Scoutmaster Musings

Have you heard of the BSA's Open Source Initiative?

Huh, me neither. But, after a 6 month development effort, there is a web site with a goal of being an Open Source Software resource for scouting units.

The main purpose is to help the Open Source community and the Scouting community work together to create software to meet the needs required to support the activities of Scouting. These needs include the management of volunteers, fundraising campaigns, and events which individual units now figure out and pay for on their own. With access to a library of solutions, the effort and expense for individual units should be minimized.

This initiative could drive huge changes within the national and local BSA organizations. If it takes off and gains support, there may be many useful tools created. On the other hand, if it turns out to be just the dream of a few geeks in the national ISD (Information Systems Division) of BSA, it may be nothing. I'll be keeping an eye on it just to see the evolution over the next year or so.

Scout On

Leave Comment

I thought the BSA did a thorough check on guys like me that registered as volunteers. When a new parent completed their form and we received it back as 'accepted', I thought that meant the person checked out ok. But, as it turns out, prior to April of 2003, criminal background checks were not done. And, anyone that registered prior to that date hasn't had a one done on him/her.

I'm sure this isn't news to most of you that are more up on this stuff than me, but I found it interesting. All these years I've been a cub scout leader and scoutmaster, I could have had a 'checkered' past and no one would have known. All the adult volunteers that have been running troops and packs for more than 5 years have not had a criminal background check done.

So, I got a nice letter from Mr. Mazzuca, the Chief Scout Executive, on Saturday. It explained the situation and asked me to help him make the BSA program more secure by providing personal information and giving the BSA permission to do a criminal background check. Since I thought it had already been done, I didn't have a problem with the request and, as a matter of fact, have already completed the process.

Those adult volunteers in the BSA that do not complete the request for private information by August 1, 2008, will be dropped from the BSA. If they want to volunteer again, they'll need to fill out a new volunteer registration - which requires giving permission for a criminal background check. So, either you get checked out, or you get kicked out. I expect some folks will be up in arms about the intrusion, but I'm all for it. The only concern I have is trsuting the capabilities of the website designers that created the site and database that will hold our information.

After August, I can be confident that any adult my son is interacting with in the BSA has had a thorough check done on him/her - which is what I've believed from the start. From my view, we're just catching up to what it should be anyway.

I also hope every unit receives a report before September informing them of which adults have been dropped so they don't hang around in any 'unofficial' capacity.

Scout On

Leave Comment

The Boy Scouts of America are searching for a place to call home - or at least for the National Jamboree to call home. The Jamboree has taken place the past seven times at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia and will be there again in 2010, but a permanent, BSA-owned facility is the goal as part of the big 100th Anniversary push.

Some of the requirements for this little chunk of America are:

• 5,000 acres in size
• available for donation, sale, or 100+ year lease
• spectacular natural beauty
• water for recreational activities
• accessible year-round
• adequate medical service in the area
• within 25 miles of an interstate highway
• within 150 miles of a medium commercial hub airport
• able to handle up to 80,000 people

From the requirements, I'd place my bets on land somewhere in Utah, probably just west of Salt Lake City.

The hope is to have all proposals submitted by July 11 and a site chosen by the end of 2008. The next National Jamboree would be held there starting in 2013 and the facility would be a permanent site used for ongoing leadership development programs and high adventure programs. Maybe even a future World Scout Jamboree could take place there.

So, if you've got a few thousand acres of nice land that you're tired of, give Bob Mazzuca a call. :-)

Scout On

Leave Comment

With the 100th Anniversary of the BSA coming up in 2010, a commemorative Boy Scouts silver coin will be issued. The House of Representatives passed H.R. 5872, an act "To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the centennial of the Boy Scouts of America, and for other purposes."

Now, the Senate will pass the bill and the President will sign it into law. The bill has overwhelming support and will most likely pass into law easily.

H.R. 5872 is officially entitled the Boy Scouts of America Centennial Commemorative Coin Act and calls for 350,000 silver $1 coins to be minted in 2010. The collector coin would contain 90% silver and 10% copper.

Interestingly, $10 from the sale of each coin will go to the BSA which could result in $3.5 million in funds to the organization.

And, with virtually everything related to the Boy Scouts, there certainly is a differing opinion out there.

Last year, in 2007, a 50p commemorative coin was issued by the Royal Mint in England to recognize the 100th anniversary of the world scouting movement.
Scouting was begun in England in 1907 by Lord Baden-Powell and quickly spread around the world.
Many other countries have issued coins to honor the Scouting Movement as well.

