SSScout

Need better contrast for these old eyes. Light blue against lighter blue is not the best thing....

Pargolf: Not so crazy.. WRONG! I would hope someone in that Troop, the Committee, the Commissioner, someone , would take the SM aside and remind him that "A Scout is Trustworthy" and that , according to the training he must have had ( sometime in the distant past) , he is not really following the BSA standards. If the Scout can't tie a bowline, the fault must be addressed in the training in his Patrol or Troop, NOT in his BoR. Patrol competitions, camping trips (where bowlines are needed), even asking the Scout to demonstrate the knot for his buds, to hone the skill and keep it "useful",,,,but once he has passed it , he has "passed" it.

The present problem comes from putting the cart before the proverbial horse. In the present Troop (I see this in every Troop) the boys buy the food, with parental help, and then divvy up the expense. At the end of the trip/campout, they divvy up the leftovers. And there is always a lot of leftovers. The proliferation of available money (before the trip) makes this an expectation. The bill is paid to the grubmaster AFTER the trip. And sometimes , the planned menu is overbought when Jack and Joe say (on Saturday morning) they aren't coming. Grubmaster Scout is left with extra food. Patrol boxes NEVER have food left in them. Back in the GODays, the Patrol collected the money FIRST, say three dollars per each, , and on Friday afternoon, we visited the Safeway on the way out to the campsite! This limited our budget and possible purchases! If we had a left over can of fruit cocktail, that was the snack going home sunday afternoon! Anything else had been eaten or burned or traded to another Patrol for something we had forgotten or planned to trade for! If today's Scout collected the money upfront, there would be less leftovers and more Scouts going on the trips.

Go thou on said quest. Taketh thee thy CSDCDirectors Handbook and be thee ready for the Camp! Thy GRRRRRRAIL is found! And what Eagle94 said... If you don't have a good time, let'em know.... And take some silly hats with you . And extra sash cord rope. And duct tape. If you are to be the Program Director, as opposed to the Camp Director, discuss those differences . My good wife went to Camp School, came home pumped to be Camp Director, but could find no Program D, so yours truly became (official title!)) the First Assistant Everything Else. We had a ball, enlisted new people when they saw how much fun we were having and how easy it (appeared) to be! The next CSDCD and PD were our proteges . And, DO NOT take on any other Scout responsibility until Camp is over. Believe me in this.

Go for the chivalry aspect. Tie things in to the Cub Promise. Knights and princes are polite! Quintain? How will they get "bopped" by the turner? Older Scouts might build a Trebuchet and have competition for accuracy, knock down a cardboard block wall? Scout Skills pavilion is the Knight's Squire School. Avoid water balloons, they just get messy and you have to fill them and clean up the little shards of rubber afterward. Use tennis balls or wads of newspaper wrapped in masking tape. reuse the ammunition to each side..... Build a cathedral with haybales?

Go to Monty Python " And the Holy Grail" and enlist your adult helpers there by. " We're knights of the round table, we dance when ere we're able, and imitate Clark Gable..." etc. Name your Staff appropriately: Sir Cumference, Sir Pentine, Lady LadeeLa, Sir Leeyoujest, Prince Hereprince, Name the CSDCDirector the Queen or King, do some research to find the local chapter of the Markland Mercenaries: http://www.markland.org/pages/about_us.php who do medieval re-enacting. "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my Den Leader, prepare to get wet!" Shields, are okay, but go easy on the wooden swords. Cubs can really get into the joisting stuff and can hurt each other! We made the play swords out of reinforced pipe insulation.

Is you is or is you ain't my Scoutmaster (apologies to Louis Jordan)? In fairness to you , you deserve to know when(if ever) the "old" SM will step down, or not.... If there are activities to take care of, then between you and the CC and the present SM, you might take on some of those (you are a ASM, yes? If not, re-register...). I have been asked, on occasion, to take on the SM mantel, temporarily, when the regular SM was not available, since I had the training, the experience and the ASM on my sleeve. No problem. When the time came to name a new SM , after 15 plus years, I made it known I COULD, but liked my role as Commisher and Trainer and CSDC person. The Troop found a good man to take the role, and I made sure he knew I would be there to help. Make sure all involved know what YOU expect and what YOU are willing to do, no insult intended, no idea of a coup de'tat. Buen Scouting !

