Troop 281 Cincinnati, OH

At the most recent Troop meeting, it was time for the Personal Management skill session. Personal Management is an Eagle required merit badge that does take at least 3 months to complete (and it can't be rushed like other, simpler merit badges), so it's best for scouts to earn it early on to get it out of the way. To earn a merit badge, one requires a merit badge counselor, and former Assistant Scoutmaster Bill Ossman is a counselor for that badge, the original member of the "Mooseheads" (the nickname given to the Assistant Scoutmasters) and an all-around awesome guy to know. Mr. Ossman returned to visit to the troop and presented the skill session for the scouts. Keeping the atmosphere constantly filled with an air of humor with his duck jokes, Mr. Ossman nevertheless stressed the importance of the badge and covered all the basics that a scout needs to attain it, such as how small expenditures on small snacks and "girlfriend-things" can turn out to be a ve...

Getting lost On the trail Break time Signalling for help? Setting up camp Home sweet home Returning to civilization

It was time for another one of the new "fun nights" that have been added to the monthly schedule for Troop 281, so in the sprit of the harvest seasons the scouts went off to go check out a nearby corn maze at Farm Haven in Kentucky. Getting there took a little while, and there was some initial confusion as to how the heck we were supposed to get from a church parking lot to the farm (due to all the signs pointing to the farm not being lit), but eventually the group made it up to the farm. After the adults paid the admission price for everybody, the Scouts raced across the open field to the entrance of the maze, eager to loose themselves within the tall corn stalks. A watchtower of sorts was located quickly, but as several scouts climbed up the ladder it was discovered the hatch was locked. Some scouts kept trying to get up the watchtower to see what little they could of the maze while others left on their own to actually try to get out of the rows of corn. It took a while, bu...

The other submission for Oct. 12, 2010 was photoed, written and laid out entirely by our troop Historian, Ben Hallenbeck. I couldn't resist posting the following pictures, submitted by an Assistant Scoutmaster as well. Thanks Tom Carlson. (Editor)

This past meeting (10/5/10) happened to be the first one held in the month of October, which is usually the time when all sorts of scary things start to happen, such as pumpkins suddenly appearing outside of houses and Kings Island advertising the heck out of its “Halloween Haunt” once again. In the spirit of being scared, it seems natural that the camp out for this month is the (in)famous “Survivor” camp out, which most of this meeting was focused on planning out. Before the planning could begin, Greg B. held a skill session on making survival shelters that would be necessary if stuck in the middle of nowhere for a multitude of reasons, one of the biggest being to keep oneself warm at night without a tent or sleeping bag. This was very important for the new scouts, who probably haven’t had to make survival shelters before, as well as the older scouts in the idea that this skill session was a “refresher” course on how to keep their butts dry over two cold October nights. After shelter ...

At last week's court of honor, the scouts and their parents gathered at the church to attend the tri-seasonal get-together (there is no CoH in Summer). With everybody bringing some sort of treat to put on the conncessions table in the back, everything was set for a nice night. SPL Alex R. welcomed everybody to the CoH to get things started before handing off the microphone to Noah R. for a slideshow on the National Jamboree. Most of the attendees at the CoH had not gone to the Jamboree, so it was an interesting insight into one of the biggest Scoutting events ever. After the Jambo slideshow, Alex resumed the microphone for a quick slideshow about the various eagle projects that had been done this year, one of the hardest requirements for the Eagle Scout rank. Following the slideshows, it was time for the presentation of the various badges. Merit Badges, rank patches, and some special presentations were all given out to those who had earned them. A few of these were to scouts who e...

At the most recent meeting after the new scout induction campout, it was time for some boards of review. However, for the majority of scouts who didn’t/couldn’t get a board of review, it was mostly a presentation on troop equipment handling and care. Considering that various articles of equipment were supposed to be returned that night, it was very appropriate. Led by Brett C., the presentation covered everything and anything that a scout needed to know if they wanted to take out an article of troop equipment. For the new scouts, it was a quick way to bring them up to speed as to how campouts were usually planned out, while for the older scouts it was a much-needed refresher for those who had forgotten what the three bins in the patrol box were there for (answer: how the cutlery and most cooking equipment is cleaned for the next meal). All throughout his seminar, Brett tossed out little Dum-Dum suckers to those who answered questions right that resulted in a little chaos created when G...