JoeBob

2 more tips: Select a campsite with a breeze. A point on the lake, a ridge in the mountains. You can make repellent last longer and work better against chiggers and seed tics by spraying the insides. Before putting pants on, turn them inside out, spray repellent, let it dry, reverse pants, wear. Avoid repellents that react negatively with your skin.

Pull your arms out of the sleeves of a sweater or fleece jacket when in your sleeping bag. Just wear it around your neck. It acts as a nice baffle to keep warm air in and cold drafts out. Hammock sleepers will need two 1 foot square pieces of mini-cell foam to pad their shoulders. Your shoulders will flatten the insulation of your sleeping bag and sleeping pad, there will be a thin spot where your shoulders poke through, and your shoulders will freeze. The two pieces of foam make a nice camp seat. I always make a bundle out of the clothes that I'm wearing tomorrow and use them as a pillow under my knees. That keeps the clothes from freezing and aligns my back for a more comfortable night's rest.

March, 2009. A mere Eagle chick by forum standards. I've greatly enjoyed advocating for the outdoors and nature, and mocking those who wussified our standards with 'one and done'. The discussions seemed to have more meat on them back then. The political arm wrasslin has disappeared. I'll even admit to having my mind changed a few times, as long you don't quote me on that in the future... I've become a lurker because: a) my nattering about some of the changes is not welcome, b) I'm no longer knee deep in the program since my boy aged out, c) my areas of expertise, woodsmanship and outdoor adventure, are seldom discussed, and d) procedural questions are already answered by other fine participants. I'm not needed. But damn! I ,too, miss the enthusiastic virtual campfire of old. I miss interacting with Beavah and Merlyn and Moosetracker. Anybody wanna debate Donald Trump and the latest impeachment imbroglio?

The delay maybe be from insurance pricing. Unless BSA is self-insured, we may be unable to get liability insurance in the future. If you were an insurance underwriter for BSA, how much uncertainty would be in your cost algorithms right now? If the liability costs of having men and boys in the woods has ballooned to what the lawyers have trolled up, what are the future costs of having girls in the troops with the 'Me Too!' movement?

@RichardB, Thank you. I like the implication that this piece of rescue gear was used to retrieve recently submerged bodies that were resuscitated. Reminds me of my EMT class, taught by a Navy Corpsman, who recommended using towel clamps (basically forceps with curved hooks facing each other) to hook a victim's tongue to his bottom lip to maintain an airway while you tended to others.

From the bad old days: Optimus box stove, white gas. https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=509D17FF45F628690CBBD8E5E9267962D2F79410&thid=OIP.fHbYv5X_QGQH0GN3NImnuQHaHa&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2F736x%2Fe9%2F1a%2F8f%2Fe91a8f8da8f4b001b69269007425c6e8--stoves-camping.jpg&exph=736&expw=736&q=optimus+box+stove&selectedindex=13&qpvt=optimus+box+stove&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=0,1,2,3,6 When the fancy new stoves fizzle out, the 40 year old Optimus comes out of hiding. If you bring up the G2SS, you get no coffee.

I wonder how much time defending counsel spent considering whether or not to file counter suit : 50 year old Puccio spoiled the sledding area with red stains and got blood on an 8 year old Cub Scout's boot. OSHA standards require that the boot would have to be disposed of as a bio-hazard, and who really needs one boot? I know, I'm cynical and jaded.

I really enjoyed perusing the standard for grappling hook design. And you could buy the whole thing through the 'Supply Service'! Can you imagine seeing one of these on the rack at your local Scout Shop? I imagine that these were intended more for clearing debris from a swimming area than for body recovery? Can someone with knowledge of waterfront standards chip in to let us know if today's environmental standards allow us to disturb natural sediment or is that considered destructive to habitat? The language used to describe the big blunt hook grapple is poignant. Not only are they considered "useless", they are "inexcusably useless"! Wooee! Sounds like somebody has had a bad time using a big grapple.

If there is not already a process or rescinding 'Eagle', this situation makes a good case for one.

Which is more important: 1- The physical well-being of someone in my care, should the need arise for a firearm in the backwoods. 2- My continued membership in BSA. If I lost someone or someone became injured due to a wild animal or wild humans, I would not deserve to continue as their leader/protector. BSA rules are what's irrelevant, and written by lawyers with an eye towards liability. No scout ever knew that I carried, my pack was just a little heavier.

PL SPL PLC Or is the Patrol method truly dead?

My COR has a nice big jar of grommets in a place of honor at his home. It got to the point that he would cut off the corners and wire the grommets together to aid in recovery after the ceremony.

Southern District of New York... Hmm. I hear they are notorious ambulance chasers!

Reminded me of a 10 mile hike my troop did from Young Harris GA to Brasstown Bald (Highest point in GA). It was a balmy 65 when we started, and the SM INSISTED that we take jackets. Huh? We had 8 inches of snow on the ground when we topped out. We were in cotton sweatshirts and tennis shoes. As sweep, I had to pick up two scouts who laid down in the snow and claimed it was warm. The weather front had iced over the macadam road to the summit; so when we reached the end, we had to glisade down the iced road to get to the truck. Sit, slide down until you hit the snow bank on the opposite curve. Crab walk over road, do it again. I still remember the piercing pain in my toes as we warmed up next to the pot-bellied stove. Worse than anything that winter warfare training (Jack Frost 77) threw at me later.