KA6BSA

NW Scouter, I am a founder of my troop and active in the committee... and I am sure my unit has not gone out and bought an Accident Policy. We always thought that if we followed the G2SS and BSA rules that we would not need any additional coverage paid for by our unit. Is the Accident Policy you refer to purchased by the unit from BSA (the $1 fee per boy?) or through a private insurance agent, or how do they generally get it? Is it something every unit needs? Thanks for the information.

I remember using the collapsing drinking cups in the early 60's. I think they had a BSA logo... on three or four rings of plastic material. If you didn't handle them just right they would spill your drink right into your hand. Glad we don't have those anymore, but now it is throw away styrofoam.

Reading about those merit badges on the bottom of Scout shoes has really jogged my memory! All of a sudden this little advertisement popped out of my head (imagine it on a black-and-white small round screen TV):

"Hi kids I'm Buster Brown. I live in a shoe!

Here's my dog Tide (bark!) He lives in here too!"

Remember the picture inside the heel? And sticking our feet into the X-ray machine at the shoe store to see if there was a year's growing room for the toes?

I think I will be ok in a few minutes, but my mind is still racing with the thoughts of ALL those merit badges imprinted on the track of those shoes.(This message has been edited by KA6BSA)

Here in San Diego we are under very strict fire rules and often can't have a campfire with a real fire, but we always have the traditional way of the Scouts entertaining themselves with skits and stories... even if we have to gather around a battery powered lantern. Yes I have noticed a decline in the singing part of the event, but that is understandable considering the music the boys are interested in these days... they are not going to just spontaneously burst into a verse of "Cum Bah Ya." I am hoping the paid entertainer with a show for Tigers at the comporee was just the result of an inexperienced organizer trying to make it easy for himself and bungling it. What he didn't know is that it is much easier (and fun!) to have the boys take charge of the event and do the traditional campfire. Everyone participates and it is never too short!(This message has been edited by KA6BSA)

I have been told by old timers (who should know) that seriously there were boys who got tapped so hard they had their collar bone broken. That was what they say caused the change in rules. I would guess breaking a kids bones is pretty hard to hide as hazing... with a trip to the hospital and all. Now our council holds a feather up behind the boy's head to "call them out" and the only physical contact is holding (or shaking) hands. It is all very symbolic anyway, and none of what I say here is information sensitive to the OA.

Recently at our own camporee the Call Out ceremony was cancelled due to rain because the costumes are too valuable to get wet. The OA says it is optional for the boy to be told ahead of time by his unit that he has been elected, and what really matters is for the boy to get his letter inviting him to the Ordeal. It must not be that important anymore, because in our situation with the rain there was no alternate ceremony and those boys will go on their Ordeal having never been in a Call Out.(This message has been edited by KA6BSA)

Interesting to see this won't affect the women wearing their pants too low showing their skin or intimate clothing. Those concerned legislators must have a good reason to discriminate on that... Are they ladies' thong watchers?

Your coverage will apply to those boys considering joining but not to siblings or others who are not the correct age. Even if you are not traveling as a unit or staying overnight you still need a tour permit. This is also an opportunity to recruit parents as volunteers in the pack, but make sure you have the necessary YPG-trained leader there for the outing and explain those rules to the new people.

There is officially some double-dipping allowed in the strangest places in BSA... if an Eagle Scout project has the right conservation attributes it may also count toward a project for the prestigious Hornaday Award! You just can't reason it out and need to pay attention to the language in each case.

Yes there is a directive in the Guide to Safe Scouting and you can find the latest version of it online with an easy search. But what exactally are the boys planning to use these big knives for? Most troops will allow a long knife to be used with a purpose in mind... such as a fillet knife to be used for cleaning fish, and we all use a sharp straight knife to cut up food preparing dinner. But the boys wearing these big "pig sticker" knives has only the purpose of creating a testosterone-charged sense of bravado and intimidation. In addition to the G2SS rule you need to explain that in our current society that sees all knives as weapons not as tools, this is not acceptable behavior. With all those Bowie knives your troop is a very scarry sight to the average citizen! The boys already know what they are getting away with; they know the rules at school and what happens if they are caught with even a tiny knife to clean fingernails. Also many states have laws specific to wearing straight bladed knives. If you ask the boys what purpose the knives have you will likely get a fantasy explanation about how they are ready to protect themselves (with a weapon) from a wild animal if it attacks them on a hike, not for cleaning a fish! Despite "Be Prepared" these macho attitudes (supported as you say by their fathers) are not consistent with the goals of Scouting. Even if they don't care about the G2SS or any state laws they have broken, as Scoutmaster you have a good case for holding back the boys advancement for the reason of lacking in Scout Spirit or Scout Law.(This message has been edited by KA6BSA)

Many units don't take the background information on the adult registration form seriously. There needs to have been three references from people, with phone numbers, and they need to be checked out. I would guess this situation could have been avoided if the unit looked into this troubled person's past through the reference check. It is not just the problem of how to get rid of him... no doubt there are other major problems with the way the pack committee and the chartered organization are handling this unit to have let this guy become cubmaster.

