{"id":1923,"date":"2015-12-01T17:53:25","date_gmt":"2015-12-01T22:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/?p=1923"},"modified":"2015-12-01T17:53:25","modified_gmt":"2015-12-01T22:53:25","slug":"issue-463-december-1-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/2015\/12\/issue-463-december-1-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Issue 463 \u2013 December 1, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

________________________________________
\nDear Andy,<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have a question regarding the relationship between a troop and its chartered organization\u2014in our case, a church, which provides us with meeting and storage spaces. In return, the Scouts of our troop devote between 20 and 25 service project days a year for the church. As a result of this heavy service schedule, which typically is done over weekends, we actually go camping maybe only once or twice a year. Our troop committee has been discussing whether we should cut back on our service projects so that we actually have the time to do more camping and other traditional Scout-related activities. On one side of the debate is the argument that the Scouts need to learn the importance of commitment and service, and to show their appreciation to our chartered organization. On the other side is the realization that a troop shouldn\u2019t be this church\u2019s “youth auxiliary;” that the troop’s main responsibility is to conduct Scouting-related activities and not to be the \u201cstaff\u201d at all these church fundraisers and similar functions. In short, this second side believes that the current troop-to-sponsor relationship is backwards, and these ongoing service projects to the church are actually getting in the way of the Scouting experience we\u2019re supposed to be delivering. Ultimately, it seems to be question of balance, and we\u2019d value your thoughts on where that balance should be. (Name & Council Withheld)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Frankly, this one’s a no-brainer: The relationship is indeed backwards. This troop should be out there, camping and hiking and canoeing and rappelling and having SCOUT ADVENTURE AND FUN no less than once a month, every month of the year. Otherwise, as you stated, these Scouts are nothing more than unpaid helpers\u2014and you know what those are called!\u2014week in, week out One or two or even three service projects a year for your chartered organization is the norm and would be just fine. Otherwise, all you have is “servers and leaf-rakers in tan shirts.” Besides, the harsh absence of outdoor activities\u2014lots of outdoor activities!\u2014are why these boys joined the troop in the first place, and the present relationship model isn\u2019t allowing them to have the experience they signed on for. Plus, how the heck can they advance in rank if all they do is work around the church like a bunch of ants in a colony. (Yes, this one’s giving me the horrors!)<\/p>\n

So stop these bi-weekly service projects right now. Tell the church leadership that you simply can’t deliver the Scouting program if all the Scouts do is work around the church, so you’re going to stop. The church leaders can pick two or\u2014at the most\u2014three things they’d like you to continue doing, and the rest of the time you’re going to go hiking and camping like Boy Scouts around the world do every month of the year!<\/p>\n

(BTW, when your Scouts do all these fund-raisers for the church, the church, in turn, helps you buy new tents and other gear for camping and hiking, right? If not, it\u2019s time for a second heart-to-heart conversation.)
\n==========
\nDear Andy,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our troop has several patrol boxes of the \u201cold school\u201d type\u20143\u2019x3\u2019x5\u2019 and heavy as all heck! Most of them have been sitting in storage for years; most are, at this point, rotted, broken, and otherwise largely unusable. Meanwhile, I\u2019ve noticed that many troops are going with \u201ctotes\u201d these days. I realize that that sort of relatively tiny patrol box limits Scouts to a shorter-term type of camping. What, in your experience and opinion, should be the kind of patrol box and what size or kind of box would you recommend? (Neal Cleary)<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Patrol boxes” were great in my day, when patrols went “base-camping” for several days, slept under canvas that was actually canvas, and took day hikes out and back from their base camps. They were also great back in the days before light-weight tents and sleeping bags, and feather-weight stoves and cooking gear, to say nothing of freeze-dried foods. In today’s super-light world (have you been to an REI recently?), patrol boxes are hardly necessary.<\/p>\n

So, bottom line: Forget the boxes and spend an afternoon at REI or the camping gear store of your choice! These days, everything\u2019s so light a patrol of even just four Scouts can pack in all the gear and food they\u2019ll need for a great weekend by simply sharing the weight equally among them.<\/p>\n

Thanks, Andy! The boxes that our troop has are more of the \u201ckitchen-in-a-box-for-a-week\u201d type. It\u2019s actually very convenient to have a prep stand area and yet I\u2019m starting to agree with you about the weight. Even two 12 year-olds have a hard time lifting the patrol boxes we have, and that\u2019s when they\u2019re empty. Load \u2018em up, and even two grown adults would feel the strain! But they do have lots of room for pots and pans and dishes and utensils, spices and matches and such.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So what do you suggest putting in a patrol box? (Some websites suggest lanterns, but we keep these separately.) I guess what I\u2019m saying is that, because of the \u201ckitchen box\u201d model, when I think of a patrol box, I think of cooking, exclusively. Old ideas die hard, I guess. So, just what would you put in such a patrol box? (Neal)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Start camping exclusively by PATROLS. Distribute all food among all patrol members. Same with gear… Most tents can be divided up (main tent, rain fly, poles) so that each Scout in the patrol carries something. Cooking gear and the stove get divided up, too, so each Scout packs in his fair share of evenly distributed weight. It’s the job of the Patrol Leader to get cooperation on who carries what. Remember always that a troop is the “umbrella” for two or more patrols\u2014it’s the patrol that’s the foundational unit of Boy Scouting… it’s not the troop!<\/p>\n

