A Tribute to Little Sioux Ranch

For those of you that may not be aware on June 11, 2008 a group of Boy Scout Youth Leaders from various Troops in the Mid America Council were attending a leadership camp called Pahuk Pride Leadership Camp where a tornado ripped through the camp. The tornado claimed the lives of 4 young men who were attending the camp and injured 48 other scouts. The damaged that occurred affected the following buildings:

• Administration Building
• All four latrines in the North Valley
• East Cabin
• North Cabin
• MidAmerican Energy Pavilion
• One Latrine in the Main Valley
• Poot's Stage
• Ranger Home
• Roads
• Trails

Obiviously this was devestating not only to the families who lost loved ones but to everyone at the camp and the whole scouting community. The local Scouting and World Scouting Communities have offered support that could not be found in any other organization in the world. Help us to remember those lost help with the healing process by sharing your prayers and words of comfort to those involved in this tragedy. Please feel free to visit the following site: http://www.mac-bsa.org/littlesiouxtribute/default.html

If anyone has any concerns or corrections to this post please send me those comments by replying to the post. Please remember that I have no direct connections to this event but wanted to post the information so it can be shared with more of the scouting community.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

National Scout Jamboree Bulletins

September 2008 Bulletin- Registration

Things are really picking up for our 100th Anniversary Jamboree. Approximately 45,000 Scouts, leaders, and staff from all 50 states, territories, and some foreign countries will have the opportunity to live, work, and play together in an atmosphere of Scouting fellowship at the 2010 National Scout Jamboree, July 26–Aug. 4, 2010. Council contingents will arrive on Monday, July 26, 2010, and will depart on Wednesday, Aug. 4. The setting for the jamboree is Fort A.P. Hill, near Bowling Green, Va. This is a historic area near Washington, D.C. Other nearby cities are Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown, Richmond, and Fredericksburg, Va.

Information and registration instructions are on the jamboree Web site, www.bsajamboree.org. There is a lot of information on the Web site, including Scout and leader qualifications, how to sign up, a promotional video, a map of the jamboree, and our famous jamboree countdown clock!

Online registrations now number more than 12,000, including staff and leaders. More than 6,000 youth participants have applied and have been approved by local councils. Registration issues have been resolved with the approval process running smoothly.

The biggest issue with the jamboree application process is the way the MyScouting accounts are being created. As it states on the log-in page of MyScouting, all jamboree applications must be submitted from the account of a parent or guardian. (MyScouting accounts can be created by parents/guardians even if they are not registered with the BSA.) Some accounts are mistakenly being created with the youth’s BSA member ID number in the profile. This will result in an “invalid member ID number” error.
Contact your local council for contingent information, travel plans, and fees. If you are interested in serving as one of the 8,100 staff members, go to MyScouting.org and create an account (if you don’t already have one) and follow the registration procedures listed below.
Adults (volunteers) registering to serve on staff: Download Instructions

November 2008 Bulletin- Jamboree Tours

Most council contingents take time to visit areas close to Fort A.P. Hill when attending national Scout jamborees. Popular visiting sites have been Washington, D.C.; New York City; Williamsburg, Va. to visit the Jamestown Settlement; and various Revolutionary and Civil War battlefields. The United States Military Academy at West Point and the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis are also popular sites.

In the Transportation and Tour Guide available to councils on MyBSA, there are many details on contingent visits, including address and contact information for Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Virginia, New York, Maryland, and other convention and visitor bureaus as well as the Federal Tourist Center at Independence National Historical Park. In the guide, there is also information about inexpensive overnight accommodations at military instillations and colleges and universities. To access the guide, log into MyBSA, go to Resources> Jamboree Division> Transportation & Tour Guide 2010. This guide will help a great deal in developing your tour.

Most councils have already planned and budgeted several days to make these visits, but perhaps have not fully planned their itineraries. Often, this is the only opportunity many of the Scouts will have to visit the United States Capitol and their congressman’s and/or senator’s office. Many members of Congress like to meet Scouts and their leaders, and will often arrange tours of the Capitol.

The White House is always a popular visit. Public tours of the White House are available for groups of 10 or more people. Requests must be submitted through one's congressional representative and are accepted up to six months in advance. These self-guided tours are available from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday (excluding federal holidays), and are scheduled on a first come, first served basis approximately one month in advance of the requested date. We encourage you to submit your request as early as possible since a limited number of tours are available. All White House tours are free of charge. For the most current tour information, call the 24-hour line at 202-456-7041. Please note that White House tours may be subject to last-minute cancellation.

