Mike Long

Maybe we should start a forum on the best excuses we've ever heard come out of a scout's mouth. That one's pretty good.

That "under $100" two man Eureka tent in the Scout catalog looks very much like the Eureka dome 2XT that we bought at Campmor for about $70ish. That tent I would describe as adequate to good. My personal tents I like MUCH better. As far as the leaky tent issue. Get some seam sealer, a sunny day, a bar-b-que and a bunch of scouts and have a seam sealing cook out on a Saturday. Be sure wipe the seam with alcohol and put on two thin coats of sealer. As to the potential damage issue. We stensil our tents with the troop # and a "stock" #. Scouts check out tents from the quartermaste

Somebody must have turned around the pulpit cause we are all preaching to the Choir! I'll be the first to tell a boy he's reaching for too much in a project. If you are wondering, I built a 1.5 mile nature trail in a local city park and it took me 1 year. I now have 9 Life Scouts looking for projects. The problem is that a few of them took my example to heart and stated their intent to do massive projects like mine. I was extremely flattered but after a frank and open discussion of what it tanks to pull something that big off successfuly they all backed down to reasonable sized projec

This I find very interesting and is a personal pet peeve of mine. When I worked on my Eagle project I was told I needed to hit 100 hours. My project was huge and almost overwhelmed me (3000 hours.) I finished it and then I met some Eagles that spent a Saturday painting two park benches in less time than was required for Star or Life. It really bugged me to know that there were Eagles out there who intend to do only just enough to squeak by and that there were Scouters that were Ok with this. I guess it's fine as long as the project truly challenges the Scout's abilities but I though we wer

Environmentally friendly? Like how? Certainly not because they are canister models.

Foot powder in small doses is good. But too heavy of an application will cause the powder to cake and then rub your feet raw. If you hike a trail that sees a lot of water (over the boot high) this will be a huge problem. Foot powder is good to keep down moisture and should be in everyones gear kit but it is not an adequate treatment for blisters. If a Scout lets a blister get too far and uses foot powder and the powder gets in the wound it will most likely get infected.

Fear not, you are both right on. Scouters (in my experience) should not "chase down" boys to sign off their books. But we should always make ourselves available to them. It is also important to ask the boys (especially the young ones) how they are doing, what are they working on, do they need any help, ect. KL's announcement reminder is an excellent way of nudging boys forward. In our troop we allow older scouts (Star, Life, Eagle) to initial other boys books who are working on Tenderfoot, 2nd Class, 1st Class but not Boy Scout. Boy Scout is handled exclusively by the Scoutma

The 30 hours that I stated as being the "magic number" for an Eagle project was given to me at a SMF class held by our council. Someone asked if there was a number that needed to be hit and the answer that came from those teaching the course (and several others in the crowd) was a resounding "30." Given who it came from and the matter-of-factness of the response led me to believe that it was a number mandated by the BSA itself. I think I need to find further verification on that one.

Our Troop buys our tents at Campmor. If you call them and speak to a customer rep you can buy gear for your troop at a discount with a troop check.(I think %10) but you have to ask for it! You can contact them at Campmor.com. We bought 2 man Eureka tents for about $65-75 each. Campmor has a great selection of quality tents that won't bust the budget. Other suppliers might do the same you just need to ask. REI (REI.com)however does not have a discout system last I checked (June '00) If you are the camping chairman simply tell them that big tents will not work at all with your outdo

Greg there is another forum here with a couple of mesages from two other folks with the same experiences as all the others posted. I myself appear to be the only lucky one. I placed an order long ago and got everything I ordered in a timely manner. However it deeply disturbs me to see a business that so strongly associates itself with Scouting essentially ripping people off. And yes I know what I am implying. I placed an email to the moderator asking that the issue be resolved publicly but I have not recieved a response and I know for a fact the email did go through. I sure

A patrol does get to keep the star patch forever and does not need to re-qualify. The star is only worn with the patrol patch of the patrol that earned it. If a scout changes patrols and the new patrol hasn't earned it, the star comes off. The requirements have to be done in a certain time frame I belive that it's a three month period. I believe that a patrol can earn more than one star. (I'm not positive on that one) My experiences with the BP Patrol Star were when I was a Scout, the regs. may have changed.