Saying it is "peer review" is not really true because the older boys do not consider the newer boys peers at all, and what you are doing is really putting up barriers to cooperation between the age groups of boys. As adults we tend to group them all roughly together in development but the boys are extremely aware of even a year's difference in age and experience. I am sure that any standards that you might think you have in these "reviews" is greatly overshadowed by the confrontational attitudes of the boys being put in this situation.(This message has been edited by KA6BSA)

In our boy-led unit at the PLC we often find that the boys actually seek the structure and reassurance of an orderly and rule-abiding troop. The boys are the first ones to tell us about how rule-breaking is detrimental to the troop, and they are most times their own best examples.(This message has been edited by KA6BSA)

Venturing has a one-page survey form they use to recruit and to measure interest for annual planning. It is basically just a long list with a place to make a check mark. Includes high adventure and a wide range of many other activities. I haven't seen it online anywhere.

It is even more complicated that most realize from reading the shorter story of it... The boat was moved a distance from the first location of diving to another dive site and they still didn't miss him until later at that second location. Then they reported him missing and the authorities were searching in the completely wrong place for him. We feel especially close to this event because our troop goes on an Argus trip every year.

All the patrols in our National Jamboree troop made up their own patches and had them embroidered. There were the Monkeys and many others... the only one the leaders would not accept as is was the Mountain Dew patrol because it was a commercial product. The boys ended up changing it to something like "Do the Dew" patrol with a green can on the patch, but not actually recognizable as the soda logo. With made-up patrol names you do need to avoid the usual commercial and possibly offensive choices like mega-death skulls. And consider getting a few extras made for boys joining the patrol later.

I know that red is good for night vision... ever since I read the book "Up Periscope" when I was a kid, but my objection to red Leds for general use is that it is very difficult to focus your eyes in that light to read the details of a map or read small text in a book. It is just the physics of the longer wavelength... try it sometime. Also many of the red Leds are so intense that an adult leader may mistake one for a laser pointer and confiscate it at summer camp! The white Leds are getting so good with compensation for blue, lower current consumption, and with beam definition they are really the best way to go.

It is common for troops to use three candles (sometimes red white and blue) to represent the three parts of the Scout Oath. Ranking boy leaders light each one in sequence while saying the parts. Then they may have 12 white candles for the Scout Law lit each by a boy in his best full uniform. This is quite a ceremony and can get tedious waiting for each boy to try to get his candle lit, so we usually reserve the use for Courts of Honor only. Even there you need to make sure the log is stable and watch out for the difficulty of the boys doing the lighting with only one hand while trying to maintain the Scout Sign with the other, while the audience holds it breath waiting for the table cloth to catch fire! But the boys sure do like playing with the fire in the process, and it does cast a kind of spell over the rest of the proceedings.(This message has been edited by KA6BSA)

There are some Led conversions for the mini-maglite. One I have bought is the Opalec Newbeam kit for $20. It seems to do the job... saving battery life and getting rid of those fussy tiny little bulbs that go black with age or just burn out when you most need the light. Another very small single-AA cell Led that I like is the CMG Infinity Ultra (REI for $20). It comes in a pretty green anodized aluminum case, has a nice an umproved white light bright enough for simple tasks around camp, and has tremendous battery life of 100 hours. I wear one on a lanyard around my neck so it is handy when needed. My son got a Princeton Tech Impact II (REI for $22) that uses 4 AAA's and has a well designed lens in front of the Leds to put the little beam out there... they claim 50 yards, and we find it very usable for a walk around camp in the dark.

