The Sports Trifecta MB’s that we are currently working on during the Monday night meetings is going really well. I want to remind everybody that Personal Fitness MB is Eagle-Required, and will require at least one meeting in the Fall of 2009 to complete the requirements.
I really want to get the parents of T18 serious about the BSA ”Youth Protection” on-line Training. I’m talking about Dads and Moms as well. Every parent should do this. Spend the 15-20 minutes it takes to do this on-line training course. This is really very well-done, informative, and can be completed in about 20 minutes. Please print your certificate and bring that to me. Go to http://olc.scouting.org/ The Youth Protection Training is in the 2nd column about 3 down from the top. Sign in with your email address, and you DO NOT have to complete the sign-in with BSA specific info. Once you finish the training, please print the certificate and give me a copy for our T18 file. You will have a greater understanding about the role of Scouting in your son’s life and you’ll be a better parent because of this, I promise. We need more Dads to complete this on-line course to be in compliance with BSA policies about camping.
• On April 20, T18 will have an election for the “Order of the Arrow”. This is a national BSA honorary society for guys who love to Camp. The requirements for this are 15 nights of BSA Camping, at least one sustained 5 night campout(like Camp Hood), and 1st Class rank. Last year we had 27 Scouts on our Ballot, but only elected 2. We will work over the next 2 weeks to make sure that the T18 Scouts understand the significance of our OA elections. We would expect for about half of the Scouts on the ballot to be elected. This is not a popularity contest or an election for the “Most Likely to Succeed”, but rather a vote on who you are comfortable with in the woods. On a personal level, I’d really like to see Troop 18 embrace the OA and get more involved. This election is one way of doing just that.
•Monday night(April 6th) we WILL have our regular T18 Meeting. Please wear your Class A Uniform because we will not be doing any sort of Fitness Challenge. It will be in Patterson Hall(where the last COH was), and it will be a very special night. Dr. Bryant Boswell is a former T18Scoutmaster(several times!!, my Dentist, and a real authority on the Lewis and Clark “Voyage of Discovery”). During the recent bicentennial of the L&C Expedition, Dr. Boswell played the role of Meriweather Lewis and spent 2 years retracing the initial expedition in “period” clothes and sleeping in “period” tents with blankets instead of modern “North Face” sleeping bags. His presentation for us will be genuine and heartfelt, and he wants to talk to the T18 Scouts as well as their parents. Feel free to bring siblings!!!! We will have plenty of Room.
• In October, 2009….Dr. Boswell has invited T18 to camp along side the “period” re-enactors near Olive Branch. MS. During the 2003-2005 re-enactment of the L&C Discovery Expedition, Dr. Boswell told me that almost every night on the trail they had Boy Scout Troops camping along side them. This will be the final re-enactment of the “L&C Bicentennial”, and sounds like a great(and unusually un-repeatable) experience for T18. Our Scouts will learn a lot through the “living history” aspect of this campout. We will camp alongside the “period” guys, and have unprecedented access to living history. We will also miss a few days of school. I have already gotten approval from GHerring(FPDS) and TPowers(JP)……Please let me know who at your school needs contacting. This will be an awesome outdoor experience for T18 next Fall.
I thought we had a good talk at our last Monday meeting about these merit badges. I am inserting my notes into this post so that the scouts will be able to find information on the reuirements for these merit badges.
http://meritbadge.org/wiki/images/a/ab/Camping.pdf
http://meritbadge.org/wiki/images/c/c7/Hiking.pdf
http://meritbadge.org/wiki/images/7/79/Backpacking.pdf
Lee Bowie’s notes:
Outline for Camping/Hiking/Backpacking Merit Badges
Read Chs. 8, 9 & 10 (or re-read) in your scout handbook
Topic Requirement # Information
First Aid C1; H1; B1 T/S/F & 1st Aid MB; Ch. 11
LNT C2; H2; B4 P. 244-45
Outdoor Code C2 P. 218-19
Topo/GPS C3; B6 S1ab; F1, F2; Ch. 8
Patrol Roster C4;
Clothing C5; H4; B2 P. 202-06
Footwear C5; H2; P. 200-201; 390
Personal Gear C5/7; H4; B2 P. 206-10; 224-27
Tent C6; P. 236-39;
Bags C6; P. 240-41
Backpacks C6/8; P. 228-231
Water Treatment C6; B5 P. 255-56
Stoves/Fuel C8; B8 P. 233, 248, 253-55
Food C8; H4; Ch. 10; T/S/F
Aerobic/Prep H3; P. 215
Weather B7;
Crew B3 P. 234-35; 214-215
Scout Principles C10
20 nights C9 (includes 2 activities out of 6; 1 can be 4 mile backpack; and conservation project)
Hiking H 5/6/7 (five 10 mile hikes; one 20 mile hike)
Backpacking B9 (2miles);
B10 (three 15 miles/2 campsites);
B11 (one 5 day/30 miles w/Service Project)