The Phil-list Dec_2007: [Philmont] Ranger 2008

From: Shane Hoffman <mycales@tx.rr.com>
Date: Wed Dec 12 2007 - 20:33:17 CST

Wow! As a multi-time advisor, I can think of nothing to add, and could not
have presented the points nearly as well.

Shane Hoffman
Advisor - Crew 445 - www.crew445.org
Committee Member - Troop 445 - www.troop445.org
Webmaster - www.philmontforum.com
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose" ~
Jim Elliot

-----Original Message-----
From: Philmont@troop47.com [mailto:Philmont@troop47.com] On Behalf Of Dr.
Bob Klein
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 6:17 PM
To: Philmont List Member
Subject: [Philmont] Ranger 2008

Matt - Installment Number II (or) What I as an Advisor would expect
and/or like to see from my Ranger.

In the interests of brevity (not something I am often accused of), I
will not repeat here the comments I made last month. However, I still
believe that those comments (and everyone else's too) are still a good
general summary, and I recommend that you read them again (all of them).
If nothing else, it will show you that Advisor advice varies all over
the map. Caveat Emptor.

It will be impossible for you to develop a m.o. that will delight
everyone - it could hardly be otherwise when your Crews will vary from
highly experienced and barely needing a Ranger at all, to utterly
clueless, dysfunctional, and in actuality needing a Ranger escort for
most if not their entire trek (if such a thing was allowed). [Your
Training Rangers will be happy to relay all the horror stories you can
stand.] Understand that variance, and don't go nuts trying to be all
things to all people. Fortunately most of your Crews will be between
those two extremes, in your classic bell pattern distribution.

You asked for what worked. You didn't ask for what didn't work, and in
many ways that is equally or more instructive. Here are some comments
from my personal point of view, both positive and negative. I'm sure
others will chime in. Remember that these are my personal opinions, not
a writ from God, offered in the spirit of helpful advice.

1) Be quick in getting to the Welcome Center when called. If you're
Johnny on the Spot, you'll make a good impression on everyone. Flip
side from an Advisor's viewpoint, it is simply infuriating to get up at
3:30 am "somewhere in Colorado", drive 4 or 5 hours to get to Philmont
"early" (by 8:30 or 9:00 am), and then stand around for an hour or more
waiting for the Ranger to show up. Yes, this has happened to me (our
wait one year was 90 minutes, and the Welcome Center Staff would not
even allow us to move our gear to our tents, for reasons that still
mystify me). We didn't even get an apology or an explanation when the
Rangers did finally show up. Naturally, we were then behind the
timeline all day long, and also got a late bus the next day "because we
were late" to Trek Planning. I was lucky I passed the blood pressure
check that day.

2) Spend a Couple of Minutes with the Advisors at the Welcome Center.
Some Rangers go a little overboard with the brusque
"Nice-to-meet-you-Where's-your-Crew-Chief?" routine. Yes, I understand
that's what you're taught. Take it under advisement. Most of the
Advisors are just as excited to be at Philmont as their Scouts. The old
aphorism that "You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression"
is damn good advice here. Three or four or five minutes chatting
everyone up, including the Advisors, will go a long way in bonding with
your Crew; it's time well spent. You don't need to have your Advisors
pissed off at you 10 seconds after you meet them - and if they are,
you're already in a hole with the entire Crew before you even learn the
Crew Chief's name.

3) Know the Basecamp Circus Cold. If you are able to guide your Crew
quickly and efficiently through the various Day I chokepoints, again you
will make a very favorable impression. On the flip side, experienced
Advisors in particular will quickly become unhappy if you're insisting
on doing scutwork while lines are building up everywhere - especially if
they got up at oh-dark-thirty and busted hump getting to Philmont to
avoid that very scenario. Even novice Advisors will recognize that a
lot of hurry-up-and-wait could have been avoided if you were a little
more adept at picking your way through the maze, and not just
methodically going through the checkoff list. Get good at the paper chase.

