VentureScoutNY

1. Yes 2. Custom neckerchief 3. We wear it under the shirt Collar, a few of the old rocking chair patrol (adults) wear them over their collar. 4. Our Neckerchief is blue with an Indian Head on it, with a camp fire in the back round with smoke. Do not know how or when it was adopted for the troop. 5. The neckerchief is required at all events when the Uniform is being worn. 6. All the Troop members wear it. Uniformity when wearing the Neckerchief is important. Everyone in the Troop should wear them the same way. But what is nice to see, is a variation in Neckerchief Slides. We motivate scouts to create their own so that it can be something that is unique to them and they can be proud of. VentureScoutNY

The Venturing Patch goes on the right sleve under the American Flag. When it comes to the red Jac Shirt, I'm not sure. Many people will tell you officially you cannot have more than a certain number of patches on it. Others will tell you, that it can be put anywhere you want.

Question: When in cub scout history could cubs be patrol leaders? Or were they den leaders? They used to wear 2 gold bars, just like the boy scouts with green bars? I see them in the old norman rockwells of the 50's. Anyone know? Why did this position disappear? VentureScoutNY

In my Troop these patrols were also know as the "Senior Patrol", and we have also had a "Venture Patrol". The Venture Patrol has the red letters on tan background, and is put above the right pocket above the BSA. Not to be mistaken for a Venturing vrew. The Venture Patrol exists in the Troop. I have found that in some cases you are right. In some cases if the older guys all get together they may feel they are too cool for the rest of the troop. Keep their camp a mess, and be unorganized, wear incorrect uniform etc... This is a stigma that happens with older guys. It really depends on the quality of your scouts whether or not to put them into one patrol. If you have scouts that are very active, wear the unifrom correctly, and set a good example, these scouts may do well in their own patrol. If you have scouts that do the opposite, putting them together may be a bad idea. You can also have some kind of standard to get into the older patrol. Maybe a certain number of campouts, and setting a good example in the troop will earn them membership into the older patrol. There are many pros to these older patrols. These older patrols try to fix the "older boy problem". If you are with your own age group doing more exciting things there is incentive to stay in the troop longer. Sometimes older scouts get too old to be hanging around with the younger boys. This is why older scouts quit scouting; they get bored. So an older patrol may keep them interested longer. As long as you provide a program to them that is challenging and fun they will want to stay around longer. This also is looked up to by the younger boys. They see the older scouts excited about being in the older patrol, and getting the oppertunity to do bigger and better things, the younger boys will work their best to achieve that too some day. Again, it all comes down to the quality of your Scouts. Hope this helps! VentureScoutNY

The Kelly Green Uniform with the gray pants are the SUGGESTED uniform. But a crew MAY choose its own uniform. Basically this means the BSA would like you wear the Kelly green uniform. Your crew, or ship makes the final decesion though whether or not they want to be a uniformed crew/ship. It can be decided by a vote. VentureScoutNY

This thread was spun from another thread.I have a question concerning the Overseas Cap. I know it was created in the 40's and the patch on it had the eagle in it with the shield. When was the patch similar to the one on todays ball caps put on the overseas hat? I have a feeling it was in the 70's..but not quite sure? Any reason for the change etc..? VentureScoutNY

That's awesome! Do they have a website?

I was just thinking today...I have always been all about History, not only Scouting History but History in general. Since Crews are oriented around certain hobbies and interests, I would love to start up a crew that traveled the country seeing Historic sites. The shot heard round the world, custers last stand, mount vernon, Washington DC etc... I wonder if there are any crews out there like this? I would guess it would be difficult getting a bunch of Scouts to tour around seeing historic sites,since many people find that boring, but if it worked, what a good time it could be! VentureScoutNY

Bob White posted: "I think there will be a major uniform change in the near future. What it will be I have no idea. But if it happens it will be in about 6 years to coincide with the 100th anniversary of scouting." I really hope this is true. That would be great to see a new uniform for the 100th anniversary. And I think Proud Eagle should be part of the new uniform changes! Proud Eagle brings about some really great questions that I will post here again and see what ideas we can get from them. Proud Eagle posted: -Do we want a uniform for winter camping? or summer backpacking? or regular meetings? or something that can be layered and mixed to create everything from a winter uniform suitable to Alaska, to a summer uniform suitable for the most challenging Philmont trek, to the most formal awards ceremony based on some common elements? -What does the uniform need to tell us? -What characteristics of the wearer do we want to be most obvious by looking at the uniform? I have read some great ideas from all of these posts. I wish the BSA would refer to this forum when making decesions. WE, the people that are involved with the program on the field level should no doubt be involved with creating a new uniform. Is anyone here involved or associated with the BSA supply Divison? Thoughts..keep'em coming! VentureScoutNY

Awesome! No one usually takes me for adopted because I AM my parents and since I have grown up as a baby with them as my parents. My voice is identicle to my dad. Its uncanny really how similar to them I am, but I guess that's how it works.. "Love is thicker than Blood"!

