perdidochas
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Posts posted by perdidochas
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My sons' old troop provided patrol boxes (basic cooking equipment), coolers, dry boxes for dry food, lanterns on tree, propane tanks per patrol and tents for each buddy team. We also had three or so dutch ovens.
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On 12/3/2015 at 7:50 PM, Wilson-KY said:
Thank you - here's the post (no longer in an invisible font!):
Need the group's help on this one. Scout went to summer camp for the full week in year one. In year two Scout attended three days/nights. Camping MB says "you may use a week of long-term camp toward this requirement." We have varying opinions if the days/nights in year two can be counted, because it wasn't "a week." MB also says all campouts since becoming a Scout may count toward the requirement, which may also be causing confusion.
So do the days in week two count toward the MB requirement? Scout met the other requirements to count these days, as he was at camp each day and night and slept in a tent.
Thanks.
IMHO, it should count, however, it's kind of skirting the rules. That, and IMHO, camping is when the majority of learning to be a Scout occurs. Honestly, 20 nights is a very poor minimum number of camping nights to be considered a decent Scout. If I were running things, I'd require 50 nights (but allow non-Scout camping as part of that) in tents, under tarps, or under the stars.
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On 6/12/2018 at 8:16 PM, ItsBrian said:
I’m sorry, but a scout shouldn’t be first class in the first year. I dislike that since some troops force them into doing completing it which I don’t believe in. Scouts should do it at their own pace and time.
I agree with you mostly. I do think that a Troop should be set up so that theoretically a Scout could do First Class in their First year. By that, I mean that they go on enough campouts and outings so that it would be possible. In my sons' troop, 16-20 months was a fast time to get First Class. IMHO, that's about right.
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On 6/12/2018 at 5:40 PM, Jenn said:
Thanks for all the helpful replies.
It's my impression that scouts are encouraged to earn First Class within their first year in the troop. If Rank badges are only awarded at COH, and our troop only holds 2 COH per year, some scouts will never get a chance to wear each of these! I know it doesn't prevent them from continuing to work on advancement, but there are some scouts who really look forward to actually wearing the rank badge.
Maybe they will hold more frequent (4x/year) COH if their are more boys advancing. I suppose I'll wait and see how it goes.
Thanks for the insight. It's nice to hear how other troops operate.
That's the party line, but it's rarely done. It takes a very dedicated and active Scout to get First Class in the First year. I've found that 18 months is the reasonable time for an active Scout to get First Class. Join the committee and see if you can change their minds. IMHO, two is not enough COH's for a year. IMHO, three is about ideal, but four is what is in the guidelines for a good troop.
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I've been an ASM, primarily for the pay raises. My salary was doubled every year I was a Scouter.
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35 minutes ago, T2Eagle said:
Of the answers I've seen here, I like a lot of things about Parkman's, but E1993's answer made me pause. If I wanted to start a girl's troop I think the more successful model would be to find an existing CO and troop and start a linked troop. If there's something about the linked troop model that gives you pause, then my next best bet would be to find an existing CO and start a non linked troop. Have a separate committee, have separate equipment, work entirely independently from the existing troop, but take advantage of the CO's current support and enthusiasm for the program.
After you have a CO, and I think that's the most important step, you need two things at the same time: some enthusiastic girls and an enthusiastic SM. I'd look to the local co-ed Venture crews for both, but that's not the only place. A likely model for me would be an Eagle Scout father who has daughters instead of sons. I have three different friends of mine who, if this change had come when our kids were 11 instead of 20 would have been perfect candidates. Their first two kids were daughters while mine were sons. I think to find these folks you could use some help from council, ask them for access to eagle scout roles from both the council and NESA members with local addresses, and start asking if they have daughters who might be interested in the program. Beyond that, like Parkman said, it's market, market, market.
I agree that a linked troop would be the easier (and more appropriate) to start.
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1 hour ago, an_old_DC said:
No. I don’t have the time and energy for the baggage that would come with starting a troop for girls.
