scottmphoto

The troop that I'm involved with is chartered to an LDS church. We encourage the boys to get a uniform, but it is not required. We generally go on one outing a month, usually a camping trip but sometimes just a day hike.

We generally have the boys eat dinner before they arrive at the church on the day we head out, but that is the only cost to the boys. The church covers everything else.

The LDS church adopted the Boy Scouts as part of their Young Men's Program just a few years after the BSA got started so they cover almost all the cost involved with very minimal cost passed on to the boys.

I teach some wilderness survival and would love to see the MB pamphlet revised. It leaves some things out that I think needs to be there.

If you'd send a copy to scottmphoto@yahoo.com , I'll read through it and make my suggestions.

It's funny that you can get the Official Boy Scout dutch oven made by Lodge from the Scout catalog cheaper than you can get the same size without the Scout symbol from the Lodge website.

I'm usually up between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. I stoke up the fire and get my coffee started (I also enjoy the peace and quiet before everyone else gets up). Then, I usually make sure the SPL is up around 6:45. He usually gets up by himself then wakes the rest of the troop.

PACK15NISSAN,

If you want to do Woodbadge and not miss church, check into an LDS-friendly Woodbadge course (no Sunday's). Most councils offer them now because the LDS usually can't do camping or even travel on the Sabbath. I'm a non-church member Scoutmaster for an LDS troop, I run into this subject every month during our monthly camping trip.

Our troop always does some version of flashlight wars or capture the flag after the campfire and evening meals.

Last summer at camp, we had the cell phone problem, but I was only a parent teaching a merit badge and not in the troop leadership at the time.

The leadership made a BIG deal out of the Scouts not bringing any electronics but every adult there (except me, because I turned my phone off and locked it in the car for the week) virtually had a cell phone glued to their ear.

I took a few of them aside at different times and made a few observations and commented about the example that the adults were setting for the Scouts. Needless to say, it didn't do much good.

This summer, I am Scoutmaster and there will be a NO ELECTRONICS policy. I have started making it clear that they can all bring their phones but that they will remain locked in the vehicles. If I catch them with one, I will take it away for the remainder of camp. If there is an emergency, all the parents and spouses will have the camp's emergency land-line number.

I love my cell phone, I don't have a land-line telephone at home... But I go to camp to GO TO CAMP. If I wanted all the stuff that I have at home...I would just stay home.

It's been many years since I have had the chance to attend Camp Orr. I was a second generation Camp Orr Scout as my dad was in one of the canoes that came down the river when they chose the site and he helped build the camp. I spent much time there going to camp, working on staff, troop and OA functions. It is (or at least was) one of the best camps that I've ever been to.

Because of life (wife, kids, military...regular job) I got away from Scouts for a long while. I was looking forward to the time when my son was old enough to go. I've been a Scoutmaster since last July and had been pushing to get our troop to Camp Orr this summer but it seems that our CO made other plans (LDS troop going to a multi-stake LDS-only week at Camp DeSoto in El Dorado, Arkansas).

Camp Orr offers more high adventure stuff now than it used to and it seems like a great program. Hopefully, next summer I'll get the chance to take our troop and my son on his first trip there. Oh well, at least there is the Ordeal Weekend in May.

I love Camp Orr, but I am biased. The program would have to go pretty steeply downhill for it not to be a good program.

Until a year ago, I was a staff-photographer for my local daily newspaper. I currently own a small photography studio. I do weddings, portraits, seniors, pets...etc. I specialize in nature, wildlife and adventure photography. My dad owns a tree farm and I do a lot of work around there. I always have my camera with me and I get a few photos now and then of some of the local wildlife and some beautiful landscapes. I just love being outdoors.

Every once in a while, I enjoy a good, imported, hand-made cigar when I'm out in the woods. I always make it a point to "take my nightly walk" well AWAY from camp and any Scouts. I don't even think any of the boys know that I smoke because none of them have ever seen me do it.

I rarely carry matches anymore. I use flint and steel and have been doing so for years. For tinder, I make my own charcloth. If you're interested in this method, just Google it. There are several YouTube videos on it as well.

