What's in Your Wallet?

Good ideas for survival kits in this article.

What's in your 10 Essentials kit?  Mine, which like all our scouts I throw in my backpack or daypack for every campout, includes: headlamp (plus maybe an extra somewhere else in my pack), knife, water purification tablets, matches, lint for tinder, a disposable lighter, flint and steel, duck tape, and an extra compass.  The extras are because every now and then a scout will forget one of those things.  I also bring a small first aid kit, and a small notebook and pen.  The rest of the 10 are somewhere else in the pack: extra clothes, extra food and water, sunscreen and lip balm, a map or two (extras, you know), whistle, etc.

The best list is of course in your Scout Handbook, p. 264.  Plus what to have in your first aid kit (p. 127), what to wear on a campout (p. 272), and what to bring camping (p. 292).

Get SCUBA certified

Mr. Lungarini has set-up a class for SCUBA certification. Oct 1 (6pm-10pm) Oct 2-3 (9am-5pm) This will allow us to have the class and do the open-water test before lakes get too cold. (they do not do open-water tests in the winter/early spring) If interested in Seabase this will be the last opportunity to get certified (required for Seabase). Contact Mr. Lungarini ASAP if interested.

Boy Led Troop

Good essay on what it means to be a boy led troop.  What do you think -- are we?  (Click the title)

2010-2011 Troop Calendar Posted

Check out the new troop calendar, now on Google Calendar.  It has everything you need to know for the troop's 90th anniversary year.   Link it to your iPhone or BlackBerry.  Link it to your other on-line calendars.  Or print it off and hang it up.  Moms and dads will love it, with links to event details and maps.  Thanks to the Proctor's for setting up such a cool way to keep up to date.

"I believe that today, as for the past 100 years, there is no finer program for preparing American boys for citizenship and leadership than the Boy Scouts of America."

Yesterday morning, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates -- an Eagle Scout himself -- addressed Scouts at the 100th anniversary National Jamboree.  Click the title to read an excellent speech to our seven boys there, and their 44,993 friends.