A great resource to help plan your Washington, D.C., visit is the U.S. House of Representatives Web site. It contains useful information and links to popular tourist sites in the city. Click Here.

Other Web sites that may help in planning for the 2010 National Scout Jamboree are:
United States Military Academy at West Point: Click Here.
United States Naval Academy: Click Here.
Williamsburg, Virginia: Click Here.
The official tourism site for Washington, DC: Click Here.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Respecting the SPL

One of the biggest issues that the Senior Patrol Leader of Troop 1616 is facing is that of not getting respected by any of the scouts from the Troop. This disappoints me because of the fact that the SPL is one of the most important youth members in the Troop. He is the most important member in the Troop because it is him the adult leaders rely on to hold the Troop together. Unfortunatley right now the rest of the youth are out of control and have no respect for him. This needs to stop but the Troop is running out of options. Here is the plan we have layed out so far but would really like help from other people. So lets get the plan layed out:

1. Raise Scout Sign: To get the scouts attention and to try to get them to stop talking
2. Raise Scout Sign with verbal reminders: Raise the Scout Sign to get attention and then remind individual scouts to stop talking.
   
3. Raise Scout Sign with stern verbal reminders: Raise the Scout Sign to get attention and then in a near yelling voice get the scouts to be quiet. (This is the normal stage we get to before we even get there attention. I do agree that yelling is not appropriate but what can you do if it is the only thing that works.)
4. Send another youth leader to get adult and still have the SPL have the Scout Sign Raised: More often than not the adults can keep some order but still requires a lot of work.
5. Involve Parents: Haven't gotten this far but I think I may have to with some of the scouts in order to keep sane. I do not like involving parents because it only causes more problems for the scout but I am beginning to think that this may be necessary.

Before you think that I want to turn scouting into a another school hour, let me tell you that I do not want to do this. The problem is that i realize we are always going to have to get their attention when transitioning activities but it shouldn't take 5 to 15 minutes to get their attention. Remember that this is a Troop with only 10 active scouts. I do not under any circumstance think this is adequate or appropriate. The next step for me will be to research the topic and ask questions from other scouters in order to get more information on how to handle this problem.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Scout's Honor Prayer

On My Honor

by Walter Dudley Cavert

Dear Heavenly Father, help me to make honor the watchword of my life. Above everything else may I place the integrity of my own soul. Teach me that character is my most priceless possession.

As I wear my Scout badge, may it remind me that I have taken a vow to be a person of honor. Give me strength to be true to my promise.

Lift my life above all sham and make-believe. Give me a steadfast loyalty to the highest and best that I know. May I have the courage to stand for what I believe to be right in your sight, no matter what others may say or do. Keep me from violating my honor or selling my soul.

May the example of Jesus be my guide. Help me to remember that he cared more for your approval than for the praise or blame of men. In Christ's name, Amen.

Yours in Scouting Service

Mark W

Junior Assistant Scoutmaster

Troop 1616

Quotes- Rober Baden Powell

The sport in Scouting is to find the good in every boy and develop it.

In Scouting, a boy is encouraged to educate himself instead of being instructed.

The most important object in Boy Scout training is to educate, not instruct.

In all of this, it is the spirit that matters. Our Scout law and Promise, when we really put them into practice, take away all occasion for wars and strife among nations.

Show me a poorly uniformed troop and I'll show you a poorly uniformed leader.

The more responsibility the Scoutmaster gives his patrol leaders, the more they will respond.

When you want a thing done, 'Don't do it yourself' is a good motto for Scoutmasters.

An individual step in character training is to put responsibility on the individual.

Be Prepared... the meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by previous thinking out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so that he is never taken by surprise.

The uniform makes for brotherhood, since when universally adopted it covers up all differences of class and country.

A boy is naturally full of humor.

A Scout is never taken by surprise; he knows exactly what to do when anything unexpected happens.

Scoutmasters need the capacity to enjoy the out-of-doors.

O God, help me to win, but in thy wisdom if thou willest me not to win, then O God, make me a good loser.

It should be the thing never to mention unfairness of judging when defeated in a contest.

