Scout served at Veteran's Recognition program last Thurs, Meeting Tonight

Last Thursday, the Vulcan District, GAC, was invited to assist the State's Combat Veteran's Recognition Program. Thanks to Scouts Z Morrow, M Gunn and his dad David, Z Gandy, as well as his dad, Captain Kelly Gandy for providing transportation, the Troop was able to serve cold refreshments to all of the more than 800 combat veterans, their spouses, and children from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the Birmingham Zoo, Saturday, June 27.

There is a regular meeting at the Hut at the regular time Monday, June 29...there will be two guest speakers for the program...Mr. Ralph Upchurch, Scoutmaster Troop 93 (Oakmont Presbyterian), on the fundamentals and expertise in firemaking in regular and survival scenarios, and Mr. Shane Umlauf, a Troop 21 Eagle (1996) on " Youth... precautions and safety on the Internet."

YiS dan s
"Delivering the Promise"

OA & Nunne-Hi Chapter Meeting

As a Troop, we have never had more active members in the Order of the Arrow (OA) than we have now (more tthan 20)....

As you know, our own J Ng, P Kidd, J Kunka, and K Berry are making the trip to Indianapolis, Indiana during the first week of August to compete in the Ceremony Team competiton at the Order of the Arrow National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC)...They will be representing the Vulcan District's Nunne-Hi Chapter of the Greater Alabama's Council's Coosa Lodge, which if your son or you are members of the OA, and wear a shirt Lodge flap on your Khaki shirt, you should be staying abreast of activities on Coosa50.org....

The monthly meeting for the Nunne-Hi Chapter, which meets this Thursday night at 6:30 PM (last Thursday of each month) at the Troop 254 Scout Hut at Briarwood Presbyterian Church for about an hour and a half ...uniform is the Class A and OA sash.....

J Kunka was elected 2009 Chapter Chief and P Kidd was elected Vice Chief for Service. .good example again of the advantages offered by BSA programs and the hard work these guys are taking part in. If you were elected by the Troop for membership in the OA and you have attended an Ordeal and wear a flap, you should be planning on earning your Brotherhood, and attending Nunne-Hi Chapter meetings, especially during the summer when school is out.

Please make a copy of this and pass it on to your Scout........

Thanks for all your support...

YiS Dan s "Delivering the Promise"

Northern Tier 2010

We are still planning on a Troop Trip to Northern Tier, Ely, Minnesota, during the summer 2010...Mr. Larry Young will be coordinating the trip and will begin announcements in the immediate future. The minimum age is 14 and in good physical shape for this high adventure trip ( 40-60 pound packs and carrying the canoe at portages between lakes).

The Troop last made this trip in 2002 and it remains a "need to do" for Scouts and accompanying leaders. Northern Tier, posted on the Greater Alabama Council Web site, is a six day "on the water" canoe trip in US and Canadian waters starting in Ely, MN. Like Philmont, it is a pristine wilderness area, abounding with wildlife and clear star bright skies....fishing is part of it and they all but jump into the canoe....for later consumption or catch and release.

More information to follow for planning on this in june/july 2010.

YiS Dan S

"Delivering the Promise"

Mr. Eggers facilitating Archery MB July 25

Thanks to the time and effort taken up by Mr. Eggers in his preparation and gathering the required equipment for the Archery merit badge this last May in our trip to Camp Sequoyah, more Scouts than ever earned the Archery merit badge. There are some who have incompletes since they didn't complete it that day; and, there are others who would like to earn it because they didn't take the time while we were there.

Mr. Eggers is making completion possible by taking a trip to Cullman, Al with all those Scouts and accompanying leaders to an archery range. He plans on July 25 as the targe day and will make the announcement again at the next meeting for Scouts who are interested. This badge is difficult because it is rare that the equipment is available for earning the badge. There are no activities going on with the Troop that day, so barring others, this would be a good opportunity for him to complete the badge or earn the entire badge if he hasn't.

Please pass this message to the Scout and check your calendars for the time..then have him call Mr. Eggers if he wants to go. We will arrange transportation in relation to the numbers attending. We will leave in the AM and return the same day....please notify him as soon as possible so we can make plans for the activity.

Please find his contact info. from the Troop Roster.

Thanks for you support...

YiS Dan s "Delivering the Promise"

Meeting Last night and upcoming events

Last night's meeting was well attended with a great deal of information based on the programs delivered by Lieuteant Colonel Miller, Ruth Mathis, and Chris Brimer.

