Kudu

The good news is that we all agree that it is the business of government to pick the winners among corporations. So let us set aside our petty differences and get to work awarding monopolies on the word "Scout" to the remaining 110 genders!

From Ebay a few years back, http://inquiry.net/adult/bsa_vs_gsusa.htm This collection of typed documents is from the estate of Mark Jones who was an official in the Girl Scouts in the 1920s-30s with his name in pencil at the top of the front cover. The documents are marked "copy" but this might be the only copy left in the world. There are 37 typed sheets all typed on one side of 37 pages bound in a blue folder. The Boy Scouts Inc. sued the Girl Scouts Inc. and Winchester Arms over the use of the word "scout" in 1924 claiming it was an infringement on their

What, too soon? 😎

Why so binary, @InquisitiveScouter ? My non-binary pronoun is simply "Majesty."

From Baden-Powell's 1938 POR (Policy, Organization, & Rules) http://www.inquiry.net/traditional/por/proficiency_badges.htm Wirelessman 506. (1) Have an elementary knowledge of how a thermionic valve works as- (a) H.F. Amplifier. (b) Detector. (c) L.F. Amplifier In a wireless set, and also how a "Westector" works (2) Know the functions of condenser, resistance, inductance, reaction and mains rectifier, transformer. (3) Know how to cure hum OR how to build a cheap mains eliminator. (4) Kno

I'm in favor of requiring Scouts to demonstrate virtue signaling, so long as it is done in Morse Code.

In a way, Scouter.Com was the birthplace of Traditional Scouting in the United States. Back in the 1990s Craig contacted me about an article I wrote for Scouter.Com's print publication. It featured the adventures of one of my Patrol leaders, a 12yo free range kid who took his Patrol into the woods most weekends. They lived on the rabbits and squirrels they hunted using a spear extender illustrated in one of the Patrol Leader's near-century-old library discards, Scouting for Boys. Craig invited me to join his fledgling movement. Scouter Terry then set up a list serve for us, that inc

Thank you! I wrote the first edition of the Pathfinder Handbook for the Texas-based BPSA-USA about four years before BPSA-US was established. BPSA-USA was based on the 1965 PO&R (Policy, Organization, and Rules), which accounts for those "Senior Proficiency Badges," which were not a part of Baden-Powell's program when he was still alive. BPSA-US, on the other hand, is based on the 1938 PO&R, which was the very last version of the Scouting program that Baden-Powell himself approved. See: http://www.inquiry.net/traditional/por/index.htm Baden-Powell's equivalent t

Depends on how you define "old school." 😎 Some Hillcourt fans would date the end of Hillcourt's version of Traditional Scouting at 1966 (the same year as "The Chief Scout's Advance Party Report" throughout the former British Empire), and the year that the BSA decided to replace Hillcourt's "Real" Patrol Method with a "Nine Leadership Skills" version of White Stag http://www.inquiry.net/leadership/9skills.htm . This "leadership skills" program was introduced in 1972. Purists like me would date Bill's demise a year earlier, 1965 - the year of his retirement, when the BSA introduce

A Corporate CEO crawls to the throne of Lucifer, in cardiac distress, eyes bugged, nostrils flared, "Master, Master," he wheezes, "The Americans have discovered Baden-Powell's Traditional Scouting!" "Not to worry," replies the Angel of Light, "I'll send two BSA Wood Badgers up to the BPSA-US to organize it."

Looks like I buried the lead! 😎 The purpose of my post was to show how actual gung-ho outdoor kids in a BSA Troop can experience (if only for one weekend in their entire lives) a Free Range Patrol System as it was known to Baden-Powell and William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt. Absent this "mountain top" experience, I don't see how the material from Kudu.Net can help but sound like magical thinking (to paraphrase @dkurtenbach ). Just idealistic words on an electronic screen. Yes! Baden-Powell held in disdain the American invention of summer camps, calling them "Parlour Scouting"

Keep in mind that the above reference is to Baden-Powell's Patrol System, not the Patrol Method. Two relevant differences: 1) There are no middle managers in Baden-Powell's "System," no SPL, no ASPLs, no JASMs, no TGs, nor anyone other than Patrol Leaders with a vote in what Americans call the PLC. In other words, ONLY the Patrol Leaders run the Troop. This means that the most gifted outdoor Scouts rise (yes, are appointed to) the position of Patrol Leader, as opposed to the tendency in the USA to regard it as an entry-level "Position of Responsibility." In Baden-Powell's Syst

"Sabattis Scout Reservation is located on over 2,000 acres in the heart of the Adirondack Park. It offers the premier wilderness camping experience in the northeast United States. Sabattis is a traditional full-featured patrol cooking camp" http://www.cnyscouts.org/camping/sabattis-scout-reservation/

Certainly Baden-Powell's First Class Award is the very definition of Free Range. The final requirement, the First Class Journey, is a 14 mile overnight backpack or canoe trek, alone or with one peer. No two-deep helicopters! > The tracking probably wasn't needed and while the plant and animal identification is nice, it's not really a core skill. > On the whole, it seems to be a bit obsolete Despite the significant controlled risk involved in the First Class Journey, not to mention the increasing challenges of the subsequent Journey and Expedition requirements of the

Seems worthy of a new thread, "Natural Leaders."

My initial inclination is to encourage Free Range Kids to organize around the original fortnight edition of Scouting for Boys. As in the days before Troops were common, a Lone Patrol would seek out, as needed, adults in the community with expertise in the outdoor skills they wish to master. Perhaps a church, school club, hiking group, outdoor store clinic, local chapter of Let Grow, former BSA volunteers, etc. (I'd be interested in additional suggestions). Adult Led / Youth Led then becomes: Youth Led adults whose services can be terminated as needed. Some day I'd lik

Thanks everyone!

Thanks to @RememberSchiff @Sentinel947 @Eagle94-A1 @desertrat77 @willray and @DuctTapefor the warm welcome back. 😎 This summer I do hope to participate in a few threads like this, but with the goal of learning how to make short "explainer" graphs and videos for Free Range kids. What would be the pros and cons of joining a "Troop," if you are a Lone Patrol of kids encouraged by your parents to seek adventure on your own? Thanks again! Yours at 300 feet, Kudu Kudu.Net

And you as well!

Very proud, indeed! 😎 Kudu Flaming Fry Pan Patrol

We meet on Monday nights. Most Patrols shop the Wednesday or Thursday before the campout.

In my retirement I too volunteer in a one-Troop town! The local unit was an adult-led Eagle factory, far worse than any descriptions in this thread or elsewhere. No Scoutmaster in this Troop was ever even a Cub Scout as a boy, but every adult is an expert on Eagles. I don't want to be a Scoutmaster again, so changing Troop culture these days is more difficult than in my past. As I have detailed in other posts, my strategy was to establish a High Adventure program first. I used backpack trips to introduce the Scouts to a backwoods Scout-run Patrol Method under the Troop's two best

Eagledad, The Medium is the Message My thought was that Wood Badge was invented to teach indoor volunteers how to think like outdoorsmen: Specifically how to navigate through the backwoods. Before "leadership skills," a Scoutmaster's job was to teach his Scouts how to actually "scout" (the final test of every rank was a semi-solitary Journey), and to teach his Patrol Leaders how to actually go out on "patrol" (the purpose of a Patrol was to patrol the backwoods at least once a month). Since most of the promotional material for "Trail Life" features "trail life" in the rugged wi

I've been asked to help invent a weekend outdoor skills training course for local Trail Life Troops. Can anyone give me a general idea of how the week-long Backpack Wood Badge course of yester-year was organized? Thanks! Yours at 300 feet!