Taurus,

Thanks for offering to instruct Scouts on important skills. There is a key Scout document called "The Guide to Safe Scouting" available online at http://www.scouting.org/HealthandSafety/Resources/Guidetosafescouting.aspx

It says that "Hunting is not an authorized Cub Scout or Boy Scout activity, although hunting safety is part of the program curriculum." but does not say that butchering is not allowed. Still, I would recommend that you let Scout leaders and parents know that you'll be covering this in case they feel it is not appropriate for their sons.

It gives specific rules & recommendations for climbing & rapelling.

Paragon & others gives some good suggestions indeed. I myself would stick to the survival/navigation topics and stay away from the hunting/dressing/trapping topics. Young boys LOVE to learn how to build natural shelters, build fires, and use survival tools (whistles, signal mirrors, knives). Keep it simple. Their coordination is such that use of saws and hatchets can be dangerous to them (hands & fingers in the wrong place & time), so take use of these tools very seriously.

Keep in mind that some of these guys could be just 11 years old. Short attention spans. More likely than not, some may have behavior issues that need to be considered. Some love to get dirty and others hate it. Be flexible.

A wise scoutmaster friend told me once that boys join boy scouts for three reasons; 1. to Build Fires, 2. to Build Fires and 3. to Build Fires. I'd opt for more fire building and debris shelter building sorts of things. These are hands on which will keep the kids busy and keep them from getting bored. Have them build a fire, then cook lunch; build a shelter, then sleep in it overnight, that sort of thing. Also, maybe assembling personal survival kits and then using the kits in your demonstartions.

I met up with the kids last evening just to say hello during one of their club meetings and they were a very interesting crew to say the least !

They saw me in BDU which is our daily dress uniform and now they are really excited to have an "army guy" come along with them. I will stick to everyone's advice given here and keep the lessons more geared toward the age group. We will be covering PSKs, Field first aid(basic) improvised shelters, and some basic signalling techniques(signal mirrors and ground signals) And then fire starting techniques and principals. I think I will try to cover other not often seen fire types like the Dakota fire pit and maybe that will hold their attention a bit. We will stay in improvised shelters overnight and I want to show them a bit of good old fashioned campfire cooking.

After that, I have acquired a whole bunch of cam paint and stuff to play with some personal camouflage training. then I may conduct a small stalking exercise just for fun. I have permission to sign out a number of NVGs to let them play around with for this and IF possible, I may be able to organize a ride for them in a LAV III armoured vehicle here on base. If my friend bigmothertrucker is back from Texas in time I may request his help to run the Rappel tower as we are both unit rappel masters. After talking to the Scout leaders last night, they assured me that the kids would be VERY disappointed if I didn't teach some army related stuff to these kids(that appears to be what they want the most)


I wonder WTF I have gotten myself into now

There are a few points that I would like to make.

As stated before, The Guide to Safe Scouting is a must. This can be found at the national BSA web site: www.scouting.org

Please keep in mind that the scouting program is designed with what is considered "age appropriate" activities. If you are dealing with Cub Scouts, the "little guys", this might be an issue. One of the concerns that BSA has is that if young boys are doing these activities at a young age, they don't have as much to look forward to when they get older and lose interest.

I'm not advocating to hold them back, just to be aware of this. It is always a fine line on this subject. When I was an Assistant Scoutmaster we ran into just this situation. I ended up forming a High Adventure patrol in our troop for the older boys.

Thanks for taking the time to get involved with the youth of America. I can speak from experience when I say that it will be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. That's why I'm still doing it even though my boys are in their 20's.

ScouterMan raises a good point - no matter how good the magic, only some of the kids will take interest. After your intial demos most of the Equipped Appeal (TM) will be to the older Scouts, and an organized High Adventure curriculum is tailored to older Scouts going on tougher hikes with more in depth information on preparedness tactics. Definitely I've seen interest in more advanced wilderness first aid topics appeal to fewer and fewer Scouts, but those often take it to heart and go right on through EMT training and into medicine and emergency response as a profession.

Don't worry if all the younger ones don't take to your stuff right off, there's time in a few years to catch the bug, if they're interested.

Is your profile location correct? It says "Canada".

Guys, if this is a Canadian scout unit, BSA is NOT the guide for Scouts Canada, as I pointed out previously. Stop telling him what he can and cannot do with BSA - it's Scouts Canada, not "America"

See http://www.scouts.ca/default.asp?cmPageID=81

Lots of great info available there and from the magazine archives.

Regards,

Tom

Yep. I was waiting for someone to notice that. I did not want to be rude as I was still getting some top shelf info. A lot of the fundamentals apply between the U.S and Canadian Scout organizations I am sure, but I think our rules are less strict up here.

Correct me if I am wrong on this.

Either way, All the ideas were good learning for me. I don't deal with kids often.

Ha ... pretty funny!

Taurus,

I was a Troup Scouter for about 4 years.
When I first got started, I was introduced to a very small troup; so small it couldn't have more than 2 patrols.
The troup didn't have any set curriculum, and the parents in the scout comittee didn't have any experience with boys of the scout age.
Pretty much my goal was to prepare them for camping outdoors without the use of cabins. CubScouts mostly cabin camp.
I don't think there was a boy there that had even slept a night out in a tent.
First thing i did was bring in some of my own gear, and introduce them to backpacking style of camping. By introducing my gear, i talked about types of gear and their uses.
Safety being important, i introduced them to the basic 'survival kit'(Fieldbook Chapter1). During this time, they all constructed their own and talked about the various uses for the kit items.
When i introduced them to actual camping, i took them out to a ranch, gave a quick talk about shelters. The week before i went to a lumber yard and picked up a bunch of old lumber tarps. The kids then broke into pairs, and set up shelters. After they were finished, we talked about their successes and improvements on their shelters.
Then we talked about Fire, and its' uses, and different ways to start fires. The kids then broke into pairs again, and practiced firelighting with different methods.
We spent the weekend doing these simple things(and camping), and other outdoor skills, which in the end led to their Camping and Woodcraft badges.

Myself and a leader from another troup tried rock climbing/rapelling, but in the end, the comittee decided that too many 'bad things' could happen for kids this age; especially in the beginning of scouting. Mabye after a year, i'd run something in a controlled environment, like a rock climbing gym.

As for military content? Well i for one dont't have any military training or experience, however I can think of a few ways to make compass work, and navigation somewhat 'tactical' and fun for boys.

I pretty much just studied the "Field Guide" and elaborated on that. I think the fieldguide is a bit outdated when it comes to lightweight gear, but that was easily remedied.

Easy. Pick a badge or two and journey onward!
Oh, and one more thing, make sure the parents take part.

onward and upward!

al

Taurus..i would find a old scout handbook--1950's or older
and pick some skill training out of that..