Next week's program (June 29) will be delivered by Ralph Upchurch, Scoutmaster Troop 93 (Oakmont Presbyterian) with a super demonstration he conducts at OLS (Outdoor Leader Training) based on starting cooking and warming fires under difficult and survival conditions. He has demonstrated this program at the past two Vulcan District Camporees. Mr. Upchurch is an Eagle Scout and has been active in Scouting most of his adult life.

Remember, there is no meeting on July 6 due to the 4th of July Holiday weekend.

The July 13 meeting will have Mr. Charles Allen on the program for Troop cooking including prepartation portioning, cooking, cleaning, and common sense sanitation for Scouts and adult campers. Mr. Allen served as the Scoutmaster for Troop 97 for six years, Committee Chairman for ten years, and a current active leader merit badge couselor for the Troop for more than twenty years in Scouting. He conducts all the classes and demonstrations for Scout cooking at the annual Vulcan District Camporee and OLS classes twice a year for leaders. His father is an Eagle Scout as are his two sons. He written a "Cook-Book", we have a copy in the Hut, and has been recognized as the "expert" on the subject (dutch oven) in Scouting circles over the years.

Regarding the Whitewater trip in July...since have enough volunteers for an early party, we will plan on making the trip as usual, that is, the early party (coordinated by Mr. Branin and made up of leaders and Scouts) will leave in the morning to reserve and set up our camp site, and the main body (everyone else) will leave at the usual time on Friday afternoon. Ventures have the option to ride the Ocoee River and younger Scouts will ride the Hiwassee. Fees, less numbers attending, were explained in the last Troop Blog.

Ms. Ruth Mathis (certified Climbing Instructor), thanks to Mr. Eggers, reminded the Scouts yesterday at the meeting, that the Trip to Camp Thunder in Georgia in the Fall will consist of rappelling, climbing, low and high COPE....The Scout can choose to earn the climbing merit badge that day or experience rapelling and the high and low COPE courses the camp has to offer.

Remember.....unless he has a parent's excuse he is expected to be at Troop meetings and trips on a regular basis during the summer while school is out and when other extracurricular activities are minimal. Regular attendance at Troop activities is an essential part of having "Scouting Spirit" and acquiring knowledge and leadership skills on the road to Eagle.

Stay up with us and appreciate all the work Mr. Ng accomplishes with the Troop Website at: Bluffparktroop21.org......you can access any aspect of Scouting from there as well as enjoy pictures of all our activities....

Thanks for your support.....

YiS Dan s

"Delivering the Promise"

Result of PLC & Committee Meeting

We had good attendance at both the PLC and the Troop Committee meetings...starting at 6:45 PM..

According to Mr. Frost, Advancement Chairman, the Scouts earned over 102 merit badges with only 19 incompletes and 14 of those had only one requirement for make-up,,,these are due by December 13th...Troop merit badge counselors are located on the Troop Web site to help out with this. There we 15 rank advancements, most of those for the first year Tenderfoot and Second Class requirements...for earning Second Class, it is important for them to attend the Shiloh Trip on Veteran's day weekend for his compass requirements and the remainder of the required five activities. He will need five other Scout activities to complete his First Class requirements.

Congratulations to J Clark for Life, J Taylor for Star. Congratulations to E Gibbs and A Yarbrough for Second Class during summer camp.

The trip in July is for white water rafting in TN. We will be doing both the Hiwassee and Ocoee Rivers (Venture Scouts only). The cost for the Hiwassee is 17.00 with the added cost of fuel (15.00) and meals (12.00). The cost for the Ocoee trip is $90.00 (upper and lower river trips) with the added cost of fuel (15.00) and meals (12.00).

Fuel costs are for a 400 mile round trip with the bus, Frank Tank, on one follow on vehicle. Fuel also includes the cost for three early party vehicles at the rate of $2.50 per gallon for about 260 gallons of gas (based on 35 persons attending). If less attend, fuel will have to increase so please encourage attendance.

We are going to need to know who is going on the Trip this coming Monday (June 22). the Patrol leaders are supposed to determine this by phone calls. We will also need volunteers, leaders and Scouts) to go up early to Gee State Park to reserve us space for camping as well as set up the tents prior to our arrival after 11:00 PM Friday night. Rather than a large advance party, there is also thought of everyone (main body) leaving on the trip at Noon to be able to set up that evening at camp and have the evening meal at the site. One car of two leaders would leave at 0800 to reserve a place for us when the main body arrive at about 5:00PM. Decisions for all of this will be made on the 22nd of June. We have never made this trip in July before, so we are not sure of the density of the park compared to August when we usually go and the numbers have not been that bad..except that the park is always full of campers and Scouts.

