We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

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US Coast Guard Tall Ship Hosts Sea Scouts

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Once each year, ten distinguished Sea Scouts from around the United States are invited by the US Coast Guard to spend a week sailing aboard the USCGC EAGLE.  The EAGLE is a 295ft long fully rigged sailing barque.  She was taken as a war prize from the Nazi Navy in 1945 and has been mostly stripped of her Nazi past and converted into a symbol of American freedom and help.  (As any boat owner knows, some parts are impossible to replace. So despite much grinding and polish a watchful eye can still spot hints of the ship’s darker past.)

Sea Scouts climbed the rope ladders up the masts and helped raise and lower the 23 sails with over 22,000 square feet of sail area.  They worked in the galley under a culinary-trained galleymaster (Coast Guard food is know to be very good), and assisted with the day to day operations of the boat.

While the EAGLE does not engage in critical Coast Guard missions such as drug interdiction, fisheries enforcement or search-and-rescue (except under very specific circumstances), the Scouts were briefed on the exciting career of a Coast Guard sailor or officer. 

The week paid off with at least one NCAC Sea Scout sending forward an application to the very prestigious and selective US Coast Guard Academy.

Scout on St. Croix Earns Elite Master Scuba Diver Certification

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Evan Dykstra, 12, is a Scout with Troop 7227 on St. Croix, USVI. In July Evan joined an elite group of divers by earning his Junior Master Scuba Diver certification. Only 3% of scuba divers attain this level, the highest a recreational diver can earn.

At the age of 8 Evan started diving through PADI’s Bubblemaker course at Sweet Bottom Dive Center, then earned his Open Water certification at age 10. This was followed by his Adventure certification by completing  specialty courses in peak performance buoyancy, navigation, boat diver, fish ID and photography. Evan then completed First Aid/CPR/AED training for his Rescue Diver certification. Once Evan turned 12 he was then eligible to complete his Advanced certification and with it his Master Diver accomplishment. The day after this achievement Evan completed his 200th dive and plans on many more adventures.

Eagle Scout Neighbors

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Scouting is a family affair, no more so than on Permit and Society Courts in Herndon, VA, where ten boys grew up as friends and next-door neighbors, and where all became Eagle Scouts in Troop 1570, chartered to the Clearview Elementary School PTA in Herndon. Their Eagle boards of review span a fifteen-year period.

Through all their Scouting years, the Scouts’ five families shared not just boundaries to their yards but a deep bond that comes from a belief in the mission and value of Scouting. The Scouts’ parents were active through those all those years as registered leaders and participating parents in Pack 1570 and Troop 1570. Now the families are celebrating the notable accomplishments of their Scouts.

Tony Aiello is the audio/video engineering director for a prominent Bible church in Northern VA. Tony is responsible for the development, installation and maintenance of the critical infrastructure and support systems for multiple buildings. Tony has also started his own company providing audio/video support to the ministries of other churches around the DC area. Tony and his wife Christina live in Northern VA. Tony was Troop 1570’s 51st Eagle Scout, earning the Eagle rank on October 30, 2003.

Dan Claff lives in Central NJ, where he works as a civil engineer for a major international engineering consulting firm. Dan earned a doctorate in engineering science at Oxford University. Dan was Troop 1570’s 52nd Eagle Scout, earning the Eagle rank on October 30, 2003.

Science has always held a fascination for Matthew Feltz. Possessing a degree in integrated science and technology and a master’s degree in bioinformatics, Matt writes software to process complex biological data and glean important information for medical and scientific research. After several years working in the Washington DC area, Matthew and his wife Julie have recently relocated to the NC Research Triangle. Matt was Troop 1570’s 65th Eagle Scout, earning the Eagle rank on April 29, 2006.

Michael Aiello and his wife Cynthia live in a remote village in Northwestern Alaska. Michael serves as a deputy magistrate and law clerk. Michael earned his law degree at Regent University School of Law. Michael was Troop 1570’s 66th Eagle Scout, earning the Eagle rank on June 21, 2006.

Tim Feltz has his degree in international business and has been working in the international transport business for several years. He and his fiancee Brianna recently moved to Central NC. He enjoys hiking, camping, and the beach. Tim was Troop 1570’s 68th Eagle Scout, earning the Eagle rank on November 19, 2006.

Josh Feltz has a degree in horticulture. Josh enjoys working with all types of plants in an environmentally conscious manner. He has a special interest in promoting native plants, protecting pollinators, and planting trees. He has spent three years working in botanical gardens and is currently working for a plant service in Northern Virginia. Josh was Troop 1570’s 83rd Eagle Scout, earning the Eagle rank on January 7, 2009.

Lucas Kane and his wife Sarah currently reside in Central KS. Lucas is in his final year of medical school and serving his hospital rotations. Lucas is seeking to practice family medicine. To date he has delivered or assisted in the delivery of fourteen babies! Lucas was Troop 1570’s 89th Eagle Scout, earning the Eagle rank on January 17, 2010.

