From: Alan and/or Brenda Thomson (abthomson@goes.com)
Date: Sat Feb 01 2003 - 15:27:13 CST
Diane Mikulis writes...
A new thread, but right now we are struggling with how to break up our group
of 24 into two crews. For those who know, what are the pros and cons of
having the crew leader be the son of the advisor? We'll actually have 4
adults in each crew, but the way things are lining up, we could have this
father-son thing in both crews.
Comment...
Hmmm, it would have never even occurred to me to separate a father and a son
into separate crews...
As pointed out, the crew leader is selected by the youth of the crew, and
preferably (in my experience) after the initial shakedowns and the
opportunity for each boy (or at least all who are interested in being crew
leader) to lead some aspect of the shakedown. That then results in a
selection two months or so before hitting the Philmont trail, and before the
final shakedown where the crew should be functioning as it will at Philmont
(duty roster with rotating assignments or "experts" who always do the same
job, etc.).
Personal experience - my son was crew chief of our '99 crew. I "think" I
let him do his job.
My '01 crew (I was a "guest" filling an open Advisor slot in a crew from
Pa.), the crew leader as not the son of any of the Advisors, two of which
had sons in the crew. So, at least there, the pool of potential crew
leaders is larger than sons of the advisors. My troop's '01 crew (well,
they were half a crew with the rest from local troops) had a crew leader who
was the son of an advisor, who also kept well to the background.
So, it definitely can work, and should work without problems if the Advisors
do their job and keep to the background. And Philmont definitely provides
the opportunity for some exceptional quality time between a parent and
child, away from all the distractions of their regular lives. But if there
are issues between them at home, the stress of the trail can magnify them
just as easily as the serenity of the scenery can reduce them. Virtually no
way to know how that will play out.
To be experienced....
I am organizing our two crews for '04 (all the adult slots are taken, my '04
Philmont trip will be an Autumn Adventure). This is first time the troop
has had more than one. We did have two going to Sea Base last year, but
that group broke naturally based on age and interests, and crew makeup was
not an issue. The youth in the two Philmont crews are all about the same
age. There are a couple of boys from neighboring troops, who are known to
at least some of our boys. My first shot is going to be to divide the eight
father/son combos into four and four. Leaving me four youth slots in each
crew to fill, hopefully on a "buddy" basis. By the way, I am hoping that
how the crews divide evolves from the input of the Advisors going, and does
not come down to my needing to make a final decision, but I realize that it
may.
I am presuming, and think that I will encourage, the crews NOT to think
about being sister crews on the trail, but maybe to both select treks in the
same part of the ranch so that their paths will cross - that is a bridge
that does not need to be crossed for a year, so I am not focusing on that
yet, just in the back of my mind. But if that is the way the crews want to
go, they are the guys on the trail, not me.
(personal note - I really enjoyed the opportunity to meet up with my troop's
crew on the trail in '01, including on top of Baldy, which we climbed from
opposite sides the same day. My Pa. crew had a second crew from their troop
on the trail at the same time, and a couple of common layover days. There
actually was some problem between the two crews one of the times we met up.
This summer's trek WILL be a pair of sister crews, so I will get a chance to
see that dynamic up close.)
The one thing that I AM going to stress for quite some time is that the
division into the two crews is tentative and subject to some revision as the
shakedown process moves forward and things like different levels of hiking
ability become more apparent.
- Al Thomson, Troop 236, Schooley's Mountain NJ
Advisor '99, '01, and '03
Autumn Adventure '00, '02 and '04(?)
B&B '02
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