Cito

AK-Eagle, Congratulations, you're in for a treat. What's your previous Philmont experience?

Of course they change the itineraries on a regular basis, so let us know the camp list and I'll give you some real input.

608 is a real early number, half the staff won't even be to their first days off when you arrive. Nice thing is everyone is fresh and you tend to have less rain early in the summer. June has nice long days so you'll get more evening program.

I think the big issue is that you still have to know what your looking for. If you don't know to search for den meeting plans you'll never find them. It would be interesting to see the site map and see if some of the pieces are actually not linked to anything.

I've seen some other really poor websites, our council for instance.

Basementdweller,

Nope, I'm an architect and soon to be Cubmaster. Just lost about 40 pounds, planning to lose about 15 more and spending time digging out old uniform stuff that now fits and spending some time at the local scout shop and in the catalog to figure out what I'm replacing and with what.

Planning to wear my ODL from 15 years ago to my son's den meeting tonight. I'm fairly excited to make that work.

I've had several generations of scout pants and shorts that absolutely stunk, so these seem like the best option, or at least the closest to what I'd choose. I'll make sure to get on more threads critical of National.

I've followed several threads debating the restricted 2010 and 2012 badges and whether every Eagle should be able to buy them.

Well, now you can just buy all the Eagle badges for $200 on scout stuff. http://www.scoutstuff.org/emb-es-cent-badges-framed.html

It seems that if you can buy them this way, you should be able buy individual badges. Obviously the older ones are copies but for the new ones, they're the same thing.

On the checkout counter of the scout shop they had the spring/summer catalog. Inside the front cover there are codes for discounts. Good March 19 to June 1.

SAVE10 to get 10% off purchases over $60

SAVE20 to get 20% off purchases over $100

Excludes program literature, rank and advancement insignia, gift cards.

Saw these http://www.scoutstuff.org/shr-ctn-cnvs-men-olv-31.html at the scout shop. They seem well made, have the big pockets and aren't switchback long. Could likely wear them as everyday shorts.

Accumulating enough stuff to use my coupon, but definitely buying a couple pairs based on what I saw. Anyone else checked them out?

I guess I'm debating. I've never been to one, so no idea what to even ask for and I know that I'm late to the game. Any suggestions on the right approach. Once I pay for the fee and the travel I want to make sure I make a decent pick on something to do for all that time.

I appreciate all the replies. It appears that I own a fairly small number of uniform shirts (3). I'm just about back to the weight where the old shirts will fit. Then its time for some sewing.

I will say that the boys ask about the patches that are sewn on, gives me an excuse to talk about the opportunities.

I'm curious, is anyone planning to join the staff for the 2013 Jamboree?

Eagle,

Nothing that subtle, I'm talking lack of uniform pants, pins all over and badges in the wrong place. I truly appreciate their enthusiasm for the program, just saying that I don't worry that they are authorities on uniforming and patch placement.

I'm a big fan of proper uniforming, but not of inspections. Wear the uniform correctly and encourage people to follow suit in a positive tone. Personally I'm thinking we might have an event just to help people sew on patches at the end of the year. My pack generally does ok, but I've seen lots of kids with ranks on the wrong pocket in other scout units. I attended a court of honor last week where a Scout had his merit badge sash sewn backwards. I felt bad for him. Hopefully between him and his parents they redo it before the next COH.

Great stuff to hear. I'm going to do some serious recruiting of boys and adults in the next month. The pack already has 56 kids but not enough leaders and draws from an area that should generate 200 cub scouts. The fear has always been that recruiting would lead to too many kids. In my opinion, we need to recruit and. Then figure out a way to bring the program to every kid we can, start a second pack, etc.

Just avoid the haunted rooms at the James and you're in good shape.

Thanks OwntheNight. Even more proof what a small world scouting can be. I was excited before, but now doubly so.

Honestly, our current flap is a muddy mess of a design. Definetely done automated in a computer with little thought of how it would look in real life. But with the pocket flap size change options are limited.

I will also say that while the new ones all have the common border color, when I get one from a few years back I respect the old border color scheme and get the Brotherhood issue.

I go to roundtable and half the commissioners would fail a uniform inspection.

This may be a little late as a reminder, but I'm only recently able to post.

Encourage teenagers and college kids to get out of town this summer and get a camp job. The four summers that I spent working at Philmont are irreplaceable and I only wish I had worked a couple more. Apply early and remember that women are a significant part of the staff now, so they should apply too.

If anyone has Philmont related questions I'm happy to answer them.

IWGBTP

I wish there was an option for my girls prior to venturing but I don't think it's coming soon.

