acco40

What most don't know and routinely violate is that the "knots" represent the "medals" so that one should not where the knot when wearing the medal. I know that everyone does (including my boys) but for example, if the religious medal is worn, the purple knot should not. But hey, we are not the military. Nobody is going to "strip you of rank" for wearing your uniform incorrectly. The fact that you are asking what should or should not be worn shows you have an interest in wearing your uniform properly.

Driving across the old Alton bridge was the coup de grace for drivers education. All of the antique shops in Alton were neat and a nice little drive to Concordia College and seeing the Illinois, Missippi, and Missouri rivers meet from atop the bluffs was a sight. I moved away right before the flood (Winter of '92) but remember the markings on an old grain elevator that had dates and highwater marks from days gone by. Many people will "flame"me for this but it seems to me the further one gets from the east coast, the nicer people become.

In our council, we usually have a fall, winter and spring camp-o-ree. The Webelos usually camp in the fall (day only too) but have day only in the winter and spring. When competing, the Webelos only compete against other Webelos dens, not Boy Scout patrols. They also do not merge with a patrol. Is the above always practiced to the letter? No.

I've noticed from my many experiences as Dad and SM that when the boys return home they are tired and groggy from the car ride (usually having slept in the car for a period of time). Mom wants a complete run down about what went on as very excited to have her boys home. The boys (being boys) are not very verbal and being tired usually utter such scintillating details as "we had fun, can I have something to eat?" It usually takes them a day or so to open up. For myself, I like to be greeted with a hot shower and toilets that flush! What luxuries! If my wife really wants to excite me, the grass is cut when I get home!

Congratulations Rooster! Tell your son "once and Eagle, always an Eagle." Your son and family deserve to feel proud.

OGE, is was so hot you had to adopt? Do you have trouble with "Mr. Johnson" when the temperature increases? With some good counseling, maybe you could adApt to the situation! (Sorry, I could not resist.) Where abouts in St. Louis did you reside? I was a north county resident (Hazlewood/Florissant). Every once in a while, we meet our St. Louis friends (I'm up in Michigan) in Chicago and attend a couple of Cubs-Cards games. Sure beats the way the Tigers have been playing for the past 10 years.(This message has been edited by acco40)(This message has been edited by acco40)

I've lived in Michigan (cold & windy), St. Louis (hot & humid), Southern Arizona (hot & dry), Kansas (hot, cold, ragweed, flat, Jayhawks) and many other areas. People use to adjust their activities due to the weather. Why do you think genteel southerners of old appeared to be slow (in action, not thought) and relaxed? It was due to the heat and humidity. Now with man-made climate control (heaters and air conditioners) and the homogenation of society, we don't really change our work habits from season to season or from location to location. It is true one can partially adapt to their surroundings. Moving from the Arizona desert to the snow belt in western Michigan (lots of lake effect snow) was a shocker to a boy of six. Moving from southeastern Michigan to the heat and humidity of St. Louis was difficult. As a previous poster pointed out, the city "concrete jungle" doesn't help by contributing to heat retention. I remember in Baltimore, before A/C became prevalent, some of the neighbors would hose down their brick houses in the late evening to cool them down. The bricks acted just like the tiles in a sun room by storing the heat of the sunlight beating down on them all day. Problem is, nobody wants that heat in July & August (northern hemisphere). I type this as I sit in my home, windows open, and a gentle breeze blowing after a nice freshening rain a few hours ago, sun now, and a beautiful non-humid 72F! Ain't life grand!(This message has been edited by acco40)

Just like the boys, sometimes when we "sit around the campfire", the soles of our shoes get burnt. Terry, thanks for your efforts. They are appreciated.

