t158sm

A hearty welcome from one in the class of 83.

Welcome in to the forum and welcome back to Scouting.

I hope many wonderful adventures are ahead for your and your son.

unwritten and unannounced!

HUH?

Were you supposed to pick this up via ESP?

Myself, I've got other things I can be doing besides micromanaging the troop emails.

There are other ways to handle email abuse or spam.

ASM's serving at the pleasure of the SM - where does this come from?

I'm usually the person who invites someone to join as an ASM but, they have to get the approval of the committee before they actually join.

I'm not too sure it would go over too well if I just told someone to leave.

We had problems with a fellow who wanted to be an ASM last year.

Three other Scouters looked me up to pass along certain information that suggested that this person should not be allowed to join our troop. I advised the committee of this and they handled the matter. IMO this wasn't my call to make.

Oh the dreaded "Mom fears."

I found out the one boy who had left our troop last year wasn't allowed to come back by his mother. The reason - because we made the boys put up their own tents and do their own cooking while we stayed off to the side.

Back to starving - We had a campout to the state park at Lake Guntersville this past weekend - the new Scout patrols menu.

Fish for every meal except Saturday lunch. Their choice then - raccoon.

Had to give them a gentle nudge to a more suitable menu for the weekend.

BTW - for the whole weekend the lot of them caught two small crappie.

My SM minute Thursday may have something to mention about all this.

Anybody had raccoon lately?

Just a guess, but I'd say if one hasn't arrived in your mailbox by now don't get your hopes up for it to arrive at all. Mine was sent in December. Already had it in my hands by the time I read the bit in Scouting .

Anybody else?

The insignia guide from 1990 shows that the standing and the working ends of the rope (the loose ends) should be towards the bottom. Also displayed the same way in various other publications I've seen.

P.S. Not that it's important, but also how I wear them too.

Bully for you

(as a former President would have said.)

:) :)

By the way it has been my pleasure to observe that none are better than those who are honored to have become OWLS.

Hey John:

This is an older post.

Jkhny hasn't posted since August Thank goodness.

Keeping my fingers crossed that he doesn't show back up.

AMEN

Welcome to the forum.

Try www.woodbadge.org you will find loads of good stuff there.

Here is their link to the sheet music

http://www.woodbadge.org/images/Back%20to%20Gilwell.jpg

They also have the song in a midi and zip files.

Sorry having trouble with the link(This message has been edited by t158sm)

Kittle:

Nothing says that the first attempt at the fitness requirements cannot be repeated.

The requirement only says -

10a. Record your best in the following tests: ...

10b. Show improvement in the activities listed in requirement 10a after practicing for 30 days.

More power to him this time around

"By the way Old Glory is not a tradition, the tradition is that the flag changes every time a state is added."

"The Scout Law is a tradition?

What? Thats like saying Old Glory and the Star Spangled Banner are traditions. Something that is a core value like the Scout Law and the Scout Oath go far beyond anything that could be considered a tradition."

No, as my original post said Old Glory is not a tradition. The Star Spangled Banner is not a tradition. Neither is the Scout Law a tradition. A more suitable comparison might be saying the Scout Law is a tradition is like saying the Pledge of Allegiance is a tradition.

Yes our definitions of what a tradition is are different.

tradition

noun

1. the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, esp. by word of mouth or by practice: a story that has come down to us by popular tradition.

2. something that is handed down

3. a long-established or inherited way of thinking or acting: The rebellious students wanted to break with tradition.

4. a continuing pattern of culture beliefs or practices.

5. a customary or characteristic method or manner: The winner took a victory lap in the usual track tradition.

Try not to confuse having gotten into a rut with a tradition. Having a ceremony to present the new charter to the chartering organization each year or awarding a special troop neckerchief to each new Eagle Scout are both traditions. Going fishing every year because "it's what we've always done" is sorta stuck in a rut.

Just from my own observations of somewhere around 30 years of Scouting - the units that are stricter on full uniforming tend to be more adult led. To me the full uniforming requirement would fall more under adult imposed rule and not under tradition.

"When you have one's honor patrol setting the example of a full uniform with neckerchief and hat as the standard and all the other patrols clammoring about getting their own, "Boy Led" and "Tradition" stand in the same place."

Here I have to disagree. A patrol in full uniform serves as a goal for other patrols to strive toward rather than an actual tradition per se. Most certainly boy led troops can have traditions, I just fail to see how this could be one.