-ongoing struggle to find registered female leaders to be at every meeting and outing
-repeated meetings with Samantha Second Class’s parents to explain that unless they are registered ASMs, they cannot sign off for rank req in her handbook
-repeated meetings with Tammy Tenderfoots parents to tell them they cannot sign off on her merit badges because they are not registered MBC
-Paula Patrol Leader does not like to camp and quits attending meetings because she is in marching band. After scheduling multiple SM conferences with her—and the registered female ASM as a witness—to explain the responsibilities of a POR and clearly stating the consequences of not doing the job, her term ends with her never doing the job. As SM, I won’t sign her book saying she satisfactorily completed the term—because she didn’t. This throws off her timing and plan to be the first female Eagle Scout in the troop and among the first in Council, so Mom and dad call the SE alleging sexual discrimination because I don’t want a girl to be Eagle
I was an ASM, and other than records (i.e. things that I could look up in our Advancement/outing records, like number of campouts, etc.), I couldn't sign off any of my sons' rank requirements. In terms of Paul Patrol Leader, non-attendance to meetings/campouts would be enough defense (at least at District/Council level) for the charge of not wanting a girl to be Eagle.
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10 hours ago, Eagle94-A1 said:
No. I do not have any daughters, and know I would be looked at with suspicion by some parents. That suspicion can cause problems that a new unit would not need.
This happened to me several times when I was younger and had no kids in the program. Heck it happened with some parents in the troop I grew up in! One mother was very concerned that a 19 year old college student was working with her son. She thought I was a pedophile, and she told me that years later after she got to know me. Two troops I was in had reservations about me, and only accepted me as a volunteer when they verified that I worked for BSA, or checked my references in the neighboring council.
Now would I train and mentor new Scouters trying to get it started? Yes.
But the point it moot. My sons' troop needs help to get it back on track.
Well, I look at all other Scouters with suspicion. I don't act on it, but I view everybody suspicously. It's my part of YPT (along with my church's version of YPT, which is much more comprehensive). Thankfully, I have never witnessed any untoward behavior, either by other parent leaders (leaders who have or have had kids in our troop), or our occasional non-parent leader (local Navy base occasionally has Eagles who want to volunteer, and we had a retired gentleman from Ohio who helped with our FL troop). However, I am suspicious of all of them.
In our CO, I could probably be a successful SM for a girl's troop, but that's only because I'm well known to the parish, and both of my sons earned Eagle with the CO's troop.
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13 hours ago, shortridge said:
The title says it all. If you had the time, would you help get a stand-alone, non-linked Scouts BSA troop for girls off the ground?
For those who answer yes, how would you do it?
No, but I would help a linked Scouts BSA Troop for Girls get off the ground if my priest or deacon (i.e. the IHs of our COR, which has a BSA Boy's Troop) asked me to.
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12 hours ago, Jacob9 said:
Hi, everyone! So I am going to be in the 11th grade next year (I am currently 16), and I am currently a 1st class scout (and extremely close to star scout). I was wondering if it is still possible for me to become an eagle scout with the amount of time remaining? Thank you for your responses!
Theoretically you can do it. As the others have said, you need a minimum of 12 months after you get Star Scout. If you're barely 16, it should be easy to do if you just keep on task. If you're almost 17, it may be hard to do.
If you're serious about this, the first thing I would do is talk to your SM about all of this. As part of that meeting, you need to get a MB counselor for Camping, Cooking, Physical Fitness, Personal Management and Family Life (if you haven't already either gotten or started these badges). These are the most time intensive Eagle Required badges.
11 hours ago, MattR said:Hi @Jacob9, welcome to the forum.
To answer your question, you need a minimum of 14 months to complete Star, Life, and Eagle (for the position of responsibility requirements). If your age, to the day, plus 14 months is less than 18 years then you have time.
So, when were you born?
Actually, it's 16 months of PORs to get Star, Life, Eagle starting at First Class Scout. (4 to get Star, 6 to get Life, and 6 to get Eagle).
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5 hours ago, 69RoadRunner said:
I think I would quit as a scouter if we didn't cook as an adult patrol for ourselves. We like to eat good stuff and set an example to the scouts that you don't have to do simple things.
I agree with that 100%.
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Well, the normal standard is COH's 4 times a year. In my sons' former troop, the PORs were given their patches usually the week after the election. Rank advancement patches were given as soon after the BOR as possible (usually as an announcement just before the SM's Minute). The official paperwork was given at the COH. Merit Badges and any other advancement was awarded at the quarterly COH. It's a waste of time to have COH's more than 4 times a year or so.
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On 12/2/2017 at 5:38 PM, PersonManThrowAway said:
Hey, hopefully he doesn't see this, but I've gotten a boy scout leader as a "secret Santa recipient" on a website.
The problem is that I don't have much of an interest in camping - or at least not enough to know what to get. My budget is around $100 - does anyone have any good gift ideas? Maybe something I can get someone who's into the wilderness that they can never have enough of? I was thinking maybe a $100 knife, but I don't know. I came to you guys because you seem like a nice bunch of people who may know about what a boy scout leader may want. Thanks in advance!
