{"id":2413,"date":"2019-02-19T10:55:04","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T15:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/?p=2413"},"modified":"2019-02-19T10:55:04","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T15:55:04","slug":"issue-587-february-19-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/2019\/02\/issue-587-february-19-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Issue 587 \u2013 February 19, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Our brand new Scouts BSA troop for girls is growing faster than we imagined. We were just four potential Scouts before January and, as the real kickoff has happened, we\u2019ll quickly be at 14! Where it liked like we might be a single patrol we\u2019re going to start off with two!<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a brand-new Scoutmaster, I don\u2019t understand where the Senior Patrol Leader fits in. If our Scouts camp as patrols and cook as patrols, what about the Senior Patrol Leader? Where does she pitch her tent? Is she on a patrol duty roster? Can you help me figure out where my Senior Patrol Leader fits in? In a troop of 14, do we have an Assistant Senior Patrol Leader too, and two patrols of six? Or something else? (Matt Johnson, Scouts BSA SM, Bay-Lakes Council, WI)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Good news\u2014this is going to be easier than you may be thinking!<\/p>\n

First, let’s look at the two top Scout leadership positions in a Scouts BSA troop (whether male or female, although I’ll use the latter here, since that’s what we’re talking about).<\/p>\n

Often contrary to popular belief, the one who literally runs the troop isn’t the Scoutmaster; it’s the Senior Patrol Leader<\/span> (“SPL”), with the help of her Assistant Senior Patrol Leader<\/span> (“ASPL”).<\/p>\n

With your new troop of 14 Scouts (CONGRATULATIONS!<\/em>), the first thing they’ll do is elect from among themselves, their SPL. Next, the SPL\u2014with the Scoutmaster’s guidance but not decision-making\u2014chooses her ASPL. These two aren\u2019t members of any patrol during their tenure; they’re a separate team. The ASPL and the Patrol Leader of each patrol, all report to the SPL, who is provided quiet one-on-one guidance and coaching by the Scoutmaster.<\/p>\n

So, with the SPL elected and ASPL appointed, the remaining 12 Scouts are asked by the SPL to divide themselves into two groups of six Scouts each, with no Scout left out. (Yes, this is their decision and theirs alone.)<\/p>\n

Now you have a troop\u2014made up of functioning patrols Scouts each (keeping an even number per patrol at the outset is best for all), plus their SPL and ASPL. The two patrols each elect their Patrol Leader (“PL”), and the PL chooses her Assistant Patrol Leader (“APL”).<\/p>\n

This troop will also need a Troop Scribe\u2014a Scout selected by the SPL and ASPL, who will take notes of all decisions made at Patrol Leaders Council (“PLC”) meetings.<\/p>\n

These PLC meetings are run by the SPL, with the ASPL, both Patrol Leaders, and the Scribe (a non-decision-making role) in attendance. These are the meetings the Scout leaders of the troop will use to decide what will take place in regular troop meetings, where to go for all outdoor and other activities, and what the agendas of these latter activities will be.<\/p>\n

So, with this structure in place, overnights are now no-brainers! Each patrol camps next door to one another and each of the six Scouts shares a tent with her “Buddy” (see “Buddy System” in your Troop Leader Guidebook<\/em><\/strong>). Meanwhile, the SPL and ASPL share their own separate tent together.<\/p>\n

On hikes, campouts, other activities, and even troop meetings, neither the SPL nor the ASPL has “patrol responsibilities.” They’re busy running the troop\u2014through the two Patrol Leaders.<\/p>\n

For meals on an overnight, each patrol is to cook for seven, because they’ll have a “guest”\u2014either the SPL or the ASPL\u2014at mealtime. In this way, the guest top troop leaders can see first-hand how well each patrol is coming along in bonding, cooperating, and building “patrol spirit.”<\/p>\n

What about adults? you may ask, and that’s a legitimate question. Adults camp separately from the patrols and SPL-ASPL. Out-of-sight, ideally, but not out of ear-shot! And the adults cook for themselves, just as a patrol would. (NOTE: Occasionally for some meals, like breakfast or lunch, it’s a good idea for the adults to share that meal with the SPL and ASPL, so that the Scoutmaster [and any other adults present, as decided by the Scoutmaster] can assess, coach, and help problem-solve for the SPL and ASPL out of sight of the other Scouts in the two patrols.<\/p>\n

