In the Boys' Life magazine, there are stories of Scouts in Action - acts of heroism by scouts of all ages.
Not many scouts find themselves in situations where acts of heroism are required. But, every day, scouts are in action doing simple, helpful tasks that demonstrate the skills and values they've learned from Scouting. This week visiting with relatives has given me the chance to notice this in my own two scouts.
With 10 grandchildren from various families running around, it was impressive to see the amount of time they spent helping with the really young ones as well as doing other chores. They also led the gang in most of the playing that went on.
I saw lots of the leadership training we've done over the past three years being used - and used just as if it was the normal way to do things, not as a forced effort. Praising others, explaining what to do, demonstrating what is expected, including everyone, cooperating rather than winning - all examples of what they've picked up from Scouts.

I hope and expect that many scouts across the country have impressed their families similarly this week. Now, as we get ready for a new year, we'll continue to look for the spark of a strong Scout Spirit to drive these guys even when Santa's helpers aren't watching so closely. :-)

The Daily Good Turn is something we often mention in our troop and is also one of the more challenging things we ask scouts to do. It requires them to keep an eye out for others in need rather than just looking out for themselves. That's why it is so important. Putting others first is a big part of the Scout Law and Scout Oath and a huge step towards manhood.

It isn't a single big step when a scout suddenly changes. Over time, with constant exposure to good role models, scouts gradually grow their skills and mature as hoped. Keep watching for Scouts in Action and remember to thank them when you notice a good job.

Scout On

Santa got me something I didn't ask for, didn't need, but will probably use a ton. It is a set of Squishy Bowls from GuyotDesigns.
The bowl and cup are flexible, squishy silicone and withstand up to 400 degrees. They bend any old way so you can back them into any spare little place you have left in your pack, unlike my rigid bowl and cup I've used the past 5 years.
They cost around $15, but the low weight, easy packing, and simple clean-up make them a worthwhile investment. To clean them, you can turn them inside out and lick away. Then, an easy rinse and you're done!
I'll let you know how they stand up to weeks of use in 2008 - I'll be using them at Philmont and my son will use his all summer at Boy Scout camp.

I never would have gotten these myself, so, "Thanks Santa!"

Scout On
Merry Christmas to everyone in the Scouting Family

Have you checked out the Scout Shop Christmas Catalog? Lots of gift ideas in there, from an offcial BSA basketball to BSA long underwear! With the ever-growing selection of stuff that BSA is selling, I was kidding my wife this summer that they will soon offer BSA diapers so boys can get going the day they come home from the hospital. Well, I haven't seen those (yet) but there IS a BSA branding iron now - I guess those die-hard scouting families could put the logo on a new baby's behind so there's no doubt about it. :-) :-) :-)

There ARE some useful items available, though, and here's a couple. The Scout Shop has come out with a couple new card decks that your troop should include in its resources. We've got the Scout Skills game and the Deck of Knots and they've been very helpful in helping scouts learn the skills and having fun and competition in the troop meetings.
We'll be getting the Stars and First Aid decks right after Christmas and put them to use right away.


Deck of Scout Skills64 questions and answers for scout skills taken from the scout handbook and fieldbook.

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Deck of First AidCards for all the first aid rank requirements and techniques for proper treatment.

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Deck of KnotsInstructions and illustrations for all the Boy Scout knots plus lots of others.

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Deck of StarsGlow-in-the-dark constellations for night exploration and identification.

Scout On

A scout recently earned his Eagle and has now aged out of the troop at 18. We've had some challenges with our scouts maintaining their patrol equipment and it caused some unnecessary expenses last year.
I discussed this with the Eagle to see if he had any ideas. He did!

At his last troop meeting as a scout, he carried his patrol box and tent to the front of the troop. He told the scouts that this would be his last meeting as a scout. He was the last scout left from his original patrol and he wanted to return the gear he had been given when he started.
He asked the troop Quartermaster to come and join him. He handed the tent over and thanked the Quartermaster for letting him use it for 7 years. He said it was pretty worn out, but the troop might use it for demonstrations.
He gave his patrol box to the Quartermaster and said he had just checked the inventory list and everything was accounted for except paper towels and a scrubbie. He said some of the pots were dented and one of the plastic spatulas was melted, but the rest should be fine for the next group of scouts.
The Quartermaster thanked him and took the gear to the back of the room while the rest of the troop applauded.

It was a simple thing that said a lot. It showed that a scout should be responsible for his gear and the gear can really last through an entire scouting career. It made an impact on the younger scouts. Whether it will make a difference or not will be seen over the next couple years, but I hope to see similar short presentations by the scouts that age out over the coming year.

Scout On

The troop went skiing this weekend. We camped in a 'lodge' at a scout camp and drove to the ski hill. A 'lodge' is a large open room with cement floor, not to be confused with a 'ski lodge'. This one had some thin mattresses to toss around too.

