baden

I remember reading somewhere that this was tried in the Los Angeles area in the '50's. As I recall they hired Scoutmasters who were schoolteachers. It wasn't fulltime employment. I believe it was scrapped for many reasons, primarily because the mercenaries didn't feel adequately compensated for the amount of time it took.

It is hard to say, but a quick mental review comes in around 50. I enjoy mystery novels. I'm totally addicted to Robert B. Parker's Spenser series. He is the best writer of dialogue around these days. I try to read something serious every other book. I'm currently reading Victory and Defeat (Five Forks to Appomattox) by the late Shelby Foote.

It helps that I am just four blocks from a good Public Library. Thank you Andrew Carnegie.

I went as 1ASM in 1997. At that time you had to be a SM and WB Trained was recommended, but not required. The SM of our Jamboree Troop was WB trained. He turned out to be a not so hot choice, but not because of Wood Badge training. The only other requirements I can think of was mandatory YPT

For any boy interested in hunting and fishing I heartily recommend "The Old Man and the Boy" by Robert Ruark. It is still in print and available in paperback.

I am always amused by parents that think Little Fenwick is going to work himself into a full ride athletic scholarship. I believe the worst football or basketball player at a Div. 1-A school was probably the best player in his conference. Not his school, his Conference!!! Every year from our school there are 10 times as many scholarships awarded for academics and non sport activities than through athletics. I've had a number of boys receive scholarships through Scouting. 4-H kids also do well in the scholarship area.

I also went out of council for WB. The Course Director designated the Council Tng. Chair (or his designee) as my Ticket Counselor. My Council Tng. Chair did the job himself and also presented my beads. He is a former Course Director, so I don't know if that made any difference.

I believe BSA runs their corperate year July 1 to June 30.

Probably some manager zeroing out inventory to make profitability goals.

When I was a TG one of the experienced staffers showed up at Staff Dev. with plastic pistols that shot foam rubber darts. We all spent a great deal of time shooting the CD and SPL at every opportunity. When we got to breakfast the 2nd day all of our darts were on the table, frozen in a bowl of ice.

My Father who is 82 was a Boy Scout in the late '30's. He was amused at the two-deep requirement when I became the SM. When he was a Scout their Summer Camp consisted of the SM driving the Troop out to a sandbar on the river. All the boys rode in the back of a flatbed truck. The SM got them settled in, gave my Uncle (the biggest kid and probably SPL) a dime. If they had any problems he was to walk to a country store a couple of miles away and call him. Then the SM left. At the end of the first week the families drove out and they had a fried chicken dinner and then they left the Troop for another week. They roamed freely and had a great time fishing, swimming, and camping. Most of them brought .22 rifles or BB guns and big honking sheath knives. How many violations of the Guide to Safe Scouting can you spot? The deal is though, they were expected to be responsible for themselves. A very few years later all of these boys were in the service. My Uncle was piloting a C-47 Transport plane over the "hump" when he was 20. Some of these boys invaded North Africa in 1942 and were captured at Kasserine. Some were killed. Boys grew up faster back in the day I guess.

FREE PARIS !!!

Hey, girls just wanna have fun.

Check out the funnies today. Dennis the Menace is going to join the Cub Scouts. The strip is pretty funny, I'm just relieved that I'm not his Den Leader.

Our Troop and Pack together will be at a local cemetary at 0630 to put up flags on veterans graves. After we are done, the Volunteer Firemen cook breakfast for all who helped. Then we will all go back to the cemetary at 1000. All Scouts march in behind the American Legion Color Guard and attend the Memorial Day Services. Martial music played by our high school band, speaker, prayer by Am. Legion chaplain, National Guard firing squad, and Air National Guard jets flyover. Nice service and I think the boys get a lot out of it. At 1600 we help take down the flags.

West is a troubling character. He presided over the initial growth of the BSA and had great success. He is responsible for the structure that we have today for good and bad. I am often troubled by "corporate BSA". There seems to be a disconnect between the professionals and the boys. I often wonder if this is not one of West's legacies as I perceive that he was not comfortable with the boys.

Having said that I doubt if BSA could have survived long under the direction of the "mystic", Seton. I also doubt if Beard could have come near to matching West's accomplishments.

One thing I have always admired about West was his integrity and his refusal to exploit the early popularity of the BSA by commercial interests for his personal gain.

We are the FOG Patrol. Publicly this is an abbreviation of fogeys, but the Patrol members know that it stands for F'ng Old Guys.

Support from our fellow Scouters cannot be overvalued. One of the lowest points in my Scouting career ocurred several years ago when I was a Cubmaster. I came home from work to get ready to go to Roundtable. I found my wife and one of my den leaders in the living room in tears. One of the Fathers had come to the den meeting and did not like the way things were being done. He berated my poor Den Leader in a loud and abusive manner in front of the boys. I called him and got into a shouting match over the phone. I slammed the phone down, determined to tell the Pack Comm. what they could do with this job. At this moment the cavalry rode to the rescue. One of my fellow Scouters showed up to give me a ride to RT. I refused saying I thought I was packing it in. He talked me into going and he and a couple of other pals talked me back in from the ledge. I am grateful to this day that I had the support of friends and stayed in the movement. How many Scouters are lost to us each year due to no support when times are tough? This forum is a great resource for information but its true value may be the chance to vent and receive feedback from like minded people.

My favorite debacle was on a backpacking trip in Wyoming. Our Scout was making instant mashed potatoes on a 1 burner stove and way overdid the water. Had a soupy tan looking mess. One of the other adults advised putting in a noodle fettucini meal we had to see if the noodles would soak up the excess water. They did, but we had a gloppy grey mess. We added some Spam to add color and ate it. It was delicious. I have never had the urge to attempt to duplicate this meal, however good it tasted.