You can never go wrong with an engraved knife (unless you spell something wrong on the engraving)
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On 6/1/2018 at 1:20 PM, DuctTape said:
That is unfortunate. There is a ton that can be done backpacking which is lightweight and much cheaper. Way less trash too. I am personally not a fan of eating out of bags. Some don't mind, it just feels wrong to me. My home dehydrated meals get reconstituted in the pot, I eat right out of the pot.
My troop does what I call grocery store backpack cooking for the most part. We do have a few boys/parents who buy Mountain House or other premade, but most of us do it the cheap way. Everything we eat you can buy at the grocery store.
For breakfast, we usually have instant oatmeal or instant grits cooked in the bag. Just add water, and mix with your spoon, and you can eat either one straight from the paper bag that the single serve instant oatmeal/grits are packed in. Generally, it's a good idea to have a bowl or cup to put the bag in, though.
For lunch, we will do a sleeve of saltines with a bag of tuna or chicken or with some summer sausage. Usually with some dried fruit with it.
For dinner, the two favorites are stovetop stuffing (don't really need a stovetop) and ramen. We cook the stovetop stuffing in the bag, and usually mix in some kind of bagged meat (chicken is the favorite). Ramen we usually cook by boiling water, adding the ramen and let it sit until it's soft, although the boys sometimes just take the ramen layers apart and eat them like crackers. We've also done the Knorr/Lipton noodle sides.
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3 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:
A couple of young ASM's are trying to convince me to replace my Nalgene 1L (6.25 ounces, $10-11, made USA) with either the following:
Hydrapak Stash 1L (3.3 ounces?, $20-25)
Platypus water bags .- IMHO seem flimsy and spill easy.
Works for them but I still like the all-season , hot water, utility, and indestructibility of the Nalgene .
I've used nalgenes for hot water bottles (wrapped in a sock). I wouldn't do that with a cheaper brand.
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3 hours ago, mashmaster said:
Here in Texas we call those things Breakfast tacos.... 🙂
We do similar breakfasts with a few differences:
- Pre-cooked bacon, crumbled in a bag
- no potatos
- Small tortillas, usually flour or corn
We pre-crack the eggs and put them into a nalgene, that way you just shake the nalgene up to scramble the eggs and pour it into the pan to cook.
We've done it with and without the potatoes. Potatoes seems to be the preference. I've also done it with adding some green peppers and onions, but we have a couple of adult leaders who can't tolerate green peppers. Didn't think about the bacon, but it would be a good variant.
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In my Troop, the adults (and SPL/ASPL) eat as a patrol. Over time, we've pretty much standardized our breakfast for most campouts. Sometimes on Sunday AM, we will go simpler, but this is pretty simple. Our breakfast is usually breakfast burritos. We make this as a one-pot meal, and more often than not, serve it without using a plate--we will use a paper towel.
Ingredients:
Breakfast sausage in a tube (Jimmy Dean's is a favorite, but we have used other brands, we have used mild, hot, and maple at different campouts-maple is not a good combo, IMHO). Usually we use a pound for 5-8 eaters. Sometimes we'll use half a pack, and save the second half for Sunday Breakfast, if we have only 3 or 4 eaters.
Eggs: Basically, we plan two per person.
Hash browns--either plain hash browns, or if everybody tolerates onions, the potatoes o'brien (cut potatoes with onions and peppers).
Wheat Tortillas: two or three per person
Grated cheese--either cheddar or mexican style, depending on if we will use it for other meals
Salsa
Cooking: Start with browning the sausage in a skillet. While sausage is browning, crack eggs into a bowl, and scramble. (if we do this for a small patrol, I'll often just crack the eggs directly into the skillet after the sausage is browned and potatoes done , and scramble in the skillet). After sausage is browned, add hash browns. Cook together until potatoes are done. Then add eggs, and stir. Keep stirring until the eggs are done. Then remove from heat. (while this step is occurring, get the cheese, salsa and tortillas ready). Serve egg/sausage/potato mix on tortilla, add cheese and salsa to taste.
This is a fairly hearty breakfast, so a smaller lunch is usually enough.
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This isn't an original idea, but I have actually done this, and found it to be fun, but not necessarily practical, in terms of time and fuel, for long distance backpacking.
