Quote of the Week

"It is not the critic that counts nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly...; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at his best knows the triumph of high achievement; and who at his worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevel

After Meeting Review

Boy Scout Night Meeting Review
Tuesday March 11, 2008

Well tonights meeting was week two of the quinzee building process. This will be the final week for snow/winter camping training sessions. All in all, our scouts hopefully learned a fair amount of information that will be useful for next winter. The meeting expect for opening, announcements, and closing was lead by the SPL. The JASM was able to pull various scouts aside to work on advancement issues. Also the ALyeska Trip was finalized and the tour permit was authorized. The tour permit for the trip will be filed tomorrow at the anchorage scout office.

The SPL's teaching ability and level of expertise in the topic of the night was more than adequate for the intended audience. The SPL's next step in leader training is going to be planning meetings instead of just showing up and running activities. It is going to require resources and time outside the meeting but it will be well worth the effort. During the schools spring break I plan on developing the concept of planning meetings with the SPL

Tonight I had a very good chance to sit down with a ASM and get tons of feedback in various areas of Troop operations. Here is a summary of the feedback I recieved.

1. SPL is doing a great job of leading activities and needs to be congragulated on a job well done. Second the SPL needs to start work on developing the skills necessary to plan meetings instead of just leading them. JASM will work with SPL to develop the necessary skills. Good chance for the JASM to work on developing various methods of teaaching and presenting the material.
2. Patrol Development: Need to finalize patrols within the Troop and determine when to do Patrol development activities. Patrol development activities include developing a Patrol Yell, Flag, and customs.
   
3. Troop Communications: E-mail communications is fine but need to implement once Patrol Leaders are elected a phone tree that has the PL calling his guys on a weekly basis. Also another idea is continue the weekly updates and maybe work on developing a Troop newsletter. This Troop newsletter should show what the Troop has done and what the Troop is going to do.
   

These are only a few of the major suggestions but I did not want to make the post to long and boring, so I only include a partial list.

The start time for the meeting was 19:02 and the end time was 20:55. Equating to a meeting that lasted one hour fifty-three minutes.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Atrsonauts and Scouting Involvment

World Wide

EAGLE:
Adamson, Armstrong, Bagian, Bluford, Bowersox, Brady, Carr, Carter, Chaffee, Covey, Creighton, Duke, Eisele, Fullerton, W. Gregory, Griggs, Hoffman, Jones, Lee, Lind, Llewellyn (King's Scout, U.K.), Lovell, McCulley, O'Leary, Onizuka, Oswald, Parazynski, Reightler, Searfoss, See, Tanner, Truly, Walker

LIFE:
Anders, Basset, Brand, Bridges, Casper, Cooper, Evans, Fabian, G. Gardner, Givens, Gregory, Kregel, Low, Mattingly, McArthur, Mitchell, D. Scott, Spring, Springer, Van Hoften,
C. Williams

STAR:
Barry, Cameron, England, W. Fisher, Garriott, R. Gibson, Gordon, Grissom, Haise, Lounge, McNair, Stafford

First Class:
J. Allen, Bean, Clifford, Coats, Engle, Freeman, D. Gardner, E. Gibson, Hammond, Henize, Linnehan, Nelson, Overmyer, Schirra, Schweickart, W. Scott, Shepard, Veach, Worden

Second Class:
Bolden, Buchli, Carpenter, Cernan, Culbertson, Mullane, Parker, Pogue, Shriver, Swigert,
W. Thornton, White, Young

Tenderfoot:
Aldrin, Bursch, Hawley, Lousma, McDivitt, Michel, Schmitt, Smith

EXPLORER:
O'Connor, D. Williams

CUB SCOUT:
A. Allen, C??. Brown, Conrad, Foale (Wolf, Germany), Gernhardt, Henricks, Leestma, Lopez-Alegria, McBride, Meade, Readdy, Rominger, Shepherd, Thomas, Thuot, Wolf

RANK UNKNOWN:
C??. Brown, Bull, Clervoy, Garneau, Harris, James Voss

GIRL SCOUT:
E. Collins, Davis, A. Fisher, Helms, Jernigan, Lawrence, Seddon, Sherlock, Sullivan,
K. Thornton, Janice Voss, Weber

Moon Scouts

Astronauts and the Scouting Experience

Of the 12 American Astronauts who have walked on the Moon, 11 have been Scouts!

