orennoah

In my book (as well as the Guide to Safe Scouting}, tents and heaters simply don't mix well.

Dan: You might, like I did, simply get lucky. As a Cal grad, I was already a Golden Bear and had a nice collection of bear images, stuffed animals and other items. Then, I became a member of the Bear patrol in Wood Badge. Halleluah!! Now, I have even MORE Bear paraphenalia. - Oren Cal, Class of '81 WE3-41-03, Bear WE3-41-05, QM

I keep my tents in large, loose cotton sacks. The same sort that you use to store high-end down bags. Then, when it's time to go camping, I stuff them in the original stuff sacks. Upon return, they all get hung up to dry thoroughly before going into the cotton storage sacks.

Congrats!! Staffing is even more fun than it is work, and it's a whole heck of a lot of work. (If you do it right, that is.) My best advise is to work closely with your ASM-Troop Guide, make room in your schedule for all of the staff training sessions and ask lots of questions. Then, suck it up and make it look like you've always been a Troop Guide. Many eyes will be upon you. - Oren WE3-41-03 Bear WE3-41-05 Quartermaster

My troop has tried it both ways and we have had a much better success with mixed age patrols. When there was the NSP and the "old" patrol, there was no way to have interpatrol competition, without it being patently unfair. One patrol knew what it was doing and was, in fact, running the whole troop. The NSP was full of the "blind leading the blind." When we integrated the big batch of new Scouts into two, already existing patrols, the troop had a great experience, both for the new Scouts and the "old" Scouts. The "old" Scouts realized that their patrols would be crippled if they didn't get the new Scouts trained and full integrated into the patrol. The patrols competed to see which one could do the best job of training and motivating the new Scouts. The new Scouts soared, all being taught by the most powerful and authoritative creature on the planet, in the eyes of a 10-12 year old: a High School student! One that actually knew their name and cared that they advance. The "old" Scouts rose to the occasion and had a very real opportunity to practice the leadership skills that they had been taught and to learn brand new ones. For us, the mixed age patrol is the way to go. YMMV.

As a Scoutmaster, I have found that including a flag retirement ceremony in our troop-only campfire at summer camp was a wonderful experience, especially for the 10/11 year olds on their first summer camp. Uniformly, they were deeply moved by the symbolism and reverence and patriotism. Heck, I feel that we would be depriving them of a valuable experience if we didn't offer this opportunity. I can see how young Cubs would not understand what was going on, but, as I don't have experience with them, I'll defer to others who do.

Your only mistake was heading this thread as "Disrespectful Scouts." Instead, it should have read "Disrespectful Scout Leaders!" Of course you acted properly and responsibly. If I were you, I'd simply walk away and let the Scout leaders who don't believe in discipline preside over the resulting disasters. They showed you no respect and will surely reap what they have sown.

Run on up to the front of the room and sing away with your patrol! Don't even THINK about staying silent in the back. While you're working your ticket, you're still a Wood Badger. When you've worked your ticket and earned your beads, you'll always be a Wood Badger. (I don't know and, hence, don't opine upon, what happens if your time runs out and you haven't earned your beads.)

I don't know the official rules, but the priest's stand just doesn't seem very Christian to me.

I love cooking with aluminum foil. But NEVER in a Dutch Oven. You can rarely line a three dimensional Dutch Oven with two dimensional aluminum foil without something leaking through onto the Dutch Oven. So, you'll end up cleaning your Dutch oven, anyway. You also lose the benefits of Dutch oven heat control and that special Dutch oven flavor. More importantly, you fail to treat your seasoning well. I've never seen someone who lines his/her Dutch oven have a well-seasoned Dutch oven. Properly seasoned, they are easy to clean and it's easy to cook such great treats as cakes (including pineapple upside down!), pies and breads. It's also easy to keep a well-seasoned Dutch oven well-seasoned. After cleaning (with warm-hot water and a soft sponge/scrubbie), simply rub with a small bit of oil/shortening while still warm. Don't just take my word for it. Check out the rules (and ethos) of the International Dutch Oven Society (www.idos.com) - Oren

Yeah. What Eamon said. Couldn't have said it better.

All depends upon how cold it is. Sometimes, I wear really thin fleece pants. Sometimes, I wear quite thick, expedition-weight fleece pants.

It's a problem in my District, too. Some of the troops do use the "troop method," including adult-catering and hand-picked patrols, not to mention programs designed around the camporee. While my guys have gotten discouraged, they take pride in their actual patrols and how they use them all year round. With proper perspective, your guys, too, will see that camporees are just for fun, not for determining who's "the best."

