A Scoutmaster's Blog

I guess you may now call me Scouter Steve, instead of Scoutmaster Steve. As the new year began I stepped down from the position I held for over thirty years. I am now a committee member. The troop treasurer, to be exact. It is a job with which I feel comfortable accepting. It is a job that I am familiar with even though I have never balanced the troop’s checkbook. After all, if you a scoutmaster for three decades you have a pretty good idea of the income and expenses of operating a Boy Scout troop.

Tonight was the first troop meeting of the year. The first troop meeting for the new scoutmaster. I did not attend the meeting. I thought it best to stay away, to let the scoutmaster sit in what was my usual spot (or maybe he chose a new spot), to let the Boy Scouts know that, yes, I did retire. And to let everyone start the year without me being there. The Boy Scouts know what to do. Eymard, my assistant scoutmaster for the last 24 years, was there to help Scoutmaster Mark if he needed any.

Was it easy staying at home? Yes and no. I wanted to go to see how things would work out, but I knew that if I went to the meeting it would affect how things would turn out. Does that make sense? I stayed at home and watch an episode of the tenth season of Smallville on dvd. (Yes, I am still a bit of a nerd. I did not give that up with the first of the year.)

It is now 8:30. The troop meeting has been over for thirty minutes. I did not receive a phone call asking for assistance. No one stopped by after the meeting to complain about anything, or to tell me that things fell apart. In other words, I think the meeting must have gone well. The local Scouting world did not come to an end. The troop got along without me. Life goes on.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have to make a phone call to find out how things really went tonight!

Happy Scouting everyone!

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It is hard to believe, but in about 90 minutes (from when I write this post) I will no longer be the scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 68. At midnight I end my 30 year tenure as the adult leader of the troop in which I was a youth member. I will go to bed as scoutmaster and wake up as the troop’s committee treasurer. I am not quite sure how I feel about it yet. I think it is going to feel a little weird.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

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The monthly roundtable is a meeting for Scout leaders to learn new skills, receive information, and have fun with friends. Sometimes special presentations are made. During this month’s Scenic district roundtable the district executive took a moment to recognize a Boy Scout leader. This leader is about to step down at the end of the year after 30 years of being a scoutmaster for Troop 68 in Melrose. The video was recorded on an iPod by one of the Scouters in attendance.

Click here to DOWNLOAD and watch this Podcast.
Or watch it online at the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast channel at PTC Media.

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Leave feedback here, at iTunes, or on the forums at PTC Media.

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It is time. After 30 years of serving as the scoutmaster of Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68 I have decided to step down and let someone else assume the role. My last day as the adult leader of the troop will be December 31, 2011. I have had some great times and awesome experiences during those three decades, but it was not always a bed of roses. There were four times I tried to quit, when the frustrations became so intolerable that I just could not handle it anymore. But after a few good nights sleep everything seemed to be a little better so I stayed on.

I still remember that evening in September 1981 when the troop committee appointed this young twenty one year old kid to the position of scoutmaster. I was shocked. I really did not see it coming. I was a little overwhelmed. I accepted the appointment and vowed to do my best for the troop. I took all the training offered by the district and council. I went to roundtables every month. I attended a weeklong scoutmaster training course at Philmont Scout Ranch in 1984. I wanted to be the best scoutmaster that I was capable of being.

As I step down from the position I never dreamed of holding for this long, I have to say that I will not be walking away from the Scouting program. As the first day of the new year arrives I will become a member of the troop committee. I will continue to be a merit badge councilor for eight awards. I do plan to assist the new scoutmaster as he or she prepares to assume their role in the troop. I still plan to attend some of the troop’s activities and outings.

Of course, I have mixed feeling about leaving the role I have held for sixty percent of my life, and nearly all of my adult life. I will miss sitting around the campfire on cool Minnesota evenings. I will miss working closely with Eymard, my assistant for 23 years. But most of all, I will miss working closely with the boys. The boys were my second family. They were and always will be the number one reason for remaining as the scoutmaster for as long as I have.

I do look forward to beginning a new phase of my Scouting career even though I am not quite sure what that will include. I do look forward to having Monday nights free and more weekends available to spend with family and friends. I look forward to having my very first summer vacation away from a Boy Scout camp. (Yes, I have spent every summer vacation of the past thirty one years with Boy Scouts at summer camp, Philmont Scout Ranch, or some other high adventure trip.)

I will not be able to give up Scouting completely. It has been a part of my life for too long. Lem Siddons was a scoutmaster for twenty years before he was retired by his troop. I would rather the idea to retire be mine, and not the committee’s. Reaching the twenty mark kinda became a goal of mine after watching Follow Me Boys in 1984. I never actually thought I would achieve it, but now I can say I not only achieved it but surpassed it by fifty percent. How do you like them apples Lem?

