resqman

When I joined the troop 3 years ago, there was no official hat. Adults wore a odd assortment of headwear. I went down to the local embroadry shop and chose a ball cap with a green bill and tan top in an acid washed finish. Had "Troop NNN" and City, State embroaderied around a Flue de luis in green to match the bill. Had first inital, last name added across the back. I got a few and gave them out to the other ASMs who routinely camped. A few other fellas asked and I had a few more made. Just picked up 3 hats last week and 5 today for the newer ASMS. So now all the ASMs and SM

Troop "guidelines" state an adult must serve in the troop committee for a year prior to becoming an ASM. This is to give them a chance to learn the troop culture, get trained, loose the Cub mentality, etc. There are some who are much better suited for direct contact with the lads and being in the outdoors. There are those adults who are better suited for committee work. The SM will waive the 1 year committee work if it is obvious a better fit for the adult to be in the field. Mostly these are adults who earned Eagle as lads, have military experience, or have specific field oriented sk

Our CO does not sponser a Pack or Venture Crew. The nearest Packs in our area also have Troops sponsored by the same CO. The last several years the other troops have been in "transition" due to a variety of adult leadership changes. As a result we have had good membership drives. 12-16 webelos joining each year for 3 years running. We also had several scouts transfer from the struggling troops to ours. The brothers of the transfers eventually wound up in our troop as well. The other troops have seemed to resolve their issues and more of the Webelos from "thier feeder" packs are ch

Sharpie works for our family. Shirt in the collar Pants inside the waist band Socks and underwear we consider expendable

Ditto

In my youth, the patrols were proud of the name and wanted to keep the name as a badge of honor. I can remember a patrol every changing its name. All the patrols had very standard patrols names chosen from the national patches. In my current troop, the NSP is allowed to choose any name it likes as long as the standard national patches are worn. Usually after a year, they want to change the patrol name to something more exotic. The SM runs an advertising firm and has his art department make up a new graphic and the troop buys the new custom patches. The first time. After that, it com

What is the difference between Preparedness and Survivalist? Degree? I think it has to do with prejudice and ignorance of the media. It is hard to be "too prepared". The media has to label everything and everyone so it can be served up in sound bites. If there is no conflict, there is no news. By labeling every activity and assigning it a value judgement of normal or extreme, it provides a platform to debate and condon. To some, buying food in bulk at Sams or Costco is extreme hoarding of food. To others it is sensible economics of buying at a lower price now instead of a higher

There are number of survivalist websites, forums and vendors who offer a variety of low tech and old tech to revert to the pre 1900's way of living. One of my jobs was as a Disaster Recovery Planner for major corporations during Y2K. The goal was to provide enough planning and infrastructure so the business could continue until services and manpower were available to return to pre-disaster status. Sometimes this means relocating outside the effected area on the presumtion that disasters are localized. Emergency Prep merit badge introduces the concepts of planning as well as requiri

I was a certified Emergency Rescue Technician for the state of North Carolina. I completed the states High Angle Rescue certification while an active member of the technical rescue squad for over 10 years. I enjoy ropes and knots. While the knot arrangement seems adequate to act as a belay station, I am curious why it is so elaborate. Why not just tie the rope into a loop via grapevine knots and use a biner to attach the belay device to the loop? Fewer knots, easier and less likley to be tied incorrectly? I am not sure of the advantage of the proposed setup.

Our troop uses permission slips as a form of committment. The scouts must have the signed permission slip in a week before the campout so that enough drivers are available to transport. It also helps the person reserving the campsite to arrange sites of proper size and space. We use a top/bottom slip. The top lists the location, date, activities, packing list, items to leave behind. The bottom portion lists boys name, parents signature and if the parent wants to drive or not along with vehicle information for planning purposes. We have a 3-ring binder with copies of all the me

It seems to me that you enjoy casting stones when the real Chief Scout would rather write in the dirt. And what would he write? Thou shalt not alter thy uniform without permission from the national office? No problem. No patches on my uniforms that are out of position or not earned. While the troop promotes the adults wearing a custom patrol patch for the adults, I do not not wear a patrol patch. Thou shall have a uniform that reflects your current state in situation? Full trained for my current position. All patches and insignia reflect my current status and training.

"only one was in his scout shirt (half uniform)" Arrrgh. There is no such thing as Half Uniform. There is only UNIform. Anything else is not a uniform. Stop making excuses and celebrating improper uniforming. It is an All or Nothing proposition. "The day the BSA fields a rugged uniform that is designed for camporees, and is something a scout would be proud to wear in public, that's when we'll achieve voluntary full uniforming...till then, parents and scouters will keep sending their kids to camporees in blue jeans and other clothes that can take the abuse of dirt, soot, a spil

Belonging to any organization makes you a target for discrimination. But oddly enough, the discrimination often starts from within the organiation. Most groups and organizations expect the members to meet certain criteria to join, regularly attend gatherings, and uphold certain belief systems. Sports teams require members to regularly attend gatherings where they discuss internal policies about how to operate. They require members to wear uniforms. They outline how members will interact with other members during gatherings. They even employ referees to enforce these rules. If

We are a fully uniformed troop. The troop maintains a uniform closet. Scouts are expected to wear a full uniform at every troop meeting, SM conference, BOR, traveling to and from every campout, at flag ceremonies, summer camp, etc. All troop members have a full uniform. Adults typically wear a full uniform the entire time during campouts. From when we leave the parking lot on Friday afternoon until we return Sunday afternoon. Not sure what they sleep in, but from when they leave the tent in the morning until they return to their tents in the evening, they are in uniform. All activities

