CA_Scouter

Ya, everything Beav reported plus: We don't always backpack, but we we try to do more of that then car camp. We sometimes bring dutch ovens when we car camp, though we still use the lightweight gear for other cooking. We don't bring axes when we backpack, don't need 'em. Fires are small in the backcountry and sometimes we can't have 'em due to conditions. ANYONE CAN CAR CAMP. Challenge yourself! Teach your guys to do more with less. If you can't teach 'em, learn with 'em. ( its actually OK for the adults to learn new things in scouts too.. ;-) ) Going lightweight

Now E92, you know you cannot 'add to' nor 'delete from' BSA! ( or did I mess that up again!?! ) ;-)

STRIVE to own as little gear as humanly possible! More gear means more crap to sift through, more paperwork to hassle with, more adult interference, etc. Lightweight, lightweight, lightweight. Support BSA in the Leave No Trace policy. You leave a large trace if the weight of your gear leaves dents in the earth! Purchase good quality lightweight gear from REI, Campmor, etc. REI has these 4 qt lightweight pots that we use..we try for one pot meals.. we usually have 2 stoves/pots per patrol. We don't cook breakfast on the trail, only boil water in the morning. These guys can suffe

1. don't know 2. We keep the med forms in a large sealed manila envelope, with instructions that its not to be opened unless an emergency arises. Travel binders are handed out at the start of the activity and returned at the end.

well I can certainly see from where he gets his immaturity... ;-)

That's not a pack, that's a small CITY!

$15 a year is $1.25 a month. I can find that in my couch. IMHO - For what BSA does they could charge a lot more. Say Blade, you want some cheese with that whine?

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't: Prior to my involvement with the troop, a family received a 'campership' for summer camp. The week after they flew to Dizzyland on vacation. The SM was P-O'd big time. We did a payment plan for one family but they approached us about a month before summer camp. We had a heckuva time getting paid back and don't think we ever got all the money ( the kid quit ). We've had another family pay an extra $20/month in dues, which we held for them for summer camp. That worked out well for both parties. This year one of our new crossover pa

Outstanding ! Treating your scout as a responsible young man rather than a lawsuit waiting to happen? Unbelieveable. Next thing you know they start wanting to let patrols go backpacking on their own... ( or will they???? ) .......

1. Yes. ( blasphemy, heresey, hang him from the yardarm, off with yer head ) I have one scout who earned his Eagle just before 18 and is now an ASM until he goes away to college in August. I don't have the heart to tell his mom, who waited patiently all these years, that the patch has to come off. 2. Yes, 1975.

1. Maybe one was upside down. 2. Maybe one of you was a left leaning commie liberal. 3. Maybe one of you was a right leaning dolphin killing hawk. 2a/3a - maybe the combination of both ????? 4. Perhaps you and the other guy are polar opposites. ;-)

I would say that article reflects a 'holier than thou' attitude.

I have been doing some thinking on this and have arrived at a valid solution. I will no longer fight the battle, but will insist that they all have the same device: http://www.iwood3b.com/index.php

We rented 2 vans last year for a trip to Yellowstone and had multiple drivers. I put together a list of all the potential drivers, their insurance info, DL #, etc. and submitted that with the National Tour Permit. I put 'see attached' on the application. Worked out just fine.

I can neither confirm nor deny the use of cell phones in my troop. Example: We do a 'play' outing at the local gym. Reserve the basketball court and we run drills for a bit then play a full court game for a while. During drills, ol' Jeremy is texting somebody, not paying attention, and WHAM bball hits him on the side of the head. No damage just the normal confused look I get out of him... ;-) Misuse of cell phone is dangerous, yes? I am fighting a losing battle though. I can't say it enough times but I still see the phones at meetings, however, I don't really see the scouts usi

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/us/14explorers.html?_r=2&hp Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More IMPERIAL, Calif. Ten minutes into arrant mayhem in this town near the Mexican border, and the gunman, a disgruntled Iraq war veteran, has already taken out two people, one slumped in his desk, the other covered in blood on the floor. The responding officers eight teenage boys and girls, the youngest 14 face tripwire, a thin cloud of poisonous gas and loud shots BAM! BAM! fired from behind a flimsy wall. They move quickly, pellet guns drawn and masks affixed.

Red Green lives! Long live Red Green! http://www.redgreen.com/OnlineStore/index.cfm?app=cart&a=list&categoryID=1

I'm thinking you feel guilty about losing your cool because it was out of character for you and you are trying to project a good image to the scouts and parents in your troop. Only you can gauge the degree to how far you might have stepped out of line. From your description looks like 'not much'. A little frustration spilling over from an unruly and uncooperative kid. It happens. You may simply want to address you raising your voice, but you should also bring the kid's unruliness into the conversation. Make sure you mention that he is one of many in the troop and that you need

Yea, Beav I started to write a longer post in defense of my position and thought better of it. Just want to point out that I made my post AFTER my son had ALREADY secured 4 letters of recommendation. I am not embarassed about that. Generally I agree with your post.

WAS ignorant ????!!????

UPDATE: Son had Eagle BOR last night and is now the newest Eagle Scout in America ! ( unless someone from Hawaii did one last night ) ;-) The BOR was held the same night as a Council meeting, so the District Executive himself was on the BOR. We are a happy family. Son now joins Dad and Uncle as Eagles and I have 2 more nephews at Life and Star who we hope will continue their advancement. WooHoo!

Had a scout last year who had the project planned but was dragging his feet on starting the physical work. Did a car wash for funding in late October, started the physical work on the project first week in Dec and finished last week of Dec. Turned in his Eagle app on Friday, turned 18 on Sunday. I received several gray hairs on this one! Note to LisaBob... nothing gets a guy's hair on the back of his neck to stand on end than a woman raising her eyebrows. My wife's are registered with the Sheriff's dept. ;-)

OK, humble pie time. You'll get a laugh out of this! I get a call from the DAC Sunday night. Hoo Boy! I'm excited, we're gonna get the BOR done this week. I am so relieved. EXCEPT - He tells me the paperwork hasn't come back from council yet, but can I serve on an Eagle BOR for another scout on Tuesday night? BOING! So I figure the Big Guy is testing me. I know that patience is a virtue and that sometimes I'm in short supply. So I accept the invite and I was fortunate to meet a fine young man whom we approved for his Eagle Rank last night. DAC got the paperwo

Neil, coupla things... I didn't mean to come across as angry, just frustrated. 1) We had the application ready April 1. With the runaround with the letters, we did not get it submitted until this last Tuesday. 2) Yes, but the procedure is vaguely worded. I flew off the handle a bit when I posted this originally, hence the VENT at the end of my subject line. 3) Yes, but I think that submitting this 8 weeks prior to her leaving is a reasonable amount of lead time. Our council usually turns these around in 2-3 weeks and then we get it back from Irving in usually 2 weeks. My last

We've actually been trying to get the school to break for us! ;-) We are similar to Jblake. An outing every month of the year, meetings almost every Monday, High Adventure, Camporee, Summer Camp, etc. We don't really see a drop off in attendance in the summer, its pretty consistent all year round. Ye old Scoutmaster tries to schedule the Monday of the NCAA Men's BB final to be one of those 'off' weeks, but has not been very successful. I did get the Committee to move a COH to the next week one time though...