{"id":69,"date":"2003-01-03T14:00:40","date_gmt":"2003-01-03T19:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/?p=69"},"modified":"2011-11-03T14:01:56","modified_gmt":"2011-11-03T18:01:56","slug":"issue-9-january-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/2003\/01\/issue-9-january-2003\/","title":{"rendered":"Issue 9 – January 2003"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Andy, For Eagle Scouts, where can we get a list of people who write congratulatory letters? (M.J.K., SM, Garwood)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

You have any number of options here! Locally, be sure to contact Mr. John Lawson, of the Sons of the American Revolution, at jl07076@aol.com<\/a> and he\u2019ll prepare a special certificate and he\u2019ll also check to see if the Eagle qualifies for a SAR scholarship. Also, our own Council Service Centers also stocks request forms for the US Army Youth Certificate of Recognition. And then go online to www.cfcbsa.org\/advance\/eagle addresses.pdf<\/a> and you\u2019ll find some 8 pages of dignitaries, incl-uding President Bush, our astronauts, all the way to Bill Gates. Go for it!<\/p>\n

Dear Andy, Our Troop\u2019s advance-ment chair wants to start including Merit Badge classes in our Troops meetings, taught by Troop parents, to help our Scouts advance faster and easier. I say this idea is counter to the objectives and purposes of Merit Badges, and we should do our best to avoid ever doing this. Who\u2019s right? (B.F., SM, Chester)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

YOU are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! And please stick to your guns. I guess your advancement chair needs to study up on the two essential purposes for Merit Badges. The first is for the Scout to develop new skills or interests that could lead to a career or life-long hobby. The second is to contact and work with a person he doesn\u2019t know. \u201cClasses\u201d taught by parents inside Troop meetings not only defeat the two essential purposes of Merit Badges, but it also turns Troop meetings into \u201cScout school.\u201d This is just as deadly. Boys don\u2019t join Scouts to \u201cgo to yet another school.\u201d They join, and stay, because it\u2019s NOT school! Besides, the people that work with Scouts on Merit Badges are called Counselors; not \u201cteachers,\u201d and there\u2019s an absolutely valid reason why that\u2019s a key part of the whole Scouting experience for the boy.<\/p>\n

Dear Andy, Some of our Pack\u2019s leaders and parents don\u2019t want to bother with training like \u201cRisk Zone,\u201d \u201cSafety Afloat,\u201d \u201cBaloo,\u201d or \u201cYouth Protection.\u201d They say this stuff is \u201cjust common sense\u201d and they spend enough time taking their boys on outings anyway, and after all, what\u2019s more important \u2013 going on outings or sitting in some room being told what they already know. I\u2019m at my wit\u2019s end! What can I do? (L.H., CC, Scotch Plains)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Well, short of holding a gun to their heads, not much! But, you might want to remind them that, if they\u2019re on an outing, and there\u2019s an accident, and a lawsuit, and they don\u2019t have the right training or they didn\u2019t follow a \u201cBSA Basic\u201d (like \u201cThe Buddy System,\u201d or \u201cTwo-Deep Leadership,\u201d etc.) when it comes to covering costs, the BSA will very simply walk away, and they\u2019re hangin\u2019 there, blowin\u2019 in the wind. And, you might want to follow up with a question: \u201cWe\u2019re sending your son out with untrained leaders, OK?\u201d That might sound a little harsh, but remember that, among youth service organizations, Scouting has an envi-able track record for low injuries and fatalities on land and water, and there are three reasons for that: TRAINING, TRAINING, and TRAINING!<\/p>\n

Dear Andy, To help them \u201cget ready\u201d for Eagle, we\u2019re thinking of having our Star Scouts do \u201cmini-projects\u201d for their Life rank. You know \u2013 complete with a write-up, and getting signatures, just a little \u201csmaller\u201d than a full Eagle Service Project. What do you think? (L.S., Troop Advancement Chair, Bedminster)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I really think your heart\u2019s in the right place! But \u2013 and this is a big BUT! \u2013 by doing that, you\u2019re adding to the Life rank requirement of six hours of service, and you just can\u2019t do that! It\u2019s a national policy that requirements can\u2019t be added to or reduced from what\u2019s stated \u2013 no matter how good the ultimate intent. But let\u2019s come back to your basic idea: Helping Star Scouts understand what they\u2019ll be doing when they go for Eagle. How about having the Eagle Scouts in your Troop make special presentations on their own projects \u2013 what they did, how they went about doing it \u2013 to the Star and even Life Scouts? Then, how about making sure that the Star & Life Scouts pitch in on upcoming Eagle rank projects? That could give you just the results you\u2019re searching for!<\/p>\n

Dear Andy, Where can I get information on famous Scouts and\/or famous Eagle Scouts? (S.K., Scout parent)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

If you have access to the Internet \u2013 and even if you don\u2019t have it at home, check with your local library, which probably does \u2013 just go to any reliable search engine (I like \u201cGOOGLE<\/a>,\u201d but the choice is yours) and enter: famous scouts or famous eagle scouts. You\u2019ll get a whole bunch of sites that will give you just what you want.<\/p>\n

Dear Andy, Are Sea Scouts still around? (C.A., former Sea Scout, Elizabeth)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

You bet! Sea Scouts are alive and well! There are two Sea Scout Ships in our own council, based in Linden, and many around the state and country.<\/p>\n

Happy Scouting, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Andy<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Have a question? Send it via email to askandybsa@yahoo.com<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

(Issue 9 \u2013 January 2003)<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Andy, For Eagle Scouts, where can we get a list of people who write congratulatory letters? (M.J.K., SM, Garwood) You have any number of options here! Locally, be sure to contact Mr. John Lawson, of the Sons of the American Revolution, at jl07076@aol.com and he\u2019ll prepare a special certificate and he\u2019ll also check to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-13"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","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=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions\/70"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}