willysjeep

Sorry about the typos guys, I'm on really slow dialup so it has to be a pretty big mistake for me to go back and edit it. I guess it is all right there in black and white. I think my troop had a stack of really old PB cards laying around with the old requirements on them still. This could have led to a lot of confusion. Glad to hear the award is still around. Thanks for all of the responses.

Hi everyone, There has been a rumor floating around that I would like to confirm or dispell. I just got back in to my troop after graduating from college. There are rumors going around that the Paul Bunyan woodsman award has been dropped. The rumor goes that felling trees is now prohibited for youth, making the award impossible to get. Any truth to this? Is this going around elsewhere?

I've got some more historic gear questions for those of you who might know. I just saw an OD green army pup tent half on eBay, but instead of having army numerals it had THE CUB SCOUT stenciled on the end flap. I'm thinking that some contractor decided to market an overrun of government tents directly to civillians. I've read on the web where people remember using army style shelter halfs in scouting. I was wondering if there really was an official scout shelter half, or if a lot of troops didn't just use army surplus ones because they were inexpensive. I've seen old posters from the

It all depends on the situation I guess. On a hike where we might only have a patrol's worth of scouts and adults combined we probably cook together and share duties. At summer camp when we have two patrols of youth and four or five adults, the adults eat with the patrols on a rotation. If we have too many adults to just place them in youth patrols we might make an adult mess patrol. When we place adults in youth patrols for meals at summer camp for some reason it is tradition that adults don't do any dishes or cooking. On a smaller campout with a higher percentage of adults to

My troop uses kids size steel spades we found at an old hardware store. The shovel blade is about 1/3 the size of a standard pointed shovel. The ones we have came with 24" wooden handels with a D grip. I think you can still get similar small shovels at most lawn and garden stores. I also use an old entrenching tool occasionally. I bought a german surplus one for like $5. It is heavy though, but nice for moving coals in a permanent camp.

Less expensive nylon tents with only a single layer are usually waterproofed. The double layer(tent+fly) design on modern tents is supposed to allow moisture in the tent out. I find that if I don't leave the front door somewhat open on my one man single layer backpacker I will get condensation all over the foot of my bag even on a dry night. Of course, I camp in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where the nights are usually cool. I think that ventilation is an often overlooked issue with modern tents that often don't breathe that well.

I always find it funny that the BSA endorsed sheath knives for a while. You could get a 4.5 inch Marbles Woodcraft with an official BSA logo on the blade and sheath. Now they are trying very hard, I think, to look politically correct. I think this zero tolerance idea is supported by the lack of sheath knife safety in totin' chip any more. I figure that scouting should prepare you for life. Even if you don't need a sheath knife for scouting, you might need one later, and I think it would do everybody some good to learn how to safely use one. It would also help to dispell the idea of a nati

I can't take all the credit for that. It was my first year as assistant, so a lot of those ideas came down from the vetran director. We sure did a lot of stuff in six weeks, and I think we couldn't have without all of the experience he has. Good luck to you!

According to what the inspectors said when they completed the inspection of Camp Hiawatha, they didn't find any infractions at all. Camp Hiawatha is in Chatham, close to Munising Michigan in the U.P. I don't know how the other BSA camps rated.

I was just assistant director at Camp Hiawatha last year. One big thing we did was to find ways to involve everybody. We had a parent sugjest that we "get the bear cubs in the water and looking for bugs". Needless to say, this would definately NOT be popular with very many uniform-washing cub moms. What we did was to get a big plastic kiddy pool and fill it with muck and water from the bog. They could get elbow deep in the muck and have a good time looking for water insects, but they couldn't really get too muddy. It also meant we didn't have to worry about lifeguards or buddy tags. We stil

That's pretty much the boat i'm in right now. I was registered from 18 to 19 as a troop comittee member, and then from 19 to 20 as an ASM, so I guess it was OK for me to be more than just an ASM. I do have an easier time to associate with the current batch of youth because I was just recently their SPL. Unfortunately there is also a temptation to over step my bounds as an adult sometimes. I catch myself though, and remember how it was being lead by the nose by an adult. Actually, I want to remind the other adults in my troop of that some times, and tell them to back off. It is truely an i

Camp Hiawatha staff patrol names: 2004 The One- no yell- cardoard "1" as patrol flag Badger- badger badger.....mushroom- red totem badger flag Sausage- "SAUSAGE" said with a lisp- white flag with real BBQ fork stuck in magic marker sausage drawing Chef Bryan's Fan Club- Thank You! - cooking apron with Chef Bryan's Fan CLub drawn on, given to staff cook when he left camp Fog Horn- PL had an air horn for patrol yell- flag had "Fog Horn" in magic marker. We also had a cub pack who called themselves the "raging retards" patrol, and many less out there boy

Just three years ago I got both emergency preparedness and lifesaving not because I needed them both, but because I saw them as both being skills that would be useful. I allways see the activities of scouting as having a twofold purpose. Not only are they a uesful skill in their own right, but they help to support the overall goal of the scouting program. Like being prepared to help. Lifesaving barely scratches the surface of what lifeguarding entails. BSA lifeguard is much more in depth, and is much more demanding. Lifesaving is so whoever has the badge is prepared to assist with unexpec

The campaign hat of the BSA and that of the army from the 1900's to 20's are identical. In fact, they were produced at the same factory and originally came with no pin at all. Once you earned your first class pin you could put it on your hat. The hatband and sweatband are more modern additions. Nobody has actually taken the time to make the two diferent, so the military contractor that now makes them and the BSA contractor are essentially making hats to the exact same specifications. For mackinac island service camp one year my patrol was "D patrol" until we changed our name to "delta fo

