Old -New Leader

Hey, Gentlemen
I am starting the new training courses, all of my previous training is back in 1983, 1993, and 1995 I am an Old Timer. I have completed all the new online courses that I can find.

Question? How do I get into the Ranger Essentials Course? or the Ranger Mentor Course can't find it online and did not see it in the district or national training calendar.

Question? I looked over the requirements for going through the leader's advancements this seems to be a longer process than the old courses. Generally how long does it take to get through the Outpost Leaders Advancements?

Thanks in advance for any help with the questions

Kelly Davis
Recruit

Kelly Davis wrote: Thanks in advance for any help with the questions.

Welcome aboard, Kelley. Although there are scores of people who have registered, only a few ever post anything. The guy who can answer your question is likely Claymore, but he's on the road for a few more days. Hang in there, if you can wait.

JoeCool thanks I can wait Look forward to any help Claymore can give.

Hi Kelly!
Welcome aboard, we will help you any way we can.

Kelly Davis wrote:
 Question? How do I get into the Ranger Essentials Course? or the Ranger Mentor Course can't find it online and did not see it in the district or national training calendar.

Ranger Essentials is run by the Districts,. Most districts run it twice a year. But some of the big Districts may do it more often. you would have to contact your District staff to get info on when you local district will be running it next.

Kelly Davis wrote:
Question? I looked over the requirements for going through the leader's advancements this seems to be a  longer process than the old courses.  Generally how long does it take to get through the Outpost Leaders Advancements?

That depends on a couple of factors.

1 You    how much time & money you have to invest in the steps.

2 Where you live:  National training camps are usually only offered 1 time a year (per region). So it can take a year or 2 to get one within your state or neighboring states. If you leave near Texas, Missouri or California, or don't mind travelling farther, it will take less time. National Camps are also frequently canceled if not enough people sign up. I live in Michigan & they almost never run National camps in Michigan. For me to go to one I would have had to travel to another state.

Normally Ranger Basics, Ranger Essentials & Ranger Safety is all that is required to run meetings at the local level.

Hope that is some help

Chris
Hey thanks for the information, I am hoping to get a course or two in by the end of the year, I just finished the WCO, so hopefully the rest of the year falls in line.

The question is, The Ranger Mentor and Ranger Essentials are both of these courses still active today at the district level?

Thanks for all your help.

Kelly,

It's great to have you on-board. Thanks for the interest.

Rangers has gone through some pains, since you were active, years ago. The primary reasons are Covid, some decisions at upper level that alienated some outpost commanders, but I believe mostly VIDEO GAMES.

It doesn't make us bad. The Boy Scouts are seeing a similar decline, and the Church of God's Pioneers for Christ is completely gone (replaced by Royal Rangers).

So what I am getting at is; if you don't see the same vibrant. energetic participation that you witnessed 25 years ago, don't be disappointed. If you do have 1990-ish participation, rejoice.

I personally accept that I have a smaller outpost, but I just figure that God may be sending me the few kids that really need Rangers in their lives, and that He can use the program to keep them on a proper course in their Christian growth.

My philosophy is that God's math is not our math. It was no more difficult for Him to feed the 5,000 than it was for him to make a few jugs of wine.

Claymore
Thanks for the info, I like your Philosophy on God's math. I myself like to have this smaller group that I have now (6-7 boys) just so I can get my feet wet and get back into the swing of things. I am looking for any and all training that will get me back on track.

I am getting some mixed readings about the Ranger Mentor and Essentials. Is there an online for either online or are they both in person?

Kelly,

Much like you, I am putting myself through re-training. I think that my last formal training was the basic Commanders' Course (I don't even know the formal name) in 1991 and NTC, back in about 1994.

I was inactive from about 2000 to 2009, when the local pastor learned that I had been a Commander, back in Milwaukee. However, as Headquarters seemed to be having trouble keeping their train on the tracks, I ran our outpost with the "decentralized training" concept (I don't bother HQ, and they don't bother me).

However, I am attempting to develop a positive attitude with the current leadership, and I attended WCO in Huntsville, about 10 weeks ago. Despite the "EEE" and "Outpost Coordinator" doctrine, left over from the last administration, I found some good evaluations for the outpost and myself during the course.

I have explored some of the on-line training that is offered by Royal Rangers. While I generally prefer in-person training to correspondence courses, I realize that in the tech, post-Covid world, you have to roll with some changes.

By the way, I would NEVER express these criticisms to the boys, their parents, or my pastor; just as I suppose that my pastor doesn't relay his frustrations to me about State or National Church Headquarters.