Great Venturing Opportunity for growth!

[dsteele 20]

I'm pretty excited about a meeting I went to with one of my District Executives this afternoon. No, change that to very excited.

 

I got an email from my Area Director last week about a partnership the council in Memphis, TN has with the local and national JROTC and NJROTC programs (That's Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) and it had some information about a natural fit between Venturing and JROTC. Part of the interest comes from an OSHA regulation that doesn't allow JROTC students to shoot rifles -- only air rifles. However, Venturers can shoot rifles under approved conditions. They are also interested in properties that allow them to make actual fires, have confidence courses, etc.

 

I got more information when I called the National Director of Venturing to answer a different question that came up in these forums.

 

The National Guy informed me that I have the Kenosha Military Academy in this council. I must confess that I didn't know about them.

 

I took the information to the DE and she made an appointment with the Lieutenant Colonel for this afternoon. She did her homework and I did mine. She spoke to another Colonel in Memphis who works with (I think) 11,000 JROTC Venturers in 23 Crews in their council, so we knew what they liked about the program.

 

We show up at the office of the Academy at the appointed hour, expecting to make a pitch to the Colonel. He surprised us. He had with him his Seargent Major and another Seargent. He had done some research, obviously, between the D.E.'s call and the appointment. He introduced the Seargent Major and Seargent by saying that if they were going to do the program (Venturing) that those two men would be the ones to do it. He said he was meeting with us because any financial decisions would be his to make.

 

The seating was strange. The Colonel was in front of the DE and myself, the Sgt. was to the DE's right and in front of her and the Sgt. Major was either behind me or to my left, depending on where I chose to point my chair.

 

No offense intended to any officer of a branch of service past or present, but I focused on the Sgt. Major. I figured if I could get through to him, we had a done deal. I'll go on the record as saying I love Sgt. Majors -- they get things done.

 

While the DE was explaining the concept and describing our council facilities that would be at their disposal, I showed the Sgt. Major the requirements for the Ranger Award. He showed me the curricula he's trying to write from scratch and they matched the requirements for the Ranger Award.

 

We were both then trying to figure out how to make this Venturing Crew a reality. Meanwhile the DE was doing very well with the other two.

 

Soon the discussion turned to the mechanics of starting the Crew and getting everyone signed up that's interested. We were no longer talking about concepts, but beginning to plan program.

 

The Sgt. Major was asked how many kids he thought might be interested in joining the Crew. He said, "25 or so." He was thinking about the attendance at outings at our camp. The Colonel (I love officers, too,) said, "more like 50."

 

If I can persuade them to adopt it into their curricula -- like the Sgt. Major wants to do (and if Sgt. Major wants it, I figure my odds are pretty good) they'll register all 164 kids in the program.

 

The long and short of it is this -- if you have NJROTC or JROTC in your council, it's worth a phone call to your council membership chairman or whichever professional in your council is in charge of membership to make the call. If that professional isn't sure if there is JROTC or NJROTC in the council, have them call the Venturing Division at the national office. They have a list by council of the programs.

 

If you have a military background and offer to go to the meeting, I'm sure it will be appreciated.

 

BTW -- the Colonel actually was concerned that Boy Scouts might raid their campsite. I had to laugh at that one. What Boy Scout Troop would want to raid a High School ROTC unit camping on the same property?

 

DS

[hops_scout 9]

Great game of capture the flag:):)

[matuawarrior 10]

Hello DS,

 

It's seems were on the same wavelength but your a step ahead of us here.

 

We were actually thinking of the same thing with variable differences. I have Venturers in the local high school and my Chartered Organization is thinking of purchasing competition .22 rifles for the crew.

 

We announced this to our venturers a month ago and word somehow spread to their JROTC at school. Their Senior Army Instructor is interested in a collaboration between his unit and our Venturing Crew. We have the range.

 

I would rather do this from a Council/District level though. Even if it means getting more units and members in.

 

I'll keep a keen interest on this thread.

 

Matua

 

[Eamonn 61]

Dave my old china

(That is a good one for a nice fellow.)

Please know that this page has been E-mailed to Pam. My DE.

As you know I am not having a lot of fun with this years membership goal.

In fact Pam and yours truly spent almost an hour on the phone brainstroming.

We have signed up a center for disturbed youth, but while it is a unit we are only getting 15 youth members.

We will send out a letter to all the local fire companies. They have a Junior fireman program that serves almost the same age group as Venturing does.

We met with a local golf pro, yesterday and that might be something to look at in the spring.

Needless to say at this time I am open to all and any ideas.

Eamonn

[dsteele 20]

Eamon:

 

Old china Perhaps I need to go back to Peru just for a deeper understanding of English terms of endearment!

 

I'm glad you emailed this post to Pam. JROTC can be a great source of membership. I'd also suggest ski patrols or groups in the local high school for Venture Crews -- they're often lacking in insurance the BSA can easily provide. The same is true of skateboard/snowobard posts.

 

Keep searching. Opportunities are out there. As always, the opportunity for you or Pam to call me is open. You have the numbers.

 

Best of luck. It's a tough year.

 

DS

[Eamonn 61]

Dave

You need to start reading the works of the great Irish writers.

Brendan Behan. Wrote Borstal Boy. In the book, which is about the time that he spend in an English Borstal (Juvenile Detention Center)

All the Boys had one really good best friend, who is their "China"

If you get the chance read the book.

Sad to say Brendan drunk himself to an early grave.

He is best known for his play "The Quare Fellow"

Some of his more famous quotes:

" I'm a daylight atheist"

"I saw a sign that "Drink Canada Dry" and I've just started"

He died in 1964.

Eamonn.