I am constantly suprised at the number of 11 year olds that have never spent a night away from their parents. Never had a sleep over with the kid next door. Never spent a night at grandma's while the parents had a night off. The first campout with the troop, the parents are the most nervous. The boys are excited about the adventures they think they will have. When summer camp comes around, it is mostly the parents who are nervous about what will happen to their son during a WHOLE week away. These are the parents who have forgotten their job is to prepare their children to become se

We don't limit adults, we only take enough to drive all the scouts attending. We usually have between 20-35 scouts attend a campout so we need 5-8 adults just to shuttle all the scouts to the event. Usually all are uniformed ASMs. Occasionally we have a parent to help with driving. They most often are deciding if they want to become active ASMs and are giving it a try. All uniformed adults are fully trained in their position so tend to be familiar with the boy led plan. Newer uniformed adults are encouraged to watch before they interact. It takes a few months to get all the traini

We have an ASM who is "undertall" vs. overweight. He is planning on attending Northern Tier but needs to lose 30 lbs by late summer. Feasible yes but not likely. Still waiting to see if he is going to lose weight or back out. While Philmont is wilderness, you are never more than half a day hike from a camp with communications. Northern Tier is a bit more wilderness. Great guy and good outdoor skills. Adds a great diminson to the overall leadership team of the troop. But I concerned that I and the scouts would have to treat for medical issues in the field due to his current

Seems to me that the collarless shirts in the 70's were only available as long sleeve shirts. I worked as camp staff in 76 and had to buy long sleeve shirts and have the sleeves cut off to have collar on shirts. The drawback to the collarless shirts is you had to wear neckers. My troop wore neckers but the camp did not require them in the South in the summer. Some kids wore the collarless shirts without neckes and looked like their were only wearing part of the the uniform (which they were). By the way, I have two of the blue packs shown in the photo above. Still I got

At our Webelos invitational we run a number of stations. The station just before lunch is box oven making. The next station is to build a pizza from a tortilla, two spoons of jar pizza sause, a handfull of grated cheese, and a few toppings (pepperoini, olives, bacon, mushrooms, etc.) Place the pizza in the box oven they just made and wait a few minutes while it heats up. Sometimes we have a third station of making a charcoal chimmeny from a #10 can and coat hangers. Punch a row of holes space about 1 inch apart all the way around the can along the first crease with a nail. Thread the

A nearby troop went through a leadership change a couple years back. The experienced leadership formed a venture crew and left the troop. Boys visited our troop telling the story that they had been in the other troop for 12-18 months and were still Tenderfoot. Half dozen scouts joined our troop. A year later one of our ASMs was teaching at Woodbadge and was accused of poaching the boys from the other troop. The other troop apparently still holds a grudge. I know we had one scout join our troop and participate for 4-6 months. He stopped showing up after a while. I bumped into h

I too wondered about the scout tent discussions. I know that the discussions in the vehicles to an event are considerably different when the scouts are 11-12 vs 15-16. Having been a teenage boy, raising two teenage boys, and a scout leader for 7 years, boys are not that different. Fart jokes are always funny. Girls have kooties until middle school. As they approach high school, getting kooties is not such a bad thing. Car camping can encourage people to bring "too much" gear. I think we need to look at the question being asked. Is Scouts about teaching a boy how to survive in the w

We have a cooking contest every campout. The PLC chooses the theme for Saturday evening meal. Each patrol selects its own menus and buys their own food for the entire weekend already. They just choose menu items that meet the theme. Started out simply enough with ethic weekends: Mexican, Asian, Italian, etc. After about a year of that, the patrols were confident they could cook. The PLC then started down the line of methods of cooking. Must cook something in a dutch oven besides dessert, must use a box oven for at least one part of meal, untensiless cooking, open fire cooking, backpacki

Not quite sure how you create one when it does not exist. When an Adult wants to become an ASM, he is told he must complete the 4 modules within a year. We expect him to complete YPT before he can attend a campout. We usually can tell him when the next courses will be offered since some of the troop leaders are trainers and suggest he review the council website for training opportunities. The SM is woodbadge trained. At least 4 other uniformed leaders are woodbadgers. Of those 4, at least three are wood badge trainers. The last IOLS course, half the staff was from our troop. We als

We have been building plastic totes with gear for each of the 6 training areas we have designed for the Troop Instructors. Totin'Chip/Knife&Axe: All the tools and stuff you need to teach Totin' chip and set up an axe yard. Couple of worn pocket knifes, sharpening stone & oil, hand or scout axe, file, gloves, safety glasses, bow saw, rope to delineate yard. Place all in plastic tote. Rope, Knots and Lashing: A tub with dozen or so 6' lengths of rope to practice knot tying. A couple of stubby candles for fusing the end of rope. Twine or floss for whipping rope. We also h

I remember wearing my cub uniform to elementary school in the late 60's early 70's. But it definitely was not considered cool to be a Boy Scout in High School in the 70's. My son had a birthday party last spring. Invited 3 buddies to go indoor skydiving. All of them happened to be Boy Scouts in different troops but none knew the others were Scouts. Never came up between the friends until they saw the scout logo on my custom leather cellphone belt pouch.