This is my 1000th Blog Post!!!
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I will draw a name at random and will announce the winner on Tuesday March the 12th.
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I look forward to many more posts sharing my love for the outdoors, Scouting, and life!
Have a Great Scouting Day!
Bad Week as a Scouter
I should start by saying no one got hurt, no one died, and no one is going to jail…
It was August and we were heading home from Philmont Scout Ranch. Our two crews from the Troop stopped in Grand Junction, Colorado to eat at the Golden Corral Buffet, a restaurant that our Scouts came to love on the trip down to Philmont. I sat at a table with a handful of older Scouts and one in particular, I will call him Phil. Phil was a life Scout and a real active member of the Troop. Phil is a Senior in High School now, but at the time was enjoying his summer and just had a great time at Philmont. Phil has a little brother in the Troop that is real motivated and did a great job in pushing Phil to get going on advancement and taking a more active role in the Troop. So Phil and I started talking about his 18th Birthday and soon it would be on us. We talked about his goals and what he was planning on doing after high school. He stated that he was planning on joining the Army. Immediately I had some advice for him and we started talking about wrapping up his last requirements for Eagle. He had 8 months till he turned 18 and if he got going, he could knock out those last merit badges and focus on his Eagle Project.
About a month ago Phil decided that he really wanted to earn his Eagle rank. So, we started looking into how he could finish the merit badges and get the project rolling. Phil showed moments of absolute motivation and effort that I wish all our Scouts had in them. He also showed moments of “let it ride”. He fell into the trap of Maxing the minimum. Last week he got some critical merit badges complete and his Eagle Project approved. This week he hit a road block when he discovered that he was going to have a challenge that time would not allow him to over come. Tonight, he decided, along with discussion with his Dad and then me, that he could not finish before he turns 18 on Sunday.
Tonight I went to his home and sat and talked with him, his brother, and his Dad. We talked about the lessons learned through this process and that although he will not be an Eagle Scout, he has learned much from Scouting and that he is a better person for it. I shared with him that I am not an Eagle Scout.. in much the same fashion, I ran out of time when I was approaching my 18th birthday. I to joined the Army and turned 18 while in Basic Training. Instead of Eagle Scout, I earned Private First Class. All was not lost though.. the things that I learned in Scouting made me a successful soldier and in 24 months I achieved the rank of Sergeant. I shared all of this with Phil to reinforce that even though he can’t be an Eagle Scout he can take what Scouting gave him and what he learned and earned and apply it for the rest of his life.
Over the past few weeks and in particular the last few days, I have done everything that I can possibly do to assist this young man in becoming an Eagle Scout. I have looked for loop holes and work arounds and at the end of the day the lesson learned is that there is a process and that process needs to be done right. No short cuts, no loop holes, and no work arounds. With every thing we had we tried, we could not help the Scout that waited.
This is the first time I have ever had to look a young man in the eye and say that I am sorry he can not be an Eagle Scout. This is the first time that we have run the course and not succeeded. Not that the Scout is a failure, but that the Scout did not finish in time.
I am exhausted. This young man has worked hard, but he started to late to get motivated and get it done. I have seen a strong work ethic emerge in this young man and I hope that he learned that when he puts his mind to it, he can and will be successful. This short fall is not the end of the world and a great lesson in life.
He’s going to keep working on his project so it will benefit the community. That is a great thing. His service will be lasting, something he learned along the way in Scouting.
What I have learned in this process is that I need to do a better job of setting the Scouts up. I will not do the work, nor will I nag the Scout.. but what I will do, and what our Troop will do from this day forward is simple. On their 17th birthday we will sit down with the Scout and his progress record. We will explain the process and encourage them to start getting real serious if they want to be an Eagle Scout. They will have 365 day notice that time is running out. They will know beyond a shadow of a doubt what they need to finish and we will give them the tools to be successful. What they do with it from there is up to them.
I will not scramble like this again. I will not get in a position of working merit badges with a Scout 3 days before his 18th birthday. It is not the way the process is designed and does not demonstrate what it takes to be an Eagle Scout.
I feel real bad for Phil. I wish he was planning an Eagle Court of Honor right now. What I know for sure is that Phil has learn some valuable life lessons this last month and I feel that he will go on to do great things with his life because of it. I certainly hope so.
Scouting was real good for Phil. He did well. He just came up short. That’s life.. as hard as that is to hear. What he does with that knowledge is up to him now.
I gave him a coin tonight, it is the coin that I was allowed to have made when I became a Command Sergeant Major. I can’t award him the Eagle Medal, but the coin is to serve to him as a reminder of hard work and dedication and the rewards for effort. I am not an Eagle Scout, but I made it to the very top in the Army, so can he… if he wants to.
This has been a bad week for me in Scouting… but one that I learned alot and I hope that Phil did to.
Have a Great Scouting Day!
Bonus Video – Grilled Cheese
Had all the stoves out today and it got to be about lunch time… Well…
Here’s some Bonus video of a nice lunch meal on the trail… Oh and the Cheese cake (left over from the Cheese Cake factory).. a great bonus to the lunch. YUM!
Enjoy and Have a Great Scouting Day!