I just found a site with repro canvas 1912 army uniforms for sale. They wany $150 for the coat and breeches as a set. All I would need to do is replace the army buttons with a set of BSA buttons off of e-bay and I would be all set. $150 seems like a lot to spend on a hobby at this point for me, but I am considering it. After all, it would be about an almost exact copy, and I wouldn't have to worry about things like the seams coming apart in the wash, which happens to my homemade stuff occasionally. Mabey....mabey... Until then, I get to wear my current "old fashioned" kneesocks and campai

Actually, mine are of canvas ducking, not wool, but they are still a lot better than the current BSA pants for durability. I want to eventually make both a 5 button stand up collar coat and mabey the later style four button open collar canvas coat too. I really like the idea of a heavy wind resistant and brush resistant canvas coat and pants for the type of scouting I do. As I understand it the very first BSA uniforms were modeled after BP's design, with the shorts and bush shirt, but they weren't popular at first so the BSA went immediately to a copy of the official army uniform circa 1

My big thing is that once you have a lable or a syndrome for somebody it becomes much more difficult for that person to be treated normally. "Ok, Billy here has ADHD, so you have to treat him like everybody else and respect his medical condition" Kids hear "ADHD" and know there is something diferent about this kid and will never treat him the same. When it is said that Billy is a little high strung and has a short attention span, it doesn't lable Billy as having something wrong, just how he is. I remember. I was "diagnosed" with ADHD when I was 7 and was medicated until 7th grade. When

If you don't mind going into the territory of somebody wetting their pants in fear, this skit be a good'en for pirate themes. Captain Red Coat. Scene 1: Props: a red coat (woolrich jac-shirt works), a "cannon" and appropriate pirate clothing. A spy glass for the first mate is optional. Scene: a ship's deck. The captain and his first mate are standing on deck. The "gunners" are standing next to the first mate by their cannons. First mate: "Captain, Captain! I see the ship "Man O' War" on the horizon. She's got 21 cannons and she's going to attack us! What should we do!"

My troop has a few patrols which never change their names. We used to allways have Wolverine, Liberty( which the SM was in as a scout so we don't change the name), Soaring Eagle, and a new patrol which gets to choose their own name. We have had Cobra, Flaming Arrow (patrol yell: We Yell! We Yell! And when we yell we yell like this and this is what we yell! Amen! Amen! Amendiego San Diego Baby In a high-chair, who put her up there, Ma Pa sish Boom ba, Flaming Arrow Flaming Arrow Ra Ra Ra!), and a few others. Now that our troop has shrunk we only have the new guys and Liberty patrol. Back w

Bob, to answer your question: I was looking for proof that sheath knives are in fact more dangerous than folding knives. EDIT: I thought you were of the mindset that sheath knives were more dangerous and should be banned. I needed to go back and read a little more carefully to find out that I wasn't absolutely correct. The counterpoint I was trying to make is that I don't feel sheath knives are any more dangerous. To me it isn't so much a case of coolness trumping safety, but of coolness trumping utility. I don't think it is really my right to make that kind of decision for somebody,

People have been saying that sheath knives are too dangerous to be allowed, right? Like when somebody said that coolness shouldn't trump safety. Could somebody tell me why you think properly constructed sheath knives in trained hands are more dangerous than properly constructed folding knives in trained hands? The only reason I can think of why a sheath knife might be more dangerous than a folding knife is when somebody improperly wears it on the front of their body. Of course this is not the right or expected way of doing it. Just like it is not right to put an open pocket knife in your

Ok, ok....I know that knee breehes aren't a part of the official uniform. I also know that according to the uniform police it is not OK to mix and match uniform parts. That being said, I allways wanted a pair of knee breeches to try out. I took a pajama pants pattern and added a little bit to the outseam, and pretty much embelished them as close as I could to the example pictures I found on line. I figure for events like troop hikes and other places where 100% identical uniforms aren't required they might prove useful. I'm eventually going to make or assemble a uniform that would fit in

My troop has anywhere from two to four diferent strategies for camping. We usually have about 4 or 5 adults and anywhere from 5 to 15 scouts who regularly camp. 1) backpacking consists of all backpacks, mostly personal gear with some troop items like large cooking pots and water filters. There are allways enough scouts with tents so that everybody can buddy up and end up in a tent. We usually have passanger cars or vans to haul people and one truck at most to haul gear. Unless we have a meal planned for our starting campsite within reach of the cars we don't bring coolers or anything.Most

(hear those chimes ringing? I'm chiming in) Athiests, as I have only met a few in person, seem to arrive at their world view, their sense of good and bad, and their moral convictions through logical processes. I would assume that the reason some of them work on the BSA to change their rules is because they are more envolved in the BSA, and it has a more direct effect on them than say the chaplains in the army would. I would think that if they were in the army they might try to get the chaplain service changed if they thought it was wrong. It isn't a matter of who they have it in for the m

After a talk with some fellow scouts and scouters who are pretty aware of what goes on I have come to a conclusion. Anything I could do has a positive and a negative. If I talk to him htings could get worse. If I ignore him I will still feel not at ease about all of this. I think I will see what happens next time we end up working with each other. If we can get along without hostilities then I guess I was over reacting. If things start getting bad I might try to talk it out with him. Either put everything behind us and start anew or just agree to give each other more slack for the benifit of e