Last year I was a Patrol leader. Being a Patrol leader was some times hard and some times easy.
For example, some times the boys would listen to you and help you get things done, most of the time the boys did not listen and made it hard to get things done, that is why it is key to have leadership training to help you as a leader. One way I got the leadership training is National Youth Leadership Training, NYLT. Another way is watching my patrol leader before I became a patrol leader to see how he was a leader. Bryan on Scouting says there are ten ways of being a Patrol leader, one is communication, being flexible, not making promises you can't make,just to name a few.
The next thing about being a Patrol leader is controlling your boys on a camp out.
One way I controlled my boys is have them camp by you. So if they have any problems at night they can find you. Another is to have them tell you where they are going so you know where they are at all times. Just in case if there is a problem you know where they are at all times.
Another thing is having assigned responsibilities to your Patrol members.
One way is to have a list about the jobs in your patrol. Next is to have a vote and see what people want to do in the patrol. A reason to have jobs in your patrol is to have people doing things so no one is standing around not doing any thing or playing with knifes.
The final thing is having a patrol yell and flag. One reason is to have patrol yell and flag is so your patrol can get together and know each other and to see who will get along and how will not to try to help stop conflict.
Here are some other ideas from a council in Texas.
Here is a picture of me at our summer camp Court of Honor.
Post by Michael Kurtz