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The troop committee was called to a local restaurant for a special meeting on September 13th. As the troop’s assistant scoutmaster I was invited to attend. So was the district executive. The scoutmaster was not informed of the meeting.

The troop had a problem. The current scoutmaster was not doing his job. He did not attend many of the meetings. He did not attend many of the outings. The committee needed to talk to the district executive about their options. After a short discussion one member asked the D.E. if they could fire a scoutmaster. The D.E. replied that they could. After all, it was their troop.

I had to leave the meeting at that point to go to the Cub Scout Pack’s monthly committee meeting, so I did not get to partake in the rest of the troop committee meeting. Later, on my way home, I noticed that a few of the Boy Scout committee members were still at the restaurant so I stopped to talk to them. The committee chairman invited me to sit down. They gave me a quick update about what I missed. They decided to fire the scoutmaster. They appointed me as the troop’s new scoutmaster.

I was a little stunned. No one had asked me about it. True, I was already doing most of the scoutmaster’s job, but I was only 21 years old. I was not sure I was ready for such a responsibility. The committee thought I was ready and promised their support. What could I do? I accepted the position.

That was in 1981, thirty years ago. I had been an assistant scoutmaster for only 16 months. I wanted to do a good job as scoutmaster so I took all the training the council and district provided. I attended nearly all the monthly roundtable meetings. I poured myself into the program because I believed in what Scouting had to offer.

The core principles of the program remain the same as they were thirty years ago, but their have been some changes. Women are now allowed to be scoutmasters. Two adults must now attend any troop functions. Youth protection training is now mandatory. Councils now do background checks on any adults who wish to hold a leadership position. Oh, and skill awards have disappeared from the advancement program.

The remember when the first boys joined the troop who were born after I had become a scoutmaster. “Wow. I am getting old,” I thought to myself. Then the parents of some of the Scouts were younger then me. I have now been a scoutmaster so long that those first Boy Scouts from the ealry 1980′s are old enough to have Scout-age boys of their own.

Thirty years. Wow. I have seen hundreds of boys go through the Scouting program. I have been to the Charles Sommers Canoe Base, attended a national jamboree, and been on five treks at Philmont Scout Ranch. I have participated in two dozen week long summer camps and attended nearly a thousand troop meetings. I have seen 19 boys earn the Eagle Scout award while a member of Troop 68. Hopefully there will be one more before the end of the year.

During the last couple of months I have been thinking about retiring as the troop’s scoutmaster. Thirty years is a long time. I have accomplished my goals. I have given it a good run, but I have been growing tired of the meetings and outings. I do not think I have much more to offer as a scoutmaster. Another factor is that Melrose has not been supporting Scouting like it once did. The troop is down to nine members. Only two of them live in town. If the community is not willing to support a Scouting program by getting involved then maybe it is time to let it go.

Like I said, thirty years is a long time, but I do not regret it. Sure, there have been some rough times, but there were a lot more great times and great boys that came through the program. I think I can honestly say I have done well as the scoutmaster of Melrose Troop 68.

If I hadn’t done a good job, the committee would have fired me. Wouldn’t they?

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Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement, had a lot to say about the program. A good source of his thoughts can be found in his book, “Scouting For Boys”. Now that we are in the summer camp season, there is one of B-P’s thoughts that I thought would be a good choice to share with you:

The Value of Camp Life

I CANNOT impress on Scoutmasters too highly the value of the camp in the training of Scouts; in fact, I think that its whole essence hangs on this.

Many Scoutmasters who value the moral side of our training are almost inclined to undervalue the importance of the camp, but the camp is everything to the boys. We have to appeal to their enthusiasm and tastes in the first place, if we are ever going to do any good in educating them.

An eminent educational authority assured me only to-day that our school education is all on wrong lines; that book learning was introduced by the monks in order to kill the more manly training in skill at arms and hunting which, in the Middle Ages, occupied the time of the boys, and which undoubtedly produced so large a percentage of men of character among them. It was done with a narrow-minded aim, and although it has done some good in certain lines, it has done infinite harm to our race in others.

He said: “You should first of all develop the natural character of the boy by encouraging him in the natural athletic exercises which tend to make him manly, brave, obedient, and unselfish; later give him the desire for reading for himself which will eventually lead him on to study for himself. The fallacy of trying to force him to read what the pedagogue wants him to know is the secret of so much ignorance and absence of studious work amongst our lads to-day.”

This same authority would like to see Scouting or some similar scheme introduced into our continuation schools, and attendance at these made obligatory for all boys of fourteen to sixteen.

I hope that his wish may yet be gratified. I believe it will be if Scoutmasters continue in the way in which they have begun and prove to the education authorities in their neighbourhood the educative value which underlies our Movement.

April 1911.

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