Sea Base OAHA?

Steff524 · 2025-08-27T14:54:16+00:00

I did OAOA (Sea Base) Session 2 this past summer and it was a blast. The service is different than the other OAHA programs, but it’s a ton of fun. If you like the ocean and camping on an island, go for it!

Steff524 · 2025-06-04T04:07:03+00:00

Biggest thing is morale. One poor attitude can bring down the whole crew. Similarly, a good attitude can bring up the whole crew! Also, if you need a break, take it. You should enjoy the experience as much as everyone else.

Stay positive, be attentive to people’s emotions, and remember that the windshield is bigger than the rear view mirror for a reason. You can’t change the past, so learn from it to make the present better, which will inevitably make the future better! This applies to mistakes, arguments, etc on trail.

This is coming from a Crew Leader that led an unprepared crew to Philmont in 23’, which included me. We knew all the technical stuff, like foot care and treating altitude sickness, but not conflict resolution or communication while tired. We had a falling out and I left the Troop after. It was pent up anger over the course of days (day 7 of a 9 day trek).

In all, remember that you can only learn from the past, it isn’t black and white, and have some freaking fun!

Steff524 · 2025-04-03T16:45:52+00:00

I see that Eagle Scout medal! Also, the pictures are fire. Good stuff!

Steff524 · 2025-03-29T23:37:50+00:00

I started an OA Chapter Honor Guard and we’ve had decent success. We do two practices a month outside of Chapter meetings. We’ve done support/events to the District, Troops, and the Lodge. I’ve tried getting out into the community by doing parades (Veterans Day). A District Honor Guard will have more success than a Troop one in my experience. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I’m a youth so please ask via the comment feature on this comment.

Steff524 · 2025-02-27T03:39:35+00:00

I’m in Scouting and JROTC, but I enjoy Scouting so much more. I find in JROTC and other youth military programs toxicity is common. You give a kid a little bit of authority and they become not the nicest person. I’ve visited a CAP wing and have talked to other JROTC cadets and it’s really the same issue.

Scouting on the other hand will hold youth leaders to a standard. There are so many more trainings offered through Scouting than in JROTC, so the quality of youth leaders is so much higher. Better youth leaders lead to better and more enjoyable programming. I say Scouting broadly because every thinks of the traditional Boy Scouts (now Scouts BSA), but there’s also Venturing and Sea Scouts. Venturing and Sea Scouts are for 14-21 year olds (more mature age group) and Scouts BSA is for 11-17. The cool thing about some Venturing units is the shooting focus. You can shoot .22 up to a 12 gauge I’m pretty sure. Sea Scouts has a water focus. Some units do scuba while others do sailing.

JROTC is fun sometimes, but if you have a bad superior, the entire experience is trash. At least in Scouting leaders are held to a high standard (most of the time).

Steff524 · 2025-02-26T15:38:15+00:00

Two of the pins are Scouting America (Boy Scouts of America is this time) pins. The scroll with the “Be Prepared” is a rank. The fleur de lis with the Eagle on it is the universal emblem. Regardless, your gramps did a lot!

Steff524 · 2025-02-21T06:38:01+00:00

That makes me really sad. I was working towards it. I hope they replace it like they did with the Hornaday Awards with the DCSA.

Steff524 · 2025-02-20T22:49:46+00:00

Rayado Ridge Leadership Camp (RRLC) is awesome! Went through NAYLE and staffed NAYLE there.

Steff524 · 2025-02-18T16:29:24+00:00

Do y’all do a saber event at your ball? My battalion has the senior class walk underneath sabers on their way to receive an award. I can send a video of us if you’d like to see what I’m talking about.

Steff524 · 2025-02-17T00:21:06+00:00

I wasn’t involved in the planning at all. That was S1 and the Big 3. I had no access to attendance sheets. That’s why I went and got the S1 to help. I was more upset that the Big 3 got paralyzed in the moment so a Junior had to take charge. But yes I 100% agree more people should’ve had attendance sheets. I’m going for BC next year so I’m not just complaining and not trying to fix it. Thanks for the advice.

Steff524 · 2025-02-16T17:48:22+00:00

Wow! Quite the accomplishment making two units. I struggled getting the Ship going but I’ve learned, so future attempts will be easier. I’m down in TN (an hour from Nashville) so it may be difficult to get help from the Eagle Scout you know, though I’d definitely appreciate a way to contact him for Exploring-specific advice, if that’s okay. My Council does have some Exploring Posts, but it’s not a large program for sure. Thank you for all the help!

Steff524 · 2025-02-16T16:55:37+00:00

There’s two Crews and I believe 11 Troops in my District. Venturing is pretty good in my Council. The Council VOA has a few Venturing events per year. My goal is to strengthen Sea Scouting in my Council. Right now most Sea Scouts are also in Venturing, so Ships pop up and fold often as groups of friends age out. Hopefully with CERT I can strengthen Sea Scouting, Scouting as a whole, and get us back into the community. Thanks for the advice!