The object of the patrol method is not so much having the Scoutmaster trouble as to give responsibility to the boy.

Success in training the boy depends largely on the Scoutmaster's own personal example.

The Scoutmaster guides the boy in the spirit of another brother.

The good turn will educate the boy out of the groove of selfishness.

Loyalty is a feature in a boy's character that inspires boundless hope.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Eagle Scout: What is It

Here is a blog post that Mike Rowe recently wrote. For those of you who don't know who Mike Rowe is, he is a television host for the show Dirty Jobs. Dirty Jobs airs on Discovery Channel. The purpose of this post was a a father was asking Mike Rowe to write a post about the importance of becoming a Eagle Scout even though it is not considered "cool" by many teens. So here it is:

November 12, 2008

Mike Offers a Potential Eagle Scout His Eagle Perspective

Still: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent...okay maybe not so clean!

Mike,
I'm not sure where I heard that you are an Eagle Scout, which brings me to my question. Could you PLEASE take a moment & post to my 13 year old son Kelby & encourage him to finish scouting (& anything else that'll help with this?) Reason I'm asking is that he only lacks 1 1/2 - 2 years in reaching Eagle, but some of his buddies have got him to thinking scouting isn't cool at his age.
Thanks much, Gary -- scooterdave

*****

Kelby,

Your Dad asked me to drop you a line and say something inspirational that might persuade you to dig down deep and find the determination to make the rank of Eagle Scout. It's a reasonable request, from a father who obviously wants to see his son succeed. But here’s the thing - The Eagle Award is not really meant for people who need to be dragged across the finish line. It’s meant for a select few, and I have no idea if you have the guts to see it through.

Statistically, I suspect you do not. Only one out of a hundred Scouts make Eagle, so if you fail, there will be lots of other people with whom you can share excuses. Quitting now might disappoint your Dad, but I doubt that he or anyone else will be overly surprised. Anytime 99 out of 100 people do the same thing, it’s not exactly a shock.

I’m not trying to be cute with a bunch of reverse psychology. When I was 15, there was nothing that anyone could have said to me that would have inspired me to do something I didn't want to do, especially a stranger with a TV show. So I’m not going to assume you’re any different, or pretend that I have some influence or insight that you haven’t already heard from a dozen other people who actually know and care about you. I’ll just tell you straight up, that doing something extraordinary can be very lonely, and most people simply aren’t cut out for it. Being an Eagle Scout requires you to be different than most everyone around you, and being different is really, really hard. That’s why the award is called “an accomplishment.”

Personally, and for whatever it’s worth, the best decisions I've made in my own life, are those decisions that put me on the outside of being cool. Singing in the Opera, working in home shopping, staring in the school play when the entire football team laughed at me, and especially earning my Eagle, were all choices that required sacrifice, hard work, and delayed gratification. I have no idea if you possess those qualities, or even envy them. But I can tell you for certain, that NOT getting your Eagle, will be one of the easiest things you’ve ever done.

Anyway, I have no idea if you would prefer an easy life of predictability and mediocrity, or if have the passion to follow the road less traveled. Only you get to decide that.

Good Luck,
Mike

So there it is. I think this is something that everyone working on their Eagle Scout should read. It really explains that earning Eagle Scout is not the parents or adult leader's choice it is the choice of the scout. No matter what the parents do, it ultimately comes down to whether or not the the person is willing to follow through. I would rather see a kid choose the road that is predictable and mediocar instead of following the road less traveled if they do not have the passion to complete the road less traveled.

To show proper credit please see the original by clicking the title of the post to be directed to the original website where Mike's Blog can be found.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Socutmaster
Troop 1616

