Thank you for stopping by our Web Site.

We would like you to get to know us better and answer any questions you may have about the Boy Scout program or our Troop. We are affiliated with the Alpine District of the Chief Seattle Council. The Troop meets on Monday nights at Cougar Ridge Elementary School. Pre meeting activities start at 6:45 pm with the main meeting beginning promptly at 7:00 pm. Meetings generally run from one to one and a half hours long.

The following is an outline of the various elements that make up our Troop.

The Chartered Organization

Boy Scout troops do not exist by themselves in a vacuum somewhere. Every troop is part of the youth program of some established community organization. That organization is granted a charter by the Boy Scouts of America to operate as a troop for one year. At the end of each year the our charter organization must renew their charter with the Boy Scouts of America. Our charter organization is the VFW Issaquah Chapter.

The Chartered Organization Representative

The chartered organization representative is a member of the chartered organization who heads up the organization's "Scouting Department". He is an active link between the troop and the organization, and works closely with the troop committee and its chairman. The representative can help in areas such as rechartering, leadership recruiting, planning service projects, and forming new Scouting units within the organization.

The Troop Committee

The Troop Committee is made up of parents of the Scouts. Their two primary responsibilities are supporting the troop program and handling the troop administration. These include such things as helping with advancements and recognition, handling the troop finances, working with parents, and doing whatever they can to help the Scoutmaster do his job.

The Scoutmaster

To our growing roster of the troop's hard-working parts we now add the key link in the chain - the Scoutmaster. The Scoutmaster is the person who quietly but effectively pulls it all together to get the results he is after: helping boys grow into fine young men with a knowledge of duty to self, community, and God. He does this by guiding boys toward understanding. Understanding what - camping skills? No - understanding themselves. He works by training his boy leaders to run the troop, and by managing, training,and supporting his assistant Scoutmasters in their roles. The Scoutmaster is the one - and only - troop leader who relates closely to each of the other links in the chain of troop operations: The scouts, the junior leaders and the patrol leaders' council, the assistant Scoutmasters, the troop committee,and through the committee the chartered organization representative and the chartered organization. The Scoutmaster position is described as follows:

* Train and guide boy leaders to run their troop.
* Work with and through responsible adults to bring Scouting to boys. < br> * Help boy to grow by encouraging them to learn for themselves.
* Guide boys in planning the troop program.
* Help the troop committee recruit assistant Scoutmasters.
* Conduct Scoutmaster conferences.

The Assistant Scoutmasters

The Assistant Scoutmasters also play a strategic part, for they support the Scoutmaster and share his challenge. Assistants are assigned specific program responsibilities, such as new scouts or older boys. The new scout patrol, made up of boys who have not yet earned the First Class rank or have not yet entered the seventh grade, will have assigned an Assistant Scoutmaster to work with them. Older scouts have an Assistant Scoutmaster assigned to their patrol as patrol advisor. There is, of course, another important job an Assistant Scoutmaster may occasionally be called upon to assume: Should the Scoutmaster be unable to serve, whether temporarily or permanently, an Assistant Scoutmaster can step in and serve in his place.

The Patrols

Every Boy Scout Troop is made up of patrols, groupings of six to eight boys who work together as a team. Each patrol elects its own leader. The patrol leaders, with an elected senior patrol leader as their head, form the Patrol Leaders' Council. It is this council's job to plan and run the troop program. Each patrol leader represents his patrol on the council, and interprets to his patrol the plans and decisions the council makes. Patrols also have their own meetings, elect their own officers, and plan and carry out their own patrol activities. This is called the "PATROL METHOD". It is the most important part of the Boy Scout Program.

The New Scout Patrol

The purpose of this patrol is to introduce new, younger boys to the ways of Boy Scouting and to help them master the skills leading to First Class rank. They will stay in this patrol until they reach the seventh grade, or First Class - whichever happens first - and will then join a regular patrol. Or they may form a patrol of their own. Like any other patrol, the new scout patrol elects a patrol leader, who will attend patrol leaders' council meetings and have a vote. He should serve only a short time, however, so that other new scouts can share in the leadership experience. Each patrol of new scouts is under the supervision of an older scout called a "TROOP GUIDE", who is appointed by the Scoutmaster in consultation with the Assistant Scoutmaster responsible for new scouts. The Troop Guide should be at lease a First Class in rank and interested in working with younger boys. His role is to relate closely with the patrol leader and to teach the patrol members the skills required for First Class rank. The Troop Guide should serve no more than one year. The Troop Guide will attend patrol leaders' council meetings with the new scouts' patrol leader, counsel the new scouts whenever they need a "big brother", and guide them smoothly through the early challenges of Scouting toward a comfortable relationship with the troop, its leaders, and its program. His goal is to pilot them to First Class rank within the first year, so they can take their place with the rest of the troop as trained and experienced scouts. They will then have the skills to take part in, and enjoy, a broad spectrum of outdoor adventures. The Assistant Scoutmaster is appointed to give overall adult supervision to the new scout patrol. He has four important responsibililites:

* Train and support the Troop Guide
* Help teach the key scouting skills.
* Develop a close relationship with parents of new scouts, and promote their active involvement.
* Work closely with the leaders of the Cub Scout Packs that feeds the troop with new boys.

The Pyramid View

Visualize the troop, then, as a pyramid with the chartered organization as its base, a chartered organization representative linking the organization and its head to the troop committee, which in turn is linked to the Scoutmaster and his assistants.
The Scoutmaster works with the senior patrol leader and the patrol leaders who form the patrol leaders' council, the core group of boy leaders who represent the patrols and plan and carry out the troop program.
At the top of pyramid, of course is the Scout.