SSScout

Many moon ago, I worked for a county gov't agency. Big committee meeting about a problem perceived by the upper echelons (I was lower middle management, for lack of a better descriptor). When someone mentioned who should we report "X" to, the Big Boss said, why to me. I need to know about such "problems". When someone else said, I think I would call the police and 911 first, the BB said why? If it's already happened, we need to handle our end of things. But the occurance is dangerous and illegal.... Exactly . And our office needs to handle it. Contact us first. The meeting was then dismissed.... The BB was later given a "sideways" promotion.....

The following discussion explains why. This strongly implies the Scouts WANT to work/serve/help. Perhaps the place to do these is in the OA, and their efforts are not welcome in the Troop? Example of "Scout Led" vs "Adult Led"?

No comment on the Council stuff. Professionals come and go. DEs? Creating Districts is often a matter of "because I can". I used to work for the County Government. Every time a new department manager/chief was named, "things changed". The new guy wanted to leave his/her mark on things. Did it really make things more efficient? People more responsible? Often debatable. Same with the BSA organization. Regions? Sections? Districts? I have lived in the same house for almost 30 years. I have worked with pretty much the same group of dedicated Scouters thru that time. I have lived in 5 (maybe six, depends on how you define things) DIFFERENT named Districts/Service areas. Our present District is almost EXACTLY the same defined area that I knew in 1995. We still camp and hike.

Slow down, folks. We have two things here, conflating them. Maybe three. Each has a place in this discussion, but need to be considered separately, I think. Scouting has two concerns. The first is why Scouting got started: The "program". The WHY . How does it get presented to the kids/Scouts. WHY should the kid (and by association, their parents) get involved? Why (and How) does the "volunteer" Scouter do what they do? Hiking, camping, personal skills, personal confidence gained, service to others. Outdoor, getting dirty, identifying trees and Poison Ivy. Scout Promise and Law, how to inculcate those ideals (assuming we, the adult leaders, want to inculcate them?) ? The second is the "professional" part. The "official" part. The umpires, the referees, the bank owners. The publishers of the "Handbook for Boys", now titled "The Scouts BSA Handbook" . Record keepers. Supposedly the "enforcers" that have gotten into trouble by not enforcing enough. Or , in some cases enforcing too much? These poor folks are concerned not only with (we hope) the ideals and program us volunteers work with , but with the "company", with their livelihood. The present problems/travails stem from that concern, no less than us volunteers not following thru with our own observations. The possible third thing, mentioned above, is the supposed change in modern youth's psyche, social milieu, if you will . How is the present day 12 year old different from the 12 year old of the 1950's or 70's , for instance? Does schmart phone in the pocket really mean the kid doesn't want to take charge of things and plan out hike or camp trip with his fellows? We talk about Train'em , Trust'em , Let'em lead, and some of us here on S dot com mention knowing some Scouters that don't agree with one of those things , if not all of them. These Scouters don't want the kid to grow up. Demonstrably do not want the Scout to try their wings. How is that part of this brou haha? What is it about today's kids (reference to Bye Bye Birdie) that really requires changing the way we recruit? And WHY do we want to recruit? Why should the kid WANT to be a Scout and not just a kid running around in the woods. He/she may find the college outdoor club when they are 19, 20... These three items are certainly meshed together, but need to be considered somewhat separately, yes?

What think ye on this? A "Promise to Parents", not a "promise to kids"? https://www.crossroadsbsa.org/wp-content/uploads/Scouts-BSA-2021-Promise-to-Parents-Troop-Brand-Standards61.pdf I address your attention especially to the last paragraph. Metrics? Control? Pro's vs volunteers? National vs local? Will the Scout remember the ribbon on the flag or the rain on the canvas?

Look for Openel.

Yep. All the above. Councils usually have a "Scout Digest" or some such newsletter. Each District , if they are fortunate, will have an eNews of some sort. And the local facebook pages..... And by the way, where are your new clear wessels?

Speak to Messrs. Sabin, Salk, Ehrlich and Pasteur...

And... Scouts go to Antarctica..... Have had girl Gold awards and Boy Eagles in years past..... https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/award/antarctic_scout-1667.asp And now, a new research support opportunity: https://scoutinginantarctica.org/ Shiver......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Scouting#:~:text=In Scouting for Boys%2C Baden,profession of theology on Sundays…

I just read the fine print. this is billed as a mountain bike route. "Bike packing", not so much foot traffic.

So this does NOT include the AT in it's route?