1. Yes, all play and no work makes spoiled little boys that grow up to be spoiled little boys. 2.The service requirements ARE defined as 6 hours for Star and 6 hours for Life and 30 for Eagle (as told to me by my district advancement chair and council advancement chair) Scouts may combine several smaller projects to total out to the 6 required for Star and the 6 for Life. However Scouts may not "Bank" hours. The 6 for Life must be completed as a Star Scout and the 6 for Star must be completed as a first Class. All service hours must be approved by the Scoutmaster. 3. That is up t

Most of my Bear country camping has been in the Smokies. There they have a cable suspension system to hang your food bags AND packs. We had one boy not hang his pack and a Black bear decided to use it as a saltlick. Took us three hours to find what was left of his pack. By the way, his food was in the pack too and was untouched. The bear just wanted salt. I do however know of a friend who had a Bear-Bear canister close encounter and his canister won the match with only minor scuffing and scrapes. In some areas I hear that your group must prove that you have the canisters in order to

Just so you know, It does rain alot here in northeast Fl. My other favorite backpacking destination, the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, happens to be the wettest place in the East. I've been on a few week longs when the only time we saw the sun was on the road back home. I tell my Scouts that you are a truly accomplished camper when you can go out in conditions like that and be dry and still enjoy the trip.

Bob you said "removed" not resigned. Am I to understand that your troop parents were not behind you? That stinks. Nothing bothers me more than people who insist on making Boy Scout Troops into Cub Packs. (All who take offense to that , sorry, but it's true.) It definately sounds like the CC wants to be Scoutmaster too. Last I heard the CC can't cancel trips. Well, not in our Troop anyway. Sounds like you gave it your all and it's time to move on. I am in total agreement with jmcquillan. I have been through that process before and that is pretty much what we did too and it wor

Glad you like it. Though that one up myself. (said while sticking out chest, adjusting shirt, and speaking two octaves lower. chuckle) Something I though I should mention. We have a small troop (19 kids) so we form one line. Last week we had 22 Webelos visit and we ran them through the test too (square knot of course.) When you have a large group you need to form more than one line or you will never have a meeting.

Try these. This is a planning list http://www.playdesigns.com/pd_planning.html http://www.detailedplay.com/Plans.htm This one is just a bunch of links to commercial plan sites http://www.world-playground.com/doit.htm Hope this helps.

I have a request. Bobwhite when you solve your problem please post the the results and what you did to to address the issue. Most of the time folks ask for help and we don't get to hear about the resolution of the problem. It would really help other Scouters when they run into potentially ugly situations to hear how others solved them. I personally could have used some of that kind of input when I became Scoutmaster. I was Committe Chairman and had to remove and take the place of the current Scoutmaster. No easy task when you are only 27 and the only adult leader without any kids

OK, good research cjmiam. I was not aware that Agnostics had a "governing body" I was always told that Agnosticism rejects codefied belief systems in favor of a personal experience and a personal relationship with God therefore making an Agnostic Church impossible if not just an oxymoron. But hey, I'm not an Agnostic. Be that as it may, I have sat on two Eagle boards where the Scout being reviewed identified himself as Agnostic (after lengthy discussion). The board in closed discussion was informed by the district advancement chairman that because the both boys stated that they belie

I'm sorry to hear that your local chapter pulled funds, but I'm glad to know that it worked out. The more I hear the more I can't help feeling like the presest supportive relationship with our UW chapter will evaporate and that it is just a matter of time. I would really like for the people responsable for making these decisions to meet our scouts and tell them face to face why our boys don't deserve support. If they have a problem with a national policy, fine, take it up with the people in suits don't take it out on boys that just want to go camping.

I'm sorry to hear that you are having a rough go of it Oldgreyeagle. I have to say that I believe that the only way for the Scouting program to be successful is for the youth to lead it. The problem is that the kids have absolutely no idea how to lead it and most leadership training programs in Scouting are woefully inadequate when it comes to teaching kids how to form a program. Most units also get the double whammy of losing older kids right when they should be leading and planning the program. I think the reality is that a program that works well is one that shares the control. Her

I have never had a problem with my orders from Scouter.com. I have order twice and both were filled accurately and promptly. I have not had a need to contact them and as such can't comment. This is very distrubing to hear.

Something we do to help the Scouts to "Be Prepared" is that we charge admission to our meetings. The fee is to demonstrate a Scout skill. One week it might be a clove hitch, the next it could be name the hurry cases. You could even do this with Scout history. Once the Scout successfully demonstrates the skill he is allowed in. We try to be sure the skill is something that we have taught recently but any skill will do. You can also vary the difficulty depending on the scouts ability. (Ya'll should have seen square knot night when our Eagle Scouts were asked to tie all the required Scout k

Yikes!!! I teach our scouts about the history of the movement mostly through Scoutmaster's minutes. I do think that the boys should read the handbook but most kids don't or won't. I too am not sure that we should have a merit badge on the subject, it just seems to me that our history is something that each boy should know to just be a Scout and not a "option" that they can get a badge for (or choose not to) Another way that I teach Scout history is that I have declared February "Scout History Month" and at each meeting I tell a little part of the story. Start with the unknown Scou

I agree and in that lies the challenge before us. Mean and low? No, just very frustrated and tossing out poorly-thought out sentiments.