Scoutmaster Podcast 181

And now the old Scoutmaster. This news just in from the large Baden Collider in Zern, Switzerland, where scout physicists have discovered that the number of 10 steaks is always T minus 1, where T is the number of steaks required.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled podcast. How about that?

You learn something new every day, don't you? Hey, this is podcast number 181..

Well, welcome back to the Scoutmaster Podcast. This is Clarke Green.

Hey, if you're a little confused, you know, join the club. Podcast 180 was scheduled to go out while I was away at summer camp and something got a little kazooing than the Genekte Kazooink And it didn't go out until a little bit later.

So we've had a podcast. 180 has applied to the past two weeks, And that's just the way that things work around here sometimes. I'm getting ready this week to leave for our annual canoe trip up to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, And it's very busy. We're taking 25 up to Algonquin this summer.

So we may have a podcast on August 12th, next Monday, And you know what? We may not, But we'll definitely be back on Monday, August 19th And keep our regularly scheduled podcast every week on Monday, moving right along.

So I appreciate your patience and understanding with that. Oh my, We had a wonderful week at summer camp. We had an extraordinarily good senior patrol leader who, who assumed that it was his responsibility to do everything.

Can I tell you a little story here? Give me just a moment, because this is kind of cool. My senior patrol leader this year- he's 15 years old. My senior patrol leader at camp this year- he's 15 years old And I first met when he was about three or four years old in a stroller at camp.

His mom and dad, who were great scouting friends of mine and fellow staff members years and years ago at this same scout camp, had brought him down for a visit, you know, a decade or so ago. And of course it's great to keep up with the people you know from camp And we've kept up with the years. And his dad became a cub master and he went through cubs and everything like that And when it became time for them to move on into a scout troop, they came and joined our scout troop. He's been with us these past four years. He got the role of senior patrol leader And it just struck me as I was sitting there in camp, as I was watching him lead the troop through the retreat ceremony and all the other things, just what an amazing thing scouting is and all the connections that we form.

So you know there were a couple of moments there at camp where the old man choked up a little bit But, wow, what a great thing to be involved in. And I heard from a lot of you while I was away. I've got two or three that we picked out for the mailbag.

Barry Carney is an adult volunteer with a scout troop two in Downingtown, PA, And he said: I have two questions really, What do you think makes a successful scout troop? The key elements. And I've been asked to take over as Scoutmaster. I said it's seriously considerate, but I'm just trying to figure out how and where to start. Barry, you're right here in our neighborhood. It'd be great to meet with you, but I've got a very simple answer.

If you're looking for the key element that makes a successful boy scout troop, there's only one and that's the patrol system And out of that everything flows. All of the youth leadership, all of the advancement, all of the things that we want to see happen in the lives of our scouts comes out of the patrol system. That's the simple answer.

You know I could talk for hours and hours- and I have- about the patrol system and the way that it works and why it's so important, But that's where I would start And, yeah, take over as Scoutmaster, You'll have a grand time with it. I certainly have. Thanks for getting in touch, Barry. Paul Coutts is an adult volunteer with troop 9-11 in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, And Paul also has a really great website and blog at boyscouttrail- all one word boyscouttrailcom. He wrote in to say that he put my post changing Eagle required merit badges on his site. He said my blog's been pretty quiet the past few months, with starting up this new troop taking much more time than it should.

We're troop 9-11 with a slight emphasis on be prepared for emergencies. The five guys go on their first camping troop next week and, Paul, that's great news. I'll be posting more on my Ice Age trail hike. For seven weeks starting around August 1st. I'm promoting the Scout Strong program and I hope to meet a bunch of troops across Wisconsin as I walk. Thanks for all your efforts to promote, explain and improve scouting.

Scout on, And that's from Paul. Paul, do the same. We'll definitely be following that Ice Age trail hike And good luck with the new troop too. That sounds exciting. Kevin Smith is with troop 696 in Mesa, Arizona, And he wrote in to say this: Clark, you're heaven sent for Scouters. Thanks, Kevin.

I would note that you know so are meteorites and things like that. But here's a website I found I'm making old style neckerchiefs And I thought you could pass it on. Thanks for all you do, Kevin. I'm definitely going to do that. I've got it queued up and ready to go for next week.