And, by the way, when the SPL\u2019s and ASPL\u2019s terms of office end, they\u2019re then free to join whichever patrol they and their new patrol happen to prefer.
\n==========
\nHi Andy,<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re having a bit of a problem in our troop now that there are Scouts BSA troops for girls. When the BSA established the advancement \u201crules\u201d for girls, they allowed extensions for those going for Eagle Scout rank. Now, some of our older Life Scouts want to know why they can’t get an Eagle extension too. I don\u2019t have an answer for them. Do you? (Name & Council Withheld)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The answer’s simple\u2014virtually a no-brainer. Did these older Life Scouts join your troop at age 16 or older? Or instead, have they been working toward Eagle since having joined their troop some five or six years ago? If it’s the first case, then I’d have to say they should be granted an extension if personal circumstances call for it. But if they’ve been in the troop since age 11 (or younger), then I can\u2019t think of a no reason why an extension should be automatic for them.<\/p>\n

What many Scouts and even adult volunteers don’t seem to understand is that “Eagle” isn’t the primary goal of the Scouting program. In fact, no young man who ends his Scouting career at a rank other than this is in any way some sort of “failure.” Rank advancement, while important, still represents merely 12.5% of the Methods of Scouting.
\n==========
\nMORE ABOUT PATROLS\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Hi Andy,<\/strong><\/p>\n

No question here; but some important thoughts on what we learned along the way about patrols-thinking instead of troop-thinking.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our troop is now nine years old, having started with about a half-dozen boys. Our first mistake was to have a single patrol instead of immediately creating two patrols (despite how small they\u2019d be at first).<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the start, our erroneous mindset was “troop” and not “patrol” and it took years to overcome this. Our single start-up single patrol struggled with the “patrol spirit” concept throughout their entire Boy Scout career!<\/strong><\/p>\n

As our troop grew we often \u201creshuffled\u201d the patrols, typically done by our Scoutmaster instead of leaving it up to the Scouts themselves, and this mostly ended up with disaster. Without really knowing or understanding the new Scout and his personality or what friends he might already have in the troop, in 95% of cases our Scoutmaster made a poor choice for him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2014the adults in the troop\u2014began to learn when my older son’s Cub Scout den crossed over and joined as an intact \u201cnew Scout\u201d patrol. Now, some six years later, the core of the patrol is still intact and they remain very strong and full of patrol spirit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I became Scoutmaster a while back, at a time when the troop had become over three dozen Scouts strong, I knew I needed to address this \u201ctroop\u201d instead of \u201cpatrol\u201d issue for the entire troop. I did some online searching and found Troop 10 in Kansas City, MO\u2014a troop of over 100 Scouts and used the “new-Scout\u201d patrol concept for all incoming boys. So I reached out them to learn how they did this and then applied it to our own troop. The difference was enormous!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, when boys cross over from Cub Scouting, they\u2019re assigned to the Yeti Patrol\u2014a temporary patrol for all new Scouts. The Yeti\u2019s elect their own Patrol Leader, who\u2019s coached by a Troop Guide\u2014a fellow Scouts with leadership\u2014who, in turn, is coached by a designated Assistant Scoutmaster. The goal of the Troop Guide (and Assistant Scoutmaster as backup) is to help this new patrol \u201cform-storm-norm-perform\u201d (Bruce Tuckerman, \u201cDevelopment Sequence in Small Groups\u201d) and then reach First Class rank right around their first-year in their patrol.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then, around the time they\u2019re getting close to First Class (about 13-15 months in), we start suggesting it’ll soon be time for them to move into their permanent patrol. We present two options: to stay together and create a new patrol (the preferred option), or split up and join other existing patrols. In almost all cases, they elect to stay together, give themselves a new name, and continue on in the troop straight up to when they turn 18!<\/strong><\/p>\n

For those who may transfer into our troop with previous Scout experience, they start out in the Yeti Patrol too\u2014the Yeti Patrol becomes their \u201csafe landing\u201d spot, and they remain in this group long enough for them to get to know the other Scouts in the troop and figure out who they have common interests with. Depending on the Scout, this is typically a three- to six-month stopover.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So we\u2019ve finally stepped back from reshuffling Scouts and taken to guiding the Scouts in making their own decisions. We\u2019ve been doing this for two years now and it\u2019s working\u2014it\u2019s addressing the needs of new Scouts with no meddling by adults. Thanks again for all your advice along the way! (Lee Murray, SM, Troop 154, Nevada Area Council)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fabulous results! It\u2019s a beautiful thing when Scouts themselves can fulfill their own destinies! My only suggestion would be to consider a \u201cYeti II Patrol\u201d as necessary, so that respectable (and manageable) patrol size can be maintained.<\/p>\n

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

Andy<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/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. 587 \u2013 2\/19\/2019 \u2013 Copyright \u00a9 Andy McCommish 2019]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

________________________________________ Hi Andy, Our brand new Scouts BSA troop for girls is growing faster than we imagined. We were just four potential Scouts before January and, as the real kickoff has happened, we\u2019ll quickly be at 14! Where it liked like we might be a single patrol we\u2019re going to start off with two! As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413","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=2413"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2417,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413\/revisions\/2417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}