LeCastor

Thanks to you, too, Seattle. I appreciate the advice from you and Desertrat. My DE and I have a very good working relationship, so I don't think that would be a problem. Also, our Council Membership Chair does lend a helping hand and has already asked me for ideas for recruiting within my district.

That's the kind of Obi Wan Kenobi stuff I needed. I am too busy for another Scouting role and I would most likely neglect my Troop if I tried to do too much. Thanks, dude.

Of course, the story of the lost wallet is just a little parable to illustrate how Scouts can help other people. A wise one has reminded me that we need not wait for the lost wallet to help. We should be helping all the time...and looking for ways to help all the time. Don't wait until you trip over the wallet, backpack, or digital camera to lend a helping hand.

This is LeCastor feeling sad and frustrated...If there were a crying face I'd put that one up here. LOL Last night I was officially asked to be our district membership chair (in addition to SM, and RT Commish). I'm inclined to say yest because I want to help as best I can and I know no one else it gonna do it. That position has been vacant for well over a year, like Seattle Pioneer's situation. Heck, if nothing has been done recently then whatever I can get done with my limited time has to be better, right? Help me keep it positive, Desert and Seattle! You're my only hope! (Where's the Obi Wan Kenobi emoticon?)

I think we can all get behind this statement. On Friday after Thanksgiving, our youngest patrol get together a the church kitchen and prepared food for a local homeless shelter. After they had made sandwiches and the hot dinner was cooking in the Nesco roasters, each Scout retreated to a different area of the meeting room and immediately hopped on their iPhones, Androids, iPads, etc. There was no interaction between Scouts. It was just sad. However, that is the way things are today. Talking to each other in person is becoming a rarity. St, I can appreciate your comment on complaining about technology on an internet forum. LOL! However, I participate mainly while trapped at my desk, not when I'm away with the Scouts. At Troop meetings and campouts I keep my iPhone stowed except to take pictures. I do realize, though, that there are tracking apps and digital nature guides that can be handier than hard copies. As a method of Scouting, I think it might be stretching it. But if we stress the responsibility that one must show when utilizing social media, then it certainly falls into the aims of Scouting, namely character building and good citizenship. Scouts see all that vitriol on Facebook and I can see how it's our job to help them see that it is NOT helping anything. Now, GPS devices are so common in vehicles that ppl are losing the ability to use maps. Heck, just plug in your address and the address of your destination and listen to the British lady tell you where to turn. "In 100 meters turn right." That is completely different than a hand-held GPS that you use in the backcountry. THAT should be taught and geocaching is a good tool for it. We shouldn't let maps and compasses go, though, because--as many have mentioned--batteries have been known to die. There are many new merit badges coming out lately that help prepare our Scouts for careers in technology fields. That's good, in my opinion. But it's not a method, necessarily.

I like the idea of wearing appropriate medals to the individual event. Wear your Silver Beaver around your neck when you go to the Silver Beaver recognition dinner. When you participate in Scout Sunday, wear your religious award medal. If you are super proud of your Scoutmaster's Key, Commissioner's Key, etc wear it to a Court of Honor. For me the knots are the best way to show adult recognition. Medals are for memory boxes or shadow boxes that you hang on your bedroom wall. But that's just, like, my opinion, man.

Bugles don't have valves but you can use the same mouthpiece as a trumpet. The US Regulation Bugles come with a pretty terrible one, in my opinion, so I purchased an entry-level trumpet mouthpiece from a local music store. It works just fine. If a Scout has experience changing pitch on a trumpet he should not have any problem changing pitch on the bugle. Personally, I have trouble with the bugle because my embouchure is more suited for a trombone/tuba. I'm a low brass dude.

I do like the idea of keeping the outdoors as a method of Scouting and supplementing that method with the science behind it all. If you look at it that way, we've been practicing STEM for 100+ years already.

Ok, satire much? This one made me LOL: "Existentialism and the Absurd: Prepare a skit based on Albert Camus’s “The Stranger,†Jean-Paul Sartre’s “No Exit†or Andre Malraux’s “Man’s Fate.†Discuss the basic futility of life with your local Cub Scout troop. Help a little old lady across the street, then push her to the curb for no reason. Take a drag on a Gauloise cigarette, crumple the remainder of the pack and throw it to the ground while gazing grimly at the horizon and adjusting your beret." So many hours spent reading Sartre and Camus in college...

SSScout, I absolutely love this statement! Sorry, Ken, for going slightly off-topic.

"...not The One From 1978, the one that the In Crowd wears, and you didn't go to WB in the early '80s with them back when Old Bill Smith was the course director, etc. It's all about them, the intrigue they generate and perpetuate, and preserving the sand castle they built." Desertrat, I guess those are the guys, with the WB beads and the coffee cups hanging from their belts, that someone mentioned in a post several weeks ago... I certainly meant no disrespect to Seattle Pioneer. But it couldn't hurt to attempt to step up if needed. But then again, you bring up another point I was trying to make. We can't do it all. Seattle, I guess I'm not sure that FoS funds wouldn't help your unit(s) in some way. Surely there's some kind of "infrastructure" in your council/district that is funded by these campaigns. Or am I just showing my naïveté?

Hey, Ken. I think the bugler is dying breed, unfortunately. There's nothing quite like having a 12-year old bugler playing "Taps" at a moving flag retirement ceremony or playing "To the Colors" at dawn as the flag is snappily raised in the crisp outdoor air. As a trombonist I appreciate the bugler position and wish there were more Scouts willing to put themselves out there. Personally, I have a US Regulation Bugle and played it at our latest Wood Badge course--not well, mind you. Scouts might be more willing to be bugler if the unit/patrol owned one. They are relatively inexpensive (http://www.usregulationbugle.com/) and sound pretty good. Mom or dad might be less willing to let their son take his nice trumpet into the woods...

