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John D

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Everything posted by John D

  1. Sounds reasonable but I still have one question. Seems to me the frequent BORs take away the need for the scout to plan and bring in an "instant recognition" factor that reminds me of Cub Scouts. There is no need for the boy to look down the road a bit and plan his work. Not to go against the grain too much but I think a lot of these lads can look ahead more than a few weeks , look at a calendar, etc. If not this is a chance for them to learn. John D
  2. Hunt and OGE, both your comments are well reasoned and I think we'll add another BOR, go to November/March/June. I still hold with a mix of parents and friendly strangers on the board. I remember BOR as a BIG DEAL when I was a scout, not just my friends' parents cobbled together on the spot. As an example we have 2 local Eagles with grown kids and no other connection to the troop, the addition of these folks gets the boys accustomed to meeting new people. It also sends the signal that BOR is a special occasion, not just something for the parents to do while they wait to pick up Johnny. The
  3. OGE, good suggestion. Composition of BORs is another thorny question, I prefer a mix of parents, Committee people and a prominent person or two, someone Johnny has't met. If it is only parents the experience of explaining yourself to strangers is lost. I think a scout should be able to walk in to a room of complete strangers, and answer their questions, just what we do in the business world (those of us with jobs anyway). The COR occurs the following meeting so a boy passes the board and is immediately recognised. Our guys don't advance as fast as in US troops so it is not as large a problem
  4. Just a bit off the topic but pot. permanganate is a water purifier. Mix a small crystal in a liter of water to get a light purple color, just as effective as iodine but more portable. Make it stronger to get a disinfectant for wounds. I've used it in Pakistan and India where the local folks drop a handfull in their wells from time to time.
  5. Thanks for the input gentlemen. We are on the Muslim "Eid" break for the next week so when I see the lad again (assuming he shows up) I plan to have a chat with him along the lines suggested by several of you. It's a chronic problem, as these posts suggest, and I wish we had clearer guidelines than the "serve actively for 6 months" rule. We'll also consider an extra BOR, maybe every 3 months. Now if only we had some woods to camp in....... John D
  6. Patr 2. On Eagle's question about FC/FY I know this has become dogma in the states but our scout season is short (Septembet to May), everyone "absconds" (that word again) for the summer, we have no summer scout camp or even a proper camp ground in the country. Some guys attend summer camp in the US and they can make FC/FY. We get scouts transferring in that made FC/FY and I find these 12 year olds in most cases have to be retaught everthing, can't cook, can't read a map, can't use a compass, tied the bowline once, it was all a blur. Opps, more lecturing!! Off the subject anyway. John D
  7. Our practices may seem a little strange Eagle but we find 2 BOR per year about right. The Troop is small, about 20, and the Board is not just parents but local officials, sometimes the Director of the American School or even the Ambassador. These folks do not appreciate having their time wasted to review 2 scouts. People over here work hard, we have no "retirees" or "geezer" (term used affectionately) Scouters here. People come to Qatar to work, period, so you have to respect their time. On the lecture, Bob, I did not have a conference with the lad just gave him a bit of plain speaking, somet
  8. OGE, sorry it has taken me a while to respond to you, it's night over here. The lad served 3-4 months in the spring so I estimate he has done a bit over half the 6 months needed over the past year. One idea from an ASM is a 50%rule. We have a BOR in November and June, to get a rank a scout must attend 50% of troop meetings in the previous 6 monts plus attend at least one campout in that 6 months. The ASPL has agreed to take roll at meetings, something we have never done. Sound reasonable? John D
  9. ....cut off. If the "virtual" scouts advance with everyone else all my senior guys could sign up for soccer and drama on scout nite and still stop by once a year to collect their badges.
  10. Yes, Bob, he did come to a meeting, two weeks befor BOR, for a SM conference. I told him we were dissapointed in his attendance, that he had let down the younger scouts and I wasn't sure I could recommend him for Life. I fail to see how a scout can miss 3/4 of the meetings and still somehow get rank, no matter how reasonable the excuse or well intentioned the Scout. If these "v
  11. Some of these posts suggest the SM and SPL have some responsibility to track down absconding scouts, like the kindly SM of the '50s puffing his pipe on the living room sofa and discussing Johnny's progress. We ain't in Kansas anymore and I have better things to do. A scout who absconds should face the consequences, I'm not the truant officer. The SPL has enough hassles without this, I can't ask him to do it. The absconder still gets the weekly Troop email, he can choose to read it or not, he can choose to come or not. Excuse the somewhat cranky tone of this post.
