[Philmont]: philmont advisor guide

I had a further thought concerning my previous post recommending study of the Philmont advisor's guide as well as any other sources you can find.

No matter how much information you are able to assimilate and how much you are able to transfer to your crew on your shakedowns, it is still VITALLY IMPORTANT for both advisor and crew to pay rapt attention to your Philmont Ranger during the ranger training you will get in the first few days of the trek.

As Bill Cass, a former ranger, relates in his book "Return to the Summit of Scouting" (highly recommended), at p. 103 "On the surface, a ranger's job description was simple. Meet groups and stay with them until they were ready to function without a guide. The essence of the job was bringing the skill level up to where it was adequate. Occasionally, groups did need rangers---especially those groups from Rocky Mountain states and places like New Hampshire. A certain amount of reprogramming had to be done since Philmont required mastery of some new techniques and an appreciation for the hazards of mountain camping. These skills were not always in evidence, especially among Scouts from eastern cities. There was a potential for conflict with advisors who had 'taught these boys everything they need to know'. Often, some skills needed to be 'unlearned' for the next ten days. Getting green groups up to speed required intense training by the ranger."

Years later, when Cass was taking his own son's crew back to Philmont, he had similar thoughts upon meeting the crew's ranger, Todd Johnson, although Cass had been a ranger himself and had spent a good deal of time preparing his crew "I had decided not to tell Todd about my previous association with the Ranch. Just another old staffer coming back probably wasn't that unique, and I didn't want Todd to feel that someone was second guessing him as he guided us through the first few days. I had previously told our crew that I was ancient history, and the Ranch had probably changed so much that they better pay attention to someone who was on top of things." (at p. 245).

So, study as much as you can, teach the boys as much as you can, but defer to the ranger as the final authority. The kids will probably appreciate that too, as they tend to relate very well to a ranger who is only a few years older than them, rather than us old sourdoughs.

All for now.

Bill Sheehan, ASM
Troop 55, Pitman, NJ
Philmont '70,'72, Autumn Adventure '01,'03,'05 and hopefully '06

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Received on Sun Mar 19 19:11:27 2006