Scoutmaster Musings

Off to summer camp this morning. Taking 39 scouts for a tropical week at Camp Many Point in the great north woods. Forecast is for 90s all week so it's a good thing that most of them are signed up for Swimming, Sailing, or Lifesaving merit badges - plenty of waterfront time. There's about 125 merit badges to be done.

Four scouts have asked the SPL to lead campfires for their Communications badge requirement so our evening entertainment is set. We're using the dining hall this year, so the food will be easy and good. All the paperwork is ready to go. Not much left for me to do but find a good stick and sharpen my knife when I get there. :-)

Scout On, and have a great week while we're gone!

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The two crews returned from Philmont just two weeks ago. The pictures look great. The stories are funny. The blisters are healing. OK, guys, time to sign up for Philmont, 2013. WHAT, we just got home!!!!!

Troops can attend a BSA high adventure base every two years, at most. If your troop does the Sea Base/Philmont flip-flop, then NOW is the time to start generating interest in your 2013 High Adventure. Philmont lottery entries are submitted in October and Sea Base lottery occurs in February. The next lotteries are for 2013, not 2012. Families need a couple months to hear about this great adventure, discuss it, digest it, and finally commit to it. Waiting until October to tell folks about your 2013 Philmont trek is too late!

This 16-20 month pre-planning requirement gives some troops massive fits and frustration - having scout families commit to a weekend campout three days before it happens is hard enough! Scouts wonder if they'll be active in two years, will they be big enough, will they enjoy it, ... and parents have to cough up some deposit money they may never see again.

To ensure success of your far-in-the-future high adventures, here are some tips that may help:

• Brag - have scouts that just returned present their favorite parts. Showing short slide shows, video, patches, and dusty boots is not too much.
• Budget - tell everyone how much it will probably cost and explain how they can set aside a bit each month now to pay for it then.
• Brand - show off the last crew's "one-of-a-kind" t-shirt and ask scouts to start designing the next one, making it a special opportunity not to be missed.
• Interest - check your troop roster to make a list of names of scouts that will be old enough but not too old in 2013. You might have them stand up at a troop meeting and announce that these are the guys that have this great opportunity.
• Commit - get a sign-up out now so scouts and adults can commit to going. This helps define how many crews are needed.
• Pay - before entering the lottery, have everyone pony up a deposit to show they are serious. Until the lottery results are received, it is refundable. Once the crew dates are known, request an additional deposit that is non-refundable. This is where you find out who is really going.
• Pay Again - have periodic payment dates. As the final payment date to the high adventure date approaches, make sure the troop is not behind on collecting funds. If the troop pays the high adventure base before collecting from the scout, they are out the money.

Does your troop have other tips to share?

Scout On

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Many of the requirements to advance from Scout to First Class can be done any place at any time. A few work much better during the summer than winter. Repeating the Scout Oath or describing a cyberbully can be done at a troop meeting in December, but identifying 10 native plants is much more difficult in January than June for most parts of the country.

I encourage scouts to accomplish the following 'summer' requirements as soon as possible so they aren't stuck in their advancement trail waiting to do one requirement over the winter.

• Tenderfoot #3 - assist in preparing and cooking a meal
• Tenderfoot #11 - identify poisonous plants
• Second Class #1b - five-mile hike with map and compass
• Second Class #3g - plan and cook a meal
• Second Class #6 - identify 10 wild animals
• Second Class #8 - swimming and water rescue skills
• First Class #1 - find direction without a compass
• First Class #2 - one-mile orienteering course
• First Class #4e - serve as patrol cook
• First Class #6 - identify 10 native plants
• First Class #9 - swimming and water rescue skills

The cooking requirements can be very difficult and discouraging when the temperature is below freezing. Animals are more abundant and active in summer. It's more enjoyable to be hiking in nice weather rather than through a foot of snow.

It's 'possible' to do all the requirements except one at any time of the year, but planning ahead can make it more enjoyable. I believe enjoying the outing is more important than advancing.

That one requirement that I don't think can be done at any time is identifying poisonous plants. When the plants have died off and are covered with snow, it can't be done. I've heard of letting scouts point to a picture of poison ivy. I've heard of letting them just describe what poison ivy looks like. This doesn't seem to meet the goal of the requirement to me, which I feel is to be able to recognize and avoid these plants in the wild.

Have you any ways to let scouts identify poisonous plants when they are not actively growing and visible?

Scout On

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There are quite a few menus and food lists available online, and they are helpful for thinking of meals for backpacking treks. But, I didn't find a way to create a menu on-the-fly. This sounds like a useful tool for scouts to use in planning high adventure outings for their troops.

So, I've been working on a menu planner for backpacking over the long weekend. This Menu Planner lets you save the different foods you use on the trail, combine them into meals, and use that set of meals to create a menu and shopping list. You can share your menu so others can use it as it is or get ideas to make their own.

