have a troop trek to the 'wash station'...no wash... no eat! Most if not nearly all of our troop campouts are "waterless" even the drive/truck-in sites. We set up a wash station as well as a 'flag pole' at each location. On "drive-ins" we carry two gallons of water per scout for cleaning, cooking and drinking. (seems to

CW, First your conflict with the C.M. depending on your troop size and structure you need to figure out the troop chain of command. Is the adult structure corporate or community? By that I mean is the group so small (or close) that all adults are program leaders who by what ever means to make it work (community type structure) or is the program corporate with set duties and responsiblities? Keeping in mind that this may not be truely the BSA way... Under a corporate structure the adults divide into "program" and committee (troop support). Program is the S.M. and his ASMs(you) the

FIRST...Remember... boy led...not adult led. Ours is and established troop with some real problems right now (see forums...issues...'troop growing too fast'), but we have(on going)a great outdoor program which helps. WE START by giving the boys a survey to fill out while they are at Summer camp (usually on the trip home or as they are waiting for camp check-out...we have 90+% attendance).The survey asks activity by activity which the boy liked which he did not like, as well as asking them to "rank" the activies first to last. Then they are asked to add items from a host of possible acti

Mr. D, yep most would rather just write a check....(but with time taken by soccer, wrestling, cross country and school sometimes I feel that way myself) .... and young-un, I didn't wear no red beret neither...in the dark ages we wore overseas hats which were good for absolutely nothing but they tucked into your belt real nice...so you didn't walk off and leave then like todays ball caps....(least I didn't wear a campaign hat...not that old!)

first....Mr. Daigler....Tom Watt salesman....cardboard suitcase full of pocket sewing kits, reusable ice cubes, pocket first aid kits, travel size double edge razors, and other cheap 'easy to sell' items...right? I am a commercial property manager...shopping centers, office buildings, industrial centers...but did my share of fund raising in the dark ages....

Well folks, thanks for the guidance. I am not the SM (can't deal with local politics) just a committee member..the troop equipment guy, cook mentor and trailer transporter. My two sons are in the PLC (ASPL and troop guide) and are worried about the changes almost as much as I am. I don't know what we will end up doing. But I hate telling boys they can't join our troop almost as much as I would hate to see boys drop out because the program is not working anymore. As adults (the committee), we are at the 'edge' in our ablity to provide 'warm bodies' to support the program activities t

just passing through from another forum...want out there names... try.... dynamic disco dancing donkeys and the invisible indeigo flying squirrels...(13-14 year old scouts)...very strange boys...including one of my sons...

We have a good problem thats a bad problem. In a small country town, we have "ambled" along for over 50 years. The natural 'feeder' for the troop was the local elementary school's Cub Pack. Unfortunately, the Cub Scout pack had weakened over the years to the point where it was not graduating enough Webelos to keep our numbers up. Fearing for our own troop stability and program health we began a little 'outside recruiting'. A few boys from packs a little "farther away" joined the troop and sent 'good words' back to their packs. We then accepted an invite from two of these large pack

Whoa there! except for an Eagle board who requires 3 committee members????? BOR's in many cases are one (1) committee member and two 'concerned Parents'... the C C is a member of the troop committee simply approved/appointed by the charter organization to be the CC. He or She fills out the same BSA paperwork the rest of us BOR sitting c.m.'s do... the only folks who can't sit boards are parents of the Scout standing the BOR and those program side chaps and lassies called SM AND ASM's.....

Our troop has gone to Rodney and Camp Hansen (hanson?) the last two summers, we have taken @ 30-35 scouts the last two summers, and at both camps had great times. Our boys wanted to go back (to either) but they could not accomodate our group on our planned week. I doubt if you can go wrong selecting either of these camps....We have never heard our boys "planning" a trip back to a camp 'next summer' before they had left the camp (this summer)! By the way both camps are opperated by the same council...great job gals and guys of Del Mar Va! Anyone have experience with Camp Bonner in North Caroli

ahh the uniform debate, its been a while since I checked things out...seems more and more folks are agreeing with us that the current 'garb' is close to garbage. I agree that the BDU is tops, and perhaps if Texas really wanted to they could tighten up the cut somewhat to make the appearance somewhat sharper. But in the end, my uniform argument is: we are an OUTDOOR 'uniformed' movement, not a bunch of 'dress soldiers'. The basic uniform should be field wear first, dress wear second... {OUT is 3/5ths of scout} I just dropped $77.00 for a uniform for my oldest scout's life to eagle confere

Cooking for Vegetarians...neat oportunity! Great teaching tool for the patrol and the troop. (by the way folks boy led does not mean they can't get a suggestion or two from the adults, say through the PLC). First like all diet issues you need to define the type of veggie diet that is appropriate...eggs? fish? milk? cheese? a couple of times in the past we have had new scouts say they were vegetarians and later hear from parents that that was not the case...boys just did't want to eat what was being offered...so get the facts! Then offer the patrol help...perhaps the parents (of the new sc

Hope this is not too late to be of help, First let me explain that we pull a nice size trailer along to most of our truck camps (as opposed to canoe or hiking camps)! All patrols have a wood kitchen (box)with stove, cook kit & utinsils (some plates for "company" but scouts use mess kits to eat from), griddle, oil, cocoa, propane hose, soap, scrub pads etc. two drop "doors" for working/cooking surfaces. On many of these boxes we added the back "door" (hinge, screws, latch,some paint... easy). Most patrols also carry a small plastic box,(2 - 4 gal. tote) for excess food items, we call thes

first posting and I don't know if this is still timely or helpful, but we start every camp with our tarps (rain fly). In developed campsites, patrols generally set their tarps in a semi circle around a common feature, say a flag pole or better, the fire ring (if there is such an animal). Enough room is left for troop use of the "feature". This is done FIRST. Having the tarps up, allows for 'dry' set up of our tents (when necessary) and then the tents can be 'relocated' to their 'site' in the woods (all of our tents are self supporting), then patrol kitchens are "set". The tents go 'back' into