FOG, you never understood why some people get paranoid about revealing their medical histories? Have you ever witnessed what can happen to HIV individuals? People who are being treated for mental disorders? Job discrimination for people with many types of pre-existing conditions? Pregnancies and abortion histories? Birth control medications? I can go on and on. Granted, some of these circumstances carry a stigma to some and by hiding it or feeling ashamed, the stigma grows. But for goodness sakes, have some empathy for those in that position. Our troop has enough difficulty keepeing OA election results private, much less medical concerns. Every parent and scout makes the trade-off between their perceived "risk" in sharing medical information to the risk of not having that medical knowledge known. That is their decision, not mine.(This message has been edited by acco40)

I view eight boys as a maximum, but that was my preference as a den leader. In the pack I was in, the den leader had the right to limit the size of the den. The Cubmaster should not be assigning boys to dens or limiting the den size. That responsibility to fall on the den leaders and a distant second to the CC. If no den leader steps up for the boys, tough patoot in my book. If a parent wants their son in Scouts, they should shoulder some of the leadership "burden."

One key is how the 15 yr. old responds to you or any other adult leader in the troop. Having an adult confidant or mentor is great but he also needs to find friends in his peer group too. Kids in their early teens do tend to ostracize and tease and one of our duties as leaders is to curtail and teach that those actions are not positive or constructive. You also have to guard against concentrating to much time and effort on one scout vs. the troop. AS SM, my duty is to teach leadership. However, as a fellow human being, I try to bend over backwards to help youth such as you described. Good luck!

I am extremely fortunate to have a SA who is a trained paramedic in our troop. Obviously, I let him handle all health issues. As for medications, with the "drug scare" culture in our society these days, many schools and camps do not allow youth to self administer medications. At our summer camp, the youth are not allowed to self medicate except for extreme cases (Epipens, inhalers, etc.). The choice now is for either an adult Troop Leader or the health officer to administer the medications (including tylenol, benedryl, claritin, aspirin, etc.) for the youth. In a large camp, the health office can be a good trek away. In our troop, our practice, right or wrong, is to share the medical form information with at least one leader at all outings. We bring along the health forms at each outing. The information is not shared with the youth. We do have youth who have allergic reactions various substances and many who take daily medications. A responsible medical professional likes to know these facts IN ADVANCE (that is why the questions appear on so many forms at your doctor's office). In our society, privacy and health often "compete" with each other. We do need to respect the privacy of our youth and do our best to maintain their health. Obviously, the parents determine if we err on the side of privacy or health.

Bob, I tend to agree with most of your comments above except for the "covet" issue. Coveting is not a crime. "Crime" is a legal term (as is murder). That is why some phrases such as "abortion is murder" and "coveting is a crime" are untrue. Both actions may be sinful, immoral, etc. but under most circumstances, they are not crimes.

mk9750, you make the same mistake many Scoutmasters do. Just like the fact the a troop is not the Scoutmasters (should not use the phrase "my troop"), I don't believe you (or Rooster7 for that matter) "have" a religion. You may belong or identify to a religious denomination or organization but I would hesitate to call it "yours."

Rules, rules, rules. Let's try to use a little basic etiquette. For Woodbadge training, the trainers often wear campaign (Smokey the Bear) hats. I would highly advise the students not to wear their campaign hats to Woodbadge. What is now the "Wolf" uniform, more closely resembles what was long ago the Cub Scout uniform. I wish I still had my blue and gold hat with the gold piping/stripes! That was a classic. I believe some merchandiser came up with the brilliant idea to have separate uniforms for Tiger, Wolf, Bear and Webelos. As such, if a Cubmaster wanted to wear a specific hat (Tiger, Wolf, Bear or Webelos) I'd go with the Wolf. BW, in one of your posts you mentioned that female Cub Scouter could wear the yellow shirt (blouse). That is correct but I hope you are not inferring that female Boy Scouters could not. I know that female committee members, district volunteers, etc. can all wear the yellow (with the Oscar de la Renta scarf!). I think that a female SM or ASM can too but most wish not to.(This message has been edited by acco40)(This message has been edited by acco40)