My comment: My aged glaucoma'd eyes find the light colors and faint contrast a challenge. I guess I liked the bright colors and contrasting work areas in the last version superior. As to ease of operation and "user friendly" I will think about that. Scout on!

"The work is done by whoever shows up". Congratulations and thank you for your service. When my good wife became CSDCDirector, there was no one else to be her assistant, so I was titled (officially!) "First Assistant Everything Else" and we had a ball. The CSDCs in later years became locally famous and we were able to recruit and train our successors (but no more FAEEs!).

???" Bomb Hole" ??

Play the "What If..." game. ALOT. Do it with the boys and with the adults. What MIGHT happen? EVERYONE passes the First Class swim test. No exceptions. PLC and Adults do the Safety Afloat online class, do it together, multiple laptops! Find a Canoeing MB Counselor and do a few strokes and rescues in an indoor pool (most will let you do this stuff early in the morning before they open to the public with CLEAN boats. ) After this easy float , most of your boys will be ready to pass the Canoeing MB. Go slow and listen to the birds..... Bring lots of drinking water, dry bags for the lunches and dry clothes and towels. Knee pads. Hats. Don't bring anything you can't do without when it goes overboard (cameras? Cellphones? Ipads?) Lash everything in, even in flat water. Learn the good habits first thing. ZIplock bags. Maps and charts in Ziplock bags. Have fun!

((With apologies to Joel Grey)) (Didleleededee), two DEs (Didleleededee) two DEs, (~~Didleleededee) und it is only one District... (~~Didleleededee) they like it , (~~Didleleededee) we pay for it, (~~Didleleededee) til the next time.... I count the Boy Scouts, Und I count the Cubs... We go out camping und wash in three tubs.... Our leaders are "Two Deep", that's why two DEs, our DEs are so deep, they're in it up to their knees! (Didleleededee), two DEs (Didleleededee) two DEs, (~~Didleleededee) und it is only one District... (~~Didleleededee) they like it , (~~Didleleededee) we do it, (~~Didleleededee) we make it work.....

The Troop trailer was stolen, the gear removed, the police found the stuff in an unrelated search, and returns the gear. http://ktla.com/2015/03/09/items-sto...oop-recovered/ http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/03/09/detectives-recover-60-percent-of-stolen-items-to-local-boy-scout-troop/ Every so often, there is a happy ending.

Mirak: I like your attitude. Welcome to Scouting! Encourage (yourself too!) your parents to register and take the online training (myscouting.com) as mentioned above. It can only be a learning experience, and some eyes may be opened. As has been said, BALOO (what will we call the training without the Kipling reference?) is an intro for beginner camping. Much like any other training, if you are experienced in the subject, it can be boring, but consider: You may be able to add to the discussion from your own experience, and it does give you the imprimatur necessary. As your boy goes thru Scouting, be ready to step back and let him go. Your Scout training will enable you, your son (and many other boys!) to go places and do things others will never have a chance to experience. Good Scouting to you!

In the best "Bridging" ceremonies I have seen, (aside from the OA brou haha), the receiving Troop has a representative (the SPL and ASPLs preferably, but maybe the SM or ASM) who "welcomes" the Scout into the new Troop. The "old" CM has taken off the Cub necker, hat, the blue loops and shaken the Cubs hand goodbye. The nascent Boy Scout crosses the bridge. The receiving Scout(er) puts on the new necker, the new green loops and the new hat. He shakes the hand (BS handshake?) of the new BScout in welcome. I have even seen the welcoming PL there from the new Scout's assigned Patrol, with Patrol patch. I have seen this happen with multiple Troops represented. Sometimes the new BScout even gets a new BSHB from the Troop. Of course, this means the Troop needs to have a good budget and an understanding about the collection of dues, either before or after joining. All that is a fair amount of "bling" for a new Scout, but it is a very meaningful welcoming gesture. Then, the Troop rep can speak to the new Scout and parents about what is expected at the Troop meeting. Patrol assignment? Uniform? Upcoming schedule? Takes some planning and an appreciation of what such niceties can mean to the Scout and his parents. What's a new Scout mean to your Troop?

