A Scoutmaster's Blog

As we enter the third week of 100 Days of Scouting, it is time to ask you more trivia questions. As in previous trivia posts, the questions come from the 1986 Scout Trivia book. Today’s questions are taken from the “Basics and Badges” section of the book. (Keep in mind that these questions were based on the 1984 edition of the Boy Scout Handbook. This is important to keep in mind as you take this quiz.) Good Luck!

1) What is the color of the background on the Scout Rank Badge?

2) If Scouting is a game, what are the rules?

3) Why is the left hand used as the Scout handclasp?

4) How many merit badges are required for the rank of Life Scout?

5) What other items, besides merit badges, can be worn on the merit badge sash?

6) What do the three points of the Scout Badge represent?

7) What are the two ways a Scout can salute the United States flag?

8 ) How far must a Scout hike to complete the camping skill award?

9) What are the signs that you belong to the world brotherhood of Scouting?

10) With slight changes, what symbol is commonly used by Scouts around the world?

And that ends the questions for today.

Please put your pencils down.

Pass your paper to the Scout on your right.

Spit balls belong in the wastebasket.

Let’s check your answers.

1) Yellow.
2) The Scout Oath Scout Law, Scout Motto, and Scout Slogan.
3) Because it is the hand closest to the heart, the hand of friendship.
4) Eleven.
5) None.
6) The three parts of the Scout Oath.
7) Out of uniform – hand over heart. In uniform – the Scout Salute.
8 ) Two and one half miles.
9) The Scout sign, Scout handclasp, Scout Salute.
10) The trefoil badge.

Pass your papers back to their owner. How did you do this week? Everyone must have failed last week because no one left a comment.

100 Days of Scouting: Day 16.

Scout Vespers is a song sung by Boy Scouts and Scout Leaders to close a campfire program, to end a meeting, or to finish an evening on a camping trip. It is a great song that is beloved my millions. It holds a special place in the hearts of many Scouts and Scouters. But did you know there are three verses to the song?

Rhonda Kay recorded the song in 2009 on her cd titled Never Too Late. She also posted a video for the song on YouTube in November of that year. It can be watched at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxTH6lSDNZs , or by watching the clip below.

Do you think you can get the boys in your troop to learn all three verses?

100 Days of Scouting: Day 15.

On this Memorabilia Monday I would like to present four books of my collection that share a theme of Scouting History.

The first book is The Boy Scouts: An American Adventure, written by Robert W. Peterson, and published in 1984. It was a book printed for the 75th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. The book is broken down into four parts: 1900-1915, 1915-1935, 1935-1970, and 1970-present (1984). The book is full of black and white and color pictures covering the decades of Scouting. One of my favorite parts of the book shows how to build a tree house designed by Dan Beard.

Scouting With Baden-Powell, written by Russell Freedman in 1967, is a biography of Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement. The book does a good job of covering his life. You need to get through two thirds of the book before it starts talking about Scouting. I received this book for free. The librarian of the junior high school library gave it to me when they were discarding old books they did not feel they needed any longer.

The Boy’s Life Treasury, printed in 1958 by the Boy Scouts of America, is a great book to have in any collection. This 480 page book features  a selection of the best stories and articles from Boy’s Life magazine.My copy of this book is in excellent condition, even if the book jacket is beat up a bit. Amazingly, this book retailed for only $4.95 when it was released. I also own The Best Of Boy’s Life which was published in 2010 for the B.S.A.’s 100th anniversary.

The pride of my Scout history collection is The History of the Boy Scouts of America. It was written by William D. Murray in 1937. This 574 page volume is rich in Scouting history to that point in time, and contains a lot of photographs and sketches. The first photo in the book features William Murray presenting the 5,000,000th handbook to President F.D. Roosevelt. Four Eagle Scouts stand behind the President. I was lucky enough to find a copy of this book that is in excellent condition. If you really want to know the details about the first thirty years of the Boy Scouts of America, this is the book for you.

Do you have any books about Scouting history? Leave a comment and tell us about it.

100 Days of Scouting: Day 14.

Adults leaders need training. I think most people would agree to that. We need to be trained so that we may properly train our youth leaders to do their job well. Call it “train the trainer” if you want to. We receive this training through various courses offer by our districts and councils. We attend monthly roundtable meetings. The Boy Scouts of America has begun making more online training available so we can do it in the comfort of our homes. And, of course, there are the handbooks and the leaders who came before us.

I have a Twitter account and follow a number of Scouting leaders from around the country. I even follow a few people from other countries. Twitter can sometimes be a pain in the neck when the bots start following you. At others times it can be a great resource. Occasionally, someone will post a link to a great resource they found. Once in a while, someone from an interesting website will find me and start following me. I usually check them out to see if they are worth following in return.

A few days ago a received a new follower so I checked out their website. The site, “Animated Knots”, found at http://www.animatedknots.com/ , is quite a site, if you like knots. They feature animations of how to tie dozens of knots, found under various categories. There are knots for boating, fishing, climbing, and rescue. There is a section of Boy Scout knots which you may find helpful for you troop. be sure to check out the “Decorative” knots if you would like to learn how to tie a monkey’s fist or a turk’s head. Learn these knots and you could be the envy of your troop.

By the way, if you would like to follow me on Twitter you can find me at http://twitter.com/stevejb68 .

100 Days of Scouting: Day 13.

Once you have been a Boy Scout or Cub Scout leader for awhile you may notice something that starts to occur. Slowly and gradually, Scouting begins to take over your house. It may start with a few items in the corner of one room. Soon, that corner is filled, and a gear pile may be found in another room. Collections begin to grow and may need to be displayed. Your garage looses space because troop or pack stuff needs to be stored somewhere. Photographs and videos begin to fill your computer hard drive.