These days, for many of the youth, the first exposure to a knife is from Scouting. A totin' chip card is earned. Many have the capacity to earn the card but not the maturity to follow the guidelines. Once earned, I don't believe it should be taken away. Does anyone remove the rank badges of a Scout who does not show scout spirit? As SM, I do reserve the right to forbid a Scout from carrying a knife. That may seem like a small technicality (banning the knife vs. taking the totin' chip card) but I feel their is a definite distinction between the two. At a winter outing where the troop stayed in a rustic cabin, one of the Scouts carved our troop numerals into the cabin exterior (barely noticeable). I asked the SPL to muster the troop and I calmly asked if any Scout would like to step forward and claim responsibility. I had a good idea of the culprit but did not accuse anyone. Several of the boys started to point fingers but I had none of it. When I gave all a second chance to step forward and none did, no knives were allowed for the next two outings. In a slightly more humorous note a unique incident happened at summer camp last year. A boy attending his first summer camp (three months with the troop) was taking the wood (finger) carving merit badge. He had just earned his totin' chip and sat down on the picnic table to work on his carving. He proceeded to pull out his knife and quickly move his arm in a half circle telling everyone to "get out of the way." I immediately told him not to do that but he told me that is what his MB counselor told him to do! He interpreted making sure everyone was out of arms reach as to wave the knife forcing everyone to back off! I gave him a slight re-education on the topic and no other problems occurred. As a SM, if I felt a particular Scout was a hazard or threat to the other boys by possessing a knife, I would simply not let the boy possess a knife, not remove him from the troop. As a footnote, the ax yard, IMO, is the scariest place in the world. At the ages of 12 - 16, the boys are growing at an alarming rate and their maturity and judgement are not quite up to their physical strength. I normally do not set up an ax yard unless absolutely necessary.(This message has been edited by acco40)

I wholeheartedly agree!

Tailor the process to your needs (from my ISO training, yeech!). In our troop we have a "newer" scout patrol. It consists of three first year (2 crossed over in February, one in April) and 4 boys with a little over a year of experience. A patrol of three makes no sense (to me) and I strongly agree that a patrol should be of ones peers (or buds as some have described it). I also believe, that the boys should be able to choose (within practical reason) the patrol that they reside in. What I don't like is continual reshuffling of the patrol membership. No esprit de corps develops. The number one identifier that the youth shouldhave is not his troop, but his patrol. Patrols make up a troop, not vice versa.

Honor society? Try service organization.

Unfortunately, the youth of today may find bumps in the road, bums on the road and even bombs in the road but bumbs?

Rooster, this may be WAY off topic and I'm not questioning your beliefs but if your church "happens to be pretty conservative", would they not be in favor that an abortion should be a women's choice? Conservative has many meanings but one is tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions. Right now abortion is legal. A conservative idea would be to maintain the status quo. Conservative may also mean less government control, rules, etc. Having no abortion restrictions is a conservative idea. Now a liberal idea would be to have government laws to influence individual behavior, i.e. outlaw abortion. I know these are not the normal labels that are applied but that is what happens when politics enters into it.

First and foremost, the MB counselor has much discretion. Personally, I limit activities to "when the youth was a scout." Second, if applicable, I like the scout to do the work after signing up for the card. However, such activities as cooking and camping I will count while the boy was a scout even if he did the activities before signing up for the MB in question. Third, I break my rules sometimes.(This message has been edited by acco40)

This topic should not inflame too many! A boy is our troop recently earned his environmental science MB and soil and water conservation MB at summer camp. He previously had earned his citizenship in the world MB. It is my understanding that he qualifies for the World Conservation Award. Is there a form for this award or do I just submit proof of earning the three MBs for this youth? I can't seem to find a form on-line if one exists. Thanks for the help.

For what it is worth, I agree with OGE & BW. The boys need to choose their leaders (I wish I could in my place of work). However, to add a new wrinkle take my recent summer camp experience. I was lucky that 100% of the boys in our troop participated in summer camp this year. Therefore, I made no changes in PLs, ASPL, SPL, etc. But, we also had two additional provisional campers (from another troop) that I melded into one of the patrols. One of the provisional campers was a PL in his troop. I admit, it did not occur to me to hold any type of election for new leaders. I did ask the provisional campers if it was okay to put them in the patrol I did (mostly 2nd and third year scouts - a regular "scout" patrol and not quite yet an "experienced" patrol). Comments?

I've had camp staff ask for troop attire (custom hats, T-shirts, etc.). I usually "tip" by donating to FOS, specific facility fund drives, service projects, camp conservation projects, volunteering, etc. When I am on staff, the best tip I have received is a genuine "thank you" from youth and parents. It really does mean a lot.