Apollo-Saturn 11 Date: 7/20/69 Time: 2 hr. 31 min. 40 sec.
Armstrong (Eagle), Aldrin (Tenderfoot), Collins (Non-Scout)

Apollo-Saturn 12 Date: 11/19/69 Time: 7 hr. 45 min. 18 sec.
Conrad (Cub Scout), Bean (First Class), Gordon (Star)

Apollo-Saturn 13
Lovell (Eagle), Swigert (Second Class), Haise (Star)

Apollo-Saturn 14 Date: 2/5/71 Time: 9 hr. 22 min. 31 sec.

Shepard (First Class), Mitchell (Life), Roosa (Non-Scout)

Apollo-Saturn 15 Date: 7/30/71 Time: 18 hr. 34 min. 46 sec.
Irwin (Non-Scout), Scott (Life), Worden (First Class)

Apollo-Saturn 16 Date: 4/21/72 to 4/23/72 Time: 20 hr. 14 min. 16 sec.
Duke (Second Class), Young (Second Class), Mattingly (Life)

Apollo-Saturn 17 Date: 12/11/72 to 12/13/72 Date: 22 hr. 3 min. 57 sec.
Schmitt (Tenderfoot), Cernan (Second Class), Evans (Life)

Of the 21 Astronauts who have orbited the Moon, 19 have been Scouts. Of the 214 former and present astronauts, 142 have taken part in Scouting

10 Reasons to be scouts

Top 10 Reasons Why I'm In Scouting

#10 -- My basement was empty, and needed remodeling anyway.

#9 -- I get to wear a uniform with a neat hat.

#8 -- I like the smell of calamine lotion.

#7 -- I enjoy going to the bathroom in the woods.

#6 -- I'm in it for the crafts.

#5 -- I'm allergic to house chores (Needed something to fill the void)

#4 -- I get quality time with people of all different backgrounds (Scouting is not just for nerds and geeks, yes their are athletic jocks in a our ranks but I am not going to start naming names, so you will just have to join to find out for yourself)

#3 -- It's a great way to collect coffee mugs.

#2 -- I need time to be with other adults that I can trust (Who can help me make decisions when I may not want to talk to my parents)

#1 -- It only takes an hour each week.

-- Thanks to David Pardoe

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster

What it Means to be A Scout

What is a Scout

He enjoys a hike through the woods more than he does a walk over the city streets.

He knows the stars by name and can find his way by them.

When he walks through the woods, he sees things others do not see.

He speaks softly and answers questions modestly.

He knows a braggart but does not challenge him.

His sense of honor is his only taskmaster, and his honor he guards as jealously as did the knights of old.

A Scout practices self-control, for he knows that men who master problems in the world must first master themselves.

A Scout never flinches in the face of danger. He must be alert to preserve his safety and that of others.

He desires a strong body, an alert mind, and an unconquerable spirit.

Always to "Be prepared".

-- Thanks to Charles Nusbaum

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Troop 1616 After Meeting Review

Troop 1616 After Meeting Review
March 4, 2008

The Meet went fairly well once the Senior Patrol Leader arrived on site. The issue was so much the SPL running the meeting it is the time that the SPL arrives at the meeting is the biggest problem. Tonights focus was a campfire program and a snow shelter building activity. This snow shelter building activity is going to take several weeks to become fully developed. Here are the meeting scores for the week.

• Preparation: C, Average preparation level for the activity. Senior Patrol Leader needs to arrive on time. The JASM should have taken over the meeting sooner instead of waiting until 18:42 when the meeting was suppose to start at 18:30. JASM must not hesitate to take over when SPL is going to be late.
  
• Presentation: A, Did not lay out instructions in advance but the walk through system of explaining it, doing that step, and then repeating the process was used. This shows that the teacher understands that the intended audience needs assistance but also the teacher needs to learn to explain all directions in advance.
  
• Level of Material Gathered: C+, has a thorough understanding of the subject but is having some what of a hard time getting across the information to the scouts. Hopefully as person teaches more, the teacher will become more confident.
  
• Additional Comments: Good job at tonights meeting and way to go in understanding you position. Taking charge of the situation like the SPL did is what should occur during every meeting. Do not wait for the JASM to take over the meeting, instead as the SPL take charge and lead your Troops.

