mashmaster
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Posts posted by mashmaster
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On 3/5/2019 at 10:54 AM, FGarvin said:
And a month or so later, one of the first-year Scouts not allowed on the ballot was awarded Junior Scout of the Year.
Personally, I have told scouts when they had the camping and rank requirements but not my approval. 100% of the time, the boys understood and agreed. 100% of the time I got an angry email from the parent. It was never a blanket statement of mine but each one on an individual basis. I have been called many names in those emails. And I still stand by each of those decisions.
I also have never been a fan of "Scout of the Year" awards. Scouting is a personal journey and these awards imho tells a scout he is better than the other scouts which I disagree with.
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On 2/15/2019 at 7:34 PM, Thunderbird said:
The Guide to Advancement defines the term "qualified" Venturer or Sea Scout:
Anybody can complete the requirements [including me, and I am too old LOL! 😛 ], but to officially earn the merit badge, rank, or Scouts BSA awards, one must be a registered Scout or Lone Scout [in the Scouts BSA program], or a qualified Venturer or Sea Scout. Please note that the Sea Scout requirements do not say "earn the X merit badge", they say "complete the requirements" or "pass the requirements" for the X merit badge.
So, if I understand that statement, any Sea Scout can earn a merit badge as long as they have First Class rank. They do not need to be part of a Scouts, BSA troop.
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I have seen it both ways. We had an ASM that basically was in charge of the first year parents. When we went to camp, we assigned them jobs like you are the photographer for the waterfront activities, you are the photographer for horsemanship. You just need to have a barrier that prevents the umbilical cord. The youth need to know that they need to talk with the patrol leader and SPL and in last case another adult than the parent.
The parents need training about what to expect. Sadly, the training that I have seen for adults at summer camp is really bad so I don't recommend it. but it does keep them busy.
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1 hour ago, qwazse said:
It's nice to know that you all in your dress whites have the same problems as us lowly tan-shirts.
no dress whites anymore. We have navy blue uniforms now. They are sharp.
Yeah same parents and adults. The youth I can deal with
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He just stepped down publicly, stating it is because of the adult leaders....... sigh.
Now to move forward. Sometimes I wish I had a drinking habit.
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I'll put this into troop terms... SPL is unresponsive, over and over again SM and ASM (me) reach out to him in multiple forms of communication without action or reply. No more than one or two messages a day.... nothing.... requesting simple things like what it the meeting plan for this week?
Finally get a message from the parents, "stop badgering my son".....
If your son doesn't want to do the job or at least try, teach them to walk up to us and tell us so we can get someone who wants the job and can do the work. His actions affect the entire unit.
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Ahem, and Ships and Posts.....
We aren't doing anything special. And to note this is the 50th year of girls in BSA scouting btw. Sea Scouts led the charge in 1969.
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Welcome to the campfire
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Our ship, all that were eligible are already in OA. Our girls aren't high enough rank yet.
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1 hour ago, FireStone said:
Incredible story, thanks for sharing.
"Br Prepared" means a lot of things. You just never know exactly what it's going to mean, and it's why we teach these scouts to be knowledgeable in a variety of things, to be ready to act when others can't. Sometimes it means being ready to give first aid, carry a bag, direct traffic, or sometimes just be prepared to tell others what happened.
I had a "Be Prepared" moment last night when I was involved in a hit-and-run car accident. While trying to follow the car that hit me I was thinking "I should have been prepared with a dash cam." And now I will be, my dash cam is going to be on my front porch in an Amazon box when I get home tonight.
ugh, seriously people suck
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From him:
I wouldn’t be here without all of you. Life is short and today is all that we have control over! I am glad you didn’t do chest compressions. 😂
I couldn’t control what happened to me, but I can change how I react.