  12. Good discussion. The local committee chairman suggests I (SM) approve the rank and have a serious talk with the lad and get him to sign a "contract" that he will come to meetings over the next few months and perform his job. Another suggestion is I approve the rank and ask the Board of Review members to give him a "grilling" over this issue, shake him up a bit. What do you think?
  13. Thanks Bob. Another question. Is it appropriate to consider the message passing this scout sends to other First Class scouts? By passing him we are saying attendance doesn't matter, and once you get First Class a scout can schedule band or sports activities on scout nite and still advance at the same pace as the guys that continue to come. Doesn't this make the guys that continue to come t
  14. That's a good question. Could a scout gain rank and rarely come to a meeting? How often does a boy have to show up in order to "be active in your Troop"? How does he "serve actively in a Troop position of responsibility" if he never comes? What would you do in this case? John D
  15. As a SM of a small overseas troop I could use some advice. A scout earned Star rank in Dec 2003, he's 13 years old and a good kid with active parents. During the spring of '04 his attendance was spotty and this fall from September to now has come to only 3 meetings and no campouts. Our BOR is in 2 weeks and he wants Life rank, he has the merit badges. Should he receive Life in spite of this attendance record? He is Troop Guide but
  16. ................try again...................... This sad situation reminds me of a lost scout incident in our troop a few years ago. Two tenderfeet got tired on a hike in open desert and I sent them bck to camp with a 1st class scout as escort. We pointed out the mesa they should hike around and they took off. As they approached the base of the mesa the leader became confused and took off the wrong way. An hou
  17. This sad situation reminds me of a lost scout incident in our troop a few years ago. Two tenderfeet got tired on a hike in open desert and I sent them bck to camp with a 1st class scout as escort. We pointed out the mesa they should hike around and they took off. As they approached the base of the mesa the leader became confused and took off the wrong way. An hour or so later we returned to camp and an ASM climbed the m
  18. I have several knives I bought from a little boy in Peshawer, Pakistan. His dad is an Afghan war vet with no legs and he sits and hand grinds these knives from high carbon steel scrap, the boy peddles them for a buck a piece on the street. I give one to each new senior patrol leader. We call them our "Uncle Osama" knives. My other knife is the BSA Official knife made in New York. Better get one before they shift the factory to China.
  19. Our troop has an MSR Whisperlite, an old Optimus from the 1970's and a propane cannister stove. The boys start with the propane, then move up to the more complex stove. Gives them a feeling of accomplishment.
  20. Easy, Mike. Sounds like you need some medication to chill out.
  21. Very thoughtful thread. Our troop seems to be in eternal competition with swim practice (run by a fanatic who boots off kids who miss), band practice (ditto, different fanatic), various sports etc. Unlike these other activities, we do not berate or punish scouts who miss a meeting, so they miss scouts when there is a conflict. Bob's point is good, but other youth leaders should give their kids some slack and not act like western civilization is at stake.
  22. Hello Friends: Anyboby recommend a source for plans for stitch-and-glue plywood canoes? There are many plans for sale, we don't know which to go with. Thanks. John D
  23. Is this a serious question? I hope this sort of nit-picking hasn't prevented you from throwing a few water balloons. We're on the Persian Gulf, land of few environmentalists and even fewer lawyers. Praise Allah!
  24. As a Scoutmaster I've had to deal with a crazed mom like this, I say it is the SM's job to tell her to chill out. Some kids are in a mad rush, and as SM I tell them to relax, take a breath; unless they have a terminal disease there is no need for arbitrary deadlines and goals. A lot of our Troop activities have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with advancement, and it's OK! Next weekend we will take sailboats out for a water balloon fight and weenie roast and guess what : there is no water balloon requirement or merit badge. We have never had a boy make First Class in a year (our season is only 9 mo
  25. Anybody out there still use liquid fuel stoves, or have the lawyers shut you down? Our troop has an old Optimus white gas stove from the '70s, the kids call it "A-bomb" because it can flare up and is a bit tricky. We also use a MSR Whisperlite gas/kerosene/jetfuel/yak-pee flexible stove when we trek in Asia or Africa, it burns anything. What's your favorite?
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