STRANDED

(adapted from "Troop Program Features - Leadership")

Purpose: To give Scouts practice in decision making and reaching group consensus, and to stimulate discussion of survival techniques (preferably the techniques appropriate for your area).

The following sample problem covers survival in the Maine wilderness. (You can devise a more appropriate problem for your own area.)

Equipment: A copy of the problem below for each Scout, pencils.

The situation: On vacation in July, you and your family have been traveling through the wilderness of western Maine in a pickup camper. In a blinding rainstorm, you made a wrong turn onto an unmarked lumber road. You have wandered more than 150 miles over a maze of truck routes into the wilderness. The camper has run out of gas and now you, your parents, a 10-year old sister, a 6-year old brother, and the family cat are lost.

After a family conference, you decide it is not wise to split up. You are going to try to walk back together. You are pretty sure that if you pace yourselves, you can cover about 15 miles a day. Because of a fuel shortage, there are no helicopters or jeeps patrolling the area, and you have seen no other cars or houses.

The family is dressed in lightweight summer clothing, and everyone is wearing sneakers. Temperatures at night go down to the low 40s. It is also bug season. As you look around, you find the following items in the camper, some of which might be useful.

	fishing gear		$500.00 in traveler's checks		.44 Magnum handgun and ammunition
	four Dacron-filled sleeping bags		5-gallon jug of water		instant breakfast (three boxes)
	house and RV keys		cigarettes		Coleman camp stove (two-burner)
	family tent (10 lbs.)		snakebite kit		alarm clock
	five cans of kidney-liver cat food		5-lb. tub of peanut butter		bathing suits
	10-lb. cheese wheel		transistor radio		6-foot tent pole
	sheath knife		wool sweaters for everyone		raft paddles
	inflatable rubber raft (two pieces, total of 20 lbs.)		paperback books		first-aid kit
	matches		steak (3 lbs.)		marshmallows (four bags)
	bug repellent		walkie-talkie radio		road map of Maine

The task: You must choose, and put in priority order, the fifteen most important items for survival in this situation. The other fifteen may be eliminated.

Each Scout is to study the problem and choose the fifteen items he thinks would be most useful for survival. He then ranks them in order of importance from 1 through 15.

Next, the patrols gather and compare rankings. Ask them to try to reach a consensus for a patrol ranking - that is, make a patrol list that satisfies most members. Explain that consensus does not mean unanimous agreement. Rather, it is a way to reach a group decision through compromise. Suggest that the Scouts try to follow these guidelines in making a patrol ranking.

• Avoid arguing for your own rankings. Present your position as clearly and logically as possible, but listen to the reactions of other members and consider them carefully before pressing your point.
• Do not assume that someone must win and someone must lose when discussion reach a stalemate. Instead, look for the most acceptable alternative for everyone.
• Do not change your mind simply to avoid conflict and to reach agreement and harmony. When agreement seems to come too quickly and easily, be suspicious. Explore the reasons and be sure everyone accepts the solution for similar or complimentary reasons. Yield only to positions that are objective and logically sound.
• Avoid conflict-reducing techniques such as majority vote, averages, coin flips, and bargaining. When a dissenting member finally agrees, don't feel that he must be rewarded by having his own way on some later point.
• Differences of opinion are natural and expected. Seek them out and try to involve everyone in the decision-making process. Disagreements can help the patrol's decision, because with a wide range of information and opinions there is a greater chance that the patrol will hit upon more adequate solutions.

Scoring: After the Scouts have made their individual decisions, and the patrol has made a group decision, the results can be scored and compared and a troop listing made. Scoring can be done by having each person keep track of the difference between his ranking of an item, and the troop or patrol ranking. For instance, if an item is ranked by an individual as number two, and the patrol or troop ranking is number eight, the difference is six. Then each individual and each group can total their scores. The lower the score, the better. The scores provide a useful basis for discussion.

Ask each patrol separately how many individual scores were lower than the patrol score. If there are any (and often there aren't), ask the patrol to consider how it arrived at a group decision that was worse than a member's decision.

All groups should consider the value of the process, which allows a group to arrive at a better decision than the separate individual decisions.

Last Revised 04/28/02