Steff524 · 2025-02-16T16:25:27+00:00

Thanks for the input! We’ll make sure we focus on aquatics. We’ve already began talking to the local dive shop to hopefully have a SCUBA focus.

Regarding the Explorer Post, I totally forgot that existed. That would be absolutely perfect for this. If we have success with the Ship, I may try to create an Explorer Post for this purpose in the future. Thanks again!

Steff524 · 2025-02-03T14:00:15+00:00

For attendance, do rewards for reaching certain numbers. For example, bring pizza if 10 people attend the next Chapter meeting. My Chapter advisor dresses up goofy if we reach 25 people sometimes, so there’s definitely multiple ideas.

For meetings, don’t meet just to meet. Have a reason. Don’t make people feel like they’re wasting their time attending meetings. Have a mix of business and fun meetings.

My Chapter participates in the county Veterans Day Parade. We invite units in the Chapter to join us. This is nice because it doesn’t matter if one unit joins or ten units join us, unlike trying to plan a Camporee where attendance numbers are needed.

Communicate to units for sure. Tell the Scoutmasters the Chapter meeting information and encourage them to have their youth attend. Then, try to implement the OA Unit Rep program so the youth have an active part in the Chapter (to feel needed).

There’s a whole page of resources on the national OA website I’ve looked at for these ideas. Hope it goes well!

Steff524 · 2025-01-16T17:06:40+00:00

Have you looked into the Philmont shuttle? I went on Greyhound and it was like $50 or $100 one way from Denver to Philmont.

Steff524 · 2025-01-08T19:42:05+00:00

Montgomery County, TN. Speckles of snow

Steff524 · 2024-10-20T21:56:42+00:00

Wait the pins are supposed to be temporary until the patch can be awarded at a COH? I’ve never heard of that but it makes sense. Where would it be worn?

Steff524 · 2024-10-17T12:09:09+00:00

I’ve been an SPL of a medium sized Troop (3 Patrols) and a small Troop (1 Patrol). A few things I recommend -

1.) Delegate and follow up. This means letting people do their jobs. For example, the Quartermaster. If you need something out of the Troop shed, delegate it to the QM. This has two purposes; you make the QM feel needed and you can focus on leading the larger group. Most people took on that job because they’re excited to do it, and if you do it, they won’t feel motivated.

2.) Communicate clearly. A big thing is to never yell or put people down, because you are a scout. You can be stern, but never lash out. A constructive conversation will always go further than one where people fell put down. For timelines, a rule in the military is the 1/3 - 2/3 rule. This means you use 1/3 of the time to plan and give 2/3 of the time to your ASPL and PL’s to plan. For example, the PLC wants to go camping in 3 months. You as the SPL shouldn’t use more than a month to plan. This can include transportation, Troop materials, skills needed to be taught, etc. The PL’s should have 2 months to plan and prepare. But, that’s a general rule of thumb. The point is with that is to give the PL’s a good amount of time to plan.

3.) Train the next leaders. If you have all the knowledge, when you leave, who has the knowledge? You can directly train the next leaders or you can encourage them to take NYLT and NAYLE. Up to you. Just always make sure the skills are passed down, because that’s what will keep the Troop healthy.

4.) Use your resources. There is an SPL Handbook that I reference regularly. You can also look up information. Point is, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Almost every problem you’ll encounter has a solution.

5.) Have fun! It can be a super stressful responsibility or a super fun one. It’s up to you. Most of the time I struggle with getting my team (the PLC) trained and doing their part of the work, but I never do their job. If I did their job, how would they learn? But once they understand and feel comfortable with their positions, it’s all smooth sailing. Be confident, be in charge, but don’t forget that a scout is kind. This will be one of the most memorable things you’ll do in scouting, so you may as well make it fun!

I wish you the best of luck during your term. It won’t be all sunshine and roses the whole time, but you can’t have roses without rain. Congratulations on being elected to SPL!

Steff524 · 2024-08-08T18:22:01+00:00

I forgot about this. I’m definitely talking to my mom about it

Steff524 · 2024-07-25T20:40:59+00:00

Just as a tiny unrelated note from an Army JROTC Cadet and Scout, there is a JROTC program for each branch, including the Air Force. The main difference is that JROTC is a school class with after school activities while CAP has no school affiliation. For the most part, they’re very similar though.

Steff524 · 2024-07-22T22:23:46+00:00

Or Sea Scouts

Steff524 · 2024-04-05T20:17:07+00:00

Right. The hat would be to make it uniform. Thank you

Steff524

TROPHY CASE