As a Unit Commissioner, I see troops with all levels of
adherence to “The Patrol Method” – the four troops with which I’m most familiar
all have different methods of dealing with their patrols. Recently, one of them asked me about
strengthening the patrols in their troop.
First, the contrasts . . . we’ll list the troops from
largest to smallest (I’m using letters here - and changing some details, because I don’t want to insult
anyone and I don’t want readers trying to figure out which troop is which in
reality):
Troop A has about 50 members, and an outstanding outdoor
program. There’s a significant group of
their scouts en-route to a high adventure base each summer. Members of this troop are present in every
sub-group I can think of in the council; camp staff, our OA lodge, Eagle
Board-of-review, Unit Commissioner Staff,
District training staff, District committee. You name it, Troop A’s fingerprints are on it. They have a truly incredible recruiting
effort with Cub Scouts, with 8-12 Den Chiefs out at multiple Cub packs, and
they are the only troop I know that truly follows-up on visiting Cub
Scouts. (Visiting families get a Thank
You card signed by the SPL and Scribe, with contact information for the
Scoutmaster).
The last time I visited them, there were 7 “functioning”
patrols that evening. By that, I mean
that as I sat in the corner of the room watching, there were seven groups of
youth obviously being led by a patrol leader.
On paper, they have ten patrols, ranging from four very large patrols of
younger scouts down to one last remaining patrol that they jokingly call the
“Ghost Patrol” – it has two members, both Eagle Scouts and Junior Assistant
Scoutmasters. Patrols in Troop A build
intense esprit de corps and have a
very strong identity because the troop borrows a bit from the Cub Scout program --right now they have two patrols of eight 5th graders who have
just crossed over from Cub Scouts, two smaller patrols of 6th
graders who are mostly 1st Class Scouts, two more patrols of about
5-6 members each of 7th graders, one patrol of 8th
graders, and two more “consolidated” patrols of high school kids (plus the
“Ghost PatroL” I mentioned earlier).
Scouts joining the troop stay in their patrol as long as the patrol
exists. Typically, when the two patrols
of scouts of the same age drop below a combined membership of 8, the smaller
patrol is “absorbed” by the bigger one, and when two patrols of adjacent years
(i.e. the 15 year old patrol and 16 year old patrol) drop below 8, they’re
consolidated as well.
Troop A’s patrols typically build a Patrol Box and a
Klondike Derby Sled (with assistance from adults and older scouts) early on in
their existence, and make a Patrol Flag on their own. The Troop Quartermaster issues gear for their
patrol box and they’re responsible for it until the patrol disbands. The patrol gear is often custom decorated by
the patrol.
I’m not sure I like this method of organization, but I have
to say it works well for Troop A. And
the very strong patrols they’ve built do outings on their own, separate from
the troop. They also have a very strong
Patrol Leader’s Council, which does plan the troop’s schedule – to the point of
saying “Patrol X is sponsoring this outing and Patrol Y is coordinating that
outing. “
Troop B may be the best-running “pure patrol method” troop I
deal with. They’ve got about 35-40
members, in a “Senior Patrol” consisting of the SPL, ASPL, Quartermaster,
Scribe, Troop Guide, OA Rep, and a couple of other older scouts. The rest of the troop is in 3 “regular
patrols” of about 6-7 scouts and a “New Scout Patrol” of first-year
Scouts. Troop B’s patrols are issued a
Patrol Box roughly a year at a time (they have a “Spring Cleaning” day on a
Saturday where the boxes are emptied, gear cleaned and adjustments are
made). Their PLC is, again, very
strong, with a monthly meeting following an agenda published a couple weeks
before the meeting by the SPL (with support from the Scoutmaster). They have an annual program planning
conference and the PLC is encouraged to dream big – with a summer multi-state
trip every year, and older scouts participating in council High Adventure
contingents.
New scouts spend a year in the “New Scout Program” in a
patrol (or patrols) made up just of new scouts.
New Scouts rotate acting as Patrol Leader and Assistant Patrol Leader so
everyone gets an idea of what the job does, with the Troop Guide watching over
them. As they finish their first year,
the “regular patrols” compete for members of the new scout patrol. The three regular patrols right now, have two
that are composed of 6-9th graders, and one that shades a bit older
. . .I don’t think they have any 6-7th graders, but they do have a
several scouts with driver’s licenses.
