Buddy System!!!

[evmori]

Rick,
Excellent post! Very well said! Common sense must prevail!

[BM_Crawford]

That's exactly what I was trying to say! Thank you so much for the help Rick and evmori!

[wagionvigil]

As I said Brian MisCommunication!

[Lynda J]

Believe me if you ever have to go through the experience of a child missing or a child seriously injured on an outing you are responsible for you will appreciate and demand the buddy system.
Years ago when I was directing a GS day camp. Two 11 year old girls decided to go on a little round about hike on their own. One girl tripped and fell knocking her self out and broke an arm. They were maybe 300 yards from the outer edge of the camp. Her buddy ran back and got three adults who went to the girl and we got an ambulance in and she was in the hospital in about hour. Had she she not had a buddy she could have laid there for a couple of hours before someone missed her. Then it would have been a search to find her. And this was in North Arkansas in a rather remote and heavely wooded area. Who is to know how long she would have been there before she was found.
Believe me like the patrol system. The buddy isn't the best way to run a troop, it is the only way. If kids are out of sight of the camp area they should have a buddy. Now walking across a parade ground would be a little different. They would be in the line of sight of many other scouts. But still I would try to figure a way of

[RWSmith]

Well said, Lynda.

[West]

See, this I agree with. It's not ignoreing the buddy system. The original example of a MB class with no other detail was worrying. I think you need to make provisions based on the scout as well. The guy I mentioned who got lost going to rowing class obviously needed a buddy even though it was only a 100 yard walk on an obvoius trail and a route he'd taken twice already. In hindsite he needed a buddy to go from his tent to the dineing fly.

[ASM-142]

If a Scout is going to be out of sight then they should have a buddy.

[BM_Crawford]

I agree with that.

[t305spl]

Thats sounds like the way it should work.

[commish3]

But, out of sight of who?

[ASM-142]

This would out of site of someone could can be considered there buddy (see this is really the buddy system being applied)

[commish3]

One buddy system rule does not fit all circumstances

I would disagree. The rule "do not go anywhere without a buddy" seems to speak to every circumstance.

To think a scout should have less restrictions during the day then at night, plays to the misconception that light is good and dark is bad. More car accidents take place during the day, most kidnappings take place during the day, more home accidents take place during the day, more drownings take place during the day, and child molestation can happen anytime and anywhere.

This fact was driven home a few years ago when a local scout troop was having swim nights once a month at the local YMCA. Two scouts were being molested each time in the locker room just a few feet away from the troop's adult leaders by an assistant scoutmaster. The boys were not required to take a buddy to the bathroom because the SM was right outside the door.

Do not let numbers, or proximity, or a sense of security fool you. What decisions you make to protect your own child are up to you. But as Scout leaders we have a legal and moral responsibility for other peoples children. Always using the buddy system is the easiest to do, easiest to teach, and easiest to learn method to help us do that.

Having a really good excuse not to do it will not protect the scout, nor does it release us from or duty as leaders, and it certainly will not appease the parents of an injured or missing boy.

[West]

light and dark does make a diffrence as to how easy it is to get lost.

[OldGreyBear]

So, that scout in Utah ( I think its Utah) who was fishing and left his father to go back to camp, and this was October, and who has yet to be found, didnt he get lost in daylight ?

[West]

Yep he did. And that's a case where the buddy system needed to be used. No one said that you don't need the buddy system during the day. What was said is that you need it even more at night, and that things that would be ok on your own during the day (walking to the latirine in plain sight of camp) are not at night.

Anyone who can't undersatand that there is a diffrence needs to get out and camp more.

[commish3]

Anyone who can't undersatand that there is a diffrence needs to get out and camp more.

I'm not sure comments like that help us to have an open conversation on the topic.

Had the scout in Utah made the trip to camp and back safely, would that have made it seem to be a good reason to not use the buddy system? What if he made the trip safely a hundred times would that seem to be a good reason to not need the buddy system in that circumstance? The Buddy System is not about how many times the activity has been done safely but how to avoid any problems resulting from a scout being alone.
It is just as easy to get lost in the daylight. It happens to people every day.

Let me offer a situation. A young scout is walking across a parade field at summer camp, alone but within sight of 150 people. A young adult in uniform walks up next to him and they begin walking a trail that eventually leads to a typical activity site.

How many of those 150 people were actually watching that scout, and how many were going about there own business. Who was that person that walked up to him? How many people even saw it. Who knew where they were going? Who checked? Tell me, who was that person?

Should we consider a rule no longer valid once it becomes inconvenient to those responsible for enforcing it?

[BM_Crawford]

One buddy system rule does not fit all circumstances

All rules are not specific to every situation. There is a saying that states there are exceptions to every rule. This is true. Rules are to keep an order but they do not always work for every situation.

[commish3]

All rules are not specific to every situation.

I agree with that. As an example highway speed limits do not apply to every situation, only those involving nonemergency vehicles on controlled roads. They would would not apply to every situation. An aircraft over the ocean would not be suject to highway speed limits. Now I am not trying to be flippant. I am only showing the validity of the statement that ALL rules do not apply in EVERY situation.

In fact I know of no rule that was ever made to work in EVERY situation. The fact is that most rules are designed for specific purposes within specific situations.

How can the buddy system not work? If the purpose is to make sure that for a scout is never alone but has someone with them specifically for their safety, how can a scout have a buddy and the purpose not be fulfilled?

It would seem that the only way the buddy system could not work, would be if it were not used.

Having a situation where the scout goes somewhere (for instance to a MB counselor) without a buddy is not an example of the system not working, it is an example of the system not being used, isn't it? And isn't there a difference?

Just a different point of view.

[evmori]

Folks,
I think we need to apply some common sense here. Requiring a Scout to have a buddy regardless of where he goes in camp isn't practical!

[don]

My sons troop, says if you go out of camp you have to have a buddy. If a scouts needs to go to a merit badge class at summer camp, and he does not have a buddy, the SPL trys to find to 2 other scouts to walk with him, and then walk back to get him after the class. Many times the scouts are busy, working on merit badge requirements so 2 of us adults become his buddy and we are expected to be there to walk him back after the class. It is great way to lose weight! Usually my sons troop has over 60 scouts at camp, and at least 10 adults.