I know this ribbon is about rain gear, but hey.... Some years ago, I bought a pair of Bundeswehr (german army) winter trousers from my "surplus " store. Most practical clothing I have ever seen. Still use them when the weather turns really cold and it is time to shovel the cars out of the snow, etc. 100% wool, double layer, front layered with a plastic sheet, reinforced knees, big pockets everywhere, ribbons in the side pockets to tie your compass, etc. to so they can't be lost. No zippers to be frozen, only buttons. Suspender buttons. Waist adjustment by elastic and buttons. Boot tie downs and cuff extensions so as to wear OVER boots. Such tailoring would probably cost alot of $$ but they were worth the "mark down" I paid.

Not bad... You can find "Young Eagles" a 1934 movie serial (12 exciting chapters) on DVD...

Teach them the bugle.

Virtual coffee is rather tasteless.... Best to provide your own.... Bur seriously, welcome friend.. The virtual logs around our e-campfire are fairly comfortable....

What Eagledad said. Perhaps it is only the COR who has the problem. Impossible to say from our perspective. Perhaps it is time for a switch to another Troop. With the turmoil BSA is going thru right now, in every level and area, your experience may not be an isolated one. Try to allow folks to do the right thing. Smile and wave as you go by. See you on the trail.

Yes in deedy. For easy clean up, rub soap on the OUTSIDE of the pan... ""I SAID THE OUTSIDE>>>>""

Check here: Boy Scout Recruiting in Public Schools: Scouting "Camp Fire" Presentation (inquiry.net) http://inquiry.net/adult/recruiting.htm

When my son Joseph was much younger (he earned his Eagle, and is now a strapping young man of 26), I was helping him one night with his homework, he said to me, "dad, you had it easier than me in school." I said, what do you mean? He replied, "you had alot less history to remember !" I had to agree with him. And so he became interested in the history I had lived thru, that I had actually seen. I have to plead guilty in not asking more questions of my parents and grandparents. The "elders" I grew up with, who knew the world I inherited. My grandparents lived thru the flu epidemic of 1918, read the newspapers about Charles Lindbergh flying the Atlantic in 1927. My mom watched the dirigible Hindenburg fly over Boston on it's way to Lakehurst New Jersey in 1937. A distant cousin was Captain of the Hindenburg. Years later, she and dad watched (and with a young version of me laying on the floor) a fuzzy tv screen as Neil Armstrong stepped off a metal ladder onto the Moon. That is a "life stretch", from biplanes and dirigibles to space travel..... My dad had other "stretches" to share, to think about. History is made, remembered and forgotten by PEOPLE. Often the people we know. How about you? Can you ask your folks, your "elders" about their "Life Stretches"? Are you "paying attention" to the history you have seen? Lived thru? Inherited? What can you tell your children and grandchildren (we hope !) ? As the philosopher reminds us.... "those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it". Will you say YOU have learned anything from our history? Good Scouting to you, safe journey home.....

There is a profound difference in being able to view the ORIGINAL versus a book picture or even a projected image. Each brush stroke was dealt by a human hand. It was put there by the desire to capture ... what? Something even a photograph can't capture. My dad attended an art school early on, thinking he might be a professional artist. Then the great depression interferred. His friendship with the schools director Henry Hensche, continued and when I went off to summer camp , he and mom visited with Mr. Hensche, I am the beneficiary of that visit, years later, Hensche's portraits of my mom and dad, much younger, hang on my wall. They are captured much better than any photo even of that time. Mr. Rockwell's work is much like that. Wherever they hang, go and visit and view them. Soak up the "spirit" from which they sprang. We can only hope, no matter their fiscal worth, that the new owner values their exhibition as much.

Let the PLC discuss what they might want to do, no limitations. Total freedom of ideas. All the HAB and such are ultimately "canned" adventures. Pick a trek. Ask the outfitter. My family ultimately benefitted from my expertise , however limited it is, in seeing possibilities. When dear wife announced she had a job convention to go to in Reno, I took out the maps and Googled AMTRAK time tables and presto, we had a family vacation out to the west coast, and drive back to Murlin. Two BIG weeks. The kids went along, (they had to) but heck wife had three days in Reno, we had the Grand Canyon, and LOTS of other places. Loose adventure. Europe? Bike /history tour thru Netherlands/Belgium. Hosteling in the Alps. Hike the Camino in Spain. US of A? Great Allegheny Trail (200 miles of almost flat, down hill from Pittsburgh to Washington DC. Campgrounds, history all along the way. Anybody got some farm fields ? Plan your own summer camp, two weeks of "roughing it" can be had and the parents will enjoy being the Staff. Play the What If game, Think about what you need.... Others have done it. Yeah, some family vacation /work leave time has to be used. So? Canoe trip? Shennadoah, Potomac, James.... What you got out west? And think about it.... the Older Scouts can stretch their wings working things out with the Oldsters guidance. Isn't this what it's about? Or supposed to be about?

Hello again. My Troop wishes to know how the contact is to be made? Email? Whats App? PM thru Scouter dot com?

I will mention this to Troop 759 in Ashton Maryland.