Why is Scout Camp Important

So now that its after the first of the year and the end of January is right around the corner, many units have already begun or will shortly begin planning and organizing summer camp. Personally both of the units I am working with including Troop 669 from Soldotna, Alaska and Troop 1316 from Anchorage, Alaska first brought up the subject of summer camp at our second to last week of December which is definitely a lot earlier than when most unit choose to do so. But in my opinion most units do not start planning next years summer camp until it is too late. In my humble opinion Scout camp preparation should start the month after you attended scout camp.

Hold we are getting off subject, so before I go rambling on about when planning should begin for camp, lets focus on a real serious issue that is happening more and more often as resources are less and less. That issue is that of choosing "to go" or "not to go" to Boy Scout summer camp. There are many reasons parents won't allow their son to go to camp or their are rumors among the boys about what summer camp is and isn't. First though lets discuss new Webelos Cross-overs also known as newbie-Scouts or first years. The issue that scares many truly dedicated leaders in the Scouting movement is about these first years, which when I tell parents or other leaders they about look like their going to have a heart attack. For all you who don't know the statistic I am talking about Im referring to the fact that approximately %80 to %90 of 1st year Scouts who don't go to camp will leave your Troop within the 1st year of joining. This isn't something I've made up but it is truly the truth about why we loose so many Scouts within their 1st year of joining. Again there are many other reason's why Scouts leave the Troop in the 1st year but that is a topic for another post, the reason why I share this right off the bat when I am introducing new Scout parents during the first summer camp presentation which should occur in December of last year or in January of the year your going to camp, is to emphasize the importance and for me a mandatory requirement for 1st year Scouts. Parents always come back with excuses or the answer of "i can't believe it and can this possibly be the truth" or are you just making it up to make us as the parents feel bad for not attending scout camp. I will not ever impress parents or treat parents this way but it is a very good opener for your 1st summer camp parent meeting to get their attention.

Now for some reasons why parents don't let their son's to attend camp can include any of the following and most likely dozen's more reason. So here they are:

1. Its too expensive: this has to be one of the top reasons why and my personal favorite. Here I'm not going to lie, Boy Scout Summer Camp is expensive especially for inner-city or areas that have a high number of people that are at or just above the poverty line. These units have the hardest time getting their Scouts to go to camp while suburbia based units don't have as many problems with this issue. What I usually say to this is there is pretty much always a way to get your son to camp, it just depends on how willing you are to put in the effort to do so. Several different options for units with severe struggles in this area include asking local businesses to sponsor or help support your Troop, raise money through bake sales or car washes, look into if available camperships offerred by council, ask your Unit Commissioner for help, or finally you can always go to your District Executive for help.
2. Its the same as school: Well yes there are those camps that run like Merit Badge mills which definitely have a school like atmosphere but then again it all comes down to which  summer camp facility you choose to attend. Many camps though usually only let Scouts work on a make of 4 or 5 merit badges because they don't want the Scouts to only work are Merit Badges since that is only part of the Summer Camp experience.
3. My son gets homesick: Well, well, well yes there is a possibility of your son to get homesick but usually homesickness is caused by a Scout that has never really had any experience with spending a night over at a friends house or (Warning: Please don't be irritated, this is what I have noticed, from my experience with 1st year Boy Scout parent's) the parent is overprotective and/or doesn't allow their son to participate in age appropriate activities. Homesickness is prevented in two ways with the first being helping the youth to prepare for and be ready for camp without having too many worries (there will still be some but that isn't preventable at all). While the second is that once your son gets to camp he will end up so busy with all the opportunities at camp that he really won't have the time to worry about missing you. Finally one more point to mention is that if you as the parent stress about this or worry about this in front of your son, that will only make the problem worse. Trust me their are Scoutmasters and other adult leaders who have experienced and ready to deal with homesickness problems without even having to involve you as the parent because in most cases it is because the Scout had people issues or didn't like a certain aspect of camp.
4. We can't accommodate camp into are summer plans because of.......: Now lets not create a list of activities or events that could interfere with camp. But some of the major ones include family vacations, sports, or other activities outside of Scouting. That is why most units take a poll or take to many families to figure out when your unit wants to go to camp and the fact that we try to make known the dates for camp as early as possible. Also another important thing you can do to prevent this problem is ask leaders or parents what week they go to camp because of the fact that many Troop's have tradition's about which week they go to camp. It may not be 100% fool proof but it still works in your son's favor for the majority of the time. Second the most popular weeks that units go to camp are the last two weeks in June or the first two weeks in July.

Well before I wear you guys out or you get bored I better wrap it up but anyway here are the common reasons why parents say their son can't go to camp with tips and tricks for leaders, old parents, and new parents on how to prevent these issues from causing Scouts to drop out of the Troop within their first year. Pretty much if Scouts make it through the first year the likely-hood of earning the Eagle Rank or having one of their best times in life for a few years drastically increases.

Next post will start working through what is behind the purpose of Boy Scout Summer Camp and the actual whys and hows about how Summer Camp is one of the Scout's strongest memories after they become a adult or after leaving the program when they come back to reflect on this time during adulthood.

Yours in Scouting Service

Mark West

Assistant Scoutmaster

Troop 1316, Troop 1616(aka 669), Troop 125

Tustumena District/ Denali District/ Eklutna District, Great Alaska Council

NSJ '05 Youth Participant NSJ '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff NSJ '13 Subcamp Staff

WSJ '07 Youth Participant WSJ '11 International Service Team(IST)

Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Honor Big Horn Denver Area Council NYLT QM Philmont AA '08

If you are paid to do Scouting, you are called a professional. If you are not paid to do Scouting, you are called a Volunteer. If you pay to do Scouting, then you are called a Scouter

Scouting Hours

Starting this year I will be recording the number of hours that I spend on activities, meetings, outings, camp outs, summer camp, scout projects, event preparation, meeting preparation, and finally any other Scout related task. I do not expect any problems with accurate tracking as I have now accurately tracked the first three weeks of January but I am not sure if this will happen. But the only thing I can do is to try to strive for recording hours for every one of the items listed above.