Your perspective and memories really help put together the accident. I’m glad someone saw me go over the bridge!!-
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- Popular Post
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(Long true story, stay to the end) Surreal lunch today for me. It brought bake memories that had slowly faded from my memory. In September of 2016, I was on a bike ride with my loving wife and a group of riders passed us. Moments later, there was an accident, a horrible accident. The rider in front had a blowout and crashed, next thing we see is a rider fly over the barrier on the bridge and fall 50 feet onto limestone. Most were in shock, and my co-worker got down to him to help him. I called 911, started directing traffic and someone called for someone who knew CPR. I raced down thinking the worst. (I was surprised I was the only one trained in CPR and First Aid) When I got down there, the rider was lying in a crumpled ball. Bones exposed through his skin, blood, helmet crushed, glasses crushed. He was alive somehow, in incredible pain and not making a lot of sense. My friend is holding him still and talking with him. He remains incredibly calm. It was horrible, he didn't need CPR but it was amazing he was still alive. How could this really be happening.....Paramedics finally show up after what felt like forever. I meet them at the top of the hill and help carry bags to the victim. The paramedic is shocked he is still alive (told the victim John later that he thought he was going to see a dead body). They take his BP and there is no BP. It is bad, really bad. Lung collapses and they re-inflate it as they carry him off. After what seems like forever the helicopter arrives and takes him away...... We think the worst.
My co-worker checks in with him a few days later and he is living. No way he will ride again, no way he will never walk again..... Major head injuries, no clue what happened.
Well, 2.5 years later, my co-worker and I have lunch with him today. John walks in and looks amazing. You would never know he was in an accident. He is fit, just ran 6 miles at a 9 minute pace. Hiked 56 miles in the Grand Canyon this last summer. Mentally sharp, just blows us away. He asks us to tell him what happened. We tell him and he is shocked to hear us tell him. He really has no idea what happened to him. We hear about his recovery and it is just inspiring. He shows us a picture of him standing with his xrays in front of him. His xrays look like the terminator. Rods and pins throughout his body (One rod in his femur from his knee to hip, ankle, wrists, hip, elbow). He fell so hard that it tore his aorta, so that had to be patched up as well.
He tells us how this changed his life in such a positive way. He was not in a great place when the accident happened, recently divorced after 18 years. His son was 11(same age as my son) Separated from his kids, busy working a lot. He says it has changed his perspective on life. He appreciates everything everyone has done for him. He tells us you never know when it is your day. Live life to the fullest, enjoy time with your family. If I ever complain about something being hard, I have zero excuse. John's story is just amazing... wow.
People live life for today, don't put off life until tomorrow. So when people ask me why I am so involved in his scouting experience and would camp in the snow or canoe 50+ miles, this is why.
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23 minutes ago, Chisos said:
Texan but never heard of Pan de Campo? Might have to take a corner off your "Texan Chip", haha!
LOL, but I can smoke a brisket like nobody's business
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Looks great, I am Texan but never heard of it. I am going to try it
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We use Scoutbook for for advancement. It is nice because we can do Scouts,USA and Sea Scout advancement tracking in one place.
For calendar we use Google calendar.
For communication : youth use Discord, adults use Slack. Email for long info.
Youth do not read email.....ever
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I see this no different than if I wanted my daughter who was in Girl Scouts and did an Gold Award project to retroactively get credit towards Eagle for that work.. That isn't how life works, it comes off as her and her father playing the system and setting a really bad president of the first Female Eagle if she is in fact awarded it.
I will say that I have sat in on many Eagle boards and the range of kids is very wide. There is the boy that went above and beyond in leadership, merit badges, service, and project. Then there is the boy that meets the minimum requirements barely. They both get the same rank. Everyone who knows them knows the difference between them and nothing is said. I should also note, I know many fine boys that only made it to Star or Life that are amazing and would put above many "Eagles" that I know if I was picking to be on my team. It is just a sad fact of life.
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3 hours ago, shortridge said:
IOLS isn’t online.
I am happy to hear that
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23 minutes ago, PACAN said:
Yes. My thought is that Seems unlikely that the requirements done "since a scout" could have been correctly done in a couple of hours after midnight since the cyberchip requires a little more effort.
I heard that units finished all but the PT 30 day requirements for Tenderfoot on their Saturday campout. Yeech!
This is kinda my point where I am right now. A lot of these new troops in my small sampling of about 6 have very inexperienced leaders in BSA training/experience. They have come over from other programs and all are solely focused on advancement and merit badges. There is the race to be FIRST. That will slow down when troops run out of firsts to do.
