Troop Box

[5thGenTexan 504]

We are in need of some changes.  Troop has existed for a little over a year.  We have a lot of the Scouts that are disregarding "Scouts Attention", Scout sign is elbow to their side, and they more their feet a lot.  The worst thing is Scouts putting their on twist on the Pledge, Oath, Law during opening.  So, that all is about to change.

Another issue, is we are sharing our meeting place with two other Units, and sometimes we have to find a place at the meeting place to hold our 1 1/2 hour meeting.  So, I want to put together a "Troop Box" that has things we might need for a meeting.

Clip boards for the Scribe to take attendance or notes.

Pencils, Pens, Paper, staplers, paper clips.

Maybe make sure there is a Troop copy of the handbook in there.

What else do we need?

AND, this is going to one of the responsibilities of the Quartermaster to take care of.

[PACAN 220]

My friend's troop has multiple troop boxes in addition to an administrative supplies one.:

First Aid - Rank Requirements

Map and Compass including Orienteering

Ropes including basic knots and lashings

Fire starting

Cooking gear including DO cleaning

 

Each one has its own rubbermaid  box.

 

 

 

[qwazse 4344]

Do you all have your own cork board or whiteboard for notices, meeting agendas, etc … ? Either that or a binder with those things would be good to have. The scribe could insert completed minutes and attendance sheets there as well.

I might also suggest some drawings of stances during protocol. Many scouts wouldn’t understand this as films and videos about life in a regiment aren’t a popular thing. There are especially very few such media for young women. My daughter, when she joined our crew, didn’t understand this aspect of scouting either. If you have a female officer in your neighborhood, encourage then to drop by to visit your troop. That might help.

[mrjohns2 581]

3 hours ago, qwazse said:

I might also suggest some drawings of stances during protocol.

What do you mean? Attention etc?

[qwazse 4344]

5 hours ago, mrjohns2 said:

What do you mean? Attention etc?

Yes. Somewhere I’ve seen posters of the scout sign, salute, handshake, attention, at ease, as well as marching formations. Many of us take it for granted because a lot of us saw our heroes in film. I had Dad, uncles, an aunt, older brothers, several cousins, in the military. There were a lot of parades. (Multiples on the same day … Mom went from street sale to street sale.) Many, many, military funerals. I’m sure some of you were immersed in that culture even more.
My kids only experienced a fraction of those events, the movies they watched rarely involves military or even marching band, and their video games skipped the flag protocol part of life.

[5thGenTexan 504]

On 10/25/2022 at 7:04 PM, qwazse said:

Yes. Somewhere I’ve seen posters of the scout sign, salute, handshake, attention, at ease, as well as marching formations. Many of us take it for granted because a lot of us saw our heroes in film. I had Dad, uncles, an aunt, older brothers, several cousins, in the military. There were a lot of parades. (Multiples on the same day … Mom went from street sale to street sale.) Many, many, military funerals. I’m sure some of you were immersed in that culture even more.
My kids only experienced a fraction of those events, the movies they watched rarely involves military or even marching band, and their video games skipped the flag protocol part of life.

I was in marching band in high school, so I understand attention, marching, salutes. etc.  I have always been hesitant to get too much into that.  Just leery of making Scouts too "military" I guess.  

[qwazse 4344]

10 hours ago, 5thGenTexan said:

I was in marching band in high school, so I understand attention, marching, salutes. etc.  I have always been hesitant to get too much into that.  Just leery of making Scouts too "military" I guess.  

I did the band thing, too. Before that, the American Legion had a boys club where we went to the armory and drilled with mock rifles. Lots of activities were hosted at the armory or the VFW’s lawn. (The guy who directed me to these forums in the VFW band!) But in no uncertain terms did we consider any of that (or the marching that scouts did) military. It wasn’t until I befriended a professor in college who protested in the ‘60s that I realized how triggering much of that could be. However …

It’s all a matter of what we want to hand down. Your post opened with scouts disregarding protocol. It is possible that learning to be “in uniform” has more to do with becoming a well-rounded person than it does with becoming a cog in a military establishment. We’re giving scouts a culture that they can norm to. The O/A provides a slightly different culture. In doing so, we teach youth that they can be flexible and still retain their sense of self and moral compass.