** Retain a pro that might need to be kept for another future shift in people. ** Train a new DE. ** Get ready for a split/realignment. ** Give an old pro a new position on his way to ANOTHER new position. ** See if a senior E and an assistant can do stuff the Council SE thinks needs to be done (goals?) (experiment?) that a single DE doesn't seem able to do so as to make the SE look good. ** Has any neighboring Districts seen any "adjustments"? Is there a "trend"? ** "Just because I can". Not saying who, but still.... Advice? Just keep on camping and hiking. Let the pros figure things out in their part of the galaxy.

All this sounds like Chef Ramsay and his restaurant rescue show. He is invited in to help turn around a failing restaurant and then, often, is resented when he points out why the restaurant is failing: Number one reason usually being the customers don't like the food and the resident chef thinks his food is delish. You can't have it both ways. If the Troop leadership is convinced they have a "Scout" program but the Scouts depart for Troops elsewhere, what might that indicate?

When we are born, we all speak the same language. I heard a comedian once, who claimed to be multi-lingual. He said he could hold a meaningful conversation with almost anyone in the world, so long as they were LESS than 6 months old. We must be TAUGHT to speak different languages. We must be taught to hate. We must be taught to not care for the other person. Along with knots, and first aid, and tree identification, we must teach and demonstrate ,, to our Scouts and to each other, co-operation and care for one another.....

There it is!

I have an morally questionable twin?

http://www.henryrifles.com/rifles/boy-scouts-of-america-centennial-edition/

Mighty big magazine. Looks like at least a semi automatic. What would someone "hunt" with that?

"It depends". If you hear nothing, all to the good. If you were found wanting in any respect, you would hear ASAP. Now that doesn't mean your Council will do it right the first time. Your app may still be sitting on the shelf at the Council office. Some years ago, we discovered the secretary in charge of such things put the apps on "her" shelf as she received them, the last one on the top of the pile, so to speak. And then took the first one off the top of the pile to process. Guess what? She never thought about the order they had been received. The bottom of the stack languished until someone (like you) asked the SE about it and they investigated.

Eagle90 and Jtauschmann: That stuff about better promotion and utilization is what is always missing when a Council decides to sell a camp. And that is what you must INSIST on. There are always more, unthought of uses for the camp. Nature study. University bio classes. Forestry preserve. Public School field trips (any "outdoor ed" in your state?). Our church camp found that we had a rare species of orchid growing on our mountain side: Presto! the state gave the camp a VERY respectable cash buy out to protect the site "in perpetuity". Movie location? I know there is a State film promotion office. Where does your OA hold it's Ordeal? Cooperation with state park activities. Any archeological possibilities? History? Mills? Mines? Lumbering? Railroading? Where is IOLS held? Archery Camp Range Safety Officer training? Use the camp grounds! Be creative! Maybe you could sell a cellphone tower site for some continuing income. Civil Air Patrol often looks for training sites. Girl Scouts need a camp site? Got an extra week? Might be a church is looking for a "Retreat Center". Yoga training?

When I injured my back, all of a sudden EVERYBODY I met had a back trouble/slipdisc/vertebrae story. Seems to be the same with Council/District mergers. Look to Seattle's nominating suggestion. Gather your good Scouters and work together to make the Districts you have viable. They were created for a reason. Is that reason so obsolete now? As has been said, "follow the money". What is the real reason for the merger idea? Do the Scout units involved simply need a reason to cooperate better for their boys adventure? Who has the phone/email lists? Can a few Nominating Committee folks work those lists to find a few more (new) event organizers? E94A1, you sound like a Scouter who doesn't like the "smell" of what is being offered. Continue to speak your mind. Good Scouting to you!