To continue from yesterday, two years ago, I became the Troop Scouter for our Group's Troop. Other than the one returning Scouter and the former Troop Scouter who remained as an Advisor, we were all new to the Troop, some new to Scouting.
There were two younger lads who came up with us from Pack, both terrific Scouters, who had a grasp of the pulse of the Scouts. They went through the Scouting movement as youth and then returned to be fellow mentors and guides to these youngsters.
Two other Scouters I worked with previously, one only in Colony, the other through Colony and Pack on and off. Now both were with Troop. There was one Scouter, completely new to the Scouting movement, but he apparently had worked with youth in other organisations.
In total, we had eight Scouters, including myself. By the end of the active Scouting year, we would add another Scouter, whom I recruited. However, due to commitments to other facets of some of the Scouters' lives, and in some cases some Scouters (lack of) commitment to Scouting in general, we would effectively have four to six Scouter at most meetings and events, often closer to the lower end of that figure or even lower. Still, a healthy enough ratio, as we had a mere dozen odd active Scouts.
We were involved in several community events and carried out several weekend activities ranging from one international camp, to various hikes, to multiple training sessions in outdoor skills (aka woodcraft, bushcraft, and scoutcraft), culminating in a weekend camp with canoe instruction. This, in addition to our regular meetings were events, activities, camps, plus meetings themselves that included refurbishing a soapbox cart, building bridges from popsicle sticks, knots, more scoutcraft, fundraising and much, much more.
It was a pretty good year. Most of these guys (the Troop in this case was all boys) had been together since Colony, through Pack, and now together in Troop. When the boy and I joined the Group in Colony, there were about thirty-three Beaver Scouts in the various years of the program. In Pack, it turned to about two dozen, and finally in Troop about half that.
When the boy and I moved from Colony to Pack, there were twenty-one or twenty-two fellow Wolf Cubs who he had known in Colony in that first year. In the second year, there were eighteen or nineteen from the old Colony. In our third and final year with Pack, there was eighteen or nineteen again. This with youth at different stages of the program. To me it is a testament to the quality of programming. These figures belie the fact that of the original thirty-three Beavers we were together with, that actually there were more than two dozen who came to Pack for varying lengths of time, if not for a full three years.
When those remaining veterans of Pack aged out, the numbers did change. This is largely due to that by the time kids reach grade six their schedules become very full and decisions need to be made, sometimes by the parents solely, sometimes in consultation with their kids. So, the first year with Troop, there were, in addition to the boy as above, eight or nine other kids that had come up all the way from Colony through Pack to the Troop. There were also two who had been with them in Pack and were now in Troop together as well.
The second year with Troop, last year, we started with eight who began as Beavers together and two more who were Cubs together, in addition to two who had joined with this crew in their first year in Troop.
By the time last year's active Scouting year ended there were five, plus the boy making six, Beavers who moved up from the same year in Colony all through to the second year of Troop. There were also one from a different year of the Colony program, and two who joined them during their time in Pack and two from the previous year in Troop. A total of eleven youth ending last year.
I know these numbers may be confusing and not mean much to you. However, looking at raw figures for retention and youth leaving and returning to Scouting at various times, up until the first year in Troop, drop-off happened in thirds from the original cohort. Even more plainly, the boy was in a group of fourteen in the same year of Colony programming and concluded the first year of Troop with a total of six "Originals" (more than a third from his year of entry in to Scouts) and picked up a few others along the way. To me, these are good figures, others may not agree. To that I say: bite me!
The second year ended with six Originals as well, with an exchange of one slot. However, those numbers do not tell the whole truth. By the new calendar year, several Scouts were not coming to meetings regularly, as in very infrequently to hardly at all. By the spring, even the boy was picking and choosing which meetings and events to attend, and we both had started courting another Troop that we actually joined by the beginning of May of this year. The boy split his time between the two Troops, while I was only a member of the new Troop.
In the end, from what I can gather and determine, for this current Scouting year in my old Troop, none of the previous Scouters have returned to the Troop. However, one excellent Scouter, whom I greatly respect, is apparently heading up the Troop. Of all the Scouts from last year? Only one has returned; he joined the Scouting movement as a Scout and now is in his third year of the program. There are two Cub Scouts that have moved up from Pack, one of which I know and is an excellent member of the Scouting movement, the other I do not know. The final Scout, number four, is apparently new.
So, only one Scout came back to the Troop. What happened to the Originals and all the rest? Well, the boy, is with another Troop as you all well know. Two others are in another Troop too. The rest? Some in various military cadet organisations, but not all of them, maybe only three or four. Too bad, I hope they are doing well in whichever endeavours they follow. But only three originals left? And not in their original Scout Group? Wow!?!
There are reasons for all this, which apparently started back in September 2015 and culminated this past spring of 2017. Unfortunately, to me, these events were not good for the program being offered to the youth. I care not really what happened to me. I have weathered far worse treachery and guile than that which was perpetrated under the false banner of: think of the children! and other a-holish excuses to be vindictive and small minded and uniquely singular of goal.
Suffice to say, there was much underhanded behaviour, deliberate and open undermining of me as a Scouter, lack of transparency, outright being ignored, near violent behaviour, omission from communications that happened far too frequently to all be errors as claimed, general apathy, hostility, constantly remaining counter to anything I wanted to achieve with the youth, outright lies, and more. Hence, Episode 2: Attack of the Ass Clowns.
Now that there is much background, tomorrow we get in to the sea-change that occurred in Troop and the commencement of my decline. blbbl
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