ASM915

Ohio Scouter,

COME ON UP!!!, To western Stark County that is. We'll be west of Canton about 15 miles trying to keep from freezing our, well you know what, OFF. I'm hoping for the clouds for a few extra degrees.

Everyone one have a FRIGID, I mean warm weekend out there camping.

Lisa, at least we should be a little warmer then you all.

Lisa,

Our Klondike is this weekend. Saturday night , a balmy 0 is expected here in NE Ohio. I have the same issue with Feb. crossovers. I would rather see crossover in March.

As to your dilemma, Saturday only, if even that. Are all your Scouts and leaders going on this campout? Are there a couple Scouts and leaders that were not planning on going? Could they run another Saturday program with these new Scouts, doing something more appropriate? The lock-in idea is good. Take them swimming, go to a gym and work on some of the more fun rank advancement. This way they have fun, don't feel left out, don't get cold and want to quit.

Usually our Jan. campout is Klondike, Feb. Is a ski weekend in a cabin, and March is Good Turn for our camp honors program. Last year we almost had all 4 crossovers quit after the March campout. We had 5 inches of snow with temps from 10-25. Even though we tried to prepare them for possible cold weather, and we got it, they still weren't ready. They survived but almost quit. This year the new ones and 2 of last years will have the option of coming to come on Sat. only.

Good luck.

As a 70's Scout, I really don't remember parents being involved in our Troop, except a SM whose son was in the Troop. Most of the adults leadership were former Scxouts from the troop, the SM who just finished his hitch in the military, thr ASM, several CM's. No real parents. Some of the aprents would help when asked, but I don't remember most of them even driving on campouts. Usually the SM was a late 30-50'sh person. The Council people seemed to be 40-60's.

The one dad that I remember being involved in a Troop at a leader level had a blind Eagle son. The dad was also involved in OA and took us to NOAC '75.

I remember my father helping by mapping out a 50 miler for the Troop, but not being real active otherwise.

Sometimes now, I feel it is better with less parent involvement as leaders, especially SM's and ASM's. I would rather have either the young go getting late 20-30 married childless set that can associate with the kids, or the late 40-50 crowd whose kids have run through and are out of the program. At least they are usually impartial to all the Scouts and are not there with the objective of making sure their own Scout is taken care of. The above mention, if they are Scouts that are now Scouters because they want to be, I'm fine with that.

Bicentennial Eagle and '73 Brotherhood in Marnoc Lodge (now in Sipp-o)from Great Trail Council. Son #1, 2005, now ASM. Son #2 is working on it. Now ASM, Council R&M CM, CCS and DCCS CM and Activity Chair in Buckeye Council.

For Troops out there that do not have the Chaplains Aide position filled, why not?

Is it because the leaders can't or don't want to be bothered with counseling the position holder?

Is it because we don't live by what we preach, so therefore we allow the boys to follow in our footsteps?

Is this why the position, to many, has become a joke, and a non-desired position by the Scouts?

If you have a mixed faith Troop of Christian, Judaic and Islamic youth, if any scriptures are kept to the Old Testament, there should be no major issues. But all three texts, the Bible, Koran, and Torah all talk of loving thy brother, helping thy neighbor, etc. There are plenty of scriptures from all three that are easily interchangeable as the others, and just as appropriate.

Why not look at Seton's "GOSPEL OF THE REDMAN" and use passages from it. When he wrote it, and had leaders of different faiths and denominations proofread the transcript, they all thought that he based it off of their respective faiths/ denominations, Native, Christian, Judaism, Islam, etc.

I like the idea of a S. O. service with a different religious flavor at each camp-out. Maybe the Scouts will realize that we all aren't that different, unlike a lot of adults. Sorry John, but making the service to narrow and strict to one religious belief when others are involved, well the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition come to mind. Amd yes John, you spelled it write. LOL.

One Troop that I know of has a large three ring binder with ideas on services. The CO is a Catholic church, but the troop is mixed faith. If they have only Catholics on the outting, the service takes that flavor. If it's mixed, the Chaplains Aide goes for a more mixed service.

Hope everyone is having a good year so far.

I have a dilemma coming up in the near future in our Troop, OA elections. This year we may only have 2-3 Scouts eligible. The one I know for sure that has all the requirements fulfilled is a 17 year old with very mild Autism. He should have been nominated last year, but the popularity contest mind set figured in. Both Scouts nominated

last year are suppose to do Ordeal this spring. One may quit the Troop before then due to behavior and personality issues and was the beauty queen candidate. The other is more then deserving.

