I used to be a Buffalo and a good old Buffalo too.

 "True grit is making a decision and standing by it, doing what must be done. No moral man can have peace of mind if he leaves undone what he knows he should have done." John Wayne

 


The title is from the Wood Badge song.

The residential camping season at Camp Geiger is over, and the camp awaits pow wow, and then a season of renewal. Yes, there are opportunities to camp at Camp Geiger during the off season, but that is not my topic. Six weeks of Scouts BSA, add in residential Cub and Webelos Camps, and it is time for a break. But your author is not sitting idly by, waiting until the process starts over in January. Maybe presumptuous to think that I would be rehired, but I know that no one is indispensable, including me. That is the beauty of the program. Would things be different? Likely, but camp would go on. 

So, Scouting offers so much to the world, that in reality it should be shouted from the roof tops. The impact on youth, particularly those that come from difficult circumstances, is immense. The ability to train youth to lead, to set and achieve goals, to teach good citizenship locally and nationally are the crown jewels of this program.

Who provides this leadership of young men and young women? People from all walks of life. Some very educated in academia, some well educated in life. Fathers, mothers, teachers, religious leaders, probably one of the most diverse groups of leaders in the world. How do they step in and provide the leadership necessary?

 Training of course. On the job? Of course.  Online?  Yes. In person training? Absolutely! So you have done all that. Is that it? Not even close, bud.

The Boy Scouts of America, due to sad experiences in the past, developed a robust Youth Protection program that has been copied by organizations all over the country, and maybe the world, that deal with youth. Basic Training for every leadership role, giving leaders  the tools to provide opportunities for youth to excel beyond their expectations. We have covered here the elite status of the Eagle Scout Award, and the preparation it provides youth for their life.

What is not so well known, but should be, is the elite training the BSA provides for its leaders, and half way through the blog we are just getting to that. This training is about so much more than leadership in scouting.

This training is, of course, Wood Badge.

I will get to why I am so enthusiastic about this program in a moment, but first the particulars.

Wood Badge is high level training for all registered Scout Leaders. These leaders must have completed the basic training for their position in Cubs, Scouts BSA, Venturing, or Council or District Staff.

The course is tentatively scheduled: April 5-7, and April 27-28, 2024. 

The cost: $225 with a $100 deposit to register. 

The location: Camp Geiger, St. Joseph, MO.

So, why take Wood Badge?

To be honest, I was skeptical at first. I had thought that it was just another training thing, of which I had not been overly impressed. After all, been there, done that, bought the tee shirt. Cue the serious eye roll and I missed the deadline for the course I ended up joining (Buffalo, C5-311-20). Then COVID happened. The course was delayed, and while serving on staff for Scouts BSA at Geiger, one of the few camps open during COVID, I was convinced to give it a shot.

My eyes were opened by the amount of material covered in the course. Background is important, so here goes.

I was a manager in the federal government for ten years. Over that span, I was sent to numerous training programs and courses, with the cost of travel and course associated with it. The cost doesn't matter, except that everything that I was taught over the years, from managing personalities, to providing incentives to those you lead, is taught in two weekends of Wood Badge. The $225 is a drop in the bucket compared to the value you receive.

Again, the value of Wood Badge, The BSA's elite adult training course, applies to life and the world outside of the realm of Scouting. They are, like so many other facets of BSA, lessons for life.

Registration for Wood Badge is open. The link is below

https://scoutingevent.com/311-WB2023

For information above what you can find at the site. Contact the course director, Rick Mohr at

rick.woodbadge@gmail.com or 816-820-5421

 


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