The Bloggers
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Andrew Coe is the Lodge Advisor for Octoraro Lodge 22, Order of The Arrow, in Chester County Council, Pennsylvania. Andy became an Eagle Scout, served on the Camp staff at Horseshoe Scout Reservation and was involved in a number of youth leadership positions in Octoraro Lodge.
Win Davis has been a member of the Boy Scouts of America for more than sixty years as a Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Scoutmaster, Sea Scout Skipper, Commissioner, Commodore and other positions too numerous to mention. As a professional Scouter Win attended the National Executive Institute at Schiff Scout Reservation in 1970.
The Bridge Builder An old man, going a lone highway, Came, at the evening, cold and gray, To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide, Through which was flowing a sullen tide. The old man crossed in the twilight dim; The sullen stream had no fear for him; But he turned, when safe on the…
EcoZoom Dura Stove While researching information to write this EcoZoom Stove review I learned some interesting things.: Half of the world cooks on a wood fire every day. They use open fires or unimproved stoves. Nearly half the world's wood supply is used for fuel and deforestation rates are rising all over the world.
Scouting Traditions are, for the most part, wonderful things, they connect us to the past and provide a bridge into the future. Scouting has many hallowed traditions that have only grown more meaningful with the patina of time. As laudable as they may be these traditions can drift from the core concepts that created them…
Half of the world cooks on a wood fire every day, and nearly half the wood supply in the world is used for fuel. High efficiency wood burning technologies have reduced the health and environmental impacts of wood fires in the developing wold.
This edition of the Scoutmaster Podcast I join Frank Maynard and Walter Underwood for a discussion about the recent change to BSA membership policy. Our aim is to look at the process, the vote, and lend some assistance and advice to Scouters who may be encountering difficulties arising form the change.
The folks at Paddling Light have published this decision tree for canoeists and kayakers faced with the eternal question; "is this the perfect campsite or should we look for another one?". If you have no idea what this is all about you haven't been in a canoe trying to decide if it's time to find…
…the business of the Scouter - and a very interesting one it is - is to draw out each boy and find out what is in him, and then to catch hold of the good and develop it to the exclusion of the bad.
There's no way to compel Scouts to respect you (or anything else for that matter). We can make them act respectful towards us or the things we say but acting respectful towards someone or something and having respect for someone or something are two very different things.
To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labor. Robert Louis Stevenson Why should you be a Scouting volunteer? Through three decades of guiding my Scouts as a volunteer Scouter I've camped and hiked and canoed my way through some beautiful places, shared a thousand campfires and…
Enjoy Memorial Day the Scoutmaster Podcast returns next Monday! We will be reminded many times today that Memorial Day is not about picnics, ballgames and the first day of summer. But it really is. Picnics, little league, trips to the beach or lake will all happen in a country where most of us are free…
While my favorite external frame backpack for Scouts is the Outdoor Products Dragonfly some prefer an internal frame backpack. Finding an internal frame pack for Scouts that has the right combination of features for a reasonable price is a challenge.
The Boy Scouts of America Statement: "For 103 years, the Boy Scouts of America has been a part of the fabric of this nation, with a focus on working together to deliver the nation's foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training.
National Executive Wayne Brock's message on the policy resolution; Anticipation and emotions are high as we prepare for the membership standards vote this week. Regardless of which way the vote goes, the important question for each of us is, where will we stand after the ballots are counted?
Here's Arlen Ward and I discussing Kandersteg International Scout Center on the most recent ScoutCircle . I'll be returning there next Summer and I encourage you to look into the possibility of taking your Scouts. If you are interested in arranging a trip I'd be happy to help.
After it's founding Scouting quickly and spontaneously spread around the world. Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of this burgeoning worldwide movement, would look back at those years and recall*: Scouting was not a year old before other countries had formed their branches.