As I was trying to think of something to write about for this post of the 100 Days of Scouting, I just needed to look around the house for inspiration. In the city of Melrose, my house is the House of Scouting. There are pictures of the groups of Scouts who have gone to camp hanging on my stairway wall. Dozens of photo albums fill shelves of a bookcase. My basement rec room showcases my Scouting mugs, books, and awards earned over the years. I have a gallery of Eagle Scout photos hanging next to a 4′ x 4′ sheet of paneling that is full of activity patches. There is a large Norman Rockwell print hanging in the living, and a Scout Camp: The Movie poster, signed by the director Garrett Batty, hanging in my bedroom. The closet in the spare bedroom is full of camping gear. Twelve Norman Rockwell prints hang on my office wall. Dozens of dvd’s of troop outings, shows, and courts of honor fill a cabinet.

Then there is the computer. The file of Scouting pictures contains over 33 GB of photos, and it is still growing as I scan old photos. I have over 400 GB of Scouting related videos. These include promotion and training videos by the B.S.A. along with videos and slideshows of Troop 68 activities and Scout members. I am the webmaster for the troop’s website. That file contains over 10 GB of stuff.

It took thirty years for Scouting to take over my house to the extent that it has. I am glad that I have not been a Scout leader for 100 years for I would have to be living in a mansion to display everything collected over ten decades. The funny part is, when a new Boy Scout comes to the house for the first time, he is not all that interested in seeing the Scout stuff. He wants to see the Star Wars or the medieval weapons collections.

How has Scouting taken over your house or apartment?

In addition to reciting the Scout Oath, Scout Law, or the Outdoor code as an opening for their troop meetings, the patrol leader council of Troop 68 has looked toward other ways to start their meetings. One code that seemed to make its way into a meeting every month or two is a little thing found in the ninth edition of the Boy Scout Handbook. If you have a copy of the book turn to page 42 and you will find something called the Knight’s Code.

To quote the handbook – “Baden-Powell got the Scout Motto and developed the Scout Law from the code of the knights of old.” This code is:

Be always ready with your armor on, except when you are taking your rest at night.
Defend the poor, and help them that cannot defend themselves.
Do nothing to hurt or offend anyone else.
Be prepared to fight in the defense of your country.
At whatever you are working, try to win honor and a name for honesty.
Never break your promise.
Maintain the honor of your country with your life.
Rather die honest than live shamelessly.
Chivalry require that youth should be trained to perform the most laborious and humble offices with cheerfulness and grace; and to do good onto others.

I think this is a pretty good code to even live by in today’s world. Other then wearing that heavy armor, that is.

When I was a Boy Scout in the 1970’s there was no such thing as a home video recorder, so there was not a Cinematography Merit Badge. There was the Photography Merit Badge, however. I like taking pictures so I thought I would try earning that badge. I grabbed my Kodak Instamatic camera that used 126 film, a merit badge book, and began taking pictures.

One of the requirements for the merit badge was to tell a story with photographs. I decided to do a story of the missing cookie mystery. The members of my troop would be the “actors” of my story. Even my scoutmaster got in on the action. He held sheets of paper with my opening and closing titles. I discovered, after the film was developed, that the writing on the paper was not dark enough and it was difficult to read the titles.

The plot of the story was simple. The troop’s snack, a batch of cookies, had disappeared. It was up to the troop members to find them. They began searching the building in which we had our troop meetings. Pictures were taken of my fellow Scouts looking in various nooks and crannies. They finally catch the cookie thieves in a corner of the balcony, eating the evidence.

Unfortunately, I never finished the merit badge. I do not know why not. Maybe I lost interest, or we lost our counselor. All I know is that I still have the photographs of my picture story. Here are the pictures for you to view, in the order they were meant to be used. The photos are thumbnailed. Click on any for a larger view.

100 Days of Scouting: Day #10.

As we enter the second week of 100 Days of Scouting, I thought it might be fun to ask you all a few trivia questions and see how you do. Just like in previous trivia posts, the questions from this one come from the 1986 Scout Trivia book. These questions are taken from the “Social Skills” section of the book. (Keep in mind that these questions were based on the 1984 edition of the Boy Scout Handbook.) Good Luck!

1) What causes fainting?

2) Which flag was raised over General George Washington’s headquarters on January 1, 1776?

3) There are seven basic silent Scout hand signals to direct a group of Scouts. Name four.

4) Most accidents are minor. Name three accidents called “hurry cases”.

5) What part of the Boy Scout uniform can be used as a cravat bandage?

6) Why would a few coins in your pocket be helpful in an emergency?

7) What system of signaling uses two flags?

8 ) What is the dignified way to destroy a Uniter States flag?

9) What direction does blood flow in an artery?

10) What are three ways you can make your community the best it can be?

Are you done?

Are you sure of your answers?

You are? Hmmmmm.

You better look them over one more time.

By the way, this is 100 Days of Scouting, Day 9.

Okay then, here are the answers…

if you are sure you are ready for them.

1) Not enough blood going to the brain.
2) The Grand Union Flag.
3) Single rank, council, troop circle, open columns, close columns, parallel file, dismissal.
4) Breathing has stopped, blood is spurting, poison has been swallowed, heart attack.
5) Scout neckerchief.
6) They can be used for a pay phone. (If you can find one in 2011.)
7) Semaphore code.
8 ) Burn it.
9) Away from the heart to the body.
10) Know your community, take part in it, feel pride in it.

How did you do? Which questions caused you to get out your old handbook?