Troop 132

A busy and productive scouting month of May! Good work Lincoln, Nathaniel, and Cole for completing their rank advancements and Nolan and Luke for their progress on their Eagle Proposals. A special shout out to our newest scouts (Wesley, Santi, Theo, and Evan) who joined recently. We had a group of Scoutmaster Conferences with Christian’s (Troop guide) help and I was really impressed with the boys' knowledge and enthusiasm. They are off to a good start and they have a lot of great older scouts to help them along.

Excellent Family Bike trip this weekend. Lots of opportunities for bike repair and keeping fit. Camp Greenough’s accommodations were over the top and we left it cleaner than we found it, including a couple of small projects. The scouts under Nolan, Simon, and Ben’s leadership, they set up camp efficiently, kept it clean, and organized the unit service projects and biking trips very well.

A special shout out to all of the adults who camped this weekend. They set a high bar for cooking expectations and overall being prepared.

The dutch oven mussels, shrimp, and clams topped off with New Orleans bread pudding with southern bourbon sauce was fantastic. Mr. Howard, Mr. Cancio, Mrs. Liazos, Mr. McWilliams, Mr. Sprague, and Mr. Green were among a group of adults who contributed to the great food, cleaning, cooking, projects, and camaraderie. This family trip with siblings, parents, scouts and fun activities continue to be a great tradition for our troop. Next year we are back to the Vineyard. 

Nick brought his truck which made the bike transportation easy and he was there to help and entertain for the campfire program. Will kept a reminder by being reverent with grace and remembrance for Memorial Day. I would encourage all scouts, regardless of age, to come on any and all our trips. These particular group of older scouts are becoming adults, are a part of our troop culture and they help in many ways that keep things running behind the scenes. True servant leaders.

My aunt and uncle, Dick and Mary Dee, who are both Concord natives (he’s also a veteran) and they retired to the cape and live a ¼ mile from Camp Greenough and they visited on Memorial Day. My uncle grew up at 350 Bedford Street and he gave homage to 4 Bedford Street young men who lost their lives in WWII. That was just one street in Concord. A reminder to the boys that the names on the plaques in Monument hall were Concord kids who went to school, grew up right here in town, and we owe them a lot for our basic freedom. The freedom which should never be taken for granted.

Happy Memorial Day. Please take a moment and remember the true meaning of this holiday. Next time you are in Monument Square (Concord), please stop and look at the names on the plaques for the many wars that our nation has fought to defend our many freedoms. Remember, these were Concord citizens just like you and me and they made the ultimate sacrifice. There will be names here that are familiar like Emerson and others you may see on town roads (Dalton for example). My mother’s cousin, Robert Field is one of them. He was killed in action in Guam in 1944 and went to Concord High School where he played baseball and hockey, not unlike many of you. So remember that these names and their families.

This past week, thanks to Nick, Nolan, Ben, and Will, we delivered a bench to Great Meadows and we met with the family that sponsored the bench, Mrs. Spofford. This bench was named after her late husband and she along with her son, Mr. Greene and volunteers from the Fish and Wildlife were in attendance to help install the bench. This is our 4th troop bench and while it does not take a great deal of time to construct the bench, the family is very grateful for our scouts for this act of kindness. This is putting the scout law into action every day. Good work scouts!

The PLC met Monday night and made some decisions about the meetings, the fall schedule, and the Den Chiefs. We will post the 2019-2020 schedule soon.

Congratulations to Lucas Anthony for achieving Life Scout and to Henry Vlacovsky earning and passing Star Scout. We had our PLC on Monday and we did a lot of planning. The boys built a bench for Great Meadows and you can find photos on the Troop Facebook Page. Our next trip is the family bike trip to Cape Code - PLEASE SIGNUP ASAP.  We need to do the planning

Please remember to do your good turn ….daily!

Welcome new Scouts. We are so pleased you crossed over and joining our Troop. This will be a different experience from Cub Scouts. Give yourself time to adjust and get to know your patrol. Christian Perrotta is our Troop Guide who will help you at meetings and during the summer camp. In addition to Christian, all of our scouts are “Friendly and Kind”  (otherwise they would not be scouts) and will help to answer any and all your questions. We are all here for you.

During the cross over our scouts misplaced a camp stove which delayed one patrol from cooking. Sorry about that. This delay for preparing and cooking the meal set us back into the early evening for one patrol and some may have left the island a bit hungry. When you join a patrol you will have some say in the meal planning and preparation so this case is a bit unusual. One thing (of many) that our Troop can do better will be to have the Den Chiefs plan, prepare and host our Webelos next year. This will not help you now, but next years Webelos will have meals planned and prepared so that you will be well fed. We would also encourage the Den Chiefs to arrange the tenting. We double or triple up scouts usually and have tents that accommodate 3-4. Scouts learn from each other and this would be one more thing we can do (plan the tents and camping gear) a bit more effective. The scouts also discussed ways to make the rope bridge better (short, higher and tie off between trees). Every camping event is an opportunity to learn, grown and try things. I know several scouts who helped keep the bridge going. Well done.

Thank you to Mr. McWilliams and the Spragues for such a good job with the adult cooking. You may have noticed some adult scouts, Will, Nick, and Logan were present. Our troop is fortunate that these scouts, who have a lot on their calendar, are still so engaged with our Troop. Two scouts I know took the patrol gear and put it back to the Scout House. Thank you.  I hope all your gear is dried out and put back.