This Turkish Scouting coin recognizes Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. There were only 5000 of them minted.

Australia is celebrating their Scouting centenary this year in 2008. The country has actually declared 2008 to be the Year of the Scout.

To keep the party rolling along, the Aussies have quite a selection of souvenirs. The Australia Post has issued three cool scouting stamps.

The Royal Australian Mint has issued this $5 commemorative coin, $10 commemorative coin, $.50 commemorative coin, and a $1 circulatory coin.

You can read more about the coins, including prices and volumes minted. The commemorative coins have very low volumes, making them quite valuable.

Scout On

Leave Comment

We do everything in patrols in our troop so the largest bottles we use are the small disposable ones but I know a number of troops around our area use 20lb propane bottles for their cooking at summer camp.

The National Propane Gas Association has issued an alert to warn folks about inspecting the propane bottles they get when exchanging them at refill stations. It seems propane cylinders are being used in the manufacturing of Meth to store anhydrous ammonia. This can corrode the brass and possibly cause an explosive failure.

So, be sure to check propane cylinders you pick up for camp. See NPGA Alert for details.

Scout On Safely

Leave Comment

Our latest Eagle scout had his ceremony this past Sunday. It was a practically perfect affair with many scouts involved with short lines, all correctly memorized. Everything went off without a hitch, including the 10-minute video of the scout's career, lighting of a table full of candles of all shapes and colors, and food and cake served afterwards. It was all really very nice.

For my part, as scoutmaster, I had way too much script to read but I plugged ahead. I'm used to a scoutmaster minute rather than a scoutmaster 5- or 10-minute. :-) But, it was fun.

As a gift for the Eagle, I whittled the troop numerals and the scout's initials into a fire piston kit. The stain I used made it too dark to see very well in the picture. The kit is from FirePistons.com and is a completely working fire piston ready to carve or finish however desired. My plan is to custom carve one for every new Eagle coming out of our troop.

In case you didn't know, a fire piston is a waaaaay cool way to demonstrate fire starting. With just air pressure, a bit of tinder ignites almost magically. It's more work than a BIC lighter, but a lot more fun and there's always a few scouts wanting to try it.

If you're looking for something interesting to get a scout advancing in rank or one that is in to fire, check out fire pistons. I'm hoping to improve my carving as I do more of them.

Scout On

Leave Comment

As most folks know, the official BSA national website is at scouting.org which is a great domain name for the organization. But, in the Internet world, good domain names can be bought and sold for hundreds and thousands of dollars. Just think of an interesting name such as hike.com or camp.com and it's probably already registered. And, there's a good chance it is just a place holder, reserved by someone hoping to sell the domain name instead of actually create a site with any value to it.

That's why it's pretty cool that a fella named John Hall has donated the domain names of BoyScouts.com and BoyScouts.org to the BSA. Those URLs now redirect to the Scouting.org site that has this press release.

Mr. Hall could have sold those domain names for a lot of money, but he chose to give them to the BSA. This simple action will benefit many people that are looking for the BSA site and search for a match. Instead of being sent to some garbage site, they'll actually get to the right destination.

There are many different ways people can support the scouting movement. I think this action by Mr. Hall demonstrates that the breadth and depth of our impact is only limited by our imagination and resourcefulness.

BoyScout.com, BoyScouts.com, CubScout.com, CubScouts.com, CubScout.org and other names all wind up at Scouting.org but there are quite few others that are interesting to check out just to see where they go:
- Scouting.com redirects to Draft.com - a football site.
- BoyScout.org is a holder page, waiting to be purchased. So is Scouts.org, Scouts.net, Scout.net and lots of other
- CubScouts.org is used by Pack 474 in Wauwatosa, WI.

Also, if you didn't know Scout.org is the home of the World Organization of the Scout Movement.

Scout On

Leave Comment

Every 6 months, the newly-elected SPL gathers his gang and decides on the troop activities for 6 months a year in the future. By doing this, the troop has a rolling 18 month schedule and patrols are able to plan ahead.

That doesn't necessarily mean they DO plan ahead, but they can if they want. On Sunday, the new SPL called his patrol leaders together to have them share campout ideas and choose the ones to do. As is often the case, only a couple brought ideas, but the SPL had the list of everything the troop has done in the last 8 years so he could offer other suggestions.

In just an hour, the scouts decided the 6 monthly campout ideas for April-September of 2009, which patrols would be responsible to plan each, and a couple high adventure ideas. They've included Pioneering, Bike Rally, Waterworks, Wilderness Survival, Shooting Sports, and summer camp. They're also planning a high adventure hiking/sailing outing on Lake Superior and possibly a crew to SeaBase.

