so on this edition of the scoutmaster podcast we're going to do something a little different i'm off to camp this week wanted to record the podcast have it set up and ready to go for you while i'm away so how about a summer music special one of the frequent comments i get is that people really enjoy the music on the podcast and i got to tell you so do i it's a lot of fun finding tunes that are related to scouting or our songs that we sing around the campfire or in the dining hall or something like that so uh yeah i've been hunting down stuff and i just thought it might be fun we'll spend this podcast listening to some of the music and i'll give you an idea of where it came from and uh who who's who's done it so start out with this one this is the best version of this song that i think i've ever heard i hope you agree i'm a little deep i'm short and stout here is my handle here is my spout when i get all steamed up then i shout tip me over and pull me out tip me over and pull me out tip me over and pull me out yeah that's carlton godwin from uh an album called uh jazz baby session three now the these are songs like you know pretty familiar songs that have been recorded by some um musicians with some real chops and it's been put together and you're going to play it for the kids at home for the babies and the kids and whatever but i think it's too cool just for babies i mean carlton godwin did a did a great job on that here's another cut from a similar album so so so so so absolutely the coolest rendition of the song bingo isn't that something that is uh thomas moore on an album called twinkle twinkle jazzy star oh you gotta love it oh what a great tune they did a nice job on it didn't they listen i've got links to all this on the blog at scoutmaster.typepad.com where you can go and get these songs for yourself they're either from itunes or from amazon and uh so uh you know support the uh support the musicians go ahead and get these songs for yourself and you can use them at your next uh scout soiree or whatever it is um i i'm a jazz aficionado i like jazz and things like that uh here's one that i have had uh lots of favorable comments so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so now that is a uh called a boy scout in switzerland and if you listen to it carefully you can hear the uh bugle play and then echo back and uh it's just a really cool piece of music and it was composed by a fellow named raymond scott raymond scott was a composer and a jazz artist and he thought that swing music was getting kind of stagnant and so he worked in so so that's called a boy scout in switzerland and it's by composer raymond scott now you've heard raymond scott's music but probably not as he first intended he was a composer in the 1930s who thought swing music was getting kind of stagnant and it was kind of being stamped out uh one after another and so he decided he wanted to write some music with some real heart to it and some real musicianship and so he he uh composed a lot of these uh things for his uh sextet or quintet i think and then they went on uh later on to be adopted and used in the background of a lot of cartoons and the in the background of a lot of cartoons. So when you listen to that music, you're thinking, wow, it sounds kind of like the background to a Bugs Bunny cartoon or something like that. Well, a lot of his music ended up that way. But he didn't really originally intend it that way. And I found that version by the Bo Hunk's Sextet on iTunes. But I played it out because I just think it's a great piece of music. I found some other pieces of music that aren't jazz and that are only tangentially related to Scouts. But I think they're just great fun. And here's one.

And now, for you, Scoutmaster.

So I took a friend of mine out on his first canoe trip. Never been in a canoe before. I was in the stern, and he was up in the bow. And we were on a river, and there was some whitewater ahead. And he looked back at me. He was a little nervous. He says, if the canoe tips over, are we going to fall out? And I said, no, there's no reason we can't continue to be friends. Are we going to fall out? Okay. All right. Not real funny, but this is podcast number 28. All right.

And now for you, Scoutmaster.

