CRK7376

I've been a huge Kelty fan since I bought my first Kelty, a B5 Expedition pack/external frame in 1973. Still use it on a regular basis. I also have a Kelty El Cap internal frame that's actually bigger then the B5. It's good, but I've never fully gone the internal frame route. I also have a nice Kelty Gale(?) or is it a Tornado(?) can't remeber, but I like it for overnight short trips when I don't need to haul much. My younger son and I did Philmont #32 in 2009 and the decision was between the El Cap and B5. B5 won out, I love external frames, more comfortable for me, better air circu

I love my Panasonic LC43 with a Leica lense. It's been a very, very durable digital camera. World traveler; its been camping across the USA, Korea, Europe, Afghanistan. It's jumped out of airplanes during day and night parachute operations, been dropped on camping trips, gone white water rafting in a pelican case, some rock climbing. Small, compact camera, fits easily in old army ammo pouch and the army first aid case. Unfortunately it's getting old, case is showing more wear and hairline cracks so I may have to replace it soon. It's also only a 4 MGpix, compared to the Canon Powershot I

Kelty, Kelty, Kelty, did I say Kelty? Needless to say, I'm a huge Kelty fan. I've been using Kelty since I bought my first one in 1973, it was an external frame, still have it and used it at Philmont in 2009. I've also got Kelty El Cap from the early 1980s, my first internal frame, huge ruck. Favorite overnight-2-3 day trip bag is the Kelty Gale. If I'm not carrying a Kelty, I like North Face rucks.

I've been using that sleep system for over ten years. I really like the lightweight green bag for warm weather camping. The goretex bivy sack is the BOMB! Saved my hide during mutliple cold weather events in Korea and Afghanistan. I prefer my North Face and/or Mountain Hardware heavy bags, but the black military bag is also very good and when combined with the green bag you have a superb cold, cold weather bag. The compression sack is good at compressing, but i have had lots of seam failures with that compression bag. Still it's worked well for me both in the military and outside. I hav

I've carried a Garmin etrex Vista since Afghanistan in 2002 and never had a problem. The Kids know it/manipulate it better than I do; simple, not to pricey and rugged. Oldest Eagle son not interested in geocaching, younger Eagle son and 12yo daughter along with myself enjoy geocaching. We placed a geacache near younger sons Eagle project after reading about Eagles in San Fancisco area brining light to their Eagle projects through the sport. Our troop has done a couple of Geocache events, but they haven't really caught on with our troop other than a couple of boys.

I've carried a Garmin etrex Vista since Afghanistan in 2002 and never had a problem. The Kids know it/manipulate it better than I do; simple, not to pricey and rugged. Oldest Eagle son not interested in geocaching, younger Eagle son and 12yo daughter along with myself enjoy geocaching. We placed a geacache near younger sons Eagle project after reading about Eagles in San Fancisco area brining light to their Eagle projects through the sport. Our troop has done a couple of Geocache events, but they haven't really caught on with our troop other than a couple of boys.

All my rucks, internal frame and external frames have a clothes line and clothes pins on the ruck. I use about a 3ft loop of parachute cord, then clothes pins for socks or wet tshirts etc....For my climbing gear rack I cut and taped together a homemade "Crack tool" for cleaning placement/recovering chocks/nuts/Tsquares.

Trekking Poles are great, younger guys don't use them as much, but 3-4 of the youngersters on my trek had them, all 3 adults, counting myself carried trekking poles. Another nice item, cheap is a lightweight camp chair, makes for a comfortable evening instead of the log or ground. I really like the Alite Monarch Chair. For me a digital camera is required part of the packing list for any camping/backpacking trip. Most crews only require 2-1quart water bottles, I would/did carry a 3rd water bottle, so a nice Philmont Nalgene would be well received. Next crew I take to Philmont will be requi

My current council tells us we have to sell popcorn and frowns on outside fundraising. None of our small troop like or are willing to sell popcorn. We sell Christmas wreaths, wrap presents at the PX for donations, do other fund raising activities and tell Council to go pound sand. The popcorn doesn't taste very good and is way too expensive! We want the money to go to our troop.

This military officer has no trouble with anybody in BSA using or wearing military attire or equipment. For many of my scouts, borrowing mom or dad's rucksack or sleeping bag means the difference between going camping or not....borrow or buy military gear. Camping gear and BSA uniforms are outrageously expensive for many scouts with miltary parents so I don't have a problem, I want them out camping and enjoying BSA. I try real hard to encourage my adult military volunteers to get civilian equipment/uniforms, but having them involved is more important than what they wear or camp with. I

As an Eagle Scout I wish I had known about joining the military as an E2/3 when I enlisted as an E1, if it was even an option back in '77. Oh well it didn't hurt me any. Left the enlisted ranks as an E5 and now get to wear another Eagle emblem, that of an Colonel/O6. So I guess it worked out pretty well for me! Twin Eagles, I tell EBOR's that I get to wear two Eagles because of the first Eagle earned back in '73.

I received my Eagle in 1973 and my younger brother got his in 1977 or 1978 and we both received our Eagles at the conclusion of a regular Troop COH. This was the way our troop did things from the 60's through the 80's until it disbanded. I really like it that way and am encouraging my troop to do that now. Seems that the current trend is for an Eagle COH to be a big show/presentation for the Eagle/s. Great, the young man worked hard to become an Eagle, but I think it's a little selfish/showboat to have a ceremony for one boy seperate from all other BSA events. Having an Eagle Ceremony at

My son, 15 last summer, and I went to Philmont with our Troop in June 2009. Our entire crew of 9 boys (6 were 15, 1 was 16, 2 were 18 and headed to college in the fall, 6 were Life Scouts 3 were Eagles) and 3 adults were all first time Philmont Crew members. WE HAD A BLAST! That said we had very little support or guidance from our Council. I was not happy with that part. As a military officer, I am very much into the Attention to Details/mission planning/execution way of thinking. We won a Crew Seat in the COuncil Lottery, then had to do the rest on our own. If we had known this g

1.Eagle 2.Vigil Honor 3.Scout Lifeguard 4.Philmont Arrowhead

Height and Weight are important and I was worried about the inprocessing portion at Philmont this past summer. I'm a big guy and as a military officer I always bust the Army's height weight table but qualify when they put the tape to me. Anyway back to Philmont, I was concerned that Philmont Medical Staff would see my weight and say no....They didn't ask me to step on a scale, didn't ask my weight, they did take my BP/Heart rate, do a very minimual health screening. Mostly how are you feeling, taking any medication etc...I'm big, but do lots of physical fitness training, running/aerobic act