Mike Long

Maybe someone can expound on this but... I had heard that the bill was eviscerated by removing any ability to actually ENFORCE the BSA provision. Paper tiger. Was that effort stopped before the bill was made law or did they hand us another whitewash?

More so than most people. That sounded snotty in retrospect. Sorry, I didn't mean it that way.

Right you are. waitaminute....I've gone Senior! Where's my pudding!

I talk to everyone who is willing to talk. Once I ran into a young man who was thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail who gave up speaking for the entire 6 month trip. Very interesting converstion via his pen and notepad. One thing about asking "how far is" questions. It is my experience that you should be very skeptical about mileages people report to you, they are usually wrong. Folks generally aren't good at judging trail miles. If instead when asked how far to the next (junction, water source ect.) and they reply in time ie: "about an hour". The information is typically much more reliable.

No I'm afraid not. The only thing an Eagle project is for is to earn Eagle Scout. But yes, I agree, the projects could be good Eagle projects.

Good point Eisely. Hense point 3- Be Quiet. But yes, absolutely, the point needs to be expounded upon in case one of the boys gets excited upon seeing Mr. Ed up close for the first time.

I dunno. I think it was something about political connections.......errrrr, sumpin' like that.

Eisely, that was Ted Turner who did that at a CNN event. He referred to his CNN employees as "Jesus Freaks".

I promise I will address the weight issue (and some ways around it) in a later thread in depth. I like all trails exactly where they are. Trust me, I have a huge amount of experience with rugged and steep terrain. More so than most people. I used the percentage methodology religiously for many years but it is nothing more than a good guideline. Physical conditioning should determine how much you carry, not a formula. The mileage and weights given OBVIOUSLY need to be adjusted to fit the capabilites of your members.

Dag nabbit,now I'm blushing! Thanks for the kind words.

The most basic element of backpacking is walking. Yes, you will have to teach them to walk. Most kids walk at least five miles a day when you factor in going to the bus stop, changing classes, P.E., playing ball with friends and maybe going to the mall. Just stop for a second and really think about your kids average day. Yep, they walk alot. No wonder they have so much energy. Long before you take your troop backpacking you must get them used to walking rather than car camping. The best way is to hike any nature trails that happen to be where your monthly campouts are. On

The mileage depends on the terrain of course. Here in Florida a 10-15 mile day is easy. It's flat. In hilly or mountainous terrain 5 to 8 is good. Packweight is a big issue. Unless you have a large budget and some high tech gear you will not hit 20lbs and be prepared. 20lbs or less is called Ultralightweight backpacking and should not be attempted unless you are very experienced in woodcraft. I've had to drag many a lightweighter out of the woods when things got rough.

WOW, responses! I haven't developed this thread cause I though it had withered on the vine! (First post August of 2000) Well allrighty then, I'll start it going again.

nldscout, what a great idea! I have about 4 boys that are turning 18 and wish to remain active as ASMs but I wasn't sure how to handle the transition in such a way as to make the younger boys understand that there is now a difference in how these young men should be treated.

Political Correctness is a pervasive cancer that infects all that it touches. It has even corrupted the word sensitivity to now mean that you can not be free to be yourself for fear of causing offense. PC by ANY definition is unnecessary and only serves to promote someones political agenda. Courtesy does the job of creating a polite and inclusive society much better than the PC mantra. When I or anyone else is not allowed to express who I am and what I believe in for fear of being "un-PC" then freedom and our way of life dies a little death. OGE your original examples are rude a

Pulling pranks on new guys is a de faco initiation. I guess what I am getting at is would you have had such a negative reaction if it were handled differently. When I was a scout we played pranks on each other all the time. After one prank almost went horribly bad we decided on a clear cut code of who and what you could or could not do. It seemed to work. It is my experience that practical jokes are a pandoras box that once opened WILL escalate exponentially and very soon someone will get hurt either physically or emotionally because they are trying to "one-up" the last prank.

What about food coloring for the Gold? I have no idea about making it white. New scouter.com handle FreshGreyChili? Hmmmm.....

Cooking time is about 30 min (or thereabouts)

Just a question OGE. What do you think your reaction would have been if they didn't keep you out all night and had brought you back in?

Yeah but the ham is mmmm mmmmm good.

The admins have been very good about removing trolls and torlls. DD my count is only two but I missed most of the friction. Thanks again Scouter.

You all get an F on your homework.

The OAs purpose is Service and to promote camping. OGE- Our lodge holds four fellowships a year and several work days. Most of our service is done at one of our two summer camps in the form of maintenance and improvements icluding set up and tear down. We also publish a "Where to go camping booklet" as a resource for the units in our council. One of our recent service projects was planning and staffing a special needs camporee. We do have a problem with member retention. To that end the lodge has become less about service and more about entertaining the kids. (To the lodge and orde

Check out the "backpack stoves" thread in the camping tips section. Some good info.

Glad to hear it Chippewa29. Very glad to hear it.