So two Eskimos are sitting in a kayak. And they've paddled out away from the shore and they're out seal hunting and it gets very, very cold. And so they have a little firewood with them and they decide they're going to build a fire right there in the kayak and warm up. And it turns out it's not a very good idea because the kayak burns and they sink. Which goes to show, you can't have your kayak and heat it too. Listen, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'll try to do better next time. It's podcast number 29. Hey! Hey! Welcome back to the Scoutmaster Podcast. This is Clark Green. Today, we're going to keep on with talking about troop meetings and Scoutmastership in seven minutes or less. And then our third and final installment about the future of your unit. And somewhere in here, I'm going to throw in a Scoutmasters minute and good email that I received. That's a lot to do. Let's get started, shall we? Scoutmastership in seven minutes or less. Dear friend of mine was an artist. And he was a very well-known and successful artist. And if you went to visit his studio, his studio was just a shambles. I mean, it was a terrible, terrible mess. Not just disorderly. Not just, you know, a little bit of dust here and there. I mean, books strewn everywhere. Paints everywhere. You know, lights not working. I had no idea how he managed to create what he did working in that studio until I watched him do it. But he would come up with art of penetrating simplicity and beauty in the middle of this kind of junkyard of a studio. And there's a point during, like, a weekly troop meeting or an outing or some kind of Scout function where I look around and everything that's going on kind of looks like that studio. I mean, it's just breathtaking disorder. From my perspective, my youth leaders are kind of slacking off. And adults are overstepping their bounds and interfering. And the Scouts are kind of, meh, blandly disinterested in whatever's going on. And it looks like it's a few seconds from falling apart or just spinning completely out of control. And I want to put my head in my hands and walk away and never come back. So if you've been around long enough as a Scoutmaster or a Scout leader of any kind, you know the feeling. It doesn't seem how ever carefully you prepare, however you put things together. Your plans end up going awry and things just look horrible. But in those moments, try and go back to my artist friend's studio. And I imagine him laboring over a painting. I mean, there's water everywhere. It's pooling on a tabletop where he's working. It's on the paper. There are huge globs of color. There's brushes flying and splashing. And it looks absolutely chaotic. But he taught me that what seemed like a mess was actually the process of creation. He showed me there were forces at work that no one could control and nobody really wanted to control. I mean, art came out of working within this kind of creative maelstrom. And in understanding and cooperating with the forces in play, not in controlling it. And I think that's the same way that it goes for Scouting. Now we're talking about this in the context of troop meetings. There are plenty of forums out there to talk to you about what goes into a troop meeting and who does honor patrols and service patrols and things like that. But you need to have the broad underlying concepts of what should be happening. That's more important to me than giving you forms and, you know, giving you an ABC on how to present a troop meeting. The Scoutmaster's job is to set things in motion, to encourage, to exhort, inspire, and then let those things go to work. What I see as messy and disorganized is experienced by my Scouts is just perfectly orderly and enriching. It's just a trick of perspective and age and experience. Now, I know that, you know, if you take some lumber and some glue and shellac and you throw it in a cement mixer, you're not going to produce a Chippendale chair. Well, I guess theoretically you could, but we're not going to waste our time trying, right? I'm not recommending we promote disorder or we look at it cavalierly, but rather that we recognize what looks like a real mess, what looks like real chaos, analyze it a little bit. And within that, you might see that kind of school of character, that school of experience happening, that kind of, as I said, that vital maelstrom of creation. There's times we have to step in and there's times that we really shouldn't because our Scouts need the same experiences that we have had in making mistakes and in coming up short or in creating successes and in doing wonderful things for themselves. They need that same kind of experience and it's not up to us to go in and to fiddle with the knobs all the time and try and make things just perfect. So that's one aspect of a troop meeting that I think, you know, it would be helpful for you to look at in a different light. What you see as chaos, what you see as disorder, what you see as bland and uninteresting, your Scouts are getting an awful lot out of it. It's something that they've planned and they've put on and that is the real value in it. That's the real value in it. We're going to expand on the theme a little bit in the next podcast, talking about troop meetings and the broad underlying concepts that control what goes on in a troop meeting. We're going to expand on the next podcast. That's right. It's time for a Scoutmaster's Minute.

And now, for you, Scoutmaster.

Alright, I finally found the secret. I did. And I'm going to share it with you for nothing. But this is how to make a million dollars being a Scout leader. Okay? You got a pencil? Paper? Are you listening? This is how you're going to make a million dollars as a Scout leader. First, get two million dollars. And the rest is easy. Yeah. Hey, this is podcast number 30.

And now, for you, Scoutmaster.

So, two penguins are paddling their canoe across the Sahara Desert. Just get that picture in your mind. Two penguins in a canoe paddling through the Sahara Desert. The first penguin says to the second penguin, Where's your paddle? The second penguin says, Yeah, it sure does. Okay. Yeah, doesn't really jump right out at you, but think about it for a moment. Where's your paddle? Sahara Desert, sand, paddling, wood, sand. Where's your paddle? The second penguin says, Sure does. Okay, not the best one I ever did. But, hey, this is podcast number 31. on.

And now for you, Scoutmaster.