Thats great!! Goodluck with it!!...when your ready, sail to Long Island New York, and my Venture crew will throw you a party!

I believe...again...I believe, that it is required that a scout have at least one week consecutive camping.

Born November 14th 1984, so I'm 19. I was born in Bogota Colombia, was adopted a few months after and grew up on Long Island New York. I'm always asked if I want to meet my birth parents but I always respond not really, because I have parents of my own. So I'm probably the only tan kid that grew up German-Irish-Italian, eating Bratwurst! No one thinks I'm from South America though, I'm usually guessed to be Italian. And no one could understand why I failed spanish every year I took it! haha! VenutreScoutNY

Overtrained, thanks a lot!! Thats exactly what I was looking for. Yours in Scouting VentureScoutNY

Well did you recieve the Certificate of Merit or the Medal of Merit. The Medal of Merit is what the knot stands for, the certificate of Merit has NO knot. I was awarded the Certificate of Merit as well, but it was not the medal, so there was no knot for it. Yours in Scouting VentureScoutNY

This thread was spun from another thread.Ok..I don't know much about this area so I'm throwing it out for all of you to play with. This is now my new Research Paper topic for "Research in Communications 200" I'm staying away from the former post in the Issues forum about Discrimination, Marketing has much more relation to Communications than Discrimination for this paper: How does the Boy Scouts of America market itself and it's programs? Thoughts..links..etc.. Yours in Scouting VentureScoutNY

Does anyone know of a Boy Scout Collecting group or day/event on Long Island New York? I have heard that there is a day where all kids of collectors etc come together to trade, buy and sell, or just to see vintage scout stuff. I remember hearing it was in the fall sometime. I have been collecting for a little over 5 years now and would love to attend this kind of event. Anyone know of it, if it exists? Or of any others that exist in in close relation to New York, or New England. Yours in Scouting, VentureScoutNY

Sturgen I applaud your efforts and what you have obviously done for your peers and your youth. I am also at the point on "In Between" you could say. I am 19, a youth Venturer and an ASM. In my troop as an ASM I am listened to and treated equally as the rest of the older ASM's. I do agree with many of the replies here that with age comes knowledge, but not always. It really depends on the people. Sure when I was a youth some people doubted my abilities but I proved some wrong and some right. However much we (younger adults) think we know may be an illusion. Like Acco said, his daughter enlightens him with new words he has never heard of. Although we think we may know more , which maybe we do in some aspects, we have to still be living by the scout law and have respect for our elders. It's a Given some of them know nothing, but some know much more than we could imagine. My original Scoutmaster, who I admire as a leader, and man, and a friend, was a Marine in Vietnam. He enlisted right after earning eagle, and was not rich, was not an officer, was a just a fox hole soldier. He has been through more than I could ever imagine. Although in Scouting he made some wrong decisions, that I could see as a Scout, I wasn't going to tell him. We cannot act as if we are know it alls. All we can do is put our 2 cents in and hope the respecting party will be just as open to opinions as we are. We all need to work together for the same purpose. It is a two way street I suppose. Like my mother has told me for years do on to other as they do onto you. Be a leader when you have to,stand up when no one else stands up, and if you need to take someones hand along the way,take it. Hopefully I made some sense in this post and wasn't repetitive...I just ate dorm food and..well....I'd take camp food 10x over dorm food! Yours in Scouting VentureScoutNY

Your Troop wears black campaign hat's?? Where do you buy them? It must be expensive to dress your Troop in campaign hats though, but very cool! If they are BSA ones that awesome! Are they really black? I have never seen a black one...

Ok, I see what you are saying Sturgent. BDU's camo pants may be somewhat patriotic, but anyone involved in the BSA can NOT wear CAMO. It is in the Patch Placement guide that members of the BSA can not immitate the military. When you say khakis...do you mean the color khaki? Or OD pants other than BSA? Keep'em coming everyone!

