A Second Request from a new SM

I hope I'm not pushing it here posting two major requests in such a short
time, but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.

My situation is this: I have taken the job of SM of a troop that for several
years has had some adult leaders that did way too much for the boys (from what
I have been told, one leader did all of the cooking and cleaning on campouts).
I am trying to return the responsibility for leadership back to the boys. At
first, the older scouts thought it was a great idea, they loved it. After a
couple of months now, it appears they are realizing that this means
they have to be responsible for things, they can no longer "hang out" and do
only what is fun. I cannot get the older boys to understand that they are
responsible for teaching/coaching the younger boys. My SPL made a statment
the other night after a PLC that pretty much sums up the problem, he said:
"Joe (not his real name) was cool. When he was here, all we did on campouts
was sit around and Joe would teach us merit badges". Joe, by the way was a
one-man-show in the troop (ASM, Outdoor Activities Chairman, Advancement
Chairman,
Merit Badge counselor for many, many merit badges,etc.). When some of Joe's
duties
were taken away, he got upset and left. Anyway, since everyone sort of did
their own thing for so long, there is little loyalty to the troop as a whole.
It's very hard for them to make the personal sacrifices necessary for the
longterm
health of the troop. And, I'm trying to walk that fine line between stepping-in
and doing too much, and staying too far back and doing nothing. Wow, this is
really getting long winded, sorry about that.

So, I think because of the way the troop was run for several years, these older
boys were never expected to take responsiblity. Now that they are being
expected
to take some responsibility, they are rebelling (my SPL mentioned that he may go
to another troop). Oh, BTW, due to the lack of discipline, the older boys were
quite wild (even rather violent) with younger scouts, which ran off a couple
of years worth of new scouts (thankfully, these particular boys are no longer
with the troop). But, as a result, the troop has several older scouts,
quite few new/young scouts, and not much in the middle.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

YiS,
Scott Smith

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