[Philmont] Outside Rag

Having just come back from serving on Staff for our Council's Intro to Outdoor Skills Adult Leader Training Weekend, all I can say is, what a pathetic waste of column inches, paper and web press production time, not to mention internet bandwidth space.

Having spent the weekend teaching new Scout Leaders, and seeing and hearing their enthusiasm, and watching as they intently try to absorb all the information that is thrown at them, I know that neither that author (and I use that term loosely) nor her editors would be able to fully comprehend and understand what our participants have experienced. They obviously don't have a clue about the Scouting program.

This morning, as were assembling for the closing ceremony, a young Scouter I know, (a recently retired Cubmaster) who's son just Crossed Over last spring, stopped me and said "Now I get it!" My response was, "Good! Now take it back to your Troop, and help them get it."

We, as an organization, spend a tremendous amount of time preaching about and doing TRAINING. To that end, we generate a lot of Training material. To say that our "primary means of educating troop leaders is through the Boy Scouts' Fieldbook and other BSA literature" shows a complete lack of knowledge of the subject and a deceptively broad use of a response to an undoubtedly narrow question. Did this woman talk to anybody at the Council level in Phoenix? I doubt it. It appears she didn't get past National's website and phone number with her research. (This of course assumes that she did any research beyond that point.)

For her sake, I hope that the next time she goes hiking, that she doesn't get lost. But, if she does, she better hope that her rescuer isn't a Scout Leader who read that article.

Craig Winney
New Horizons District Training Staff
Greater St Louis Area Council

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As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
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Received on Sun Oct 14 21:00:40 2007