4) Quickly Recognize Experienced/Well Trained Crews, and modify the
S.O.P. accordingly. Probably a third of your Crews are already
heavy-duty backcountry campers. Probably half of that subgroup are
already Philmont trained, and have at least a few members (Advisors,
Crew Chiefs, and Scouts) that have been to Philmont before (they're the
ones that did the training). Too many Rangers see experience in their
assigned Crews, and inwardly groan because they've been repeatedly told
"what a royal pain in the ass repeat Advisors and Scouts are to deal
with." Nice insult to those Advisors' and Scouts' previous Rangers,
huh? The real problem is that these Rangers are incapable of modifying
to suit, and insist on pounding "the way we do things" over everyones'
heads. If you're a college sophomore taking Organic Chemistry, you
don't need to be forced to take the High School sophomore year
Introduction to Science Class - and if you were, you'd resent it. Same
here. Ask the Crew some questions - ever been to Philmont before?
When? How about other BSA backpacking treks? Where? When? How many
shakedowns did you do? Where? Tough events, huh? Anyone teach you the
Philmont ways of camping? Got all your own Crew gear? Got a list of
Crew gear and personal gear that everyone in the Crew used? Can I see
it? Is this how everyone is packed? In 10 minutes discussion you'll
have a pretty good sense of how prepared - or unprepared - this Crew is,
and you can rationally proceed from there. Half the Crews will need the
full Monty. Some less, and a few significantly less. If a Crew already
knows how to run, don't force them to learn how to walk - instead,
emphasize the new protocols and changes that Philmont has implemented
since their last Philmont experience.

5) Support Trek Augmentation(s). Most Crews only want to do their trek,
or want to make changes that can't be approved (like switching
campsites). Nothing you can do about that. But a few of us want to go
the extra mile, do extra programs, longer trails, more peaks, whatever.
This past year, my Crew 2 did Trek 32 straight up. My Crew 1 (the
Crew I was in) did Trek 32 plus an extra 25 miles. When a Crew wants to
do things like this, unless they're obviously inept, take an interest,
look over their plans, offer support, and make suggestions. You know
the Ranch as well as anyone, and your advice and counsel will be well
valued.

6) Be Early for All Other Appointments. Vis #1 above. If you make
appointments to meet for meals, for Campfires, for photos, whatever, be
sure to be there a little early - not late. It is amazing how often
some of my Rangers (virtually all of whom were damn good, by the way)
would set up an appointment, get a blood oath sworn by the Crew Chief to
be there on time, and then they'd be 10, 15, 20 minutes late. Grrrrrr!

7) On the trail, if the Crew wants to show you how they do things,
always accept. Let them do their thing, and if nothing violates
Philmont policy or common sense, let it ride - especially if they're
obviously proficient at it. Once they're done, offer suggestions,
explain and (where appropriate) demo the Philmont methods, discuss
differences and advantages. Explain is always better than Dictate. And
realize that if you dictate for no good reason other than "because I
said so", the Crew will happily do whatever they feel like the second
you leave for Basecamp. Don't order, convince.

8) Before you leave a Crew, find out if there's any possibility of
meeting up on the trail. It is amazing how much a Ranger visiting his
Crew in the back country, even for just 5 minutes, will brighten up a
Crew. If not, see if there's any way to meet them coming down off the
Tooth, or once they're back in Basecamp. If you don't have another Crew
assigned, join them for dinner, whether at the cafeteria or at Simple
Simons, wherever. Get some photos taken. Exchange email addresses.
Make everyone sorry to see you walk away for the last time.

The last comment I will make here is that there's another group that
should be offering comments, and that's some of the former Rangers on
this List-Serve. You guys also know what makes for a good Ranger; let's
hear it. If you're wary of exposing trade secrets, let Matt know what
you think, off-line.

- Dr. Bob

Matt B. wrote:
> Dr. Bob,
>
> Please forgive my delay in responding but I have been waiting on a
> package from Philmont which arrived today with some information (staff
> guide, contracts, specific duties, etc.) I wanted to have more
> information from Philmont before I asked any other questions.
>
> Thank you very much for providing me with a great deal of information
> for the summer. It seems that most people I have talked to have told me
> to go out and get to know the crew which seems to resolve many issues.
> I must confess that I have a bit more experience than I may have
> suggested in my first message, did Rayado in 2006 but wanted to hear
> advice that would not be colored with the assumption of experience, I am
> sure you can understand how the responses might have differed.
>
> If I may ask for some specific advice from an Advisor, what have you
> seen from staffers in the past that has WORKED and that has made your
> trek better for the youth and adults? I am a bit worried about going up
> to Philmont from sea level and then leaving on my training trek, any
> tips for this? On my last trek, I got very sick the first week because
> of the elevation which is not something that I want to experience with a
> crew looking up to me to set the example. The last thing, for now, I am
> looking at making a list of gear to acquire for this summer (working in
> a gear store is a big plus in this area) but is there anything that you
> could reccomend to make life eaiser in Base and on the Trail?
>
> Thank you for your advice and I hope to hear from you soon.
>
> Matt B.

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Received on Thu Dec 13 10:09:39 2007

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