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desertrat77

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Everything posted by desertrat77

  1. Thanks Boomer, will definitely catch up on some reading!
  2. GKlose, glad you all had a great camp. One point you mentioned, consideration for the adults. A little appreciation for adult leaders goes a long ways, and the camp staff leadership that figures that out will make some serious goodwill. When I was a SM at camp in '87, I got a thank you mug--and I still have it to this day, and will always value it. The other point is noise. Folks seem to think their right to make noise trumps another person's right to peace and quiet. I think the opposite is true. There's a time to be rowdy, and a time to be quiet. After taps, it's quiet time.
  3. PS If you can find a fundraiser that gives you a better return on the investment of your time and energy, definitely ditch the popcorn sales.
  4. These are all awesome suggestions, and would no doubt benefit all troops, regardless of location. The only tip I'd add is this: find some old scout handbooks, and fieldbooks, and randomly check how scouts did it back then. Not for nostalgia's sake (though that can be satisfying), but because scouting wasn't always the "Gucci" high-dollar activity it has evolved into now. As others have pointed out, gear can be shared, procured from thrift stores, or made at home. Delicious food can be made from the simpliest of ingredients (my old fieldbook has some recipes I like to this day).
  5. Moving around as a military guy for 25+ years, I have only come across one council that had any semblance of a NESA chapter. No footprint in the others. One council, in fact, had an Eagle alum organization that was completely homegrown with no known to connections to NESA. My goal, when I retire from the military and begin career number 2, is to either work with the local NESA chapter or start one. But as others have mentioned, NESA appears to be a newsletter and a fundraising avenue. There is a new, expanded NESA website that encourages networking, so perhaps that is a step in the ri
  6. Narraticong, I've been questioning NESA motives as well, lately. Of all my wanderings in the military, never detected any NESA groundswell. It is kind of weird. Of course, it could relate to to some of the viewpoints expressed in this thread.
  7. Sounds rather...sedentary? Something they'd do at home? For the 100th anniversary of the BSA, how about a morse code contest on twitter (speed, accuracy?) I'd bet today's scouts could learn it pretty quick.
  8. Resqman, you are right, when people don't wear the uniform properly, it reaffirms that the uniform is inferior. I don't think the ideal of uniforming is inferior; rather, the product available isn't up to par. When this happens, folks will circumvent the reg and do what works for them. I think this is true for the uniform reg itself. It's an administrative publication, after all.
  9. Ah, the tyranny of a blank sheet of paper! The previous suggestions are all spot on. Fill in what you know for sure, like summer camp, and then reduce those blank spaces one at a time. Eagle 92, your post brought back a classic scout memory! Our SM took the TLC (troop leadership council as it was then called) camping in the mountains, public camp site, to plan for the next year. Pine forest, lots of trails to hike, etc. But we scouts stalled out on planning the next year. Just no spark. So the SM restricted us to the two picnic tables in the campsite till we finished planni
  10. acco40, I follow you completely. You have the liberty to display your degree, wear your beads, or not. You make deliberate choices, and err on the side of modesty. Other scouters with your credentials don't. I am championing the idea that each scouter have the liberty to decide, whether it's beads, eagle patch, or any thing else.
  11. Resqman, I mentioned an elderly eagle scout in an earlier post, he earned it in the '30s, served as an adult scouter till he passed away in the '80s. He wore his eagle patch as an adult. Would you give him the same speech?
  12. Lisa, I'm with you 100 percent on that point. Function lost out to form many, many years ago. The cottage industry of uniform doo dads boggles the mind. It satisfies the patch nerd community, but the average scout, and his family, pay the price. A simple, tough, durable uniform isn't rocket science. Find a scout shirt or pants from the fifties and you'll see. A few tweaks in style, make it in the US from the same material as yesteryear, and you'll have an instant hit that kids will want to wear. And can withstand bacon grease at the camporee breakfast time, hiking thru brush,
  13. BDPT, it's that simple. And yet it's not. It's simple as long as the reg grants you and yours liberty. Then you are fine. When it restricts you but not someone else, Not so simple. And we aren't talking about military awards v. sunday school pins. We are talking about a little oval patch, about 2.5 inches tall, issued by BSA. Apparently, granting an adult scouter the liberty to wear that isn't so simple. Hence the debate.