You take a 1 liter or so pot with a lid (I have an MSR stoway that's either 1.1 or 1.6 liters), and you buy a disposable aluminum pan (8x14 or so). You cut a circle in the pan just a bit smaller than your pot (ideally, you perforate this with small holes, but it's not necessary). Then you cut a strip about 3/4 an inch to an inch wide, from the sides of the aluminum pan. You spiral the strip in the bottom of your pot (with the short side perpendicular to the pot), almost cover the strip in water and then put the aluminum circle on top of the strip. This makes the steam baking "oven." Then mix up whatever packaged muffin mix (just add water type) per the directions. Put the batter into an AL muffin liner to about half full. I can put about three half-filled muffin liners in my pot on top of the apparatus. Then fire up your stove until the water just begins to boil. Reduce the heat, and cook for about 20 mins or until the muffins rise. This makes a soft muffin, but it really doesn't harden into a crust. It's a nice treat, just takes a few minutes. There is a commercial version of this called the Bakepacker.
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19 hours ago, blw2 said:
I keep seeing this said.... I get the idea, and it probably has merit most of the time, but I have a problem with the statement generally....
it's basic premise demands that the veteran scouters that are presumably teaching those first years what's-what, a) are teaching them, and b) understand it themselves...
sorta like the idea that if an adult was a scout as a youth, that they understand the 'code' or whatever....
or when questioned about something a veteran of the (job/trade/hobby/or whatever) says something like, "I've been doing this for X years...". to that the inside my head voice says "doing what, doing it wrong a long time?"...well, usually it's not out loud anyway....
I'll say this, as a "first year scouter" at the troop level, I 'got it' much better than some of the veterans of the adult lead troop did....
Well, then you are a better man than I am. When I was a first year Scouter with the Troop (after having been a TDL, DL and 1 1/2 year WDL, and still being a WDL for the next Den), I was assigned a job by the SM as Advancement chair. Best thing they ever did. When the NSP (my former Webelos Den) was not working right, and having problems menu planning, I almost jumped up to help them. Thankfully, I had a job to do with the Troop, and couldn't do that. It's too tempting for most of us WDLs to turn the NSP into a Webelos III den.
2 hours ago, xj-boonie said:I think you all who are shouting "do not let new scouters near first year campers" need to chill out. (and aren't cub scout leaders also scouters?) While I understand that cub scouts and scouting usa are different, I don't think one can make the general statement. It's better to decide on a person by person basis.
What this adult is going to be doing is exactly what @69RoadRunner says - herding cats and be a general assistant.
A Boy Scout leader shouldn't be herding cats. The SPL and PLs should be.
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On 5/16/2018 at 2:33 PM, Eagle94-A1 said:
DO NOT LET THE NEW SCOUTER ANYWHERE NEAR THE FIRST YEAR CAMPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(and yes that is me shouting at you in warning, not anger
) He needs serious Cub Scout Leader deprogamming, and trained as a Boy Scouter, or should I say Scouts, BSA Scouter. I've seen first hand what new, well meaning, just crossed over parents/former Cub Leaders hover around first year campers, and it is a complete and total disaster. Do not make the mistake.
#2 WELCOME TO DA FORUMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This needs to be repeated:
DO NOT LET THE NEW SCOUTER ANYWHERE NEAR THE FIRST YEAR CAMPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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1 hour ago, David CO said:
My character and camping skills were already pretty well formed before I became a scoutmaster (at age 25).
Is it just a job, and you dislike doing it?
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On 5/20/2018 at 2:12 PM, David CO said:
This is where I disagree with you, Barry.
So you're saying you don't enjoy being a scout leader, and you aren't a better man for being one?
I learned a lot as an Assistant Scout master. I had never backpacked before, for example.
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On 5/20/2018 at 7:43 AM, David CO said:
That is exactly what I don't want. Scouting is a game for boys.
In the early days of Scouting, leaders could earn Eagle.
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On 5/25/2018 at 5:55 PM, CalicoPenn said:
I think it's about time for both girls in Scouts and Venturers/Sea Scouts in OA . And since you did put it in I&P, but not necessarily meaning to open a can of worms, I'm looking forward to when the BSA finally gets out of the discrimination game altogether and allows agnostics and atheists to join.
So you want the Scout oath changed?
Article- The male crisis thats ruining our boys
in Open Discussion - Program
Posted
Disagree totally on Sustainability. It's the worst Merit Badge I've ever read. (and I've read the rest on your list). It's the boring parts of Environmental Science, expanded.