Scouting @Sam Merit Badge Day

Today Troop and Team 699 attended merit badge day Scouting @Sam hosted by Sam Houston State University, 11 February, 2012. Even though we got up before the crack of dawn this cold February morning, the boys were met with kolaches and pastries for breakfast while the leaders checked in. The Scouts met in an auditorium, sat in their assigned merit badge groups, and then were escorted to their classrooms on campus. Jacob unwittingly signed up for the cooking merit badge and immediately got to work making lunch for the whole campus. Lunch was held in the campus cafeteria with buffet style areas with lines that filled up quickly for the pizza and hotdog zones. Riley piled up his plates going for seconds, thirds,...25ths,... We got some partial merit badges along with some completes.
Riley completed Cinematography and will have his short news reel posted on You Tube.
Dalin competed in a campus Chess tournament and kept the college students on their toes with his skills.
Edgar, Jaffeth, and Cristian all completed Citizenship in the World, learning about how Australia used to be a prisoner island for the British Empire.
Erick and Jimmie got partials in Citizenship in the Nation.
Jacob scored two for one merit badge day. He completed Public Health and got a partial for Cooking. I guess we didn't stay to do the dishes!!

January 2012 camp out

Here is our first campout in the new year 2012 to Brazos Bend State Park. We survived a clear cold night and conducted an orienteering course for First Class rank requirements. Here are the boys working on their cooking requirements.

Camp dates 2012

Jan 13-14: Brazos Bend 5-mile hike
David Dickamore, Mike Machula
Dan Haddock

Mar 2-3: Father Sons camp out
Tommy Westergard
David Dickamore
Sam Roundy
Jeff McKinney
Steve Grundberg

Mar 23-24: Stephen F Austin- golfing
Bishop Anderson
Tommy Westergard
Jeff McKinney

April 13-14: 5-mile Float Martin F Dies, or other.
Kody Allred
Mike Kauffman
Steve Grundberg

May 11-12: Stake Merit Badge Campout.

4-8th NYLT both Presidents of Deacons quorums.

25-30June: Karankawa Summer Camp,
Kody Allred (Mon-Wed possibly)

14-26 June-Philmont
Bishop Anderson, Chris Canales

July 13-14: Huntsville State Park- swimming
Mike Kauffman

Aug 10-11: Galveston State Park- Fishing
Kody Allred
Tommy Westergard

Sep 21-22: Needville – Texas Klondike Competition
Dan Payne
Mike Kauffman

Oct 19-20: LDS Regional Camporee Bovay
Bishop Anderson

Nov 9-10: Stake Scout Merit Badge Weekend
Dan Payne

Dec 7-8: Enchanted Rock – Backpack camping
Russell Rasmussen

To all adult leaders if you can't attend a camp out that you have signed up for please find a replacement for your self. Thank you.

Coastal District Awards 2011

Coastal District held their annual awards banquet 20 January, 2012, for outstanding work that volunteers performed in 2011 for Scouting. Brother Daniel Haddock recieved the unit Spark Plug Award where he was instrumental in providing the "Spark" that helped make Troop 699 Scout program what it is today. His efforts enabled twelve Scouts from Troop 699 to attend Summer Camp for the third year in a row at El Rancho Cima, he started our flag fundraiser three years ago, and took a personal interest in each Scout which enabled the less active boys in our Troop attend summer camp and monthly campouts. He camped 8 nights providing exceptional leadership and guidance to our youth. We will miss you Brother and Sister Haddock! We wish you all the best in Missouri.

Brazos Bend Campout December 2011

This is the last campout for 2011. Scouts backpacked for 7 miles to prepare for Philmont.

Court of Honor December 2011

On 13 December 2011, Troop 699 held another successful Court of Honor. The Scouts have yet again demonstrated their mettle by continuing to earn their Scout rank advancements and merit badges. Thomas Payne earned the LDS On My Honor award while Bishop Anderson presented this hard earned spiritual badge. Two Scouts earned additional merit badges while attending Bay Area Council's Fall Camp at Camp Karankawa in November. Dallin Haddock earned Citizenship in the World, Cinematography, and Wilderness Survival (delayed from Summer Camp), while Jacob Machula earned Environmental Science merit badge.
Dalin Stanton earned Scout rank.
Christian Hernandez earned Scout and Tenderfoot rank.
Edgar Moreno and Jaffeth Contreras earned Tenderfoot rank.
Jacob Machula earned Second Class and First Class ranks.

If I missed anyone on the distribution list please forward this to them and let me know so I can include them on future notifications.
The training requirements matrix is available for your viewing pleasure 24/7 on google docs if you want to know what trainings are required for each position - send me an email with your google email address and I will add you to the permissions list and send you a link. It may be a little lacking on cub scout training requirements but covers most of the boy scout requirements.
If you have any questions about what trainings you have already completed you can send me an email or check yourself on myscouting.org (go to the website, log in, click the "my scouting" tab on the far right, then on the left under "training" click on "training validation"). If you have paper or electronic copies of training certificates that do not appear on the myscouting training validation page then please scan and email them to me or bring me a copy for our troop records.

Link to the website with more info on the upcoming trainings http://www.flamingarrowdistrict.org/training.html. Go to the website and get registered as soon as possible otherwise some trainings may fill up and become unavailable, or registration deadlines may be missed.

The following trainings will be offered: (positions that require a specific training are listed in brackets [ ] next to it with red colored text)

Saturday, September 24th at the Atascocita building of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (our roundtable location – 19618 Atasca Oaks, Humble TX 77346) will be our fall Flaming Arrow District Training Day.

Training the Chartered Organization Representative [Bishop and/or councilor]
BALOO (Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation) [Webelos Den Leader]
Scoutmaster Specific [Scoutmaster, Assistant Scoutmaster, 11 year old Scout Leader]
Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills (IOLS) Challenge [Scoutmaster, Assistant Scoutmaster, 11 year old Scout Leader, Varsity Coaches, assistant Varsity Coaches, Advisors and associate Advisors in crews]
Merit Badge Counselor Orientation [any merit badge counselor]
Varsity Leader Specific [Varsity Coaches, assistant Varsity Coaches, team committee members]
Venturing Leader Specific [Advisors, associate Advisors, crew committee members]


BALOO (Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation) [Webelos Den Leader]
BALOO will also be offered September 10th at the Cockrell Scout Center in both Spanish and English. Course will cost $7 and payment will be accepted when participants arrive - please have the correct change. To register, please e-mail Dale Sawyer by September 7th (dale@rice.edu) with your name, district, pack and language preference.


Cub Scout Leader Position-Specific face to face training (separate from the flaming arrow district training):
For Cub Scout leaders who would like to attend a face-to-face training (rather than take the online trainings) for their Cub Scout leader position-specific training, these will be offered at the council offices on Saturday, September 17th and Saturday, September 24th.
If you would like to attend any Cub Scout classes on September 17th, please contact Raquel Collins (rcollins17@comcast.net to register and to get more information.
If you would like to attend any Cub Scout classes on September 24th, please contact Rita Ferguson (713-864-4325, sheblabritaur@att.net ) to register and to get more information.
Courses offered:
Den leader training [Webelos, Bear, Wolf den leaders]
Cubmaster training [Cubmaster, assistant cub master]
Pack committee training [Committee members]
Scoutmaster specific training [see above]
Sea Scout training


OLSWL (Outdoor Leader Skills for Webelos Leaders) will be offered in the Flaming Arrow District on Saturday, October 8th beginning at 8:00 a.m. with check-in beginning at 7:45 a.m. [Webelos Den Leader]