It should be interesting to find out the total number of hours.

As of 17:15 on January 24, 2012 I have already done 78.5 hours. So I think my average will be approximately 100 plus hours per month for a total of at least 1200 hours.

I still have a campout coming up so I will most definitely reach 100 hours this month.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark West
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1316, Troop 1616(aka 669), Troop 125
Tustumena District/ Denali District/ Eklutna District, Great Alaska Council
NSJ '05 Youth Participant NSJ '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff NSJ '13 Subcamp Staff
WSJ '07 Youth Participant WSJ '11 International Service Team(IST)
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Honor Big Horn Denver Area Council NYLT QM
Philmont AA '08


If you are paid to do Scouting, you are called a professional. If you
are not paid to do Scouting, you are called a Volunteer. If you pay to
do Scouting, then you are called a Scouter

Assumptions and their effect on society

Scouting Thought of the day:

Don't ever, ever, and never assume something about someone, the only thing you can guarantee from assumptions is that they will come back to haunt you in the end and it means that you will never know or have the ability to fully understand those that surround you.

Eventually assumptions lead to anger, depression, hurt, less involvement, and bullying. So the question today is why do people make many assumptions about so many different things. The answer includes some of the following:

1. Stereotypes: we all stereotype some one at some time in our life, it is impossible to not do so. Remember that just because a person can be labelled or grouped a certain way doesn't mean that the label or group fully represents who they truly are.

2. Emotionally controlled: Many people out of the three basic thought patterns which include ethos, pathos, or logos, will spend most of their time in their pathos state of mind. First let me say that not just one of these states of mind will create a better time but using all three will make you a better person. Even with that you will have one primary mind state. Ethos is appealing to ethics or using previous credible situations and having advanced knowledge of the subject. Pathos on the other hand is purely related to the emotional side of our thinking process. Emotions all us to find ways to deal with feelings and the nuances that go with those feelings. Finally logos is the appeal to logic or use of rational and concrete based thoughts to determine how to proceed.


3. Pattern based thinking: I admit since that I spend so much more time in the logos state of thought I regularly and probably on a too often basis will end up using patternized thinking. Using patterns can help us make sense of the world around us but also have the disadvantage of making unique individuals or those that go against the norms of society seem radical, outcast like and have a inability to handle matters of group and societal based concerns.

Scouting’s One Essential Feature - Scoutmastercg.com

Scouting’s One Essential Feature - Scoutmastercg.com

At our council camporee in December I walked around the entire camp and saw only two troops that had identifiable patrols. Most troops were set up as one unit, with all the tents lined up and no discernible internal division into patrols.

Because our site was so small, our tents were all jumbled up and crammed into the site. Only our senior patrol leader and his patrol leaders really knew where the individual patrol boundaries began and ended. This wasn’t the optimal setup for patrols functioning well and but that’s not really what the campsite inspectors were looking for anyway.

Why don’t we value and emphasize patrols as much as our founder indicated we should?

The Patrol System is the one essential feature in which Scout training differs from that of all other organizations, and where the System is properly applied, it is absolutely bound to bring success. It cannot help itself!
The formation of the boys into Patrols of from six to eight and training them as separate units each under its own responsible leader is the key to a good Troop.
The Patrol is the unit of Scouting always, whether for work or for play, for discipline or for duty.

Baden-Powell

What has happened to the patrol?

While we may talk a good game about the patrol method many adult leaders simply don’t understand or trust it. As a result our Scouts don’t really associate their identity with a patrol but with a troop. We haven’t trained them to think of themselves as a patrol member first.

The issue of Patrol formation and organization is a constant topic amongst adult Scout leaders because they think it is their responsibility to meddle with the patrols in their troop. They want to assign Scouts to patrols and manipulate when and how patrols are formed and reorganized. This kind of management drains the life out of patrols to the point that they are merely a way to organize larger groups of Scouts instead of being the one essential feature at the heart of the movement.

Ok, (now I’ve set things off with a blast) how come we are called ”leaders” and and Scout”masters”? Aren’t we supposed to be making these sorts of decisions, aren’t we supposed to ”lead”?

Well, yes and no.

To understand this you need to understand Larry Philosophy 101 on adult leadership in Scouting;

Don’t; don’t do it. Don’t ‘lead’!

Are you still with me? I am still talking about patrols but the way we look at things as adults is very important to this. Years of experience have taught me that the Scouting model of adult leadership is hard for many of us to understand. because the common leadership models we know well are diametrically opposed to the model of Scouting leadership.

Scouting organization charts normally have the Scoutmaster and the committee at the top with their leadership filtering down to the Scout. We look at that and think that everything funnels down from the top; instruction, authority, responsibility, discipline, character development, etc.

I made a chart with the Patrol Leader at the top to reflect that he is the most important person in the troop. Everyone else (SPL, SM, Committee, Council, BSA) is supporting him as he delivers the program to his Scouts. (Some of the district leaders used to shudder when I used this chart!)

Top down leadership models used in the military, corporations, government agencies and (perhaps most importantly) the student/teacher model our Scouts experience in school are fundamentally different than Scouting leadership.

One model that particularly gets in our way is parenting; specifically that sort of over-involvement I call ‘mommying’. I’ve probably stepped on on a few toes with that but let me explain – mothers are a very good thing – a very necessary in a young mans life – but they need to start letting go in many ways when he’s 10 or 11 years old so he can grow up.

Once we better understand the adult leadership role in Scouting it informs the central role of patrols, the choices that form them and the way patrols work.

Scouting is a nation-wide organization of patrols arranged into troops. Patrols are more important than troops – troops are just a handy way for patrols to share resources.

1. Scouts register with the BSA.

2. These Scouts form patrols select their own leaders and plan their own activities.

3. These patrols associate themselves with a troop chartered to a local community organization.

Patrols are the organizing principle, the basic unit, the one essential feature at the heart of Scouting. We need to understand them, how they are formed and how we relate to them to understand Scouting.

