raisinemright

Knot Head, I agree with you on Backpacking. But, even with the difficulty it's a great badge to earn. My oldest earned it last year. Took two summers, lots of motivation and was kind of expensive cause of all the gear we had to buy. (Mostly for me since I've had an itch to backpack for several years) But the skills learned in that badge far exceed most badges. He thinks nothing of camping in any condition, planning trips, getting gear ready and going out. Their first weekended was 13 miles in the rain. Memorable and fun. A couple 45 and 50 mile trips makes for a very experienced

UCEagle, I moved about a year ago from Detroit to Baltimore (Thanks Jenny) One of the first things I noticed was all the people wearing purple Ravens jerseys. It's just bizarre that an entire city actually roots for a football team. I got caught comitting an unpardonable sin though. I'm not a football fan and the car we bought had a Ravens sticker on it. I actually removed the sticker during game time. Nobody saw me though for obvious reasons

Our former council (moved out of state) had something called the year round camping award. The council we are in now doesn't offer it but my boys are still going for it. One son has nearly completed his fourth year of camping once a month for a year. The other is nearing the completion of his first one. When there is no troop trip, we either take a family outing or they sleep out in the yard. In September, they almost missed it. They ended up sleeping out during a Tropical Storm. We were set to bring them in if it got nasty but it was the tail end of the storm. Got 10" of rain that day

I've only been at scout camps where troops supplied their own tents. Never been a problem. We just moved cross-Country and all the camps near here have camp supplied tents. That just doesn't seem like campint to me. It will be very hard to get used to.

Gary, When our troop bought new tents, the committee set a new policy. No duffels or backpacks allowed in the tent. They were to be kept in the tent vestibule or outside under a rain cover or in a trash bag. Worked very well. No gear strewn all over the place, no damage and on occasion, a four man tent sleeps four men.

I was an asst CM for about 6 or 7 years in addition to being a DL, and a ASM for about 3 years. Thank God my youngest moved up. Now, I'm unnoficially an ASM for a troop and will be SM for a new troop we're starting soon. As ACM, I kept the CM focused and both of us made a very good team at turning out some excellent Pack meetings. We had one that was so good, I was glad the year was ending so everyone would forget how high we raised the bar. I actually got chewed out by our Unit Commissioner, during a meeting for taking too public of a role. I politely and quietly told this UC wh

My sons had the opportunity to shake hands with Baden Powell. OK, a guy who portrays him. We were at the Star Spangled Camporee at Ft. McHenry in Maryland. 6,000 scouts celebrating the 100th anniversary at the birtplace of our national anthem. Yea, it was pretty cool.

Mike F, I agree, it's not about speeding boys through. I don't buy the whole 1st class in a year thing. Learning all those skills are too important to rush. I was just giving an example of what happened to my son and how an APL can be a responsible position. In his case, he had already been a PL for 1 or 2 years, but those positions didn't count toward his next rank. Once we figured out what the deal was, it was too late to take on another position since he was going to get his turn as PL in a couple months. He got over it, moved on from there to ASPL. He will probably be the SPL for a

I invited a guy I knew who is a Federal Agent and on the national SWAT Team. He came in the house as everyone was arriving and went upstairs. As I was opening the meeting, suddenly the boys saw, coming slowly down the stairs black boots, camo pants, knee pads, camo, pistol belt, ballistic vest, M4 submachine gun, facemask, goggles, helmet. Yep, it got their attention. He also showed them a video of his being on the receiving end of a Taser for training. We finished up by taking fingerprints of eac scout and giving the cards to the parents.

I agree with you. My son has been in some elected or appointed leadership since he began scouts. He tied for PL a couple years ago so they decided to split the job in six month segments. He took APL for the first six months. The other scout immediately disappeared for several months for basketball leaving my son to run the patrol. (He knew he was leaving for BBall, why run?) Four months in, we realized that APL doesn't count so his Star rank was delayed for over six months. He's young enough so it didn't affect him and he made Life in the minimum time required. Seems that APL sh

Resqman, I agree with your post. We had a kid on our 50 miler last month. On day 3, he called me over and proceeded to melt down. We had a long conversation and I told him when it was over to tell his parents "It sucked...and I had a great time." He laughed and his attitude did an immediate 180. He had a great time.

Harbor Freight has this really nifty device for about $20 that allows you to refill small bottles off a larger tank. You need to freeze the empty bottle and screw it on. They only fill about 70% of the way, but it works very well. The tool does say that crossing state lines with refilled bottle is unlawful though.

I'm sold on Alps Taurus 4 tents. Ours are about 2 years old. Zero issues. First time out, 90 mph winds. One pole section broke but that was great considering the wind load. Monthly campouts, Two 5 day backpack treks, one night with 6-10" of rain etc. Plus, they'll sell new poles a section at a time and they have aluminum poles available. We have some of each, by design. No backpacks or duffles allowed in the tent, use the groundcloth and take care of them.