Well, I'm away in Canada, So keep an eye on the blog, folks, And you'll see exactly what Kevin is talking about. And finally, we heard from Gary Klotz is a Scoutmaster in troop 383 in Orland Park, Illinois. I'm not going to read the entirety of the message. Basically, it's kind of a litany of the frustrations that we all have, no doubt in trying to stay connected with our district and our council and trying to utilize some of the resources there. You're not alone. Things happen And sometimes we kind of get left out in the cold.

We're waiting for the cavalry to come and nobody shows up. At the conclusion of his message, Jerry says this: I'm writing because I really don't know where to turn. Our council seems kind of useless as far as I'm concerned, It's never provided us any support or help.

Is there some place I can turn for help to get the training we need for our leaders? Is there another way I can request a new commissioner that will help us and at least remain in contact with us?

If it wasn't for the boys being so gung-ho and wanting to remain in scouts and wanting to advance, I think I would have given up some time ago. Well, Jerry, everybody feels like that from time to time. Even after 30 years, I feel these frustrations sometimes.

I think a lot of it has to do with just the nature of who we are as an organization And unfortunately, unfortunately there's unfortunately we're not as attentive as we need to be and not as supportive as we need to be all the time. So here's what I would do: I did a little research, I found out where your district is and a couple of names, and I've sent them to you.

Get in touch with them and tell them the exact same thing that you told me And you know, reiterate that. Cry for help and insist on getting the support that you need Sometimes. Sometimes that'll work. I'd be very interested to hear what kind of reaction you get, Jerry.

So do be in touch. If you have a message or a question, you can get in touch too, And the email address is Clark C-L-A-R-K-E at scoutmastercgcom. I'd love to hear what you've been up to this summer, how things are going, what you got planned for the fall, And I've got a couple of things for you in this podcast that hopefully will be helpful at this time of year.

First of all, we're going to talk a little bit about uniforms and neckerchiefs in Scoutmaster's ship in seven minutes or less, And then I've got an email question to answer about the annual plan that your patrol leader's council puts together. So that's going to take up the rest of the podcast.

I think we ought to get started, Don't you? Let's get started, Shall we? Let's do the Master's ship in seven minutes or less.

Did you know that August 1st of every year is World Scarf Day? That's right. Scout neckerchiefs and scarves or neckers or whatever you call them in your part of the world- The only really unique element of the Scout uniform. I really don't know of any other uniform group that wears neckerchiefs like that other than Scout- Just as a standard piece of the uniform. It's something that sets Scouts apart. I'll tell you this story As our group prepared for our trip to Switzerland in 2011,, the Scouts were kind of casting about and they asked if they needed to bring their uniforms.

Are we actually going to need them? And I said, of course.

And they asked: when are we going to have to wear them? And I told them: all the time.

Now this went over like a lead balloon. Of course, they huddled together and at one meeting in preparation for this trip, I was told by the youth leader for the trip that they had voted and they did not want to wear their uniforms all the time, if at all.

And if you're a regular reader of the blog or a listener to the podcast, you know I'm really invested in youth leadership and I don't want to say no And I don't want to veto their decisions. But this time I think I had a pretty good reason to. I explained a few things to them, trying to get them to understand the practical purpose in my insistence that we would wear a scout uniform and that it would be worn for the entirety of the trip.

For the first thing, in airports and train stations and other public places, the scout uniform is pretty much an instant recognition that makes security checks a little bit easier or people more receptive and helpful. That's just the way it works in my experience. And number two was: is that when you're in an unfamiliar place with a bunch of your buddies with, you may be tempted to do things that you would give a second thought to if you're in a scout uniform.

That's kind of a minor reason on my part, but I think it's important. And number three was when we have to move as a group from trains to planes, to boats, to buses on tight schedules, it's just going to be a lot easier if we're in uniform. And actually the hat that we wore for our Switzerland trip, which was the Centennial Baseball Cap, proved to be the most useful part of the uniform for this. It was easy to spot it in a crowd and to keep everybody together. I told the guys going on the trip that this was pretty much absolutely non-negotiable And while I knew it was likely that I would be able to back down from the idea of wearing uniforms all the time, it would be much more difficult to start with saying that we'd wear uniforms on certain occasions and not on others. The scouts happily took this pretty much in stride.

You know they weren't pleased, but they know it's rare that I insist on something like this over what they would rather do. I asked them why they didn't want to wear the uniform.

The answer I got was: you know, it's uncomfortable. I think it's kind of physically and psychically uncomfortable for scout age boys sometimes to put on that uniform. They didn't come right out and say that they were embarrassed to wear it.