The SN Scout has rarely missed a camp-out with either of the Troops he as been involved with. He is always in uniform. He managed to work on camp staff last summer. He participates in programs that others won't even look at. He serves as the Webelos Den Chief. He has been granted Alternate Eagle Requirements so he can continue to work toward his Eagle past his 18th birthday. And he has already stated his interest in becoming an ASM.

How do you get the other Scouts to understand that just because this Scout comes across as a goof sometimes, may be slower at completing advancements, has issues that make it hard for him to remember certain information from time to time, that he is just as deserving as they are, if not more so?

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

PS: Moderator, if you would rather this be in another site by all means move it.

Insane,

You forgot slugs and Veggemite on crackers!!!!

kraut,

Who said it needs to be during hot, hunid sticky weather. Hold it in late September thru early November. So it rains or snows, its SURVIVOR isn't it? Then of course, you run into the problem of Scouts shadowing the tribes, unless the participants are actual Scouts. Then it can be moved back to summertime.

Ask the SM for guidance. You need the letters, one from your parents, one from your religious leader (if Hindu or a religion that has no local leader, a parent can write this letter also about your involvement in your religion), a teacher or two, an employer. I don't remember specifics. I think there are forms in the Eagle packet that you can give them. Also, the letters are suppose to be mailed back to an adult on the committee or the SM, not to you. I would get the form and envelopes (self addressed and stamped) to your desired reference people today if possible, no later then Monday evening and make sure that they are dated and hopefully in the SM hands by your birthday.

Dates: Is your Scout book filled out, dated and signed. You can us these dates.

Meritbadges: Pull out your blue cards that the counselor gave you. You should have a third of the card and the Troop should have their third of the card. If the Adv. person did their job at all, Council or your District Adv. Chair. should have some record of your advancement.

Stressful, I know. my son finished his last required merit badge at 6:30PM the night before his birthday and was putting the application in the Chairperson door at 10:30 that night for him when he arrived home after the football game.

Thanks Beavah.

I have a good friend, a Tanzanian Priest who lives in Nairobi. I haven't been able to contact him by email since before Christmas. he is the head of his order. I'm hoping that he was home in Tanzania visiting family when this all came down. Let's keep all of our brothers around the world in our prayers.

Jmaes,

Congratulations on making it this far. Does your troop have an Eagle Coordinater that assists your Life Scouts through the Eagle process, usually a committee member, the Committee Chairperson, etc? Who went to Council and picked up your Eagle packet? This is usually the person that should be assisting you.

Your Troop's Advancement Chairperson is the person that should be filling out all the dates for merit badges, position of ranks held, starting date in Scouts and the Troop. The Adv. Chair should be able to print out a copy of all you dates for you to use to fill in the application. Specifically ask your SM at the conference about these. It may be being handled and you just aren't aware of it.

In our Troop, as long as all the merit badges, Eagle project book, Eagle application, anything that need a date prior to midnight of the start of you birthday, our Troop considers everything in on time.

Have your 5 Letters of Recommendations been sent back to your SM or the person handling the Eagle Application?

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

krout,

That's a great idea. Toss in a little FEAR FACTOR to boot.

But what would it cost to run such a program for a season?

What network might be willing to try something like this?

How could it also be aimed at inner city youth?

National,

How many Scouts and Scouters do we have registered nationally?

2009 registration fee up $1.00 for the cost of entering the float. That should bring in a several hundred thousand dollars easily. What is not needed for the float could be used to pay the way for a marching Scout band to travel to and be in the parade, plus the float riders. National would have to handle and keep track of the financial end, but it would be no money out of their pocket per say. Everyone then gets a special 100 Anniversary patch since they automatically contributed.

2010, use the money for Jambo, or at least provided campperships for Jambo.

2011, registration drops back down $1.00. In our dreams. LOL.

kb6,

Good idea about the heroism and Lifesaving Medal Recipients.

The float could be called "REAL AMERICAN HEROS". How many Medals are handed out in a year anyway? Can't be that many. I only know of two recipients in our Councils over several years. I'm sure both would love to apply for a cjance to ride the float.

Trout,

Great idea!!!

Acco, National has to have advertising figured into their budget. If National ran a TV spot, especially prike time, theyw ould be paying out the nose. Bring the Scouts to Pasadena for 3 or 4 nights would still come in cheaper then a TV spot.

Trout, I bet we could find Scouters from all the areas needed to make the float, possibly pro bono. Distinguished Eagles would be great. But, let's find the less known, more interesting ones, not well know ones from DC that would use it for more recognition.

Maybe the area Council's could come up with a 1000 Scouts/Scouters to march in front of and behind the float, 15-20 wide by 50 rows. Now talk about making a statement.

