I was a "green advisor" once, last time we went. I was responsible for
coordinating 2 crews and was Lead Advisor for one of them. Not SS, but Trek
24 ain't no small potatoes either. I rarely felt uncomfortable in my role
even though our crew was made up of mostly boys that had never been before.
I have some hiking/backpacking experience and I had another advisor that was
more experienced than me.
The best thing I did, bar none, was to purchase a copy of the Coop Wright
Philmont Advisor's Guide for all of the advisors in both crews. I didn't
give them a test afterwards, but it was clear a lot of that guide got read.
Coop's handbook makes things very predictable and provides some of the
foresight you might not have if you don't buy and read it. I referred back
to it on many occasions and was glad to have it. The other book I would
suggest is the Field Handbook, one per crew.
If all the advisors are totally new, never backpacked before, and were
planning the trek, I would hope they would "pull" the contingent advisor
into the fold and ask for help. The lion's share of the crews, though, are
not part of a contingent, so they are in the same boat.
Remember this, the Contingent Advisor will not be in the backcountry with
your crew, the advisors will. They ultimately have to be prepared. There
are Contingent Advisors that mentor and aid their Crew Advisors, I was in
correspondence with one the other day off-list, and those guys are
outstanding. They're also probably a minority. Read Coop's handbook, CALL
the contingent advisor, and seek out an experienced Advisor from your
district Roundtable who might be able to guide you.
Joe Tavares
Richardson, TX
Troop 728
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-philmont@troop47.com [mailto:owner-philmont@troop47.com] On
Behalf Of Alan and/or Brenda Thomson
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2005 10:39 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
Subject: [Philmont]: Contingent Training (was Pre-Trek Training Agreements)
Michael_J_Conkey writes...
So you defer to the crew advisors, rather than the contingent advisor??
What if the crew advisor is green (has never been to Philmont). We are
thinking about doing all our training as a CONTINGENT? Maybe we need to
re-think this?
Comments...
Patriots' Path Council sends two contingents of eight crews each every year,
and has an extensive preparation process in place for those crews (subject
of an article in Scouting magazine earlier this year). That process
includes four evening briefings (in Nov, Jan, Mar, and June) for all the
advisors, each two hours or so, going over things like crew training,
equipment, trek selection considerations, travel information, etc. There is
also a weekend long program (in May) for all crew members.
That weekend program is largely structured to deal with just one crew at a
time (including everything that would be considered "training"). During the
weekend there are also a few other activities organized for various larger
groups, such as half the crews at one time, all the crews, all the youth,
all the adults, etc.
The focus of the entire process is to get information to the each crew's
Advisors so they can train their crew and crew leader. Except for travel,
nothing is done as a contingent, so I'm not sure why you would want, or
need, to "train" as a contingent.
- Al Thomson, Troop 236, Schooley's Mountain NJ Treks 1999, 2001, and 2003
Autumn Adventures 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006
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