Troop 160 Lexington

Scoutmaster Hank Manz
April 8, 2006 Edition

Volunteers Needed

This was announced at troop meeting last week, but it might have been missed. I need three or four Scouts to help with serving coffee this Sunday, April 9th, for just one hour at St. Brigids. Scouts who can help should show up in Keilty Hall at 10:30 AM and will be done by roughly 11:30 AM. Wear Class A uniform. This is a service project for our sponsor who gives us space to meet, a place to store our equipment, and a place to hold our annual Pancake Breakfast which funds our operation for the year. And it only takes one hour out of your life!!

Helping with events like this re-introduces us to our sponsor and to the community.

Definitions

It has come to my attention that several parents do not know all of the Scout terms we throw into our conversation. Herewith a short list:

• JASM–Junior Assistant Scoutmaster–Scouts 16 and older or ex-SPLs of any age. These Scouts tend to have a great deal of experience and are used as roving helpers for younger Scouts. They are assistants to the Scoutmaster, but do not consider themselves separate from the troop. JASMs willingly accept instructions from the SPL, for instance.

• Green Bar–Scouts roughly 14 and older. By that time all have had experience in a position of responsibility such as Patrol Leader or Assistant Patrol Leader, hence the name which recalls t! he green stripes of those jobs. In the past we have had as many as two Green Bar contingents organized roughly into patrols. Again, these are older Scouts with quite a bit of experience.

• SPL–Senior Patrol Leader. He is the leader of the troop and is elected by the other Scouts in the troop. All elected positions are for a six month term and there are term limits of two terms.

• ASPL–Assistant Senior Patrol Leader. These three Scouts form the senior staff for the SPL. They are the ASPL for Program, the ASPL for New Scouts, and the ASPL for Jr. Leaders. The Junior Leaders who report to the ASPL for Jr. Leaders are the Librarian, Scribe, OA Rep, Historian, Quartermaster and Chaplain’s Aide. These Junior Leader jobs are held by Scouts who are also a member of a patrol. The Instructors report to the ASPL for Program and the Guides report to the ASPL for New Scouts. Again, the Junior Leaders in these positions are also members of a patrol.

• PL–Patrol Leader. He is the leader of a 5-8 Scout patrol. He is elected by the other members of the patrol.

• APL–Assistant Patrol Leader. He appointed by the Patrol Leader and leads the patrol in the absence of the PL.

• Troop Guides–Two or three Scouts who are responsible for training of New Scouts.

• Instructors–Much the same as the Guides, but in this case they are responsible for the entire troop.

• JLT–Junior Leader Training. Specific training for a position. At the Council level, the new term is YLT for Youth Leader training. Troop 160 runs its own in-house JLT program just after each election. The term “Junior Leader” will probably eventually give way to something like “Youth Leader” or maybe something like “Scout Leader.” The problem with “Junior Leader” is that it leads a person outside of Scouting to think that the position is somehow subordinate to an adult filling the same position when, in fact, the Scouts are in charge.

New Scout Hike

We have just come home from the New Scout Hike to Willard Woods. This is the traditional first overnight as Scouts. It is organized by the SPL with all training done by the Guides. Joey, Tom, Alex, Nathan, and Ryan did a superb job in leading this adventure. We hiked, cooked, camped, and slept while it was raining and we all survived. We all thank Greg for going along as an adult leader.

The food was purchased by the adults and the adults and the SPL and his staff did a lot of the work associated with meal preparation and cleanup. That is standard for the New Scout hike, but will never happen again while the New Scouts are in Troop 160. From now on they will be responsible for planning their own meals, buying their own food, and (gasp) preparing it.

All of the Scouts who went on the trip seemed to have very healthy appetites, by the way. We also met quite a few dogs and one of them gave us a story which will be retold many times, I am sure. My duffle washed out nicely, I am happy to say. Yeah–I know everybody spells it “duffel” these days, but I still stick with the old spelling …

I wish I had pictures to post, but having lost a couple of cameras to rain already, I decided to leave mine at home for this trip.

The troop has two weather-related awards for outdoor camping. One is the 100 Degrees of Frost Award. The other is the Days of Rain Award. The eligibility committee will have to rule on the campout this weekend, but! given that we hiked, set up, and cooked in the rain, it may qualify. I know that no Scout has ever qualified for this award before they ever achieved the rank of Scout.

Posting

I am leaving out last names because much of our material is posted on our troop Web site and our troop policy is to omit last names from all such postings. Henceforth, things like this will simply be posted on the site and a reminder sent by e-mail to check the Web site. That will keep your Inbox uncluttered. Our Web site can be found at www.troop160.com. Check it out.

I am sure I have allowed an error or two to creep in somewhere. I apologize in advance for those.