I know, and you know and any scout leader knows, many boys who are in those years of 14,, 15, 16 aren't exactly thrilled about wearing their uniform in every place, in every situation. Now, as the trip progressed I was able to kind of modify the uniforms all the time role to scout necrochips all the time and trip t-shirts most of the time. Thus they could live with and even enjoyed it. We had a patch in a necrochip that we created and they were very popular for trading with other scouts at the scout center there in Condorsteg.

Now those of you who've attended some kind of international scouting event realize that just about everyone wears a necrochip, with or without their uniform. As a matter of fact, at Condorsteg International Scout Center the staff, the scouts, the rovers, everyone wore their necrochips seemingly all of the time. Some wore two or three different necrochips at the same time.

There were lots of different woggles or necrochip slides and some folks wore several of those, and a lot of people put pins on their necrochips when they were wearing them as well, and they didn't necessarily wear the necrochip all tight up around the collar, They were kind of worn with the ends knotted and if they had a slide at all, they were usually not drawn all the way up. Now scouts visit and shop in the village, the nearby village of Condorsteg, while they are staying at the center, and they're able to ride the bus back and forth from the village for free if they're wearing a necrochip. In the rare event residents of the village encountered scouts from the Scout Center acting improperly.

You know what they would do: They would call the Scout Center and tell the staff there what color necrochip the scouts who were misbehaving were wearing and they would be able to figure out and they would be able to deal with whatever that misbehavior was. Now, before I go any further, here's what I'm not saying. I'm not saying I dislike scout uniforms. I'm not advocating some big policy change or attempting to undermine the long-standing tradition of the scout uniform.

I think it's a very useful thing and on all suitable occasions it makes sense. But I do think a necrochip makes a great activity uniform and a reasonable, workable compromise that scouts can take to pretty readily. I've had the experience of them doing just that. I like the idea of troop t-shirts, but they've always seemed to be a problem. Scouts outgrow them, they lose them. They don't typically outgrow necrochips, although they may lose them from time to time.

But you know necrochips don't come in sizes for the most part, So getting one and getting it to a scout is a pretty simple matter. I'd like to change the uniform and insignia guide where it says that the necrochip is worn only with the official uniform and never with t-shirts or civilian clothing, to allow for just that. I know a lot of troops have the tradition of traveling to and from outings and uniform only to change them when they arrive to something more suitable for the activity. Our troop doesn't end up doing this because it's impractical for the most part and to tell you the truth, on 8 out of 10 trips we'd be wearing jackets or coats covering up the uniform anyway. It's just an idea.

I think it would be pretty widely accepted and you know we kind of have adopted as a practice ourselves. What I'd like to see is I'd like to see it be within official policy, uniform policy. To make that happen, You'll be able to tell me your thoughts of this on the blog, or you can email me, and you'll find out how to do that towards the end of the podcast.

Well, here's an email I received. I'm not going to tell you where, from or who because I don't want to cause some trouble. I'm the committee chair for our troop. Our Scoutmaster filled me in on the results of the annual program planning conference and I wonder how you'd handle it. The patrol leaders council basically turned in a plan. That hasn't changed much from the last couple of years.

Looking back through troop history, our themes and campouts have seemed to have been much more varied and scouting oriented at the time. I became associated with the troop 10 plus years ago, But then the adults kind of took over and that's when the reputation started. I'm afraid it's squelching participation because the been there, done that effect kicks in. I don't look too closely at what other troops do. Is this typical and is it okay. There are a few things that come to mind when we're talking about the annual program plan that the patrol leaders council puts together.

Now, of course, we're invested in youth leadership, but they need some guidance on this, And I really don't have any problem with scouts being repetitive in their plans at all. Scouts like to do things that they know. They don't have to invent them out of whole cloth every year. I would say that my guys repeat about 70% of their calendar from year to year because that's what they really like to do, And within the course of two or three years they repeat about 100% of it.

I don't know where we really get the idea that we have to change things up. I think scouts are happiest with familiar surroundings and activities most of the time. The patrol method really doesn't imply that everything needs to be different all the time. Not at all.

I think it's a mistake actually to hand the patrol leaders council a blank calendar and tell them to make everything up. I think they find this kind of tiresome and I don't think they get all that much out of the process.

