>Who influences the decisions that you make? Or are you a free thinker who needs little help or advice from anyone? I would say that I am one who uses guidance where needed, giving credit where credit is due. Today is one of those days, not because it’s Memorial Day weekend or anything like that, but I was doing some thinking yesterday.

As I was doing a much-needed, overdue cleaning on my car yesterday, my brain kicked into “focus time”…

I didn’t have the radio on, or iPod or anything like that…just the “whirr” of the buffer and the focus on the task at hand. Seeing as I used to own a detail shop, years ago, detailing my car came easy, almost to the point of auto-pilot. That meant the brain didn’t have to focus there…so where should it focus?

Scouting of course…

Most of you know the trials and tribulations that I have been going through the last 6 months, and over the week, another thing hit me in the face. The Scoutmaster for the frontrunning troop resigned, effective at summer’s end. Along with Cubmaster Chris’ news, that made for an interesting week, along with some of the other scouting hiccups that happen from week to week…

When I found out that the SM resigned, I got to thinking and wondered, “What happened? This was sudden.” and “Where does this leave us? The pack and whatnot…”

I made some calls, and pieced together my own hypothesis, set the burner in my head to simmer and put that “kettle of stuff” to the back burner…until yesterday…

I was mad, upset and confused…I wanted to be Scoutmaster of that troop, but got passed over by someone who never even held any kind of leadership position. That was my troop to take over…I felt that I was the logical choice, I had been a lot of these boys Cubmaster, I did this and I did that…why should someone else get all of the credit for the things that I and the other leaders taught these boys as Cubs?

I had also offered my services to be a part of the succession plan…the Scoutmaster was going to step down, but that time frame wasn’t told, but using scout-math, we all figured about a year…I have 3 sons who will be moving through the ranks, and will have a boy in scouts for the next, oh, 15 years…I thought that I would be the logical choice…but I wasn’t even asked.

Then I thought, “Start the new troop, it’s what you wanted to do, just start it again”…I mentioned this to the wife, she didn’t say a lot…but I could tell. She didn’t say it, but I knew it…I wanted to start a new troop out of spite…yup, spite…that was about all that we talked about…she made one more comment and that was it…

Fast forward to me working on the car…”Why do I want to start a new troop? Do I feel jilted about not being chosen as Scoutmaster? What can I do to get what I want?” are things that ran through my mind. I would guess that the biggest question that I asked myself is “Cleary, what do you want in scouting, or out of it?” I then answered myself…I want to be a Commissioner or a Scoutmaster…Why, though?

Then I figured it out…

I have many heroes in my life…my Grandpa, my Uncle, just to name a few, but these 2 heroes really put it in perspective.

How do I honor my heroes? I try to emulate them…and I think that I have done that. Now for these other 2 heroes…

I became a Commissioner because of one guy, Keith Westergaard…it didn’t work out, but not because of anything that he did, but due to a whole lot of other things that I don’t want to dredge up, but he is still my friend and still one of my heroes…

My other hero is the reason that I want to start this new troop. I have seen what he has done with a new group of boys, and in a short amount of time, has taken a program from nothing to almost 40 scouts…so that made up my mind….Thanks Scoutmaster Jerry…I have found my focus again, and I will be starting that new troop…Troop 1363…

So whether your hero is a teacher, a relative or a friend, make sure that you say “thanks” every once in a while….

Thanks Keith and Jerry….words can’t describe what you have done for me and scouting….

>As we move into the summer months, now may be a time to take an inventory of what has transpired in the last “Scouting” year. I will take a personal inventory, and see what went well, what was OK, and what was not so good.

It may be a good time to recommend the same thing to your leaders. The Unit Commissioner’s staff has such a form, and while in the service, I used it to review what I did was good, bad or otherwise. I recently looked at my forms and did a self review, and found that my training is strong, my follow-through is OK, but my attitude stinks.

So I must review what I can do differently, so that I can be a better scouter, and also, a better person. I have found the flaws that I need to take care, I just have to follow-through on making those changes.

Now may be a good time to contact your Unit Commissioner, go through your year with him/her and see what you did was great, what was good, and what needs improvement…they are there to help, and will be there if called upon…at least they should be.

Take the time, review yourself, maybe your unit…you may find something that you didn’t see that will accel you to the next level…

>As I progress into the unknown world of scouting, I have made a few observations…

1. I haven’t posted in almost a month, and I really needed to get something out…
2. Lack of direction with my posts, and lack of shows….even though I have 3 written, seems kind of moot to record them, as I am no longer a Unit Commissioner…
3. With the above, I may be letting my audience down…and I hate that…

So, let the posting begin…

I have been doing so much contemplating lately, it seems so hard to just sit down and write anything that comes to mind…one day I am looking at starting a new troop, the next, I am looking at getting out of scouting all together.

So as it stands right now, I am still the pack trainer, for another year….then I don’t really know. The troop that I was going to start isn’t in the cards right now, but that option is always there. The troop that I was the UC for, may be the choice right now, but there are issues there, too….

And the district staff…I am so anti-district/council right now, it’s hard for me to get past a lot of the BS that has been getting slung around lately. I have seen a lot of my good friends, all great scouters by the way, get left in the lurch by a staff that has no desire to do anything for the scouts, only to further their name in the community or make an extra buck somehow.

That is the story with Scouter Cleary…undecided, but still faithful in the scouting program and all that it has to give. I am not going to revisit any of the negativity that I had a few months ago, even though this post may seem that I am…it’s a mindset that I am in right now. I have a high standard as to the product that I want to put out, and I haven’t been able to do that for some time and I don’t want anyone to think ol’ Scouter Cleary puts out junk…I don’t roll like that…

Regardless, there is some new stuff happening at the Cleary Family Scouting Compound, some which may turn out to be the best for my boys, the boys in our unit, and the scouts in the district, all of which I hope to pass onto all of my readers, and possibly listeners….

Thanks for reading….