Just a question of curiosity jblake47. How old is your troop?

The goal of Scouting "in short" is to teach Scouts to lead themselves. (Not talking about the aims and methods here, just the basic goal of Scouting) Whatever we as adults inject into the program aside from this takes away from the program.

The Scout Law is a tradition?

What? Thats like saying Old Glory and the Star Spangled Banner are traditions. Something that is a core value like the Scout Law and the Scout Oath go far beyond anything that could be considered a tradition. Would a Christian consider the Bible to be a tradition? Would a Muslim consider the Quran to be a tradition? Something that stands as a basis for a belief, as the reason for a way of thinking. A mere tradition. I think not.

Take for instance the 48 or so participants in a Wood Badge course. Even though each one of them receives practically the same training in the course, they will all come out of the course with a different experience and a different understanding of the course. Each participants life experiences will somehow find a way to come into play, as well as a multitude of other influences. External forces will make their presence known within each unit, along with the simple dynamics within the unit.

If 48 different units are represented in the course, there could very well be 48 different versions of Scouting.

Are some of these units more of a "pure Scouting" nature than others? Perhaps. But then would any one of them be more right than another? Remember Scouting is not an exact science.

Yes saving a troop is hard, but remember that Scouting often runs in cycles. It could be that in a year or two you could have a troop of 20 or more Scouts.

In the Summer of 2004 our troop was practically dead. Basically, for a time we were down to one new Scout period. But things change. The new enthusiastic DE recruited 7 at school night. I convinced one former to come back. Two of his friends soon followed. To make a long story short today we're almost at 30 Scouts with a steady 20 at every meeting.

My thoughts; hang in there for a little while at least. See how things are in 6 monthes and go from there.

Good luck and God Bless.

Ditto for us too. The SPL has never had to make a decision in his life. Seems to think that things just happen on their own without having to work to make them happen.

Frustrating for everyone else.

Wonderfull, settle back in that comfy chair and enjoy that coffee you've earned.

Welcome in Nike.

I think I've only owned one pair of Nike shoes. I mostly went with Reebok when I was in that "have to have a name shoe" phase 15 - 20 years ago or so.

I like your reason for having chosen Nike. Have always been a fan of mythology. Like Chrysaor myself. Bet no one can honestly tell me who he is without looking it up. Ah well, I've rambled on enough.

Again welcome and I hope you enjoy the forum.

Sorry, forgot the most important part of what I wanted to say.

Let the Scouts decide if he should be allowed to rejoin or not. Afterall it't their troop.

We recently had a situation that kind of relates to this. Bottom line - our committee refused membership to an adult based on past history in another Scouting unit. Council advised us just like Longhaul said - we are a private organization and can deny membership on whatever grounds we deem necessary.

Ron:

Hope things work out for you and your son and that Scouting comes back into your life soon. But you can still hang around and put in your voice just the same here. Nothing to stop you except yourself as far as that goes. Stay cool

Our pack and troop have the same number but have always had different chartered organizations. Many others around here are the same way.

So much for it being national policy (This message has been edited by t158sm)

I would suggest something like fleece sleep pants. Fairly thin material but still warm.

Serving as patrol cook and supervising does not translate into a leadership position IMHO. A leadership position and serving in a Scoutmaster appointed leadership project require require more than just a meal or a weekend of meals to complete.

Occasionally someone will have a brief mental lapse and schedule a fall camporee the week of the Alabama/Auburn football game. Our district has some very good boy run troops and some other less than perfect troops. No matter what campsite you walk by you can keep up with the game and never miss a play.

Does this mean that these are all poor Scout troops? No, I don't believe so. Other things are happening as well. The Scouts are playing a game. They're cooking supper or cleaning up afterwards.

I always take a small radio to keep up with the weather. It just so happened that last year we found out that after the midnight news/weather the radio version of the twilight zone comes on a local station. Everyone who was still up wanted to listen in, so we did. Did this hurt anything? No. (Before someone says something about being up so late. The Scouts set their own time for bed.) What would have been the difference if I had told a spooky story instead? Everything isn't set in stone, there are always going to be degrees of black and white.

Maybe a couple of thoughts attributed to BP to close out my ramblings.

"The boy is not governed by don't ,but is led by do."

"See things from the boy's point of view."