We are fortunate to have a grocery store 1/2 block from where we rendezvous for all outings. Each Patrol appoints a Grubmaster as part of the duty roster for the outing. After getting a headcount of who showed up in his patrol the Grubmaster checks with me to finalize his Patrol budget. Camping fee X # present. The Grubmaster then goes to the grocery store and shops. The store owner is a supporter of Scouting and allows the boys to charge there groceries. They return to the rendezvous point with groceries and a receipt.They are real good about it. I have only once had to have a Grubmaster return frivilous items. When I get all the receipts, I turn them over to the Troop Treas. along with the camp fees paid and he sends a check to the grocer. The advantage is convenience and good cost control i.e. no food purchased in advance for a no-show or rebating advance-paid fees. Disadvantage- we have to meet about 1 hour sooner than normal to allow shopping time.

Some time ago I attended a Council Trustee meeting at which tempers flared over an issue. Some harsh things were said then cooler heads prevailed and we were able to continue in a civil fashion. When the meeting was over, I walked out with our Scout Exec. He was a little rattled and said as much. I said "Yeah things got a little heated, but isn't it great that people care so passionately?"

Eamonn-

I enjoyed your response and I certainly agree that no one should criticize anyone else's contribution. One of my problems is that I give what I have to give and grow weary of the constant pressure to give more. I attended an Endowement Tour event last week. My best guess is that $500,000 was raised at that event. Maybe more. I applaud and thank these people for their contribution. It is very important. I was invited because I am a lowly James West Donor. I was cheered to learn that this is an entry-level contribution and I can give more. Would that I could.

I have long felt that in the view of some, Units exist to support Districts. In my opinion the District has only one role and that is to support units. A District is an artificial entity. They are nothing more than an operating arm of the Council. Units are real. Councils to some extent are real. Districts are not real. Disagree? Units have checking accounts. Councils have checking accounts. Districts do not. If they do and are found out, the money is sucked up by the council and some poor pro is unemployed.

If BSA folded today (I pray not) Councils and Districts would disappear in a flash, but I suspect many Units would perservere. There were Scout Troops before there were Councils. Councils perform many valuable services. I presume at some time a Professional Scouter organized our Troop. Today we could function quite well without a Council or a District. Sometime in the future our Unit may collapse. If it does it will be because it is not meeting the needs of the community. If it doesn't it deserves to die. Some form of Darwinism is in effect here. We absorbed an adjacent Council a few years ago because it wasn't working. This worked well for BSA, but not so great for our Council.

Well. I certainly got up on my soapbox this time. I have ranged far from my original topic which is that pulling Unit Leaders in to prop up floundering Districts is penny-wise and pound foolish. Thank you for your patient understanding.

One thing I have noticed in the past is that District Chairmen in our Council are often recruited because of the size of the FOS check they can write, the prestige of having this person or his business associated with Scouting, or both. Very little seems to be expected of them in the way of leadership of the District Committee. These Titans of Industry are thought to be too busy to deal with the mundane issues of recruiting and leading a committee. I do appreciate any contribution to Scouting be it of time or treasure, but of the two, time is most needed.

In the last couple of years our Troop has been moved from the fringe of one District to the fringe of another District. This was not too big a deal to me as most of the boys don't know what District we're in and don't care. Since this move it has been non-stop recruiting for District positions. In the last year I have been solicited to be District Commissioner, ADC, UC, OA Adviser, Camporee Chair, and Training Chair. I have politely declined these wonderful opportunities, It is my opinion that as Scoutmaster, the time I have available for Scouting belongs to the boys in my Troop. Taking on any of these responsibilities would be stealing from these boys. I have seen other Scoutmasters get caught up in this and seen their Troops decline in membership and from my view, quality. Also when I took on the SM job I promised my wife I wouldn't get involved in any other Scouting jobs.

Last night I took my daughter to a reception for our Councils Endowement donors. It was the National Endowement Art Tour. We looked at the Rockwell and Castari paintings. had a couple of horses ovaries, and talked to some old friends. Nice time. While waiting for the speakers to start here comes our Director of Field Services. The district needs a Camping Chair. He puts the arm on me. I told him the DE had beat him to it, and I had declined the opportunity. One does not become a Director of Field Services by taking no for an answer, so we discussed it for quite a while, but he had to finally quit when the program began. These guys never quit. When I am a retired SM I will probably re-engage at the District level but not now.

Several years ago I was a District Commissioner. I attempted to recruit a former volunteer for a District position. He stated that he didn't "want to be sucked back into the black hole of need that is Scouting". I know these guys are doing their job, but I'm thinking about taking out an ad in our Council Newsletter stating my unavailability for now so I can go back to Roundtable in peace.

I have been hearing about a DVD that covers the advancement requirements for the first 3 ranks, Tenderfoot thru 1st Class. Supposedly this was mailed to every Scoutmaster in the country. I didn't happen to receive one. Does anyone know anything about it? I know it is available on the National web-site, but dial-up connections are not to useful for this sort of thing.

When I was a CM we used to do the Raingutter Regatta in June, minor league ball game in July, and a swimming party in August. One year we went to the zoo instead of a ball game.

Don't forget the be all and end all. FOS (fund our salaries).

This replaced SME (save my employment).

C-BOLT-

You have learned something important early. The activity, the location, the patches, everything pales compared to the company in which you find yourself. I have found over the years that the people I enjoy the most are Scouts and Scouters. Keep on Scoutin' Young Brother.