Action Items for Next Meeting

1. Deal with Summer Camp Issues
2. Deal with ALyeska Trip Issues: Need to find second trip coordinator and finalize time and schedule for activity.
3. Advancement issues with not updating boy scout handbook when appropriate. Need to talk about and explain the importance of the Boy Scout Handbook to the Troop
4. JASM needs to take a more direct role when SPL is late but otherwise should have a secondary role at the meeting.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Picture of the Week

Eagle Court of Honor
Mark West Troop 780
Castle Rock, Colorado

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week
The people I see performing best in a crisis are people who are honest forthright. They don’t hide their personalities or their weaknesses. They are genuine.

Troop 1616 After Meeting Review

February 26, 2008 Meeting
Troop 1616 After Meeting Review

This week the SPL presented information on how to build a snow shelter. Here is the rating and comments about his information that was presented at tonights meeting:

• Preparation: A-, Fairly good preparation, liked having the model of what a snow shelter should look like, and had a fair amount of information was gathered for the presentation.
• Presentation: A, Is able to engage the audience in the meeting environment, every seems to like the way he presents and likes to make jokes which engages the audience.
• Level of Material Gathered: C, average quality, need more details to explain concept to scouts with more thorough instructions, not horrible but could use improvement, Very good with the short notice that was given for preparation time
• Additional Comments: Need to work on flow of material to make it more step by step. Like the idea of incorporating the jokes and engaging the audience in the way that the SPL performed.

Other items accomplished at this meeting was that of the gathering of prices and times for alyeska Trip.

After Meeting To Do list

• Put together March 4, 2008 Meeting
• E-mail Troop about next weeks meeting details
• Work on advancement problems for james Wysong
• Put together or assign someone to put together Summer Camp Parent Packets.

Well everything went great at tonights meeting and we had a great time

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Quote of the Week

“The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them”
-Mark Twain

Think about this quote long and hard and you will realize it does not just apply to books but life in general.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Generational Diversity in the BSA

Generational Diversity in the BSA
Online Learning Center, BSA

This training course is recommended for Scouting Professionals and Volunteers in the BSA who want to get a broader and deeper appreciation for the diverse range of ages and life experiences throughout our organization. It is not necessarily recomended for young youth leaders.

There are four major segments to the course, these segments are:

• Defining the Four Generations
• Understand the Generations
• Working with the Generations
  
• Generational Issues and Answers

Hopefully this training will help to bridge some of the generation gaps that seem to be appearing in more and more organizations.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Weather Smart Training

Hazardous Weather Training

Online Learning Center BSA

This new training of by the OLC of the BSA is designed to give youth and adult leaders the basics to stay safe in hazardous weather conditions. These conditions that are covered allow units from across the country to stay safe no matter what weather occurs. Their are ten modules to this training and it takes approximately 1 hour to complete.

The ten modules are as follows

• Weather Planning and Preparation
• Lightning
• Cold Weather
• Hot Weather
• Hail
• Flash floods
  
• Tornadoes
• Windstorms
• Traditional Weather Signs
• Hurricanes

This training is no where near being comprehensive but gives the leaders a good general direction to take when dealing with various conditions that have harzardous weather patterns associated with that feature.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Explorer Post 999 After Meeting Review

February 21, 2008 Meeting
CPR Training

Tonight we did part two of the American Heart Association Healthcare Provider Level Basic Life Support Course. We should have this CPR (Cardio pulmonary Resucitation) course completed after one more meeting. We have already had one part. So far to get to this point we have spent approximately 3.5 hours on the cours and it is expected to take approximately five hours to complete. Learning skills like CPR is important because maybe someday I can save a life because I was trained to do so. The saying with this type of training is Expect the best but prepared for the worst.

Picture of the Week

Friday July 29, 2005 Jamboree. The rain storms hit.

Scout Slogan Explained

Boy Scout Slogan

Do a Good Turn Daily.

This is the slogan of the Boy Scouts.

Some Good Turns are big - saving a life, helping out after floods or other disasters, recycling community trash, working with your patrol on conservation projects.

But Good Turns are often small, thoughtful acts - helping a child cross a busy street, going to the store for an elderly neighbor, cutting back brush that is blocking a sign, doing something special for a brother or sister, welcoming a new student to your school.