On Friday night it got down to -11F so two intrepid scouts earned their Zero Hero patch. They slept in a tent and did their patrol cooking. Myself and another adult also earned the patch, but we slept in a tent because it seemed more comfortable than the 'lodge' anyway. Now, I'll have an old Viking Council version and newer Northern Star Council version.

One scout working on his First Class cooking requirement led his patrol in cooking pancakes on a dutch oven lid. After some hassles with stoves and freezing wash water, I think quite a few scouts figured out that dutch oven cooking makes sense in very cold weather. All the adult meals were dutch oven and we had very little clean-up to do and no cooking pots to scrub.

Hopefully, we'll have equally cold weather in February when we actually go on our Okpik winter campout. The last few years, it has not dropped below zero.

Scout On

National Eagle Scout Association (NESA) is searching for all Eagle Scouts. They want to find and contact every living Eagle Scout and create a document of his achievements. They will call this document Roll Call: The National Eagle Scout Registry and it will capture the tradition, history, and honor of the scouts.

Now, that sounds like an interesting idea. I get quite a few emails asking how to prove someone was an Eagle, how an adult can receive Eagle, where to get replacement Eagle items, ... and so on. It would be cool to have a list of every Eagle Scout and have a new section added each year. I'd like it to include the year and age they made Eagle and what they did for their project.

But, the small news blip makes me wonder about this project and its real motives:

• Since this news item is listed on the home page of scouting.org, it insinuates that the BSA doesn't have a good record of who is an Eagle Scout - otherwise, they could just supply the list to NESA.
• NESA wants people everywhere to tell Eagle Scouts about this search effort. Or, you can contact your local council and turn in the Eagle's name. But, I couldn't find any mention of who Eagles or people turning in Eagles should contact on the NESA News page. How organized is this search?
• This registry will supposedly only be available to 'bona fide Eagles' and will only list Eagles that are adults and agree to be listed. It kind of sounds like another Who's Who listing that you get the priviledge of purchasing and seeing your name in print.

I hope it turns out to be a useful registry and NESA can successfully list every Eagle Scout. I'm passing the word on to you and to the Eagles in our troop. I'll be hopefully waiting to see where it goes.

Scout On

Planning ahead to Philmont next year, there are some items that we've found to be quite useful and waiting too long to take care of them can be troublesome.

• Boots - of course you shouldn't wait until the week before your trek to buy new boots. A growing scout might outgrow boots in 6 months so don't buy them for Christmas. Shopping for the right boot and figuring out which one to buy can be done now, but actually buy the right size about 3 months before the trek.
• Duffel Bag - transporting backpacks by plane or bus is a great way to break off buckles, straps, and webbing. Our crew just got these canvas duffels delivered today. They are an inexpensive way to put a layer of protection between your pack and the roughhousing you know goes on by the baggage guys.
• Stoves - If your troop already has and uses backpacking stoves, you're set. If not, be sure to purchase them early and train all crew members on their use.
• Water Filters - we use the Katadyn Guide filters. They've worked well for our troop backpacking but are getting more difficult to find. There is a new ultralight filter coming out in early 2008 called the Katadyn Mini and it has gotten a lot of good reviews. It is around $100 though.
• Crew Shirts - one of the highlights of a Philmont or any other high adventure trek is adding YATS (yet another t-shirt) to my collection. It's a good idea to get a design done and figure out where to get the shirts made - all of it can be handled by scouts.
• Transportation - if you haven't started on plane, bus, hotel, shuttle arrangements yet, you'd best get started. The shuttles to Philmont from Albuquerque and Denver are convenient, but expensive and popular.
• Backpack Cover - it rains at Philmont and a rainproof cover is essential for keeping your gear dry. A couple garbage bags may last the whole trek, but I doubt it. Garbage bags to wrap around your sleeping bag are a good idea, and so is putting clothes inside plastic ziploc bags.

Scout On

Tonight, a Life scout is receiving a German Interpreter Strip for his ability to converse fluently. This is the first Interpreter Strip issued in our troop, so I see it as being a pretty big deal. I don't know of any others in our community, either.

Since there is no official application form and the completion of the requirements is up to the unit leader, the actual work required to wear an Interpreter Strip most likely varies a lot from troop to troop. I suppose it's common place in some troops and I expect I'm on the more stringent side. :-)

This scout showed me the letter and translation he did, signed by his language instructor. He also supplied a written note from his instructor that he carried on a 5-minute conversation and translated a 2-minute speech.

Now, maybe we can get a few scouts earning the Swedish strip before the World Jamboree in 2010!

Scout On

In 1999, the Order of the Arrow Troop Representative became an official leadership position that can be used for Star, Life, and Eagle rank advancement. Depending on your location, the OA may have a very strong presence or be hardly known. The OA Rep position is a great opportunity for a scout to demonstrate real leadership and promote the OA purposes of camping and cheerful service within his troop.

