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Does "will work for backpacking" mean that they backpack frequently so bulk/weight are pretty important? Or does it mean that they (might) backpack once in a while so you dont want to spend the extra on a super small/light bag that really wont be carried that much? Alps Mountaineering stuff is generally a good value when purchased with their Hiker Direct discount prices. THat is - stuff is reasonably priced and holds up well to the heavy use but is heavier and bulkier than I would want for frequent backpacking. In addition to suggestions here, I suggest you talk to the adults and o

Understand - for Cubs it is great to help busy leaders be efficient. And, Im not opposed to it for Scouts either - if they come up with it on their own, in response to a challenge that they have identified. Very often we adults apply our standards to their world - that is, we like online ordering because we are busy and it saves us time. And since we like it we think they should use it. But maybe they dont really care how long it takes because they are not so busy and it really doesnt take that long and they get to goof around with their buddies. Thus - they dont face a challenge (hav

While I like the convenience of ordering online, I suggest you not teach this to the Scouts. I suggest you teach them the skills of planning, pricing and buying "the old fashioned way" for a few reasons. Partly so they know how to do it without the aid of the computer/website and spreadsheets that calculate everything for them. But also because preparing for a campout should be a patrol activity. It is an opportunity for a couple guys to spend time working together to achieve a goal. It is interesting and often funny to watch a few 13 year olds shopping for a menu they prepared. This oft

How are you trying to attach them @Haukehaien? Like others, I sew them by hand - though I dont bother with keeping the pocket usable. If it is going to be there very temporarily, I'll staple them and leave it at that.

Wow - just got the materials last month, that makes it tough to really help people get udpated. We got the materials in early April.

I dont understand the issues some folks have reported with getting in person training. My training team has been doing a session about once a week for several weeks. National has provided all of the materials to hold the session. The only "thing" is - the material specifically says that a) the material should not be posted to any online locations and b) the sessions should only be presented by members of the council/district training team. That is - they dont want units holding the sessions for themselves. My only insight as to why so restrictive comes from another statement in the ma

Go to a local sign shop - they can do custom designs in vinyl. BE AWARE HOWEVER - the sign shop must be licensed by the BSA if they use any of the BSA's protected logos or phrases. Info about licensing is here http://licensingbsa.org/ - the shop will go to the "Apply" then "License Types" and look at the "Local Council Product License" Here are some pics of what our shop did for us.

Sorry folks, I missed all of the requests. Also sorry that I cannot post the gazettes - I found the link when I was researching and, like others have noted, it seems to be gone now. I didnt think to download copies while they were available.

I spent 7 years as CC and have now been ASM for 3 years so have a good perspective on both sides. My thoughts, in no particular order: Get trained. Get everyone else trained. People do a better job when the know that their job is (and is not). Follow the program - this is the BSA's program, do it the way they say even if you dont agree with it. Insist on the same from everyone else Be fully engaged. My successor started out well but then life got busy and she rarely attended a Troop meeting and rarely held a committee meeting. She had no goals for the committee or th

A nice remembrance. Thanks for sharing.

It doesnt change your point, but WB is for all levels. Leadership and Mentoring skills are needed at every level of Scouting (and most every other organization). District and Council level volunteers (and professionals too) face the same challenges that unit leaders face: they need to build teams and get people working together to accomplish goals and complete projects. I agree with your feeling about the word "management" however I would not take offense unless it actually shows up in the syllabus and staff guide. Otherwise I chalk it up to @C7Scouterchoice of words rather than an of

I sent a couple of folks to the Philmont pilot this spring. Since they had not been to WB before, they had nothing to compare with. Between conversations with them and other things Ive seen/read.... We know the Win All You Can is gone. I had heard that the movie was gone and not replaced. I had also heard that the patrol project was gone. And finally, that they were dropping an entire day from the course. In searching just now to see if I could confirm any of these, I ran across this page which has the Gilwell Gazettes from the Philmont pilot: http://centennialwoodbadge.com/phil

Ive heard from a friend who is there that they received a good amount of rain late last week and that NAYLE has been allowed to return to Rayado Ridge Leadership Camp. YEAH!