Scouts create their own Patrols. They form their Patrols as they would a neighborhood play group or sandlot ball team. Like these informal groups patrols are formed without outside interference. Patrols are not formed by adult leaders, or youth leaders. Scouts are given clear instruction (usually by an older Scout ), based on Scouting literature (Boy Scout Handbook, Patrol Leaders Handbook, etc) in Patrol organization and function.

Does the Scouting literature specify a mandatory method for creating Patrols? No.

Should adults leaders choose who is in a particular patrol? No.

Should troop level youth leaders choose who is in a particular patrol? No.

What is the role of the adult leader in patrol organization?
Insuring Scouts (particularly the older ones) have been properly trained and informed about the Scouting program, . Adult leaders most commonly work directly with the older Scouts within a troop so they can properly instruct younger Scouts. Older Scouts may attain this knowledge in classroom sessions, mentoring/coaching interactions or by reading the literature produced by the BSA.

Once a patrol is created members of the patrol elect a patrol leader. The patrol leader appoints other leaders as required. Usually these are an assistant patrol leader, a scribe and a quartermaster.

How is a newly registered Scout placed into a patrol?
He selects a patrol in the troop that he wishes to join.

Patrol formation and organization is the least risky element of troop program to completely give over to the Scouts, and yet it is often the most contentious subject amongst adults.

Understanding all this I’m ok with whatever Scouts come up with. I’m ok with a troop of 19 Scouts having three patrols of 3 Scouts, 5 Scouts and 11 Scouts. When Scouts are trained and knowledgeable they usually realize that something like a 3 man Patrol is not very functional. When they realize this they will do something about it without a Scoutmaster to telling them.

In my experience when handled correctly by skilled, trained leaders patrols within a troop will be fairly permanent. Once Scouts are fully trained and skilled in the Scouting program and understand how patrols function, they get on board. Once they understand their leadership role as a First Class Scout, they begin to exercise that role within the patrol. When Scouts understand the program and identify themselves mainly within a patrol all the other issues with “patrol organization” mostly go away.

When Scouts join an existing, viable patrol they automatically begin training him. They take him camping, teach him skills and he advances. It all works very naturally!

The Scoutmaster who hopes for success must not only study what is written about the Patrol System and its methods, but must put into practice the suggestions he reads. It is the doing of things that is so important, and only by constant trial can experience be gained by his Patrol Leaders and Scouts. The more he gives them to do, the more will they respond, the more strength and character will they achieve.

Baden-Powell

Blog Goals

Here are some of the goals that I have put together about my blog and this year in regards to Boy Scouts. First, lets look at my goals for the blog:

1. Posts;  For the First Six months of 2012 my goal is to create 1 to 2 posts a week. Then in the last six months of the year be creating, editing, and writing 3 to 4 posts a week. The first part of this goal should be a little challenging since I have a hard time about keeping up and regularly posting to my blog.

2. Summer Camp Series: This year my main focus is going to be pretty much exclusively on summer camp. Now, wait many of you right now are probably going there isnt enough information and areas, subjects, or points to cover about summer. But in all actuality there is too much to do justice to this topic if I were to cover it for  only a year.

Summer Camp Subjects that will most likely be covered

1. g Evaluating: Prec-camp evaluation and post camp evaluation processes. Why both of these are very important, ideas on how to do them, some personal experience from evaluating units that Ive worked with directly in regards to summer camp as a adult leader. 
2. Choosing Camp: Figuring out how to best determine the best summer camp facility for your Troop, Home Council vs Out of Council Summer Camp advantages and disadvantages, and when basic decisions about where your going need to be made and how to make those decisions
3. High Adventure: What is High Adventure, what is the appropriate target audience for your Scouts, using high adventure bases, and creating your own High Adventure Summer Camp experience.
4. New Scout Programs: What to look for, how to manage sign offs at camp, and is this a mandatory or optional thing for first year scouts.
5. Keeping older boys without a High Adventure Program: How do you keep your older boys coming to camp, how to offer alternatives to high adventure programs, what older Scouts really want from camp, and what you can do when you are trying to get older experienced to go into summer camp leadership positions.
6. And many more topics to cover. I dont want to write down a more complete list because A) it would take forever, and B) it wouldn't be able to keep all the information in one post.

Well this post was going to include Boy Scout goals for the year but since this post is a little long already it will just have to wait for another day to come.

Happy New Year and may all your Scouting adventures and dreams come to light and become true.

Yours in Scouting Service

Mark West

Assistant Scoutmaster

Troop 1316, Troop 1616(aka 669), Troop 125

Tustumena District/ Denali District/ Eklutna District, Great Alaska Council 

NSJ '05 Youth Participant '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff '13 Subcamp Staff

WSJ '07 Youth Participant '11 International Service Team(IST)

Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member Big Horn Denver Area Council NYLT QM Philmont AA '08

If you are paid to do Scouting, you are called a Professional. If you are not paid to do Scouting, you are called a Volunteer. If you pay to do Scouting, then you are called a Scoute

New Years Resolution: A Different Perspective

New years resolution:

First question is does having and creating a New Years Resolution work??
It doesnt, so why are we all obsessed with creating them. The reason is because society expects us to do but then u must ask:

Are u willing serving urself and others in the best way possible if u do create one???
Well technically speaking the idea behind a New Year Resolution is excellent and if used in the proper way could be a useful tool but why call it somethings its not, we really shouldnt do it and insteadcreate goals on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. The more often u set goals whether its just getting that assignment turned in or as big as getting married and making a family the basic principle behind creating a good goal is to use the "SMART" method of goal setting. The method is as follows:

S: Specific

M:Measurable

A:Attainable

R: Realistic

T:Timely

Im not going to define these yet I just want to let people ponder and think about what this means to themselves.

Yours in Scouting Service

Mark West

Assistant Scoutmaster

Troop 1316, Troop 1616(aka 669), Troop 125

Tustumena District/ Denali District/ Eklutna District, Great Alaska Council 

NSJ '05 Youth Participant '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff '13 Subcamp Staff

WSJ '07 Youth Participant '11 International Service Team(IST)

Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member Big Horn Denver Area Council NYLT QM Philmont AA '08

If you are paid to do Scouting, you are called a Professional. If you are not paid to do Scouting, you are called a Volunteer. If you pay to do Scouting, then you are called a Scoute

Summer Camp Planning Series: Reviewing last years summer camp

Scouting Thought of the Day: Is it too early in the year to start thinking about summer camp plans?????

I personally believe that a month after you conducted summer camp for last summer you should at least at the very minimum do the following.

1. Adult camp leaders: Each adult fills out a evaluation on his performance and the performance of one other person. Scoutmaster or primary adult in charge should evaluate all leaders and see if there are leadership issues that need to be resolved or training be conducted to allow for continuous quality improvement.

2. Youth Leaders: Each youth should complete a evaluation for themselves, the senior patrol leader, and one other youth leader of there choosing. Also youth will have a discussion forum to see how other youth leaders did and what they thought about the adults for that particular week at camp.

3. Youth Participants: Evaluate the senior patrol leader, how they themselves did at summer camp, and if they have a patrol leader they will evaluate him also.

4. Scoutmaster: compiles all data from the adult evaluations, evaluates it by noticing patterns, change that need to be made or this that worked great at camp.

5. SPL: Compiles data gathered from the youth leaders evaluations and all information given out at the youth leadership forum.

6. Scribe: This is not the regular scribe it is the person appointed to fulfill these duties during that week of camp if there isnt enough people to have another boy fill this position this duty ultimately falls on the SPL to ensure its completion.

7. SPL and Scribe: Evaluate both of their data sets and prepare to present the information to the Scoutmaster and the Summer Camp Chair.

8. SM, SPL Summer Camp Chair, and Scribe: Determine the most important information that was collected to prepare for a presentation to the Troop Committee for them to see where the Committee should lead the troop during the next 12 to 18 months.

9. After all presentations are made all information is combined together even that, that wasnt presented to the Troop committee in the form of a evaluation paper and even review.

10. Start planning next years summer camp at the very minimum be at least 9 months out from the day you are going to camp.

Obviously this seems like a lot of work to do this process right but I can ensure you that if this process is followed or a similar process is used that is of equal caliber you will learn much about yourself, your Troop, peoples abilities, peoples limits, strengths, weaknesses, and areas that are working great or need to be worked on.

But lets just say that you dont have the time to complete a extended evaluation process like this, I think at the very least it would most definitely be appropriate at a Troop Meeting to conduct a evaluation and review process in these groups listed below: Adult summer camp leaders, youth summer camp leaders (Minus a ASPL or a Patrol leader for summer camp, he will lead the other youth), and the final group of people being the actual youth participants for that years summer camp. Dont set a agenda or make sure that you hit every point you want to, just let the review run itself by interfering as little as possible and only interfering in case people start the blame game, pointing fingers, become all negative about the experience, or get way off track.

obviously this is not a complete or perfect system that is guaranteed to work, completely evaluate the experience, or to guarantee a better summer camp program next year. The main idea behind this post is to get the gears flowing and point out several critical points that would help to create a beneficial and positive evaluation and review process.

Next up for this summer camp series will be discussing at what time you should ideally start planning, the norm for most troops, and finally the worse case scenario of not planning at all or waiting till it is so late that on the final day before camp you are trying to resolve hundreds of issues. My first post for this will start with forming a ideal planning situation(obviously I realize that the ideal situation is not a option but the idea is to get you to strive to have a better summer camp experience). After that post I will discuss observations and in my opinion(not guaranteed to be unbiased) what is the norms for most Boy Scout Troops and help to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of how it normally works. Finally I will lay down a guide that would be able to help you pull through and possibly get out of the worse case scenario situation.

Yours in Scouting Service

Mark West

Assistant Scoutmaster

Troop 1316, Troop 1616(aka 669), Troop 125

Tustumena District/ Denali District/ Eklutna District, Great Alaska Council 

NSJ '05 Youth Participant '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff '13 Subcamp Staff

WSJ '07 Youth Participant '11 International Service Team(IST)

Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member Big Horn Denver Area Council NYLT QM Philmont AA '08

If you are paid to do Scouting, you are called a Professional. If you are not paid to do Scouting, you are called a Volunteer. If you pay to do Scouting, then you are called a Scouter.

Troop 125 Meeting on December 12, 2011 Review

First before I share my thoughts on how the Troop meeting went, I need to introduce you to this unit since I have never posted a post about this unit. Troop 125 meets at and is chartered by Faith Christian Community Church located in Anchorage, Alaska. Bob Barton serves as the Scoutmaster of the Troop while I serve as a Assistant Scoutmaster for the unit. In this unit there is approximately 40 boys with 3 patrols. Of those 40 boys 20 to 30 boys are active on a regular basis. I joined this unit on December 1, 2011 and this is currently the third unit in the Great Alaska Council that I serve. Denali District of the Great Alaska Council which covers southern anchorage, Indian Girdwood, and whittier is the district that this unit belongs to.

Now back to the main purpose of this post which is to give you my thoughts, feelings, and ideas and also to evaluate how the Troop is doing in several different Boy Scout Methods that are most applicable to the meeting. The Troop meeting that I will be discussing is that of the meeting that occurred on Monday, December 12, 2011 which was our last meeting for the 2011 year for Scouting. We will continue meeting during the second full week of January 2012. In the Boy Scouts of America this will be the hundred and second year of Scouting in the United States, while in regards to the original Scouting Movement known now as the World Organization of the Scouting Movement it will be the one hudred and fifth year of world scouting.

Purpose for this meeting was to work on finishing planning for the campout and to discuss the specific details important to this particular upcoming campout which will be held this coming weekend December 16, 2011 to December 18, 2011. Planning for the campout involved putting together a patrol menu, determining who the grubmaster is, and finally putting together sleeping arrangements for the patrol. Patrol menus did not include all meals from friday dinner to sunday breakfeast because some meals are being provided to the Scouts. In particular this includes friday dinner and saturday dinner with the exception of saturday dinner. Saturday dinner is in a potluck style format and the only thing the Scouts have to prepare for this meal is that of a single side dish. In regards to meal plans for the weekend overall went great and quickly, and also for the most part meals were balanced and appropriate to the conditions of the campout especially since this is a winter campout in Alaska. Winter camping in Alaska has always and will always be a interesting venture to say the least. A few observations that I made during this time was that as the patrols had more and more older Scouts, the more complex the meals became. After that I noticed that while some meals on each of the patrols meal plan included a well balanced meal that took most of the food types in the food pyramid into account. Even though most were well balanced a reminder needs to be given to the Patrol Leaders or to the entire Troop is that all meals should be balanced with all the food groups. Finally maybe one suggestion that would improve performance for the patrol and help with a more balanced diet is to create a meal plan worksheet that includes some of the following things:

• Each meal during the weekend should be labeled with the day the meal is to occur and what type of meal is given whether it be a breakfast, lunch, or a dinner.
• Under each meal there should be a place to include the central part of the meal.
• While below the central part of the meal answer box there should include room for including the 7 food groups listed on the current food pyramid.
• In another column or section there should be listed individually every ingredient that is needed for that meal and the next to the individually listed ingredient there should be a space to fill in the desired quantity wanted including the unit name.

In regards to assigning grubmasters for the outing most Patrol Leaders were aware of who needed to this job for rank advancement and made the appropriate assignments. This regard for looking out for there Scouts best interest in regards to rank advancement shows the current Patrol Leaders are clearly demonstrating good leadership to their Patrol Members. Finally for sleeping arrangements one thing that surprised me while listening in to the discussions about this campout planning was the high number of Scouts wanting to sleep by themselves. To me when I was a youth member I pretty much always preferred to sleep with a tent buddy especially during the winter because it allows more body heat to be held in the tent. One explanation for this fact could be due to the worlds changing view on how two males sleeping together can create conflit, trouble, and political issues which is primarily because more and more younger people are starting to think that just because you sleep with another guy makes you according to the current world view a person that participates in homsexual behavior. Homosexual behavior while gaining more and more mainstream acceptance is also pushing people to more and more extreme views on how this issue should be handled.

Yours in Scouting Service 

Mark W 

Assistant Den Leadeer/Assistant Scoutmaster

Troop 1316, Troop 1616(aka 669), Pack 100, Troop 125 

Tustumena District/ Denali District/ Eklutna District, Great Alaska Council 

NSJ '05 Youth Participant '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff '13 Subcamp 7 Support Staff

WSJ '07 '11 International Service Team Member

Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member 

Big Horn Denver Area Council NYLT QM Philmont AA '08

If you are paid to do Scouting, you are called a Professional. If you are not paid to do Scouting, you are called a Volunteer. If you pay to do Scouting, then you are called a Scouter.

status update

hello my name is Mark West. IAM currently a assistant scoutmaster for 3 years. Currently I am with the great Alaska Council with headquarters in Anchorage, Alaska, which is where I am currently living. I am active with 3 different units with 2 being in Anchorage and the 3rd in soldotna, Alaska which is located on the Kenai Peninsula. The 2 units that IAM in Anchorage include troop 125 and troop 1316. Troop 125 meets at faith Christian community church and is currently a part of the Denali district covers South Anchorage, Girdwood Whittier, and Indian. The other troop located in Anchorage is Troop 1316 which is located in the Eklutna. this district covers North Anchorage, Eagle River, Chugiak, and Eklutna. Troop 1316 is located and meets that Anchorage Christian Schools. Finally, the 3rd unit that is located on the Kenai Peninsula. The unit number is 1616 but due to changes in the charter organization the troop has been renumbered as unit 669. In all 3 units I am in the adult leadership position known as a Assistant Scoutmaster. the highest rank that I reached as a youth member is Eagle Scout and I am currently involved in the order of the arrow in nanuk Lodge as a brotherhood honor member.

One of the reasons I have not been able to post regular posts is because of the fact that I have had multiple serious medical issues that resulted in multiple stays at Providence Alaska medical Center. Hopefully now that I have resolved the medical issues I will start posting new posts on a regular basis. My ultimate goal is to create posts 2 to 3 times a week.

This current series of posts that I will be working on will include leadership skills relating to basic skill development, how to be a youth leader, how to be a effective adult leader, and finally adult to scout and Scout to adult communication and interaction skills:
1. The 1st post will focus on youth leadership expectations, behavior, and adult interactions.

2. Second I will discuss basic styles of leadership that work effectively for leading youth members including the coaching style, the guiding style, the explaining style, and finally the problem solving style of leadership.

3. Third I will give a brief introduction to the 11 skills of leadership.

4. Fourth, I will in a series of posts explain the 11 skills of leadership in posts that have 2 to 3 skills described in detail per post.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark West assistant Scoutmaster for troops 1316, 1616, and 125
Eagle Scout/Order of the Arrow brotherhood honor
world Scout jamboree 2011 and 2007 national Scout jamboree 2005 and 2010
nylt 2009 youth participant and 2010 quartermaster youth staff


If you are paid to do scouting you are called a professional. If you are not paid to do scouting you are called a volunteer. If you pay to do scouting then you are called a scouter.

Thoughts about the Blog

I have a few questions in regards to the running and operation of this blog

1) Is the information interesting or relevant to struggles your unit faces? If not, why and what should I be including?

2) What other areas would you like me to cover that I have not covered?

3) how often would you like to see new posts on the blog?

Please feel free to leave a comment or email me directly at westybsa@gmail.com. Also my goal from now to the end of the year is 1 post per week including the two wholes weeks that I will be going to camp.

Yours in Scouting Service

Mark W

Assistant Den Leadeer/Assistant Scoutmaster

Troop 1316, Troop 1616(aka 669), Pack 100

Tustumena District/ Denali District/ Eklutna District, Great Alaska Council

NSJ '05 Youth Participant '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff WSJ '07

Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member

Big Horn Denver Area Council NYLT QM Philmont AA '08

Scouts and Other extra curricular activities

Lately I have been hearing from multiple different sources that I work with that it keeps getting harder and harder to attend Scouts on a regular basis. This lack of attendance can be attributed to many different causes and should not automatically lead the leaders to believe the Troop is putting on a boring program. It could be any reason, for example it could be a family emergency, being sick, participating in sports, or other commitments as required by the Scouts parents outside of scouting. My wish though is that the Scout communicates when he is going to be absent to the appropriate youth or adult leader, depending on how you run your Troop. Communicating this information gives the leadership a sense of how active your Troop is. Determining your Troop's activity level is a essential part of the Annual Planning Conference and your monthly Patrol Leader Council Meetings because it helps determine which activities and resources you have to use and consume in the running of your Troop.

Another problem worth mentioning that most cannot hope to change is that Scouts always comes secondary to other extracurricular activities. This is in part our own doing because of the fact that Scouts give the Boys the most freedom in deciding whether or not they participate in a activity. This flexible nature is a double edged sword because on one hand it is an easy way to keep people engaged in the organization but on the other hand it results in lower attendance levels during certains times of the year. Yes you can argue that since Scouts is a year round activity that varying levels of participation should happen but the fact remains that there should still be the expectation that you should make a effort to attend until a time when you decide to remove your name from the roster. This is just the same courtsey that any other extracurricular or sport would expect.

Yours in Scouting Service

Mark W

Assistant Den Leadeer/Assistant Scoutmaster

Troop 1316, Troop 1616(aka 669), Pack 100

Tustumena District/ Denali District/ Eklutna District, Great Alaska Council

NSJ '05 Youth Participant '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff WSJ '07

Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member

Big Horn Denver Area Council NYLT QM Philmont AA '08

Skills of Leadership: The Art of Communication

The art of communication also known as the acting of getting, retrieving, and giving information is the process by which a person in a position of leaderships acts to receive, process, and give information. Each one of these parts are equally important because without all three components effective and accurate communication would not be possible. But exactly what do we mean when we say effective and accurate communication that is the question to answer. Effective communication is communication that uses the right channel for situation you in to send the message, while accurate communication is communication that gets the point across that you are trying to get across. From this we can determine that their is one negative way to communicate, two partially positive ways, and one fully positive way to communicate. The negative way that I am referring to is communication that is not effective and at the same time is not accurate. Obviously this method does not accomplish your goal which is to exchange information between two interdependent parties. Next comes the first partial positive communication method which is communication that is effective but is not accurate. Basically this kind of communication keeps the relationship with the other concerned party going good but even though the relationship was damaged or hindered there was still a problem because there was a misintrepretation of the facts by the receiver. Who is to blame in this situation it is more than likely whether or not you want to hear it will be sender not the receiver. Another partial positive way to communicate is to have communication that is not effective but is accurate. Obviously this is still good communication because you accomplished the goal of communication which is to successfully exchange information but you failed to remember that a important part of communication is exchanging information in a way that not only "saves face" but also does not hinder or damage the relationship. Finally comes the last way of communication which is that of communicating in a way that is both effective and accurate. Creating instances of truly effective and truly accurate communication are hard to come by but show to the world that you are truly a competent communicator. On average, the average person after objective and thoughtful evaluation will realize that in truth that we are only truly competent about 20% of the time. This is not something to despair or fret about it is just a statistic that is worth mentioning because it just goes to show that we all have work to do in regards to our communication skills.

Trust me communication is more complex than what I have simplified it down to in the post above but as usual in order to better understand such a vital skill you must first start with baby steps. Over the next several posts in the days and weeks to come I will continue my discussion on communication.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Den Leadeer/Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1316, Troop 1616(aka 669), Pack 100
Tustumena District/ Denali District/ Eklutna District, Great Alaska Council
NSJ '05 Youth Participant '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff WSJ '07
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
Big Horn Denver Area Council NYLT QM Philmont AA '08\

Physical Fitness

Today during a hike that my Troop went on I started thinking about a subject that hadn't really crept into my mind for a fair length of time. That subject happens to be physical fitness as the title of this blog post says. Physical fitness it seems to be and has been for a long time a word most americans through around but truthfully do not know how to use properly. For many physical fitness that you must be a athlete and a star athlete at that but for the majority of us this is automatically setting ourselves up for failure. Lets first think through this by ourselves and then use the troublesome tool called the dictionary. If we don't have to be athletes but also can't be bums and super lazy people then there obviously a middle ground that gives us the ability to effectively meet the physical demands of our environment without having over exert ourselves but again this doesn't mean we have to be the best, we just have to perform to a satisfactory. Many of you would say to this that then a video gamer is in shape, so there has to be more to this definition than just being able to meet the physical demands of our environment. To this I would say the following, take a kid of average age, physical characteristics, and nature and then apply this information as baseline for who determines what qualifies as being in shape.

But this definition is a little cumbersome and still does not factor in all of the necessary factors. One definition that comes close is physical fitness is the state of being that allows a person to efficiently and effectively participate in the activities that he wants to participate in without causing due harm to ones body or to someone else. Now lets look at what the dictionary says physical fitness is being in shape or in condition. Obviously this seems simple enough to understand but these six words have a deeper more profound meaning than is originally evident.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Den Leadeer/Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1316, Troop 1616(aka 669), Pack 100
Tustumena District/ Denali District/ Eklutna District, Great Alaska Council
NSJ '05 Youth Participant '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff WSJ '07
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
Big Horn Denver Area Council NYLT QM Philmont AA '08

Scouting Background and News Update

Hello all, I know that it has been almost 1 year to the date since I last published a post, hopefully this will not happen again or at least if I need to take a extended leave of absence from writing posts I will keep you guys informed. I was absent for many different reasons but it primarily came down to the fact that over the summer and into the fall I spent a fair amount of time in the hospital. I am now doing much better medically and I am sure glad I was able to get a lot of medical issues resolved. The other reason was because I became very involved and busy with school and homework. Even though I start summer school in a few weeks I continue on planning to write posts through that time while I am in class.

First off in order to get this update up and running in the right direction I figured I probably should reevaluate and further explain my Scouting Background. My home council is currently Great Alaska Council and I have been with this council since April 2007. The other Scout Council that I have had the privilege to be with is that of Denver Area Council. Years involved in Scouting as a youth and a adult now number close to 15 years or since I was in the first grade. I am an Eagle Scout, who earned his Eagle in the Fall of 2006 with Troop 780 from Castle Rock, Colorado. I am a brotherhood member of the Order of Arrow. The OA lodge that I am attached to is Nanuk Lodge. Another lodge that I have served in is that of Tahosa Lodge. Currently I serve as a Assistant Den Leader for Pack 100 in Anchorage, Alaska, and as a Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 1316 in anchorage alaska for Troop 1616 in soldotna, alaska which in the near future will be renumbered as Troop 669. I attended the 2005 National Scout Jamboree, served as staff for the 2010 National Scout Jamboree, and attended the 2007 World Scout Jamboree. I hope sometime in the near future I can serve on the district level of scouting.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Den Leadeer/Assistant Scoutmaster

Troop 1316, Troop 1616(aka 669), Pack 100
Tustumena District/ Denali District/ Eklutna District, Great Alaska Council
NSJ '05 Youth Participant '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff WSJ '07
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
Big Horn Denver Area Council NYLT QM Philmont AA '08

Adventure Base 100

I accidently missed the Cinncinati, Ohio stop on May 29 to May 31 but I am not going to miss stops again for a while because I have a new plan. I am going to try and feature all of the stops starting tomorrow that go through the weekend of the Fourth of July. This will mean I will have to feature at least 3 stops between today and tommorrow.



The stop though that starts tomorrow June 5, 2010 and ends on June 6, 2010 is that of the stop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In Pittsburgh the Adventure base 100 campus will be located at the Heinz History Center. The Heinz history center is located at 1212 Smallman Street Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222. Directions the History center are as follows:

From the North and West (via Ohio and PA Turnpikes):
From Exit 28 (Cranberry, old Exit 3) on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, take Interstate 79 South to Interstate 579 (the Veterans Bridge). Drive across the bridge and follow signs for Seventh Avenue. Turn right onto Grant Street. Go one block, get in the left lane and turn left onto 11th Street. Go two blocks and turn right onto Smallman Street.

*Alternatively, stay on I-279 S. Get in the left lane as you cross the bridge and take the left-most exit, following overhead signs to the Convention Center and Strip District (via the 10th Street Bypass). At the red light go straight, traveling under and around the Convention Center, then take the first left turn onto Smallman Street.

From the South and West (via Interstate 79 and Parkway West):
Take Interstate 79 North to Interstate 279 North toward Pittsburgh. Go through the Fort Pitt Tunnel.*Stay in right lane across Ft. Pitt Bridge and curve right to access Interstate 376 East. After about a quarter mile, exit Grant Street on the left. Follow Grant Street, and after the Seventh Avenue intersection, get into the left lane. Turn left onto 11th Street. Go two blocks and turn right onto Smallman Street.

*Alternatively, get in the left-most lane through the tunnel. After exiting the tunnel, move to the far left lane of the bridge. Take the left-most exit, following overhead signs to the Convention Center and Strip District (via the 10th Street Bypass). At the red light go straight, traveling under and around the Convention Center, then take the first left turn onto Smallman Street.

From the East (via Pennsylvania Turnpike and Parkway East):
Take Exit 57 (Pittsburgh, old Exit 6). Follow signs to Pittsburgh via Interstate 376 East. Take the Grant Street exit. (Exit from the left lane.) Stay on Grant Street and after the Seventh Avenue intersection, get into the left lane. Turn left onto 11th Street. Go two blocks and turn right onto Smallman Street.

*Alternatively, take Exit 57 (Pittsburgh, old Exit 6). Follow signs to Pittsburgh via Interstate 376 East. Take the Ft. Duquesne Bridge/North Shore exit. *Stay in right lane across the bridge, following signs to Interstate 279. After crossing the bridge, stay to the right and take exit 7C, to PA 28 North. Immediately after this exit, take the Chestnut Street exit. Take a right and cross the 16th Street Bridge. After the bridge, take the first right on Penn Ave. Take a right on 14th Street. and the next left is Smallman Street.

Dates and times of operation are as follows

Saturday June 5, 2010 9 am to 6 pm

Sunday June 6, 2010 9 am to 6 pm

Admission to this event is free.

More information about the Heinz History Center can be found by clicking here.

More information about the host council which is the Greater Pittsburgh Council can be found found by clicking here.

More information about adventure base 100 can be found by clicking here.


Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Webelos Den Leader Pack 69
Frontier District, Denver Area Council
NSJ '05 Youth Participant '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff WSJ '07 '11
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
Big Horn NYLT QM Philmont AA '08

If you are paid to do Scouting, you are called a Professional. If you are not paid to do Scouting, you are called a Volunteer. If you pay to do Scouting, then you are called a Scouter. -- Author Unknown

More Adventure Base 100 Videos

These adventure Base 100 videos will be from Minneapolis Saint Paul and Grand Rapids. Minneapolis Saint Paul video will be feature first below.



The Second Video will be of the adventure base 100 stop from Grand Rapids, Michigan.



Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Webelos Den Leader Pack 69
Frontier District, Denver Area Council
NSJ '05 Youth Participant '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff WSJ '07 '11
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
Big Horn NYLT QM Philmont AA '08

If you are paid to do Scouting, you are called a Professional. If you are not paid to do Scouting, you are called a Volunteer. If you pay to do Scouting, then you are called a Scouter. -- Author Unknown

Adventure Base 100 Videos

The first adventure base 100 stop video that I will be featuring in this post will be the Louisville, Kentucky.



The second video in this post will be that of the video for the Chicago, Illinois.

Adventure Base 100

I missed the Grand Rapids, Michigan stop because I was moving out of the dorm that weekend, had finals, and my parents were in town, just too busy of a week to do much on my blog. This week I will be featuring 2 different adventure base 100 stops. These two stops will be in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the first of two stops in Ohio.

Minneapolis/St. Paul Adventure Base 100 Stop

For this stop of the adventure base 100 2010 tour, it will be held on May 15, 2010 and May 16, 2010.  For these two days the adventure base 100 campus will be specifically setup at the Mall of America in the North parking lot which is located at 60 East Broadway Bloomington, MN 55425. The hours of operation are as follows:

Saturday May 15, 2010 10 am to 6 pm

Saturday May 16, 2010 10 am to 6 pm

More information about adventure base 100 can be found by clicking here.

More information about the Mall of America can be found by clicking here.

More information about the host council which is the Northern Star Council can be found by clicking here.

Adventure Base 100 First stop in Ohio

The first adventure base 100 stop will be in Columbus, Ohio and will be located at the Ohio Zoo and Aquarium which is is located at 4850 West Powell Rd, Powell Oh 4306.  For this stop Scouts/Scouters in uniform will receive free admission to the Zoo. A special lunch may be purchased for those Scouts/Scouters for $9. For family Friends and guests the prices will be as follows: 

Admission to Columbus Zoo ONLY: Guests 10-59 Years old - $9.00 (normally $12.99)

Admission to Columbus Zoo ONLY: Guests 2-9 Years old & 60+ - $5.00 (normally $7.99)

Admission to Zoo & Zoombezi Bay Waterpark - $10.00 (normally $29.99)

Admission to Zoo, Free Parking & Special Lunch: Guests 10-59 Years old - $16.00

Admission to Zoo, Free Parking & Special Lunch: Guests 2-9 & 60+ Years old - $13.00

BEST DEALS:

Admission to Columbus Zoo, Zoombezi Bay Waterpark, Lunch & Free Parking:

Guests 10-59 Years old - $19.00

Guests 2-9 Years old & 60+ -  $19.00

Directions are provided below from several different locations are provided for your convience.

From west of Columbus: Take Interstate 70 East to 270 North. Follow 270 North to Sawmill Road (Exit 20) and go North (or left) on Sawmill Road. Sawmill Road will become Sawmill Parkway. Continue on Sawmill Parkway until you reach Powell Road/SR 750. Turn left onto Powell Road/SR 750. The Zoo entrance is approximately 1 mile on the right.

From east of Columbus: Take Interstate 70 West to 270 North. Follow 270 North to Sawmill Road (Exit 20) and go North (or right) on Sawmill Road. Sawmill Road will become Sawmill Parkway. Continue on Sawmill Parkway until you reach Powell Road/SR 750. Turn left onto Powell Road/SR 750. The Zoo entrance is approximately 1 mile on the right. 

  

From south of Columbus: Take Interstate 71 North to 270 West. Follow 270 West to Sawmill Road (Exit 20) and go North (or right) on Sawmill Road. Sawmill Road will become Sawmill Parkway. Continue on Sawmill Parkway until you reach Powell Road/SR 750. Turn left onto Powell Road/SR 750. The Zoo entrance is approximately 1 mile on the right.

From north of Columbus: Take Interstate 71 South to 270 West. Follow 270 West to Sawmill Road (Exit 20) and go North (or right) on Sawmill Road. Sawmill Road will become Sawmill Parkway. Continue on Sawmill Parkway until you reach Powell Road/SR 750. Turn left onto Powell Road/SR 750. The Zoo entrance is approximately 1 mile on the right.

The dates and hours of operation are as follows:

Saturday May 22, 2010 9 am to 5 pm

Sunday May 23, 2010 9 am to 5 pm

More information about the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium can be found by clicking here.

More information about adventure base adventure base 100 and to preregister for the event to get a adventure base 100 passport can be done by clicking here.   

More information about the host Council which is Simon Kenton Council can be found by clicking here.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Webelos Den Leader Pack 69
Frontier District, Denver Area Council
NSJ '05 Youth Participant '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff WSJ '07 '11
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
Big Horn NYLT QM Philmont AA '08

If you are paid to do Scouting, you are called a Professional. If you are not paid to do Scouting, you are called a Volunteer. If you pay to do Scouting, then you are called a Scouter. -- Author Unknowna

New Blog Design

 Trying out a new design for my blog, hopefully I will like it and keep the design how it is. Unfortunately I had to remove the insane scouter logo due to me not be very much into the coding thing, this is a disappointment but who knows maybe it will all work out for the better. Beyond that no major additions or changes were made. I also spent the time updating my profile in regards to my scouting background.

Just tell me what you think.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Webelos Den Leader Pack 69
Frontier District, Denver Area Council
NSJ '05 Youth Participant '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff WSJ '07 '11
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
Big Horn NYLT QM Philmont AA '08

If you are paid to do Scouting, you are called a Professional. If you are not paid to do Scouting, you are called a Volunteer. If you pay to do Scouting, then you are called a Scouter. -- Author Unknown

Adventure Base 100 video

The video below is for the Atlanta, Georgia stop of the adventure base 100 tour.



Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Webelos Den Leader Pack 69
Frontier District, Denver Area Council
NSJ '05 Youth Participant '10 Subcamp 7 Youth Staff WSJ '07 '11
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
Big Horn NYLT QM Philmont AA '08

If you are paid to do Scouting, you are called a Professional. If you are not paid to do Scouting, you are called a Volunteer. If you pay to do Scouting, then you are called a Scouter. -- Author Unknown