If you have some time to try it out, or tell your scouts about it, I'd really appreciate your feedback. It is brand new and only in the 'testing' phase with changes to be made based on your input.

Take a test run at Backpacking Menu Planner and leave some feedback. There is one menu currently saved which is the menu our troop used backpacking in Wyoming last year.

Scout On

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The troop heads for summer camp in 19 days for a new experience - We'll be sharing a campsite with another troop for the first time ever. For another troop's experience on campsite sharing, check out this entertaining post.

We've got 39 scouts going and the other troop has only 3 so it will be a lopsided 'integration' and we're probably going to be the 'troublesome' troop. But, we've done what we can to smooth the road.

• I met with the other SM at lunch last week to discuss how she'd like to have camp run. They sound like they're doing a good job, so I don't think we'll have any "Yellow Shirt Day" scenes. :-)
• We reviewed the campsite map and she showed where they usually have adults tent and then scouts tent by patrols the rest of the place. Good.
• They have a different patrol plan campfire each evening. Good.
• I'm sending her the merit badges our guys are taking so the scouts can use that connection to get to know each other. We'll probably do troop activities together as well.
• Both SPLs will be at camp. Our SPL is at NYLT this week and I'll talk with him when he gets home about how he'd like to integrate troops. We've already talked and he's excited to run camp. Us two scoutmasters felt having the two SPLs tenting close would be good so they could talk as needed, but we'll see.

We'll do our best to be good neighbors and campers! :-)

If you're wondering why we're sharing a site, it's because of the reservation policy in our council and blunders. A troop has first dibs on a campsite every year F O R E V E R as long as they reserve it in the spring. The other troop has used the site F O R E V E R so they get it, even though it holds 70 people and is the largest site in camp.
Last summer, our SPL saw the site was open and reserved it but the reservation folks had made a mistake so the site was double-booked. By the time we found out, there were no other sites available to hold our troop and the other troop was expecting a small turn-out so they decided to share with us. It will be a fun week and a good opportunity to be good neighbors.

Scout On

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E²Xtreme Challenge Racing is a new program for Boy Scouts. Rather than gravity, the cars are powered by CO2 canisters for high-octane speed. It's kind of a Pinewood Derby for big boys.

The BSA needs 100 scouts to sign up and design cars to help promote this new racing program.

100 E²Xtreme car kits are being given away to scouts this week at ScoutStuff.org
Scroll down and click the blue "Giveaway" image. The lucky 100 scouts are asked to design, create, and photograph their cars for a contest to win a $100 ScoutStuff gift card.

Since the contest entry window is so short, tell your scouts about it and there's a pretty good chance one of them will get randomly selected. If nothing else, they'll get a free car kit to check out if they're selected.

Scout On

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I presented Wilderness First Aid and CPR/AED again last weekend - one more time this coming weekend and I'll be done until the fall. I've presented to over 100 people this year, so I'm ready for a break.

To make the first aid scenarios a bit more fun, I've created fake wounds that are reusable. Putting moulage on a person looks cool, but has to be redone every time and gets messy. These wounds simply velcro on and off and still look pretty good.

I also use these when scouts are doing their T-2-1 first aid advancment or the First Aid merit badge. I've noticed a much more focused effort from the scouts and better retention of the skill - besides they like to teach others because then they get to wear the wounds.

It's really easy to make your own, and you might have this as a project for some artistic scouts. See Fake Wounds for examples, instructions, and printable images that you can just tape on for a super-simple solution.

Scout On
Scouts CAN run their troop

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Have you every taken a trail and followed it to the end? Man-made and maintained trails are usually loops or have specific destinations. But, wild trails will often meander and finally fade out at some point. Then, you either go on your own, forging your way through the wild or turn back.

Earlier this month, I got to present Wilderness First Aid to the summer staff at Camp Birchwood for Boys. It is at the end, the very end, of the famous Gunflint Trail in Minnesota, only a stone's throw from Canada. When I reached the end of the trail, there was nothing but a mailbox with 'Camp Birchwood' on it indicating the camp, and a lake.

Fortunately, there was a small outfitter's building there so I asked if they knew where the camp might be. "Well, you've got to take a boat to get there," was the reply.

Fortunately again, the outfitter was a helpful sort and gave Birchwood a call letting them know I was waiting. Remember, I'm one of the five people left in the country that doesn't have a cell phone.

About ten minutes later a motorboat buzzed up, I dumped my training gear in, and we headed to camp - a bit further than the end of the trail. And, what a wonderful place it is! Boys that attend the camp go on canoe trips, or bike trips, or hiking trips, or rock climbing trips, or stay at camp. They have archery, shooting, sailing, windsurfing, kayaking, a river swing, and an enormous waterslide that dumps into the river. Most importantly, the directors and staff are great people running a super program. I got to meet some young guys from England, Ireland, and Scotland as well as around the USA. A few of them were scouts.

