Scoutmaster Podcast 10

Three Scout leaders reach a river — one gets out a hatchet and rope for a pioneering crossing, one swims, the woman asks directions and finds a bridge fifty yards upstream.

The patrol system as the irreducible unit of Scouting — Baden-Powell's essential feature; how to make patrols function when scouts don't live near each other; one patrol-only meeting per month; camping by patrol without adult oversight

Keith Monroe — Scoutmaster of Troop 2, Santa Monica, for 42 years; his pseudonym was Rice E. Cochran, source of the Be Prepared quotations throughout the podcast. Clarke reads from his book: scouts bid pieces of collected trash to win candy bars — ten minutes later the campsite was spotless.

Clarke's solo backpacking trip ended after two days — without scouts and fellow leaders it felt hollow; a parent comparing seven troops: follow the boy's friends, not the amenities; scouts don't marry troops — switching is always fine

Difficult scouts — behaviour, learning disabilities, physical challenges; guard against broad assumptions and prejudices; study what's going on