My mother-in-law has a 1-ton 15-passenger van. I use it sometimes to haul the boys on a trip. Most times, it is the only way that I can get the boys there as most of the parents won't (or can't) help. It'll carry 11 people plus a bunch of gear comfortably. I'm looking for a small trailer to pull behind so that I can carry more gear there and more boys inside.

So far, since I became Scoutmaster, the coldest that I've been able to get the boys out into is the mid-30's, but it doesn't really get that cold in Arkansas.

Like was said earlier, it's too cold when the boys parents won't let them go and attendance starts falling, but then...my son and I just make it a father-son campout and we go anyway.

As long as the boys and leaders are prepared for the cooler temps, then there really is no problem. I know that when I was in the army, I froze my rear-end off in 30-below temps in Germany...not to mention the wind chill. I wasn't comfortable and I had no choice in the matter...but I survived (and we didn't have tents. We were out in the open).

It all depends on training, being prepared and taking into consideration the safety of all involved. I wouldn't take my troop out in anything in the lower 30's or colder, but that's because I know that we aren't prepared for it and I probably wouldn't have any boys interested in going anyway.

I agree that $190 is "cheap" for summer camp, but we have a lot of lower-income Scouts that can't afford it and we're not allowed to do fundraisers. I know that right now, I might not be able to afford the $75 cost for an adult leader to attend myself.

A LONG TIME AGO, when I was a Scout (my first year at Camp Orr in Arkansas was 1982), it cost $60 per Scout. The only way that I could afford to go was that my grandmother paid for it and I worked it off doing jobs around her house. I understand that the cost of everything has gone up but some people just can't afford it.

I LOVE going to our local camp. I say that I basically grew up there. Besides troop summer camp there, our troop camped there a lot in the off-season, our OA always held activities there, I was on staff there for several years...etc. My dad was in one of the canoes as they came down the Buffalo River and chose the spot for the camp. He helped build the rock dining hall and trading post in the early years of the camp. I have a lot of special memories about this camp. But... for the cost and the great program that we held last summer on our own... We'll probably end up doing our own camp again. It's the only way that some of our boys will be able to have any kind of summer camp experience.

Everybody has to way the pro's and con's of a local camp versus their own camp. There's some good things and bad things as well about both and I wouldn't trade one for the other...either of them.

Because of rising costs at our local camp and lack of funds in our budget, we took our troop on our own "summer camp" last summer. We got to camp for free (well, almost, we had to collect some rocks to help the landowner build a wall). Our younger Scouts stayed in camp and worked o merit badges and our older Scouts went on a canoe trip and went on a guided cave trip. Everybody got together in the evening for the usual campfire stuff.

The cost of our local camp was $175 last year, that would have been @ $3450.00 for the week, that's for 18 boys and 4 adults. Our camp cost @ $682 (including gas). That's @ $31.00 per person.

Our troop is chartered to an LDS church (I'm a non-member SM) and the church pays all the expenses out of their budget that is set aside from the Young Men's program. We're not allowed to participate in any type of fundraisers and we have many lower-income families in the area that can't afford to pay even that much for camp. Our camp this year has already gone up to $190.00 for this coming summer.

We're thinking about taking our younger Scouts to regular camp this summer with the older boys doing high adventure.

I am a non-church member LDS Scoutmaster. In our troop, the Scouts are not allowed to camp or travel on Sunday, although the Bishop can make special allowances twice a year for something special, like going to Philmont or Jamboree.

I grew up in a community troop and we always went camping on Friday night and came back Sunday. It's a little frustrating for me still (I have only been Scoutmaster since July) that our troop goes out on Friday night and has to come home on Saturday. There are some great 20-mile hikes on the Ozark Highland Trail that I would love to get the boys out on but I can't because they would have enough time to complete the whole section, especially this time of year with it getting dark so early.

It's hard to get the boys the nights needed for camping requirements for their advancement but that is one thing that I can't really do anything about.

As a Scoutmaster who's Scout son just turned 12 years old. I applaud your interest with wanting to help out. Sometimes, a Scouts parents just don't care enough.

It is hard to be both a SM and a Scout parent. You have to work hard to make sure that nobody can say that you are giving your son any special treatment. Sometimes, the boy may get treated harder than he would be if he was not the SM's son just so that nobody can claim that he's getting that special treatment.