Philmont Journal

Philmont Journal Day 7
October 24, 2008

Today we woke up at about 5:45 in order to get camp packed out and hit the trail by about 6:30 am. We quickly and efficiently pack up personal gear, tore down tents, and distributed the crew/group gear. After these assignments were made we hit the trail without eating a full breakfeast. Throughout the the hike we snacked on various items in order to hold us over until we got a large meal for a late afternoon lunch at a fast food restaurant which ended up being Arby's. The distance we covered today ended up being about 8 miles, which means for those members of the group who hiked the whole distance they were eligible to recieve the 50 miler patch. I have already recieved the standard 50 miler patch so to me it wasn't the biggest lose ever but it was still slightly disappointing. Considering I had a fair amount of pain in my knee I ended up staying at the front of the group for the majority of time after the first stretch. Some group members believed that there was not a problem with my knee towards the middle because I was doing so well. Even though I was doing so well I still had pain in my knee but was able to manage and tolerate it a little bit longer than some because of the fact that I have a fairly high pain tolerance because I have experienced many excruciating migraines. After reaching the vehicles we did a end of the trail cheer got in the cars and headed back to philmont headquarters. At headquarter we went into the trading post. This trading post is huge and you could have easily spent a couple hundred dollars right then and their if you were not carefully and watched your money closely. After getting some stuff at the trading post we hit and trail and after stoping for lunch we drove straight home to castle rock in order to beat rush hour traffic, which could have been horrible because it was a saturday evening but it ended up being fairly tame considering that some many odds were stacked against us. We get back to the Benzel house where I am suppose to stay the next two nights.

Route:

1. Start from Beaubien and head south along Bonito Creek Trail to Fowler Pass Trail
2. Follow Fowler Pass Trail and go over Fowler pass which has a elevation of 9216 this is the highest point we will have to go to today, minus our starting elevation.
3. Follw Fowler Pass Trail All the way to Crater lake Trail and stop at crater lake in order to get a good picture of Tooth of Time Peak.
4. Follow trail of a Crater Lake that leads to Lovers Leadp Camp ground.
5. At east end of Lovers Leap Campground we take a secondary emergency access road down to the primary road that will head to our vehicles and ultimately after driving in the vehicles will get us back in the Philmont camping administration area.

Philmont Journal Day 8
October 25, 2008

Spend the day recuperating from the philmont experience. I also spend the day hanging out with the Benzel family but I spend most of my time with J Benzel and not with D Benzel because he invited one of his non-scout friends over in order to hang out with his cool friends. What I mean by cool friends are the friends that are fully socially acceptable and not involved with the scouting program. D Benzel does not have a problem with scouting but needs to take a break every once in a while from the program.

Philmont Journal Day 9
October 26, 2008

Woke up at about 4:30 am and left for a early morning flight out of denver. I get into kenai which is about twenty minutes from where I live at about 2:00 pm Alaska Daylight Savings Time.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Philmont Journal

Philmont Journal Day 6
October 23, 2008

Today we still had snow on the ground but is was slowly beginning to melt off. Unfortunately due to my knee still being in pain and me fighting a cold I end up staying back with one of the adults in order for me to feel fairly descent for the hike out the following day. After the group left me and one of the adult leaders caught up on some personal matters that we needed to discuss during this trip. After the personal matter's were out of the way we brought more firewood into the cabin and kept the fire going throughout the day. After gathering the wood we talked about the upcoming fall camporee that I was tasked with planning. Maybe if I have time I will write a post on how the fall camporee went where I was the event's incident commander. Back to the main focus though after that we ate lunch kept talking and then went over the a fire ring to setup for tonights big campfire where we ended up having a large and formal campfire program. After that we played cards and then finally the rest of the guys got back from the group. The group took the Bonito Creek Trail to the Trail Peak Trail where they summit Trail Peak which has a elevation of 10250 feet. Near the top of this peak is a crashed B-52 bomber which the group thought was awesome. After they got back we just hung out, ate and relaxed. When a couple of hours had passed we going started on the second half of our service project continuing to move wood piles and organize the wood stacks. After a hour and a half of doing this we went over to the campfire ring where we had dinner. Once we had dinner and cleaned up our dishes it was dark so we started the campfire program. The scout that put on the program did a excellent job of planning it. Everything in the program ended up going great.

Route: No distance covered due to injury and having a cold.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Philmont Journal

