Oldscout448

You mean a Brotherhood of Scouting honor campers? Who exemplify the Oath and Law in their daily lives? What a novel idea! (Sarcasm mode off) I think there are three main ways to change the Order back to a highly esteemed organization . One change the election criteria. The main focus from the order to the troop should be " We want your best both in skills and character. " not " We accept anyone with a first class badge and one summer camp under his belt." Two. Make the Ordeal a real challenge. Have elongomats who know what the tests represent and can explain th

A bunch of random guys wearing their personal regalia, with absolutely no official connection or mention of the OA, are planning to do a few AoL ceremonies at the request of the packs in our area. I suspect that the requests will dwindle to zero over the next few years, but that will be their decision not some edict from the royal court in Irving. I'm dreading reading the " approved " call out script but as a ceremonies advisor I guess it goes with the job. Do you have a link to it?

Well that's a new one! All these years and I didn't get a patch. I think I'll go to my tepee and sulk for a minute or even two.

My chapter ( about 250 strong) has had two AAs as far back as I remember. One helps out with ceremonies, the other elections. I don't know if it's an "real" postion or not, there are no position patches, or any official recognition.

BBQ? Yum! Where?

Not to nitpick old friend, but it's CO (carbonmonoxide) that is the poisonous hazard. I do remember a little of chem 101. Canvas tents are permeable and the gaps in the doors are more than sufficient to let in enough fresh air for a candle or two. If there is wet snow stuck on the tent then yes it might be a problem. As to the tepee I could go on at some length about proper set up, liners, smoke flaps, etc. But I suspect you already know everything that I do. I suppose since the old curmudgeons like me won't be around anymore to show the newbies how to do what the plains I

Back in the days of canvas tents the rule was " no open flames in tents. So we lighted our candle lanterns outside our tents, closed the tiny door and took them inside. One warmed our tents up about 10 degrees on a calm night, half of that if the wind was blowing. UCO also makes small lightweight reflectors that help greatly. I've been doing it for over 40 years now with nary a problem. Mind you there is no way I am going to risk it in a small nylon tent. If I were camping tonight when the windchill going to be 5 or 10 below zero, I would have two or three going until I was ready to

Jabberwocky

From a troop (number now sadly forgotton) in Corning, NY. circa 1935. One Fine Day in the middle of the night,two dead boys got up to fight Back-to-back they faced each other, drew their swords and shot each other. The deaf policeman heard the noise, and came and killed the two dead boys. If you don't believe my tale is true, ask the blind man he saw it too.

Devote, SSScout and sst3rd are wise old birds who have truly " been there and done that" many times over. In my not so humble opinion, they give very sound advice here. I cannot help but wonder what is he trying to hide by not allowing the background check. Major red flag right there. Oldscout

I spent about two hours watching today as one vid after the other popped up. I was forced to revise my opinion several times. As I see it now ( and this may change) 1 There were some teens from a all male Catholic school waiting for their bus near the Lincoln Memorial. 2 A small group of male adults calling themselves " the tribe of Israel" started calling the teens names. As this is a BSA forum I can't type them all here. Dirty, cracker, inbred, sons of Klansmen, were some of the politest ones. ( Disclaimer here, I have actually met some of this crazed bunch in DC bef

David, you and I have often disagreed in the past but in this I think you are absolutely spot on. There are a number of different vids of this on line. Some 20 minutes long some only 2 or 3. If you piece them together there is over 30 minutes of coverage. We all need to see as much of the entire picture as possible before passing judgement.

I had thought that I had met the ultimate in control freak scoutmasters about 20 years ago, but I think that yours just won that very dubious honor.Hands down. There are identical character traits however. OCD may be playing a part. Grammer? He wants to spec the screw head design? The kind of chips? Note that he passed the responsibilities of these demands to the retired scoutmaster and the eagle board. But by far the most telling is his statement of " This is how I do it, and you have to have MY signature- and I'M not signing" Houston, we have a problem ! And it's that

Like many of us who post here I'm just a lowly volunteer. I work mostly with the OA at the chapter level where about a dozen troops make up 90% of its active members. As far as I have been able to ascertain none of those Scout participated in the survey. In fact they were totally unaware that the survey even existed. I learned about it only from this forum. I heard nothing from my district, nothing from my Council, nothing from my lodge. Nary a word could I find pertaining to it on the many pages of the council website. So please excuse me if I am also a bit of a Skeptic.

Not knowing Monkeytamers son I cannot speak for him or his friends. But more than a few older scouts that I do know are also planning on leaving or have already departed. It does not seem that it is so much an issue with girls troops as much as the boys feel that the troop belongs to them. they have spent a third of their life in it after all. They deeply resent National changing its membership, its focus, its very name. They have no voice, no platform, so they vote with the only means left to them. Their feet.

Ok here goes, the ceremony we did about five times a year. Remember back then you bridged individually at your 11th birthday. The troop is called to attention, the boy joining The Troop is called up onto the stage at one end of the room by the senior patrol leader. He asks if it is truly his wish to become a member of troop 448. Upon receiving an affirmative reply he turns to Patrick. " Pat as the scout who has been in this troop the longest, will you induct this new scout into our troop?" Pat steps up onto the stage (in full dress uniform medals, sash, the whole nine yards) strikes

The majority of troops had some sort of investiture ceremony in the "old days". There was even an illustration of one in the handbook. Sadly almost no one maintains that tradition. The most common used candles set in a log. 12 for the points of the scout law, 3 for the parts of the Oath, ( duty to God, duty to others, duty to self) and 1 to represent the Sprit of scouting. In my troop it was done by the oldest scout in the troop regardless of rank. In other troops it was performed by the SM. I still have the whole script in my memory banks. Let me know if you want it

Oh, no offense taken. I admit I liked the older badge better. In fact I got one at a patch auction in "78 for $13.25. Just to have a complete set of the "old" ranks. First round is still on me.

" Chicken in a mess kit" !? That's MY badge you are talking about, old friend. The one that took 24 Merit badges. Still I just had to laugh. Never heard THAT one before. Now I need to go look at my camping MB.

Yep, I remember. I had to earn first class the old way Morse code included. Took about two years in my triip as a rule. Im still very proud of my rectangular rank badge. As a den leader I took my cubs on short hikes and on a whim showed them some of the old trail signs we used to use. The ones using rocks, sticks, or even grass. They were just ecstatic , Super secret woodsy Scout signs! Yay! The lesson seemed simple. Give them what they want. So I started teaching more Woodcraft, edible plants, animal tracks, stars, tree identification they loved it. Crafts were reserved for co

just a thought, some people have an aversion to touching nasty, icky, gross stuff. Do you guys use gloves when you wash the dishes?

I don't think anyone ever starved to death by missing three meals. I am not sure it's anywhere in GTSS This is the kind of thing that kills patrols. It's not fair and they all know it. Eventually some scout has his fill of carrying this loafer/snowflake and quits, which just increases the load on everyone else. So they start quitting. Or he just snaps and gives the nonworking lad a literal kick in the butt, or hits him over the head with a dirty sauce pan. Which pretty much ends his scouting journey in that troop. I think if I were his PL I might announce that next

He who will not work neither shall he eat. II Thes 3:10 it worked in my troop back in the day. A less harsh version might be no s'mores or cider on Saturday night.

Was the shooter even a scout? It only says " another child"

Wow just wow. In a case like this I would " haze" him in a heartbeat. Or perhaps separate him by a few miles, and "forget" to pick him back up until after the ceremony was over.