Lugnuts,

Have each of the Scouts bring their favorite flavor of Jello mix and a two real Nalgene bottles. At cracker barrell, have the Scouts put the Jello mix in one bottle and add hot water. Have them drink it before it solidifies. It makes a nice fruit drink.

After they are finished with their nice hot fruit drink, fill one or both bottles with piping hot cocoa, tea, cider and the other with hot water, seal both tight, place in wool socks, and throw down in the sleeping bag. Instant incubtor.

The Jello drink will give their bodies the fuel to keep the fire cooking inside, for most of the night keeping them warm. HEY, we're at KLONDIKE. A nice hot Cracker Barrell is beneficial. A few years we dipped to -20.

Calico, digestion = energy = bodyheat from the working engine = warm sleeping bag. Right out of the Okpik Winter Survival book. The hot bottles in the bag will warm it up a little, ala incubator. Better then nothing. The socks keep the bottles warm long into the night, gives the Scout something to drink later in the night to warm him back up if he starts getting cold or thirsty. Plus your have one liter of unfrozen water per Scout come morning. No need for thawing frozen water when you want to eat and leave.

Good luck Lugs.

Brian,

Yes, the medals can be given to Scouters as well as Scouts. The recipient has to be in a non-supervisory role. In other words if you are the adult leader on a camp-out and pull one of your Tenderfoots out of the lake, you are not eligible. If you pull someone else out of the lake, then you are eligible.

My oldest, now 21, also ASM with the Troop, has been a lifeguard for 5 years. He has pulled numerous people from the pools over the years, treated people down in the locker room with life threatening intracranial bleeds until EMS arrived, etc. He has also responded on cardiac arrest scenes with me when he was 16 and 17 (because he was in the truck with me when the calls came in) and help give CPR and hook up AED's when the PD arrived ahead of the squad, or the monitor/defib. that I carried. He's stopped at a few nasty accidents on the freeway and provided care until EMS has arrived (these he could have been eligible for). Always in a supervisory role.

He was honored with the Heroism Medal for aiding a friend at a scouting function whose clothing caught fire while they were cleaning up their living history program site that they had run during the day. He was 19 at the time. He wasn't in a supervisory role at the time, just in the right place at the time. He was shocked that he was nominated for the honor. He wasn't happy about all the attention. After living around a vol. department his whole life because of his old man, he felt it was just the normal thing to do.

Like Highcountry, after 25+ years in the field, you don't expect to receive anything. That's not why we are there. The only recognition I ever received was the local VFW's Person of the Year. The chief put my name in for the award. The incident involved saving the life of the Post's chaplain's (who was also the deacon at our church) grandson during a farming accident. Unfortunately in small towns there is little chance of hiding who did what, and I never know when grandma Pat will embarrass me with an introduction of "This is the man who saved my grandson".

There are many cases of deserving Scouts/Scouters that are probably never sent in. Some SM's probably don't even realize the awards exist. Some don't feel recognition is due. Some just won't send them in. I feel if there is a potential candidate, I send it in and leave it up to Council and National to make the determination if an award is appropriate and which one.

GW,

Who says it's not kosher? He didn't add anything. What kind of beads did he use and who did it for him? Or did he do it? Just think of the time and cost. Wow!!! And I bet it will hold up a lot longer. I would love to see it.

If I am correct, the pewter pin from the 1975 NOAC is also allowed to be worn on the sash. Mine has been there since '75. Last year at NOAC, my roommate saw my sash and asked to look at the pin. He stated that he was on staff in '75, and that since it was the last NOAC that Goodman had attended, that the decision was made to allow the pin to continue to be worn on the sash after NOAC had ended.

Happy Boxers Day to you Eamonn. Hope the cookies were tasty. Did you take a dip like the blokes celebrating Boxing Day, shown on ABC's National News tonight?

G.W.

Thanks for the wonderful story. It has been passed on.

Owl,

As for the last circumstance, usually the Lodge will except you back open arms. They did me after a 25 year hiatus in Scouting.

Trev & Dan,

Hope you both had clear skies and enjoyed the moon as well Thursday and Friday. It was big, bright and full here in NE Ohio. Yes we had a clear night in NE Ohio, a miracle.

Happy Soltice to you both, a belated Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish friends, Happy Holidays to others and Merry Christmas to all.

Eric

ET LNT!!! Sorry guys, the MIB handle that.

GWD, you could probably make a killing on EBAY with those beanies, and your hubbie could retire early.

Packsaddle, being an academian, ever read John Mack PhD, from either Yale or Harvard School of Psychiatry (I can't remember which one)? They are not little metal chips, they are bio-chips. That way they are undetectable by modern medical equipment.

NEXT ON JERRY SPRINGER - "My baby's daddie was an alien".

FOX & SCULLEY where are you when we need you?