Philmont Journal Day 5
October 22, 2008

Had a sleep in day to between 8:30 and 9:00. Woke up to a snow storm which started last night during the early morning hours. In my mind before a went to bed I thought I saw a slight mist which lead me to believe that it was possible to have a snow accumulation. I never brought this up to me tent mate or the rest of the group because I was not positive but had a good feeling that it could happen. Since the wind was blowing strong and snow was coming down we were invited into the cabin and in the end we ended up using the cabin the rest of the week. My knee which I injured yesterday by irritating/pulling a ligament is still hurting but I decide to go on the hike today. The goall of today's hike is to summit bontio Peak which has a elevation of 10610 feet. By the way the approximately elevation of the base camp which is Beaubien is about 9400 feet. We ended up leaving base camp around 11:30 during which is was still slightly snowing. As we move further up the mountain the wind and snow became worse until we reached the top of the peak. Once we reached the top of the peak the fog cleared up and we had a awesome view of the surrounding area and the valley below. Also the snow and wind subsided and then stopped for our hike back to camp. After we got back to camp we spent a couple of hours warming up and just having some freetime. After freetime we had to start our service project for the 50 miler patch. which requires 3 hours of community service. The service project we had to do was to gather and straighten the wood piles surrounding beabuien. Today we did about 1.5 of our 3 required hours. After that we had a nice fire inside and stayed inside most of the evening because the wind and snow picked up again during the service project.

Route

1. Took trail north out of beaubien to Beaubien Access Road Junction where we followed the road in a north-easterly direction until we reached bonito Peak Trail. This trail actually continues down the other side of the mountain and ends up going north to various other campsites and back south to porcupine camp. In order to do just the mininum required in order to get the 50 mile patch we went up and down the same side of the peak, which ended up being about 8 miles.
   
2. Went up Bonito Peak Trail to top of peak
3. Came down the same side of the peak that we came up on Bonito peak Trail.
4. From Bonito Peak Trail we to the Beabuien Access Road to the Junction.
5. From this junction we take a trail into Beuabien.
   

Yours in Scouting Service
mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Philmont Journal

Philmont Journal Day 4
October 21, 2008

Today end's up being the longest day we have at philmont for hiking distance. Today we end up cover about 10 to 11 miles. The reason why I say 10 to 11 is because we ended up taking a lot of switchbacks that are not marked on the map and the fact that we ended up having to do some bushwhacking because of the fact that we lost the trail. The story of losing the trail is that their is a section of trail that follows the western border of philmont that is not always clearly marked, so instead of following the fence line and following the trail our navigator ended up taking a old logging road that was not marked on the map of philmont. I would not say that we were ever lost but the fact remains that we just made a couple of poor decisions about how to go about navigating through this section of trail. The navigator even with this mistake did a superb job of keeping track of where we are. This morning we got up at 7 am and were on the trail by 8 am. We did not get back from our hike until about 6 pm, so we were basically on the trail for about 10 hours. This evening we had dinner which the adults cooked for us, which surprised me because these adults that went with us usually never cook for us. After that we had a fire and talked and then went to bed fairly early. We were total we could sleep in because of how long of a day we ended up having.

Route:

1. Followed trail out of Beaubien Campsite to road junction.
2. From junction we took a trail that heading in a southwest direction to the Philips Junction Comissary were we stayed on the trail for the majority of the time to Philips Junction.
3. From Philips junction we followed a road/trail combination along Rayado Creek to Fish Camp. During this time we head primarily in a southernly direction.
4. From Fish camp we followed the trail to Agua Fria Camp following Agua Fria Creek to opening before the major switchbacks on this trail in order to fill up water bottles because this would be the last chance to fill up water bottles until we hit buck Creek.
   
5. From this stop along Agua Fria Creek we followed the trail and hit the major switchbacks. From the switchback set we took the Trail that would head towards the Apache Springs Campsite. This took us generally west and the north after hitting the switchbacks.
   
6. After going through Apache Springs campsite we follow trail going out of this campsite to the western border trail.
   
7. Before hitting the western border trail we decide to bushwhack up to the top of Apache Peak. Apache Peak has a elevation of 9856 feet.
8. Come down from Apache Peak and hit western border trail.
9. Follow western border trail and then lose it and end up on a unmarked and old logging road.
10. Follow old logging road and then hit the seasonal Bear Creek. From Bear creek we decide the best option is to get off the road and bushwhack up and over a ridge. Over this ridge is a road that follows Buck Creek which is our destination
11. Make it over and down the ridge where we hit a road that follows Buck Creek.
    
