Bronco

My wife said the same thing about doing it on the money we paid to send him there. I explained that our other scout did a service project at summer camp and that our Troop performs service projects every year at camp. The more I thought about it - the more I'm inclined to agree with both of you... My guy is home now - I just have to wait 2 hours to leave work and go home to see him and hear the stories. I went in 1985 as a scout and I'm glad he got this opportunity warts and all.

I've been trading texts with my oldest as he heads home. Throughout the week he seems to have had a great time. Didn't get to do everything he wanted but said every day was better than the last. Some days the food 'sucked'. Some days there wasn't near enough food for him. Talking to other parents from our Troop their boys have had a mixed bag. One boy in particular was complaining about adults line hoping for events to the point that despite waiting 4 hours on the last day he still couldn't get on the zip lines - major disappointment for him. I'm sure that sort of stuff happens. No

I had to add them by hand. I used this website: http://www.usscouts.org/databases/camp/ocd.cgi Opened each camps page in a tab and used google maps to add them in one by one by searching for the address on the USscouts page or the name of the camp. I can set the map up for collaboration so if you'd like I can add you and you can do the other states you are interested in...eventually we could have a large portion of them added.

I know it's been a few months since this thread was active but I spent an afternoon throwing as many PA camps as I could find on Google Maps: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=201373616750161821252.0004bd42058c00aed5c5e&msa=0 Far from complete, still a bit of a mess and I'm sure some places are missing. Still, kind of interesting to see how things lay out state wide. I've been to most of the camps on the eastern end of the state.

I've been debating joining this group: http://www.idos.org/ From their website: The International Dutch Oven Society (IDOS) is a non-profit organization with the goals to preserve and promote the skills and art of Dutch Oven cooking. From it's humble beginnings in the Rocky Mountains, IDOS has grown to its current status as the largest and most productive group of black pot enthusiasts in the world. Our motto is Good Food, Good Friends, and Good Fun There is a chapter in my neck of the woods that is trying to get off the ground...I may look into joining it for more rec

I would not use oven cleaner or any other chemical on my cast iron. I used straight steel wool (with no additives) and elbow grease to get the rust and gunk off the oven I cleaned this weekend. I've always been taught that the cast iron will grab whatever you are cleaning with and you will eat it when cooking in it going forward. I don't know if that is true or not but I'd rather not find out the hard way.

I just rehabbed a rusted dutch oven that was left in our scout shed. I did a little research and found this site: http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/ The one thing I picked up from her that I hadn't done in the past was wiping off all excess oil before baking. I did that this time two times over a 6 hour period and I was amazed at how nice the cooking surface turned out. Now we keep all of our cast iron owned by the unit inside our CO - not outside in a shed where the elements can get at them.

I see both sides of this. I only have one uniform and I do have 7 knots on it. Depending on what crowd I'm with (unit or district) it can feel a bit silly at times to have them on. The best explanation I ever heard in the pro camp for them is that they show others that you are a resource for those positions.

Some clarifications to my original post: "#5 - don't assign them to a job a youth should be doing like QM.... Agree in general. But if you have a QM with ADD or OCD, and an adult with some skills in logistics. The pairing might help transfer some skills the boy may need to manage his job and overcome other difficulties in life." They would be advising only - not doing the job. The Troop has recently been reorganized and there is a good deal of training that has been happening. Care for gear is one area that needs work. "#2 - if the CC (in charge of securing leadership)

Our current new scout patrol has 3 adult leaders that have crossed over into our troop. One of them, the Den Leader has an older son already in the troop - he gets the program and has bought in. The other two leaders do not have experience with scouting as boys. What sorts of things do you guys 'assign' to new adult leaders to keep them involved and not drop from adult leadership? We really don't want to involve them with the new scout patrol to avoid Webelos III - we've had that happen in the past (not by choice but by lack of volunteers). Now we don't NEED that to happen but we

In my own experience I've seen the pecking order on the unit level. I joined a pack as 'a dad' and found myself Cubmaster about a month later. As I began to meet the adult leaders in the troop it became painfully clear that they had little to no interest in the pack that fed them with boys for the troop. I warned them that I was going to run a program that would double the size of the pack in 2 years and they better be ready for a LOT of scouts. They didn't catch on, ended up leaving when the troop exploded growth wise and now I'm a Webelos Den Leader and Troop Committee chair. The pa

Thanks Kudu - this makes sense since this unit is over 75 years old and many of these members are in their mid to late 70s. I've spent more than a few afternoons reading your site. I appreciate it greatly as a resource.

