A Scoutmaster's Blog

Last year I wrote a few blog entries about Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting making appearances in various comics like Peanuts and Garfield. Did you know the BSA has also produced its own comic books? Oh, they are not usually the funny style comics that you would see in Boy’s Life magazine (although a comic book collection of Peewee Harris could be interesting). These comics usually tell Scouts about important lessons.

Currently, through Scoutstuff.org, there are three short comic books for Cub Scout age boys featuring the three Cub Scout characters T.C., Akela, and Baloo. The comics deal with some serious issues, and are priced low enough (only 20 cents each) that you may consider getting a copy of each book for each boy in your Pack. Here is a quick explanation of each book taken from the scoutstuff.com site:

Power Pack Pals #1: Bullying Comic Book
These eight page comic books feature T.C., Akela, and Baloo talking to kids about bullying. Publication is collaboration between the BSA® and several leading youth protection advocacy groups to help address the problem of bullying among youth.

Power Pack Pals #2: Internet Safety Comic Book
This comic book is the second in a series of youth protection comics for Cub Scout aged kids featuring Akela, Baloo, and T.C. addressing dangers kids could encounter on the Internet and how to avoid them.

Power Pack Pals #3: 4 Rules for Safety Comic Book
This 8-page comic is the third in a series of youth protection comics for Cub Scout aged kids featuring Akela, Baloo, and T.C. It illustrates scenarios that advise kids about the dangers of strangers and inappropriate behavior by adults toward children, and what to do in scary situations.

What do you do as a Boy Scout troop in the dead of winter in Minnesota? You get out and have some fun in the snow! Add a nice big snow-filled hill and you the makings of a great evening activity while on a weekend outing.

The Scouts of Troop 68 spent a weekend at Camp Stearns in Central Minnesota during the last weekend of February. I had the video camera along so I thought it might be fun to record the guys having fun and catching some air as they went downhill sledding. Previous campers had made a few jumps on the hillside that the Scouts of Troop 68 liked to hit again and again, even if they got the wind knocked out of them.

After an hour, the Scouts had had enough and decided to head back to the building. They had a lot of fun on the hill, and a lot of exercise walking back to the top. Thanks to this video, they will have a way to look back on five minutes of the excitement, and you have a chance to see the fun yourself.

Anyone interested in joining us next year?

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Are you a committee member or a committee chairman of a Boy Scout Troop? Do you have a scoutmaster who has been doing an outstanding job? Is he trained? Are most of the boys in your troop First Class Rank or higher? If your scoutmaster has been performing well then you owe it to him to look into recognizing him with the Scoutmaster Award of Merit which is presented to deserving scoutmasters through the National Eagle Scout Association.

Here are the Requirements:
(The nominee need not be an Eagle Scout.)
• Be registered as Scoutmaster and have served in that position for at least 18 months.
• The unit must have achieved the Quality Unit Award at least once during the Scoutmaster’s tenure.
• Must have completed Boy Scout Leader Fast Start and Scoutmastership Fundamentals (or equivalent).
• Must have a record of proper use of the Boy Scout advancement program, resulting in a majority of his Boy Scouts attaining the First Class rank.
• Nominee must have a record of:
o Development of boy leadership through the patrol method
o Positive relations with the troop’s chartered organization
o Extensive outdoor program including strong summer camp attendance
o Positive image of Scouting in the community
o Troop operation that attracts and retains Boy Scouts.

Procedure:
The chairman of the troop committee has the responsibility of nominating the Scoutmaster on behalf of the patrol leader’s council and the troop committee. The nomination is certified by the unit commissioner and forwarded to the local council. Approval authority lies with the Scout executive.

For more information and an application you can check HERE on the NESA site.

What is in a name? When it applies to a Boy Scout patrol it could mean a lot. It might offer a hint to the patrol members’ interests. It may describe the patrol’s attitude or personality. But then, it may mean nothing at all. It may just be a name most of the members agreed upon.

There have been a lot of patrols during the twenty eight year Troop 68 history. A few patrols have nearly faded from troop history. A few have accomplished great things. And a few will be remembered for being unique, or troublesome.