We've had a few OA Reps in our troop over the past years, but they were not asked or expected to do much. Since they already had their rank advancement leadership requirements complete, there was not much incentive in that direction. With our next troop elections, the position will expand and have the following defined expectations:

• Attend 75% of OA chapter meetings - to keep abreast of what the chapter is doing
• Inform troop of OA events and news - get up front and speak. Promote the OA and its purposes.
• Assist OA members in gaining their Brotherhood membership - through encouragement and practicing the requirements.
• Attend the biannual troop planning session to ensure that camping opportunities are offered at least once each month.
• Encourage scouts First Class and higher to participate in high adventure camping - through individual encouragement and troop presentations.
• Encourage attendance at summer camp by all scouts - especially keep older scouts interested.
• Organize troop Service opportunities - work with the troop's adult service chair to ensure there are at least three service opportunities and help plan and promote them.
• Plan, promote, and present the troop's OA election - ensure everyone understands how the election is run and that it is held correctly.
• Promote and teach Leave No Trace in the troop - this ties directly with camping and service. It requires the scout to learn and use a specific knowledge set and help the troop become better campers and land stewards. Offer one workshop in the last two months in this role.
• Wear uniform correctly, set a good example, practice the Scout Oath and Law - a standard responsibility of all the troop leadership positions.
• Fulfill the requirements of this position for 6 months - the troop's chosen term of office

Some of these duties are to encourage others and have no specific targets so they are not measurable. Those that are measurable include 5 specific events in the 6 month term so this position provides worthwhile contributions to the troop.

More info at OA Site.

Scout On

How does your troop or pack acquire good, qualified adult leaders?
Every unit needs a Scoutmaster/Cubmaster, Chartered Organization Rep, and Committee Chair plus two more committee members in order to actually be a BSA unit. As scouts join and leave the unit, their parents come and go with them, causing a continual overturn of adult volunteers. In some cases, usually the Scoutmaster, an adult may stay in a position for years or decades but this is rare and its merits are debatable. Bringing in new volunteers and energy once in awhile usually helps a program. The challenge can be in identifying and recruiting quality adults.

When a volunteer announces that he will be leaving, three things are likely to happen:

1. The other volunteers make efforts to keep him around for just one more year - for as many years as he keeps saying 'ok'.
2. The other volunteers make a list of everyone that might do the job and then ask, beg, plead with them until one breaks down and says 'ok'.
3. The other volunteers cross their fingers and hope the parent of a new boy joining will be naive enough to be talked into doing the job.

None of these actions put the best qualified person in the role. I know from experience. When our troop's Scoutmaster announced he would be stepping down, the troop did #1 and then #2. I broke down and said 'ok' before they got to #3.

A more thought-out, planned process should be used to prepare for the inevitable need for replacing volunteers. We need to follow the Boy Scout motto and "Be Prepared". Since we know new volunteers will be needed periodically, we can have a plan ready to get them.

Use Selecting Quality Leaders from the BSA for a process and sample presentation. There is also a video of the same name available from the BSA. These are quite formal steps to select leaders and are more for recruiting someone that is outside the unit. A more common situation will be to recruit someone that is already involved in the unit.

When looking for an adult leader, search for someone with these traits:

• Commitment to the ideals of Scouting
• High moral standards
• Ability to relate to boys
• Ability to keep a cool head under pressure
• Good organizational skills
• Ability to relate to and interact with adults
• Flexibility and the ability to compromise
• Good planning ability
• High energy level
• Good attention to detail

Being prepared to replace volunteers in key roles really means to have a succession plan in place - our troop now has this. The Scoutmaster may have told you he will fill the role for the next 5 years, but he may get transfered next month. A successor needs to be identified for the role, just in case. The successor should not be picked directly by the current volunteer, but by a selection team, to ensure someone with the desired traits is chosen. With a succession plan ready, there will be no scramble to fill a vacated role because the replacement is already on the sidelines.

Now, the question of recruiting new volunteers still exists - how do we recruit someone to be the replacement waiting on the sidelines? I've found it is much easier to find someone willing to 'start learning the ropes' than it is to 'jump in with both feet'.
Use the same general process outlined in the Selecting Quality Leaders brochure, but use it with people that have already become part of your unit.

• Form a team of 2 to 4 currently active volunteers.
• Make a list of people involved with the unit or expected to join the unit soon. A Webelos den leader joining a troop might be a good match to take over as Scoutmaster in a year or two.
• Based on the team's relationship with these people, compare them to the desired traits and rank them.
• The person that best matches the list of traits is at the top of your list. Visit him first and if it doesn't work out, work your way down the list.
• Tell the volunteer that you need him to replace the current Scoutmaster in 12 months or 18 months or whatever. And, he will have that time to learn from the current Scoutmaster, attend training, and become more comfortable with the program.
• Keep a list of the people currently in positions and their successors. Annually, at recharter time, have each person commit to another year in their role. This will identify positions you need to work on.

Whichever volunteer is chosen, he will have some strengths and some weaknesses. I, for example, am quite experienced and knowledgable about outdoors and wilderness, but I have to work hard to avoid being overly critical of scouts that don't follow through with things they commit to doing and I have to be more light-hearted and less analytical.