Special thanks to Mr. Thyne for his efforts and results with the DropOff & SwapOff. Scouts unloaded over 965 cars and got some neat things – best things were praise like “Good scouts…and we could not have done this without them”.  Yes, they managed to get some cool things like iMACs, laptop, speakers and I got some new rope for the Troop.

Please sign up for the Memorial Day Family Bike Trip. All family/friends are invited and summer camp is coming.
Here are some suggestions for the new families:

• If you don’t get the announcements, please send an email to [email protected]
• Contact me at [email protected] or the [email protected] with questions 
• I’m available before/after meetings and anytime with a little planning.  Of course, I am available on any trip for scoutmaster conferences.  During the meetings, we focus on the Troop activity and we want scouts to be fully engaged in the Troop meetings.  Therefore, we schedule (7PM) boards of review before meetings and not during Troop meetings.
• With a permanent marker, please put your name neatly on the inside cover and on the fore-edge of your new Scout Book.  Fore-edge = The outside edge of the book where the book opens (opposite of the spine).
• Lost and found is kept at the Scout House is the top drawer of the cabinet as you enter the Scout House.
• Standard Troop meeting dress code is Class A Scout shirts that are tucked into the pants.  The pants (or shorts) need a belt and no athletic shorts or pants.  The Troop dress policy is decided by the senior scouts.  The pants do not need to be formal scout pants and neckerchief are also optional.
• Class B t-shirts are used on most outings (and summer camp) and can be purchased from Mrs. Pautler ([email protected]) at a Troop meeting.
• Troop Numbers are back ordered and when available they will be distributed.
• Next Troop Court of Honor is on June 11 and all scouts are highly encouraged to attend with at least one parent/guardian.
• The Eagle Court of Honors (COH) come up about every 2-3 times per year and we highly suggest attending.  The next Eagle COH is on June 2.
• The Saturday bulletin is our primary method of Troop communication. All scouts and parents should read the weekly bulletin.   
• We are always looking for adult help – we are all volunteers! Please help out where and when you can. All parents are invited on trips and those adult trip participants need to coordinate with the trip honcho and take Youth Protection Training. The attached PDF provides instructions for Youth Protection Training which is required for all adults who are driving and/or participating in any Troop 132 activities. We take youth protection very seriously and it would be great for all Troop 132 parents/adults to take the training so you know what is required of all of us (adults). Once you complete the training, please email the certificate of completion to Michael Sprague at [email protected].
• Have your scout invite a friend to a meeting or outing/camping. The best way to stay engaged for scouts is when their friends come and they do fun things like fire building, biking, camping…all that fun scout stuff.

Welcome to the Troop! Our approach as a boy led unit is to empower the scouts to learn how to be good followers so they can also be good leaders. We also hope you find the Troop to be a stress-free zone. This is a place to enjoy scouting with pressure. Please come to all the meetings and do everything or participate in some things. It’s up to the scout. We work to have a great program and we do that through the patrol method. That’s the heart of our Troop. It’s not always perfect and it is sometimes messy, but it works best when the scouts learn for themselves.
Please ask any question at any time. I (Scoutmaster) am available before/after meetings and anytime with a little planning and of course, on any trip. These are good times for Scoutmaster Conferences and signing off on requirements for advancements.

We have a busy Troop schedule filled with activities that help the scouts with their development and advancement. First, this Saturday is both DropOff & SwapOff (DOSO) and Crossover. Both are mandatory Troop events. From an annual perspective, DOSO, Crossover, and Christmas Tree pick up are our mandatory Troop commitments that we make to the town and citizens of Concord and Crossover is really our opportunity to welcome our newest scouts into our Troop.

We have a wonderful Troop full of lively scouts. This past week the Patrol Leaders Council (PLC) met to discuss the month ahead. The PLC provided the Troop leaders an opportunity to plan and prepare for the Crossover, May bike trip, and to put into practice the boy-led experience. This is their Troop. We, as parents and adults, are here to help and in most cases stay out of the way. Scouts learn by doing and they learn great lessons from success and failure. Stepping back and letting them do it, is hard for adults, but is the best for our Scouts. Yes, sometimes adults can go faster and better, but that’s not the point of scouting. Please keep that in mind and let our scouts be scouts.

Electronics Policy
Electronics are a tool we use at camp, trips and meetings. We live by the Scout Oath and Law. Where the electronics can be tool: keeping track of action items, scheduling events, recording decisions on preparation, finding your locations, planning routes and communicating with other scouts and the Troop makes sense and is scout like. Video games, texting, Snapchat, Fortnight, Minecraft, surfing the internet, and many of the other things people do with electronics is not aligned with the Scout Law and are not allowed at any Troop 132 function (meeting, camping trip, etc.). We don’t do them. That’s not what we do in our Troop. Scouts, if you see other scouts using a tool like a knife (without a Totn’chit, or blood circle) or using electronics inappropriately, be an upstander and say something to the scout first, then his PL/ASPL/SPL if the inappropriate activity continues.

Scouts, please put the Scout Law to work this weekend and be representatives of the Troop to the town and to the cubs. Do your good turn daily.