LovetoCamp

OGE, Here's half an atta boy to you!!! I'll be going to Camp Manchester in Kentucky in 3 weeks. Alright, get some sleep and then gives us a full report. Pounder

dan, jeesh that was rude!

I am in dire need of certifying one of my trusted associates as a BSA Range Officer for Air Rifle. Where would I find the requirements to get him certified? Who would be filling out the card? How soon can it be accomplished? Thanks in advance for any help on this one.

packsaddle, After 10 years service as an Army enlistedman my favorite acronym is ETS!!! I like putting on the pack and pounding down the trail, but at my own pace thank you!!! P

Eamonn, Have you seen the movie "Gods and Generals"? If so, my question is, when the Union's Irish Brigade charged the heights at Fredericksburg right into the Regiment of Confederate Irish defending, what exactly was the words or meaning of the show of respect the Irish Johnny Rebs were displaying to the defeated NY IRish Brigade? I thought the movie was fantastic. Pounder

Matua, Good stuff! We could have the new Eagles there and present them with something. We could present completers of Wood Badge, Powder Horn, etc., their awards, and have a speaker for 15 minutes. Matua, would you like to speak in Chicago in February? Oh. Your right, nobody should have to live or work there in February, except wooly mammoths and Yukon Moose Cholak. Pounder

What are your impressions regarding the VLSC? What does it take to put one on? Any events stand out to you?

OGE, your assumption of my position is right on the button. I'll leave it up to the Crew to decide what their uniform will be and that would include the Spruce Green shirt. This is a dead horse as far as I'm concerned. P(This message has been edited by Trail Pounder)(This message has been edited by Trail Pounder)

Sir, I stand by my silly comments. If the Crew bylaws want to exclude OA Lodge Flaps, then they are excluded. Uniform means Uniform. What kind of uniform is it that half the Crew have a Lodge Flap and then the other half (who can't ever earn one) don't? It's certainly not "uniform". My comments meet my sense of fairness, if it doesn't yours, than have your Crew bylaws reflect it. Beautiful system, ain't it?

and on the sad flip side - seeing one of our Scouts at church in an Ozzy Osbourne concert tee shirt. Uugh. Hmmmm he was at church though.

Did I forget to mention that the Crew would vote on their own uniform standards in their own bylaws.

Due to it being impossible for a female crew member to acquire a lodge flap from OA, I think it is wrong for the male crew members to wear them on that crew's uniform.

Gidget, Thank you so much for the ideas. Keep 'em coming. There's a lot of room on the white board!!! Roundtable night, Yes!!! Lot's of awards, yes. Door prizes, yes. Speaker, Absolutely. How do I get a commitment out of the Scouters and Spouses to attend? A formal invitation with tickets and get a check in advance. I always attend something when I send my check. P

OGE, The R2R Trail buzzes right by Makanda and goes through Giant City. It begins just east of Cave-in-Rock at Battery Rock on the Ohio River and goes 162 miles across the Shawnee National Forest to Grand Tower on the Mississippi, which is just southwest of Carbondale. It would take 2 weeks to go from R2R. We're just going to do the eastern 50 miles in the spring. Pounder

That is an excellent idea! Thank you very much!!! P

Our annual District Dinner had less than 10 people attend last year and 7 of them were from our troop alone. I am the District Dinner Chairman for next year. They had the last one in May, I plan to hold the next one in February, not to conflict with baseball, graduation, finals, etc. Please share with me ideas that you think we could lay on that would make this a first rate event. Door prizes? Dancing? What kind of awards? Speakers? How did you get Scouters and spouses to attend. Thanks very much for any info!!! Pounder

VMom, 12 hours to NC. Maybe hiking a section of the AT ought to get snuck onto our to-do list. What's a 12 hour drive, when you have a grueling trail winding up and down mountains!!! Pounder

I'm really looking forward to this course. OGE, next week! 4 weeks for me.

OGE, No apologies, I was being a smart aleck, as I started reading your post, I was absolutely thinking that this written not by a budding politician, but a practiced one! Then I read your own remarks at the bottom....P

VMom, The R2R Trail is definitely not flat. I'm sure the it pales in comparison to the mountains in NC. The southernmost part of Illinois where the Shawnee National Forest lies as well as the very northwestern corner of Illinois the Galena Territory, don't look like the rest of the state. If you want flat. Look up the Illinois & Michigan Canal State Trail. It's 62 miles of FLAT. You want flat? We got flat! Pounder(This message has been edited by Trail Pounder)

Matua, How long did it take your Rangers to finish? OGE, I wasn't even thinking that! I look forward to having many ceremonies. P

Hops, No backup just means you'll have to play hard for 60 minutes on both sides of the ball!!! Watch those offensive guards, wherever they go, that's where the ball's going, most of the time. OGE, We can surely have a reception at our House (The Legion) that they can plan in its entirety. I just think that if I could pull off an award presentation as I described above, it's a winner all the way around. I've heard tell that if the Ranger Award is done properly, it should take 2 to 2 1/2 years and that the effort expended would be about double that required to make Eagle. What say you, OGE? Pounder

VMom, The CMP (Civilian Marskmanship Program) state Jr. Shooting coordinator is who we first contacted and got us up and running. She was and continues to be invaluable to our new program. COL Thomas W. Johnson 232 Winding Ridge Dr Sylva, NC 28779-9414 (828)586-5059 (H) Email: coljsylv@usa.net We also affiliated with the American Legion and the CMP. Pounder

Hops, Thanks for the feedback. How was that first game? Did you get any sacks? How'd the team do? Fill us in. P

Thanks for the info Matua. Appreciate it. I really look forward to awarding the first one for our Crew. I hope the two boys who are holding it together actually work together and complete it together. How would they remember reciveing their Ranger Award if it was presented after 2 or 3 days on backpack trip, after a 12 mile day, ontop of a mountain trail, around the campfire, and my Associate Advisor and I pulled out the Award then and there. Would today's teenagers appreciate and remember something like that?