A few things that I believe should be considered very heavily in a Scoutmaster candidate, and in my book would most likely disqualify the candidate, but not by BSA requirements:

• someone that I've seen smoking
• someone that I've heard swear or talk in anger at scouts or other children
• someone that I've seen or ridden with driving dangerously
• someone that I've heard tell racial, sexual, or otherwise very inappropriate stories or jokes
• someone that I've seen promoting his religion in a scouting setting

Those are just things that would affect my personal recommendation for someone. My family chose to join the troop we did because 3 of those were demonstrated at other troops when my oldest son was looking at troops to join.

One last thing: it is much easier to identify replacements if there is a relationship in place with all adults involved in the troop or pack. Some parents drop off their scout and pick him up 90 minutes later. That isn't what Scouting is about and it makes it nearly impossible to know how that adult might be able to, and want to, contribute to the program.
Offer and promote opportunities for parents to get to know you and the other parents. Have a parent party in February and in September so they can socialize, meet and welcome new parents, hear from the Cubmaster/Scoutmaster what has been accomplished the past 6 months, what is coming up in the next 6 months, and discuss needs of the troop or pack. We've found these gatherings to be very useful in getting to know parents and lining up recruits for future positions.

Scout On

Of all the Leadership Positions in a troop that a scout can hold for Star, Life, and Eagle advancement, I suppose Bugler must be the one with the least amount of obvious leadership potential. A scout playing the role of bugler might just toot the bugle at a couple campouts and that's all. But, if a scoutmaster really wants scouts to demonstrate leadership as they advance in rank, bugler can include some meaningful responsibilities that give the scout opportunity to grow his leadership skills.
For example, the bugler supports the troop in these ways in our troop:

• Practice bugling so he is prepared when called on - improve his bugling skills
• Sound Taps, Reveille, and Assembly at troop campouts - two or more bugling events each campout. He is responsible to wake up first and ensure the troop is roused on time.
• Sound appropriate calls at Courts of Honor and other assemblies as directed by SPL - usually for presentation and retirement of colors.
• Recruit and prepare a back-up bugler for events that he can not attend - ensure the duties are performed by a replacement.
• Maintain the troop bugle - our troop has a very special bugle with a history. It is passed from bugler to bugler and needs to be cleaned and polished.
• Wear my uniform correctly, set a good example, practice the Scout Oath and Law - a standard responsibility of all the troop leadership positions.
• Fulfill the requirements of this position for 6 months - the troop's chosen term of office

These responsibilities require a scout to be prepared and able to play a bugle so there may be a small number of scouts able to hold this position. When the bugler is in front of the troop, parents, and guests at troop gatherings, all eyes are on him and he leads everyone in the ceremony being conducted. Even though he may never say a word in his duties, his leadership comes forth in his attitude, uniforming, and music.

We just had our monthly PLC last night. The scouts have next week's troop meeting planned and being it's nearly Christmas, I think I'll talk about Physics of Santa for my Scoutmaster Minute. Actually, I hope to have one of our more intellectual scouts present it instead of me.

Here are a couple other holiday items you might find useful:

• Twelve Days of Summer Camp - a song
• Good Thing about Christmas - a skit
• Right Family - for doing gift exchanges

Scout On

Sometimes I think it's unfortunate that Reverent comes at the end of the Scout Law. It seems to be set at a lower priority than the other eleven points and scouts may give it less emphasis. The troop's Chaplain Aide is a leadership position specifically meant to ensure that reverence is part of the scouting experience and should be held by a scout that has demonstrated a personal spiritual awareness.

Chaplain Aide may become one of those free ride leadership positions in a troop that does not have duties defined for each job. To prevent that, and to keep the role meaningful, our troop has come up with these tasks for the Chaplain Aide:

• Main Role - promote Reverence in the troop
• Attend every troop campout or arrange a replacement beforehand - the chaplain aide or his representative must be on every campout. Even finding a replacement gives him some leadership experience in mentoring other scouts.
• Lead a religious service at every campout which I attend that includes a Sunday morning - we have a short service on every weekend campout. The Chaplain Aide is in front of the entire troop demonstrating his presentation skills. He should also recruit other scouts to help him rather than doing the entire service himself.
• Prepare a grace and lead the troop before every meal - he is encouraged to introduce new graces, rather than Johnny Appleseed over and over. We put emphasis on preparing a grace so he thinks about it early and not just winging it. He is also expected to take charge and gather the troop, not wait until everyone is eating before being reminded to lead the grace.
• Maintain the Chaplain’s area of the web site with graces, prayers, and resources - add new items so future scouts have more to choose from that the troop is familiar with.
• Present the Religious Emblem program at a troop meeting - every 6 months, the scouts are reminded of the program and encouraged to participate.
• Promote Scout Sunday - in January, he reminds scouts of Scout Sunday and encourages them to participate in their home church.
• Long-term Camps Duties - at summer camp or on extended backpacking trips, the Chaplain Aide (or his appointed replacement) is responsible for leading a daily reflection, thorns-n-roses, highs-n-lows, whatever it is called. This is his time to manage a group meeting, normally done by the SPL.
• Two Personal Goals - he is asked to come up with two goals that will make the position more useful or improve the troop. Things like making a troop prayer book, a contest to encourage Scout Sunday participation, or adding a couple graces to the troop's list.
• Wear my uniform correctly, set a good example, practice the Scout Oath and Law - a standard responsibility of all the troop leadership positions.
• Fulfill the requirements of this position for 6 months - the troop's chosen term of office