JBlake, your story reminded me of a similar deal. We were on a personal camping trip with a kid in our troop and his family. He wanted to do the 2nd class water rescue stuff, so we decided to take out the dinghy with a small electric motor and I "accidentally" fell out of the boat. The scout and his dad were in the boat. I forgot to tell the kid how to operate the motor and after he tossed me a life vest, the wind began to push the boat away. His dad just sat there watching as his son fumbled with trying to work the motor. I didn't help by yelling that they rescued people off t

We never used a letter but had great success last year with a flyer. When I designedit, I used a statement I heard Rush Limbaugh make and tweaked it for Scouts. The recruiting theme was "Developing Leaders in a World of Followers." At one of our recruiting events, I mentioned the theme and actually got applause form the parents, and a whole bunch of kids joined and many of their parents jumped in as leaders too.

We just got back form a 50 mile backpack trip in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Backcountry camping, hunting for water, climbing several 1000-1500 foot inclines, finding lots of piles of bear scat, rescuing two lost hunting dogs, sahring our meals with them for two days and reuniting the dogs with their owner and spending a day on trail maintenance projects with a ranger, followed by a trip tubing a river. Yup, high adventure. Best part, all it cost was gas and food.

Have an adult "take" the scouts shopping and teach them how to comparson shop. I once sawy three of our scouts haggling over which hot dogs to buy for nearly 30 minutes. The patrol sets a budget and cannot exceed it. That and some price knowledge go far. Shop off price places-dollar stores, outlets, Aldi and Save A Lot are great for campout food. Our troop has tried, with very limited succeess to have each patrol keep a rubbermaid bin with non-perishable essentials. Condiments are also a challenge. I think buying a big bag of ketchup and mustard packets from a restaurant sup

One of the more unique one's I've seen is a cooking competition. THe organizers bought sets of ingredients for three separate recipes, put one of each into several boxes and gave a box to each troop at a camporee. THey did not give them any recipes or any idea what they were supposed to make. It was up to the boys to decide what to make. One of the items was a can of chicken. Our troop used the 1/4 cup of cooking oil and some bread to make fried chicken, along with the rest of the meal. They won.

Cool topic and very timely for me. I'm in the process of moving to a new state. I've been here about 6 months and the family will follow in late June. (finally sold the house) I got hooked up with a troop to help, but the house we're buying is about 20 miles away, so we probably won't stay with that troop. My boys troop is mostly homeschooled kids as is the troop here. I called the DE and asked if there were any in our new area. There are not, but he said they would like to get one started and that he might be able to find us a CO. Coincidentally, a friend from our troop back home i

This past weekend, one of my sons was on a patrol campout and we were all standing around the fire. A small log broke loose and rolled off the fire toward one of the scouts. It stopped a foot or so in front of him, wearing sandals. I just stared at him. He looks at me and says "I know, no open toed shoes." I just said "Yup, that's why. Don't let it happen again."

Colorado, The first time I taught Bears Whittlin Chip, I had 19 different knives stowed away in differnt pockets, belt clips, socks etc. It was kind of fun. After summer was over, at our first Webelos meeting, I asked how many guys used their pocketknives over the summer. They all raised their hands. "How many of you cut yourselves?" They all laughed and raised their hands. Nobody cut themselves twice.

A camp out is an overnight outside. Not only are the activities important, but for a young scout especially, the outside overnight teaches him self reliance and independence. My family is currently living split lives. I am living and working 500 miles away until we can sell the house and move (after five months, I accepted an offer on my house today...YEEHAAA) My wife and sons are with me this week in our new state for a few days. On Friday, I will be driving them 500 miles to get them home in time for the troop camping trip. It will be my younger sons first trip with the t

Welcome to the campfire Doug, I hope your boys enjoy the ride. Personally, I never got beyond Webelos but my boys and I are loving this scouting stuff. One is Star and ASPL, the other just crossed over in March. Due to a job change and move, we'll be changing troops, hopefully by early summer if we can sell the house. We're moving to MD and I've gotten involved in a troop there just helping out a little until we can sell out house in Michigan.

I think we're down this year. So far, only 11 of our 25 scouts have registered for summer camp. Four others are going to another camp called Trail to Eagle. I think kast year, nearly all the boys went to camp. Many parents are out of work. I had to move a few states away for a job and come home 1-2 weekends a month. Needless to say, I won't be going to camp this year, although several scouts will be backpacking in the smokies for a week and I'll be on that trip. For the pack, Day camp registration is waaaay down in our pack. Boys who sell their goal in popcorn get to go for fre

About 20 years ago, a friend and his wife went on vacation. They asked her brother to keep an eye on the house, not knowing that we already had some plans. Using 2X4's, drywall, joint compound and paint, we built a small wall in the hallway thus eliminating the bedrooms from the house. We set up a video to enjoy the hilarity that ensued when they got home. Unknown to us, his toolbox was in the walled off section, so he needed a steak knife to cut through the drywall. Yea, we're still friends and fellow ASM's