So this guy just celebrated his 50th birthday and he says, you know, my brain has worn out. There's a lot of miles on it. I can't remember things anymore. I can't remember people's names. I go running upstairs at my house and I can't remember why I ran up there. It's time to get a new brain. So he goes down to the brain store. And there on a lovely shelves on a display are brains in a jar full of alcohol, just like you would imagine. And he finds this really good looking brain. It's kind of nice and pink. It looks like it was well taken care of. So he grabs a salesman. He says, hey, how much is this one here? And the salesman says $250,000, sir. And the guy says, wow, I wasn't really expecting to spend that much. Why is that one so expensive? And the salesman says, well, this was a college professor who became a Nobel laureate. And this is a really great brain here. He took very good care of it. And the guy says, no, you know, that's way out of the budget. Let me see what another, what about this one over here? And he looks at this brain and it's, yeah, it's a little tattered, but it looks like it's probably in better shape than his. And the guy says, well, that one's only $150,000. Wow, it's still really expensive. Why is that $150,000? He says, well, this was a minister, had a large church, a very learned man, very moral. But, you know, he wasn't quite up to the $250,000 level. Yeah, that's still really expensive. And the salesman says, well, look around. Now you have a little background. Just look around. See if you can find a brain that looks attractive to you that you think will fit. And then let me know. So the guy looks in all the jars and he comes across this one brain that's kind of small and it's a little tattered. And it has kind of an unhealthy color to it. But he thinks, this one's probably in better shape than mine. So let me see if it's in the budget. And he calls the salesman over. He says, how much is this one? The salesman says, that one is actually $3 million. Wow, that's expensive. Why is that so expensive? $3 million. It's not as nice as the professor brain. And the salesman says, well, listen, that one is a scoutmaster's brain. Do you have any idea how many scoutmasters we have to go through until we can find a brain? Okay. Hey, laugh at yourself a little bit, right? This is podcast number 32. Hey! Hey!

And now, for you, Scoutmaster.

So these two bear biologists are headed off into the woods. Wait a minute. They're not bear biologists. They're wearing clothing, but they're studying bears. You got it? Yeah. So they're headed way off into the backcountry to do a field study on some bears, put on their backpacks, hike in. They get about five miles in, and they get to a trail sign, and the sign says, Bear Left. So they said, well, what the heck? We might as well go home. Hey, it's podcast number 33. Hey!

And now for you, Scoutmaster.

I had a really interesting discussion with a Girl Scout leader the other day. Yeah. She said that the girls were being taught to find their bearings by reading the moss on the bark on trees and following the flight of migratory birds. She said they get so good at this, they can locate street addresses by reading the stars. They can read maps in a pinch and they don't hesitate to walk into a gas station or a convenience store to ask for directions. And I said, well, that's really great, but I don't understand why you're emphasizing all this so much. And she said, this is one of our priorities is teaching girls to find their way in case they should ever find themselves with a Boy Scout. Hey, this is podcast number 37. Hey!

And now for you, Scoutmaster.