Some patrols did not last long. Members quit or Scouts moved to other patrols. Patrols change their names. Other patrols last for five or six years. Once in a while one patrol will absorb a smaller patrol, thus increasing its membership and lasting awhile longer.

Usually, at least in our troop, when a new patrol chooses a name they will open the BSA catalog and pick one from the many patches already available. I call these the “traditional” patrol names. Troop 68 has had patrols named the Flaming Arrow, the Falcons, the Wolves, the Cobras, the Lightning, the Bats, the Scorpions, and the Flying Eagles.

Patrols have used the traditional patches but tweaked patrol names to make it more their own. The Soaring Hawks, the Ferocious Tigers, the Blazing Buffaloes, the Rad Reptiles, and the Hazardous Hawks fit into this category. We have even had the Wild Boars and the Pink Panthers.

Some patrol names fit the interest of the patrol members. For example, we once had a patrol who really liked to play the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game. They named their patrol The Warriors. We have even had a Dangerous Dragons Patrol.

Of course, there has also been a few unique names. The Hillbillies and the Black Talons come to mind. I thought the Charging Chipmunks was very original. (For some reason I kept seeing thousands of chipmunks running down the hillside toward our campsite.) The most unique name came about when a patrol decided to name themselves after their favorite shoes, and thus became known as the Chuck Taylor Patrol.

As a scoutmaster, I have found a patrol name to be a great way to remember a group of Scouts. Sometimes, the memories are not so squeaky clean. For example, when I was a Boy Scout in the mid-1970’s we had a patrol called the Cougars. It seemed most of the troop’s troublemakers were in the Cougar Patrol.

Fast forward twenty years later. Troop 68 has a patrol called the Courageous Cougars. In time this patrol would boast of three Eagle Scouts. This patrol also happened to be one of the laziest patrols who also liked to push the envelope any chance they got. They nearly succeeded in getting this scoutmaster to resign his position during one camping trip. (Fortunately, we all got past that and are now friends who still stay in touch.)

A patrol name can be important. It can be a name to rally around during a competition. It can be a victory cry! It can help a patrol build an identity that lasts for years. Former troop members still refer to themselves as a member of their Boy Scout patrol.

I was a Falcon when I was a Boy Scout. I was a Penguin during Scoutmaster training. I was a Jedi when we had enough assistant scoutmasters to form our own patrol for weekend outings. I became a Bobwhite when I participated in three weekends of Woodbadge. And I am proud to be a member of each and every one.

Once again, more a note for myself then those of you reading this blog…

After a few days of thought, I have decided to leave the G rated world of Buttons and Boy Scouts skits behind with this podcast post, and enter the PG world music. Oh, do not worry, there will not be any Guns & Roses music or rap nonsense here. What I offer in this podcast is an original song by the Boy Scouts of Troop 68.

This video is of three older Scouts of Troop 68 in 1992, taken from a television show made by the troop for our local community access station. The Scout playing the guitar (he earned the rank of Eagle, by the way) wrote the melody. I wrote the lyrics. The song contains three verses with dark undertones. The first verse is about a pathetic dog. The second is of a boyfriend trying to please his girlfriend. The third is about a stray animal following a person home. I would suggest you listen to it before allowing your Cub Scout aged son to listen to it. The song is dark, but somewhat comical. It also might stick in your mind for awhile.

The song does not contain any bad language. This is a Scouting podcast, after all. I just wanted to try something different this time. I hope you enjoy it.

I like to read your comments about this podcast. You can leave one here, or at the PTC media forums. If you leave a comment at the iTunes Music Store you will help the Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast climb higher in the ratings.

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Your pack or troop is planning to hold a fundraiser. Is it a one day event, such as a meal or a car wash? If it is, then you need to get the word out about it. You need to promote it.

How do you do that? And how can it be done for little or no cost to your unit? After all, if you have to pay for advertising, then you have to sell more product to cover those costs. Here are a few tips our troop has learned over the last twenty years. (Some of these may work better in a small town then they do in a large city.)