Sounds like a good summer to me, and they did it themselves.

Scout On

Leave Comment

The BSA Centennial Uniform is on its way!

The word is out! New design for the BSA scout uniform comes out in August, 2008. The colors are pretty much the same so new uniform pieces can be transitioned as old ones are outgrown. A big difference is red shoulder loops and unit numbers are now forest green. The uniform is being promoted as more versatile and wearable in the field instead of just for meetings.
I do think the new BSA baseball-style cap is a big improvement. The switchbacks are staying around.


See BSAUniforms.org for details or this PDF file.

Scout On

Leave Comment

I'll be presenting Wilderness First Aid Basics to scouts at summer camp in July. Camp Many Point is starting a new "All Things Emergency Response" program for one week this summer. I'm fortunate to be a part of the new program and hope it is a big success to continue and grow. There's currently 10 scouts signed up so it's off to a good start.

The local sheriff's office and Mounted Search & Rescue teams are scheduled to present their programs to the scouts, too. I just saw the outline for the week and it's packed with activities and surprises. The scouts get to participate in mock sea rescues, ice rescues, lost hikers, airplane crash, and a mess of various wounds and evacuation drills.

At the end of the week, scouts will have CPR certification, WFAB certification, Emergency Preparedness and Safety merit badges, and experience in many emergency scenarios.

There is a video about the program, but it's a little long.

Scout On

Leave Comment

There's often discussion of 13 or 14 year old Eagle scouts - scouts that plow through the ranks in less than 3 years. This isn't a very rare event.

I believe a much more rare thing is to have a 16 year old boy join Boy Scouts with a goal of reaching Eagle before aging out. This past weekend, I met a scout doing just that while I was presenting a Wilderness First Aid session.

A 16yr old guy just joined a local troop in March with no prior scouting experience. He is now Tenderfoot and has most of his 2nd and 1st Class requirements completed. The 16 months of troop leadership will be a challenge, but he seems to be working very hard at the lower ranks.

It's kind of weird to see a scout taller than me demonstrating how to sharpen his pocketknife and hunting around for signs of 10 animals. :-) He's extra motivated to complete First Class before July, not just to reach Eagle but because he's scheduled to attend Philmont in August!

Speaking of "late starters", we had an 8th grade boy visit our troop meeting, interested in joining Scouts. He's never been in scouting before and doesn't know anyone in the troop. I gave his mother a youth application and will see if they join us at Monday's troop meeting. I'm excited to talk more with him and find out why now and why us. I sure hope he signs up so the one scout in that patrol that is still Tenderfoot might get a bit more motivate to push ahead. :-)

I will be using these two examples for a long time when talking to the troop about being on the look-out for new boys and old friends to invite along on the adventure.

Scout On

Leave Comment

I do believe I've found the two silliest products yet offered by the BSA Scout stores.

Disposable wooden knives, forks, and spoons. They are advertised as environmentally friendly since they are made from wood and individually wrapped in recyclable paper. After dinner, just throw them all in the fire. No cleanup, no trash.

Well now, these have got to the the perfect item for that lazy patrol with a big bankroll. A fork/knife/spoon costs $.37 which is $1.48 for a weekend or $11.84 for a patrol of 8 scouts. Disposing of gear instead of washing and reusing isn't my idea of environmentally friendly. Heck, pick up a stick and whittle your own utensils!


At least the wooden utensils have a purpose. The custom fleur-de-lis branding iron is intended to burn the brand on a piece of meat.
Anyone want to bet there winds up being brands on picnic tables, trees, scout legs, and practically anything except a piece of steak?
I just couldn't help but laugh when I saw these two items. Someone is doing an outstanding job of marketing their junk to the BSA and getting the stuff listed. Maybe I should contact them about offering my fleur-de-lis shaped Soap-on-a-Rope - perfect for summer camp showers! Or, my fleur-de-lis shaped macaronni and cheese. Or, my fleur-de-lis shaped fruit-flavored daily vitamins. Or, my fleur-de-lis shaped welcome mat. Or, my fleur-de-lis shaped waffle press.

There are some really useful items in the 2008 Scout Catalog but the scouting, camping, outdoors items that a scout needs are getting harder to find between the pages of gifts, nic-nacs, trinkets, and plastic junk. The books on Leave No Trace, Backpacking, First Aid, and Wildlife are great. But, 5 pages of keyrings and medallions seems a bit much.

Scout On

Leave Comment