You know, if you've never been to Alaska, you really need to go one of these days if you can possibly manage them. I mean, it's a stunning place. I remember when I was up there years and years and years ago, we crested this ridge as we were hiking through a park and we looked over and there were four grizzly bears. They were a good distance away, but there were four grizzly bears kind of standing up on their hind legs, looking off into the distance. And my buddy who I was hiking with at the time, he says, wow, I wonder what that's all about. And I said, hmm, bears watching. Bears. Oh, all right. Well, this is podcast number 38. Hey, welcome back to the show. Scoutmaster podcast. This is Clark Green. Here's a couple of emails I wanted to respond to very quickly. Robert from Richmond, Virginia wrote. He said, I wanted to let you know that I really enjoy your podcast. I have a question I'm hoping you can answer. I remember a song that I can't get out of my head. It was something along the lines of he's my all time favorite Boy Scout. They say it over and over again. All time Boy Scout. You're my favorite all time Boy Scout. So that's the one I think you were thinking about. And I wanted to play it at a training session. Well, I sent Robert a link to that song. Thanks, Robert. Phil wrote. You know that every time I hear the opening of your show, I laugh. Well, Phil, you might be on your own there. I'm sure this is Phil. I'm sure you've received all kinds of hate mail to stop telling jokes. I haven't gotten any hate mail yet. But there's always a first time. But I'm saying don't stop. Actually, I'm writing to ask you a favor. Would you possibly have the one about the brains written down in your notes? And if you would do that, would you be willing to send me a copy? I'd love to use it as an opener for our district roundtable. So there was somebody looking for a joke and a song that they wanted to use in a training session or a roundtable. And I'm very happy to lead you to where those are. But you're not allowed to tell them that you got it from me. Please. I might get hate mail. No, it's always nice to hear from everybody. You can contact me at ClarkGreen, C-L-A-R-K-E-G-R-E-E-N, at gmail.com. So this time around in the Scoutmaster podcast, we have an interview. And it's going to take up the entirety of the podcast. It's an interview with Larry Geiger. And Larry is a Scoutmaster down in Cocoa, Florida. Cocoa, Florida. Oh. Kids? Kids, can you turn the TV off? Because I'm trying to record. Yeah. Thank you. Larry's been following the blog and the podcast for a while. And he writes in frequently with comments and things. And I thought it might be a good idea to get him on the internets and interview him. Because it's important for us to hear from other people other than me. Right? I mean, Scouting is a great thing. And there's a lot of people involved with it. It's good to hear success stories from people like Larry and his troop down there in Cocoa, Florida. So we're going to hear that in just a moment. Where does that keep coming from? I thought it was the TV. Hey. Oh, yeah. I Dream of Jeannie. Cocoa, Florida. Cocoa Beach. That's where the show was set. And just in case you didn't make the connection the first time. Yeah. The interview runs for about 20 minutes or so. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed talking with Larry. Hey, here we go. Let's get started, shall we? I'm speaking with Larry Geiger, who is a frequent contributor to the comments on the Scoutmaster blog, a listener to the Scoutmaster podcast, and a scouter. How are you doing tonight, Larry? Doing good. So Cocoa, Florida. You know that Cocoa, Florida, it brings back like I Dream of Jeannie and Cocoa Beach. Am I right? Cocoa Beach is right across the river on the island side, on the Cocoa Beach side. I'm on the mainland. All right. So I have dated myself by mentioning an old television show. And Ron John's Surf Shop. Oh, right. Gives us all some kind of an idea of where you're at. And what troop is it that you work with down there? I'm with troop 720 right now. 720. And about how many fellows in that troop now? 25. And what's your role? I'm the Scoutmaster. Give me an idea of how you ended up doing that. Well, I've been working with a troop for about three years. Pastor asked me to help out. They were a small troop. And so I was helping out. And two years ago in October, the Scoutmaster resigned to take over the district chairmanship. And they asked me. And you said? Okay. Okay. I suppose if nobody else will do it, I'll go ahead and do it. I think that's the way most of us got the job there. Well, I've been Scoutmaster for 10 years in another troop. Aha. And I had retired from that and done some other stuff. And so here I am back. As a Scoutmaster, what are your biggest challenges? Well, the biggest challenge, obviously, is the one we all have, which is leadership. We kind of have an idea in our mind where we want the older Scouts to go with teaching and training and actually being the leaders, the patrol leaders and the SPL. And so sometimes we have a picture where we think that ought to go and they don't go there. But we keep working on that. And sometimes it turns out really, really well. So you've been at this with this troop and another one for about 13 years. Yes. What changed between year one and year 13 in the way that you approached being a Scoutmaster? I think the main thing is confidence in the program. When you're a young leader, I think if you've got a lot of ideas, part of that is wanting to change things. And I like what Ask Andy says. He constantly goes back to read the manual, read the book. Right. He says that over and over again. Well, as you do. You know, read the program. And after a while, you begin to figure out that that is what works. I get a lot of feedback and comments from people who are kind of in those first three or four years of working with Scouting. And they get really frustrated with the picture of the program as it's represented in training and in a lot of the literature and things. And the reality of what they're actually dealing with. You're telling me the longer you go on, the more you trust that that's sound and solid. Yes, absolutely. Over the time you've spent as Scoutmaster, do you see the same problems all the time? Pretty much. It's bringing the young guys up through the program, getting them to first class, and then turning them back around to look back and to bring the new younger guys up. I mean, that's what you're doing, cycling through that over and over again. And as certain groups move out of your troop, you know, as they get up to 16, 17 