A Scoutmaster's Blog

I have not had the opportunity to steer you to many Scouting related video podcasts, but I found one today I think you should take a look at. It is about a special Boy Scout troop in Seattle that … Well, I think I will quote what is on the site.

‘Rev. James / Women’s Prison Purdy Women’s Correctional Facility Seattle, Washington December 2006 Scouting Serves Sons of Incarcerated Mothers “If not for the Scouting program, most of these mothers might not see their sons at all during their incarceration.” ‘

It looks like an awesome program that really helps the boys and their mothers. It is a great example of how Scouting can benefit a community. You can see the video HERE. While you are on the site be sure to leave a comment and DIGG it.

When I received an email from the council last month to inform me that Boy Scout Troop 68 has new Eagle Scout, it did not take me long to pick up the phone and call Mike to congratulate him. He is the seventeenth Scout of Troop 68 to attain the rank of Eagle Scout since I have taken over as scoutmaster. He is the eighteenth Scout to earn it in Troop 68’s history. (By the way, that is not Mike in the picture.)

During the last 25 years, the troop’s percentage of Scouts who attain the rank of Eagle is a little higher then the national average, about seven or eight percent. These boys earned the Eagle Rank because they wanted to earn it, not because they were told they had to earn it. I do encourage the boys to set Eagle as a goal, but when it comes down to it it is really their decision and no one else’s.

I have seen a lot more Scouts earn the Life Rank then I have seen earn the Eagle Rank. Sometimes the Scout waits too long to finish his Eagle Scout requirements and suddenly their eighteenth birthday has arrived. (Oops, too late!) Sometimes the Scout gets too busy with a part time job, or sports, or activities, or even (gasp) a girlfriend. All these things take time out of a young man’s schedule. And sometimes the Scout simply does not have the desire to earn the Eagle Rank.

I know of two times during the last two decades in which parents offered their son a car if they earned the Eagle Rank. For these boys it was like hitting the kill switch. They quit earning advancement and soon quit Scouting. It seems to prove my point when I say that a Boy Scout has to want to attain the award himself, or it will not be earned. Parents and troop leaders should encourage their Scouts and assist them when needed, but do not bribe them. I think a bribe cheapens the award and takes away some of the meaning of earning it.

Of the seventeen Boy Scouts of Troop 68 who have attained the Eagle Rank, I think only two were “strongly pushed” by their parents. The parents of the other fifteen were there to support their son but they left the decision, and the work, up to the Scout, which is the way it should be. After all, it is an award for the Scout to attain, not the parent.

I have heard of some troops who are considered “Eagle factories”. I am sure many of these troop’s have an excellent program that helps the boys to attain this rank. I also know there are some troops who kind of “push” the Scouts along to make as many Eagle as possible. I decided a long time ago that my troop would not be an Eagle factory. While I think it is great when any Scout becomes an Eagle, I do not think it is the troop’s responsibility to make it easy every step of the way.

For example, a Scout needs to reach out on his own to earn some of the merit badges. He needs to plan out, pick up the phone, and make his own appointment with councilors. By doing this he learns important communication and planning skills. He learns how to be resourseful and do things on his own. Now, I am not saying that our troop never brings in any merit badge councilors to our troop meetings. We do sometimes. But we do not go out of our way to bring in every councilor needed to earn the merit badges required for the ranks. Besides, we have other things we like to do besides working on advancement every meeting.

I guess what I have been trying to say is that a Boy Scout who wishes to earn the rank of Eagle Scout must be committed to the goal. He needs to demonstrate that he is resourceful, that he will not shy away from work, and that he is ready to prove himself worthy of wearing Scouting’s highest award on his uniform. No one else can, or should, do that for him.

When do you know you are a Boy Scout? Is it when you attain the Tenderfoot rank? Is it when you have spent your first night in a tent, away from home, in the middle of the forest? Is it when you lash your first 80′ high signal tower?

Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, returns with a second video for the Melrose Scouting Production Podcast to explain “You Know You Are A Boy Scout When…” In this video he talks about internet chat rooms, packing for the camping trip, setting up your tent, and poison ivy.

Enjoy the video. Leave a comment and let me know what you think about it. If you have an answer to “You know you are a Boy Scout when…” then add it to the comments. If I receive enough good ones then maybe Buttons will appear in a third video on this subject.

Do not forget to go to the iTunes music store and leave a comment for this podcast and the other podcasts of PTC Media. When you leave a comment for each of the shows you will be entered in a drawing for some great Scouting stuff. PTC media plans to hold four drawings during the next couple months and the only way to register is to post comments on iTunes. Good luck!

Download Podcast
Watch Video on the troop’s website.
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Yeah. It is true. I like to collect videos about Scouting. I like to make videos about Scouting. I like putting these videos online for the whole world to see.

There are three sites that I regularly post videos online: Youtube, the Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast, and our troop’s website. Youtube presents the videos easily to the world viewing audience. The podcast allows anyone with a computer to download the videos. I consider the troop’s site to be the archive of the videos. The troop site contains more of my videos then the other two sites.

The videos on the Troop 68 site have been divided into six headings. The first is “Songs, skits, and other stuff“. This heading features the Boy Scouts of Troop 68 performing campfire songs and skits during their annual Laughs For Lunch Show. Videos from summer camp programs can also be found here.

