asm 411

Hello Jeff, Scouting is only what the Scouters mold it into being. If Scouting if failing where you are then you need to bring more to it. I believe that I have a lot to give to the Scouts and do. Our troop is in transition from being a troop divided up into patrols and troop made up of patrols. This one perspective has made a world of change in our Scouts. There are policies and guidelines that we have to follow now. The rank requirements are different from when I earned my Eagle in 1980 but advancement is only one eighth of what we do. I have 10 weekends, a week of summer camp and abo

When I was awarded my Eagle an older gentleman, an Eagle himself, told me that Eagle Scouts are the biggest failures. The reason is to achieve something so demanding a Scout has to fail many times and learns from each of the failures to ultimately achieve success. He said it is not the successes that build us up but recovering from the failures. I have never forgot that. Eagle Scout - 1980

The reason it is so important the Scouts pick the activity is because no matter how cool an adult thinks something is we can not really know. We don't really have their perspective. For instance I really want to go to Philmont. The Scouts in out troop want to go to Sea Base. If I were to do all the up front work for Philmont I could probably get a bunch of them to go but maybe not enough to fill a crew. Perhaps after they go to Sea Base they will want to give Philmont a try. Don't know. For that matter in two years when the ones who are currently too young to go are old enough the prefer

"While tying the correct knot may be preferable, the real issue is that he was able and willing to act to rectify the situation, and that he had the ability to get support of his patrol. That is the ideal of being a leader, and what we hope may happen with our own charges at some point. What makes this movie so appealing to many of us is that it does an exceptional job of showing both the dedication of concerned adults, and the ability of a "fun" program to develop young minds and character." And this from someone named "skeptic". Many are quick to point out the short comings i

I don't remember where I read it but it may have been in "Two Lives of a Hero" B-P said something about never expecting a Scout to have to find his way in an emergency using orienteering. The purpose of that particular game was to teach Scouts the importance of using tools correctly and precisely. I believe that learning how to tie knots and lashings, swimming, cooking, first aid...has nothing to do with the actual skill itself. Several are definitely good skills to have no doubt. I think it has to do with opening a boys mind to the things that can happen. When a patrol creates a pi

I think merit badges and ranks patches are great. Hey I am all for giving out patches for special campouts and lots of other Scout oriented activities. A small item the represents something done. A keepsake. What bugs me is when I hear about a Scout not being able to do something like activity night at school until they finish a merit badge or not being able to get their driver's license until they have finished their Eagle. What kind of lesson does that teach?

In the previous thread there were comments about bribes and recognition given for completing merit badges. I never like this. Here is some information that I put together to help parents get their Scouts moving if need be. Some just use it from the start. www.sharonScouts.org/usefulInformation/sixEasyStepsToHelpYourScoutSucceed.html I have seen these techniques work well on the 17 year old life Scout to get moving on completing Eagle and 10 year old AOL crossovers to get started on the foundation ranks. If anyone else has any suggestions similar to these I would love to add them to

My wife and I were in Amish Country in Ohio and went to Lehman's hardware. Basically this is a department store for the Amish. My wife said she would really like a Dutch Oven. I was a bit puzzled but told her I thought it would be great to have one too. So I picked out a nice Lodge, it even had the BSA logo on the lid for no extra cost. Paid for it and put it in the van. When we got home she was quite shocked because she had wanted one to use inside the house. All I had to say was "They make them to use inside?"

"After 2.5 years as an ASM I'd never noticed that the wording had changed since I was a Scout in the 70's. Sheesh. It was "physically fit" in the 70's, wasn't it? Or is old age setting in all too fast?? " I had the same thing happen to me when my son crossed over about two years ago. I had another ASM, who never left the program, tell me it was never physically fit. Weird.

I was at a camporee a couple weeks ago and I ran in to a gentleman in his 70's with an Indiana Jones (BSA Stampede I think) type hat. On the front was sewn an Eagle rank patch. Being an engineer type it went against my grain. My mind spun about how to let this very nice old Scouter who is still volunteering into 70's know he was not being a good example. I simply let it go because you he was proud to be an Eagle Scout. I think it was better for him to show the Scouts that he was proud of his 60 year old accomplishment than to hid the fact under his coat on a uniform shirt. Do

Within the boundaries of the Oath and Law using the Methods of Scouting to reach for the Aims of Scouting the ideal troop is like a river. It changes every day as need be based on who and what is in and around it.

Not sure if this is what you are looking for but perhaps it will help. www.sharonsscouts.org/genericPackingList.html Good luck.