years old, sometimes if you don't have the filler in the middle, if you've lost that for whatever reason, the guys came in but they didn't stay or you had a bad recruiting year, then you're back to a bunch of young guys. And it cycles, you're right, it cycles like that. What would you consider to be the most important elements to have as a Scout leader to ensure the success of your Scouts? The first thing is I'm not in charge. I'm not in charge of anything. Maybe I'm in charge of training the SPL, but that's it, nothing else. The patrol leaders are in charge of everything the committee doesn't do. The committee chairman is in charge of all the business. You know, basically it's about the patrol leaders. The second thing that I've learned is scouting does not happen in meetings. I tell people, particularly new parents over and over again, it happens out there. Actually, what happens in the meetings is not very important to some extent. And some people are going to start to quiver when I say something like that. I am not quivering at all, by the way. Okay. It happens out in the woods. It happens on the camp out. And that's where scouting really, really happens. Now, they need the meetings. But, you know, football doesn't happen in the locker room. It happens out on the field. Right. I'll say this. Boy Scouts are almost universally unable to run a great scout meeting. You know, a 14-year-old kid is just not quite ready to run what a lot of adults would consider an ideal meeting. That's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. But that scares a lot of people. You mentioned one of my favorite words, which is chaos. And to me, chaos is bad. Energy is good. Noise is good. Chaos is bad. So basically, as a leader, it's our job to put a lid on the chaos. Now, what does that mean then? Signs of chaos, hazing, bullying, no uniforms, sloppy uniforms, lack of advancements, lack of older scouts working with younger kids. And then things that bring that about, lack of training, lack of skill development, selfishness, laziness, lack of direction, all the things that describe boys sometimes. Right. But the energy and the noise, we had a fairly noisy meeting Tuesday night. And it's amazing to me how quiet it can be on a camp out, even when they're kind of around a campfire. And yet in the meeting, it sounds like they're all nuts. Yeah. Actually, I never thought of it that way. But you're right. That's a very interesting juxtaposition. Yeah. And then there's the leadership. We're running an experiment. Uh-huh. We create an environment where they can practice leadership. And I guess this is the key to it. I tell my guys over and over and over again. I tell the leaders in the troop, what's your job? And they say, well, SPL or I'm supposed to do this. No, your job is to lead, train, and inspire scouts to attain first class rank. Uh-huh. And after a while, if you came to my troop meeting and asked my older scouts, they would just right off the bat say, my job is to lead, train, and inspire. And then I ask, well, I say, okay, if you're in charge of their advancement, then who's in charge of Star Life and Eagle advancement? Uh-huh. They kind of look at me the first couple times. And then I tell them, well, you are. You're in charge of your own Star Life and Eagle. And then they kind of look around and go, wait, I'm in charge of everything. Uh-huh. Da-da. Bingo. Bingo. Yeah. And that's how it works. That's – I just keep saying that. And some of them get it. Now, this troop that you're working with now, when you took it on three years ago, it's three years, right? Two years. Two years ago. Okay. Was it operating the way that you wanted it to operate? No. The previous leaders had a bit of frustration because of what we just talked about. Uh-huh. Um-huh. The – some of what was going on, they just didn't feel like they were getting to where they wanted to go. Uh-huh. It wasn't quiet. It wasn't a classroom. It wasn't – and I think after a while that kind of frustrated them. And I guess – I don't know. I'm one of those people that I have a very – the noise and all the other stuff, you know, it doesn't bother me. Well – I have very high tolerance for just the energy. From an adult perspective, things look noisy and chaotic and crazy. And from a boy perspective, they look just about right. Right. Exactly. So you described when you take – took over this troop, some frustrated leadership who had maybe a different vision and a picture of scouting than their scouts did. Because there's another 20 guys listening to us right now who are doing exactly what you did two years ago. Got some really great ideas. They've been asked to be a scoutmaster. And they step into the middle of a situation that's not optimal. It might not be falling apart. They really want to make some changes and do some things. You've got their ear now, Larry. Tell them what to do. Well, it's not exactly by the book. But I found a venue down in Sebastian, a restaurant that had a really nice conference meeting, conference room. And I planned a day of training. And like I said, what I try to do is treat the guys like CEOs and vice presidents. I want a really nice room. I want a nice lunch. I want projectors. I want sound. We sat down and we talked about lead, train, and inspire 14 times and a bunch of other stuff. And we told them what the committee's job was and told them that here it is. It's yours. So in May, we have an annual planning conference. And we have a schedule October through the next July, including where we're going to go to camp, every month's campout, every program. They need a structure. Just kind of flailing from month to month doesn't build that kind of leadership that you want. When they know that in January and February we're going backpacking, they know that in December for a meeting and one or two meetings in January, they've got to teach the new guys how to backpack. And it's in the calendar. We're going to do it. We're going because we don't change our calendar very often. In the last two years, we've changed one date by a week. But they know it's coming. And there's a schedule pressure there that they can understand. They know by that Tuesday night before the campout, if they've got kids that aren't ready, there's going to be problems. They make the schedule, and then I keep giving it back to them. Guys, are you ready for this? Are you ready for this? Are you ready for this? And boys tend to be lazy. They tend to wait until the last minute. They tend to procrastinate. Yeah. But when they know it's coming, they've got to be ready. You know, they do think about it, and they do get ready, and they do