Thanks for the responses. To give some further clarity: >> Is this an annual event? Monthly? Annual event in March. I do believe that initially it was meant as a 'Welcome to the Troop" night as there is a small section (5 minutes) devoted to recognizing the scouts that have just crossed over to the Troop from the Pack. >> The title "Charter Night" suggests that this is something that the CO wants. Have you spoken with the COR about what its goals are for the night? I haven't had a formal conversation with him about it but he does attend out committee meetings.

We just wrapped this up on Saturday. Our unit is recovering from a breakdown in the PLC. The new PLC is grabbing the throttle and re-directing the Troop. We advertised a TLT where people should attend to see what the PLC does and to plan the following year. During the TLT training we handed each scout a sheet of paper and asked for 3 things they wanted to see the Troop do - no dream too big. Be vague or specific - whatever. During the training we copied their ideas onto large sheets of paper. If something received multiple votes we put a number next to it. Prior to the

I've recently jumped into the CC chair for our Troop. My son has been in the Troop for three years now and I served on the committee during that time. As I've posted in other threads, this unit had a committee that had a serious disconnect from the unit. One of the traditions in this unit is Charter Night. I've attended three of them now and what they boil down to is a 3+ hour evening where (to put it bluntly) the primary focus is not on the boys or the current program. It usually revolves around older committee members telling camp stories from the 40s and 50s while the current youth m

Oak Tree wrote: "My experience is that it's not normally the committee chairman who gets involved in the details of the Webelos transition, nor in setting the specifics of the outdoor program. The things you are describing doing sound more like what I would expect from a new, enthusiastic ASM. Now, your SM may be fine with having your help on this. He may welcome it, in fact. I'd ask him what parts of the program he think need the most work, and what you could do to support him in working on those." The composition of our current committee is approx. 4 parents with boys in the unit a

John in KC wrote: "One caution: Let the Scoutmaster make decisions on hiring ASMs. They are responsible and accountable to him as the chief program guy for the Troop. You have a chop, but ASMs have to be able to work with and for the Scoutmaster." Yes, I would expect his total buy in on people. I'm in a good spot right now as I know the vast majority of people in both the troop and the pack due to having boys in both units. I know the talents of the people coming up and can introduce them and let him know the best place to put people. Thanks to all for their advice. I was vot

Am I missing something or is there no way to quote on these forums? Maybe it's a Firefox thing... Aquila said: "Recruit as much adult leader help as you possibly can. See the Troop Committee Guidebook for the necessary committee positions. Since you were a Pack CC you may already be familiar with these positions. " I'm already farming the Sr. Web leaders to fill in the gaps for me in committee and in Troop Leadership as ASMs. There are a lot of parents that will get involved once they realize there is a need - due to the avg. age of the committee, many of the people that would

BrotherhoodWWW wrote: You and the SM need to share the same goals and vision for your unit; if they do not you need to work out the differences to a point that they do. You are correct, I will be acting as Troop CC. I've done the Cubmaster and Pack CC thing in the past and I realize this is a whole different animal. What I'm struggling with is just how much the Troop CC is involved in the actual details of the Troop program. Our current committee is fairly out of touch with what is going on in the troop as very few members have children (or grand children for that matter) in the t

For those of you that have been around the block - what 3-5 things would you say to a person that is going to be stepping into this role in a few months? Both in general and perhaps something specific that may not apply to everyone but would be helpful to read anyway. Thanks!

Our unit went to Resica for years, took a break and went to Ockanickon for a bit and now for the past 4 years have gone back to Resica. It is the camp I attended as a boy - so lot's of great memories for me. From the boys perspective: 1. The lake is far away. 2. The new dining hall is a HUGE improvement. 3. Merit badge counselors are willing to work with boys during non-badge time. 4. The camp itself has several 'feature' water holes. Fossil Rock, Cool Dip (in another council owned camp that would require a drive) and others. From my perspective: I was not i

I recently ran into this issue with our Troop committee. I was always under the impression that projects should not benefit the troop - they should benefit the community. I was not aware of the routine maintenance not being acceptable issue. Our troop is rather old (76 years) and the vast majority of the troop committee is comprised of members that have no children or even grandchildren in the troop. The main focus of our committee meetings is our Scout Cabin. The cabin is owned by our CO and is 'technically' called the Sunday School Cabin. It is always called the 'Scout Cabin' in ge

I am fresh from weekend one of NE V 138 - Cradle of Liberty Council. I signed up for Wood Badge for a few reasons of which getting more ideas for my Pack/Troop was the primary. For background I'm an Eagle Scout from the mid 80s and took NYLT (Silver Stag) during that time. The emotional exhaustion that the entire troop was suffering when The Game of Life was rolled out for us was visible. Everyone was giving their all and the competition throughout the day while friendly, was fierce. Our staff is phenomenal and they ran the game very very well from my perspective. It was interesting