about Christopher Strauss

I know, who cares? If you don't care, back out now in your Web browser, or better yet, just reboot your computer. That way there is no chance that you might accidentally save a bookmark to a place you'd rather not go. Here it is anyway, just in case anyone wants to know who I think I am. It may help the other Scouters I work with to know why I am the way I am. Please pardon me if my tongue gets stuck in my cheek every now and then.

Navy "Junior"

Only the Army has "brats;" I had three of them myself.  One went Air Force, of all things!

I was born and raised on just about every Naval Air Station of any significant size... Pensacola, Corpus Christi, Norfolk, Barbers Point. You might guess that my father flew Navy carrier and land-based aircraft. As a result, the first ten years of my life were pretty much spent on the beach. Tough life, huh?

Environmentalist and Outdoorsman

Since I grew up around the seashore, I read just about every book Rachel Carson ever wrote. Under the Sea Wind; The Edge of the Sea; The Sea Around Us; etc. As a result, I read Silent Spring within a year after it was published in 1962. That reading, at an early age (junior high), did a lot to establish my opinions on the environment for life. Since then I have always been a supporter of environmental issues. I have thoroughly enjoying the times when I have been able to teach natural science to young people through the Scouting program.

I have also been known to camp, hunt, bow hunt, and fish, especially while I was on active duty in the military. The Army "camps" all the time, don't you know? I backpacked in college, and am at it again with the Boy Scouts. Some of my more energetic "jaunts" were on the Koolau Summit Trail on Oahu, a 50-mile hike from Haleakala to Hana on Maui, and the South rim of the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend. Since arriving in Texas I have completed four treks (okay, so they're really "pilgrimages") at Philmont Scout Ranch with my youngest son's Troop.  I have to admit that the camping and backpacking are a lot more fun with Scouts than they were with the Army.

Useful links to environmental organizations whose publications I enjoy are:

And for general information:

Printmaker

My bachelor's degree was from The Ohio State University, in Graphics Processes (that's printmaking to most folks). I did most of my best (personal opinion) work in wood blocks, etchings, and stone lithography. Most of my images included wildlife of some kind (see previous topic). My all-time favorite graphics art is the vast body of work by Albrecht Dürer. College was really just a path to the military for me; I went through the Army ROTC program and was commissioned in the Field Artillery. The only graphics I have done since (surprise) are illustrations for military professional journals, and T-shirt logos for Cub Scout events.

M109A1 HowitzerField Artilleryman

I spent 20 years in the Field Artillery, mostly in Armored Divisions... mostly in 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood and in Germany. I had a tour in Germany with the 3rd Armored Division. All on M109 howitzers, except for the times when I was an advisor to Reserve and National Guard Artillery units. If you ask me about any of it, I probably won't be able to hear the question. After a stint as a Joint Staff officer, I am retired, and glad of it.

Librarian; Information and Computer Support Specialist

Before retiring from the Army, I started working on a Library Science degree at the University of Hawaii at Manoa... about the same time that my wife completed her library degree there. After retiring, I completed a Master of Science in Library Science at the University of North Texas, in the excellent School of Library and Information Sciences we have here. I did get crazy enough to start work on a doctorate in the Interdisciplinary Information Science program here sometime after that, which I finally completed in August 2006.

If you are looking for a good Library School, check us out at the University of North Texas School of Library and Information Sciences. While still in school, I began working in the Computing Center. From 1993 to 1997, I ran the Support Services area, or HelpDesk. I managed the helpdesk operations, several campus-wide software site licenses, and in my spare time, provided Microsoft applications support. It is sort of like being the head of reference in an insane asylum library. My last big endeavor was to bring up a large, information-packed customer support web site on our web server, which is now several revisions beyond my work and continues to grow. I moved in 1997 to a supporting role for campus-wide user support, and am charged with designing and administering our Remedy Action Request System call-tracking application on Windows 2000/SQL server 2000 platform, which entered production in mid-1998, saw a major upgrade in late 1999, and finished a major upgrade in the fall of 2003. We are getting ready to roll out the new version 7.0 this fall or winter.