learn from not being prepared. And then my next question to you was, now, do you let them forget to plan? Oh, yeah. They do it every week to some extent. In August, the committee approves the plan. The SPL comes in, and the patrol leaders, they present it to the committee. Everybody in the troop knows what's coming up. Scouting for food, campouts. You know, nobody can come back and say, wait. You know, I hand out schedules all year round. I keep a pile of 30 of them in my notebook, and I just hand them out to people all the time. So there's no communication issue about, you know, hey, we didn't know. And then each month, the program revolves around that. Now, they know that, well, here it is, August, September, I'm underfoot. December, I'm second class. Maybe by May, I'll be first class or almost done. And the scouts have those goals in their book. And, you know, they're pushing the older scouts a little bit. And the older scouts are pushing them a little bit. And it's not how I would do it, but it's kind of happening. They don't do it the way that you would do it. No. How does a person keep that from just driving them absolutely up a wall? Oh, well, it doesn't bother me that much. Like I said, I like the energy. I have a lot of investment in them doing it. It's really, really important for me that they grow into men through this process and that they do it. But it's not how I or my committee chairman or, you know, some of the other leaders, not how we would run the meeting. You know, they run over the sections of the meeting. You know, it's supposed to be 20 minutes for this. And they go 30 or they go three. And then they go play a game. And, you know, I mean, it's a lot more random, energetic, loud. Right. Well, that takes, I mean, that takes tremendous patience. It takes a little bit, yes. Let me make a guess. The patience comes from a confidence in the program, the way that scouts respond to it. Yes. And you've gotten to see the outcome a few times in the past. Now, that helps a lot. Yeah. And you have to have some kind of memory. I have a scout. His name's Paul. Paul hiked the entire Appalachian Trail in a season. Paul was a little tiny 11-year-old, almost quit after his first camp out. We almost killed him. Not really. But it was very wet, very cold. It was a backpacking trip. And he was a very small 11-year-old. But, you know, he used to run around, make a lot of noise. You know, he's now got a family with three kids. He's a successful guy thriving on his own. And he's gone from dependence to independence. Mm-hmm. And every once in a while, I have to look around the room and picture that kid at 28. I want my guys to be grown, to have families, to be independent, and to achieve the things in life that they want. I really, really, truly believe scouting can help a lot of guys get there. I've seen it. I want my wife to receive a lot of wedding and baby shower invitations. You know, I could talk about, you know, 38 Eagle Scouts and what they're doing now and where they've gone in their lives. And my wife has gotten a lot of wedding invitations and shower invitations. And you have to look at the guys in the room right now that are 11 and 12 years old that are, at that very second, running around totally nuts and project that. And I guess with time, it does become a little bit easier. Was there a point where you doubted whether or not this was actually going to work? I think early on, yeah, there were times, I know, I guess to some extent, not totally because it worked for me. I joined scouting on my 11th birthday. And from that day on, almost every single week, I was at a scout meeting until my 18th birthday. So I went to college and almost every month for seven years, I was camping. And I know what that meant to me. And so I knew that was going to mean the same thing to some of the guys. It has been surprising sometimes the guys that I didn't think it was going to mean anything to, and it has. Yeah. So I have more confidence now that that's true for more guys than I would have guessed a while back. You know that the program works, but you can't really predict exactly how it's all going to come out. What happens in those seven years is really, truly amazing in a boy's life, a young man's life. It's, for most guys, it's a very, very large change. They're mommy's little boy, and they're almost a man at the other end. What do you see happening within the next three or four years within your troop and your work as a scout leader? Well, I've got all these little guys, and I've got a group of about four or five older scouts. And I'm kind of in a hurry to get these guys up to first class because I need some leaders because I've got a whole bunch of more Weeblos, maybe another 15 to 20. Wow. So we could grow again another couple of patrols. So I need some first class scouts to be ready to take on their leadership roles and start working on their Star Life and Eagle, which includes that requirement for leadership, which is lead, train, and inspire scouts to first class. Wait, did I say it again? I'm sorry. You have a pretty good – I mean, you answered that question very readily. You have a long view. You're looking three and four moves ahead and seeing what's going to happen. What might happen. Well, what could happen, right. What might happen, you know. I think that couples into this kind of formula for success is having that longer view and being able to look past what's happening at a troop meeting or on a campout or something like that. Well, another thing I do is every two years I like to have a Hyatt venture trip. I've told the current senior patrol leader I'm kind of looking for him when he's done to start a venture patrol. Mm-hmm. I've said in their minds summer 2012, I don't tell them what to do, but I'll give them ideas. You know, I'm not telling them what to do or even when to do it, but I'll tell them some opportunities that – you know, some ideas if they can't think of anything. There's got to be some kind of reciprocal initiative on their part for this to happen. Right. Well, they're going to have to put it together. Exactly what does that mean? Well, they'll have to make the phone calls. They'll have to start meeting once a month, make a schedule. They'll have to have a planning conference and put together a schedule, when they're going to meet, when the venture patrol is going to meet, how much money do they need. You know, they'll have to lay all that out, and that's what they did. Now, eventually it comes down to somebody writing a check from the committee or using a credit card. I mean, you know, and then somebody has to actually drive, you know, there's