Drop in on any conversation between commissioners and you’re likely to hear something like this:
So I was at Pack 123’s JSN. The CM was hoping for twenty new members but the CC said they only got fifteen. That’s good, considering the TAY at that school. There were a couple adult apps so the COR took care of them and said he’d hook up with the DE. We just need to make sure their YPT gets done. Their JTE is looking great and we’ve already scheduled a FOS right before their PWD.
Scouting is like almost every other venture in that it has its jargon and abbreviations that are common internally but bewilder outsiders. Continue reading “The whaty-what of what?”
It’s not likely that many, if any, readers of this column were around during World War II, but perhaps your parents or grandparents were. If so, then they most likely remember a show on the NBC Radio Network called I Sustain the Wings. The show’s eponymous theme song was composed and performed by Captain Glenn Miller, whose orchestra was one of the most popular bands of the era. The program featured Miller’s orchestra performing the hit songs of the day, which helped to lift the spirits of those at home and our forces on the front lines. The title, I Sustain the Wings, was the motto of the U. S. Army Air Corps Technical Training Command, for it was up to the technicians to keep the planes “in the sky above / where they fight to victory”, as the lyrics go. 
Have you ever joined something – a club, team or organization – and had to cross a hurdle in order to be a member?
The Scout motto - Be Prepared – has been with us since the beginning, when Baden-Powell encouraged his young charges to be ready for whatever life might throw their way. It came from his days as a military leader, training his soldiers to be ready both in battle and in peacetime. When asked the meaning of be prepared was, he explained
It’s that time of year again – popcorn season! And soon, our Scouts will be knocking on doors, standing on street corners and in front of grocery stores offering the tasty treats of popcorn and other goodies as a thank-you gift to our friends and neighbors for their financial support of Scouting in our communities, making it possible for our young people to enjoy fun and adventure while the values of Scouting are instilled.. (And you thought they were just selling popcorn!)