shingobeek

What about council camps that are out of state?

Here is the ceremony from our chapter. Since the ceremony is performed in public, I see no need to post in the safeguarded area. 

I hope this helps:

 

 

Broken Arrow Ceremony

 

Introduction:

This ceremony is a final tribute to a deceased Arrowman who served others cheerfully and embodied the Scout Oath and Scout Law in his daily life. At the request, or with the consent, of the deceased’s family,

it is performed at the wake or funeral home. The Lodge and/or Chapter Advisor, Chief, and acting Allowat Sakima and Meteu should offer appropriate condolences to the family at the ceremony’s  conclusion.

All Order of the Arrow members attending the Ceremony should be in full uniform and wearing OA sashes.

 

Materials:

Arrow that has been painted red with notch in center of shaft

Scouting history of the deceased

 

Ceremony:

The Lodge Brothers file into the parlor forming two equal lines extending from each end of the casket.

One line is led by Allowat Sakima while the other line is led by Meteu. Once in position, the Brothers shall cross arms, right over left, and join hands with the Brothers on each side. An arrow (which has been painted red) will be carried by the second Brother in Meteu’s line. Once in position, the arrow is held between the second and third Brother in Meteu’s line. Each of these Brothers shall hold the opposite arrow ends, leaving a space in the line bridged by the arrow, to indicate the spirit of the departed brother. Allowat Sakima and Meteu will be in full Scout or Explorer uniform with OA sash and may wear appropriate Indian head dress. Allowat Sakima and Meteu step out in front of the casket about three feet and face the mourners.

 

Meteu: We are members of (INSERT LODGE HERE) Order of the Arrow.

The Order of the Arrow is a society of Scouts and Scouters who have been recognized by their fellow Scouts for their outstanding devotion to the high ideals of the Scout Oath and Law – a Brotherhood

of Cheerful Service – whose foundation is modeled after the legends of the Delaware Indians.

We have come here tonight to pay our final tribute to our departed Brother, INSERT NAME OF DECEASED HERE.

Our mighty Chief shall now present a brief review of our Brother DECEASED personal Scouting history.

(Nods and turns to Allowat Sakima)

 

Allowat Sakima:

 

(Gives a brief Scouting history of the departed Brother.

  Information may be obtained from personal  history, forms, family, or close Scouting friends).

INSERT HISTORY HERE

 

(Allowat Sakima nods and turns to Meteu)

 

Meteu:  Peace my Brothers of the Arrow

Of this Lodge and humble tribe,

Bear with me this obligation

To our Brother gone before us

On the trail of fulfillment.

 

He who camped and served among us,

He who always stood beside us

Now has left his earthly trail

For the trail of his Maker.

 

Let us in our hearts and minds

Remember he who was our brother

On the Earth . . . but now forever

Brother Deceased in spirit with us.

 

Meteu gets the arrow which has been held between the second and third Brothers in his line.

These Brothers will not join hands when the arrow is taken by Meteu. The space in the line is to remain as an indication of the position formally held by the departed brother. The arrow should be taken and given with both hands on the arrow at all times during transfers. Meteu then passes the arrow to Allowat Sakima.  

Allowat Sakima takes the arrow with both hands.

 

Allowat Sakima: As a symbol of our Order,

                             The arrow has been fitly chosen.

 It must be straight, its point keen.

 Aimed high, its course undeviating.

 Its direction onward and upward.

 It is, therefore, a symbol of leadership.

 

 The breaking of the arrow (break arrow) is symbolic of the end of strife

 Leadership given, service accomplished, and the beginning of peace.

 

(Give the arrow to the widow or family member

 or place the arrow on the deceased with the point of the arrow over the right shoulder.  

 or an OA sash can be placed across the deceased’s chest or over the casket by Meteu).

 

 Meteu, will you strengthen our spirits with a prayer?

 

Meteu:  Oh, Great Spirit,

Hear us in our prayer this evening,

A final tribute to our Brother.

 

He who loved the haunts of nature,

Loved the moonlight on the water,

Loved the sunshine on the meadow,

Loved the shadow of the forest,

Loved the wind among the pine trees,

Loved the rushing of great rivers,

Loved the thunder of the mountains,

Loved all nature in its splendor,

Found in nature duty to Man,

Pledged himself to cheerful service,

Serving his fellows and his Master

Pondering that which is our purpose.

 

Rest Brother, . . .

We’ve known you well indeed

And now in peace you’ll sleep.

You’ve done your work and done it well

So none of us need weep.  (pause for 10 to 15 seconds)

 

So be it.

 

Allowat Sakima then leads his line past the casket and files out of the parlor.

Meteu then follows by leading his line past the casket and also files out of the parlor.

Good for her!

It's great to see young people succeed in scouting!

True, there are eight methods, but I agree that all eight are not equal. 

Take uniforms for example. There are plenty of units that do not require complete uniforms. There are entire units that come to summer camp where only 2 or 3 members have even a class A shirt, let alone shorts and socks. 

I'm not saying that the uniform is unimportant - but we allow plenty of lee-way here in regard to uniforming. Part of that is due to the cost. A complete uniform, including all of the patches that are required, costs more than $100. Scouting ain't cheep folks. 

So yes, there are eight methods - but not all are equal.