This fall, Fletcher Phillips started student-teaching 8th grade civics for a Northern VA public school system. Fletcher will earn his master’s degree in education in May 2019. Fletcher was Troop 1570’s 107th Eagle Scout, earning the Eagle rank on October 20, 2013.

Tucker Phillips is a Junior at a Northern VA university, studying environmental science. Tucker also serves as a dormitory resident adviser. Tucker was Troop 1570’s 118th Eagle Scout, earning the Eagle rank on September 28, 2016.

Spencer Phillips began college at a Richmond, VA area university this fall. Spencer plans to study filmmaking. Spencer was Troop 1570’s 123rd Eagle Scout, earning the Eagle rank on August 9, 2018.

US Coast Guard Hosts 2018 Safety at Sea

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After a week of fretfully watching Hurricane Florence dance around the eastern seaboard of the United States, 100 Sea Scouts and their Coast Guard mentors gathered at the Coast Guard base in Curtis bay for training and tours.  The Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary provided training in Man-Overboard Drills, Mustang Survival Suit use, Aerial Flares, Disaster Recovery (what happens when your ship hits an iceberg?), maritime radio use and tours of the USCGC Rankin and Chock – who patrol the Chesapeake bay and maintain safe shipping lanes.

On the water, Scouts were able to take tours of the Coast Guard Yard aboard the new mini-tugboat brought by Ship 37 Dreadnought from Frederick, Maryland.  They were able to get up close and personal as they motored past the various Coast Guard cutters – and one particularly notable ship, the USCGC EAGLE.

On shore, Scouts were shooting off bright red emergency flares under the watchful eye of the United States Coast Guard.  Hand-held flares were ignited and Scouts learned careful techniques to avoid setting themselves on fire, or worse – flares drip sparks that can mix violently with a fuel tank! Despite encouragement from devious adult leaders, Scouts learning to aim and focus a marine fire hose did NOT actually resort to spraying down each other in the warm summer sun.

Unit Contacts – Letting Units Know We Care

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For the first time in several years, our council is currently on track to achieve only a bronze level in the “Journey to Excellence” unit contact metric. The good news is that we have time to turn this around before year-end. As has happened in past years, I expect our commissioner staff to record a large number of simple and detailed contacts during the re-charter season.

As all the District Commissioners know, I value metrics to the extent that they help us spot areas for improvement. The important and meaningful goal is that all unit-level Scouters know that unit commissioners care about them, and that units have a connection to the resources, friendships, advice, and activities in the district. This is a noble goal. Recording unit visits is the way we expect unit commissioner to indicate that they are actually fulfilling this meaningful goal.

In 2018, the national “Journey to Excellence” team added a requirement to have one detailed assessment per unit to the unit contact metric. The important and meaningful goal is that unit-level leaders and unit commissioners have a discussion about where the unit stands and develop a few concrete plans on how to improve. This also is a noble goal. Recording detailed assessments does not take long, and is a simple natural by-product of an activity unit commissioners have been doing for decades. Yes, we are asking unit commissioners to do slightly more data entry, but the reason is that with this extra data entry we can easily see at a district level where units might need more service.

Allow me to use my home district, Francis Scott Key (FSK) District, as an example of how these metrics can be useful. Here is a chart (from the end of September) that uses the recorded unit contacts and detailed assessments to give a quick sketch of unit service in the FSK District.

From this chart, we can spot a few interesting things. The horizontal line shows how many contacts a unit should have received according to the Journey to Excellence standard, which is one contact per every two months (for a total of 6 per year). At this point in the year, each unit should have received five recorded contacts. You can see that 57 out of 79 units have received contacts this year. Unit commissioners may have contacted the 22 remaining units, but these contacts are unrecorded so do not show in the chart. We can see on the chart that 9 units have 4 contacts, so are just one short of the standard of 5.

The blue segments indicate simple contacts and the orange segments indicate detailed assessments. The very first unit in the chart, Crew 796, has received 5 simple contacts but no detailed assessments, so is excluded from the Journey to Excellent metrics. FSK District has 12 units like this, so when the unit commissioner performed a detailed assessment (perhaps when the unit commissioner reviews the year-end unit Journey to Excellence scorecard with the unit), these units will achieve the minimum standard required by Journey to Excellence (which is one detailed assessment per unit plus enough simple contacts).

What about the units with no or fewer than five contacts? I know that my good friend Bill Desmond, who is the District Commissioner for FSK, is working with resource constraints, like most commissioners. These units may be strong and in less need of unit contacts, or maybe they have been visited but the contacts have not been recorded, or maybe FSK is short on commissioners in those neighborhoods, or maybe the units have already folded and cannot be visited. The metrics are a quick view but the folks in our districts will have more detailed “localized” knowledge. These charts provide commissioners with the tools they can use to prioritize commissioner service, as we get closer to the year-end finish line, and I trust Bill Desmond and all of my District Commissioners to “do their best” in providing service to our units.

Assistant Council Commissioner Rick Manteuffel posts these reports to the commissioner folders each month. I ask all commissioners to use these reports as input in prioritizing commissioner service in our districts. This is not to buff our metrics, but rather to ensure our units are getting the commissioner service they need and deserve.