It is very hard sometimes to act solely as a SM and not as a parent. If you really want to help out, try volunteering as an ASM or in some other adult position. Give your son room to grow on his own (with the help of the older Scouts).

I love being SM and wouldn't want to give it up for anything in the world. I want to be able to give to every Scout (especially my son) what my old Scoutmaster passed on to me...the joy and love of being a Scout.

OGE,

I haven't eaten at Brown's in many years. I know there was talk of them closing down and I thought they had for a while, but I guess that they're still open.

In the LDS Scout handbook (a little separate church printed book) it says that a ward's Bishop can allow camping/traveling on Sunday for like 2 or 3 times a year (I can't remember the number given exactly) for special occasions. This is usually a special trip like summer camp or Philmont where the troop has to travel more than the usual distance. But, you'll find that this doesn't happen very often especially since the Young Men (Scouts) have a major part in the Sacrament meeting ceremony and they have to be there for it. I don't know of any time (at least since 2004) that our local Bishop has approved it.

I'm a Baptist and I can't remember a single time that my old troop ever left on Saturday, especially since we always attended the Vesper ceremony on Sunday morning. It's just a lot harder to get the boys to earn a few of their badges with them not being able to stay over on Saturday night.

We try to have an outdoor activity every month and this, along with maybe 5 days of summer camp can get them 15 days and nights of camping a year. With our older boys though, you run into some of them having band and football on Friday night and some of them work, so a lot of them don't get to attend the events.

My wife is a member and my three kids decided that they wanted to join. Because the 11-year old Scouts aren't considered the same as 12-18 year old Scouts, the only way my son could go to summer camp this last summer, is if I went along. Because of my Scouting background, I was asked to teach the Wilderness Survival Merit Badge, which I did.

I was asked by the Bishop if I would consider being an ASM and I said yes. Well about two weeks after coming back from camp, the Bishop sprung the Scoutmaster thing on me. He said that he liked the way I handled the boys during camp and my MB classes. The last Scoutmaster was only there because it was his "calling." I had been an SM before and the Bishop knew this from our talks at camp.

I told him, that if he really wanted me to, that I would be the SM until someone better suited came along.

He seems to be satisfied with my work so far and the boys seem to like me OK and seem to not mind that I am not a member. But now, the troop attends district and council events and we are starting to plan more outings like their first 50-miler next summer.

I just wish that they didn't have an aversion to camping on Sunday so that we could actually have two nights of camping per event and not only one.

I am the Scoutmaster for an LDS troop (although I am not a member of the church). My son recently turned 12 years old, which means he gets to do things with the older boys (Young Men's Program) now. I am concerned that someone will think that I might let him get away with some things that I might not let the other boys. I am also concerned that I might inadvertently be harder on him to make sure that someone doesn't think this.

As was said before, it's a fine line that I have to walk to make sure that I don't either favor him or ride him harder than the other boys. It's more difficult than it seems but I would never "laugh off" his bad behavior.

When I was a young Scout, we were taught that it was disrespectful to fly a flag in the rain and it was not allowed. I'm sure that the regulations have changed in the last 25 years since then as I see flags up all over my hometown when it is raining.

I think that someone that can quote the regulations needs to post on this topic but for me... it's wrong to do so.

The only times that I have ever thought about getting a tattoo was when I made Eagle and thought about getting the badge tattooed on my chest and another when I was granted my Vigil Honor with a red Vigil arrow on my left forearm so that when I put my arm across my chest, the arrow would be pointing over my right shoulder.

Hi,

I'm looking for an older Westark Area Council (Arkansas) strip. It has a red border and red letters with a red Arkansas Razorback in the middle. The version that I'm looking for is the one without the flor-de-leis. This was the council strip I had when I was a youth and want to find one to give to my son.

Thanks for any info,

As way of an update, last week was my first official meeting as the new Scoutmaster for this troop. Somehow, I let myself be suckered into it though agreeing to be an ASM. The last time I was a Scoutmaster was in 1992 when I helped to form a new troop in Killeen, Texas when I was stationed at Ft. Hood. At least, this time, it is an established troop. THat makes it a lot easier.