Numbers on a tent are an adult construct - the kids have no need for a number. With that in mind, I would ask the purpose for numbering them to begin with? And why make it so complicated that it needs instruction? Yes, we number our tents. We do it it so that we (okay, I) can keep track of how long they last. This helps inform the decision of what kind to buy next time. Since we tend to buy them in batches and never more than a couple per year, I use a simple Year-Number format, i.e. "2018-1", "2018-2" etc. I write the number on the tent, fly and bag with a sharpie. My rule of thum

Lots of good info about the course and its delivery. I'll add another perspective - I enjoyed my WB experience but (with much hindsight and additional perspective) I can say that I did not get much from WB in the way of real, tangible skills. What I did get is a "spark" - one of my ticket goals was to join the district training team. This led to lots more involvement at the district and council level, attending PTC, staffing WB / NYLT / PTC. In short Ive met a boatload of amazing people, and helped them become better leaders so they can in turn help more youth become better people.

Spoke to a neighboring SM last night - he called to get suggestions for where else they could go on such short notice. I gave him some suggestions of places Ive been (and thus can provide info/research Ive already done) but they are not ideal. Big challenges that are outside of his control are weather and permits. In the west - northern locations and higher altitudes are still snowed in and permits may be very tough to get for places that are more open.

There is very little overlap in IOLS and BALOO. Even if they teach the same outdoor skills they do so with different purpose. We usually run them at the same camp on the same weekend (because we have the facilities anyhow) but they are very different courses. BALOO is now a blended course (part online and part in person) with a required overnight. It is the only outdoor skills course for the Cub program. My read on the language is that it is actually required for all outdoor Cub activities, not just overnights. As mentioned, the focus is on very new campers and on campers that are n

Another tidbit from my ASM Troop Guides time. This is what I told them at one of our TG meetings - I think it was about mid way through staff development, when they were probably going through some internal storming. Without a doubt, the Troop Guide has the toughest job on a Wood Badge staff. This is your first time on staff so you may be a little bit lost. You are probably a bit overwhelmed to as you begin to realize that you must be presenter, coach, mentor, teacher, facilitator, ticket counselor and all-around helper. You have more presentations than any other staffer and yo

Im going through some notes from a previous WB course and came across my lessons learned document. I always intended to post this info for others to learn from my experiences, so - here you go... Set expectations to read and understand the whole syllabus. Doing so provides context to each session and helps understand how all of the sessions fit together to deliver the overall message. Had one TG who only read portions of the syllabus that specifically said they were a TG presentation. i.e. problem solving round robin section says to understand the points of the problem solvi

THe "Unread Content" link and the "Show unread since last visit" dont seem to be working. Both show me no new messages, but if I set the filter for "last 3 days" it shows me messages with activity that is minutes/hours old - much more recent than my last true visit. It could be because I leave the tab open and Chrome does something to make the site think Im "visiting". If so - that is new behavior since the update.

The curriculum is standardized (available here: https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/training/wilderness-fa/). I have taken it through both ARC and ECSI and their courses both (mostly) follow that document. The delivery can vary significantly due to instructors though. One time we mostly sat at the table and talked through everything - very minimal hands-on practice. Another time it was put on by a Crew who specializes in wilderness medicine. Most everything was a hands-on scenario.

Hardback copy of one of the Harry Potter novels - on a one-night backpacking trip.

No - you're supposed to round up the whole Troop and get someplace safe. At our camp we now have concrete, wind-rated storm shelters near each campsite. Prior to building these, the rule was "hit the ditch". In fact, I would never go to our dining hall for a severe storm because it has high ceilings and lots of glass.

Looks like an amazing trip. Thanks for sharing!

Maybe take them to a roundtable and let folks take what they want. There are likely some collectors in the council - probably someone at the office can put you in touch. Check with someone from the OA lodge. This also seems like a good opportunity to bump this thread: