scoutingmaniac

Why is Scout Camp Important

2012-01-27T01:21:00.004-09:00

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:

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.
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.
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.
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

2012-01-24T17:13:00.002-09:00

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

2012-01-24T17:03:00.003-09:00

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

2012-01-17T02:18:00.000-09:00

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

2012-01-01T21:57:00.000-09:00

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

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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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

2012-01-01T21:37:00.000-09:00

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

2011-12-31T03:14:00.001-09:00

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

2011-12-12T23:03:00.002-09:00

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

2011-12-04T17:52:00.001-09:00

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 Westassistant Scoutmaster for troops 1316, 1616, and 125
Eagle Scout/Order of the Arrow brotherhood honor
world Scout jamboree 2011 and 2007national 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

2011-06-03T23:02:00.002-08:00

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

2011-06-03T22:42:00.002-08:00

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

2011-05-14T20:14:00.002-08:00

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

2011-05-07T17:40:00.002-08:00

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

2011-05-05T21:24:00.002-08:00

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

2010-06-04T19:20:00.004-08:00

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

Adventure Base 100 Videos

2010-05-14T10:27:00.005-08:00

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

2010-05-14T10:24:00.000-08:00

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

2010-04-25T16:05:00.000-08:00

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

2010-04-25T15:08:00.004-08:00

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

Adventure Base 100

2010-04-25T14:46:00.002-08:00

Even though the previous stop of adventure base 100 still has a few more hours left before the process of clean and breakdown begins, I wanted to publish information for the next stop for 2 reasons. The first is a scout related reason which is the weekend that this stop will be occurring I will be going to a Scout Training for NYLT and will not have email access. The second is that since I usually do not publish posts tuesday through Thursday's since those are my busy school days, I wanted to ensure that this information go out to the right people before the event started.

The next stop of the adventure base 100 tour will be at the Cinco De Mayo Festival in Chicago, Illnois which is located at Douglas Park and the parks address is as follows:

1401 South Sacramento Drive
Chicago, IL 60623

The hours of operation for this stop of the Adventure Base 100 will be as follows:

April 30, 2010: 10 am to 8 pm

May 1, 2010: 10 am to 8 pm

May 2, 2010: 10 am to 8 pm

More information about the host and local council for this part of the country which is known as the Chicago Area Boy Scout Council can be 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

Adventure Base 100

2010-04-22T18:29:00.002-08:00

We have another announcement, Adventure base 100 will be coming to Louisville, Kentucky and is going to be held in conjunction with the Kentucky Derby Festival. In particular the adventure base 100 campus will be located at the main/central box office of the festival which is located at 501 West Main St., Louisville, KY, 40289.

The times and hours of operation of Adventure base 100 will be as follows:

Friday April 23, 2010 11 am to 7 pm.

Saturday April 24, 2010 11 am to 7 pm.

Sunday April 25, 2010 1 pm to 7 pm.

More information about the Kentucky Derby Festival can be found by clicking here.

More information about adventure base 100 and to claim your souvenier photo using the code given to you at adventure base 100 can be found by clicking here.

More information about the host Council which is the Lincoln Heritage 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 Unknown

Adventure Base 100 Video

2010-04-15T14:02:00.003-08:00

Here is the video from Charlotte, North Carolina. Please Enjoy. Also just wanted to issue a update which is, I am officially registered and have transferred my National Jamboree Staff registration to Denver Area, this is due to the fact that it seems I will be spending most of my time in the denver area.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Den Leader Pack 69
Frontier District, Denver Area Council
NSJ '05 Youth Participant '10
7 Youth Staff
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
WSJ '07 '11 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

2010-04-14T07:06:00.002-08:00

Are you looking for an adventure? Come celebrate the 100 with Adventure Base 100 as it rolls into Atlanta. This unique, interactive 10,000-square-foot campus, will be in Atlanta on Friday, April 16 from noon to 9 p.m., Saturday, April 17from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, April 18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Piedmont Park during the Atlanta Dogwood Festival. The event is free, open to the public, and will be a fun event for the whole family! At Adventure Base 100, families will have the opportunity to try their skill at a ropes course, experience the IMAX-like video in the “Go Scouting! Dome,” and tour the traveling museum, among many other activities.This is a unique opportunity that will be of interest to local Scouts, families and tourists in and around the Atlanta-area.

For Immediate Release

Adventure Base 100 to Roll into Atlanta
Boy Scouts of America Mark 100th Anniversary Celebration

Engage Atlanta-Area Residents with Immersive Scouting Experience through Nationwide Tour Atlanta, (April 6, 2010)

Ropes Course. GoScouting! Dome. Traveling Museum. In celebration of the organization’s 100th anniversary, the Boy Scouts of America is bringing a truly unique and interactive experience to Atlanta: Adventure Base 100. Created specifically for the Boy Scouts of America’s 100th Anniversary Celebration, Adventure Base 100 is traveling the country to rally people of all ages to take part in “Celebrating the Adventure, Continuing the Journey. Adventure Base 100 is a unique, interactive 10,000-square-foot campus featuring immersive and exciting Scout-related experiences to provide a hands-on view of the Boy Scouts of America’s 100 year history and the difference Scouting has made in the lives of millions of youth.Starting in January at the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, Calif., and ending in November in New York City, Adventure Base 100 will be rolling into more than 40 markets across the country.

It will be in Atlanta April 16 from noon to 9 p.m., April 17 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and April 18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.Our goal is to engage those interested in the Boy Scouts of America in a new and exciting way,” said Tracy Techau, Scout Executive/CEO of the Atlanta Area Council. “We are thrilled to bring this experience to Atlanta to celebrate our rich 100 year heritage, spark fond memories in former Scouts and alumni, and intrigue those who may be interested in learning more about our organization.” While in Atlanta Adventure Base 100 will be located at Piedmont Park during the Atlanta Dogwood Festival and will include: A high adventure ropes course for all visitors more than 4 feet tall weighing less than 200 pounds. A multi-sensory experience that will offer visitors the sights, smells and sounds of Scouting via the campus IMAX-like video “GoScouting! Dome.”

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

2010-04-10T15:11:00.009-08:00

Here is the Adventure base 100 video from Jacksonville, Florida.

Here is the adventure base 100 video from Miami, Florida.

Here is the adventure base 100 video from Greenville, South Carolina.

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

2010-04-10T14:53:00.003-08:00

Sorry rough week again, it has just been one of those semesters for me at college. I have been continuing to have some medical issues, which are hopefully going to be resolved very quickly. Yesterday April 9, 2010 was the first day of 14th stop of the cross country Adventure Base 100 Tour. This stop will go from April 9 to April 11, 2010.

The specific location will be that of Carowinds Theme Park in Charolette, North Carolina. This is located at the following address:

Park Address: 14523 Carowinds Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28273

GPS Address: 300 Carowinds Blvd., Fort Mill, SC 29708

The days and times of operation are as follows:

Friday April 9, 2010: 10 am to 6 pm

Saturday April 10, 2010: 10 am to 6 pm

Sunday April 11, 2010: 10 am to 6 pm

More information can be found about Carowinds Theme Park by clicking here.

Also more information about adventure base 100 can be found here.

Finally the Host Council for this stop of the Adventure Base 100 cross country tour is that of Mecklenberg County Council and more information about this Scout council can be found by clicking here.

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

2010-04-02T12:04:00.005-08:00

Tomorrow, Saturday April 3, 2010 begins the 13th stop of the Adventure Base 100 Cross Country Tour. It will be held in Greenville, South Carolina and it will be held in parking lot of Walmart Super Center Store #640 which is located at 1451 Woodruff Rd Greenville, SC 29607.

The dates and hours of operation are as follow:

Saturday April 3, 2010 10 am to 6 pm

Sunday April 4, 2010 12:30 pm to 7 pm

The Host council is that of the Blue Ridge Council and more information about this council can be found by clicking here.

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

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

2010-03-24T14:06:00.002-08:00

Tomorrow begins the 12th stop of the adventure base 100 tour. It will begin in Tampa, Florida and this will be the final stop in Florida. This stop will be held in conjunction with the Miami-Dade County Fair. Directions are as Follows:

From the South (The Keys/Florida City/Homestead/Kendall, etc.):

1. Take SR-821 North/Florida’s Turnpike North/Florida’s Turnpike Homestead Ext North/Ronald Reagan Turnpike
2. At Exit 23, take ramp right toward SW 40th Street/ Bird Road
3. Bear left onto SW 117th Avenue
4. Turn right onto SW 40th Street/ Bird Road
5. At SW 112th Avenue, make a left, taking you north
6. Keep heading north until you reach The Fair™

From Broward County:

1. Take SR-842 West/ W Broward Blvd
2. Take ramp left for I-595 West toward Florida’s Turnpike
3. At Exit 8, take ramp right for Florida’s Turnpike/ Ronald Reagan Turnpike toward Miami
4. Keep right to stay on SR-821 South/ Florida’s turnpike south/Florida’s Turnpike Homestead Ext S/ Ronald Reagan Turnpike
5. At Exit 25, take ramp right and follow signs for US-41/ SW 8th Street
6. Turn right onto US-41 East/ SW 8th Street/ Tamiami Trail
7. Turn right onto SR-985 South/ SW 107th Ave
8. Turn right onto SW 24th Street/ Coral Way
9. Arrive at The Fair™

From North (North Miami/Opa Locka) area:

1. Take the Gratigny Parkway West/SR-924
2. At Exit 1B, take ramp left for SR-826 South/ Palmetto Expressway toward Miami
3. Take ramp right and follow signs for US-41 West/ SW 8th Street/Tamiami Trail
4. Turn left onto SR-985 South/SW 107th Avenue
5. Turn right onto SW 24th Street/ Coral Way
6. Arrive at The Fair™

Hours of Operation for Adventure base 100 are as follows:

Thursday March 25, 2010 3 pm to 12 midnight

Friday March 26, 2010 3 pm to 12 midnight

Saturday March 27, 2010 12 pm to 12 am

Sunday March 28, 2010 12 pm to 12 am

Monday March 29, 2010 12 pm to 12 am

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

Adventure Base 100 Video

2010-03-19T13:48:00.004-08:00

Here is the Adventure Base 100 video for Tampa, Florida.

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

Adventure Base 100

2010-03-19T13:37:00.002-08:00

Today Starts the 11th stop of the 2010 adventure base 100 cross country tour. It will be held in Jacksonville Florida at the Saint Johns Town Center. The Exact Address is as follows:

4663 River City Drive
Jacksonville, FL 32246

Driving Directions: St. Johns Town Center is conveniently located on the southside of Jacksonville near 9A and J. Turner Butler Blvd. Take J. Turner Butler Blvd to Gate Parkway. Travel north on Gate Parkway. Turn right on Town Center Parkway and travel for approximately 1/2 mile. The shopping center will be on your right.

The Dates and Hours of operation for the Adventure Base 100 Campus will be as follows

Friday March 19, 2010 12 pm to 6 pm

Saturday March 20, 2010 10 am to 6 pm

Sunday March 21, 2010 11 am to 6 pm

The host Council is the North Florida Council which can be contacted by clicking here.

The St. John's Town Center Website can be found by clicking here.

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

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

Adventure Base 100

2010-03-09T15:58:00.002-09:00

I guess since we I have been having some problems I had to skip stops number 8 and 9 but now that i am getting back on track I am able to write a post for stop number 10. This stop will be in Tampa, Florida. It will be held in Conjunction with the Florida Strawberry Festival.

The Florida Strawberry Festival Address is as follows: 303 North Lemon St. Plant City, FL 33563-4706. At the Florida Strawberry Festival the Adventure Base 100 Campus will be located near the Cool Whip Entertainment Tent.

The dates and hours of operation for this stop of the 2010 tour of the Adventure Base 100 will be as follows:

March 12: 10 am to 6 pm

March 13: 10 am to 6 pm

March 14: 10 am to 6 pm

The host Council for this stop of the Adventure Base 100 tour is that of the Gulf Ridge Council.

More information about the AB 100 can be found by clicking here. For more information about the Florida Strawberry Festival you can click here. For more information about the Gulf Ridge Council Please click here.

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

Jamboree Scout Meeting in Portland

2010-03-08T15:54:00.002-09:00

On Saturday March 6, 2010 I had a Jamboree Meeting with about half of the staff for 50% for Sub camp 7. Sub camp 7 covers the Pacific Northwest. It Primarily Includes the States of Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Staff comes from as far north as Alaska and as far south as Tennessee to serve with this group for the coming 2010 National Jamboree.

The purpose of the meeting in Portland was basically a meeting to get together, meet the people you are going to be working with, and answer any questions you may have. I learned a lot about my role and what the expectations of a youth staff member are.

As a youth staff member you are expected to serve under any of the Subcamp departments or divisions on a as needed basis. You are basically there to fill in as needed. I know this may seem like a very boring job, or a job that does not have much to do, or a specific job description. The problem with the jamboree is that there is so much going on that there is always so much to do that if you are looking, able and willing there is always something that needs to be done.

That is all I know about the Jamboree for know. I get my medical form and Travel advisory in. My airline change my ticket without warning and I am still having to work through those issues but everything will work out in the end.

And once again, it is only a hour a week, at least that is what we should tell those starting out.

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

Adventure Base 100 Videos

2010-03-08T15:37:00.004-09:00

Here are the Adventure Base 100 Videos from Tupelo, Mississippi San Antonio, Texas, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

The first video is from San Antonio, TX.

The Second Video is From New Orleans, LA.

The third video is from Tupelo, MS.

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

Updates, Medical Issues and Stuff

2010-03-07T12:40:00.003-09:00

Sorry for missing the Last couple of Weeks in Regards to Adventure Base 100 Announcements, regular posts, and communications with my regular readers, it has been a very rough time for me. I have been experiencing some medical problems which made me miss a whole week of college. Missing a whole week of college put me seriously behind and I was not able to blog but now that I am on spring break, I will be able to catch up and hopefully blog on a regular basis.

Jamboree is coming up and I hope to provide more and more information as National Releases it but who knows, it seems that National is way behind when it comes to release of information in regards to the National Jamboree.

Well at least I only missed two Adventure Base 100 Stops, hopefully readers were able to get the information from other sources. Those two stops include the Tupelo, Mississippi February 20 and February 21 stop and the March 2 to March 6 stop in Houston, Texas.

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

Great Website that I had to share

2010-02-09T10:46:00.002-09:00

The Greater Yosemite Council of the Boy Scouts of America has put together one of the most complete jamboree websites that I have seen in a long time. You all should check it out. The various aspects of the website incorporate Twitter, Youtube, and Podcasts is the best example that I have seen in a will that incorporates 21st century web technologies into a well designed website.

I know many people think that it is necessary to have lots and lots of web and web coding experience to create a website like this, the answer is not always. I know that is not a very clear or concise answer but alot of web technologies are out there that make it very easy to create a interesting and professional website without having to just purely deal with code.

So here is the link: please click here.

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

Adventure Base 100 New Orleans

2010-02-08T12:20:00.002-09:00

We are now approaching the dates for the seventh stop of the 2010 Adventure Base 100 tour. This stop will be at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Hosting Council for this stop is that of the Southeast Louisiana Council.

The exact address of the Audubon Zoo is that of 6500 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70118.

The hours of operation for AB100 will be as follows:

Saturday February 13, 2010: 10 am to 5 pm

Sunday February 14, 2010: 10 am to 5 pm

If you need a description of what AB100 is all about please click here.

If you would like more information about the Audubon Zoo please click here.

Finally if you would like more information about the Hosting Boy Scouts of America Local Council please click here.

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

AB100 Austin, Texas Video

2010-02-08T11:57:00.003-09:00

Here is the Austin, Texas Adventure Base 100 video. Hope you all enjoy it. I know that Scouting Magazine posts these videos but I am trying to get these excellent videos out to as many people as possible.

So enjoy it.

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

AB100 San Antonio, Texas

2010-02-04T09:25:00.002-09:00

The next stop for the 2010 tour of Adventure Base 100 will be San Antonio, Texas. It starts today, February 4 and will continue until February 7. It is being hosted in conjunction with the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo.

The times for the event days will be as follows:

February 4, 2010: 3 pm to 8 pm

February 5, 2010: 3 pm to 8 pm

February 6, 2010: 10 am to 8 pm

February 7, 2010: 10 am to 8 pm

Inquire to your Local Council which is the Alamo Area Council or the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo Group about special prices for admission for Scouts. These special prices are only available in limited quantities, so act quickly. These admission prices go from February 4 to February 20.

ALso there is a opportunity to earn a special Stock Show and Rodeo Patch for Scouts if they go to all five of the follow areas

Hall of Fame
Texas Experience
Diary Center
ANimal Adventures
Horse Education Center

The location for the Stock Show and Rodeo is the at 3201 East Houston Street San Antonio, TX 78219.

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

Jamboree Communication

2010-02-04T09:21:00.003-09:00

We are now at 5 months away from the 2010 National Jamboree and I have not seen anything from National except for unofficial, mixed messages from various Scouting email lists about this event. I can't believe how little information staff is getting. Quite frankly I am shocked to say that I have not heard from my Subcamp chief for Subcamp 7 since november. I was expecting at least 1 update or newsletter from him by know, I know that December is a bad month, so I was not expecting anything then, but January has already come and gone and we are already on February 4. Maybe I have high expectations but hey communication is the key to ensuring the success of any event.

Well lets not ramble on or complain now. I am now sending out a request to the Scouting Community, to share anything you have heard about the Jamboree whether or not it is official, I am looking for anything and everything people know.

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

VIdeo of the Week

2010-02-01T14:33:00.004-09:00

Here is the video for the 4th stop of the Adventure Base 100 tour. This stop was in Sacramento California. So here is the video, hope you enjoy it.

Boy Scouts Youtube Day

2010-01-25T19:06:00.002-09:00

Lets try and get as many people on youtube as possible for the Birthday of the BSA. In case you did not know the birthday of the BSA falls on February 8. This year in particular is important because we are celebrating 100 years in case you didn't know already.

So lets get as many people on youtube as possible on this Day, this is going to require us to communicate this to a very large audience and very quickly. Maybe we could get a video on the front page of youtube, this will only happen if you tell everyone that you know. So lets spread the word through twitter, myspace, facebook, blogs, emails, text messages, phone calls, scout meetings, and through any other medium you can think of.

Lets not wait until the 8th to spread the word, lets start spreading it know.

This idea was taken from Scoutmaster Steve of A Scoutmaster's Blog and producer of Melrose Scouting Production Podcasts.

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

AB100 Austin Texas

2010-01-25T18:50:00.002-09:00

Here it comes, here it comes the 5th stop of the Adventure Base 100 it will be in Austin Texas on January 30 to January 31. Here are some more specifics of this event.

Exact Location: The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum -- The Story of Texas -- is located at 1800 N. Congress Avenue at the intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in downtown Austin, Texas. With close proximity to Interstate Highway 35 and MoPAC Expressway (Loop 1), the Museum is easy to access.

Dates and Times:

January 30 10 am to 4 pm
January 31 1 pm to 4 pm

Special Events on This Day besides the AB100 campus include:

"Cast Iron Chef" Cooking Competition Saturday 11am-1pm: Which troop is tops when it comes to Dutch Oven cooking? We're giving 25 troops a chance to take home bragging rights as "Cast Iron Chef" champs. Yes, there's a trophy. Don't want to compete? No problem - just enjoy the samples.
"100 Gallons" Blood Drive Sunday: As a part of our council's celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Scouting, we're partnering with the Blood Center of Central Texas to collect 100 gallons of blood donations. Help us save lives and give blood at the Adventure Base 100 Tour. You can earn a special 100th Anniversary patch for donating!
Eagle rededication ceremony Sunday 3pm: At your Eagle Court of Honor, you recited the Eagle Scout Promise – a call to hold yourself to a standard higher than even the Scout Law and Oath. During this ceremony, Eagles will renew their commitment to this promise – and get to visit with other Eagles living in our council service area. All Eagles, no matter when or where you earned the rank, are invited to take part.

Further Information:

AB100 website: click here.

BSA Capital Area Council (Event Host Council): click here.

Bob Bullock Texas History Museum Scouts Page: click here.

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

Video of the Week

2010-01-25T18:45:00.004-09:00

Here is the video for AB100 promo for the Las Vegas Stop. The pattern lately seems that they are going to be about 1 stop behind on videos, which is fine with me, just thought I would let you guys know. Also this video has the highest quality yet, it is almost to the too perfect level for youtube. Hope you guys enjoy it.

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

AB100 Sacramento

2010-01-18T10:10:00.002-09:00

Ladies and Gentlmen, I am please to announced the location of the 4th of 40 stops around the country of AB100 or Adventure Base 100. The newest tool in the ever expanding tool box of the BSA to recruit and grow our membership ranks throughout 2010. This recruitment campaign is designed to bring our membership numbers back up to a all time high of over 4 million youth. This is a ambitious goal and one that requires everyone to participate in order to make a difference.

Lets get back to the focus now which is the location of the 4th stop of the AB100 2010 tour. This stop is located in Scramento, California and will be held in conjunction with the International Sportmens Exposition which is a series of sport shows that goes around the country and brings out thousands of sports enthusiasts to learn about the newest and greatest equipment, travel packages, and hunting and fishing trips from around the world. The address for the AB100 stop in sacramento is that of:

Cal Expo, State Fairgrounds
1600 Exposition Blvd.
Sacramento, Ca. 95815

The hours of operation will be as follows:

Thursday January 21- 11:00 am to 8:00 pm
Friday January 22- 11:00 am to 8:00 pm
Saturday January 23- 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
Sunday January 24- 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

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

Dale Coyne Racing BSA Parternership

2010-01-13T11:56:00.002-09:00

A new partnership has formed between Dale Coyne Racing and the Boy Scouts of America. The Deal is that Dale Coyne Racing will use a Boy Scout themed Race Car in Indy Racing Series. The car this year along will be feature in 17 different races. These races will include 4 out of country races, with the rest of the races being in the United States. The four out of country races include 2 in Canda, 1 in Brazil, and 1 in Japan. This program will continue past the 100th anniversary celebration in 2010. Hopefully this program will last at least 10 years, who knows, it just depends on who is willing to sponsor something like this. This program does not cost the BSA anything and was made possible through a generation donation by the Coyne Foundation.

Local Councils where races are held are encourage to engage in a special program in regards to this partnership.

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

AB100 Las Vegas

2010-01-13T11:33:00.002-09:00

Unlike the previous 2 stops of the AB100 tour this stop in Las Vegas Nevada will be held in conjunction with a event called Scout Quest. If you need a complete description of AB100 activities and what is available please click here.

Scout Quest is opportunity for Scouts to Tour Springs Preserve, participate in demonstrations and activities, and if you are a Boy Scout, earn a Merit Badge. To earn a Merit Badge scouts must participate in a session on Friday and Saturday and also complete the prerequisites. More information about the merit badges offered can be found here: click here.

Scout Quest Hours on Friday are from 3:30 pm to 8:30 pm and on saturday from 9:00 am to 6 pm. AB100 hours of operation on friday are 4 pm to 8 pm and on saturday from 9 am to 6 pm. This stop is also unlike other stops because this stop is only for two days which include Friday January 15, 2010 and Saturday January 16, 2010. The address for Springs Preserve is that of 333 S. Valley View Blvd. at US 95. The host council is that of the Las Vegas Area Boy Scout Council.

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

Video of the Week #2

2010-01-07T16:57:00.004-09:00

AB100 Video for the Pasadena, California stop. The first stop of the AB 100 nationwide tour which will end on thanksgiving at the Thanksgiving Macy Days Parade.

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

Video of the Week #1

2010-01-07T16:52:00.005-09:00

AB100 aka adventure base 100, the Dome Show, which is to help promote and make people realize what scouting is all about.

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

Adventure Base 100

2010-01-07T16:27:00.002-09:00

For this weekend which Includes January 8 through the 10 Adventure Base 100 will be in San Diego, California. The exact location that of the Westfield Mission Valley Mall in San Diego at the corner of the Macy’s and AMC 20 Theater parking lot.

There is not cost to attend this event and everyone scouts and non-scouts alike can participate. The hours are:

Friday 10:30am - 6pm
Saturday 10am - 6pm
Sunday 11am - 6pm

A press release of this adventure base 100 event can be found at: click here.

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

Tournament of Roses Parade

2010-01-01T15:02:00.002-09:00

For the first time in 60 years the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America or more commonly known as corporate BSA for those outside the program, participated in the 2010 Rose Bowl Parade.

The BSA ended up winning the float Award of the National Award. This award is award to a float that has the best depiction of life in America, past, present or future. The theme for this Float was that of "Celebrating the Adventure, Continuing the Journey".

A fully newspaper press story of this historic moment of the BSA can be found here.

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

Adventure Base 100

2010-01-01T14:50:00.003-09:00

Here is the description of what this 100th anniversary event is all about:

Experience Scouting like never before with Adventure Base 100! Created specifically for the 100th Anniversary Celebration, Adventure Base 100 is traveling the country to give people an exciting, hands-on view of the history and future of the Boy Scouts of America.

This 10,000 square foot campus features immersive Scouting experiences including a ropes course and zip line, interactive digital exhibits, a multi-sensory IMAX-like dome, and more! It will also house a traveling museum that will showcase real artifacts from the National Scouting Museum in Irving, Tex.

Starting at the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif. in January, and ending at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York in November, this magnificent traveling exhibit will stop at key events and locations in more than 40 cities. Check back for updates on Adventure Base 100 activities in your city!

Scouts and Scouters, want to know how you can be part of the action? Click here to find the BSA council in your area. Help us bring the campus to life as an Adventure Base 100 volunteer!

For this weekend which Includes January 1 through the 3 Adventure Base 100 will be in Pasadena, California. The exact location is that of the Showcase of Floats in the parking median float-viewing area across from Pasadena High School. The sponsoring Council is that of San Gabriel Valley Council.

A press release of this adventure base 100 event can be found at: click here.

Welcome to 2010

2010-01-01T14:36:00.002-09:00

Scouts, Scouters, Alumni, and other interested parties welcome to the year 2010. If you have not heard the big news, this will be the year that the BSA celebrates their 100th birt hday. The Scout movement which began in the UK actually started 3 years earlier than us in 1907 in case you wanted to know.

Well lets see here, if you haven't already, today is the perfect day to set goals which on this day in particular are more formally known as New Year Resolutions. One of the best ways to set goals is to use the "SMART" model to set your goals. This helps you think practically and realistically, making sure you can actually achieve your goals. Goal setting is very important it allows growth and makes people more oriented to success. I would suggest making a comment to your unit about what goals are, what type of things can be goals, and how to make sure you set goals you follow through with.

Here are my goals for 2010, 2 of them are not scouting related.

1. Improve my fitness level. This may be for a scouting related reason aka the NSJ 2010 but in truth this is a personal goal. Lets take a moment to define what I mean by improve fitness level, first off I need to loose weight, specifically by the Jamboree I want to be less than 175 which I believe is possible since right know I weight approximately 193. Also I need to improve my cardiovascular endurance level.

2. Maintain at least a 3.5 GPA in college for the spring semester. Right now I have a 3.6 something, I forget off the top of my head my exact GPA but that is okay. That means I will have to spend more time studying and focusing on school.

3. Growth my Scout Unit. I am currently working with a cub scout pack that has only 10 people. I need to double this by the end of this year. I also need to recruit 3 more adult leaders that are fully trained.

4. Increase Scout Unit Communications. I need to work on developing a better system for getting a hold of my pack and my den members. This could by through more efficient use of a phone tree, e-mail list, or newsletter.

Those are my goals for 2010 and wish me luck.

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

Scouting Christmas

2009-12-25T18:09:00.001-09:00

Each year it gets harder and harder to find something new and exciting to share this time of year. Here is the song that I thought I would share.

Tommy the Cub Scout

Tune: Frosty

Tommy, the Cub Scout
Was a very happy boy.
With a uniform of blue and gold
And a Den that gave him joy.

Tommy, the Cub Scout
Earned his badges one by one.
He did his best and met the test.
A good citizen he's become.

He helps out other people when
He sees they need a lot.
He does his chores around the house
And feeds his dog (named Spot).

Tommy, the Cub Scout
Does his duty willingly.
Someday he'll join a Boy Scout Troop
And a fine man he will be.

--Thanks to Chuck Bramlet, ASM Troop 323, Thunderbird District, Grand Canyon Council, Phoenix, Az. and the Thunderbird District, TRC, Cub Scout Roundtable resource packet, Nov 9, 1989.

Also more songs like this can be found by clicking here.

NSJ 2010 and Fitness

2009-12-25T11:27:00.002-09:00

This will be my second post on this subject but it is very sensitive to me, especially since for as long as I can remember I have always struggled to keep a healthy weight. This is two fold I have a big bone structure and the fat that I do not always have the best diet. I am a carb and candy lover, which leads to me eating a lot of empty calories. I know carbs are a good thing but for me who overindulges in them it is a problem.

I weight myself tuesday evening and I ended up over the 200 lb mark, this poses a problem because my highest acceptable weight according to the chart the BSA uses for the Jamboree I cannot weight more than 195, I am hoping by this coming monday I will have reached 193 or 194, this will allow me to complete my physical sucessfully and probably get approved by Jamboree medical.

Even beyond this I plan on continuing to increase fitness level and losing weight, so this coming summer in the viriginia heat can be a sucessful and pleasant experience.

I know many scouters and even scouts struggle with their weight but I believe that if we were all truly dedicated to changing our lifestyle then we could loose the weight. This does not work for everyone but for a majority of people this will work. As staff we need to all be examples for the participants in this event. Being a example in regards to fitness is part of the Scout Oath and as leaders in the scouting movement we need to be following this to letter. Perfection is not possible but striving for perfection is.

If you are a unit leader or a youth participant then you should make sure you also maintain a high level of fitness especially since the Jamboree site is a very hot and humid place.

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

Update and Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T11:21:00.002-09:00

Dear Loyal Readers and Visitors

I just wanted to take some time to say Merry Christmas. Hope all is well for you and your family. I am spending christmas with my mom, sister, my sister's boyfriend, and his family, so I should have a excellent time.

Thank you all for being loyal readers, I know that I do not always update my blog on a regular basis or blog on a regular basis. I just wanted to let you know why I haven't been able to blog on a regular basis for a while now.

The first reason is because for the last two weeks of school after thanksgiving break I did not have a lot of time because of homework, studying, and exams. Those two weeks are especially stressful for me because I have some test anxiety issues. I ended up with all As and Bs so that was excellent.

Next I have been on vacation and trying to catch up on sleep because the college schedule does not always allow for regular sleep patterns. That is definitely a lame excuse, so I will try to avoid using that one again.

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

NSJ 2010 Online Training

2009-12-11T09:59:00.002-09:00

National Council has come out and suggested three trainings that are avialable online for jamboree staff should complete. These courses include:

1. 2010 National Scout Jamboree Staff Orientation

This orientation course was developed to help you understand your role as a staff member, learn what you need to do to prepare for your jamboree experience, and to answer commonly asked questions. With your help, this will be the best, most exciting, fun-filled, safest jamboree ever! We highly recommend you view this orientation prior to attending the jamboree. You will need to log in to your MyScouting account. Within the E-Learning section, you will find it listed under Basic Training.

2. Physical Wellness

Physical Wellness Training was developed to help prepare attendees for the 2010 National Scout Jamboree. It is appropriate for leadership in all program areas and for Boy Scout and Venturing youth. The module focuses on Mind, Body and Spirit. Learning objectives include the ability to define physical wellness; identify ways to improve the wellness of the mind, body, and spirit; describe the role self-responsibility plays in wellness; and answer questions about nutrition. Completion is noted automatically in the BSA training records database if the module is experienced online. Estimated time to complete: 40 minutes.

3. Jamboree Youth Protection Policies

Completion of the BSA’s Youth Protection Training for Volunteer Leaders is required of each jamboree adult member. You are responsible for taking this training in your local council before coming to the jamboree. This training helps prepare you to fulfill the youth protection responsibilities of your jamboree position. It contains information to enable you to identify and report suspected child abuse. It also sets forth in detail the BSA’s Youth Protection policies.

Also I personally think that in addition Adult scouters should take Hazardous Weather Training.

Youth should take the physical wellness training course which is avialable through e-learning or the Online Learning center which is avialable through a myscouting accout.

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

100th Anniversary Kickoff

2009-12-11T09:57:00.002-09:00

I missed the podcast last night, because I had a Scout function and dinner come up at the last minute. This is most unfortunate but I want to get the opinion of scouters and youth alike on how they think the audiocast went.

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

Cell phones, technology and Scout

2009-12-11T09:56:00.001-09:00

Here is a post I recently made on the 2010 National Jamboree Group. The group was debating the whether or not youth should bring cell phones to the jamboree. I personally believe we should but then again many scouts are against it. I will leave it to you to decide. Please comment and share your side of the story it is very important.

All

As a new adult leader, just became a adult leader this april, I have seen how important it is for adults to allow electronic communications between scouts to occur for several reasons.

One it allows parents to keep update to date in regards to activities and what is going on in their scouting life. For many scouts this will be the longest time they have been away from home. Think about the parents wanting to call their son but not being able to because they had to wait for a phone booth call from the scout. For me personally at the 2005 jamboree, I probably called my mom over the 18 day trip, twice. Lets just say that was not very good for my parents but it all worked out. Lets now look to the world jamboree in the United Kingdom, I called her once but e-mailed her at least three times. This was only possible because a corporate sponsor, sponsored wifi cafe's. Obviously parents want to talk to their boys. Another type campout like philmont does not really require everyone to have cell phones because they barely work anywhere anyway. So, I believe that for back country trips or trips with limited cell phone coverage then the scouts should leave the cell phone bringing to the adults for emergencies and coordinating logistics.

Next, lets talk about in Troop communications. Personally for me I check my e-nail 2 to 3 times a day on a normal day, and if I am expecting something important this will increase. A fair amount of my email is scouting related whether it is just e-mail lists, in unit communications, out of unit communications, council information and events, training, Jamboree related communication or any other scout related communication is included. So obviously for me it is important to stay connected in scouts to keep up to date on the ongoings of this organization. I believe that instead of always relying on phone calls for communication a text message or e-mail may work better. Especially text messages, more and more teens have cell phones and use them habitually. These text messages/emails could be used to keep track of scouts, sending out activity changes, sending out updates, cancellations, or rescheduling, or just keeping people informed. We as the BSA need to recognize the importance of this technology and not fight it because when we do we LOOS MEMBERS. This is not okay, we should not be loosing members just because we can't keep up in regards to technology.

I want some day the BSA to become fully digital, what I mean by this is that instead of just Professionals having access at the council office to scouting reccords, there should be a Scoutnet for Scout volunteers and youth. This should improve efficiency and reduce the amount of errors. Of course there would have to be many levels of access depending on your position or role but this different access levels would allow scouts and leaders to have the most current information about the program and the requirements. This would also allow for efficient distribution of information. It would in the long run reduce costs for councils and reduce the amount of tedious work on professional staff has to do. Also more blogs, more webcasts, more virtual meetings, and more audiocasts, would reduce the gap between the professionals and the non-pprofessionals. These are only a few of the ideas that I have for increasing the digital communications with our units and councils.

Now lets get back to the subject, one argument against youth members having cell phones is that they will be used during the wrong time or inappropriately. The only reason scouts do this, is because we as the adult leadership have not set firm guidelines on when it is appropriate and when it is not appropriate to use our cell phones. In order to solve this problem we as a teaching organization which goods back to the fundamental methods of scouting, in case you forgot maybe this would be a good chance to review, need to teach them this important skill. This skill will teach our scouts skills that they can end up using the rest of their life. We also need to ourselves learn how to use this technology in scouting. A fair amount of leaders in the program, don't know how to use it, so we also need to teach them as well. I think that a new training course about implementing technology or incorporating it into basic leader training is essential if we are to continue to gain instead of losing members.

Technology is not the enemy here, it is people who are misinformed about what technology can do for our units. This will only happen if the leaders are willing too. We are going to have to learn ourselves and then teach our scouts of to use this technology efficiently and appropriate. Or maybe we should just listen to the youth and get back to want Boy Scouts in all about.

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

WSJ 2011 Bulletin

2009-12-05T11:44:00.002-09:00

Here is a link to the official first 2011 World Jamboree Bulletin: click here.

Some of the highlights of this Bulletin include:

Theme: the Jamboree THeme and the three areas that will help accomplish the Jamboree theme which is "Simply Scouting"
BSA Contingent Emblem
Who Qualifies for the Jamboree: Again here are the age ranges which include Scouts and Venturers between the ages of 14 and 17 on July 27, 2011 that is, specifically those born
between July 25, 1993, and July 27, 1997 may take part in the 22nd World Scout Jamboree. There can be no exceptions. This is a world Scouting requirement and cannot be adjusted by the BSA. Those over 18 are encouraged to apply to be members of the International Service Team.
Concept of the Gateway City and Reasons not to include a Tour of Sweden
Application Process, Fees, and refund policies
Site Location Basics
Some New swedish Terms

100th Anniversary Kickoff

2009-12-05T11:30:00.002-09:00

On December 10, 2009 the BSA has put together a online live audiocast that will include presenters such as Randall Stephenson, AT&T President, CEO and Chairman and 100th Anniversary Chair, John Gottschalk, BSA National President, Tico Perez, BSA National Commissioner, and Bob Mazzuca, Chief Scout Executive. The times for this audiocast will be:

8:00 to 8:30 Eastern
7:00 to 7:30 Central
6:00 to 6:30 Mountain
5:00 to 5:30 Pacific
4:00 to 4:30 Alaska
3:00 to 3:30 Hawaiian Islands

Another reason besides being interested in hearing about the planned activities of the 100th aniversary is to be able to be entered in a 100th Anniversary Scout Giveaway, which could include the following prizes:

Two tickets to Gala Twenty-Ten, a very special and elegant 100th Anniversary event in Washington, D.C. on February 9, 2010. (One night's hotel stay is included.)
A signed, limited and special edition print of Joseph Csatari's 100th Anniversary painting.
A specially packaged, limited edition U.S. Mint commemorative coin honoring BSA's 100 years.

In order to be entered in the drawing you must register for the audiocast by 6:55 central time on December 10, 2009 and their can be only one entry per one person. TO register go to the following website: http://audiocast.scouting.org

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

Scouting Stamp

2009-11-19T11:26:00.003-09:00

Here is a picture of the Scouting Stamp that is going to used by the USPS to help the BSA Celebrate 100 years:

I am not totally impressed by this Stamp because it does not clearly show that it is supposed to be promoting the BSA. I know that there would be problems with a government organization looking like the endorse a organization like the Scouts but I wish they would have made it a little more clear. All in all it is fabulous design.

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

4th National High Adventure Base

2009-11-19T11:12:00.003-09:00

It is official the BSA, has released a Press Release about a 50 million dollar endowment to develop and build a National High Adventure Base in West Virginia. This facility is expected to be the home of future National Jamborees after the year 2010. Also if the BSA bids for a upcoming World Jamboree, then this will be the location of the event. This has not been confirmed but has be rumored at for a while now, a a few semireliable sources, we will probably not have a definite answer to this for a while. Also it is suppose to complement Florida Seabase, Philmont, and Northern Tier as another National High Adventure Base Option for Scouts to Attend. It is also going to be another National Training Center.

Here is a map of the area:

Here is a link to the Press Release from the BSA:

Click Here.

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

NSJ 2010 Fitness

2009-11-19T10:57:00.002-09:00

Been working on achieving a higher level of fitness for the Jamboree. Even without losing weight I would still qualify for the Jamboree but I personally believe that I need to lose weight and achieve a higher level of fitness for the Jamboree, in order to be prepared for the event and set the example for all the youth attending the Jamboree. I will keep you posted as a work towards achieving this goal.

Also just as FYI, I was surprised at how fast i recieved my Health form. I did not expect it until mid December but I already have it, which is great because I have to complete this form as soon as possible in order to make sure I get it done, especially with my busy and hectic college schedule which does not allow for very much free time.

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

Pack 69 November 18 Meeting

2009-11-19T10:47:00.003-09:00

Yesterday's meeting went okay. We worked on the Heritage Belt Loop, this went fairly well and we ended up completing three requirements. We did this as a pack wide activity because we only have 10 boys. I think we need to work on doing Activities in Dens or at least partial dens, maybe we could do a Webelos and then a younger scout group because we have almost enough webelos to make a full Den. Also dividing the ages this way will help the older and younger boys get more out of the program. I may sugggest this at the Pack planning meeting coming up this weekend. I think that this would help distribute the weight among all the leaders in the Pack. I believe that the Den leaders need to take a more active role but that is just me. I will discuss this with the other adults this weekend and see what they thhink.

I will keep posting weekly meeting updates for every meeting, in order to ensure I track my progress as leader.

Two important announcements though:

1) No meeting next week because of thanksgiving.

2) Leader Specific Training: I will almost have completed all of my basic training for my position again after December 5. The only thing I will have left to do is outdoor leader training which will occur in the spring.

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

Signature Change 2

2009-11-11T20:31:00.002-09:00

Final change to my signature, found out that I will be primarily working with Webelos Scouts, so I changed my position name again. Hopefully for the last time for a while but who knows it is hard to say what will stay current and what will not.

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

Pack 69 November 11 Meeting

2009-11-11T20:22:00.003-09:00

Tonights meeting went really well, we talked about what is Veterans Day and why is it important. To sum up the group decided that Veterans day was more than just honoring those who have served but it also includes those who are currently serving.

We meet as one large group because we only have 10 boys. Me and the CM or Cubmaster talked about expanding the Unit by doubling or tripling numbers by this time next year, it is a hard goal to meet but if we both work diligently then every will end up working out. Also I found out that I will be taking on a group of Webelos Scouts as their Assistant Den Leader, so I guess i finally figured out my exact position.

Two major things that I need to do in the short term:

1. Uniform: Finish updating my uniform, hopefully I will have this done in a few weeks, I will have to figure out who is the best to contact about finishing putting together my uniform.

2. Leader Specific Training: Take the Webelos Den Leader and Assistant Den Leader Specific Training course, it is being offered at our council office on December 5 and I plan on attending the event.

3. Communication: Work on developing a better Pack Communication plan. Look into email, phone tree, newsletter via handouts, e-mail or snail mail, and quick emergency announcement procedures.

4. Day Camp/Summer Camp: Figure out a week that will work for Day Camp and Webelos Resident Camp. This should not be too hard of a task but I will have to get the approval of the Pack Committee before preceeding.

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
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Veterans Day

2009-11-11T07:36:00.002-09:00

Let us take a moment to remember all of the veterans out there who have served or are serving are country. Wish them the best of luck and be thankful to them for serving our country.

Let us also remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in doing their duty to their country. Many their souls rest in peace and their families be cared for.

Happy Veterans Day!

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

The Koolamunga Test

2009-11-09T16:15:00.000-09:00

Long ago, somewhere in Africa, a little place called Koolamunga had a Scout troop but no Cub Pack. When the missionary, John Cristy, sent out word that he was going to start a pack, all the boys who were too young to be Scouts rushed over to join.

John looked out at rows and rows of faces - black, white, brown, yellow, and some so dirty you couldn't tell. It was impossible to start a pack with 40 or 50 Cubs ! "You can't be a Cub until you are eight," he said, "so would everybody younger please go home."

Nobody left. The six and seven-year-olds stood as tall as they could and tried to look tough. John realized he would have to sort them out some other way. So he told them the Cub Law. And then he said, "Next week, we will have an obstacle race. You can all come, but I shall start the pack with the 12 boys who do their best to keep the Law during the race."

A big crowd gathered on race day. The Scouts came along to help John pick his 12 Cubs. John designed an obstacle course so tough that it automatically eliminated the boys who were too young. The others had to run half a kilometer downhill to the river through prickles and a mangrove swamp with knee-deep mud. Then they had to swim across the river. On the other side, they had to climb a steep bank, go along the top, cross over the river again by a fallen tree bridge, and finally climb 300 m up the hill to the finish.

"This is not a race," John told them. "It's a test to see who can really do his best to keep the Cub Law." And he was already sorting them out. Some jabbered away and didn't listen to the rules. One put his foot over the starting line. "Ready, steady, GO!" John shouted, and off they went.

Very soon, some of them were yelling and swearing at the prickles. In the swamp, some gave up, pretending they were hurt. One boy thought he would be clever and sneak along the bank instead of swimming across the river.

A small boy caught his foot in a floating branch and thought it was a crocodile. John didn't blame him for yelling, but noticed a red-headed boy swim back to pull the branch free. Then he saw a white hand shoot out and duck a black head. That settled the white boy's chances, but the black face came up smiling and the boy swam on without complaint. On the tree bridge, there was a good deal of bumping, some by mistake and some by mistake-on- purpose.

Only 20 boys finished the race, and the first 12 home were sure they would be chosen. But the Scouts put aside those who had cheated or taken short cuts, those who had pretended to be hurt, and those who had sworn or lost their temper.

John chose only boys who had done their best to keep the Cub Law. There were 11 of them. For the 12th, he chose a boy named Peter who was watching but hadn't taken part in the race. John knew his mother was ill. She'd asked Peter to look after the younger children to make sure they didn't fall into the river, and he did it without a grumble.

And who do you think he asked to be his sixers ? He chose the red-haired boy who had turned back to help with the crocodile that wasn't a crocodile, and the black boy who came up smiling after being ducked.

And that's how the 1st Koolamunga Pack began. If you'd been there, would you have been one of the 12 chosen ?

-- Leader Magazine, January, 1989

The Power of a Cub Scout

2009-11-09T16:04:00.002-09:00

Here is a short online story published by James Garner about a Cub Scout who joined a pretty much full Den already and taught the group the meaning of what it was to be a human and how everyone should be treated. So here it is how you enjoy it:

My Biggest Hero Was Nine Years Old.
By: James Garner

When my son was in second grade I was the leader of his Cub Scout Den. Before his third grade school year started, a Cub Scout Pack leader called and asked if I would take on another boy. We had a large group and I knew it wouldn't be easy, but so did everyone else in this age group.

The kicker of the deal was that Tray was a cancer patient and an amputee, one leg at the knee. I had a hard time making up my mind about exposing "my" boys to what I was almost positive would surely end in a lot of anguish and sadness for all of us. I finally decided to take him in, but before I said yes to our Pack leader I called all my parents to let them know what I planned to do and get their feedback.

To a person, they all supported my decision. Only one mother verbalized the fears I had for the emotional well being of my little charges, but she too supported my plan. We felt like it would help teach them compassion and generosity, it did and us too!

When Tray came to us I found out that not only did he have severe health and physical problems, his family was incredibly poor. But they wanted Tray to have all the experiences he could in what would most likely be a short life. His parents did their very best to provide it.

Tray was without a doubt the most enthusiastic member of my scout den. There wasn't anything he wouldn't try to do. When we did the things for all their little badges he was right in there with us, and most often excelling. ALL of my boys encouraged him and helped whenever they could, this carried over into their school life as well.

Even the physical fitness segment of our program he did well in, better than most other boys save for the broad jump. Tray just couldn't get far enough to match the standards the Cub Scout Manual said had to be met to achieve this badge. I passed him on this one because I deduced that the skills were written for boys with two legs and since Tray only had one his goal should only be half that of the other boys. Tray acheived that half and a great deal more, in fact was only just a little short of the minimum anyway.

We all progressed along through Tiger, Wolf, Bear, and Lion ranks and went on to Webelos. Over the years our Pack's leadership made sure that somehow Tray had all the hats, uniform parts, etc. that was necessary for him to be just like everyone else. Most of the time I knew that some of the things required weren't in his folks budget but they found ways and when they couldn't we found ways to make sure it just happened.

We all suffered with Tray on days he had just come from chemo and was so sick he couldn't go 10 minutes without a trip to the bathroom. But he was in there with all of us and insisted on coming to meetings when any one of the rest of us, child or adult, would have been too ill to go.

Just before the end of the Cub Scout program I took them all to a Boy Scout meeting to see how it was and help them make the final yes or no decision to continue on in the Scouting program. Tray was ready. I helped him choose a Troop and introduced him to their leader and such to prepare him for the sixth grade year when he would move to Boy Scouts.

My proudest moment was to watch all my boys go through the Arrow of Light ceremony, Tray included. This ceremony marks the transition from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts if they choose to go on. All my other boys' interests had changed over the years and they were into sports, band and other things; not Tray, he would be my only Boy Scout.

The summer before sixth grade came and went and just before the next school year was to start Tray was taken from us. I like to think he was just asked to join another troop whose leader is far better than I could have ever hoped be.

We all learned a lot from Tray; "my" boys, their parents and me. Yes, there is a plan and purpose for us all and, I think, I am not the only one in my community who has a nine-year-old hero.

Now, when I am in difficult situations I often think of how Tray would have handled it. This makes the going a lot easier because I know he would have tackled the challenge with greater gusto and zeal than anyone else and finally succeed in the end.

Boy Scouts to Cub Scouts

2009-11-09T15:48:00.002-09:00

Many of you may be wondering, if you are a regular reader of Scoutingmaniac why I would change from the Boy Scout Troop Level to the Cub Scout Pack Level. There are several different reasons, some of them personal, some of them based on logistics, and some of them based on units that are taking leaders where I live.

1. Personal: I knew that I wanted to stay involved with some sort of Scout Unit at all costs, I know I already joined a Explorer Post down here but still that is not a traditional Scout Unit and that is what I wanted to work with. Traditional Scout Units include Packs, Crews, Ships, Troops, and Teams. Each have a different purpose and age range but overall the message of developing citizens of high moral fiber is the same throughout the program. Also The opportunity to get to work with a Cub Scout Pack was given to me and I always wanted to work with a Cub Scout Pack as a adult leader, I definitely going to have a lot to learn in a short amount of time but learning more about my favorite activity just comes naturally to me.

2. Logistics: I am currently a college student but do not have a vehicle so the Troop or Pakc had to be close. In this case the Pack is with 9 blocks which makes it a little over a 1 mile from the University. The other Unit within the same distance was a Boy Scout Troop but they were currently not accepting new applications for adult leaders, I have never run into a issue like this, so it surprised me. This to me did not make sense because 99% of the units of I have had contact with needed more leaders to have a fully functioning committee or unit. Also I could have chosen a Troop within a differnet district that was only 25 minutes away by bus but I did not want to do this because of the logistics involved with making sure I have a ride to and from via public transportation. So this unit was my only option but I am most definitely glad that I choose this unit.

I went to my first meeting with the unit last week, they are a smaller unit with only about 15 boys in the unit but that is perfectly fine with me. I have finally gotten use to the idea of a smaller unit from my experience in Alaska. I do believe though that growth for this unit will be necessary to ensure its longterm success, so my plans while I am actively involved in the unit include helping make a better recruitment and keeping scheme for the unit. In this unit I will serve as a Assistant Den Leader, this position is a direct contact position which is definitely the type of position I wanted to have.

The meeting was a Pack Meeting that ended up being a Halloween Party and Pinewood Derby. Most units could not have gotten away with having these two events on the same night, which was exactly like the Cub Scout Pack I was involved with as a youth, but since it is a smaller unit, the combination of the two events ended up working out perfectly.

All the adult leaders had not problem with me and I hope I made a good impression and will be a good asset to the unit in the future.

Until my next report, have a great Scouting Week and good luck in all that you do. I definitely have a lot to learn but learning it will be easy with all of the resources I have at my disposal which include other leaders, A strong District staff and Commissioner, the internet, Scouts-L, and my regular readers of my blog.

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

Signature Change

2009-11-05T11:38:00.002-09:00

You all may be wondering why there was such a drastic change in my signature after my posts. The reason behind this is that I am in the process of switching to a adult leadership role in Denver Area Council after my move to this area. My move lead me to having to change roles to the Cub Scout Level, but Scouting is Scouting at all levels. I am ready to learn a lot about this level and hopefully expand my knowledge and skills as a leader, which is my ultimate goal no matter which unit I choose to serve.

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

NSJ 2010 Staff App Update the Last One

2009-11-05T09:15:00.003-09:00

It is official, I am going to the 2010 National Jamboee as Staff on Subcamp Seven as one of there youth staff members. I am not exactly sure what I will be doing in regards to a specific assignment but I am sure it will be fun all around. This is a excellent opportunity for me and I in truth ever since I went to the National Jamboree in 2005 I knew I wanted to come back in 2010. In case you didn't know Subcamp 7 serves the following states:

Washington
Alaska
Idaho
Oregon

Well that is all for know, I will keep you update on Jamboree Information as it comes avialable to me. The next step is to start receiving lodging and travel advisories for the Jamboree and to receive the Jamboree specific Medical Form.

Also I returned my LOA this morning, so hopefully by tomorrow I will recieve confirmation that National has received my LOA.

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

WA/AK/ID/O

NSJ 2010 Staff App Update

2009-11-02T14:49:00.001-09:00

Recieved word from Subcamp 7 Cheif Dave and found out he still has spots avialable for staff. He said I could either be a dining, commissary, or environmental assistant. I responded that I would gladly take any of these three positions and I should receive confirmation and my LOA or Letter of Appointment in a about 1 day to 1 week, so probably by friday I will recieve the email with my LOA.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Words to Live By 6

2009-10-26T19:53:00.002-08:00

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Words to Live By 5

2009-10-26T19:51:00.002-08:00

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Words to Live By 4

2009-10-26T19:50:00.001-08:00

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Words to Live By 3

2009-10-26T19:43:00.002-08:00

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Words to Live By 2

2009-10-26T19:42:00.001-08:00

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Words to Live By 1

2009-10-26T19:39:00.002-08:00

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Words to Live By Campaign

2009-10-25T20:42:00.003-08:00

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Scouting Video of the Week

2009-10-25T20:40:00.002-08:00

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Support Eagle Scout that was Suspended for bringing a pocket knife to School

2009-10-25T20:17:00.002-08:00

Here is a request for help to support a fellow Eagle Scout in need of our assistance:

I've recieved a few messages about Matt the Eagle Scout who was suspened from school for 4 weeks for a 2 inch pocket knife in his car. I think that as a group we should stand behind him and ask his school;s administration to change their decision. We all know that a 2 inch pocket knife is nothing mroe than a tool, and Matthew was simply being prepared for any emergency that require it, So let's help him out.

Please help by contacting Super intendent George Goodwin by em-amil at ggoodwin@lansingburgh.org or by phone at 518-233-6850 ext. 3400.

I personally choose to send a e-mail and her is a copy of the e-mail that I sent:

Dear Superintendent George Goodwin

Hello. My name is Mark West and I am currently a Assistant Scoutmaster for a Boy Scout Troop in Soldotna, Alaska. I have been involved in Scout as a Youth and Adult for over 12 years. I am also a Eagle Scout and I realize that even without meeting with Matt face to face I know he is a Scout of good character and moral standards. This is just something that every Eagle Scout comes to expect from fellow Eagles.

I know for you as the superintendent it must be really hard to make some of the decisions you have to make. I realize that the School district has a zero tolerance, I know that in this case you had no choice in suspending him but I do not think that it was necessary to suspend Matt for the full 45 days, this to me seems unfair to the student and in this case in particular the punishment does not fit the crime. A punishment is definitely necessary according to district policy and changing for this student would only complicate matters for you, the family, and the district but I do suggest that you decrease the length of the suspension for two reasons. My first reason is that since there was no intention of using the knife or causing harm to others which the student clearly admits this, then the punishment should not be for the maximum length of time. I know that there is a possibility that the student that reported seeing the knife either felt like he was seriously endagered or the more likely story is that it was just another teen trying to attract attention. I just do not believe that the student report Matt ever felt he was endangered. If the student was then obviously something more is going on then the media is leading us to believe. Making this determination will hopefully allow you to reconsider the decision. Second the Scout was completely honest with security and the administration, so I believe that this should be taken into account when making your decision. Matt never tried to hide anything from you in regards to this pocketknife. ALso I do not believe that he was fully aware of why a pocketknife that he would only use in emergency's would cause such a big problem. I think that if Matt was more aware of the problem this would cause, he would have never brought the knife to school. I know from personal experience that whenever I am without a knife is the time when I need the knife the most which is probably along the same thought process Matt was thinking. Without a knife I sometimes feel naked and not able to fully participate in a activity. This nakedness comes from the Scout training both me and Matt have recieved. I know that there are rules and laws about taking knifes into certain places but I do not believe that Matt violated the law and cannot be charged with a crime. Yes he did violate school district policy and he admits that but I just don't think that he was fully aware of the consequences of his actions.

If have any questions or comments in regards to this e-mail plese feel free to e-mail me at:

westybsa@aol.com or west701@regis.edu

You can also reach me via cell phone at the following number:

303-870-2376.

Thank you in advanced for taking the time to read and consider my perspective. It is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely
Mark West
Scouting Volunteer.

Please feel free to use sections or ideas from this e-mail in order to write one to the Superintendent. We all have a duty to act upon this and help this Eagle Scout.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

NSj 2010 Staff App

2009-10-22T16:58:00.002-08:00

Just wanted to give you a update on how my application is going.

As you know I have recieved Council, Local, and National Approval. I am just waiting on my LOA which probably got held up in the system because I choose a area that is supposedly already full, so hopefully then will get it to the next area director on my list soon. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

That is all for now. I know that wasn't much of a update but I hadn't posted information for a week on the subject.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 '10 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Quote of the Week

2009-10-22T16:50:00.002-08:00

The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating.

Georg Carlin

“Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid.”

John Wayne

Life is tough, and if you have the ability to laugh at it you have the ability to enjoy it.
Salma Hayek

Yours in Scouting Service

Mark W

Assistant Scoutmaster

Troop 1616

Great Alaska COuncil

Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member

NSJ '05 '10 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

JOTI After action report

2009-10-18T19:02:00.001-08:00

JOTA/JOTI 2009 Half a million Scouts, 6500 actions for environment

Since last Friday, thousand of Scouts from all-around the world have met via Air-waves and Internet. At the World Scout Bureau radio station, the JOTA international team welcomed 50 Scouts and Guides de France and Portuguese Scouts. They established connection with more than 50 countries. From Germany, the JOTI international team implemented all the necessary technology to run the event.

At the end of a working meeting on WOSM Governance, Luc Panissod, Secretary general , came to say hello to all participants and broadcasted the following message : “As every year, on the occasion of the JOTA/JOTI, you have been part of half a million Scouts coming together over the air-waves and through the Internet. On behalf of World Scouting, I thank you all, volunteers and young people from all around the world, for having shared a real spirit of brotherhood and cooperation.
In order to demonstrate what the Scout Movement is doing in favour of protecting our common environment, we invited all of you to promote your challenges for climate change. I’m very happy to announce that since 12th October, more than 3000 newactions have been registered by you on the website of the race for environement, adding up to some 6400 actions being undertaken worldwide by Scouts just like you.
On your behalf, we will ensure that all these actions will be brought to the attention of the United Nations Summit on Climate Change which will be held this December in Copenhagen.
This last week end, your friendly and supportive contributions has demonstrated the great capacity of the Scout Movement to concretely act to create a better world. I hope that you will use JOTA/JOTI to all come together again next year and I encourage all of you to continue your positive actions wherever you are.”

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

New Blog Gadget Update

2009-10-17T20:54:00.001-08:00

I finished adding the gadget or widget I wanted to but unfortunately it required me to make a few minor adjustments to my template. This I believe has cause the blog to ac somewhat irregularly and take longer to load. I need someone to confirm this because I am on a large scale network at college I do not have the best testing environment and I am not able to adequately diagnosis or support this issue with confirmation.

Also If you think my blog is getting too busy or the template does not look very good then feel free to leave comments about that subject as well.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

NSJ 2010 Staff App

2009-10-15T11:27:00.001-08:00

Been approved by National Council.

Just waiting to recieve my LOA or Letter of Acceptance. Can't wait to see which position I will get, I will probably not get subcamp staff but that is okay.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

2009-10-15T10:51:00.003-08:00

One of the more important Positions in the NCCS or National Catholic Committe on Scouting is that of the Vice President of the Committee. Recently the Vice President has passed away.

Let our prays and thoughts be extended over him and his family.
Here is a copy of the Obituary which can be accessed online at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/louisville/obituary.aspx?n=john-paul-ribar&pid=134371157

RIBAR, JOHN PAUL, 81, of Louisville, died at home Friday, October 9, 2009.

He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Jean; his children, John (Judy), David (Susan), Richard (Susan), Don (Tracee), and Susan Loveland (Mike); eight grandchildren, Rachel, Beth, Erin, Matt, Thomas, Carly, Zoe and Max; and numerous nieces and nephews.

John was born June 19, 1928 in Wilmerding, PA and was an alumni of the University of Pittsburgh. He served a tour as an Air Force second lieutenant in the Korean War and hiked Mt. Fuji before accepting a sales position with Standard Register in North Carolina. He moved to Louisville in 1959 where he later started a successful family-owned printing company, Bluegrass Business Forms, in 1972.

A founding member of Mother of Good Counsel Parish, he prayerfully served for more than forty years. Most recently he belonged to St. Margaret-Mary Catholic Church.

John began service to the BSA in 1960. He was a cubmaster and scoutmaster, and then held positions at the District, Council and Regional levels. John was a recipient of many Scouting awards, including the Silver Antelope, the Silver Saint George, and the Golden Ad Altare Dei. He was proud of all those he helped to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, including his four sons and two of his grandsons. His daughter married an Eagle Scout.

In 1995 John represented the BSA on a trip to Siberia. He was a leader and course instructor at Philmont, and attended five National Jamborees. John formerly chaired the Louisville Catholic Committee on Scouting and organized many popular Flaget Trail camp-outs. He was a vice chair of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting, and was awarded the prestigious Brother Barnabas Founders Award in 2008.

John belonged to the Kiwanis for many years. He assisted the Trinity High School Foundation and donated time and support to many other charities. He was a devoted gardener and sports fan. His sense of humor was renowned.

Funeral Mass will be celebrated 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Margaret-Mary, 7813 Shelbyville Rd., followed by burial in Calvary Cemetery. Family and friends may visit from 2-8 p.m. Friday at Pearson- Ratterman Funeral Home, 12900 Shelbyville Road.

Memorials may be made to the National Catholic Committee on Scouting, P.O. Box 152079, Irving, TX 75015; The Lincoln Heritage Council, P.O. Box 36273, Louisville KY 40233, or another charity of your choice.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Adding New Gadget

2009-10-15T10:36:00.001-08:00

Working on adding a InsaneScouter widget to the site. Having problems but they should be resolved shortly.

Thanks for your patience.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

2009-10-15T10:35:00.000-08:00

Here are the answers to the questions:

1. Scouting’s first camp took place in 1907 on Brownsea Island, off the coast of England
2. Global Positioning System
3. Compasses appeared in China about 1,000 years ago
4. Webmaster and Leave No Trace Trainer
5. In bedrolls
6. Severe thirst, dark urine, headache
7. Reach, throw, row, go
8. Every quiz has one give-away…

That is all for right know.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Scouting Skills IQ Test

2009-10-14T19:58:00.001-08:00

Here are the questions to a Scout Skills IQ test:

Where and when did the first Scout camping trip take place?
What does GPS stand for?
GPS is nifty, but the ever-reliable compass has been around for a long time. When and where did compasses first appear?
Name two new Scout positions introduced in the new handbook.
Other than backpacks, how did early Scouts carry supplies?
Name three signs of dehydration.
What is the order of water rescue?
Who builds the leaders of tomorrow?

I guess you will just have to wait a day to get the answers.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Scout Healthy Food Tips

2009-10-14T19:49:00.003-08:00

Here are some healthy eating tips from Scouting magazine:

Water instead of soda: -150 calories (12 oz. serving)
Pretzels instead of chips: -80 calories (2 oz. serving)
“Light butter” instead of “movie theater butter” microwave popcorn: -75 calories (5 cups)
Skim milk instead of whole: -60 calories (1 cup)
Whole-grain Fig Newtons instead of Chips Ahoy: -60 calories (per serving)
Subway Turkey Sandwich instead of McDonald’s Quarter Pounder With Cheese: -300 calories

These ideas are designed to help you switch various foods for something more healthy which will lead to a calorie reduction of at least 700.

Here are some camp food ideas:

Healthy trail mixes: dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and a healthy cereal (Grape Nuts or Kashi, for example)
Lowfat stews made with lean protein and veggies
Beans and rice
Fish or lean meat with vegetables in a foil pocket
Oatmeal with dried fruit and skim milk

Here are some other nutrition tips:

Adding 5 to 10 grams of soluble fiber to your daily diet will reduce LDL (“bad”) cholesterol by 5 percent.
Adding a daily dose of 2 to 3 grams of plant-derived stanol and sterol esters (a supplement found in foods such as yogurt, orange juice, and margarine products) typically lowers LDL by 6 to 15 percent.
Adding fruits and vegetables, reducing sodium and alcohol intake, and increasing physical activity will reduce blood pressure by 2 to 14 mmHg.

Obviously it would be impossible to do all of these things at once but taking a few of these ideas even if you just take 1 and are super committed to it then you can make a big difference.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

2009-10-14T19:39:00.001-08:00

BSA Press Release for New jamboree home:

National Executive Board News I am writing to share some exciting news. Today, our National Executive Board took another significant step toward establishing a permanent home for future national jamborees and creating another premier outdoor adventure Scouting site. The board approved the purchase of more than 10,000 acres of some of the most spectacular land you’ve ever seen. It’s located in the New River Gorge area of West Virginia-an area that offers some of the best rock climbing, whitewater rafting, and mountain biking anywhere in the country. It is a perfect site for the full complement of activities we intend to offer at our new facility: extreme sports, leadership training, camping, high adventure-anything you can imagine doing in the great outdoors, and, of course, the national jamboree. We still have a lot of work to do, but under Jack Furst’s tremendous leadership, we are well on our way toward going from vision to reality. As Jack said to board members, “We are only limited by our own creativity and ingenuity.” And as we know, with Jack at the helm, that means there are no limits to what we can accomplish through this effort. Stay tuned for further details and a formal unveiling of our plans in November. Until then, my sincerest thanks to the team for its tireless efforts in bringing this exceptional opportunity to our Scouting family. It is, truly, one of the best investments we will make in serving Scouts for the next 100 years.

Sounds like National is definitely moving quickly on this issue. Seems a lot quicker then normal but the I guess the Next jamboree after 2010 is expected to occur in 2013 in order to get back on schedule of the national and world jabmoree schedule of one or the other switching every two years. This schedule allows scouts to attend both events and allows for less of a finanicial burden. Both these events are very expensive but the fact remains you can attend both if you know far enough in advance and if you plan for the expense.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

JOTI

2009-10-08T21:33:00.002-08:00

During the same weekend as JOTA there is also a event known as JOTI or Jamboree on the Internet, this is a event where scouts get togoether on the internet and through various other digital communication means to exchange ideas and meet new people.

Here is a introduction from a WOSM Circular or World Organization of the Scouting Movement Update:

WHAT IS THE JAMBOREE-ON-THE-INTERNET?
Similarly to the JOTA, the Jamboree-On-The-Internet connects Scouts using Internet techniques. The JOTI is held on the same weekend as the Jamboree-On-the-Air. Units can choose to take part in either one event or both. The JOTA and JOTI are worldwide events. During the weekend, units may normally participate for 48 hours or any part thereof, from Saturday 00.00 h until Sunday 24.00 h local time. Both JOTA and JOTI are WOSM events to which members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) are kindly invited to take part and enjoy the international atmosphere together with the Scouts.

Here are some of the resourcce sites available for this event:

JOTI Resource site: http://www.joti.org/
Official WOSM JOTI Resource page: http://scout.org/en/information_events/events/joti/joti_2009_theme
Theme Resource Site 1: http://www.environmentrace.org/
Theme Resource Site 2: http://en.cop15.dk/

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

JOTA

2009-10-08T21:19:00.003-08:00

A very important event is coming up in World Scouting that I feel every scout should know abou.t This event is that of Jamboree on the Air. This Jamboree is a jamboree that takes place over radio waves.

Here is a introduction to what the event is all about:

The JOTA is an annual event in which Scouts and Guides all over the world speak to each other by means of amateur radio contacts. Scouting experiences are exchanged and ideas are shared, via the radio waves.

Since 1958 when the first jamboree-on-the-Air was held, thousands of Scouts and Guides have "met" each other through this event. Not only is it fun to talk to Scouts from other parts of the world but it provides also a chance to find out about other countries and about Scouting elsewhere. Many contacts made during the JOTA have resulted in penpals and links between scout troops that have lasted for many years.

With no restrictions on age, on the number that can participate and at little or no expense, the JOTA provides an opportunity for Scouts and Guides to contact each other by amateur radio. The radio stations are operated by licensed amateur radio operators. Many Scouts and leaders hold licences and have their own stations, but the majority participates in the JOTA through stations operated by local radio clubs and individual radio amateurs. Today some operators even use television or computer linked communications.

Date and duration of the event

The world--wide Jamboree-On-The-Air is organized to coincide with the third full weekend of October each year. The event starts at 00.00 hours local time on the Saturday and concludes 48 hours later at 24.00 hours local time on the Sunday. Each station can choose its own operating hours within this period.

Here are a couple of website addresses that are very important to this event.

World Scouting Website: http://scout.org/en/information_events/events/jota/jota_2009_theme
JOTA Information Site: http://home.hetnet.nl/~kava04un/index.htm
JOTA Theme Resource website: http://en.cop15.dk/

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

15 steps to building a campfire

2009-10-08T21:17:00.000-08:00

15 Steps to Build a Campfire

1) Split dead limb into fragments and shave fragments into slivers.

2) Bandage left thumb.

3) Chop other fragments into smaller fragments.

4) Bandage left foot.

5) Make structure of slivers (including those embedded in hand.).

6) Light match.

7) Light match.

8) Repeat "a Scout is cheerful" and light match.

9) Apply match to slivers, add wood fragments and blow gently into base of flames.

10) Apply burn ointment to nose.

11) When fire is burning, collect more wood.

12) Upon discovery that fire has gone out during your absence, soak wood from can labeled "kerosene".

13) Treat face and arms for second degree burns, and relabel can to read "gasoline".

14) When fire is burning well, add all remaining firewood.

15) When thunderstorm has passed, repeat steps 1-14.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

NSJ 2010 App Status Update

2009-10-08T21:12:00.002-08:00

My 2010 Nationl Scout Jamboree App has made it through Council and is probably still at Western Region or has been sent off to National for Approval and dissemination to the appropriate first choice position. In this case I am trying to get a spot in subcamp staff. I called region and they said that there subcamp staff was probably full but that does not make sense because I was contacted by someone from subcamp 9 saying that they were sitll looking for staff. I guess we will have to wait and see.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

NSJ 2010 Staff App

2009-10-04T19:57:00.002-08:00

I decided that I could not miss the action and ended up signing up as a staff member for the 2010 National Scout Jamboree. I know that it will be a crazy 2 years between the National Jamboree in 2010 and the World jamboree in 2011 but that is perfectly fine with me. Everything should go great, I can't wait to see which position I get as a youth staff member. I am hoping to work in subcamp 9 because I already not one of the staff members in this subcamp, if not I am sure I will get a great position as a youth staff member.

There are going to be some long days at the jamboree but hey if I didd not want to do this then why would I be wasting the money and signing up. It does seem ridiculous to some people that we have to pay as staff members bu that is just a expectation of being staff.

Hopefully Council will approve me relatively quickly.

Immediately after getting a assignment I will post information about what position I got.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

NSJ 2010 Bulletin

2009-10-04T19:56:00.000-08:00

September-October 2009

COUNCIL CHECKLIST: WHERE DO YOU STAND?

Should Already Be Done

Second national fee paid by July 31.
Confirmed transportation and tour arrangements.
Finalized council fee and payment schedule.
Designed council shoulder insignia.

In Progress

Promote jamboree at roundtables.
Promote jamboree at troop meetings.
Make individual calls to Scouts who have indicated an interest in attending.
Hold monthly committee meetings.
Schedule Troop Junior Leader Training for early 2010.
Schedule the troop’s pre-jamboree training campout for late May 2010.
Prepare for the third and final payment, due January 31, 2010.

Next 30 Days

Order council shoulder insignia.
Order custom unit numeral.
Order equipment packages from Supply department.

Announcing new lower prices on canvas tents. Check out the updated 2010 Jamboree Package Plans brochure on MyBSA>>Resources>>Jamboree Information.

September 16, 2009: The first batch of Jamboree Health and Medical Records for those who are council-approved have been distributed. Before you ask or e-mail a question, please review not only this alert, but also all of the information about the process contained on this Web site.

Our hints for making this a better experience:

Mac users, please open the medical record with Adobe Reader 9, not in preview mode.
The password that you will receive is case-sensitive. Many users have found cutting and pasting the password is easiest. To date, we haven’t found a technical issue that prevents the medical record from being opened with the assigned password when entered correctly.
We suggest you download Adobe Reader 9 if you do not have it. It’s available for free; we consider that pretty thrifty: http://get.adobe.com/reader/ .
If you have your spam filter in place and have not added jamboree.medical@scouting.org to your sender list, please correct this issue before you ask for another record.
The confidentiality of your information is important to us. Thus, the medical record is password-protected and encrypted. If you have a .mil address or a policy in place that does not allow encrypted password-protected documents to pass, we suggest you update your or your son’s registration to include a personal e-mail address that will allow the attachment through. You can do this yourself at www.scouting.org , MyScouting. We know the Army is filtering these records.
If you notice incorrect information after you open the file, type over it and print out the record.
Please complete the record to reflect the time the physical exam is performed.
Parents, you should receive a copy of your son’s medical record. If you used the same e-mail address for both of you, that is why you received two copies.
Leaders, if you let your youth use your e-mail address, then you’ll receive theirs as well. Each record is bar-coded with the participant’s member ID.
Council coordinators, you get a copy of all contingent members’ forms.
Council coordinators, please contact the jamboree registrar at 2010Jamboree@scouting.org if you need to remove a youth from your attendees list. Parents, please contact your council if your son will not be attending the jamboree.
We understand some of you inadvertently deleted the form. This is not a problem. If you cannot recover it, send us an e-mail, and we will resend it.
If you have general questions about the Jamboree Health and Medical Record, please review the FAQs (click the link below) before contacting us. http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/HealthandSafety/Resources/MedicalFormFAQs.aspx

There is still room: Despite rumors, there is still room available at the 2010 National Scout Jamboree, both as participants and staff members. Prospective participants should contact their local council and get signed up as soon as possible. Prospective staff members need to fill out an application at www.MyScouting.org. After all, the 100th Anniversary comes only once. You don’t want to miss this one! Staff members should go to the staff section of this Web site, go to the bottom of that page, and click on “staff positions available–complete list” to view all of the positions available.

Troop Leader Guide: The 2010 National Scout Jamboree Troop Leader Guide is now posted on this Web site. Check out the “Publications” section on the left side to download and print a copy. Please remember this is a “living” document. If you printed a copy some time ago, you may want to print the newest version from our Web site.

Youth Protection Training: Leaders and staff, don’t forget to update your Youth Protection training so it will be current during the national Scout jamboree. Make sure you go through your “MyScouting” account so it will include the correct date. If you need assistance with your “MyScouting” account, contact the customer service center at 800-627-3025.

Travel Advisories: Soon it will be time to book your travel to Fort A.P. Hill. Information will go out via e-mail regarding travel advisories. It is imperative to housing, food services, and emergency services that a travel itinerary for every staff member and for every contingent troop be submitted to the Jamboree Transportation Services by the due date. Instruction on submitting this information and the due date will be included in the e-mail. Be sure to check your e-mail, including the junk/spam folder, regularly.

Recycling: One goal of the 2010 jamboree is to be the “greenest” jamboree to date.

Our refuse contractor has developed a waste removal and recycling program for the 2010 National Scout Jamboree. Each subcamp will have distinct containers for waste material and recycling of specific materials. Each container will be clearly marked, identifying the materials that should go inside.

The proceeds from these transactions will be utilized to offset the expense of hauling and disposing of non-recyclable materials.

Non-recyclable trash will be bagged and collected in a marked subcamp container that will be emptied regularly by our refuse company and disposed of at a landfill.

Dishwater and wet kitchen waste should be collected in pails and taken to the nearest grinding station for appropriate disposal by subcamp maintenance/environmental personnel. Scouts are required to do the same. Food waste recycling is being explored; guidelines and containers for this type of recycling would be made clear.

World Friendship Fund: A Good Turn opportunity for jamboree participants will be provided at breakfast on Thursday, July 29, 2010. At this time, a collection will be taken for the World Friendship Fund. The purpose is to make Scouts and Scouters aware of how the fund helps Scouts around the world and to give them a chance to contribute to world Scouting endeavors.

A collection bag will be given to each troop in a subcamp by the subcamp program officials prior to the collection. Follow subcamp instructions on how to turn in the collection bag after breakfast.

Scout Visitors to the Jamboree: Jamboree activities are made possible by the event fees paid by participating Scouts and leaders. To ensure all paying Scouts get ample opportunity to participate in all of the jamboree activities, visiting Scouts will not be allowed to participate in events and activities at the 2010 National Scout Jamboree. Participation in the activities at the action centers (action alley, air rifle, archery, bikathon, buckskin games, confidence course, motocross, pioneering, rappelling, and trapshooting) by members of visiting units will not be allowed. Other areas reserved for paid jamboree participants are the outback centers (conservation, fishing, and aquatics), mountain boarding, and the Order of the Arrow’s THE MYSTERIUM COMPASS. Visitors will not be able to work on merit badge requirements at the Merit Badge Midway. Visitors are allowed to watch the action, tour the various activity sites, and purchase food and awesome souvenirs at the trading posts.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Quote of the Week- Environment

2009-09-23T22:20:00.002-08:00

Quote of the WeekIf people want to change, they will. If they don't want to, it's hard to make them do so. The current interest in the environment is is itself fashionable.
Giorgio Armani

I think it is manmade. I think it's clearly manmade. If you don't understand what the cause is, it's virtually impossible to come up with a solution. We know what the cause is. The cause is manmade. That's the cause. That's why the polar icecap is melting.
Joe Biden

We can drift along as though there were still a cold war, wasting hundreds of billions of dollars on weapons that will never be used, ignoring the problems of people in this country and around the world, being one of the worst environmental violators on earth, standing against any sort of viable programs to protect the world's forests or to cut down on acid rain or the global warming or ozone depletion. We can ignore human rights violations in other countries, or we can take these things on as true leaders ought to and accept the inspiring challenge of America for the future.
Jimmy Carter

The world’s forests need to be seen for what they are.. giant global utilities, providing essential services to humanity on a vast scale. Rainforests store carbon, which is lost to the atmosphere when they burn, increasing global warming. The life they support cleans the atmosphere of pollutants and feeds it with moisture. They help regulate our climate and sustain the lives of some of the poorest people on this Earth.
Prince Charles

If the firms that employ an increasing majority of the population are driven solely to satisfy the owner's greed at the expense of working conditions, of the stability of the community, and of the health of the environment, chances are that the quality of our lives will be worse than it is now.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

There are many who still do not believe that global warming is a problem at all. And it's no wonder: because they are the targets of a massive and well-organized campaign of disinformation lavishly funded by polluters who are determined to prevent any action to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming out of a fear that their profits might be affected if they had to stop dumping so much pollution into the atmosphere.
Al Gore

We sometimes emphasize the danger in a crisis without focusing on the opportunities that are there. We should feel a great sense of urgency because it is the most dangerous crisis we have ever faced, by far. But it also provides us with opportunities to do a lot of things we ought to be doing for other reasons anyway. And to solve this crisis we can develop a shared sense of moral purpose. (talking about the environamental crisis)
Al Gore

For a long time, the scientists have been telling us global warming increases the temperature of the top layer in the ocean, and that causes the average hurricane to become a lot stronger. So, the fact that the ocean temperatures did go up because of global warming, because of man-made global warming, starting around in the seventies and then we had a string of unusually strong hurricanes outside the boundaries of this multi-decadal cycle that is a real factor; there are scientists who point that out, and they're right, but we're exceeding those boundaries now.
Al Gore

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

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