Oldscout448

thanks Rat, amen on the stoves at Philmont I staggered into camp after trail peak (our first 10,000 footer) on day 3. my home elevation was about 400 ft as we sat or laid on the ground, it occured to me that if we wanted to eat hot food tonight, we had to get up,find and drag some dead aspen logs,and start cutting. O flipping joy! and as crew leader, I had to set the example. Thanks be to God I was 17,not 47. Old scout

Briantshore, bacon? TWO strips of BACON??? we just got the egg and a cup of water, then chopped down trees until lunch,a cheese sandwich and bug juice, then cut and split said trees into firewood all afternoon. Without hardhats. or goggles Any way guys thanks for the replies, some of them made me stop and take a trip down memory lane for sure. To finish the story: I told this young scout that much has changed, but the really important stuff that makes a boy into scout has not, the oath and law are the same, and our duty to live up to them remains the same today as it did in 197

I was on a church youth retreat a few weeks ago, struck up a conversation with a nice young man (15 or so) turned out he was a scout. We chatted of camping, Philmont,eagle projects etc. then he asked me "what is the biggest change in scouting since you joined?" Well my mind went in a dozen directions at once. 1971-2012?? wow advancement?-uniforms?-scouts with no dads at home?- equipment? OA? (he had never heard of it) I've been mulling it over ever since. What would you guys say? (I'll save my reply 'till later, it was from the heart but very off the cuff and I wish I had been better prepar

yup that's it. Sorry I missed the fact it was British, guess the pounds as well as dollars price should have tipped me off. Now I'm wondering who needs cash so badly they would sell it Oldscout

I don't want to reopen the old "should scout stuff be for sale on e-bay" thread, but I was looking to replace some old patches I lost and saw a Silver wolf medal up for sale, starting bid $1,170! What, may I ask, is a Silver Wolf? All I can remember is that it was Scoutings highest award back in the 1920s. Oldscout

Good stuff everyone! this is the feedback I was hoping for. Eagledad you asked a very good question "Does troop 111 want to fix their problem?" No they don't. Heck, they don't even see that it is a fixable problem. It's always been this way. The scouters can talk to the plc all night,but it is the older scouts who must lead and if they don't believe us, it will do no good. I am hoping to find a way to make them look beond the four walls of their meeting place.to see other flavors of scouting and say " that's a darned good idea, why don't we do that in our troop? Let's bring it up at the next

Having worked with half a dozen or so troops in my locality, I have noted a almost total lack of communication between the troops older boys. case in point; troop 111 has an amazing camping-hiking program, but has 5 minute openings that last 20 minutes mostly because the Spl keeps stopping amd waiting for the scouts to shut up, or worse losing it and screaming at them. This has been SOP for years it seems, "boys are like this, nothing we can do" I'm told. But, troop 222 a few miles down the road, has more scouts and the spl and pls can transition the boys from a loud game playing mob, to stan

What Beverah said!

"He's lost AGAIN???"

Camp Roosevelt, wow, how long have you been doing this SSScout? My coach on the OA ceremonies team told stories of shooting flaming arrows off the cliff on friday nights. Alas, I came too late to have memories of my own. Oldscout (but I feel younger now, ty)

Here in northern Maryland, most of the troops dont have OA elections, Most of the younger scouts don't even know that the Order even exists! and by younger I mean 10-15 years old. As others have said the flap is not going to generate the same " Cool,What is that for?" as a sash unless you add some red blinking LEDs. A number of SM have told me " No, the election team can not come to our troop. It's a boy run troop, if the PLC votes for OA elections THEN we will have them and not until. " but how can they vote for what they can't see? As my scout life was greatly enriched by the order I fin

welcome, from another newcomer just south of the mason-dixon line. you nearby or closer to Newyork?

Dan I'm with you on point three, kids can say anything and have forgotten it in five seconds. But if they have to remember it long enough to actually DO it... Also I'd like to see the running, jumping ,pullup bit moved to 2nd class. or perhaps done away with altogether. Never seen a req. so misused as that one. and add some basic knife safety so the poor guy is allowed to use a knife (which he has been doing since bear for goodness sake) once saw a scoutmaster take a knife away from a first time camper who was opening a can with it. (and yes he was using the can opener, not the blade)

Catch and roast a snipe!

I was troop bugler for a few years, back in the '70s. I have offered to loan my bugle and teach anyone interested in my sons troop. so far no takers. I guess since the younger generation never had it they dont miss it. Sad

Fabs While I cannot agree with the Beavah that the Eagle is" a tin badge yeh wear on a kids uniform" I'm fifty some and still wear mine on formal occasions (it's silver by the way), it is NOT the badge that makes you what you are. If I may be permitted a tale here- Some 40 years ago a old scoutmaster told a proud newly minted Eagle "What you have inside your shirt is vastly more important than any medal you could ever wear on the outside." I was just a tenderfoot then but that stuck with me, when it looked like I might not be awarded Eagle (a paperwork snafu)I decided if I could not be one

I'm very new here but just gotta tell this one. A newly minted scout came to his second troop meeting wearing the red wool jacket with the Philmont Bull on it. I took him aside and asked where he got such a cool patch. turns out it was his Uncle's. I gently explained that to old guys like me that patch proclaimed that he had been to Philmont and climbed Baldy or the tooth. "you mean I can't wear it?" I told him " That is up to you, I am not the patch police, but a scout is trustworthy." The next week the Bull was gone. "I see you decided to take it off" he looked me dead in the eye "I'll se

afternoon folks, this log taken? no? then y'all mind if I set for a spell? my story? hmmm.well I was a cubscout, a boyscout,(eagle '76),an explorerscout,OA (6 years on the ceremonies team) a den leader, a asm, now I seem to by getting into scouts again with my fourth son. You know the hills seem a bit steeper and the ground a lot harder now days. but watching my boy say to scout oath for the first time just sent shivers down my spine, must have gotten something in my eyes that night too. everything got all blurry for a while. yours at 100 yards Oldscout