How do you present a rank patch immediately following a BOR? The process here is that you have to file the paper work with council before you can get a rank patch for a Scout. Does an Eagle Scout have to wait until the paperwork comes back from National before he gets his rank patch if the troop is of the sort that awards the rank patches as soon as possible, the next meeting or campout... ? Thanks

John, I agree with you wrote but I think I was not clear. 1) We are committed to going to Tinnerman Canoe Base. 2) We have 6 Scout positions in our crew. 3) The restriction of rank and age are the Canoe Base's not our Troop's. 4) I am reasonable sure, at least for 2009, that I will not be able to get enough parental support to have two crews. What I am trying to figure out is since we have the restrictions I stated above how does the troop select who will be going if we have more than six Scouts that would like to go? Lincoln

FScouter, I would love to have more qualified adults to go. Out troop is in a transition period and with that we are trying to recruit more ASMs. We have a hard time getting parents to camp with us for the weekend never mind take a week off of work. To give credit to our SM and CC they have done great things in the last 6 months in getting more parents involved. Lots more work needs to be done before we would be able to support two high adventure crew outings and summer camp in the same year. But I do like your suggestion, thank you very much. Beavah, To clear a few things u

We have a reservation at Tinnerman, a canoe base owned/run by the Cleveland Council. Background: Last year we had to cancel our trip to Tinnerman because we did not have 2 adults for the crew. Poor late planning was the biggest culprit. The crew size is 8. We must have at least two adults but we can have up to three. We had seven Scouts signed up for six spots. One was the reserve in case someone bailed. This year I have taken on the responsibility of the primary adult leader going on the trip. Myself, the SM and the CC have been discussing which Scouts should go. The idea of the f

I was quite taken back by the creepy comment. Like several other people I have seen plenty of great Scouters without Scouts in the program. I think that the more involved a Scouter gets in the program the more they see the benefits. I think the comment was short sighted and perhaps she will reconsider over time. I think that having a Scoutmaster that has no Scouts in the troop is a benefit because his perspective of treating all Scouts equally is easier to obtain. There is no Scout in the troop that has an easier or harder path. Do others find Scoutless Scouters creepy? I don

I see cycling merit badge as an opportunity for Scouts to widen their world. By riding on the road they learn and practice the techniques that can be used to get from one place to another efficiently before they get their driver's license without relying on Mom and Dad. By encouraging the Scouts to ride on bike paths and not letting them the difference between roads that are too dangerous, roads that should be avoided if possible and where and how to ride safely I feel they are missing out. The bicycle is a great machine for going from place to place. Saying that all roads are too d

Before I became a Scouter about 6 years ago I was weighing in at about 180 lbs. Now I am at about 220 but I am trying to go back. I do still pass Lem's criteria but not by much. I think I took my exercise time and condensed it down to my one hour a week of Scouting instead. LOL On a more serious note I would like to say that I am not as fervent about Scouters being in shape as Lem but I do believe he is right. We should be trying to set a good example about physical fitness and by being overweight we are not being a good example.

In the previous thread a member made a statement about Scouts having to plan the routes for cycling merit badge. I wanted to point out that only requirement 9 requires this. "8. Avoiding main highways, take two rides of 10 miles each, two rides of 15 miles each, and two rides of 25 miles each. You must make a report of the rides taken. List dates, routes traveled, and interesting things seen.* 9. After fulfilling requirement 8, lay out on a road map a 50-mile trip. Stay away from main highways. Using your map, make this ride in eight hours." The routes for requirement 8 doesn't

Our Troop does a Webelos Campout every year. For Webelos I dens each patrol works with them on pin requirements. Not the whole pin but requirements that work well for the Den leaders and the patrols. Knots, firestarting, leave no trace, parts of the Scout Badge... For Webelos II dens, who will be Boy Scouts in about 4 months, they get an introduction to Boy Scouts. They learn how to set up the troop tents, learn about cook boxes, help cook lunch( a couple Webelos II with each patrol), learn about duty rosters and menus... We usually have a pioneering project (tower, trebuchet.

Hello Bob White, You wrote - "Since when is it the unit leaders role to deliver what the kids "expect" rather than deliver the scouting program? If they expect to be able to play dodge ball for 90 minutes a week is that what you are going to do? Adult leadership does not mean the abdication of leadership to the will of the youth members." Looking back at my posting I see why you may have read it this way. It was not my intent to say in any way that we should not be delivering the program as designed. Far from it, I am a firm belieiver that using the methods of Scouting to ach

I remember well doing three merit badges as classes when I was a Scout. They were the three Citizenships. It took about 3 months each. There were about 6 Scouts in the class. We met with one of the troop ASMs twice a month I think. We had discussions during the meetings and had to do the requirements as homework. If I remember correctly we even decided which requirements we, the Scouts, would be prepared to discuss at the next meeting. To me this is was what a merit badge class is and should be. Someone to provide an opportunity to get off our butts and to guide us. The good is that I th

Stosh, I think the number one reason is not delivering the ... expectation. I almost said "promise". What do boys "think" they are going to do in Scouting at all levels? Not what we tell them they are going to do in the first couple pages of the handbook. But what do they expect? Camping, Hiking, Canoeing??? Do we even bother to ask when they join? (Mental note, ask new Scouts from now on) Perhaps that is a great first SMC question. Parental expectations? How many parents, without an older boy having already been in cubs, show up to the Tiger Cub round up knowing their participa

Stosh, In your calculations I think you forgot to take into account the number of Scouts that join along the way. For instance while working with the pack in town I saw one den cycle through about 30 boys in 5 years. The den size was never over 8. The number joining was great. The attrition rate was horrible. Along those same lines I have been wondering lately about the whole 2-5% statistics. A couple years ago I found solid numbers that since inception the BSA has had about 2% of the Scouts involved earn Eagle and in 2005 in particular 5% of the Scouts involved earned Eagle. D