I think that they'll come up basically with a calendar of activities that repeats each year and, if they have the option to change things, that's fine. Telling them that they have to reinvent the wheel every year? I don't know. It's not something that I'm going to do. Been there, done that factor. It's not a program problem, it's a lack of imagination and utilization of the patrol system on the part of the leadership.

Scouts may be doing the same activity from year to year, but if you're applying the patrol system, using your imagination a little bit, their roles in that activity change each year. The first year they go, it's all new, they're learning the ropes, they're feeling challenged. The second year, they're getting more familiar with the challenge and they're able to meet it better. They may even have a leadership role by that time. And the third year they go, they're making arrangements and leading the activities. The fourth year, they're leading the other youth leaders.

Now the fifth, through the seventh years are the only times that I would worry about, about the been there, done that deal. And when that happens, you get creative.

Hey, John, you're going backpacking right? I'm really worried about this one patrol. Get on them, make sure they're getting prepared. They could really use some help on the trail too. What you aren't going, oh my. It would be a big favor to me if you did, I could really use your help.

Of course, John would may respond yes, he may respond no, but if he has actual responsibility, if he's really working to help somebody, he's going to feel pretty good about that trip. As for the content of the calendar, as for what they decide is a simple test test. Number one is a patrol base. To me, there must be some major element of the activity that leverages the patrol system.

Are the patrols doing for themselves or is it just a big group activity? Are they cooking for themselves?

Are they setting up their own patrol campsite? I think that's incredibly important.

Now, you won't be able to do that on every single outing, but I think that needs to be. A major element of your outdoor program is: are there advancement opportunities in the first class? This is. I have a little bit of tortured logic here. Follow me for a moment. I don't want something designed around doing requirements, quote unquote.

I want activities that, by the reason of doing them, result in advancement opportunities. Does that make sense if we're putting up tents and cooking food and exploring the natural world and tying knots, not as some specific requirement based component, but because they're integral to the activity.

Do you get what I'm saying? Backpacking is another great is a great example of that.

You know how many up to first class requirements can you fulfill on a backpacking trip? Take a look, there's a lot of them.

And my third test is this: is this something that you scouts are making happen for yourselves, or is it just an activity in which you become participants? Now, those three questions weed out things like amusement parks and stuff like that, because they don't check any of those boxes.

If the scouts come up with some idea that doesn't really work on those, then they try to adjust it and they say, hey, well, you know, we'll get in line at the amusement park by patrols and patrols will have to stick together. Isn't that enough?

Well, no, not really. I mean we're playing the game of scouting and that's camping and that means things like setting up tents and cooking for yourself and working with your patrol. If the activity doesn't check those boxes, it's not something that we're going to do. I know a lot of troops work on merit badges as a part of their program.

I think it's a bad idea. Merit badges are happen best when there's one or two scouts and a counselor working together on it- part of the merit badge process is that actual going on and finding that counselor and talking to them. That's a huge part of the process and we shortcut that if we just do merit badges as a big giant group of scouts that patrol doing a merit badge. I don't really have a problem with that. It's a smaller group. The patrol leader has to make the arrangements.

That works for me. If they're able to make that happen, I support that. As a troop.

Now I don't think it's a good thing to do merit badges at troop meetings or on weekend campouts. So let's say the patrol leaders council decides that they want to go do this, one of these ticketed things. They want to go on a luge run or a ski trip or a white water rafting trip or something like that, basically where you buy a ticket and you stand in line and you do the activity. I'm going to tell them that they need to rethink that.

If they want to do some sledding, how about a sledding weekend where patrols design and build the sleds and they have a race and we go camping at a place where there's a great hill? If you use your imagination and you start working with them on that basis, you can use kind of your Jedi powers and you never have to say no, you just guide them towards something that meets the three tests that we talked about. You noted that the troop program seems to have changed since you joined about a decade ago, and I'll say that troop programs can atrophy over time. But it's not the content of the program that's at fault necessarily. It may be the imagination of the leadership and the application of the patrol system. Sometimes it's also a fear that if we don't keep changing things up, if there's not something new and interesting to do, that scouts will grow disinterested.

If they do the same activities every year, if they have real responsibility for it and their role changes from year to year, they don't get bored. If everything gets done for them, if they buy a ticket and they stand in line, if they're just a participant and they're not making it happen for themselves, they'll ride along. They'll think it's fun for a while until they find something more amusing to do than scouts. We hit on a lot of different ideas there. I hope it helps to answer your questions somewhat. If you have a question for me, I'm going to find out how to do that in just a moment.