Reset, reboot, and start over.    I was asleep and did not remember the date change when this subject came up last night at the committee meeting.  Because of other conflicts, the dates for JLT have been changed to the 15th/16th of October.

The adult role is mostly to sit around and provide health and safety coverage.  You also get to sleep over.  I need at least one more adult and two would be even better because sometimes things happen during the evening which require an adult to leave for a few minutes.

-Hank

One of the courses you have to take to be a fully trained Scoutmaster or Assistant Scoutmaster is Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills.  But don’t stop reading yet, because this is also a very good course to take no matter what you are doing in Boy Scouts as an adult.

The basic idea of the course is to give you an idea of what a First Class Scout should know.  Remember that Robert Baden Powell opined that First Class was the most important rank because it made you self-sufficient.  You will learn how to run a campfire.  You will learn how to pitch a tent.  How to tie the six basic knots (although I still have never met anybody who actually uses a sheepshank and for most things a square knot is a bad choice).  The three basic lashings.  First aid.  Proper care of woods tools.  And much, much more.

The course is one full day plus an additional morning.  You will camp out in a tent you have pitched yourself so you can be up bright and early for that additonal morning.

The next course is at the end of October at Camp Sayre, just a few miles south of here.  The cost is a really attractive $15 and that includes food.

You do not need to have taken the course in Leader Specific Skills.  In fact, I like doing taking IOLS and then LSS rather than the other way ’round.  I re-took IOLS last year and am really glad I did.  Where else would I have learned that a day-old doughnut, crushed pineapple, and some tinfoil would make a really tasty dessert?

Check it out at: http://bsaboston.org/registration/calendardetail.asp?orgkey=909&ActivityKey=730022 if you are interested.

“But I don’t have a tent and sleeping bag” you say.  Just check with me and the troop will loan you what you need.  I think we even have a sleeping pad or two and we definitely have sleeping bags.  And by the time you get back from IOLS, you will know how everything works.

-Hank

For those scouts who did not complete Swimming Merit Badge at Camp this year (see list below)—there will be an opportunity
to finish requirements.

Location: OLD RES
Time:    3-4pm
Bring:    Suit/towel and dry clothes.  Also bring old pair
long pants (not jeans) and long sleeve shirt for
clothes inflation.
I will need one other parent to stay during the exercise.  Please let me know if you will NOT be able to make it.  Also any parent who can volunteer to stay.  Thanks.

Meg Bonnell-Bradley