Sunday Coffee… tea
This week we talk about cook kits, more to the point of stoves and the pots I use with them.
We also get into a bit of Knife talk and have a nice cup of Tea.
Enjoy…
Have a Great Scouting Day!
Scouting for all?
Allow me to play devils advocate here for a minute. There has been quite a bit of discussion lately via email and in Scouting circles in which I find myself regarding Scouts in our programs. One argument is that Scouting is for every young man, the converse is that Scouting is not for everyone.
Boys enter our program with certain expectations and needs. Those Scouts have parents that also have certain expectations and wants. What I have seen and heard lately is that some parents and Scouts are not getting what they thought they would out of Scouting. I have been in discussions in which parents believe that their son is not having fun in the program. The question that I ask is simply, is Scouting really for everyone?
I submit for the sake of discussion that maybe Scouting is not for every boy. It may be that what Scouting offers is not what they want or need. It may be that the boy is not ready for the adventures that Scouting offer and well-intentioned parents do not really understand what Scouting is all about. It is also true that many Scout leaders do not know what Scouting is all about and therefore have promoted a program that misses the mark when it comes to achieving Scouting’s aims. This has led to young boys joining troops that quickly disappoint or fail to deliver on the expectations they and their parents had on the join night.
Scouting at its core is about adventure and when a boy joins a unit that is full of adventure he may not be ready or willing to participate. Now, some would argue that participation is really not something that is of real importance in Scouting, but it is through participating fully in the program that the Scout gets the most out of Scouting. I had a mother say to me the other night that her son does not attend winter camp outs because he did not have a good experience during last years winter camping season. Why? Well, maybe he does not like camping in the winter.. I am ok with that. But does that paint the whole program as a negative thing? No, but maybe the Scout is not ready or willing. Once a boy starts down the road of picking and choosing those activities that he does not wish to participate in he will find it easier to reduce the level of activity he does. This is not true in all cases, remember that I am not suggesting anything here other that this is a question that we should ask. Maybe Scouting is not for everyone. Here is what I am saying…
Scouting is not for everyone. Scouting should not change to meet the Scouts needs. Scouting needs to stay the course on being an organization that has values, ideals, and adventure. Scouting should not “dumb down” to allow for boys to have a club to join. There are plenty of clubs out there that he can find a place in. Now, before you all jump on me let me say this here and make it very clear that I am not talking at all about Scouts or I should say boys with disabilities. This discussion has nothing… I repeat nothing to do with disabilities. That is another discussion and I think that needs to be addressed another time. I will say that there are ample opportunities for boys with disabilities to participate in Scouting and I encourage every young man who shows interest to try Scouting no matter the “ability”. I will also say that no.. I do not consider ADD, ADHD, Autism, and a lack of focus a disability. Not when it comes to Scouting and the Scouting program. We prove over and over again that Scouts that have been diagnosed with ADD, ADHD and Autism can participate in Scouting and high adventure activities. My Troop is proof of this. Moving on…
Scouting should not promote that everyone will be an Eagle Scout just because he joins and has a pulse. Scouting should continue to push the Scout to discover his world and find his limits.. then push them outside of his comfort zone. If Scouting decides to become the YMCA or Boys Club it will no longer deliver the promise. It will just become another after school club and that is not Scouting. That is not what Baden Powell, William Hillcourt, James E West, and the rest of the men that founded and established the direction for Scouting had in mind. We can met Scouts where they are, but we can never get away from the intent of the Scouting movement. We can not stray from the methods that lead us to achieving the aims and we can never allow Scouting to just be another club.
Not everyone wants what Scouting offers. Numbers, while they drive much of what the professional Scouters track are not the program. A great program that stays the course will bring in the numbers of boys that seek adventure, values, and ideals that are the hallmark of the Scouting program. Numbers for the sake of numbers will be just that and we see this play out each year with amount of boys that leave our units. They don’t want to play the game with a purpose and we should not make them. A football player is not allowed to join a team and then make up the rules of the game or change the team uniform. He joins and plays the game that has been established. Not everyone can or wants to play football, not everyone can or wants to be a Scout. I recently sat with a group of Scouts and asks a few simple questions. The first I asked was if they thought Scouting was nerdy. They all said that they did not think so, but their friends at School did. I asked what they thought the ‘nerdy’ part of Scouting was.. aside from wearing the uniform. I figured I would take away the obvious answer. They all said that their friends really didn’t know what we do. I asked them if they ever tell them what we do. They all pretty much said, no. They did not want to bring it up so they could talk about something else. Then I asked why not? Why not tell their friends that we rock climb at Smith Rock, that we snowshoe and build snow caves. That we have hiked the Oregon Coast trail, shoot shotguns and paddle the Deschutes river. That we backpack miles of the PCT and go caving in some cool volcanic caves. That we spent a week hiking in the Canyon country of New Mexico and that we have gone across the country to tour our Nations Capital and camp with 70,000 other Scouts. I asked why all of that sounds ‘nerdy’. They couldn’t tell me. But these are the guys that want to do all of that. These are Scouts and they want to be Scouts. Their friends could not nor would they be willing to do all of that, even given the chance. One of the Scouts spoke up and said that his friends thought Scouting was all about doing good deeds and being in Flag ceremonies. His friend said he didn’t want to be in a club that did crafts and sang songs. So I asked this young man what he told his friend. He had a great answer, he told me that he said to his friend that “yeah, we sing songs, but it’s out in the middle of the woods at our campfire at the end of a day that was full of fun”. But then again, that’s a kid that wants what Scouting has to offer.