The Chaplain Aide meets with the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader at least every 2 months to report on his progress towards his goals. This ensures he is fulfilling his duties and will receive rank advancement credit. The Chaplain Aide also has an adult mentor that he can go to with ideas and for advice. The mentor is a consistent resource from term to term and s/he knows what the last few chaplain aides have done and can help with ideas for improvement.

I've had quite a few people ask me if the BSA Rank Advancement Videos were available to download just once instead of watching them online. The video files are really big (some are over 10MB) and don't work too well for folks with slow Internet connections.

Trying to be helpful, I've created a Video Download page that lists all the videos with instructions to download them to your computer for offline viewing.

Scout On

Does your troop have a library? What's in it? Does anyone use it?

We've got a library that contains at least one of every merit badge pamphlet. Each year, when pamphlets are updated, the troop Librarian is tasked with purchasing the new pamphlets and archiving previous versions. The library is actually a couple of big cardboard boxes and moves to the Librarian's home with each election.
We also have other resources in the library - books about knots, pioneering, mountain first aid, troop program resources, whittling, winter camping, games, and much more. There's Patrol Leader handbooks, Chaplain books, and songbooks. Unfortunately, these resources were very seldom used and scouts seemed never able to come up with new activities.

In the past two years, the role of Librarian has evolved with an emphasis on getting the library resources used more and providing the Librarian with more opportunities to demonstrate leadership. The two main changes to the Librarian's duties are maintaining an online library page and promoting the library. Here are all the duties that make this troop position one of leadership:

• Main Role - keep troop library and materials organized and accessible
• Maintain and organize all troop books, pamphlets, and related materials
• Make troop resources available on the web site for scouts to check out - a page lists all the merit badge pamphlets and another page lists all the scouting resources that are available for use.
• Maintain a record of which scouts have checked out materials - when a scout checks out a book, the web page lists his name and date; when he checks it in, his name is removed.
• Retrieve all checked out materials before the end of my term - before a new scout takes over, he needs to have all resources accounted for. This can be the most challenging duty but provides opportunity to exert authority needed to complete a task.
• Report at least twice to the PLC on materials needing replacement or updating - this ensures he has organized the resources and is aware of needs. It also gives him opportunity to interact with the rest of the leadership team.
• Purchase merit badge pamphlets and other materials as needed - he follows through with the identified needs and provides a solution.
• Report to the troop on new library resources - gives him presentation practice and promotes the library to other scouts so the resources are used more.
• Two Personal Goals - he is asked to come up with two goals that will improve the library or the troop's use of it. Possibly archiving old versions of pamphlets, or donating them to the community library, or making a better library container.
• Wear my uniform correctly, set a good example, practice the Scout Oath and Law - a standard responsibility of all the troop leadership positions.
• Fulfill the requirements of this position for 6 months - the troop's chosen term of office

The Librarian meets with the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader at least every 2 months to report on his progress towards his goals. This ensures he is fulfilling his duties and will receive rank advancement credit. The Librarian also has an adult mentor that he can go to with ideas and for advice. The mentor is a consistent resource from term to term and s/he knows what the last few librarians have done and can help with ideas for improvement.

Scout On

The troop position of Historian is often left unfilled in smaller troops and thought of as a 'bogus' position in many other troops. Scouts that take on the Historian job may find that they have nothing to do for 6 months except put a newspaper clipping or two in an old scrapbook. It doesn't have to be that way. Every troop leadership position can and should have real leadership responsibilities.

Leadership doesn't need to be demonstrated in a charismatic, up-in-front, "Follow Me!" manner. There is a whole lot of leadership that can happen behind the scenes or in quiet, supportive roles. And, opportunities to get in front of the troop should be added to every leadership role.

To ensure the Historian job is a real leadership position, our troop has included the following responsibilities in the list of duties.

