Jltc - Nylt

[+MREAGLEWO1]

Any one that has done the new JLTC which is now NYLT, please post here. I would like to know if there are any resources online that may help me train my troop. Especially a syllabus.

 

Thanks

[+Packanack]

http://netcommish.com/index.asp

 

It is going to rain for the next few days so you might as well, cause you aren't going to be raking leaves this weekend, like you planned.

 

Try that section on training, it is probably the most comprehensive site available and covers the entire gamut of the organization. It also has a large section of questions that are answered and links to most other sites. What council are you in?

Northern New Jersey Council has a site, but it unfortunately is not very intuitive , so it may be difficult to work to the right page.

 

Then try this:

 

http://www.jltbsa.org/april_2004_updates.htm#upd01-d

Edited October 8, 2005 by Packanack

[+PeachyPA]

Thank you for the "netcommish" link. I am a Cubmaster, and there is stuff I can use on that site!

[+Packanack]

I notice that increasingly at Boy Scout events and camporees that there is a geocaching/global positioning demonstration. I would hope that tptb would come up for air long enough to realize that they are in the 21st century and adopt a geocaching/global positioning/ wilderness navigation/ orienteering/compass course merit badge and shelve the orienteering badge as a stand alone. I think they could safely incorporate all of the disciplines into one or two categories. My preference would be to have a Geocaching/Waymarking Merit Badge and a Wilderness Navigation Merit Badge which would be a prerequisite to the former. The orienteering could be worked into the latter in proper proportion to its following. I would hope that all geocachers who are Scouters would push the idea.

 

Here is another link for your training request.

http://www.scouter.com/compass/Calendar/JLT__Courses/

Edited October 8, 2005 by Packanack

[+MREAGLEWO1]

thank you, i know of a scouter that proposed woodburning meritbadge and it is actually coming out as a merit badge.

[+MREAGLEWO1]

any one knows where i can get a syllabus online?

[+Packanack]

I don't mind being helpful, but really---but you need to follow some of the links

 

http://www.scouter659.htmlplanet.com/custom.html

 

A quick review of that syllabus, reveals that it probably runs afoul of some national rules and policies. Your council should have a training coordinator whose job is to provide this information to you.

[+eaglespirit0]

Coming from someone who has taught Orienteering for three years while helping with GPS Demonstrations at a Boy Scout Camp, I need to respectively disagree with the sentiment of doing away with the Orienteering Merit Badge.

 

The purpose of a merit badge is to either teach a skill (WoodCarving, Metalworking, Small Boat Sailing, etc.), introduce you to a potential occupation (Engineering, Aviation, Environmental Science, or introduce you to a hobby. It is this part in the key factor why Orienteering still remains a merit badge -- while it is extremely useful in navigation (and in my opinion, a quintessential factor of outdoor skills that every human being should known), it IS being overtaken by "silly gadgets". Will compasses every dissapear? No. Orienteering, if not as a method of navigation, still survives as a hobby and a sport. Orienteering races often involve technical skills, agility, endurance, and speed. In a mindset; you can figure it's the reverse of geocaching: it's not hard to find the point, but a challenge to get there, in geocaching, it's hard to find the point but easy to get there.

 

Orienteering will continue to survive, and if not, thrive.

 

- JD

[+Packanack]

My suggestion was to shelve it as a stand alone and incorporate it into a wilderness navigation merit badge, not to do away with the elements altogether, but rather to align it more closely with related disciplines as a prerequisite to a geocaching badge which I would like to see developed.

[+eaglespirit0]

I have to respectfully disagree.

 

I think Orienteering is a fundamental skill; Geocaching/Using a GPS is not. While it is a useful skill, you can get by easily without one. This also applies to a compass, which you can also easily get by without -- this is where the "nonsensical" ([rant]as I've heard so many adults who know everything about everything; they are the same ones who go camping with cell phones, radios, hand held inflatable vibrating massager bed rolls, and remote-controlled real-life weather gauges. Yet they tell us kids we don't know how to camp -- we need to learn the skills. Half of them can only work the GPS capacity on their Nextel instead of utilizing a compass to go north; yet they have all the outdoors skills. I need water and suitable clothing on my back, and I'm ready to go camping at the barest extremity. Packanack, this is in no way shape or form directed at you, I'm just going off on a tangent[/rant]) requirements of navigation with only the barest of essentials -- sticks, strings, a watch, and the stars.

 

If geocaching grows in popularity as a sport, I would be ecstatic about seeing a merit badge. It must be kept in mind that geocaching isn't even half a decade old; it's still growing and defining itself -- a perfect example is the introduction of Waymarking. The newest merit badge to hit the shelves will be Composites, which deals with plastics and other un-natural materials. It was introduced to the process of becoming a merit badge a while back, but was rejected because the industry hadn't developed yet; I believe if you let the hobby of geocaching develop, you will soon see a badge.

 

And one last argument; at the Boy Scout Jamboree this summer, Garmin sponsored geocaching courses at each of the subcamps. My friend and I went around and did most of them as we are both geocachers, and we enjoyed them. But speaking to program coordinators and other kids, they didn't really like the concept of the sport/heard that people didn't like the concept of the sport. Some of the reasons I heard was the GPS was too complicated, wasn't accurate, the caches were hard to find, the entire concept was stupid, and the number one most commonly-heard reason (Well, at least from one person at one of the SubCamp tents) . . . why use this when you can use a compass?

 

There's pros and cons and I'm glad we can have this insightful discussion.

 

Thanks and have a good night.

 

- JD

[Eaglehaslanded]

As a Eagle Scout and ASM I would have to agree with eaglespirit0. Scouts need to learn the basics in map & compass, that's why we see those requirements up to First Class. The Orienterring MB lets them use those baic skills in an event to build on the skills which they should know.

I do like packanack's idea about a wilderness Nav badge. I would think that would be at a higher skill level and it would be best if it was in the Venturing program.

 

Eaglehaslanded