He obviously wants something for nothing. NO SCOUT SPIRIT Tat little box that everyone checks off...the Scout Spirit box should be taken more seriously than it is. Yours in Scouting VentureScoutNY

Heres a topic I have discussed with many people. Merit Bades & lots of them. That's whats on most scouts minds when they go to Summer Camp. Sometimes it's all about getting Merit Badges. We all know that to earn a merit badge in 1 week that the info, in some cases, not all, is very watered down. I have seen many cases where scouts earn merit badges at summer camp but know little of the information that the badge is really about. The idea of Merit Badges are to teach the scouts specific skills. And some for scouts that are interested in a specific topic. But you NEED merit badges to advance in rank...so in many cases scouts get them becase they HAVE to. Just like in school, you have to do the work, but do you come away with really knowing the information? When I went to summer camp, I felt like in many ways I was at school. Not that I did not want to earn them, but I was out in the woods camping with my friends. The last thing on my mind was working on merit badges. I come from very populated suburbs, where the cement and sidewalks seem to grow everywhere. So going camping was very special and I wanted to explore, not sit in my tent reading and writing. Thats just my opinion though. So I decided I would earn all of my Merit Badges through local counselors. Some badges I did need to be camping for which I did often, and told my counselor about what I did on my return. But I was proud to say that I earned all of my merit badges through counselors. I had the chance to travel throughout my council meeting new people, and learning from many adults who have had many different experiences. Things were not watered down, I was sort of the lone scout going from counselor to counselor learning more and more. I don't mean to say in this post that earning merit badges at camp is a bad thing, its a good thing. But how do all of you think about earning merit badges through counselors comapared to at camp...in which instance do you think a scout will really LEARN better. (all scouts are differnt I know,all scouts learn different in different places..i know) Lets try to play with this one... Thoughts...

OLD ERIE CANAL HISTORIC TREK Does anyone know info about this trip? My Troop is thinking about a canoe trip here. Anyone ever been? Yours in Scouting VentureScoutNY

Sturgen..thats not very practical to have members of the BSA that are not in the OA wear just the shirt and sash... What most troops are trying to do is to get their scouts in full uniform, besides the fact that it is an impractical field uniform. And the OA only repsents some scots, not the majority. In my first troop 1 scout was in OA for about 4 years until I was voted in. As for shoes shirts and socks being bought not through BSA you would have an assortment of kids in thousands of different outfits. What we need is uniformity. I'm gonna quote Proud Eagle again "Just because I think there is room for improvement is no reason to stop using the uniform to the best of my ability." Sturgen I agree with your 1st post but your second post is a far cry from what the BSA needs to do. I agree with TwoCubDad in the area of scout pants. They are horrible and are so useless. If they were made with a better material and some pockets they might attract scouts to wear them if they had the oppertunity. I say we need a summer uniform and a winter uniform. Both the same in look and style but made of different materials. Materials that are rugged and can be useful in the outdoors, in the elements, and at COH's. And some uniformity in Hats too. I'm not a fan of made to order hats. Either the campaign hat, ball cap, or expedition hat. Wouldn't it be great that all scouts had a red wool coat too, or even a green one would be nice. Many complaints from scouts today is they think the uniform is "gay"--> thats kids terms for lame. If BSA made all these adjustments and made the patches simpler and less colorful,and add some pockets to the pants and I will be a HAPPY CAMPER!!

I see this post is a month old so I'm gonna bring it back to life. This summer I may also be staffing at a camp for the first time. My DE told me that when hiring he loves to see camp staff on a resume, he said it's a big PLUS. So I'm deciding whether or not to do it. I want to get the experience, I believe it will no doubt help me in the future as a pro(hoping that I get there when I graduate). I also want to do it as soon as I can. I am 19 now and will be finishing my second year of college soon. I have a FULL time girlfriend and miis being home too. SO bascially it comes down to me going home and packing my bags to leave again for the summer. I AM willing to do that though, if it will help me better understand how camps run etc... I also have no doubt it will be a good time. A few fellow scouts I know staff and would love to see me come aboard... Any idea's or tips for a first time staffer? Also, what is there to do as staff? I have ideas of some merit badges I could teach, but bedides that what else is there to do? I am most interested, and always have been in leadership training. I find that the most fun I have had in Scotuing is teacheing other scouts how to become good leaders...But I'm not sure if programs like that exist at summer camp.--In my former troop, I only went to Summer camp 2 times(normal merit badge style summer camp). I had to attend summer school a lot-- So I am not all too familar with Summer Camps. Thoughts..