A Good Turn is more than simple good manners. It is a special act of kindness

That is all that the the Scout Slogan means, which seems short compared to the other explanations for the other scout ideals but that is exactly what it is about.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

February 19, 2008 After Meeting Review

Well during tonights meeting we had to throw out the original plan because of the fact that the Communications Merit Badge Counselor showed up and we decided that since so many of the boys who were working on the badge were their tonight we might as well take advantage of the resource. I being a Eagle have already earned Communications and had the privilage of working with the new scouts on advancement. I basically sat all the new scouts down and then tried to figure out the best way to ensure that everyone's needs were meet since, the scouts were at various differnet stages. One the scouts I sent to work with a adult, on getting first aid requirements signed off and then the other three stayed with me and worked on knots. One thing that I wanted to do with a brand new scout, that started just this week was to give him a introduction to the Troop but it sounds like his dad knows a lot about the program, since he was a scout, so I am not overly concerned but this but will rectify the problem as soon as possible. This week the SPL worked on the Communications MB and finished early, so he came out and helped the JASM, which is me with getting scouts to get some of the knots down. I really liked some of the methods he used when teaching the knots. Knots are sometimes hard to teach if you can not verbalize how to tie it. Even if I did verbalize the steps, I have to make sure they are steps that everyone can understand. I am glad the SPL stepped up and took charge of teaching some of the scouts, it was very much appreciated. We decided that we would look into going to a ski resort for our March outing, a Scout was assigned to get details and prices.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

One Hundred Scout Statistics

One Hundred Scouts

Of any one hundred boys who become Scouts, it must be confessed that thirty will drop out in their first year. Perhaps this may be regarded as a failure, but in later life all of these will remember that had been Scouts and will speak well of the program.

Of the one hundred, only rarely will one ever appear before a juvenile court judge. Twelve of the one hundred will be from families that belong to no church. Through Scouting, these twelve and many of their families will be brought into contact with a church and will continue to be active all their lives. Six of the one hundred will become pastors.

Each of the one hundred will learn something from Scouting. Almost all will develop hobbies that will add interest throughout the rest of their lives. Approximately one-half will serve in the military, and in varying degree profit from their Scout training. At least one will use it to save another person's life and many will credit it with saving their own.

Four of the one hundred will reach Eagle rank, and at least one will later say that he valued his Eagle above his college degree. Many will find their future vocation through merit badge work and Scouting contacts.

Seventeen of the one hundred boys will later become Scout leaders and will give leadership to thousands of additional boys.

Only one in four boys in America will become Scouts, but it is interesting to know that of the leaders in this nation in business, religion and politics, three out of four were Scouts.

This story will never end. Like the "Golden Pebble" of service dropped into the human sea it will continue to radiate in ever-widening circles, influencing the characters of men down through unending time.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Troop 1616
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster

The purpose of the Boy Scout Handbook

When asked the question, what is the purpose of The Boy Scout Handbook most people will say that it is needed for requirement sign offs and tracking. It is designed to make sure you stay on track for your advancement. Yes that is one of the purposes but have you every wonder what all the other pages are for. Well the Handbook is basically what I like to the call the "Scouting Bible" basically it covers pretty much all of the basics that you need to know to be a good Boy Scout. Yeah it is not going to go into a lot of detail but their are plenty of other books out their published by the Boy Scouts and various outdoor enhtusiasts that will take you to the expert level if you really want to. I am always encouraging the Scouts in my Troop to bring the Boy Scout handbook on every outing, meeting, or activity that we go on, because you never know exactly when you are going to need it. Personally My Handbook even though I have only had it for five years is fairly beat up, I did not get a coil bound handbook so their is tape holding the book binding together, their are pages that have been almost completely torn out, and finally it has a little bit of water damage. I did not purposefully go out and destroy my handbook, to make it look beat up. I just used it a lot in all sorts of differnet environments. Personally I can not wait to see what the 12th edition of the boy scout handbook is going to be like. It is suppose to be released sometime this year and I can not wait until it is availble to be purchased. I am not saying that the old handbook is not useful but what I am saying is that the new edition is going to contain more needed information due to requirement changes that took place. In order for me to be able to effectively facilitate lessons on the new requirements that I have not gone through, I need resource materials.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616

Quote of the Week

Never doubt that a small grasp of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.