There will not be a meeting on July 6 (Monday) due to the 4th of July Holiday.

We will invite several guest speakers during the normal meetings through June and July.

The August trip (21-23) will be water skiing....we will be looking for boats to make this work...if you have a boat and will pull skiers contact Mr. Frost to assist his plans for the trip.This is normally a popular trip, so the more boats we have, the better. Troop trip fees will pay for fuel for towing and on the water costs.

J Ellis and A Byrd's Eagle projects were approved last week by the Eagle Boards. J Kunka's will be coming up in July.

Regular attendance in proper uniform at trips. meetings, and other activities is important for having the Scouting "Spirit"required to obtain the Eagle rank. A mimimum of 50% activities permits his experience in leadership and participation with the Troop. He is expected to participate unless he has a parental reason not to. Supporting the program by encouraging his attendance adds the depth we need for the success we deserve in assuring the program is meeting the goals of Scouting.

There are more than 120 merit badges the boys can earn. Please sign up for you speciality or any that you feel comfortable with by seeing the Scoutmaster. We need to assure we are filling places left by attrition.

Any and all leaders who attend meetings and go on trips require an annual updated BSA medical form which is to be renewed each year at the time of your physical. This is a BSA requirement effective the day you join the troop as a registered adult. In order to participate in any Scout activitity, including trips, meetings, merit badge work, or committee meetings and special service projects with the Troop, all adults must be registered with the BSA through the Troop. The Medical form is located on the Troop Web Site...Registration forms are available in the Scoutmaster's office. Registration fee for leaders is $15.00.

Thanks for all your support and assistance.



YiS Dan S "Delivering the Promise"

Summer Camp recap & Troop News

We had one of our best summer camps in recent memory this year..Want to thank Mr. Lepianka, Major Kidd, Mr. Gunn for spending the entire week with us and for Mr. Elmore for coming in Wednesday until we departed Sat Morning earlier than we ever left than we can remember.

It was one of our most spirited fun camps in a long time with the boys leading the way in spirit for the rest of the Camp....which earned them the Camp Spirit Award and Commissions best Camp site award for the week.

Mr. Frost will publish the results of the merit badges soon so the Scouts who earned a partial can get to work on those quickly to complete them. All of the new Scouts attending earned their Tenderfoot rank, should be complete with Second Class when they attend Shiloh for the Compass requirement and should have completed their First Class by the beginning of next year. E Gibbs and A Yarbrough completed their Second Class rank at camp and J Clark (Life) and J Taylor (Star) received their Board of Review at camp. All of the Sharks attending also earned the following merit badges: First Aid, Swimming, Fingerprinting, Emergency Preparation, and Orienteering. Want to thank Mr. Griffith for taking an entire day to complete all the requirements for first aid for all the Sharks and for teaching the First Aid Merit Badge and likewise to Major Kidd for assisting all the attending Scouts in earning the Orienteering Merit badge this week. From appearances, few older Scouts earned less than four merit badges.

This year more than six Scouts, incuding Mr. Lepianka, swam the mile swim: D Lepianka, Z Gandy, Z Morrow, E Kidd, and A Yarbrough.

Finally, thanks to their volunteering, D Holditch (Canoe), A Yarbrough (swimming) and E Davis (Running) competed in the Camp Iron Man Marathon and earned us an overall second place.. Everyone competed in the Camp Water Carmival and kept as a strong competitors throughout.

The new water slide (sidewainder) was real popular and constantly used by the Scouts also.

The weather the entire time was comfortable. The food in the dining hall was above average when compared to times past. Fijnally, during the last night we experienced some of the wind from the storm but had no rain until we were packed and on our way home.

We have had a record number of Scouts attending camp as Counselors this year: P Kidd, D Peterson, J Kunka, and J Ellis along with J Ng (CIT), J Clark, B Garrett, and M Frost will be there in the next few weeks also. This is a good, paid experience for the boys to consider each year in terms of leadership development, fun, service, and time well spent during the summer months in the Scouting Program.

The following Scouts were tapped out for the Order of the Arrow during summer camp, making them eligible to be members of the OA: B Debalsi, S Hardy, S Hardy, J Taylor, M Gunn, A Turner, and N Madison. Mr. Berry and B Garrett went through the Ordeal in May at Camp Comer. All the information required for the follow-up on this is at: coosa50.org. He should plan on attending.