  14. Lisa, while uniforming is one objective of many in scouting, I don't view it as a checklist item ("okay, done, let's do something else") Actually, it's something that traditionally runs concurrent with the other objectives, that is, you experience the other objectives of scouting while wearing the uniform. The fact that folks don't want to wear it reflects poorly on National's ability to field a uniform that is functional and desireable. A good example is that "decorative neck thing" aka, the neckerchief. Many years ago, this was a full square, 32 inches by 32 inches, if memory ser
  15. Acco40, in your last post, if we substituted "WB" and "beads" in place of "Eagle" and "badge" would you have the same conclusion? I agree that Eagle can be overdone. Good grief look at some of these Eagle ceremonies, with the lofty creeds, oaths, pledges, preambles, etc. Resembles a coronation! And the cottage industry of Eagle doo dads and congratulation form letters from everyone including "...the Dalai Lama himself...the flowing robes, the grace, the bald head--striking...." is quite extensive. However, the WB community, in general, in no way limits its bragging rights, as demon
  16. Eagledad, I think you really hit on something: inspiration. Though I'm 10K miles away from my Philmont trek photo, black and white one, I can still see in my mind's eye my SM sitting in the front row. He's got his Eagle patch on his left pocket. In the back row, an ASM who turned 18 some months before is wearing his Eagle patch. I looked up to both these scouters, and no one at the time thought ill of them wearing the patch or not. It just wasn't a big deal. As a camp staffer, late '70s, I served with an elderly scouter who was at camp every week. He earned Eagle in the '30s, a
  17. Scoutmaster52, I agree with you. Wouldn't wear my eagle patch myself, but I think adults should have the option. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of folks that view this as a heresy. True, this topic has been beat to death. The anti-eagle patch crowd's position can be summarized thusly: - The patch is for youth (as if this is written in stone) - The knot should be enough (in their opinion) - The uniform guide says adults must only wear the knot (as if this were holy writ) - You are stealing attention from the scouts by wearing the eagle patch (actually, no--you are stealin
  18. Lisa, dressing properly for a meeting doesn't strike me as excessive. Scouts wear uniforms, and my point is they can do everything they need to do at a meeting in that uniform. It helps them understand how to take care of clothing, and knowing what to wear at appropriate times. Going camping is another matter. I'd recommend wearing whatever combo suits the scout and the troop and the parent's budget best. A couple hours a week isn't draconian, at least to me. In the Air Force, you can spot the guy or gal right away that isn't used to wearing a dress uniform. Doesn't fit rig
  19. Reading the posts thus far, two thoughts come to mind: 1. We still don't have a uniform that folks consider appropriate for physical activity--steal the bacon, camping, hiking, cleaning up the quartermaster's store, selling hot dogs. This is a poke in the eye to the Uniform Gurus who designed these things, and a well deserved one I might add. 2. (Donning my fuddy duddy hat) We are training the scouts for future responsibility, right? Part of that is dressing appropriately, whether you "feel comfortable" or not. There's a time and a place for everything, and our casual dress ide
  20. Unless the troop is having a scout building clean up, or doing an inventory in the quartermaster room, they should wear the fullest uniform they possess to each scout meeting. A meeting is what? Two hours a week? Plenty of other hours outside of scouting to slouch around in casual clothes.
  21. Schiff, an awesome slate of nominees! Mike Rowe building a BSA team of spokesmen/women like that? Quite exciting to think about.
  22. Eagle92, I think we are more in agreement than disagreement--I'm familiar with his resume, and Mike is all the things you mentioned, yet he is still down to earth, etc, as I outlined. If we have a Chief Scout who is comfortable in the business arena, and with the arts, yet can have a genuine appreciation for the working class citizens of America, that would be ideal. All the positive traits that both you and I pointed out would prevent him from being Chief Scout.
  23. FScout, those subjects you mentioned all fall under the umbrella of management....
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