Troop C is a bit more “free-and-easy” with their
patrols. New Scouts are in a single
patrol, and if there are enough of them at the end of the year, they sometimes
convert to a “regular” patrol – but almost always add in a couple of older
scouts if they do that. As I write this,
a couple of weeks before Summer Vacation starts, the troop has a four-man
“Green Bar Patrol” (a bit more on that name later), with the SPL, ASPL, Troop
Guide and a scout who is both Quartermaster and Scribe, two patrols of about 6
members each that are 6th graders and up. (The troop’s also a bit on
the young side, with only three or four scouts older than 9th
grade. Those older scouts are not
members of a patrol, and are Junior Assistant Scoutmasters and the troop’s OA
Rep). Their new scout patrol has 8
members at the moment, all 5th graders who were WEBELOS
together. They are going to grow to 9
members in the next week or so. . .they have a new member attending who wasn’t
a Cub Scout and can’t “officially” join until his 11th Birthday.
Troop C mixes and matches its patrols about once a year –
it’s not unusual for there to be four patrols in January, and three in February
– and all three of the patrols have completely new names. Patrol boxes are issued 6 months at a time,
and patrols are expected to have a flag and patrol yell pretty quickly after
they choose a name. (This can get to
borderline hazing . . . I’ve seen a patrol, six weeks after its organization,
presented with a “Question Mark” flag, as a stand-in until they get their flag
done – in that case 7 days later)
Troop C, has a very experienced Scoutmaster, who likes to
train his junior leaders and get out of their way. They can be a bit rough around the edges,
because Troop C’s junior leaders are not interfered with; so if they forget to
plan an outing, they don’t go. If the
SPL doesn’t have an agenda for the PLC meeting, it isn’t very productive.
They’ve lost out on some recruits over the years, because
parents seek a more structured program for their Scouts . . . but the boys who
get into this environment tend to thrive.
This fairly small troop, with just 24 members on the roster, has an
outsized presence at the council’s NYLT course coming up this summer (Almost a
third of the troop is involved either on staff or as students; although not a
single adult is involved).
An epilogue about Troop C’s “Green Bar” patrol: they use it
as a sort-of “uberpatrol” for special activities for older scouts – Officially
it’s the four junior leaders I mentioned before (SPL, ASPL,
Quartermaster/Scribe and Troop Guide), plus all of the Patrol Leaders and
Assistant Patrol Leaders. They meet
monthly for the regular PLC meetings, and twice a year for training, plus a
couple of “fun” activities each year – often hikes or other activities that
might be too strenuous for younger scouts.
Troop D, the one asking me about how to build a stronger
patrol system in their troop, has a pretty cool outdoor program too – but they
focus on backpacking. I noticed that
only once since the first of the year has this troop had a campout that the
boys ate by patrol – the last three in a row have been meals out of the
backpacks, with either the individual or
a smaller group (usually 2 or 3 scouts) cooking together. This troop has about 15 active members who
are all in two patrols “on paper” with the SPL and ASPL drawn out of one of the
patrols. There is a Troop Scribe, but no
other troop-level junior leaders.
I’ve had a series of conversations with adults at Troop D
about strengthening their patrols, but thus far refrained from giving any
concrete advice. On their own, they
(with some help from the PLC) came up with the idea of having a couple of
patrol outings. The troop March and May
outings are early in the month and the April and June outings are late in the
month – Patrols met in late March for an “indoor activity” (One patrol had a
pizza and movie night and the other patrol went bowling as a group), and
they’ll have the opportunity again in late May/early June. I know that one of the patrols is meeting
next Saturday to make a patrol flag (the first one the troop’s seen in recent
memory).
My first advice is going to be to get the PLC meeting on a
regular basis (they met in February to ratify the calendar that the Troop
Committee created in January), and my next is to get more training done of the
Junior Leaders. (Again, that’s not all
my work – the troop had decided to send two scouts to NYLT as students before
they asked me about the patrol method.
But they have never done any “in troop” training like ILST – I’m hoping
that can happen over the summer with guys who might be ready for NYLT in
2017). My third comment is that
backpacking does not preclude cooking and eating as a group – having the
patrols make a menu instead of “pick a backpacking meal for two from the troop
quartermaster” would be a good start.
We’ll see how things go from there.