12. Follow this road past the point where we were suppose to turn off. In order to make the day go quicker we back track to the appropriate trail.
13. The his trail has a few super large switch backs and then leads us into the backside of Philip's Junction.
14. From Philips Junction we follow the trail back to the first major road junction.
15. Go across this major road junction above Beaubien and finally take trail from road junction to Beaubien.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Philmont Journal

Philmont Journal Day 3
October 20, 2008

Today was the first day in the trail. For everyday on the trail I will provide a approximate description of the route followed for that day at the end of the post using a numbered system. Today we were on the trail by 8:30 am with one of our two guides. The other guide was getting medical clearance for a ankle injury that was bothering her. We started the day by driving in philmont vehicles to the Abreu campsite were we were dropped off to begin our journey. From their our goal was to get to Beaubien by the time dinner rolled around. We ended up getting their fairly close to dinner time. We had lunch at in a large meadow that was start of the long open valley we had to travel up to get to our campsite. During lunchtime we also had to pump water to refill water bottles. Everyone did fine the first day without any major incidents.

Route:

1. Drove veichles south to a southern entrance where we took a road all the way to the Abreu Campsite.
2. Hike from abreu campsite to the Old Abreau Campsite
3. From the Old Abreu campsite we folloed the Bonito Creek Trail. This trail follows Bonito Creek.
   
4. The Bonito creek trail is a trail in some sections and a road in other sections. As much as possible even with the trail being really close to the road we tried to stay on the trail unless the trail went way out of our way.
5. Followed Bonito Creek trail to Beaubien Campsite. This will end up be our base of operations for the entire journey.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Philmont Journal

Philmont Journal Day 2
October 19, 2008.

Had a 6:00 am wake up. got dressed, had a quick small bite to eat to hold us over until we had a full breakfeast a little was down the road. We had everything loaded and departed the house around 7:15 am. We head down to the colorado springs and then ended up eating a a place called the Cracker Barrel which is a country based breakfeast place. It ended up being a very good meal. Had lots of people approach us making very positive about the scouts or themselves being involved in the scouting program because we had on full uniform shirts. After that we drove to Trinidad, Colorado where we stopped at a walmart to pickup a few more last minute supplies for the trip and to go the the restroom. After that we loaded back into the vehicles and drove to the welcome to New Mexico sign were we took a few minutes to take a group photograph. Next we drove to Cimmaron, New Mexico and had lunch at a place called Hecks, I had no problem with the food since the food was very similar to the standard of food that you expect from a small town which is exactly like the food quality from where i live. I had a cheeseburger and then we loaded back into the vehicles to drive 5 minutes outside of town to Philmont Scout Ranch where we went to the check in center to check in. Once we arrived at the check in center I realized that I forgot my health form since my was not with the rest of the groups since I came at the last minute. Mr. Speights who is one of the adult leaders of the group got a hold of his wife and got the health form faxed down. Thank's Mrs. Speights for saving the trip, it is amazing what people are willing to do for certain organizations. After the adults determined the route we met with our guide who was Eddy. We distributed meals and the crew gear that philmont would be providing to us. We also had a final gear shakedown with our philmont guide to make sure we had everything we needed. We identified a few missing items that needed to be bought at the trading post. The guide left us at basecamp to spend a night in canvas tents with cots. After doing some final preparations we had a religious service. The religious service was a jewsih service which was very interesting learning about some of the customs of the service. This service was put on by one of our adult leaders Mr. Benzel. We then hiked 5 miles back into town which took until 7:30 pm to have dinner since philmont was not providing dinner that night. This time instead of going to Hecks we went to C&C which is a mexican place where the waitress ended up being overwhelmed with such a large group so late at night but that did not matter to us since we had all the time in the world. By close 9:00 we had finished dinner and ended up getting ready to leave. Instead of hiking back we took a car which one of the leaders brought just in case it was too dark and dangerous to walk back. We got back to camp brush our teeth and had taps at 10 pm.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Philmont Journal

Philmont Trip Day 1 Journal
October 18, 2008

Arrived in Colorado from Soldotna, Alaska. The flight I took was a red eye flight which got me into denver at about 10:15 am. At 10:15 meet up with friends from local Colorado Troop which I will be going with. This colorado Troop is Troop 780 based out of Castle Rock Colorado which is a suburb of denver. The reason why I went with this group was because before I moved to Alaska I was involved with this unit for a long time and became very close friends with many of the scouts and leaders of the Troop. Started driving towards Castle Rock and ended up going out to lunch and REI for last minute gear pickup for crew equipment. We got over to the friends house by 2:30 pm and by this time since i did not sleep very well on the flight took a short nap before the rest of the crew for the philmont trip started arrived. At approximately 4:00 pm the rest of the crew began arriving with gear. The purpose of coming over to the Benzel residence before leaving for philmont was because we had to leave fairly early in the morning to leave and also because we had to do a gear shakedown. At the gear shakedown we setup the Troop backpacking tents to ensure we had all of the correct pieces, setup stoves, check and cleaned the water filters, discussed what gear needed to go in our bags for personal gear, and discussed formulating a duty roster. After this we had a pizza dinner play some video games and went to bed.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Troop Meeting Review

