| Guide |
We’re glad to have you and your son with us in Troop 116 of the Boy Scouts of America.
This booklet is a guide to some of our Troop basics. Some of the information here is based on Boy Scouts of America policy and the way scouts do things, and some things are specific to our – and your – Troop.
Please feel free to ask questions about anything you don’t understand. Also, if you feel we need to add something to this booklet, please let us know what it is.
Before a boy can join a scout troop, he must meet the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) requirements by:
A boy must also be under 18 years old.
No previous scouting experience is required.
The fact that its boy members lead a Boy Scout troop is the biggest difference between Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. Boy Scouts are responsible for planning Troop activities in detail and carrying them out. Boys plan for and cook their own meals on campouts. The boys pack their own packs, set up their own tents, and run their own patrol activities.
Adults still play critical roles in a Boy Scout troop, however. Adults provide the vital support behind the boys, training them when they need training, guiding them when they need guidance, making sure Boy Scout policies, guidelines and safety rules are followed, and doing those jobs that only adults can do – such as driving.
You will need to fill out and return each of these:
The requirement above and the other BSA joining requirements are given in detail on page 4 of your new scout’s Boy Scout Handbook.
The Troop meets on Monday evenings, 7:00 to 8:30, at The Senior Center in Sherwood.
The troop meets year round except during summer
camp week, during the Christmas season, and on national holidays.
Please pick your son up promptly at 8:30.
Your son is expected to come to meetings regularly. Of course, sometimes too much
homework, family obligations or other conflicts may keep him from coming. Also, some
scouts in the troop "take a break" from scouting during one sport season or another and
then come back when the season is over. It’s best, however, for him to come to as many
meetings as he can. This way, he knows what’s going on in the Troop, he can learn from
the skill sets and have fun during games, and he can keep advancing in his scout skills and ranks.
Parents are most welcome and encouraged to attend meetings too.
The meeting is typically divided into these parts:
Patrol members take care of planning and carrying out the meeting setup, flag ceremonies, games, skill sets and cleanup. Responsibilities are rotated among the patrols.
The scouts of Troop 116 plan plenty of
outdoor fun. Troop 116 goes camping about once a month. We don’t have a Troop camping
trip during the month we go to summer camp, and don’t camp in December or February. We
go no matter what the weather, but stick to the scout motto “Be prepared,” so that we can
enjoy the outing in any weather.
The boys also plan day trips several times a year. Patrols may plan their own outings, too.
The more outings and camping trips your son goes on, the faster he’ll develop his scouting
skills and the faster he will advance through the scouting ranks.
Check our website for the Troop’s annual calendar, an outline of the year’s planned activities.
To go on an outing, your son needs to turn in his permission slip on time.
If you plan to drive scouts at any point
during your son’s tenure in the troop, you will fill out information about your vehicle
and your automobile insurance on a Troop form. Your son’s permission slips, and the
information about your vehicle, help insure that you and your son are covered by the
insurance the Troop holds through the BSA when you participate in Troop activities and
outings.
There might be an activity fee for the outing. Your son will also pay for the food
he’ll eat, whether meals are planned and cooked by his patrol (as on a camping trip), or
individually bought or brought (as on a day trip).
We usually travel as scouts wearing Class A uniforms. Your son should wear his unless
the Troop has decided to wear the Class B uniform instead.
Your scout will get a handout with details about the outing a few weeks beforehand,
and a list of what to bring on the outing at the Troop meeting before. The handout and
flyer with details are posted on the website as well, as is a generic permission slip.
Troop 116 goes to summer
camp every year for one week. The scouts themselves help choose which camp the Troop
will go to. At camp, boys learn skills, work on badges, play games, take part
in campfire programs and generally have a good time.
The cost is usually under $200.
Boys can apply their fundraiser scout account earnings to this cost (see the section on Dues,
Fundraising and What Scouting Costs). If your family still can’t afford the cost,
talk to the Committee Chair or the Scoutmaster about a campership.
As summer approaches, you’ll get plenty of details about when and where camp will be,
what badges boys can choose to work on at camp, activities, and what to bring.
Information, announcements, and schedules for Troop 116 can be found on the
internet at: www.geocities.com/scouttroop116.
The website is updated whenever new information is available.
At the end of each weekly meeting, your scout will get a reminder sheet and
any other handouts. All handouts are posted on the website, too.
We use email quite a bit to communicate with each other, and use the phone,
and U.S. mail, too, as needed.
In Boy Scouts, the boys
themselves are responsible for planning and running most of the activities. The
adult volunteers are there to give them advice, leadership training, and support.