The next heading is the “Activity Videos“. This is where I have placed the videos of trips to Philmont, the 2001 National Jamboree, and other troop events.

The “Yearly Reviews” futures slide shows of several years of the troop’s activities. So far there are only six of the twenty-seven years represented, but the goal is to get one made for each year.

The “Eagle Scout Videos” features slide shows of each troop member who has attained Scouting’s highest rank since the 1980’s. The videos include pictures from their years as a Scout in Melrose.

The “Promotional Videos and Commercials” is where you will find the videos produced by the national office and a couple councils. These are not videos that I made, they are videos I have collected over the last twenty years. So far, know one from the national office has asked me to remove them. I hope they don’t. I think it is great for people to still see these videos, most of which can no longer be found easily.

The final heading is where the videos of Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, can be found. These videos have been fun to make, although they do have there own special challenges to film. I have been very pleased to see a small fan base develop for Buttons. It seems that fans include anyone from Cub Scouts to adult Scouters. As Buttons would say, “Awesome, dude!”

The troop’s site currently contains sixty-nine videos. More videos will be posted as they become available. In fact, a new video starring Buttons should be posted this weekend. Watch for it.

I would like to take a moment to thank David H., a former member of the troop. Dave has provided the troop with its website, along with plenty of space to put all these videos which eat up a lot of bandwidth. The troop’s website would not be possible without David’s generosity. Thanks David!

This note is more for myself then anyone else – The visitor counter hit 10,000 this afternoon! It took less then five months. Cool!

Remember sitting in a class room during high school and thinking to yourself, “When am I ever going to need to know this?” I was in a high school film class in the mid-seventies. I really did not take the class to learn anything useful. I took it to have fun. In addition to learning film history and how films were made, we had to break into groups and make our own short film. Each group had to write a script, decide who would star in what roles, who would be the cameraman, director, and editor, and so forth. I enjoyed the class.

There was no such thing as a camcorder in those years. We used a super 8mm film camera. Film, not tape. We has to send the film out to be developed. When it came time to edit we literally had to cut and paste (tape) the film. It was fun to make the film, and even more fun to watch the class reaction when we all watched it.

Let us jump ahead ten years. Melrose has a new community access television station, Mel-TV3. Camcorders (vhs) are becoming popular in households. In fact, one of the Scouting families owns a camcorder. I decide it is time to start filming troop functions to play “on the air”. It will be a great way to show the community what we do in Boy Scouting, so I join the station’s board of directors. We begin with taping court of honors and soon are creating “original” productions.

Let us jump ahead twenty years more, to today’s digital world. I am still making videos with the Scouts. I now own a digital camcorder and a Macintosh computer so I can do all my editing at my home instead of at the television studio. I still produce Scouting shows for Mel-TV, and now am being asked to provide shows for a second local television station. I can hit a wider audience through placing videos on the internet. Some of my videos are found on our troop’s website, my podcast, Youtube, and some other video sites. People from around the world can see these videos.

Sometimes I think back to those days in that high school film class, and then think about how much the technology of film making has come. I am doing things now I never would have dreamed of doing then. I just wish I would have taken a typing class.

The following is an excerpt from the journal I wrote after attending Philmont Scout Ranch with the Boy Scouts from Troop 68 in 1986. The full journal can be found HERE.

“Ever get sick on sasaparilla? It is not a pleasant experience. I know. I speak from experience. After supper and clean up we hiked the short distance from our camp to the Abreu Cantina. Our first bit of business when we arrived was to order a pitcher of sasaparilla and have a few chug-a-lug contests. Pitchers were emptied and new ones were ordered.

Chug-a-lugging gave way to a game called quarters. Quarters is played by each person attempting to bounce a quarter off the counter into a glass of sasaparilla. If successful he could then pick someone to drink the glass. I found it to be any interesting game. It is also hard on the stomach if you lose to often. Or, if the winner likes you too well. I watched the Scouts play it and they were not having any luck getting the quarter into the glass. So, being the suave leader that I am, I entered the game. It was not one of my most brilliant decisions. The Scouts started to dunk the quarters. And guess who was chosen to drink a lot of the brew?

We drank six pitchers of sasaparilla within thirty minutes. Gerry, Robert, and I seemed to have drank the most of that. Our stomachs were not ready to handle this type of abuse. We went outside to get some fresh air and try to settle the rumblings and pains that were beginning to occur within our bellies.

Robert and Jeff walked off toward the stream. Robert was grumbling about a stomach ache. Jeff told Robert that he had a way to make him feel better. Jeff stuck his finger down his throat to demonstrate how well it could work. Robert did not need to use his fingers. As Jeff was laughing, Gerry, who happened to be close by, walked up to them to see what was going on. When Gerry saw that Robert was ridding himself of his drinks he also bent over and joined him in the activity. Though not by choice.

Gerry and Robert had their backs to me when I saw them. Jeff was standing next to the two bent over figures, laughing and having a good old time. I like a good joke so I started walking toward them. I turned back as soon as I realized the nature of what was going on. If I had continued to them any further, I would have joined them, and thus made it a threesome. Robert asked the staff of Abreu for a shovel to clean up the mess. They told him not to worry about it. It was an occupational hazard that came along with the cantina.”