There are about 21 Scouts and leaders now active OA members in the Troop, including five Scouts, J and K Berry, P Kidd, J Ng, and J Kunka (the Coosa Lodge pre-ordeal ceremonies team), who with the new tapped out candidates should plan on earning their Brotherhood at the next OA Ordeal in August at Camp Comer (See coosa50.org). This is a great deal of fun and adventure and should be a routine part of their road to Eagle. More will be published as we get closer to the time.

We will get some digital pictures of camp to Mr. Simon for posting on the web site in the next few days..

Thanks again for sending your son and participating with us to make the summer camp as great as it was.

There is a Patrol leaders Conference at 6:45 PM Monday, June 15..please make sure the Scout is present for this in order to plan out the next month's agenda. Also feel free to attend the Troop Committe Meeting following at 8:00 PM if you haven't attended in the past and join us in keeping the "show on the road."

Have you taken a look at the Sea Base Pictures posted on the Troop web site yet....great time there for sure....

Thanks to Mr. Hardy, Mrs. Kidd, Mr. Branin, Mr. Harbin, and Mr Smith for continuing to sit on District Eagle Boards for us this last week . Thanks to their time and effort, especially Mr. Harbin, for assuring J Ellis and A Byrd's Eagle projects were approved with the same for J Kunka's next month.

Thanks for all your support...

YiS Dan

"Delivering the Promise"

Summer Camp briefing

We will gather at the Hut on Sunday, June 7, dressed in the class B uniform (red "t" shirt, Scout shorts, Scout belt, and Scout socks....pack the tan BSA shirt for dinner and campfire that night) at 11:30AM in order to arrive at Camp at about 2:00 PM we need to be on the road at about Noon. He should pack a lunch, or eat something before he gets to the Hut as super in the dining hall won't be until about 5:30 PM. .

Remember..due to limited space on the Frank Tank, square travel/steamer trunks are not permitted..only soft body tote bags will work for out our numbers. He should bring a collapsible canvas chair with his name on it for Troop campfires each evening. Please read over the Troop Guide for what to bring and check the Troop Web Site for some of the dame material (what to bring to summer camp) as well as reading over the GAC Summer Camp Leader's Guide for additional information (also located on our Troop Web site).

He cannot go to camp without his updated medical physical form and please go to the Troop Web site and complete the BSA Parental Release form making a hard copy along with his physical.

There are maps to Camp Sequoyah in the Troop Guide and on the Leader's Summer Camp Guide on our Troop Web site. We will be camped at Boone's place just above the Camp Store and also above the camp swimming area. Visitor's night is Wednesday (June 10). Plan on visiting with him if at all possible and bring his favorite meal and some snacks with you to eat in camp with him. Bring rain gear in case it rains. You can start visiting anytime after 4:00 PM with the campfire activities starting at about 7:30 PM, or sooner. If you won't be able to make it, please arrange for another parent to bring him his meal. In all likelihood, he can meet you in the parking area at an agreed time and help you carry any packages to the campsite....You can carry any soiled clothing, except his uniform parts, home on your way home also. We will talk to all of this again during the June 1 (Monday) meeting.

Summer camp is the best time of the year for the Troop as we bond together as a united group of Scouts and leaders, all heading the same direction. It is time of fun, adventure, and learning....this year's camp will be our best...thanks for all your support and work in making this happen.

YiS

Dan S
"Delivering the Promise"

Seabase crews came home

All the Crews have returned from Seabase.

Mr. Simon has already posted the pictures on the Troop web site with others to follow as he receives them.....Thanks to Mr. Griffith and Mr. Simon for making the trip possible with all the coordination it took.

Thanks also to all our leaders for going and assuring the trip turned out to be the adventure they and the Scouts anticipated.

We had an excellent turnout for camp packing Thursday night..Thanks also to the leaders for being there in assisting the Scouts.

Thanks to Mr. Branin, the bus now has new seat cover backs. Again thanks to Mrs. Kidd, the Hut's exterior appearance is better than it has ever been.

Remember...1130 PM at the Hut Sunday morning for our Departure to Summer Camp.

There are a couple of Scouts still need to bring their medical forms..please have them Sunday...Thanks again to Mr. Lepianka and Mr. Simon for the coordination and work it took to get us on the ready line.....

A final note....unless the Scout has your excuse not to be at meetings, trips, service projects, and other Troop activities, he is expected to be there in uniform.

Thanks for all your support.......


YiS Dan
"Delivering the Promise"