This edition of the Scoutmaster Podcast the mailbag is overflowing and we'll discuss the Membership Standards Review information and this week's vote at the BSA national meeting. Links in this Podcast: Membership standards review information – (the PDF and Video mentioned in the podcast.) ScoutCircle ScoutmasterCG YouTube Channel Scoutmaster Podcast 172 – Membership Review
After reviewing this BSA Membership Standards Review Information on Thursday, May 23, approximately 1400 voting members representing 265 local councils will vote on a resolution that, in short, removes the stipulation that boys can be excluded from membership in the BSA based on sexual orientation alone.
Published by Scouts UK with a forward by Bear Grylls The Outdoor Adventure Manual is packed with practical Scout skill tutorials ; tents and camping, fire, food and cooking, tools and gadgets, knots and lashings, navigation, first aid and survival, and more.
If you are looking for a reliable way to re-charge portable electronic devices on extended camping trips the Brunton Restore is a solid choice. When at full capacity the Restore's internal lithium polymer battery will recharge virtually any USB compatible device.
For a number of years I thought that real Scouts only used real Scout mess kits. The standard issue military type clam shell mess kit has a long tradition in Scouting but, compared to the alternatives available out there it is woefully inadequate.
Frank Maynard is a troop committee chairman writes the blog Bobwhite Blather . In a recent article Frank discusses three things that Scouters should never do for their Scouts; As Scouters, though, we really need to put… parenting instincts aside in order to make sure that we not only deliver the Scouting program as promised, but…
This edition of the Scoutmaster Podcast we discuss how Scouters and parents can prevent and treat homesickness. There's also an answer to an email question about the the ratio if adults to Scouts on camping trips. We wrap things up with belated (honestly, is there any other kind?)
Before the ceremony a couple of weeks ago I asked the Eagle candidates and their parents to step into a side room for a minute. I hand each family a velvet covered box. "We'll have mom practice pinning the Eagle medal on their son's left pocket flap first" I announce.
What are your expectations for summer camp merit badges? To most of us and to nearly all of our Scouts the central feature of the week at camp is earning merit badges. But what if it wasn't? What if Scouts exchanged earning summer camp merit badges for learning and doing the things that actually interest…
How do we inspire initiative in Scout Youth Leaders? The idea of connecting initiative to authority starts with this post by Dan Rockwell , Ineffective leaders seize and hoard authority; successful leaders give it. Those who cling to authority lose it.
This ranks pretty high on my list of Scout games. On a recent trip we retreated to a cabin for a few hours when it started raining. The Scouts played this game too many time to count! The scenario presented to them is that A highly radioactive isotope has been discovered and it must be…
Here are my favorite astronomy tools for showing Scouts the night sky. Get out and look at the stars the next clear night you are out camping, you don't have to be an expert or particularly knowledgeable to have a great time finding constellations and doing a little stargazing.
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate. …When the best leader's work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!'
This edition of the Scoutmaster Podcast features an interview with Scout's Australia National Youth Council Chair Chris Nielsen. We discuss the place of organized youth voice and Scouting and Chris shares a bit about Scouting in Australia. All this and your messages in the mailbag!
Mike Celland is the author and illustrator of Ultralight Backpackin' Tips , an excellent guide to changing the way you experience the outdoors. (Mike has a great blog too) In the video above Celland touches on the philosophical and practical aspects of ultra lightweight backpacking, and this ought to get you started thinking about camping in…
If you are headed off to camp this summer it's likely you will be working with one or more homesick Scouts. Understanding, preventing and treating homesickness ought to be approached like administering first aid for any other illness or injury.
My first impression of the Lansky Blade Medic was a little cynical. Another knife sharpening gadget? No thanks. A closer look got me interested and Bill Flemming at Conhocreek.com was kind enough to send me a blade medic to test (Bill, you need to put this on my tab, I am keeping it!)