Have you ever lost your wallet? If so, you know that sinking feeling when you realize the money you worked so hard to earn and save has been lost to God knows where. Maybe you had your learner’s permit in that wallet and now you can’t drive! Here’s where a well-placed Good Turn can make someone’s day 100% better. A Scout was out with his family and found a brown leather wallet on the sidewalk. Immediately he thought how he would have felt had he lost his own wallet. Some of us might be tempted to take the cash and forget the rest. But this Scout found the owner’s address printed on his driver’s license. The Scout and his family drove to the owner’s house and delivered the wallet safe and sound. You can imagine the relief he felt when he knew his money, driver’s license, credit cards, and family photos had been returned safely by a helpful Scout. We do this because it’s the right thing to do. Imagine how you would feel if you lost your wallet and no one returned it?

I often see these stories and wonder if the Scouts actually appreciate what they've learned. Please don't get me wrong; I applaud this Scout for his achievement! However, I have a young Scout in my Troop who has this same goal. At present, he has a whole sash full of badges that he can't identify when asked. When you ask what he learned or what his favorite part of earning the badge he just shrugs it off. Unfortunately, it just sounds like he's burning himself out on advancement and losing sight of Scouting as a whole. I hate to sound like a negative Nelly but I don't know that earning every merit badge is a good goal.

Seattle, have you considered being one of those volunteers to serve on the nominating committee? I hear you complaining about how bad the district is and how no one is stepping up to help. Be the change you want to see in your district. That's what I have done. I jumped at the chance to be Roundtable Comissioner and now that I've shown my face the district committee is jumping at the chance to have new blood at the district level. Only problem is I can't feasibly do all the work they want from me. I appreciate your idea to withhold funds from an under-performing district but, at the same time, I wonder if you might continue to fund it but get your hands dirty and make as difference as a commissioner, committee member, or whatever. Perhaps you already are. This kind of feels like being unwilling to pay taxes to the government because they're just going to squander it. Am I right?

Oddball,l when I originally read this I thought you said "I was actually one of the..." and I was all like, say what? I see now that you were referring to another person altogether. At any rate, not very Scout-like behavior. Regardless of whose hormones are raging or who was wearing whatever kind of swimming suit, I think it's incredibly unfair to blame the girls for any of this. Oddball, your Scouts sound like good young men who were at camp to do camp stuff and not let those short-wearing, swimsuit-clad young ladies bother them. I understand the sentiment of the OP but I don't find it helpful to being Scout-like. We're trying to foster young men of character and these boys will grow into men who will have to live with and appreciate women for being citizens just like them. Segregation of the sexes at summer camp just doesn't seem like a good way to help boys become good, women-respecting men.

Our Troop sent the Venture Patrol to the Porcupine Mountains for a week-long backpacking outing two summers ago. They had excellent things to say about it and I know it was much cheaper than going to Sea Base, which they did do the following summer. As far as the OP goes, I agree that there are plenty of things that Scouts and Venturers can do for High Adventure. But the experience of Philmont, Sea Base, or Northern Tier can be wonderful. While Troops shouldn't get bogged down in the idea that it's Philmont or nothing, I think a trek should at least be considered.

Earlier this spring I had the pleasure of helping Mr. Butz replace the wooden ceiling of a local lodge building at a council camp. It was for the Ordeal weekend and we toiled away all day in cheerful service. Dan was involved in Scouting for a quarter century and for many years served as the Scoutmaster for the "Grizzly Bear Troops" at the end of each summer. These were the boys that either didn't have a Troop going to camp or just guys who wanted a second week of camp and needed a provisional Troop. He was a tough guy who made it through the Viet Nam war, came back Stateside, and eventually got involved with his kids and never left. Dan will be missed. We have lost a fine Arrowman. http://www.channel3000.com/obituaries/daniel-e-butz-sr/29979118

Welcome, Oddball! And happy Thanksgiving.

Yes, T. And more specifically I think we need to be training our Unit Commissioners to make sure this is happening. I don't think UCs are necessarily dedicated to this task, unfortunately. It kind of feels to me that some UCs are just Scouters who have been around a long time and don't necessarily want to do anything of any importance. Also, I have noticed in my council that we see the same volunteers over and over again. Lately, the numbers have been declining and since I've been showing my face I've been asked to fill up to three different district positions...at the same time. I'm currently serving as a Scoutmaster and a Roundtable Commissioner. There have been attempts to make me Boy Scout program chair and membership chair for the district committee. Of course I want to help as much as possible but I can't do all that work by myself. I'm trying to rebuild my Troop and the Pack that is associated with us. At the same time, I'm trying to rekindle interest in Scouting through Boy Scout roundtable breakout sessions. It's tough, though, because fewer and fewer Scoutmasters have been showing up to roundtable over the last three years. I definitely feel like we're in a "rebuilding season" to use a sports metaphor.

This young woman's story is remarkable. She shows courage despite the pain and she's showing leadership by example. Her coach, too, is an excellent example of a servant leader. A very moving piece that's well worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpA-FsKLA6A

So is this available as a pdf anywhere? All I can find is the Troop Program Features Vols. I-III that have been around since 2012. I'd like to use the new one at Roundtable if it's out there...

Thanks, Huey! That's what I thought but just wanted to know a little more.

Hi, Daped01, I hope you let us know how the CoH goes this evening!