After Meeting Review Troop 1616
October 27, 2008 Offsite Meeting
Central Peninsula General Hospital

For this nights meeting we had a tour and discussion of the services provide Providence Air Ambulance Service based out of Central Peninsula Hospital in soldotna, Alaska. For me personally this was a great opportunity because of the fact that I am interested in learning how to get into a career with a air ambulance service. I found out the answer to the question I have been looking at for sometime now which was great. After we had the helicopter portion completed we had a tour of the hospital conducted by Elizabeth Wilson who is the volunteer coordinator at Central Peninsula Hospital. I know Elizabeth really well because I am part of the auxillary their at the hospital, the auxillary is the volunteer department at the hospital. The tour went great and was very informal for many of our scouts.

After the the tour we sat down to run through the announcements, the scouts had a major problem with listening tonight for some reason which lead me to believe that most of the information was not effectively distributed but eventually the scouts will learn that announcements are very important. After gneral announcements I released the scouts minus the leadership group from the meeting. The leadership group talked about having a meeting to get the camporee planned and have a PLC meeting this coming sunday for 4 hours. This may seem like a long time but is not even close to the amount of time i will have to spend in order to plan the camporee since our unit is hosting the camporee.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

After Meeting Review

October 13, 2008.

The Troop's SPL was not present at the meeting and the ASPL of the Troop had to take care of the meeting for the night. The SPL was not their because of the fact that he was sick. The ASPL in my opinion definitely has more self confidence than the SPL. the ASPL did a average job for this meeting. I would not say that they did a great meeting but the meeting ran smoothly and efficiently. He started off with announcements. The only problem with the opening and announcements was that we start the meeting almost 10 minutes late because the ASPL did not look at the clock and does not have a watch or cellphone to keep track of time. Once he was instructed in getting the scouts ready for opening he did not have very many problems minus the normal troublemaker's in the Troop. After that he was loud and fairly clear with announcements. After this we had a discussion on themes for a camporee since our Troop is hosting the Fall Camporee in November. Next came the primary activity which was a advancement night. Advancement Night for the Troop is a time to work on and sign off requirements for rank advancements and get a general feel for how everyone in the Troop is doing. This is relatively easy right now since the Troop is fairly small. The Troop was able to get a lot of work done and for the most part stayed on task for the entire night which made me very happy. Finally came the closing for the meeting. For some reason this is the part of the meeting that just fell to pieces because of the fact that the ASPL was not able to get the Troop formed in a circle for the closing ceremony. The scouts just would not listen. This caused problems for the ASPL because he is good when the scouts are good but struggles when their is behavior problems. I kept reminding him to get formed up and made the comment we are not leaving until this gets done but other than those two comments I let the situation work out itself. Eventually everyone got the picture and formed into the circle for closing. I will have to discuss how to give directions to young hyperactive scouts with the ASPL next time I see him. My favorite solution is to remind the scouts gently and just raise the scout sign until you have their attention. Scouts will figure out that the more time that they have to wait for instructions or information to be given out the less time they will have for the fun activities of the meeting.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

More Quotes

Quotes of the Week


Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)


It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don't. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever.Philip Adams


Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent.Sophia Loren (1934 - )

Dedication

"Never give in! Never give in! Never, never, never, never - in nothing great or small, large or petty. Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense."~ Winston Churchill

Life can be hectic, crazy, wild, and messed up but people must remember how to prioritize their needs and their schedules in order to live a balanced life. Living a balanced life means know when and what activities to participate in. If we all step back and look at how we spend our time each and every day many people will notice that their is time wasted. Yes everyday people waste their time.

I have noticed a pattern with certain individuals in this world that think it is okay to continually not participate or continually back out at the last minute. Yes I agree emergencies come up, I have had a few of these incidents myself, but the fact remains people need to understand that when they do not show up or participate they are not just affecting themselves they are affecting everyone in the group.