Ok so what’s the point here. The point is simply this. We beat ourselves up to make sure that every boy joins Scouting. Why? If they join great, but if they quit, did we fail? Did Scouting fail? No.. they just did not fit in our program. I have seen many Scouts come and go from our Troop and I can honestly say that the ones that left did not want to be there. It was nothing we did to chase them away, they just did not want to be in Scouts.
I have said it many times, I would rather have a Troop of 10 motivated boys that want to be there than have a Troop with 50 that don’t.
Am I not supporting Scouting by saying this? Nope I am delivering the promise of Scouting to those that want it.
Once again, I am a fan of the writing of William “Green Bar Bill” Hillcourt. I have a copy of something he wrote way back when regarding the 10 Essentials of Scoutmastership. It goes like this.
A belief in boys that will make you want to invest yourself and your time on their behalf.
A zeal focused upon one point-the boy’s happiness through his formative years- “A happy boy is a good boy, a good boy is a good citizen.
An immense faith in Scouting as the program that will best serve to mould our youth into fine men.
A realization that to the boys Scouting is a game – to you, a game with a purpose: Character, building citizenship training and physical fitness.
A knowledge that to your boys you are Scouting. “What you are speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say”.
A steadfastness of purpose to carry out a planned program with energy and perseverance, patience and good humor.
A willingness to submerge yourself and make boy leaders lead and grow through and effective application of the Patrol Method.
A desire to advance in Scoutmastership by making use of training offered and material available on the subject.
A readiness to work hand in hand with home, church, sponsored institution, school, Local Council, National Council for the good of the individual boy and the community as a whole.
A love of the outdoors in all its phases and a vision of the hand that created it.
With an effective program that offers the “want to” so a boy joins, stays, and grows in Scouting we can see that Scouting is a great program. But that is not for everyone. If you as a Scouter can honestly read the 10 essentials of Scoutmastership and apply it to your unit you will create that environment. If you do not feel that you can do that, well then you prove the argument, that nope, Scouting is not for everyone, to include adults.
Before I get lots of hate mail… I am playing devils advocate here, but the point for me is taken well. I do not think that everyone needs to be in Scouting. I think those boys that want to be in should and once in we will do everything in our power to deliver to them the very best program.
Now, I do want to hear what you think. Please leave your comments, I would not ask if I didn’t want to know.
Thank you all for all you do in Scouting!
Have a Great Scouting Day!
The Promise Continued
It is the Scoutmasters obligation to work to achieve the Aims of Scouting… that’s pretty much it. To do that it should be every Scoutmasters goal to get every Scout to the rank of First Class not Eagle Scout.
If you take a look at the requirements to achieve the First Class rank you will note that its pretty much all about Character, Citizenship, and Fitness.
Through the working of these requirements the Scout will learn about the three aims of Scouting and coupled with the skills learned, the teamwork developed, and the fun of the program, the Scout will assist the Scoutmaster in attaining his goal.
Once the foundation has been laid in the working to First Class, the Scout then should be prepared to work toward Eagle Scout where he can explore his world while working merit badges. He can learn and demonstrate leadership, and he can develop a sense of service to his community. Putting it all together we will have produced a good young man.
So back to the First Class rank. When we do not put in the proper perspective and make it all about skills and a means to the end (Eagle Scout), we lose focus on what we are trying to accomplish in Scouting. We are not here to make Eagle Scouts, we are here to make good men. Good Citizens of Character that are fit, mentally, physically, and emotionally.
So, the next time you sit down with a Scout to chat during his Scoutmaster conference for Second Class.. take a look and see if that young man is getting it. If not, reinforce those ideas and share with him your goal.
This is a part of the promise that we make to our Scouts. The adventure comes when the rest is worked.
Have a Great Scouting Day!
Attack of the Snow Blower
This weeks Sunday Coffee with Scoutmaster Jerry is full of coffee and adventure..
This weekend our Troop camped out up at White River on Mt. Hood. It was a great time and lots of skills practiced and learned.
Sunday Morning around 4:00 AM our Troop encountered an unexpected attack. We typically camp on the other side of a creek that flows adjacent to the White River snow park. This is a good location as this camp out is always the first Winter camp out in snow for the new Scouts. The location provides a good bail out plan and the comfort that the cars are not to far if we need them. Anyway… this year the snow bridge was gone so we picked a camp site a bit closer to the parking lot. We have camped there before, but this year was different. At 4:00 AM the Oregon Department of Transportation snow crew cleaned up the snow park. They plowed the parking lot and then sent in the snow blower Now I don’t know about you but I had never felt the wrath of 100 lbs of snow shot from a cannon before.. until this morning!
Hope you enjoy the video.
Have a Great Scouting Day!