When a scout has a question or concern about the troop, he should first go to the
junior leadership rather than to the adult volunteers.
Patrols
Your son will be a member of a patrol in Troop 116 (pp. 16 - 23, Boy Scout Handbook).
Within each patrol, the scouts elect a patrol leader who then appoints his assistant.
New and young scouts start out in a new scout patrol (p. 18, Boy Scout Handbook).
The new scout patrols will have an experienced Assistant Scoutmaster and an older
scout, called a troop guide, to help them learn new skills and how to be part of
the troop. Members choose a name for their patrol from a list, and make their
own flag.
Patrols meet every week during the Troop meeting to plan or carry out activities.
Usually we follow the patrol method of camping. In the patrol method, each patrol
is responsible for its own menu planning, food purchasing, cooking, and cleanup.
Each patrol checks out its own camping equipment. Patrol members will set up tents
and cook for themselves. They will have times when they plan their own activities
for part of a campout, and they all have a role in the nightly campfire get-together.
The patrol lives as a group on campouts. Boys do not eat or sleep with anyone who
is not a member of their patrol.
Senior Patrol Leader
The senior patrol leader (SPL) is in charge of the troop (p. 26, Boy Scout Handbook).
He is elected by all of the scouts in the troop by secret ballot. Troop elections
are held twice a year. The senior patrol leader appoints an assistant (ASPL). A
scout must be active in the troop and be at least first class in rank to be nominated
for senior patrol leader.
Patrol Leaders' Council
The patrol leaders' council (PLC) (p. 24, Boy Scout Handbook) is headed by the
senior patrol leader. Voting members are the SPL and patrol leaders. The PLC
has a troop program planning conference in June to outline the troop activities
for the coming year. The PLC meets each week before the Troop meeting to plan the
details of troop meetings and outings for the coming month. Once a month, the PLC
meets for one hour for more detailed planning. That evening, the regular troop
meeting starts at 7:30.
Other troop leadership positions for boys, (p. 172, Boy Scout Handbook) appointed
by the senior patrol leader, include quartermaster, scribe, troop historian, librarian,
chaplain’s aide, and Order of the Arrow troop representative.
Parents: you, both men and women,
are invited to be active with and help in the Troop. You can go on outings,
drive boys to and from activities, become an Assistant Scoutmaster or a committee
member, become a merit badge counselor, and help at meetings. At meetings, because
the scouts run the troop, helping may consist of advising a scout or patrol,
assisting with advancement, or maybe just watching. Your help still makes a
difference.
We need you to take an active interest in your son’s Boy Scout achievements
and activities. The more you are involved, the more success your son will have
in scouting. His success, in return, benefits the entire Troop. Our experience
has been that boys thrive particularly when their parents are active members of
our Troop’s organization who participate regularly at meetings and during
outings.
The Scoutmaster and the
Assistant Scoutmasters work most directly with the scouts. Training and
guiding the boy leaders in running their own troop is the Scoutmasters’
most important job.
The adults of the troop committee give the support that helps makes the
program planned by the boys a reality. The committee chairman organizes
and delegates the tasks within the committee. Other key members of the
committee are the secretary, treasurer, outdoor/activities chairman,
advancement chairman, equipment coordinator, chaplain and assistant,
and training coordinator.
Merit badge counselors offer their time, experience and knowledge to
help guide scouts in one or more of the merit badge subjects. Your
life experience, job experience, education, and/or training qualify you
to be a merit badge counselor. You don’t have to have a PhD in the
subject to be an effective counselor. All knowledge a boy needs
(and you, too) about a badge subject is contained in the Boy Scout
merit badge booklets. A boy working on the subject needs to demonstrate
his knowledge and expertise to you, the counselor – not the other way
around. Merit badges are listed on pages 188-193 of the Boy Scout
Handbook.
We recommend that
adults limit themselves to counseling FIVE badges and that we all
restrict the number of badges for which we are counselors for our
own sons. The merit badge program was designed to allow a boy to
sample a wide variety of interests but also to learn to develop and
establish links with adults outside their family, an important skill
needed in adulthood.
Every scout deserves a trained leader; BSA offers free or nearly free
instructions or training for adults interested in any of the roles
available.
Class A uniform
This is the official Boy Scout uniform as it is described in the Boy Scout Handbook, pp. 12-13.
Your son should wear it to meetings, while traveling to campouts and other places with your Troop, and while participating in any other Troop activity where he hasn’t been asked to wear his Class B uniform (see below).