If, on the other hand, you spend lots of time “car-camping,” then patrol boxes might come in handy. For contemporary ideas, just use any search engine for “patrol box design” and you’ll be rewarded with hundreds of examples from which to choose!
\n==========
\nDear Andy,<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a question about the Order of the Arrow. One of the requirements for eligibility is to have camped 15 nights in the two-year period prior to the election, of which a maximum of five can be at a long-term summer camp. So if a troop goes on a nine-day canoe trek, where the Scouts sleep in a tent they\u2019ve pitched each night, does that count towards the total of 15? And what about \u201ccabin camping\u201d? Does this count? (The requirements don’t specify that the camping must be in a tent that you pitched, like some of the rank or merit badge requirements.) (Joe Sefcik, Connecticut Rivers Council)<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s often best to have a personal conversation with your local lodge advisor…a volunteer just like you! But, in the meanwhile, the way it typically worked in the four or five lodges I’ve been a member of, dating back to 1956, if a Scout was out there camping while on a canoe trip for 9 nights, he has just 6 more nights in the two years prior to the annual troop election needed to qualify (of which no more than 5 can be while at summer camp). (Let’s be sure to remember that the OA is known as “The Brotherhood of Honor Campers.”)<\/p>\n

Camping is, as we used to say, “under canvas” and still often say “under the stars.” Cabin camping…? Well, somehow I think you already can guess the answer.
\n==========
\nDear Andy,<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Scouts travel to high adventure bases and other distant destinations, typically there can be a need to stay in a hotel or motel overnight. When doing so, the way I read the GUIDE TO SAFE SCOUTING, we\u2019d need to secure rooms that can hold six people, since the minimum is 4 Scouts with 2 adults. If we wanted to just bed down the Scouts, with no adults in a room (put adults in separate sleeping rooms), is that allowed? Thanks! (Stephen Everson, CR, Lewisburg, PA)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first order of business is to check with your local council. I can only tell you, from my own experience traveling cross-country with a Jamboree troop, the Scouts stayed with Scouts in their own rooms and the adults stayed with adults in their own rooms; there was no “mixing.” (Minimum two Scouts to a room was the same basic structure as two Scouts to a tent.)<\/p>\n

Hint 1: Be sure, when you check in, that the facility has turned off any “adult channel” access in all rooms occupied by minors.<\/p>\n

Hint 2: You’re going to need “hall monitors”…consider them sentries. So get all your Scouts in rooms on the same floor, so you can post adults for the night (in shifts, of course) with sight-lines of all rooms occupied by the Scouts. (Skip this step and be prepared for possible mayhem <wink>)
\n==========
\nDear Andy,<\/strong><\/p>\n

It looks like I\u2019m being denied membership in the Order of the Arrow, and this has been a running battle for the past five years. Our council\u2019s Lodge Advisor claims it\u2019s because of my supposed \u201cinappropriate behavior\u201d toward Scouts at past OA functions. I say it\u2019s retaliation for a claim I submitted some years ago to the waste, fraud, and abuse representative. I\u2019ve been a Scoutmaster, and a member of the lodge, for some forty-odd years, and not once has there ever been the slightest negative complaints aimed at me. I\u2019ve spoken several times with our Scout Executive, but have gotten nowhere. I\u2019d appreciate knowing who\u2019s next up the \u201cchain of command.\u201d (Name & Council Withheld)<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I started reading your letter, my very first thought was that a conversation with the “Chief of the Fire”\u2014your Scout Executive\u2014would be the way to proceed. But then you told me that it’s apparently the Scout Executive himself (or herself) who’s blocking your way. What’s even stranger is that you’ve actually been a member of the Order of the Arrow since completing your Ordeal forty or more years ago! So what seems to be happening is that you’re being blocked from being a member of the OA lodge in your local council, rather than being “denied membership in the Order of the Arrow,” and that’s because the OA policy is once an Arrowman, always an Arrowman. So, one quick question\u2026Have you tried simply paying your annual dues? That’s right, just sending a check (with no cover letter\u2014just your name and contact information, or the lodge\u2019s application, if they have one) for whatever the annual dues are, made payable to the lodge and sent to the proper address, and seeing what happens next? Give it a try. If I don\u2019t hear back from you, I\u2019ll assume it worked out okay. If not, let me know, but I\u2019ll tell you right now that each council and each lodge is pretty much independent ever since the BSA\u2019s regional structure was reduced and then virtually eliminated.<\/p>\n

Happy Scouting!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Write to askandybsa@yahoo.com. Please include your name and council. (If you\u2019d prefer to be anonymous, if published, let me know and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll do.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

[No. 463 \u2013 12\/1\/2015 \u2013 Copyright \u00a9 Andy McCommish 2015]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

________________________________________ Dear Andy, I have a question regarding the relationship between a troop and its chartered organization\u2014in our case, a church, which provides us with meeting and storage spaces. In return, the Scouts of our troop devote between 20 and 25 service project days a year for the church. As a result of this heavy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-23"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1923"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1927,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions\/1927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}