Our pack does have very open position on sibling involvement and that's the right idea for now.

Exciting to see your enthusiasm for scouting Shawna.

I'll join the chorus for full uniforms. The nice thing with cubs is that the uniforms have basically stayed the same for 30 years so there are no shortage of experienced uniforms on eBay. Generally speaking they are lightly worn.

Next year one of my goals as cubmaster is to get from the 5% in uniform pants up to 20%. We only have the official uniform shirts and this thread tells me to stick with that.

I like what we did in Philmont's Conservation department. When in basecamp we all wore the "class A". When working in the backcountry about half the staff switched to the polo shirts. But quite a few of us stuck with the full uniform. We looked good in the dining hall and at all our events. Nobody could accuse our department of being soft either given that we did the most physical labor on the ranch.

For troops, uniforms at meetings and while traveling. Ok to switch to a troop shirt when you get there.

Scouting continues to be one of the cheapest activities our kids do.

As I'm reading this, I'm thinking that it seems that most people feel that it's fine to wear old uniform pieces but several people have preference for current lodge flaps.

I joined the local lodge and received the current flap that fits on my centennial uniform. If I want them for my oscars I have to hit up eBay and try to buy a recent flap that fits the shirt.

Personally I think it's odd to wear the NOAC or jamboree flaps when you didn't attend. But the general lodge ones, I wouldn't get to excited about what year they date to.

Everything seems to work just fine now, posting on an iPad.

Moosetracker, I live in Denver but honestly I'm a Philmont guy. I would be willing to travel further. The big reason besides location is that I like the idea of doing it all in one week. Two weekends with space in between seems less immersive.

The course that I'm doing is offered through circle ten council. I'm trying to recruit a few more outsiders if anyone is interested.

I recently joined the local lodge after a long period of time out. Basically they wanted the dates and the lodge that I completed my ordeal and brotherhood in. Funny thing is, I called the council office from where I grew up and talked to the same woman who worked there 20 years ago. Her son was in my troop. Turns out they don't keep records. The local lodge was fine with approximations, but I dug out my OA guidebook and discovered that I had written the dates down. If I eventually make Vigil, I'll have to add it to that old book.

A Scout is Trustworthy.

Paid my $15 dues, attended a lodge meeting and they handed me a lodge flap.

When I was a scout I always had one uniform with everything that I had earned on it. Being in West Texas it was short sleeve with BSA shorts and knee socks.

When I worked at Philmont I wore the full uniform every day and had three copies. One had a council strip and my two knots. The others were blank but for the shoulder loops and a staff arrowhead. Obviously included shorts and socks.

Now, I have one of the poplin short sleeves with all the appropriate stuff on it for my role in the pack along with oa, knots, service stars, etc. I'm going to start being eligible for several of the knots over the next couple years and debating...if I have two shirts should I do one with everything and one with sleeve patches only? I'm thinking there are times when the full resume is helpful and times when it helps to blend into the crowd. Maybe one long sleeve and one short sleeve being that we have winter in Colorado. The switchbacks help with that.

So, I guess my question is, how many uniforms do you have and what's the reasoning for any differences, besides multiple positions.

Both drives are pretty easy. The summers that I worked there we regularly picked people up from both Denver and Albuquerque. The drive up through Taos is a little longer but a can't miss drive.

As was pointed out the Amtrak is an option as well.

My thought is that with so many scouters arriving at one time, there should be a steady stream of people coming from both airports. Just a matter of coordinating.

I've never been a big fan of staying in Cimarron. If you want to stay close, just camp in the Valle Vidal. You'll have showers at PTC the next day. There are also several pay car and rv camping sites near Philmont.

We plan on going next summer. My youngest is just 2 so not quite old enough to do the fun stuff. I will be down there for a week for woodbadge in August and driving from home in Denver.

Had a hard time getting in, if this posts, happy to be here.

Some combination of the site, trying on a Mac, an iPad and/or the apostrophe in my last name, it would never work. In any case, I fired up windows and tried the entire process over again with a forwarding email address, now I'm on.

In any case, I was highly involved in scouting as a youth. One of the first Tigers, Arrow of Light, Eagle Scout, Silver Palm, OA Brotherhood, etc. I also started an Explorer Post with several friends in high school and then I worked at Philmont for 4 summers (96-99).

Then I took off 12 years until my son became Tiger Cub age this last fall. Jumped into doing the ACM and TCDL jobs. Planning to take Woodbadge at Philmont this sumemr and be the CM next year.

Glad to be back involved and happy to finally contribute to the board after months of waiting.(This message has been edited by Cito)