Newspapers – Placing an ad in a newspaper can be expensive, but some newspapers will give non-profit groups a little discount on the cost. Our local papers have a “local events” listing which lists group activities and fundraisers for free. Does yours?

Television – Commercials can make a newspaper ad look very inexpensive. However, some stations will air a “Community Happenings” spot during local programming free of charge. You will need to get the information about your event to the station three to four weeks before the event’s date. Many community access television stations run a bulletin board of local events between their programming. Your fundraiser could be listed there free of charge.

Radio – Some radio stations will do public service announcements. Your fundraiser may qualify as such an announcement. Or bring some tickets of your event to the station and let them give them away to a lucky caller. Volunteer to be interviewed on the air by the deejay. Look at how much promotion the Girl Scouts receive by bringing cookies to radio stations during the sales period.

Marquees – Almost every bank and credit union has an outdoor electronic marquee these days. Our financial institutions will place information about our fundraiser on their marquees, free of charge, for two or three days before the event.

Posters – This has got to be one of the oldest ways to advertise. Posters can be easily designed on a home computer and then printed in large or small quantities. Many stores, restauraunts, offices, churches, and schools have cork boards for the placement of these posters. Some businesses will even place the posters in their front window. Just be sure to ask permission before placing a poster.

Church Bulletins – Contact your local churches. Most of them would be happy to include your event in their weekly parish bulletins.

Electronic messaging – Send out emails to friends and family. Text your friends on the phone. Just do not do it so much that people start looking at it as spamming. We even post a note about the event on our troop’s website.

Speaking – Yeah, that is right. Talk about it. Tell your relatives. Tell your friends. Tell your coworkers. Talking has worked for centuries. Spread the word, man!

Well, there is my list. How does it compare to yours? Did I give you any ideas? Do you have ideas that I did not mention? If you do then leave a comment and share it with us all.

Each year on Palm Sunday, Boy Scout Troop 68 conducts a spring breakfast fundraiser. The troop has done this for most of the last twenty years. It has done well, usually bringing in over $1000.00 to the troop’s general fund and the boy’s credits for camp.

I am getting a little concerned about how much longer we will be able to do the breakfast with our dwindling membership. Ten years ago we had nearly thirty Boy Scouts to presell tickets and work the morning of the breakfast. Currently, we have only nine Scouts, which is barely enough to conduct this fundraiser.

The troop takes one meeting night three or four weeks before the breakfast to hold a ticket selling kick-off during which we try to cover as much of the town in one night as we can. When we had thirty Scouts we could cover a large area of the town (of 3100 people) in one night. The boys would usually sell $700-$800 worth of tickets in that two hour period which was enough to cover most of the expenses. Now, with our small troop, we cannot even cover one third of the town in that first night of selling.

And this year was worse. Four of the nine Scouts did not attend due to sickness or family matters. An extremely cold kick-off evening made our time for selling even shorter then usual. The boys did not want to be out in the cold, and I really could not blame them. When the last Scout returned from selling we had sold less then $300 in tickets. “This is not looking good,” I thought to myself.

During the next three weeks the weather stayed cold with many days below zero degrees. Tickets sales were not going well because the boys were not getting out to sell them. During the fourth and final week the weather finally warmed up, allowing the Scouts to get out for one last push.

The Boy Scouts turned in their money and leftover tickets as they arrived at the church basement on the morning of the breakfast. I was surprised, and proud, to discover that they had sold over $900 of tickets after that first night. Things were beginning to look up. If the walk-in business was good, then we would do well.

The Scouts and parents worked hard that morning. The parents did the cooking. The boys set the tables, cleaned them off, and did the dishes. By noon, everyone was exhausted. Eight Boy Scouts and their parents had accomplished what used to be done by two dozen Scouts and their parents.

Our troop treasurer was sick with the flu Sunday morning, so I took all the money home and began to get the preliminary figures together. I was smiling when I pushed the last button on the calculator. It appears that the troop will once again make a profit of over $1000.00. Nearly $300.00 of that will go toward the boy’s funds for camp.

Not bad, huh? Everyone worked hard and we did well. We are now done with fund raising until October when we have another breakfast, followed by the council’s popcorn sales.