Dedication is more than just showing up and having regular participation, yes these are elements but it goes even deeper than that. Dedication in its true form requires passion. I am not talking about the passion in the form of love but passion to a group or organization. This sort of passion is not as deep as love passion but is equally if not sometimes more important in life.

So before you don't volunteer or drop out at the last minute remember it goes beyond just affecting yourself.

Yours in Scouting Service

Troop Meeting Review

After Troop Meeting Review
October 6, 2008

Tonight we had a field meeting meaning that instead of meeting at the normal location of the Soldotna Church of Christ we meet at the Soldotna Post Office in town for a orienteering course. The orienteering course in town went great, only one of the three groups of scouts completed the course but the other two groups had lots of unexperienced scouts who did not have people who did a orienteering course very recently. This meeting was primarily run by an Assistant Scoutmaster but the SPL did take charge fairly well during the flag ceremony and during announcements.

Before the regular meeting the PLC group meet to determine the meeting plans for the next three weeks. These plans were put together by the youth but the youth need to take a more active role in planning and leading activities.

One of the interesting comments made was that "I am tired of being a babysitter". I get this comment alot my solution is th tell that particular leader that yes sometimes you do have to serve as a babysitter but it does not happen all the time. Being a babysitter is not always necessary if you can find ways to actively engage scouts in activities that require most of their attention or by making sure you are setting a appropriate example.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

After Meeting Review

Troop 1616 After Meeting Review
September 29, 2008

I have one major problem that I really need to get sorted out in order to continue advancing as quick as I want to in regards to learning leadership. How do you take Scout A and Scout B who are both senior leaders of the Troop from not having self-confidence to having self-confidence in a fairly quick time. I know the saying that people will develop confidence as time goes on but these two leaders just do not seem to be making any progress in regards to self confidence. I am not trying to put Scout A and B down but I am just making observations.

One the things that I am going to be doing is giving them more and more responsibility in each meeting. We started off by just having them do announcements but are now getting to the point where they should be taking responsibility for the majority of the meeting.Hopefully time will pass and the self confidence they need to do the job will come to them otherwise it could be a rough few months for these scouts.

Back to the meeting this week we had another orienteering Classroom session. This is our last classroom session and the next monday we have a meeting will be the field session to test our newly learned skills. Hopefully are hard work at teaching and showing the skills will pay off and the scouts will have a great time. We will just have to wait for next week to come before I can tell.

Your in Scouting Service
mark
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Setting the Example

Leadership in its most basic form is all about setting the example. Setting the example is more than doing just the right thing at the right time. It should involved multiple characteristics in order to be considered a good leader. These characteristics are as follows:

1. Following Instructions: Fulfilling all instructions, laws, rules, and procedures is key to settting the example because it points out to your subordinates that rules and procedures are important and are not items to be taken lightly.

2. Trying Hard: A leader must learn the importance of working hard- as the leader of the group you should be the hardest working member of your group whether it be in scouts or not. If you do not work hard people will believe that you are a slacker and will not trust your judgment. If they do not trust your judgment you will have serious crisis on your hands very quickly. Trust is the foundation to every relationship that is formed.

3. Showing initiative: A good leader knows what to do in order to get a certain job done. He is willing to do tasks without having to be directly told to do those tasks. He also encourages others under him to do the same. He does this willingly and cheerfully.

4. Acting with maturity:A good leader shows good judgment. He must know the two faces of leaders. These two faces are the fo0ling around and the serious face. The fooling around face is for times when it is appropriate to mess around. The serious face is for times when directions and tasks must be accomplished to get to the fun parts of the day. A good leader recognizes the times for each of these faces and acts accordingly. He knows that his personal behavior whether directly or indirectly will always influence other people.

5.Knowing the Job: Generally speaking a leader should have a mastery of the skills to be used in scout but if not he recognizes other people in his group that are masters of those skills. He must
know how to apply the resources of the group in the appropriate manner to get a job done.

6. Keeping a positive attitude: Keeping a positive attitude is vital when serving in a position of power because even if you do not realize it you are always be watched by those in your group. Keeping a positive attitude will maintain the morale of your group and keep you on the good side of each member of the group. Personal frustrations or discouragement should never be apparent to people below you. Every failure should be considered a learning opportunity.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616