Beaver Patrol Wood Badge Totem - W3-89-104Scouter - Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts

Finally, we get to the best part: Scouting; my hobby, avocation, and my excuse to go camping with my sons. I experienced Scouting briefly as a child. I was in a Lion/Webelos den for one year in Albany California (now the Mount Diablo Silverado Council) after my father left the Navy, and earned my Arrow of Light there. I joined a troop in South Oak Cliff after we moved to the Dallas area in 1960, which promptly folded for lack of leaders (or was it just me?). So much for my youth Scouting experience.

I became an assistant Den Leader in Norfolk at the Armed Forces Staff College when my oldest son became a Wolf Cub. The very positive experiences we had in the Tidewater Council stuck with me, and I became very active in Scouting once we moved to Hawaii. While there, I served in the Aloha Council, Kamehameha District as a Cubmaster for Pack 180 in the Aliamanu Crater. I was also an Assistant Scoutmaster with Troop 180, served on Cub Training staff, Cub and Scout Roundtable staffs, plus various other unit, district, and council positions. In a weak moment, I got involved with Cub Day Camps, and served first as a Webelos Program Director and then two years as a Camp Director. I was subsequently on the Camp School staff for Western Region. While keeping up with all of these duties, I also completed Boy Scout Wood Badge (I used to be a Beaver..W3-89-104) and became an Ordeal member of Order of the Arrow Lodge 567, Na Mokupuni O Lawelawe.

I spent one brief year in the Alamo Area Council while preparing to retire from the Army at Fort Sam Houston. I served as an Assistant Scoutmaster in Troops 590 and 839, and on Boy Scout Roundtable staff for the Chisolm Trail district. I also prepared the newsletter for Order of the Arrow Lodge 60, Aina Topa Hutsi.  

I served for several years here in the Longhorn Council, Frontier Trails district, often on Training Staff or as a training Chairman, hence the primary thrust of my home page: to serve up training resources for Scout unit leaders. I was once again on Cub Training, Roundtable, Day Camp, and PowWow staffs, was a Webelos Den Leader Coach and Assistant Den Leader for Pack 69, Day Camp Director, and then was an Assistant Scoutmaster and Advancement Chairman for Troop 132.  With Troop 132 since 1997, I have had the pleasure of making four treks to "Scouting Paradise," Philmont Scout Ranch, with my oldest son in 1997 and my youngest in 1999, 2001, and 2003!  Silver on the sage, indeed!  Our OA connections continued to grow as well; my oldest son and I both went through Brotherhood in the Order of the Arrow Lodge 489, Nishkin Halupa a pe Lachi, which has now been combined with Huaco Lodge 327 into the new Netopalis Sipo Schipinachk Lodge # 209.  My youngest went through his Brotherhood at the 50th Anniversary Conclave and last official meeting of the old lodge.  The only thing certain is change.

I am done with graduate school and back to work now, and all three sons are well past Scouting but several of us remain members. Since I have one Eagle Scout off in the Air Force, another just completed college, and another looking for work, I have scaled back on Scouting. I still help occasionally with a few merit badges like Computers and Rifle, and providing shooting sports support to the Troop since I am an NRA Certified Instructor.  I still might see you at camp or on the trail!

Postscript

If any of this was of interest to you, I am amazed... or you are a fellow Scouter... or possibly a veteran. If you are a Scouter, see my training resources pages (Scouts, Cubs) for documents and presentations that may be of some use to you for training and Merit badge classes.  I fear that some are quite outdated now, but at least they are a place to start.

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This page is maintained by Christopher E. Strauss, Ph.D., UNT Computing & Information Technology Center
e-mail address: strauss@unt.edu or strauss@eaglemail.unt.edu
Page current as of 26 November, 2006

Any opinions expressed on this page are mine, and may not reflect the official positions of either the University of North Texas or the Boy Scouts of America.
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"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone."

Walden, Chapter 11 - Henry David Thoreau