I had a few concerns over 911 calls being made by Scouts. I spoke with Eric Parry, a Emergency Response Specialist with MIsson Critical Partners: We travel and camp in some reasonably remote areas. How can we know if there is 911 coverage? To check and see if the area you will be traveling has […]
Program Methods
1-10-1 Hypothermia
Thin ice and cold water boating accidents result in cold water immersion – a serious danger of winter in the out doors. Dr Gordon Giesbrecht coined the phrase 1-10-1 to describe the three critical phases of cold water immersion: 1 – Cold Shock An initial deep and sudden Gasp followed by hyperventilation that can be as much as […]
Scouting and Social Media – Appropriate Behavior and Content
This is the third in a series of articles about Scouting and social media; here’s the introduction, a post about youth protection issues, and some thoughts about what works. Also be sure to read the B.S.A. Social Media Guidelines. A personal profile on a social media tool that identifies us a Scout Leader makes us de-facto representatives of Scouting in general and the B.S.A. in […]
Scouting and Social Media – Youth Protection
This is the second in a series of articles about Scouting and social media; here’s the introduction, my guidelines for appropriate behavior and content, and some thoughts about what works. Also be sure to read the B.S.A. Social Media Guidelines. Social media tools have powerful potential for communicating with Scouts and their families to share information, supplement training and educate Scouts and adult volunteers alike. As I mentioned in the […]
Scouting and Social Media – Introduction
This is the first in a series of articles about social media and Scouting; here’s a post about youth protection issues, my guidelines for appropriate behavior and content, and some thoughts about what works. Also be sure to read the B.S.A. Social Media Guidelines. Our Scouts are digital natives; they don’ t know a world without computers and the internet. You and I are likely […]
Scoutmaster Podcast 90 – Safety on a Scout Camping Trip
Safety on a Scout led camping trip. Sweet Sixteen of BSA Safety Safe Scouting at Scouting.org Risk management at Scoutmastercg.com Subscribe to the Scoutmaster Newsletter Call and leave a voice mail comment or question at (484) 734-0002 Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes Podcast Music Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS Listen […]
Scouting Methods – Youth Version
In an earlier post, I reported on a poll and discussion of how the eight methods of Scouting are applied in our troop. We followed that up with a poll during the youth leadership training. It was great for discussion in that setting, and there were some interestingly different views on how our troop is […]
Wilderness Communications
The Wilderness Medical Society published an article concerning Wilderness Communications authored by Gordon H. Worley. The article explains the technology behind wilderness communications, emergency communication, radio communications, satellite communications, casualty evacuation and helicopter evacuations. Anyone venturing past reliable cell phone range would do well to read the article and gain some understanding of current technology and its proper application. Satellite phones, personal locator beacons, and […]
Preparedness, Prudence and Panic
A hurricane of historic proportions passed through our community and the way people responded is an interesting study of human nature assessing and managing risk. A friend of ours is a officer for a local township. On the day before the hurricane was forecast to hit our area he was called to a nearby grocery […]
Eight Methods of Scouting?
This post introduces a new contributor to Scoutmastercg.com; Walter Underwood. You can learn more about Walter by reading his profile. I really like the idea of a regular, brief and focused discussion amongst the adult leadership to air any concerns or ideas; we’ll be having one of these discussions in our troop pretty soon! – Clarke A couple of […]
Kandersteg International Scout Center
Kandersteg is a picture postcard town in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland that is home to Kandersteg International Scout Center (KISC). Surrounded by some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world KISC hosts thousands of visiting Scouts each summer. After a year of planning, fundraising, meeting and researching our crew of fifteen experienced […]
What is the Heat Index ?
Most of our Scouts will leave the relative comfort of an air-conditioned house for a week in the out doors. Keeping cool can be a monumental challenge, or a physical impossibility. We perspire to dissipate heat through evaporation. Increased humidity (more moisture in the air) decreases the rate of evaporation and our ability to keep […]
Circle of Knowledge Game
Here’s a game to help Scouts with requirements that have a number of things to remember or identify For example First Class rank requirement 6: Identify or show evidence of at least ten kinds of native plants found in your community. For this particular requirement you’ll need to know how to identify ten native plants. Not […]
Will To Live – Les Stroud
Years ago I tuned into the new ‘reality’ show Survivor thinking that it would offer some kind of practical advice on the subject, or at least provide an honest depiction of what happens in a true survival situation. Boy was I disappointed. Survival soon became a hot commodity for television shows. Most of them were […]
Medicine for the Outdoors
Medicine for the Outdoors Paul S. Auerbach MD There is nothing in this book that you don’t need to know. I don’t think you have to memorize this book but I would encourage you to know what’s in it and how to find it quickly. Our first duty as Scout leaders is the safety and […]
Israeli Emergency Bandage
A fairly recent development in first aid the emergency bandage combines a sterile dressing, elastic wrap, pressure bar and closure that maintains direct pressure on bleeding wounds. Originally developed by the Israelis for military use it comes highly recommended from military medics and civilian paramedics: I was first introduced to the Israeli emergency bandage […]
What Would You Do? – Asperger’s Syndrome
From Scouting Magazine’s ‘What Would You Do?’ One of our Boy Scouts has Asperger’s syndrome. He does well learning Scouting concepts by reading, but he has struggled with camp-outs and activities that are not highly structured. What can we do as a troop to help him succeed? Also, it is taking him a long time […]
Staying Safe; Training is not Enough!
Leading scouts in the out doors is an exciting challenge and a serious responsibility. It is difficult yet vitally important to read about incidents like the one below. If the account below is accurate the adults involved compromised the Sweet 16 of BSA Safety with tragic results. We are all vulenerable to making the same […]
Mangatepopo Stream Tragedy
I have mentioned before that I read outdoor accident reports and studies in the interest of continuing to appreciate the importance of managing risk. Bad things happen to good people in the outdoors. Sometimes because they find them selves in extreme conditions that they could not anticipate nor control and sometimes because they failed to […]
Safe Scouting
We are Scouts, we hike, camp, climb, build fires, swim, canoe, rappel, sail, ski and take on any one of a hundred challenging activities. There will be accidents, there will be injuries. I am not an alarmist, I am not worried about being sued, I am not obsessed with fear of accident or injury. But […]
The Scouting Party
I have spent some memorable hours reading an advance copy of David C. Scott and Brendan Murphy’s new book The Scouting Party… … a thoroughly researched, unflinching account of the founding and first decade of the BSA focused on the lives of Earnest Thompson Seton, Robert Baden-Powell and Daniel Carter Beard. To my knowledge no […]
Boy, the Scout Handbook Keeps Changing
From an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal; Boy, the Scout Handbook Keeps Changing by Tony Woodleif, a succinct and thoughtful evaluation of what Scouting means to a Scout and his family: I suppose a handbook won’t determine whether my sons have an enriching Scout experience. Their troop’s leaders will. And I will. “Troops,” says an Eagle […]
Mistakes Were Made
Mistakes are always made. Although our aspirations and expectations are high we rarely bring a project to completion without a misstep or difficulty. With the responsibility for planning and presenting Scouting is in the hands of the youth leadership the way we react to mistakes is important. If, in the midst of a football game, […]
Looking Ahead – Program Health
Do we meet key indicators of program health? Generally accepted standards for assessing unit programs do give some indications of the program health but we should take a closer look. Metrics report adult leader training, youth recruitment and retention, parent participation, youth advancement, outdoor program participation, program planning. Meeting these indicators is somewhat like having […]
