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WRW_57

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Everything posted by WRW_57

  1. Call them and find out about their scholarships. https://www.nols.edu/en/resources/financial-aid-scholarships/ . The school is a non-profit. This course $245, about the same as a WB endeavor. Like many things, it' s a case of you get what you pay for, and if you do not have to call for Search and Rescue during scouting career it will have paid for itself on the first trip. BSA national has been in discussions with NOLS Risk Management Services, off and on, for the last 20 years about audits and consultations but never seems to get around to making a commitment.
  2. If you or your unit are going to take scouts into the backcountry, seriously consider taking this course: https://www.nols.edu/en/about/risk-services/training-courses/wilderness-risk-management-with-nols-and-rei/. This is the perfect compliment to a wilderness first aid course because it teaches how to avoid unnecessary risks beforehand as well as what to do after you've stabilized your patient. I'm a council IOLS Instructor, ASM, and a grad of WB, Powder Horn, and Kodiak. I'm also an Eagle Scout and former NOLS Senior Course Leader who taught this material for 13 years. This course is w
  3. On ebay now, https://www.ebay.com/itm/BSA-LOT-5-EL-RANCHO-CIMA-CAMP-PATCHES-5OTH-HB25-DEATH-MARCH-LRC-ROCK-SHAC-TEXAS/202615084654?
  4. I bit the bullet and went out of council for a 5-day course, offered by National for the same reasons Miami Chief identified. I was well run and required less time than the local offerings. Do not underestimate the value of outside-council contacts. If you want to staff a local wood badge course this may not be the route take, as you'll have no personal history with the local WB junta … something often more valued than teaching skills or subject-matter expertise.
  5. Some folks in other patrols really struggled with identifying ticket items. Our troop guide made us come up with five ideas the first afternoon. We each of us put them on our own white board*, for our other patrol members to see, and comment on. This allowed for rapid development without angst. As individuals we brainstormed each others ticket items until everything was baked by Wednesday. We all thought about our items before arriving, so it was just a matter of mapping them a WB dogma. None of the 25 tickets items were the same. * we got to meet in a training room, with miles of
  6. I think the horn and axe display may have been left out due to weather, and not a formal decision. There was plenty of WB traditions and formality, but the focus was the learning and how to understand the moving parts inside and outside a unit. No patrol patches, no bead thingies for PLs, no stuffed animals, just patrol flags & yells, & Tr1 neckerchiefs. Some jokers took our patrol flag and hid it ...after their WB SM conference I believe they regretted doing it. My patrol got to laugh twice on that one. No talk of geeking out with fellow critters after the course, just how
  7. I paid for it myself as an ACM with 18 months left in the Pack before my kid heads to boy scouts. I taught outdoor leadership at the Nat'l Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) for 13 years. I wanted to see what BSA was doing after being out of uniform for 40 years. My pack will be sending two senior leaders next year and paying for it. Both have 3+ years left in the pack. Both of them need to learn the big picture of contemporary scouting so they can effectively delivering the minutia at the unit level. For these folks its time to get a clue or return to den leading. We have 75 scouts and do
  8. I was there at the spring pilot course at Philmont, as a student. Here is what I recall: B & G + crossover at Lunch Day 1 I was told more topics taught by troop guide Ticket ideas due Day 2 EOD (9PM), Completed tickets turned in Day 3 EOD, Approved tickets returned Day 4. No other homework or late-nighters. Patrol Project was a 7-10 minute on what we got out the course. No PPTs. Day 5 in AM. It took us about 45 minutes to put it together taking and white boarding. Students politely challenged the lectures on occasions for the better. 5-hr outdoor segme
  9. What Longhaired_Mac said. Our council runs a one-day Cub Shooting Sports Range Safety Offcier class good for BBs, Archery, and Slingshoot. No test, not much shooting, and a boring but mandatory curriculum. Training codes for class are: CS31, CS:32. Course usually occurs in June before Cub Day Camp starts up.
  10. The NESA database had my grandfathers Eagle record from 1947. His council had gone through three mergers since earning the award. Having a troop number expedites the search.
  11. Mystery solved. It's an adult five-year veteran patch, used from 1945 to 1953. This fits with the 1949 picture, above.