Me thinks that Mom needs to get a life. From your description, she's not a Troop leader. She hasn't "paid her dues," she hasn't been trained and she hasn't had the experience of putting theory into practice with actual boys who have actual lives. In fact, it looks like she only showed up for Saturday night and hadn't spent the entire weekend with the Troop. She is entitled to her viewpoint, but she is NOT entitled to change the Troop to meet her own prejudices. An occasional "treat" of "breaking a rule" can be a great motivator and morale booster. On a week-long camping trip and service project, where we demanded (& got) full Class A's for morning and evening flags, we once declared "grubby flags." Full Class As were forbidden. Boys were chastised to "untuck that shirt!" etc. We were all laughing and having a great time (except, of course, during the actual flag ceremony). Morale soared and we were back in full Class As the next flag ceremony. I can see your occasional allowance of a radio for a special game. Having to use one's imagination to "see" the game that all their non-Scout friends were watching on Tivo-equipped big screens is, itself, an educational experience. Doing it with your Scouting buddies can be a very productive "male bonding" experience. Also, if you "give in" to Mom on this issue, she will soon know no bounds. What's next? Mandatory oral examinations during hikes? After all, they were "wasting" all that time just walking around. Hang in there. - Oren

Another BEAR! Horray! Congrats and get to working of your patrol projects!! - Oren WE3-41-03 BEAR WE3-41-05 QM

Never having been a Cub leader, I had to go to Scoutstuff.org to see what an "immediate recognition kit" was. To save someone else the trip, they're the beads and thongs that are worn on the front of the uniform shirt to signify advancement towards the next rank. The reason why no Boy Scout troops use them is that they're specific to the Cub program. Most troops do as explained by eagle_scout98. We recognize the rank advancement right there at the end of the meeting when the Scout has passed his Board of Review. Then, at the Court of Honor, he is recognized again. Besides, it wouldn't be too safe to have losts of beads hanging off the front of a Scout uniform while cooking, cutting, etc. - Oren

I can understand your point, Lisabob. On the other hand, I've found that - with mixing Cub and Boy Scout leaders in the patrols - it's like a Boy Scout patrol, in that the experienced members take responsibility for training, helping and advising the new members. New Scouts don't have previous outdoor training before they go on their first camping trip with us. They learn outdoors skills from their more experienced patrol mates. I see it as part of the mimicry of a Troop's functioning.

I'll be the contrarian on this one. If there's no Venture crew around (and starting one isn't in the cards), I say to go ahead and interview for a troop that can take on a new, but old, Scout. Not every Troop uses the New Scout Patrol method. (Mine, for example.) So, it's not a forgone conclusion that he'll be hanging with 10 & 11 year olds. The thing to look for is a Troop with a SM and at least one older Scout willing to give your stepson an accelerated program. No reason why he can't "age out" as a Star or Life. Eagle's not realistic, but the vast majority of Scouts don't make that anyway. There's still a whole lot of growth and experience your stepson can get out of a Troop. - Oren(This message has been edited by orennoah)

Ditto. My guys put out some 350 flags on Monday, all along the two main routes through town. They have a very strong sense of the sacrifices that those before them have made for this country and that some of them may be called upon to make such sacrifices. This comes up, not only in terms of flag ceremonies, but in citizenship discussions. It still blows my mind that most 18-21 year-olds don't bother to vote. I remember the sacrifices made by those young men in Vietnam and the arguments that they can fight and die for our country, but they can't vote for its leaders.

Well done SpongeBob! Not everyone can deal with Bears, not even other Bears! On my course, the SPL was frustrated with us Bears, as were late to some Troop events and early for others. We pointed out to him that every single event for which we were early involved somebody feeding us and every single event for which we were late involved leaving a place where we were being fed. "Damn it. We're BEARS!," we explained. He finally got it. - Oren WE3-41-03 BEAR WE3-41-05 QM

What do I think? I think that you should ask them. - Oren

Oh. You Beavers are so CUTE (and tasty) when you all get riled up. - Oren WE3-41-03 BEAR WE3-41-05 QM

I think that a moment of silence and contemplation would be appropriate. - Oren

You don't have to be Super-Explorer Guy (or Gal) to be Scoutmaster or even a great Scoutmaster. Rely upon others for the expertise you lack and can't acquire. In your case, see if you can find a Venture Crew in your area that is doing the sorts of things that your older Scouts want to do. Hook up with them and see if you can do a joint activity. Similarly, there may be a Scout Troop in your area that has the necessary resources. - Oren

yelruh wrote: "'HAGGIS' I'm sure someone could make it in a Dutch Oven, but it's so hard getting all the 'correct' ingredients." It could be done. Our Troop used a Camp Chef propane burner and a big stock pot, but we were making two of them. And, yes, we used all the "correct" ingredients, including the lungs. I understand that the USDA has ruled that lungs are "unfit for human consumption," so you can't buy them retail. We had someone who had hired out the butchering of a couple of sheep, so he had them save the "good parts" for us. In addition to the lungs, heart, liver, tongue and intestines (which we cooked, minced and combined with oats, onions spices and stuffed into stomachs), we also used testes. As the boys proudly proclaim, "our Haggis has balls!" It's a long story of how our Troop came to identify with the Clan MacPherson and why we decided to have our own Clan Games, complete with the Haggis. However, it was great for morale. - Oren