If you've got some scouts looking for a challenging job in 2012 a bit past the end of the beaten trail, you might point them towards Camp Birchwood. It's a leadership challenge in one of those beautiful, wild places left in the country.

Scout On

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At the Scouting magazine blog, Bryan asked about the uniform policy in troops. You can read the dozens of responses to see the multitude of rules, regulations, guidelines, policies, and requirements folks have made around this one issue.

It seems similar to the 'Electronics' policies and 'Active' policies that get created. Somewhere along the line, people get the idea that making a rule and enforcing it is the way to get compliance. That goes against my understanding of the BSA program, which is more along the lines of explaining the expected behavior to the scouts, demonstrating the proper behavior, guiding others towards that behavior, and enabling them to explain, demonstrate, guide, and enable others.

As a scoutmaster, I discuss the methods of scouting at each Troop Leader Training session - twice a year. The new troop leaders hear that the uniform is part of scouting and everyone is expected to wear it. They see me in uniform all the time. They get encouragement to wear their uniform. The only policy is that there is a BSA uniform which BSA members should wear.

At PLC meetings, troop meetings, and scoutmaster conferences, I recognize scouts for wearing their uniform.
Individually at scoutmaster conferences, if he is wearing his uniform completely, I let him know that he really looks like a scout and I'm impressed that he is taking it to heart. If he is just in his shirt, I'll let him know it looks good and find out why he didn't wear the rest. If he doesn't own the pants or socks, or outgrew them, I make sure he and his parent know what they cost and inexpensive options, like eBay. If he has pants and socks and just didn't wear them, then we have more to chat about.

At meetings, I have a top secret Little Brown Box with me. The only way to see what's in it is to be wearing the complete uniform. Any scout in his complete uniform can choose an item from the box. I just started this about a month ago to raise interest in wearing the uniform.
There is no punishment to a scout for not being in uniform, but there is a reward for doing it completely.

Scouts show up at meetings in football pants, baseball pants, shorts, sweats, and t-shirts. When a scout shows up sweaty and dirty, ducks in the bathroom and comes out with his uniform shirt on and half tucked-in, he's participating in the Scouting program and he just demonstrated it's a priority to him to be there. Kind of reminds me of the motley crew in 'Follow Me, Boys' - over the generations, they became more uniformed, but being there was the key thing.

The one time I asked a non-uniformed scout to leave was to go outside and remove his football cleats and join the troop barefoot.

Scout On

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It's been a few weeks away from the blogdesk for me and I'm ready to peck away at the keys again. Just took a break to do some 'real work'.

A big chunk of my time this past month has been spent in preparing the new Scoutmaster to take over next month. The new guy is an Eagle Scout, a very caring person, full of energy, and has a son finishing his first year with the troop. I think he'll be a great fit with the troop.
He has started doing the scoutmaster conferences now and did a scoutmaster minute at Monday's meeting which I did not attend. I can see his way of doing things will be different and he has some good new ideas. Fresh ideas are extremely important for the health of a unit. Just because something has worked for 5 or 10 years doesn't mean we should keep doing it. Something different and just as fun would be a good change.

Fresh ideas help to keep things interesting. Trying different ways to present the flags, close a meeting, set up camp, present a skill, or arrange patrol seating can all keep scouting a little more fresh. If an idea doesn't work as well as we hoped, that's why we have reflections - tweak it and try again or scrap it altogether.

Challenging the scouts to come up with fresh ideas has been a consistent goal of mine. It's easier for them to just plan the same old, fun campouts each year, but when asked to think of something new, they've come up with great outings. Just last weekend was their Wild West outing with horseback riding, gold panning, a chuckwagon dinner, and roping contests. They'll do their first Cave Camping in October and their first lock-in at the new BSA Base Camp facility in November. Keep it fresh!

Scout On
TroopKit.com - a scout-run troop

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Northern Star Council had a facebook app created where you can take an image and recreate it with merit badges.
See the promo video at YouTube.
Make your own image at Badgetize Yourself on Facebook. I tried a few pictures, but didn't have much luck - please holler back here if you try it and like the results.

Scout On

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On this last day of the 100 Days of Scouting,

• I learned we have a new Eagle in the troop
• I learned a terrific scout is moving away
• I hiked 10 miles
• I gave advice to a scout planning next month's campout
• I finished carving an Eagle gift
I helped the next scoutmaster with Troopmaster

I guess scouts leave a troop in one of three ways: age out, move away, or decide Scouting is not for them.
I can remember the names of all the scouts that moved away in the past six years - Chris, Jack, Justin, Jack, Bill, and Adit. There aren't many of them. Three of them joined another troop. Two I never heard from again. And, we'll have to see what happens with the last one.

Scout On

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