Backpacker

We have taken the raw data from the few resources available to Venturing and created our own program that seems to be working well, we have grown from 15 to 35 members in our crew in less than two years. What do we specialize in? Nothing, we go camping, mountain climbing, to the ocean etc., and do community service projects, fund raisers and take trips to where ever the crew decides to go. Those with real ambition work on advancement awards, about half, and all of them just enjoy hanging out with each other. This is not a boy scout troop but a coed group of teens looking for constructive ways

JW Just wondering something, are you getting a kickback for being a spokesperson for National or what? National from what I see and read in their pub's and in their training is definitely all over the place on Venturing. They develop advancement patterned after boy scouts, they just change the names but are for all intent similiar, and then they say that it is not an important part of the program. I have read and devoured every Venturing pub from National and find them grossly incomplete or just fluff. Now don't get me wrong I love Venturing and so do my teens as our crew keeps gett

JW, I agree a little training would help, but start it where it belongs at National who are sending pros into the field with little to no knowledge of the program. I feel National is still trying to figure it out. As was pointed out in another thread the leaders manual and the venturer handbook leave a lot to be desired, little useful program info in my opinion. I like what is being asaid in the other thread on "what venturing is or is not". There is a lot of food for thought there.

OGE I agree with you 100% I find National still having trouble communicating to their professionals what Venturing is and what direction to take it on a council and district level. At a recent training I attended of advisors I attended I was amazed at the confusion of the professionals and scouters conducting the training as to what the Venturing program is, everyone seemed to have a different interpretation of what a Venturing crew is supposed to do and be. Most of us advisors present try to follow the leaders manual as to program, but a good percentage were very specialized and those ad

Nld, I don't think your statement is entirely accurate, with the allowance of inducting female scouters the whole dynamic of the OA has been changed whether that was the intent or not. In my council lodge more women are taking adult leadership roles in the lodge, including two Venture female leaders. I agree with you though that the OA should be a boy scout group but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I have watched our lodge lose both boys and adults because of these changes, when asked why they left most of them said it just doesn't seem the same anymore. I have to say I als

As a Venture asst. advisor and a scoutmaster I find this issue an interesting dilema. Since the OA has allowed female boy scout leaders into the OA the doors have been opened and there is no turning back. I disagree very strongly with Proud Eagles analogy as to whether or not a venture crew meets the scout ideals, as far as my crew is concerned they do in every way. I do not agree personally with whomever decided to let female leaders to be nominated into the OA but that decision has been made and now it is time to make things equitable, if you allow female leaders you must allow female ventur

Jd it is easy to close your eyes and pretend all is well, but it will not help the organization improve. It is like Proud Eagle said we scouters are the ones who have to instill the principles of scouting into the boys and not rely on professionals to do so. It is the scouters who make this program work, we are the ones who help the boys, and it is we who can rise above the scandals by delivering an effective program to the youth that instills in them leadership and character qualities. Scouting is still one of the best youth programs being offered today in spite of a few corrupt individuals.

I agree with Eamonn and others here. If the pack is to survive it has to be a decision of the pack leaders. One person alone can not make it happen. If you can motivate the others to salvage the unit then by all means give it a 110% effort, otherwise let it die and move on to a better organized pack. As the old saying goes you can't get blood out of a turnip!

Eamonn You are entitled to your own opinion as am I. As far as your nasty tone all I can say is that with someone who doesnt post here anymore gone you can now play bad cop all you want. As far as being wrong I can show you several times where your comments were "Spot Off". I will not lower myself to your level of accusations when you do not even understand the situation or circumstances. Have a Merry Christmas Eamonn!! (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

Amen Scoutldr and right on!!! If you are not a member of the BW, Eamonn, or Unc fan club you too will be ostracized and censored.

First of all no one is threatening, but after countless complaints that have gone unheeded this is a last resort. The council and DE have been little support to us, they sold our camp, there have been no district events for 2 years,the council store was closed, and the DE is worthless. I have seen you complain about your council and DE many times Eamonn, so don't cast accusations like your buddy someone who doesnt post here anymore used to do. The SE has said he is leaving soon and we all look forward to changes being made. The boys are still getting programs and we are doing events with a nei

Wow I love all your responses. Let me clarify further for you Eamonn. There are six old timers in my district who are listed as unit commissioners but according to the DC they are not doing their jobs but come and disrupt roundtable and other district events. They wear all their insignia they have earned as both a youth and adult, including rank badges, religious awards, even non scout awards, etc. The DC has tried to get them to get their uniforms to standard but they refuse. The DC wants to get rid of these guys but can't find anyone to replace them, so he cuts them a lot of slack, and these