• Main Role - document and archive activities of the troop
• Maintain and add to the troop history record on the web site - There is an archive section of each year that contains information about each campout and troop event.
• Write about troop awards, recognitions, advancement, service, and special events in the troop record. This is being done on the web site now but is also printed and stored offline.
• Update troop information, such as new eagle scouts and troop leaders - we have a web page that lists eagle scouts and their projects and a page listing all positions and who held them.
• Publish photographs from troop activities on the web site - a photo gallery package lets the scout organize photos by event. Now that we have a new digital camera, we're also posting some video clips.
• Submit at least two articles about troop events to local newspapers - in a town of 60,000 the paper is still willing to publish lots of 'feel good' articles and photos. When we first added this, they were very surprised at how often the short articles were accepted. It's great publicity and more clippings to put in the old scrapbook.
• Keep historic items safe such as ribbons, awards, and memorabilia - all this gets stored in scrapbooks and a big box.
• Give a presentation to the troop in the last month of your term about the history of the troop - this gets the Historian in front of the troop and gives him a reason to go through the old stuff and learn something about the troop. It also gives the newer scouts a connection to the past.
• Two Personal Goals - the Historian is also asked to develop and fulfill two goals of his own. This might be starting a new scrapbook, archiving old ribbons off the troop flag, or anything else he feels would benefit the troop.
• Wear my uniform correctly, set a good example, practice the Scout Oath and Law - a standard responsibility of all the troop leadership positions.
• Fulfill the requirements of this position for 6 months - the troop's chosen term of office

The Historian meets with the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader at least every 2 months to report on his progress towards his goals. This ensures he is fulfilling his duties and will receive rank advancement credit. The Historian also has an adult mentor that he can go to with ideas and for advice.

Our troop web site is becoming a key method of communication and that is why it is included in these duties. All troop leaders have access to create and maintain content. The web site makes access to information easier and faster for everyone.

Scout On

Now that the weather has dipped into single digits - Brrrr - I thought you might be able to use some indoor game ideas. These are some of the favorite games of our scouts for troop meetings that still get some action going.

• Pinguard - a very active ball-throwing game that scouts will play for hours. It's the favorite Lock-In game and requires a large gym. Guardian is similar but requires less room.
• British Bulldog - the roughest game we play with a good chance of ripped clothes, bruises, and scrapes. It's an opportunity for the biggest guys to use their strength and weight.
• Hunker Down - one-on-one strength and balance contest. It doesn't take much room and can be used as a gathering activity before meetings.
• Crab Fights - simple physical game that pits patrols against each other. Rewards speed, strength, and balance.
• Kangaroo Wrestling - Another simple physical rough-n-tumble game that size matters less than balance. It's every 'kangaroo' for himself in a battle royal.
• Steal the Bacon - speed, memory, and fearlessness are needed in this fast-action game.

Don't let your troop meetings get stagnant during the winter. Make sure evey meeting has some action for scouts to look forward to.

Scout On

After eating, sitting, and visiting relatives for two days stright, I'm stuffed!
Each family has its own traditions - some watch football, some hunt deer, some always go to Grandma's, etcetera. I guess our family's tradition is to eat - we don't do much else for the weekend. I actually cut back on my meals for three days before Thanksgiving in hopes of reaching Monday without a big gain on the scale. There's still some turkey left to make sandwiches for the drive home tomorrow, but all the pumpkin and pecan pie got finished today.
I guess it's a good think to set aside a couple days to relax and reminisce with the extended family. We don't get to visit with everyone very often. It seems kind of gluttonous with all the food that gets laid out, but it is a celebration of thanks for life and the opportunities we have in this country. And, I for one am thankful for my situation and place. I've been fortunate to have few family, social, or professional hardships and this past year has been especially smooth.
It will be back to the normal life on Monday, but for now I just heard it's time for dinner - again.

And to think we do it all over again just one month from now, but with presents too!

Scout On

At the end of October, units could start claiming their Centennial Quality Unit goals for 2007. This is the first year when this new CQU award replaced the normal Quality Unit award.

The six requirements for the award raised quite a stir this year around here. Lots of confusion and questions about just what was needed to actually earn the award, especially compared to the fairly simple requirements for past QU awards.

New Requirements

Old Requirements

Have ___ percent of direct contact leaders complete Basic Leader Training for their position, including Youth Protection Training. Retain ______ percent of our members, recruit ______ new youth, and recharter on time. Recruit ______ new adults to be active. Have a minimum of 60 percent of youth advance in rank for Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting or earn Venturing recognition awards, or improve by 10 percent over last year. At least 70 percent of youth have an outdoor experience or one activity per month, or improve the percentage over last year. Conduct annual program planning and provide the financial resources to deliver a quality program.

(Complete 1st four requirements and any two more.) Scoutmaster completes Boy Scout Leader Fast Start Training and Basic Leader Training for Scoutmasters. One or more Assistant Scoutmasters registered, trained, and active. One registered adult is assigned responsibility for Youth Protection training. Conduct six highlight activities and attend a BSA long-term camp. Complete charter renewal before current charter expires. Conduct an annual program planning conference, publish an annual troop program calendar, and present it to parents at a family activity. Conduct a service project annually, preferably for the chartered organization or the community. The project will be reported on the www.goodturnforamerica.org web site. 60 percent or more of youth advance a rank, or have a 10 percent increase in total rank advancement over a year ago. A Boys’ Life subscription will go into the homes of all youth, or have a 10 percent increase over a year ago. Renew charter with an equal or greater number of youth registered over a year ago. Conduct Troop Junior Leader Training as outlined in the Scoutmaster Handbook and hold monthly patrol leaders’ council meetings.

