The Troop provides Scouts with opportunities, guidance, and a safe non-threatening environment in which each Scout can grow and develop to his optimum degree as a young man. Perfection is NOT the goal – doing your best and learning from your mistakes is.
Scouts learn to become responsible for themselves and others through learning common-sense skills, the importance of teamwork, participating in outdoor activities, and assuming roles of leadership and responsibility. Junior Leader Training is offered twice per year in conjunction with the Troop’s 6-month general activity plan.
The basic unit of the Troop is the Patrol. Patrols consist of a small group Scouts (usually 8 at most) who are responsible to one another for carrying on basic camping duties, needs, and functioning as a team during other Troop activities. Patrol members camp, cook, eat, sleep, and pray together at outings.
At the overall troop level, Scouts plan the specifics of Troop Meetings, Activities, and the monthly campout at their Patrol Leaders Council (PLC) Meeting the first Tuesday of each month. A representative from each Patrol (usually the Patrol Leader or Assistant Patrol Leader) represents his Patrol at the PLC. The Scoutmaster and other key leadership figures preside over the meeting.
When new boys join the troop they are initially placed in a patrol with other new Scouts. We call these groups our “Flaming Arrows” Patrols. A troop Guide (and older, more experienced Scout) is assigned to each new Flaming Arrows Patrol to facilitate its transition into Scouting through use of the Patrol Method. The Troop Guides act under the supervision of an Adult Assistant Scoutmaster and the Senior Patrol Leader. This process usually lasts only for the first year after which the Scouts are free to form new patrols within the general Troop population. The goal is to have new Scouts advance through Scout and Tenderfoot ranks within the first three months and have the Second Class rank achieved by or at Summer Camp. Many of the First Class requirements will also be accomplished by this time enabling new Scouts to become First Class rank within one year of starting active membership in the Troop.
The higher ranks of Star, Life, and Eagle are achieved at a more individualized self-initiated pace. Attaining higher ranks entails earning merit badges, doing service work and/or projects for the community, and serving in roles of responsibility and leadership to the Troop and in service to younger Scouts.