If I may be so bold:

http://pathwaytoadventure.org/?load_cms=151

 

The Webelos camp at Owasippie Scout Reservation is great! As an added benefit, it's held at the Nation's premier scout camp!

1 hour ago, mrkstvns said:

10,000% agree!  A scouter of any level who puts up barriers to a scout's advancement is just plain NOT a good scouter. No excuses.  No if's and's or but's. 

The only reason a scouter should refuse to approve work done by scouts is because it doesn't meet the requirements.

"No more, no less." works both ways. Scouters should not be putting up barriers by inventing garbage "rules", but by the same token, the scout should not be inventing shortcuts. 

 

See, that's my point - adults putting up barriers. When the "well intentioned" scouter says to the youth "it's great you know how to tie a square knot now, let's see if you can do it next week (or next month...) too!" That is a barrier. 

Scouting is supposed to be fun. 

On a secondary note - and this really gets to the point - BSA requirements are not that difficult for young adults. Too often adults may feel that scouts are moving too fast, and set up barriers, i.e. making them wait. This can have deleterious effects on youth. Regardless of one's opinion, the world we live in today moves fast. No amount of longing for yesteryear is going to change society. Young people today have been conditioned to expect things in a rapid fashion, we adults are too. This is not about teaching patience, this is adapting to the changing culture. 

I'm a teacher. No matter how much I want students to go to the library to do research, I know it's not going to happen, and nor should I expect it. It's ridiculous to expect this when young people today can do the same, if not more, research from the comfort of their own home. I, the educator, have to ask, what skill am I assessing, the knowledge gained from the research, or the act of researching itself?

Are we asking a scout to tie a knot, or tie a knot 2 months from now?

We cannot ask a young man in his Eagle Board to tie a sheepshank, or map out a trail to his school, because he's already done that. Why are we insistent on doing the same for the new scouts?

2 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

Because even in the best units, all scouts advancing together at the same pace that fast implies a fast track advancement program. Scouts are individuals with individual desires and motivations. I've yet to see a program where pushing scouts through advancement is the best way to keep them interested. Adventure, adventure, adventure.

Sadly, many adults seem to believe that happiness comes through advancement. Those are the units without older scouts. 

Barry

I agree - my point is that advancement can occur rapidly. 

As a teacher in a junior high setting I have seen far too many boys leave the program because "it's boring." These youth leave a troop that is very active -weekly meetings, monthly camping trips, and usually another activity. These boys leave because they aren't advancing. How a 14 y.o. that is active in a unit is still a tenderfoot or 2nd class is beyond me. 

19 minutes ago, malraux said:

As a whole, I'd be perhaps a bit more concerned if every scout earned tenderfoot in 1 month, and then second class the following month.

Why?

The scouts in question could complete requirement 6a & 6b at one troop meeting, complete the other requirements on a campout, and then 6c at the final troop meeting of the month.

We should be in the business of keeping youth active and interested!

So I've been following this forum for a while now, and there seems to be an issue that comes up frequently. 

"Scouts advancing too quickly"

Usually the topic starts like this..."My son's Scoutmaster refused to sign off on the requirement...."

or

"The new leadership of the unit is pushing through advancement too quickly..."

I've been involved with the program for quite a while, not as long as others, but still it's been 30 years since I became an Eagle, and I think this qualifies me as having been around. 

So here's what I don't understand, and never have. The BSA creates a series of requirements for advancement, be it merit badges, rank, religious awards, etc. Furthermore, in the Guide to Advancement it states "Policy on Unauthorized Changes to Advancement Program - No council, committee, district, unit, or individual has the authority to add to, or subtract from, advancement requirements."

Why is this concept so difficult to understand?

YOU CAN'T MAKE CHANGES TO THE PROGRAM!

It doesn't matter that you've always done it this way - or that in our troop we do this. Some hard-headed adults have a hard time believing that some requirements are easy concepts for certain youth to comprehend. If you read the requirements, quite a few MB's are similar, and if a scout does his homework, earning a MB could be done quickly. 

So why do we put up with the SM's who refuse to approve work done by scouts? This happens in both good and bad units, and if you look around, and are really honest, you can find examples of this in quite a few places. 

We should be doing all we can to keep boys and girls in the program - not driving them away because - "That's not how we do it in our unit"

Camper:

Owasippie Scout Reservation (Robert Crown), Camp Bunn, Saukenauk Scout Reservation

Staff:

Saukenauk Scout Reservation, Camp Shin-Go-Beek, Owasippie Scout Reservation (Blackhawk), Rota-Kiwan Scout Reservation

Camp School:

Camp Mitigwa, Owasippie Scout Reservation, Geneva Center (x2)

Leader:

Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan Scout Resevation (West), Camp Shin-Go-Beek, Owasippie Scout Reservation (Blackhawk)

Weekends:

NO - I can't even!

My prediction is that within short order there will come the directive that all ceremonies will be conducted in a full class A uniform.

And honestly, as a former lodge chief, and as a former section chief - I have no problem with that. 

As an adult who has been through all of the training, including wood-badge (I used to be a bear...); and a former youth that went through the entire program (Eagle Scout).. I agree with you. Adult training is focused on folks who were not part of the program as boys, and the attitude of some adults is poor - you need to go through the training like I did!

That said, the training is easy - and doing it isn't going to be that difficult - do it now and be done with it - before you don't have the luxury of free time!

My $0.02