Scoutmaster Musings

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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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Of all the Leadership Positions in a troop that a scout can hold for Star and Life 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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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