Scoutmaster Musings

The Little Brown Box I mentioned in an earlier post has become common knowledge now. There are a few scouts that dip into it nearly every meeting, but many are still missing out. The SPL and ASPL now take care of the uniform inspecting and management of the box now that they are trained in how it works.

One scout was a bit confused at the troop meeting, though. The other scouts had complained that he was not wearing official BSA short pants - green pants similar to BSA are common. He believed that his WERE official but did not make a big deal about it and sat down. Since he felt he had the full uniform on, he asked me about it at the end of the meeting.
I said the pants sure didn't look quite like other BSA pants I've seen, but there's a simple way to prove it. I had him look at the button above the zipper and tell me what it said. Sure enough, "Boy Scouts of America" stamped into the plastic button. These are the Canvas Convertible pants and we hadn't seen them before.

So, I told him he might want to go tell the SPL to "Read my Button" and then open the box. It's easy to jump to conclusions when something isn't just as we expect it to be. Being observant, flexible, and open-minded helps us improve, whether that is recognizing a new version of BSA pants or improving a skill or accepting a better way to do things than how it's always been done around here.

Scout On
Scout-run Troops

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Summer camp can really wear you out. The fresh air, exercise swatting at insects, hard ground to sleep on, and no air conditioning means you need to get your vitamin R (Rest) whenever you can.

The first three days of camp set heat index records and it wiped out some scouts and adults. Even though they drank water, slowed down, and ate meals, a few were effected enough to need a quick trip to the health lodge.
As an adult volunteer on outings, it's crucial to keep an eye on all scouts to ensure they are taking care of themselves. Training the scouts to look out for each other is just as important. Even if it appears that everyone is being careful, remain wary for signs of heat or cold illness, depending on the environment. Someone doing all the right things can still become ill.

The lack of sleep while camping, especially for a week or more, can become a safety concern. Tired people make poor choices, are not as physically able, and tend to get injured more - besides, they just don't have as much fun. A sure sign of a 'tenderfoot', or inexperienced outdoorsman, is someone that stays up talking late into the night.

Taking time to rest and having reasonable Lights Out and are good ideas. We're fortunate to have an older scout as Bugler who is not afraid to enforce the quiet after lights out.

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We all got home safely yesterday from a terrific week at Many Poing Scout Camp. Here's some numbers from camp:

• 37 - scouts at camp


• 111 - completed merit badges


• 11 - incomplete merit badges


• 2 - embedded ticks removed


• 1 - weather evacuations


• 3 - record-setting heat index days


• 20 - NRA shooting certificates earned


• 1 - BSA Snorkeling awards

I'll post more after I get my tent dried and recognitions prepared for tomorrow's troop meeting.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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