Before the majority of new troops were started with seasoned scouters and scouts of varied experience. I think it will end over time and normalize like previous troops. My one hope is that all these new leaders take high quality IOLS training in person from experienced scouters and not just watch it online.
There was a parade this weekend here in Texas and I personally observed many of the new troops being run like a cub scout packs and flags being displayed improperly. just more experience.
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Our troop had a branding iron which was uses rarely but fun to have.
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I 100% agree qwazse. I do this this was to help keep troop numbers up artificially IMHO.
One thing we have encountered in my son's Sea Scout Ship and Venture Crew is that if he wants to finish his Eagle they aren't willing to do the advancement work so he had to dual register with a troop. Of course the troop is confused because he rarely attends troop meetings because he is almost always at a Ship activity or Crew activity they aren't really willing to help him with signoffs. So he is kinda stuck to either find a troop that is more willing to work with his signoffs or not finish. The advancement states clearly that the skipper or Crew Adviser can do the sign offs and positions in the Ship count, but they have the out to only do advancement if they are willing to. Kinda a catch 22.
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41 minutes ago, John-in-KC said:
Not sure about Sea Scout rules, but a Venturer, once First Class, May continue all advancement in the Crew.
That, of course, is under the 2018 Guide to Advancement. We will have to see what the 2019 Guide brings us.
Sea scouts are the same. but what if they aren't dual registered in a troop? Can they still get merit badges?
I am guessing that will always be the tack, dual enroll in a troop to earn merit badges.
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8 hours ago, Cambridgeskip said:
Interestingly over the weekend applications to join IST as part of the UK contingent reopened at the weekend. No mention of shooting instructors specifically but it does look like they are running short.
Quite right it's a big commitment. I would love to be part of it but throw in travel time and it's the thick end of 3 weeks, I can't commit to that kind of thing.
I think that the shooting instructors have to be NRA registered instructors so that might be why they didn't mention it in the international email. I heard that somewhere but can't confirm if it is true or not.
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17 minutes ago, mrkstvns said:
Most certainly.
I also don't buy into the "Family Scouting" theory when girls are in separate troops from boys.
Sooooo....let me get this "family scouting" thing straight....my son does camping one weekend with one troop and my daughter does camping on another weekend with an entirely different troop (or maybe the schedule conflicts and I have to decide which kid I'm going to support that weekend). Either way, my family is not scouting together. Instead we have a new potential friction point.
If girls and boys can't be integrated in the same troop, it's really not "Family Scouting".
Put them in a Sea Scout Ship or crew and it is magically the same unit and works out 🙂 Agreed on your point
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8 minutes ago, HashTagScouts said:
If you read some of @Eagle94-A1's post about what "family" can do to a program, that I would say is a concern. I have posted similar experiences, so I have that concern. It isn't really related to females in our programs, so I don't want to place blame on that.
Personally, I am very glad the hype will dwindle. Mostly because I wish national had put half as much effort over the past 3 decades promoting the program as a whole than they have for the past 18 months. Before now, you were fortunate you got yard signs, and a sentiment that YOU were the reason that numbers were dropping, because YOU were not doing enough recruiting...
Agreed, I am happy it is positive press now vs. the bad stuff people want to focus on. Active marketing is important and forgotten many times. I used to work for a company that believed that if our product was good enough people would find it and buy it. That company no longer exists and the company with an inferior product but superior marketing program is thriving today.
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Texas Summer Camps
in Summer Camp
Posted
BTSR has gone through some rough times but it is beautiful. It is hot, a) it is in Texas, b) it is in West Texas. It is higher elevation that most think. The first year program is up on top of a great big hill. Not sure why that is but they manage. Their high adventure program is really good. When we went there were staffing issues but that was in 2017 so hopefully those have been resolved.
Tahuaya is wooded with mainly oaks and cedar trees. It is pretty, and has some fun features like natural surface rappelling. It is on the smaller side of camps. But I have heard it is fun.
Lost Pines is our home camp here. It is large, has lots of big pine trees and offers just about every program you can imagine. The climbing tower is the biggest in Texas I think. I know the camp director and she has a high bar for the staff so it is usually really good.