Padre

(04-28) 15:55 PDT NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- A recreational diver forgotten at sea by a boat crew drifted five hours in the ocean and prayed "God, I don't want to die" before a teenager aboard a century-old tall ship spotted him and fellow Boy Scouts pulled him aboard. Dan Carlock, 45, was left in the ocean by his scuba diving group Sunday and drifted for hours about seven miles offshore. He noted the time of day on his small, waterproof writing slate and took photographs of himself to document that he'd made it to the surface. And he worried about how his parents would re

Dear Brent, The only thing you will be missing is time with your family. But if you are looking for the ultimate ego trip into adult scouting then Wood Badge is the place for you. Good luck!

I would never make fun of scout volunteers. But I dont agree that WB is for everyone. I would never take it based on my experiences with the people that wear beads. I am afraid of the implant they put into you at the course. They all sound alike when they come back. ;-) Do you write your own stuff?

Bob I am only making decisions about what is right for me. I dont pretend to know what is right for others. Perhaps you feel differently?

Growing up in a large city during the late 60s and 70s I had the opportunity to see and experience many things. I saw buddies join a group of like minded people, have special experiences and dress alike, grow their hair long, sing funny songs, become enlightened from some type of teachings and put beads around their neck They always told me I didnt get it, that I couldnt understand until I joined this scene. I then could be enlightened by these experiences and then and only then would my opinion count about this scene. I just didnt get it but I saw the results and I had an opinion then too.

Colin Powell, I heard he was a great scout, does anyone know? The man has qualities that make him a great role model and leader. I just got back from D.C. and he is impressive as a leader. Hard to back Carter as a Scoutmaster although I am sure he could of done it but it wouldn't have been fun. Having met the man I always felt he would have been a better Church leader than anything else, deep thinker with high morals and convictions.

Fotoscout, I certainly respect your opinion on the course and the nature of highly educated scientists. It sounds like we work in similar environments. My last boss was a PhD in Physics. His first book was about Physics, his next two were about management, they both made it to the bestsellers list and he was voted one of the top executives in the country and also one of the toughest, so much for style! There is always an exception to the rule. I worked for him for ten years and learned a lot about managing people and projects. The gentlemen I spoke about are good scout leaders in

Andrewcanoe, They all took the recent course. We are all familiar with business goals since more than 25% of our income and our own performance evaluations, not to mention our continued employment, are tied to our individual, department and division goals as managers. The comparison is: Send your employee to WB for a week of training or send them to a business leadership course for a week. Our company sends us to a specific course so that we are all getting similar training. In this way we are creating a culture and similar set of values in the company. Very similar to what BSA is tryin

I have not taken WB and I am not a fan based on the results I have seen with my spouse and in my district. A good leader attends and comes back a good leader, a bad leader attends and comes back a bad leader that now thinks they are a very good leader. OK, I am biased so I thought I would ask several friends that have taken the WB course and hold Director level positions at my company if they would send their people to WB for leadership training. We all work for a large science based Fortune 500 Company with profits in the billions. All of these folks are men and 2 of the 3 have PhDs in scien

Bob, I have been visiting the site for quite a while and continue to get good tips about scouting. When I decided to post some of my concerns I needed to register and now I have gotten different viewpoints on my issues, and I welcome these viewpoints. In the past I was happy to read about the topics and not be active in the discussions. I visited the site to be a well informed parent and, like a lot of parents, only want the best experiences from scouting for my sons. Your other posting reminded me of our SM when he asked me to take over a den years ago. He said it will take about an

Now don't jump to far with your conculsions. And don't get too defensive. My point was that it seems that this course puts a lot of strain on families and marriages. I have heard it over and over from men and women and our SM is aware of this problem. Is it really necessary and can we do something to make sure that this does not happen? Is someone looking into this problem? It does not seem like a small problem to me. Perhaps you are just not in a frame of mind or position that allows you to see the problem.

Congratulations, if it is what you and your family want. I am not a fan of this training. My wife went through the course with eight people in her patrol, two women and six men. I think four will finish maybe five. One(man) was forced to drop out after a couple of months by his wife due to the stress the course was causing at home. Two(men) don't seem to be moving forward with ticket items. Four (1 woman,my wife and 3 men) will get their beads in Oct. And one (woman) might finish but later. Of the four that will finish in Oct. two have been through extreme maritial and family problems due

As my father used to say "You can't have your cake and eat it too". We want to determine our memebership, we need to live with our decisions. BSA leadership/membership needs to adust their thinking to current (legal, Political) times or learn to live with the consequences of their decisions. It is going to get worse if we stay this course, get ready. On the other hand, I do not donate to the United Way, I give direct to the organizations that I am interested in supporting. Most parents I talk with do the same, easy work around.

Human Resources (20+ years) Executive with a Fortune 500 company. Past Board member of several national affirmative action college organizations and past member of several major University Boards helping to develop Educational Partnerships with industry. Part time instructor in behavioral sciences, mostly taught in a corporate setting. Not in a scouting position at this time. Just an active and concerned dad.

Hi Bob, I have been considering taking more training but I have also been considering leaving the program all together. And it is because of the scout ways and their dogma. Your comments are a good example. I find things too defined around all things scouting and the thinking a little narrow. If I disagree with something it is explained away that I just don't understand the issue. Consider this: The school system in this country, that has millions of children attending, hundreds of years of existence, and thousands of experts on child development. They promote children from grade to gra

Bob, you took it a year further than was intended, up to 12 is all I suggested. I have not taken the training you suggested. But I have taught, at the Graduate School level, courses on Behavioral Sciences. What concerns me is that lots of scouters take everything in scouting as the gospel truth without questioning the content. Everything in scouting is not right for every boy. You will teach me in one weekend what they teach in college over a period of years? Do you take a test at the end of the course to see if the adult student has learned the material? Or that they have learned the con

Both my sons went in at 10.5, one was ready and one was not. Perhaps we should base it on height, it would seem just as random. OK not really. The problem is that scouts are forced to bridge over at a certain age. Why can't this be more flexible. Say that you can stay in Cubs until 12 but you can join Boy Scouts at 10.5. Stop with the forced transition and create a window that parents and sons can choose as appropriate. Every boy and situation is different.

I do want to acknowledge that I received lots of great and several not so great/non-constructive emails. For those of you who took the time to share your knowledge and experiences with me, I truly do thank you. Your honesty is much appreciated. I post my reply openly and without the intention to bash scouting, WB or OA. But to create some thinking and knowledge about what overdosing can create. Our SM reacted to the problem of my wife's over commitment and the strain on our relationship but it was already too late, most of the damage was done. He and I have not talked about this situatio

I bought a 'Big Agnes" bag that has a pocket that you slip the pad into, and it fits a nice big and thick pad. No more slipping and the bag is cut a little bigger and is still lighter than most. No goose down on the bottom where the pad fits. The pad is the thermal barrier under you because down does not work well when you compress it. Keeps the bag nice and square too. A scout dad who owns a climbling store showed it to me. I use it and my wife borrowed it and now she has one and about a half a dozen other guys bought one after they saw mine. I am going to buy these for my sons as soon a

This is my first posting but I have asked for advice off line from several of the active memebers. I realize there are many ages and levels of scouts that participate in this forum so I will keep it light. This is about OA in a way. My Wife was tapped out and my son was not. OA is NOT an Honor for adults so why go in if your son is not in the OA? Bittersweet for me too. He is very qualified as a scout to be in OA but new to his troop. We moved from an inactive troop to a very large active troop last year. She tells we lots of adults go into OA before their sons but we can only find one, t