ED Why do you let Merlyn bait you, it is a total waste of energy and time the same way it was with (someone who hasnt posted here in awhile) . No one will ever change Merlyns mind, he is a sad and bitter individual who is nothing more than a know it all smart arse. We should be concentrating on the formation of youth not bickering over legal trivia. Let the courts decide what they want the BSA will survive it. The absurdity of Merlyns arguments manifest themselves constantly, just laugh them off, thats what most of us do. (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

That could be a new course at Philmont this spring, Fitness for Scouters. The finale would be a fifty miler up Mt. Phillip. I think it will also be a new tv reality show, Scouter Lose that Bulge. LMAO

Hey Trev, Small world indeed I was also in scouting 1966-1969, we met at Gledhill St. School. It's a small world after all, lol.

Trevorum I was in Sepulveda as well, Troop 165. I remember at Scout Fair one year for a giveaway I tied mini hangman noose knots, they went like hotcakes. Man, that was a long time ago. Great to hear from you SF Valley Council guys.

As I stated in the other thread , Are you in this for the youth or in it for personal gain, prestige, or a deep desire to somehow be personally recognized for doing the job we all signed up to do? Motivation or our personal motives makes us the leaders we are. It is not about fruit salad on our uniforms its about the boys. SRBeaver you are still barking up the wrong tree comparing apples to oranges.

SR You need to reread my post, I never said not to recognize adults, that is important. There are several scouters at my roundtable that wear between 30 and 40 knots and other awards on their uniforms, their entire uniform is covered and they look absolutely ridiculous to the point of overkill. My point is that it is the youth that should take priority not the adults. These guys sit around and talk about earning more knots since they are no longer active in units, a few are commissioners who rarely do their job. They talk about Philmont and Woodbadge and the old glory days when they were

Trevorum and OR Pioneer, I too was part of the SF Valley Council and Devonshire Downs Scout Fair, which is in Northridge, OR Pioneer, not Canoga Park. My earliest scout memory was as a brand new Tenderfoot my first camping trip, which was in the snow. Of course they took us newbies on a snipe hunt that night and scared the @#*% out of us. The Tenderfeet all got stomach aches from our bad cooking. Still it is one of my favorite memories in scouting.

All I can say that there is nothing more ridiculous than seeing an adult scouter wearing so many knots, etc on their uniform that they look like a military general. Too many scouters are in this program for their own self gratification and "look what I did attitude" than helping the youth advance themselves. I do not wear any of the many awards and knots on my uniform that I am entitled, except my Woodbadge beads, because it is my job to see the youth succeed and earn awards. There are some scouters who need to grow up and realize that the BSA is a youth program not a program for adult a

Bob, All I can say is I wish you would come back, even though we had our differences I enjoyed our sparring and miss your informative replies. This forum is just not the same without you, so it would be nice to hear from you again.

Bob, Ok score one for you, Sons of D. Boone was Beards, Young Pioneers was an early rival of BSA that withered away but my point still remains valid, the BSA was not an independent creation but was rooted at its core with Badens program in England. The reason Seton was first Scout Exec was that he was a nationally recognized author and the new group wanted someone recognizable nationwide, Beard was not as popular and many thought he was eccentric, so he didn't have a chance and he knew it. As far as Philmont, the two courses I took there were 1)Strictly for Scoutmasters- where we dis

Geeze Bob, Where do you think the patrol method, uniform style, signaling, stalking, etc. all came from? Powells program thats where. What kind of revisionist book are you reading? Beard incorporated his Young Pioneer program into American scouting, thats where the indian lore came from. Young Pioneers never really took off and Beard wanted to keep it alive being the egotist that he was. Seton wanted his life work represented as well, hence all the activities centered around nature and animals were incorporated. So if anyone needs to get their history straight it is you Bob. The only part

Proud Eagle, With the Catholic Church's abysmal handling of the priest pedophile and clergy homosexual issues they are hardly take a position of any real moral authority anymore on any issue. If these are the kind of people you want deciding who our next president to be then you threaten our democratic process itself. Up through the 1960's in the USA Catholics were called Papists and denied jobs because of their perceived loyalty to the pope over every other authority. As ridiculous as this may seem this last election brought inner turmoil to the American Catholic church. Bishops and priest

Bob, I think WWPND is trying to get you to admit you were wrong. The BSA of 1910 was modeled almost exactly after BPs program, adaptations for local use would come later. The Bible was written thousands of years ago yet is still valid today, so why not the words of BP himself? Maybe because his words blow a large hole in the Bob White interpretation of Scouting.The other posters here are correct Baden Powell wanted to have his leaders to use their own ingenuity and pass this on to their boys, that builds leadership for both. Baden Powell and the National office never intended for Scouting