  12. Starbucks and Marriot's is doing this also. https://www.npr.org/2018/07/18/630082148/marriott-follows-starbucks-in-dropping-plastic-straws
  13. I'm waiting to hear what my IST assignment will be. Hoping its not plumbing or sorting recycling.
  14. The goo-gone cleaning environment needs to really clean as the possible. I found the partially removed adhesive turns into an instant dirt magnet. I also found that applying it from the inside of the shirt to help loosen up the patch. The adhesive was scrapped off the shirt with a sharp plastic knife repeatedly between additional applications. The de-goo'd spot was then repeated, gently washed with Dawn dish detergent to remove the goo-gone resident. What a hassle, the and spot is never perfectly clean, as mentioned earlier. Now I locate the patches with only a little BM and then have a
  15. Since it is true confession time, I end up "profiling" other scouters I do not know by their uniforms, for better or worse. I suspect I'm not alone in this practice. I fully embrace the reality that the uniform police do little good for the movement. Here's a few examples: Incomplete or Incorrect, or both: Probably not the first person I'm going to for help, or trust with their answer. I have Den leaders in this category and it's no surprise when their scouts are unruly, ill-informed, behind on advancement, or drop out. A case of bad examples creating bad examples. Rebel/Sta
  16. Go now. I just did the Centennial WB Pilot Course at Philmont this March. My classmates were from Cub, Scout, and District positions. The curriculum and program was the same for everyone. The first 1/2 day's lessons are presented in a Cub Scout theme, but the instruction applied to everyone. Once you get there, no one cares what your position is at home, or the number of square knots you do not posses. I'm a Cub Scouter and my experience at WB was positive and helpful. It allows me to be an informed and influential member of the committee. I was told the new curriculum shifts more of
  17. I agree that hunkering down was their best choice for extending their luck. Their second lucky break came when the weather cleared long enough to pluck them off, early the next day. Based on their found condition and required hospital stays, it would be a stretch to think they could have survived another day. One media outlet reported that the evening temperature was in the teens. To me, some of the clear lessons here center around understanding the difference between "institutional (scout trips)" and personal climbing, and the risk one assumes in each endeavor. I think there are plent
  18. I believe this story is far from over. Rumor has it several in the party suffered frostbite. I was told the group had an "epic" on the same mountain, in previous years. The newspaper described it as a "hike". It is, actually, technical mountain travel where one ropes up to move more safely across snow covered crevasses in the glacier, as well as protecting climbers on steeper terrain. I've guided* on this mountain, professionally, twice. Summitted once, backed off once, near the top. It can be winter time on that mountain every day of the year, including June. On my last trip there w
  19. Our Pack was selected to be the early adopter in our district of the Chief Seattle Council. Our only Den, a girls' Webelos Scout den, has a woman DL and a male ADL, who is also a parent, and Wood Badge grad. They have successfully completed their Webelos rank requirements in four months, and he council could not be happier.
  20. On cross over night our Pack does simple AoL rank advancement recognition with the recipients, followed by whatever thank yous the parents offer the retiring AoL Den Leader, then we have the boys back up in front who are bridging over. This second group receives a Completion of Cub Scouts Certificate and then crosses the bridge to their new Scoutmaster who provides a new necker, handbook, and wisks them away on the troop's bus to their first meeting, a welcome reception. Nobody goes home empty handed.
  21. The bed wetting challenge can be mitigated to some extent by having the youth keep a "pull-up" underwear in a ziplock bag in his sleeping bag, which he changes into at night, in the privacy of his sleeping bag. The following morning he changes out of the wet pull-up, again, in his sleeping bag, and places the wet item back into the ziplock bag. None of his pals will ever know. It can be disposed of discretely by an adult. This can be practiced at home beforehand. To keep things simple, our Pack expects a parent to accompany their child to resident camp, including Webelos.
  22. Is that the course which is suppose to be the follow-on to Wood Badge, but done in the backcountry?
  23. We've have 5th grade girls in our pack now. They will hang out a second year in cubs until they bridge over next. They are Webelos Scouts this year and will be AoL next year. Our council endorsed us (selected pack for the pilot program). I believe they felt it more important to build momentum than adhere to the original age limits
  24. I'm a third generation Eagle Scout (1977) , behind my father and his father. My son is a Webelos Scout presently and may choose to do the same. My dad and grandfather were in the NESA database but not myself until I submitted documentation. The photos is from 1949 Buffalo Area Council Court of Honor, Buffalo NY. It was noted in the newspaper article that accompanied this photo, that a second generation was very uncommon in he council, as well as being a 14 year old Eagle.....youngest on record in that council at that time
  25. In 1974 I do not recall any elections in our troop. In a troop of 30 boys, maybe one per year were tapped out at a camporee. If you did not attend the camporee, you missed your chance. The scoutmaster identified the candidates to the OA during the big campfire ceremony. Besides first class, one needed to be a PL for some time. At the time, maybe 10% of the unit was in OA, and none of the troop's goof-offs.
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