a point at which, you know, they can't go past. They're actually putting the thing together. That's up to them. My experience has been is once a group of scouts do actually put something together, then it becomes more of a self-perpetuating thing. It takes on a life of its own. Yes. And the next group says, well, we want to do that, too. Right. And they've got a bit of a path to follow. It's just that bushwhacking in the first time around that can be a little bit of work. I don't think guys like or appreciate people that aren't sure where they're going or what they're doing. And I think that, you know, latching on to the program and finding areas to be very, very consistent can do a lot for you. I just think that's very, very important. Trying to listen to everybody and make changes based on what every scout or every committee member says. Don't go there. Decide what the program is and then do it. Now, that doesn't mean you can't take suggestions. I'm not saying that. But if you're spending a lot of time waffling, listening to a lot of people, things are confused, I think you just need to figure it out and get consistent. And I see some of that. And then another thing successful is emphasize the scout oath and the scout law. Every opportunity. Scout Master Minute, conferences, courts of honor. You should be saying, you know, trustworthy, loyal, helpful, da-da-da-da-da. You should be saying that every week. Every camp out. Somewhere that should come up all the time. Explain scouting to somebody who's just taken over a leadership position. I tell any new parent, any new person coming in the troop. There's three people in charge of the troop. The SPL, me, and the committee chairman. And we do everything. The three of us are responsible for every single thing that happens. The point is, is that you're there to serve. So start off serving everything. And let people come in and find out where they want to serve. Now, assistant scout masters are slightly different. If you're going to come do that, you've got to go get trained. What value do you put on training? For Boy Scout leaders, scout masters, and assistant scout masters, up to IOLS, it's absolutely essential. They have to do all the online stuff. They have to go to scout master training. And they have to take the outdoor leadership training. Preferably in the first year they're there. Get all of that done. That's vitally important. Let's say I'm interested in being a scout leader, but I'm a little skeptical about the training. And I'm wondering if it's going to be worth my time. Give me, sell me on it. Why is it worth my time? The training helps you to learn about the program from multiple people. And they need to find out what scouting is all about. They need to meet the district executive. They need to know there's a council out there. And they just kind of need to get a feel for all of that. It gives them perspective. And then they get to also understand the network of assistants that's there for them. It just doesn't begin and end with a unit. And interact with the other students in the classes. I think that's very, very valuable. Tell me what your most memorable scouting moment is. It's kind of two moments. When I was 14 years old, I think I was about almost 15, I remember standing in the pouring down rain on top of Thunderhead Mountain in the middle of Smoky Mountains National Park. We were a little less than 30 miles into a 50-miler hike that we had totally underestimated. And we had to make some decisions. So we decided to hike off the mountain. And it ended up being a great trip. But there's always that little bit of disappointment that you didn't quite make the 50-miler. Well, the other part of that is in 1991, we planned a 50-miler in the Appalachian Trail. I came up the last of the trail, the last half a mile coming up Roan Mountain from the south is very vertical. My son Christopher was at the top of the hill. He was the kids. The mooses were way ahead of us old guys. But I just remember that picture very vividly in my mind, stepping up to the last little step onto the flats and thinking, you know, I finally finished that 50-miler. Wow. And I did it with my son Christopher. To me, that was just really cool. A lot of things came out of that over the years. But finishing that with Christopher was a real high point. I think everybody's most memorable moment in scouting involves rain or thunder or wind or, you know, it's the other 100 campouts that you go on that are nice and sunny and bright. They just all seem to mold together. It's the ones that put some challenge in front of you that are really memorable. That's – you remember those. There's another memory I have that's happened multiple times. Quite a few times I've had moms come up to me and tell me after summer camp, three weeks ago my son was a boy. The last week there's another man in my house. Uh-huh. They're just totally blown away. It is amazing. When they tell me that, I just – I don't know. It's just a really cool thing. Makes it worth it. Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. Makes all the rain and the wind and the – yeah. I sure do appreciate you talking with me, Larry. I think any time people can talk scouting and encourage others as they're meeting the same challenges that we all do, that it's a great encouragement to them. So – You know, I don't know whether you think about it or not, but you are on the cutting edge. You know, this is a whole new thing and you are – you know, you're right out there in front of it. And I think experienced people like yourself, just as an example, need to be out there, you know, saying what you're saying. I appreciate your encouragement and it's been a good time talking to you. It's winter – My wife wants to listen to it. She doesn't get to hear you enough. She's like, what is this all about? What is this all about? Well, this is – it's terribly important. It's an international thing, you know. So – at least that's what I tell my wife. Okay. She still doesn't really believe me, but – So, once again, thanks very much, Larry, and I'll look forward to hearing from you soon. Okay. Okay. Well, thanks for listening to this edition of the Scoutmaster Podcast. You can read the Scoutmaster blog at scoutmaster.typepad.com. And you can follow us at Scoutmaster Blog on Facebook and ScoutmasterCG on Twitter. Subscribe to the Scoutmaster Podcast on iTunes. And when you do, feel free to leave a comment or a review or a rating. You can email me, Clark Green, with your comments and questions at ClarkGreen at gmail.com. C-L-A-R-K-E-G-R-E-E-N at gmail.com. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