Boy Scout troops have a variety of neckerchief colors and hats to choose from when they establish their own uniform. Troop 116 uses a green neckerchief with a red border, and the campaign hat. Boys are encouraged to, but not required to wear the hat to Troop events or outings.
Your son should wear the merit badge sash only during Courts of Honor, held about every 3 months, and only after he has earned six or more badges that are sewn onto the sash.
Class B uniform
This is a Troop or other scout t-shirt, worn with any pants or shorts. Your new Boy Scout should wear his class B uniform during campouts, or when he’s asked to because it makes sense to dress more casually. If he’s going to help plant trees near a stream or clean up a park during a Troop service project, for example, he’ll be asked to wear his class B uniform.
Changing The Webelos Shirt Into a Boy Scout Shirt
If your boy was a Webelos Scout and has already been wearing the tan Webelos shirt, you can make only a few changes to turn it into a Boy Scout shirt.
Here’s how you do it:
Your son will need his own copy of the Boy Scout Handbook. This has information on just about everything he needs to learn to become a capable, knowledgeable scout. Almost all he needs to know about first aid, outdoor skills, outdoor cooking, rank advancement, how a scout troop works, and more is here. He should refer to it often. You may want to, also.
He’ll be using the same handbook throughout his scouting years, so you might want to buy a book cover to go with it. A spiral binding is nice to have, since it lets the book lie flat when opened to a particular page.
He should be sure never to lose his Boy Scout Handbook. As he earns ranks in scouting, all his rank achievements are signed in his book (pp. 438-449). If he loses his book and doesn’t have a photocopy of his record of rank achievements, he may have to do them over! Help him make a photocopy of each signed rank page as he finishes requirements, and help him find a safe place to keep them, too.
Scout Outdoor Essentials
First, your new scout will need his scout essentials. He should carry these with him on all camping trips and day hikes. You will need your own set of essentials, too.
Many scouts use a fanny pack for their essentials, always packed and ready to go. Some pack their essentials in a large Ziploc bag, or a zippered bag with mesh or see-through sides, that they can toss in a daypack. A daypack gives him room for an extra shirt or jacket for changeable weather.
Patrol leaders check their members’ essentials before each activity – it’s important that they be kept up to date. The essentials packet is of little use if, for example, the matches were used on a previous campout and never replaced. If not replaced, they will not be there if there is ever an emergency during which they do become essential.
Scout Outdoor Essentials
Your son probably won’t need much more than a sleeping bag, pad and something to carry his gear and clothing in for the first few outings. It might make sense to borrow some gear if you don’t already have it at home, until you’re sure what you want to buy or have had the chance to buy things on sale.
If you don’t already have the right camping equipment and clothing at home, you can buy them at REI, GI Joe’s, or Fred Meyer in the camping department. Campmor.com on the internet often has good prices on equipment and clothing. Sometimes, you can find real bargains on camping items at garage sales, Value Village, Goodwill, or second hand stores such as The Next Adventure.
The Boy Scout Handbook has information on footwear for hiking (pp.200-201), clothing for warm and cold weather hiking and camping (pp. 202-206), scout outdoor essentials (pp.207-210) and camping gear (pp.224-231). Refer to the Handbook early and often.
During camping trips, boys sleep in troop tents, two or three boys per Eureka tent. Adults bring and sleep in their own tents. Adults and boys may never share a tent unless they are parent and son. Men and women sleep separately, on camping trips, too, except for married couples.
Each patrol has troop-owned cooking equipment, for camping trips where gear doesn’t have to be carried far. The Troop doesn’t own lightweight cooking equipment or gear (which would be used for a backpacking or overnight canoeing trip).
Patrols check out tents and cooking equipment from the troop quartermaster on the Monday before a camping trip. They return the tents and cooking equipment, clean and dry, at the troop meeting after the camping trip if they can, and at the following troop meeting at the latest. The quartermaster checks the gear to make sure it is clean, dry, and in good shape.
Troop 116 dues are $90.00 per year. Half is due in August; half in February. The dues cover only a small part what the troop spends on each boy to present him with the awards he has earned, to buy or repair troop and patrol equipment, for outing fees, and for campground fees.
The troop raises much of the rest of the money needed to do plenty of scouting with several fundraisers held each year. These have included garage sales, car washes, holiday wreath sales, and Christmas tree recycling.
Your scout (and you, too, as you are needed and are able to) is expected to do his share by participating in these fundraisers, since he, along with the rest of his troop members, benefits from the money earned.