Many of the smaller Led array head lamps are really good for use as a "work lamp" giving enough light just in the closeby area with all the battery-saving advantages. One of my favorites for long battery life hanging inside your tent is the CMG Bonfire original yellow or the new white/red version. They are really great for that particular use getting your gear organized or reading in bed. I actually like the original yellow one better because of the warm cheery light. The white/red version gives you a distinct choice for battery life but the red light is difficult to focus your eyes for any detailed work.(This message has been edited by KA6BSA)

In Ashley's Book of Knots it is listed as a Bo'sun's Whistle knot (it also has the names Pipe Lanyard, Sailor's Knife Lanyard, Marlingspike Lanyard, and Single-Strand Diamond knot,illustration #787) based on the Carrick Bend with the ends tucked back through the center of the knot. Doubling the knot to two strands is more difficult (#788) and looks like a major jumble of twine until it is carefully drawn up and adjusted. But once you have learned the method and tied a few of them it isn't too hard and my 10 year old son has already learned it from me. We used one of these knots as a "button" for a decorative and secure way to attach the upper end of his acoustic guitar strap. When it is doubled it does have a kind of a woggle-looking nature, but here in San Diego I have never seen any of these hanging on a uniform pocket button, and I have not heard of the tradition.(This message has been edited by KA6BSA)

One other restriction to be aware of is that if you have advertising on your site you will not be allowed to have a link from most council sites.

The current field uniform shirt is not kahkai... the color is officially TAN.

Boy Scouts is different from Cubs in that the boys are the leaders of the troop. If you have no boy leaders then there is a major disconnect somewhere. In our troop the boys are eager to be leaders once they figure out what it feels like. Today most boys don't get to be a leader at home, and the don't get to be a leader at school (unless they are very popular and get elected to one of the few student officer positions) and they don't get to be a leader in sports because even if they are a star the coach is always yelling the orders. So most boys lack the experience to know what it really feels like to have leadership power and responsibility. So instead they are looking at leadership as just a burden on their time and energy. They need to start seeing it as an opportunity to learn skills they can't get anywhere else. And the parents are very short sighted, not realizing that the leader training BSA gives will last a lifetime and give their boys a real headstart in the competition for advancement in the real world, not just in Scouts.

It is very unfortunate that you are in the position of holding their feet to the fire on doing simple jobs like librarian and historian simply to justify the requirements for rank advancement. These should be the jobs that are stepping stones to the honor and duty of being PL and SPL... a link in the vital chain of command. In our Patrol Leader Council the boys are having fun and getting a feeling they get nowhere else doing the planning and making the decisions that channel the energy of the troop. And they just LOVE how at the PLC they vote on the troop's issues and the adults can't! Of course the adults have the Troop Committee but that is another story. Leadership is leadership and the BSA kind is the real thing. Adults may pay thousands of dollars to get leadership training later in life to make up for the deficiencies they had from their youth. Without some boys as role models as leaders you the SM need to turn the attitudes around for them to understand how valuable leadership experience is. Otherwise, without boy leaders you really don't have a troop... just a bunch of older Cub Scouts.(This message has been edited by KA6BSA)

Recently we have really tried in our troop to use the "correct terminology" of Field and Activity uniform but there seems to be just too much familiarity everywhere with the Class A and B terms to make any headway in changing over. Reminds me of the effort to convert to the metric system! It isn't just the boys or the adults in our unit it is everybody in the district and the council hanging onto the A and B designations. And it didn't help either when our unit commissioner, who is a great scouter, has repeatedly insisted that "there is only ONE uniform, you are either in uniform or not" and that the Activity Uniform was actually just an Activity Outfit. The issue goes even deeper in other troops as you can see by searching for the terms on the internet... you find out there is commonly a Class A, B, C and D uniform in many troop rules, with a complicated heirarchy going from full dress with hats sashes and medals, through various combinations of items down to just a T-shirt and jeans. In those systems the Class A we are used to is actually at their B level and our B "outfit" is a Class D! Why not a Class F to just give up and Fail!

Just about the time our troop leaders feel the effort at using the Field and Activity words is working then someone gets confused and says it backwards at a Court of Honor where everybody hears it (probably thinking the word Field means out in the bushes), and we slide all the way back to square one! Seems to me the term Field is fine from a historical (military) point of view but it is is really an unfortunate term for people not quite sure and trying to remember which uniform is which. After all this effort and some little success I am sure when we get to summer camp the staff will be saying "Class A's required for dinner!" This issue makes a neat forum topic but in real life it is a difficult change to accomplish in your unit.(This message has been edited by KA6BSA)

Sounds like fun at the Cubs level... just wondering if it means anything? A ritual for acquiring the ingredients for duck soup?