And now, for you, Scoutmasters.

So tell me this. How are Scoutmasters different from Sherlock Holmes? Well, Sherlock Holmes occasionally had a clue, didn't he? Yeah, alrighty then. Hey, this is podcast number 39. Hey!

Welcome back to the Scoutmaster Podcast. This is Clark Green. Hey, we just got back from the camporee this past weekend. Had a big council camporee with, you know, 1,500 of our closest friends in the middle of a big field at a county park. Saturday, a beautiful day. The wind was probably about 20 miles an hour to, you know, 350 miles an hour gusts all day. I'm exaggerating a little bit. Camporees present me with the unusual opportunity as a Scoutmaster of learning to keep my mouth shut. You know, when you're in a big field and you have, you know, your square of campsite is laid out for you and you set up your tents, you're going to be a few steps away from the Scouts most of the time. And our habit is to make sure that we set up patrol sites and we're a good distance away from the Scouts. And when you're right there, man, you see every little thing and you want to jump in every single time and offer some advice. Do a little mentoring, perhaps, or just kind of yell at them every once in a while. So it was a bit of a challenge for me. Sat there with my assistant Scoutmasters and we tried to talk and not pay too much attention. It's not that the Scouts do things wrong. It's just, you know, do I have to explain? This time around, I'm going to talk to you about a parents meeting that we have coming up, an annual parents meeting in court of honor I'm going to explain. And then we're going to talk a little bit about ceremony. That'll wrap it up for us today. So we've got some things to go with. Let's get started, shall we?