With some fundraisers (you’ll be told which ones in advance), scouts can earn their own money for their own scout activities. These funds are kept with the troop’s funds but accounted for separately. Boys can choose to use that money for summer camp fees or similar expenses, but not for smaller expenses such as food bought for a campout. If your son has an account like this with his Cub Scout pack, it can follow him into Troop 116 and be credited to his account with the troop. If your son leaves scouting, these funds stay with the troop.
Each scout pays at least part of the cost involved for each scout outing and camping trip. Each scout pays for the cost of the food he will eat on camping trips. He usually pays part of his entry fee or other activity cost when there is one, while the troop pays the rest.
Money is collected before the outing.
The troop usually pays half of your son’s entry or activity fee for an outing. If he decides not to go, however, after saying he will and turning in his permission slip, he owes the troop the other half of the fee unless he couldn’t come because he was sick or because of a family emergency. You will find out how much an activity will cost well before your son needs turn in his permission slip.
Your new scout will need a uniform (see the section on uniforms), and will need some equipment for his outdoor adventures (see the section on outdoor equipment).
Scouting can feel expensive for some families, but we don’t want anyone to feel that his or her son can’t come on a scout outing or camping trip because it costs too much. If you need help paying for any activity, please talk to the Committee Chairman or the Scoutmaster.
As you and your soon look through the rank requirements, you may wonder about some of the terms used. What’s a Scoutmaster conference? What is a Board of Review? What does demonstrating scout spirit mean?
Most boys start working on their first merit badges during summer camp. Before that, they’re busy learning basic scout skills and earning their first scouting ranks. However, your son can start working on a merit badge whenever he wants to, also.
When your scout starts working on merit badges, he will probably want to – even need to - own or borrow the booklet that goes with the badge. You can buy any merit badge booklet at the Scout Shop. If the Troop 116 library has the booklet he needs, he can borrow it.
A boy can decide which merit badges he is interested in by reading the requirements on the website www.meritbadge.com, or in Boy Scout Requirements Book (he must complete the requirements listed in the current year’s version), available at the Scout Shop. Some merit badges are required to earn ranks after First Class, and some will be just fun or interesting for him.
Here’s what he needs to do to finish a merit badge:
Get to know the requirements well. A merit badge booklets, with all the information he needs to know for that badge, can be bought at the Scout Shop, or checked out from the troop library if they’re in it.
The Boy Scouts of America has clear guidelines to help make sure boys and adults stay safe during their scouting adventures.
For all the details, pick up a copy of the Guide to Safe Scouting, available and the Council office or visit http://www.scouting.org/pubs/gss/ on the internet.
From the Guide to Safe Scouting: “The Boy Scouts of America prohibits the use of alcoholic beverages and controlled substances at encampments or activities on property owned and/or operated by the Boy Scouts of America, or at any activity involving participation of youth members.
Adult leaders should support the attitude that young adults are better off without tobacco and may not allow the use of tobacco products at any BSA activity involving youth participants.
All scouting functions, meetings, and activities should be conducted on a smoke-free basis, with smoking areas located away from all participants.” At summer camp, the designated smoking area is the adult's vehicle.
BSA has a number of policies in place to eliminate any opportunities for child abuse in scouting. First, the troop committee checks potential leaders’ backgrounds. References are checked by the Council before leaders’ applications are accepted.
Then, these rules are in place:
For information on youth protection training, go to the Cascade Pacific Council website’s information at: http://www.cpcbsa.org/training/youthprotection.
Please read the Troop 116 Conduct and Discipline
Policy
document.
The Boy Scout Handbook speaks to boys as it describes the promise of scouting:
“Scouting promises you the great outdoors. As a scout, you can learn how to camp and hike without leaving a trace and how to take care of the land. You’ll study wildlife up close and learn about nature all around you. There are plenty of skills for you to master, and you can teach others what you have learned. Everyone helping everyone else – that’s part of scouting, too.
“Scouting promises you friendship. Members of the troop you join might be boys you already know, and you will meet many other scouts along the way. Some could become lifelong friends.
“Scouting promises you opportunities to work toward the Eagle Scout rank. You will set positive goals for yourself and then follow clear routes to achieve them.
“Scouting promises you tools to help you make the most of your family, your community, and your nation. The good deeds you perform every day will improve the lives of those around you. You will be prepared to help others in time of need.
“Scouting promises you experiences and duties that will help you mature into a strong, wise adult. The Scout Oath and the Scout Law can guide you while you are a scout and throughout your life.”
