raisinemright

Gunny, After five years (and counting) in Cubs, I'm kind of new to this Boy Scouting stuff. But, I'm pretty good outdoors through the virtue of my own mistakes. We just did a backpack trip where the boys did 13 miles in one day in a cold, solid rain. Of the six Scouts, two had done one 15 mile trek before, the other four were on their first trip. Of the four dad's, one is very experienced, I'm OK, the other two were total novices. All of them had pretty much the right gear. We drummed proper footwear and socks into them. What I think really made the difference is that their dad's were present at teh planing meeting where the experienced packer and I were sharing some horror stories of killer cotton and giving ideas where to get cheap gear. I've become a fan of resale shops. Got my kid outfitted pretty cheap. Switchback pants are perfect for hikes and outdoors, especially with long john's. Nylon sweatpants for $2.99 at resale work as good as $40.00 hiking pants. Wal-Mart now carries a good selection of polypropylene shirts and Poly underwear for kids and adults. About $9.00 each piece. Again, I think it's a combo of training the parents as well as the Scouts, especially the newer year kids.

I like adding tentmaking. We had a Pack/Troop family campout a couple months ago. Another troop was at teh same campground and I was admiring their 20X40 canvas tent with a separate room for Scoutmasters and a huge screened in dining area. The SM made the tent himself. To say I was impressed would be an understatement.

Congratulations on a job well done. Looks like you have a knot coming for your uniform. Hopefully one of your other leaders will put you in for a heroism award

Boy, I wish I could figure out the lightweight part! Actually I didn't do too bad. I carried most of the heavy food for the patrol and the heaviest stove along with my full size Therma-rest. Some day I'll be able to afford the lightweight stuff. We've got our University next weekend.

I'm new to the forums, but last week ozemu started a thread about what the weekend in Scouting was like. Let's do it again. Three other leaders and I took six scouts backpacking. Four of them strapped on their first backpack 1-3 days before we left. The plan was for 15 miles with one mile Friday from the car to the site, 8-10 on Saturday and the rest Sunday. A hard steady rain began just as dinner was getting over so we all turned in. The Scouts awoke at 4:30am ready to go. Still raining, but not real cold. We ate and packed up our gear. The first 8 miles was pretty good althoug the rain continued until we were almost done. We considered aborting the trip because two of our tents were soaked throughout. However, we met another troop having a regular campout so we hung out tents in their dining fly (thanks Troop 1984) Then our boys wanted to backpack some more so both troops joined forces for another three miles. After dinner we rejoind them for Cracker Barrel and tuned in around 10:30. The weather cooled drastically and we awoke to ice on the tents and ground. A quick breakfast, broke camp and hiked to the car. The boys got their first 15 miler in for their MB.

It sounds like they were looking for an excuse to leave. We had a similar situation in our Pack. At a leaders meeting, we were discussing taking a trip to a WWII submarine for an overnighter. One of the rules is that an adult must stay on guard duty all night. Someone joked that the reason is to keep the boys from peeing over the side. We all laughed and went on with our meeting. Our Pack Secretary apparently got highly offended at that and had it out a few days later with our CM, and they left the pack. All we could figure is that they had been looking for an excuse and blew that minor comment way out of proportion. I would make one more attempt...privately and then if they insist on going I'd wish them well.

I've been ACM for several years. Here's my take. I'm the key assistant to the pack. We've divided leadership in our pack between "executive" leaders and regular uniformed and non-uniformed leaders. The exec team is CC, CM and ACM. My responsibility is to help out in any way possible. The CM and I tag team a lot during pack meetings, to the point where our (mercifully) former unit commissioner wondered who the real leader was. We get along very well and bounce ideas to make a better program. He's a good idea guy as am I but I'm a bit more organized and able to make stuff come together to make a great program for the kids. In my opinion, the ACM is the guy who makes it happen. We also have a succession plan for when he graduates. I would become CM but it would only be for one year so we're considering trying to develop another dad with younger kids to take our CM's place. It's really going to change the pack as he's been CM for 9 of the ten years our pack has existed.

Thankf for answering a question I never asked. I wans wondering if you can go outside district or council for merit badges. Our troop is spread out over many miles. (one scout lives 50 miles away) and many of us don't even live in the district we're chartered in. My son has been meeting with a backpacking MB counselor every couple weeks but it's at the far end of the district. This guys is great, even offering to go backpacking with our guys. However, for future ones, I'm going to stay a little closer to home.

Don''t be afraid to use your authority. Wear your uniform and expect the boys to wear theirs and to wear them correctly, shirts tucked in, all patches etc. It teaches respect. Remind them that they are in your home and that they need to respect you as their leader and to respect your home. Keep the program high energy with some games, outdoor time, new stuff, quieter times etc. These guys are right in between being little kids and young men. They need a bit of both in their world. I tend to talk too much and bore the kids. My wife tells me often to stop talking about stuff and start doing something. Have someone critique your meetings like she does to me. Keep having fun, both yourself and with the kids. I''ve got 8 Bears who are all homeschooled. We have a blast together. It''s my second time around as a bear leader so I got the chance to make most of the mistakes with my older sons den. My real advice is to keep at it and discuss the problem with your CM and other DL''s along with the parents.