The past QU requirements were all pre-set. With the CQU, each unit sets its own goals for the first 3 requirements. Some units may low-ball to ensure the award while others may challenge themselves and miss the goals.
The curious thing is looking forward to 2008 and the changes in the requirements. Individual units will get to set their own percentages for requirements #4 and #5 - effectively letting each unit decide what is needed to earn the award. See this 2007-2008 comparison.

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The National Youth Protection Committee recommended additions to Boy Scout rank requirements that were approved and will become effective January 1, 2008. These changes will emphasize the importance of Youth Protection training.

Tenderfoot Rank
Revised requirement 9:
Explain the importance of the buddy system as it relates to your personal safety on outings and in your neighborhood. Describe what a bully is and how you should respond to one.

Second Class Rank
New requirement 8b:
Explain the three R’s of personal safety and protection.

First Class Rank
New requirement 12:
Describe the three things you should avoid doing related to use of the Internet. Describe a cyberbully and how you should respond to one.

The changes will be represented in the 2008 Boy Scout Requirements book and the revised ninth printing of the 11th edition of the Boy Scout Handbook.

As you may remember, the Cub Scout Immediate Recognition Kit has been recalled this fall due to high lead content in the paint.

Scouts or parents that have one of these items can return it to a Scout Shop starting on December 1, 2007 and receive a replacement. The new replacement items will have an imprinted diamond shape on the back so you can tell they are new.

Also, when someone returns an old one, they can enter to win one of three BMX bikes from Kahoot - as kind of an "Oops, sorry" contest. The bike winners will be drawn on April 1, 2008.

See Kahoot News for details.

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The BSA has put out a video overview of the merit badge program. You can view it online - Merit Badge Primer Video

The troop celebrate another Eagle Scout today. This one finished his requirements just a few weeks before his 18th birthday, so it was close. He hovered at Life for over 3 years but finally completed the tasks.

The Court of Honor ceremony went very well. Check out the script at this page - the interrupting scouts worked out well and added a little intrigue to the event. The best part was having his little brother and sister put on his Eagle neckerchief. The worst part was having the Scoutmaster talk too much. :-)

The Eagle did a great job of encouraging all the younger scouts to set goals, persevere, and not wait too long. Whenever an experienced scout can prod other scouts along in their advancement, that's a good thing.

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Trails' End Popcorn is the staple funding for many packs/troops, districts, and councils around the country. There's a good chance the scouts in your unit sell popcorn. Some love doing it while others hate the whole thing. From the average scout's, parent's, or even scoutmaster's point of view, the popcorn just magically appears at someone's house and they go pick up the items they sold.

Today, I had the enlightening opportunity to discover that the popcorn does not magically appear at that person's house. Actual people spend many actual hours of actual hard work getting it ready!

Our District Executive put out a request for folks to help sort popcorn. Since I was free today, I said, "Sure!" I didn't know that I was the only one that had that reply.

All the orders for a district are combined into one huge order from Trails' End. Popcorn is delivered on pallets in cases. Many pallets with hundreds of cases! All wrapped in plastic and waiting to be broken down and re-assembled into piles for each specific troop.

Our D.E. gave me one troop's order and told me to gather all the items 'over there'. I searched for Cheese Lovers and Three-way Tin Chocolate Lovers and Microwave Kettle Corn. After lots of searching through pallets, I finally had the lay of the land and the next order was easier.

You may not know this, but on every item and every case there is a symbol - a moon, circle, triangle, sun, or something else. You should look on your items. We had our own special language. We didn't say we needed 7 2.5 Pound Popcorn Tins - we said we needed 7 Triangles. I didn't even know what was in most of the cases for half the day. :-)

After 3 hours of picking and packing, the troops began to arrive for pickups. Then, we moved the orders to a loading bay and they checked off that we had the correct number of triangles, circles, and clovers (sometimes called 'clubs'). I was impressed - we only had a couple mix-ups and they were fixed.

So, when you get your popcorn, remember that someone put in a whole lot of work just to get those items to you so your scouting adventures could happen. Next year, consider volunteering to help sort your district's popcorn - it really was an interesting day. And, try the 'stars' - they're very good!

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Back in September, I wrote a post about the Rocks In My Backpack book written by Tom Sholes. I just wanted to remind you that this really is a great gift for any scout volunteer you may know - or anyone you know that was ever in Boy Scouts.

Tom tells me that many copies of his book are going overseas to soldiers that were scouts, giving them some humorous relief from the stress they face.

Buy It - > < - Buy It


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In our troop, each campout is organized by a patrol with the assistance of an adult. The patrol does all the planning and arranges training in troop meetings before the campout for skills that could be useful on the outing. To aid in the planning, a Campout Planning Checklist has evolved.

We've been seeing a lower participation level in troop camoouts for the past year than we'd like. I asked the PLC what they thought might be done to bring the numbers up a bit and they decided that more promotion would help.