Yesterday things were humming at the Scoutmastercg.com technical annex where we were pushing buttons and throwing switches feverishly trying to fix things. Good news: the site has had a pretty healthy increase in traffic over the past couple of months and it was time to upgrade our hosting service to accommodate this traffic.
The constrictor knot is a way of making a secure, temporary or semi-permanent binding (it's a good temporary whipping for a rope, closing a bag, or holding a punch of poles together.) A close cousin of the clove hitch the constrictor knot adds an additional crossing of the ends under the full wrap.
In this edition of the Scoutmaster Podcast we feature our second installment of The Colorado Experiment, the story of a new Scoutmaster and a new troop. All this and your messages in the mailbag! Links in this Podcast: ScoutCircle ScoutmasterCG YouTube Channel Scoutmaster Podcast 169 The Colorado Experiment 2
Here's three handy phrases for Scoutmasters from an interview on next week's podcast. You may find these useful in any number of situations. How would you use these phrases? Three Handy Phrases for Scoutmasters
What are balanced Scouting activities? This time of year I get colorful brochures in my actual mailbox (if you look outside your house there's probably a little tin container that people put paper documents called ‘mail' in periodically, it's a quaint custom) and my email inbox from amusement parks, sporting venues, whitewater rafting companies and…
Here's my list of top ten fire starters: Good strike-anywhere matches are increasingly difficult to find. I stock up on my favorite brand (Redbird from Eddy Match in Ontario) when we are in Canada for our canoe trips. Lightweight and reliable (if kept dry ) A disposable butane lighter may get a little sluggish at very…
We replaced our old propane gas lanterns five or more years ago with Coleman Pack-Away LED Lanterns. Like any Scout gear they've been battered, bruised and broken and we've decided it's time they were replaced. Overall the Rayovac Sportsman seems to be built more solidly than the Coleman Pack-Away.The telescoping feature of the Coleman Pack-Away…
In this edition of the Scoutmaster Podcast we answer emails about the membership standards resolution, a Scout who's being bullied and picked on, wearing the Eagle Mentor pin, another blue card problem, and Scouts who are picky eaters. All this and your messages in the mailbag!
On April 19 the B.S.A. released the Membership Standards Study Initiative Executive Summary and the Membership Standards Resolution to be voted on in our May national meeting. Like many people on both sides of the question my first impression of the membership standards resolution was disappointment and frustration.
We depend on satellite phone rental for emergency communications during our annual high adventure canoe trips. Since we'll be travelling out of cell phone range we want some way to contact help if needed. There are a number of technologies available but a satellite phone is the only one that enables two-way voice communication If…
Overshadowed The way it ought to be How is the one essential feature of Scouting explained? We are all familiar with this quote form the founder of Scouting; The Patrol System is the one essential feature in which Scout training differs from that of all other organizations, and where the System is properly applied, it…
Give this pioneering-themed game a try. An alligator infested river, a few Scout staves and some ropes, one Scout must get across the river without feeding the alligators! Click the image to see full-sized alligator river game as a PDF file Alligator River Pioneering Game
Via Curious, Useless, or Simply Interesting Scout Knowledge What is authentic Scouting? 52 Scout leaders from 16 countries in the European Scout Region replied to a survey about the retention of young people in Scouting conducted by the World Organization of the Scouting Movement (WOSM) during the World Scout Jamboree in Sweden.
In this edition of the Scoutmaster Podcast we talk about this month's ScoutCircle, reiterate how Scouting cooperates with the family in matters of discipline and behavior, and answer a question about the Toten' Chip card. All this and your messages in the mailbag!
This composite of 70 exposures shows the trail of the ISS passing through the night sky in Germany. (Till Credner via NASA) Satellite spotting is great fun! With a little preparation you can hunt for satellites on your next camping trip.
If you are travelling in bear country follow these ten ways to avoid bears: Keep your cooking areas and sleeping areas separate (100 yards or so is the rule of thumb). Hang food and items with strong odors (ie, toothpaste, bug repellent, soap, etc.)