For the past couple months, each planning patrol has been asked by the PLC to present the outing with a little more 'OOMPH' than just standing up and saying, "We're going camping on the 24th. Here's the permission form." At last night's troop meeting, it finally happened!

A couple scouts from the patrol planning the December skiing campout got dressed up in ski gear, goggles, poles, ... head to toe. One came running in hollering that he was tired of raking leaves and wanted to go skiing. But, where could he go? The other scout said he had a solution to his problems. They went back and forth explaining all the fun activities they had planned for the campout and how scouts should sign up. Very entertaining and a great demonstration of how the other patrols should do it. A lot of scouts signed up right then.

Now, I'll be talking to the SPL about how he can challenge the patrols coming up in 2008 to outperform this patrol.

Adding a bit of entertainment, even in announcements, is a good way to make troop meetings more interesting.

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Today I'm recovered from our annual Lock-In on Friday night. Yesterday, I was a little sore and tired as an old man. In years past, this was our Webelos recruiting night but we now have the Scoutorama for that.

The Lock-In is probably the most un-Scouting thing our troop does. Mini-golf, bumper cars, and mostly shoving coins into blinking, whirring, flashing arcade games for a couple hours in the quest for the jackpot of tickets. Then, exchanging all those tickets for some silly plastic jumping frog or other such junk. Can you tell what I think about it? :-)

But, every year, during the PLC's planning session, it finds its way back onto the schedule. This year I even mentioned that global warming is making it feasible to camp in November, but that didn't have much impact.

It's not really that bad. After the arcade, we retreat to a local church with a huge gym and play highly active games. We have pizza and pop and then the scouts battle it out in the gym. This weekend, we played pinguard for 2 1/2 hours straight. They even let the old guys play and I'm still sore from throwing about 500 nerf soccer balls.

Another change this year was that we ended at 1:00am rather than staying all night. At past lock-ins, some scouts would leave around midnight anyway and then I'd be stuck with a bunch of zombies at 7:00am trying to clean the place up. It worked out much better this time and it looked to me like the scouts were tired enough when they headed home. I'm anxious to hear what the scouts have to say about it at the troop meeting tomorrow.

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I've noticed a lot of Greener ads on TV the past week or so. The hybrid cars are becoming more common on the streets. The price of oil keeps setting new records. Cutting our energy consumption is no longer something to think about doing some day - it's something to actually do now.

I always put up my Christmas lights the week after Thanksgiving. That means they burn for over a month. I use C7 lights - incandescent lights that are smaller than C9s. I'm one of the few left in my neighborhood that has not switched to LED Christmas lights and it's about time I made the switch too.

I grew up with these C7 lights and they just always seemed more 'real' to me than LED lights. But, with the recent advancements in technology, the LEDs are pretty cool.

LED lights have about a 50,000 hour life compared to 2,000 for incandescents - yes, I get tired of replacing a handful of lights every year.

LED lights use about 90% LESS energy than incandescents. That means the extra large electricity bill that comes in January will be a thing of the past. Instead of an extra $100 it would just be an extra $10.

LEDs are more durable too - they're plastic shells instead of glass. Also, they are literally cool, cool enough to touch.

So, what's on my Christmas list? Besides a new pair of Scout Socks, it's new strings of LED lights.

In our community, we have a handful of Boy Scout Troops and a handful of Cub Scout Packs. The membership in any single pack or troop fluctuates year to year. Across the board, numbers stay fairly even, but there are spikes in individual units which often cause some concern.

Some years, a troop will get a bumper crop of new scouts because there are a few younger brothers in Webelos that are definitely going to that troop and they wind up pulling more new scouts along with them. Other years, the same thing will happen to a different troop.

This year, it seems like competition between troops is at a very high level. Our troop is in the situation of having a few younger brothers moving up so we're not too concerned about bringing in enough scouts. But, that doesn't mean we aren't pulling, pushing, and prodding Webelos to continue on.

The scouts in our troop have scheduled events so they could invite Webelos along. And, they've done this to help the Webelos fulfill their Arrow of Light requirements, rather than actively recruiting them. I think that makes a big difference in the amount of fun and pressure that exists. We had a handful of Webelos join us at the district Camporee. We had a very fun Scoutorama last weekend. And, next month, they decided to invite some Webelos to go skiing.

Last night, the troop had a table at an event specifically devoted to recruiting Webelos. One of the local Packs invites all the troops to have a table in a local church. Then, they invite all the Webelos from every pack to come and meet each troop. It's a terrific event where Webelos get to see each troop. The troops have little activities trying to impress the Webelos. Many of the troops have developed traditional activities - one has rubber band guns, one has a board game, and we have a wheel of fortune. I had a great time because I just sat and watched all night. The scouts talked to Webelos and parents and never got a question they needed me to help with.

I would highly recommend that you consider organizing such an event in your community - it will give you good press and really help with the Webelos transition. Getting Webelos to go on to Boy Scouts is the goal, not so much which troop they join.

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