Advancement Resources
Scouting ranks, merit bades, and the advancement programs
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LATEST POSTS
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By InquisitiveScouter · Posted
Great question, @swilliams!! 1. The first responsibility of ANY AND EVERY ASM (or any Unit Leader) is to complete their training for the position. If you are listed as the Scoutmaster (on the Troop roster in my.scouting,org ), then you should be able to see the Unit Training report at a glance. On the Training Landing page, hit the Report button under the Trained Leaders pie chart. It will list all leaders on the roster with their current state of training. Here is mine, minus the Personally Identifiable Information. Assistant Scoutmaster YES Yes COMPLETED: S11, SCO_800, Y01 - 100% COMPLETED: S24 - 100% COMPLETED: SCO_471, SCO_472, SCO_473, SCO_474, SCO_475, SCO_476, SCO_477, SCO_478, SCO_479, SCO_480, SCO_481, SCO_482, SCO_484, SCO_485, SCO_530 - 100% Push training HARD!!! And lead by example If you need help locating this, please DM me. 2. Next, how you use your ASMs is really up to you, SM!! Here's how we try to crack the code in our unit: A. SM directly mentors the SPL and ASPLs. The SM helps this leadership team develop the unit program through goal setting and tracking. (Adult Association) B. An ASM is specifically assigned to each Patrol to mentor the PL and APL. C. SM provides SM conferences at their discretion (for us, it is usually the Life to Eagle conference). All other SM conferences are delegated automatically to the ASM assigned to that patrol. In our unit, any ASM or the SM may conduct any rank-requirement-SM-conference at any time, and sign it off. D. The SM corps is expected to provide PRIMARY adult leadership on an outing. We call this the "Adult in Charge" on the outing... We EXPECT all our Committee Members (MC) to attend an outing during the year (but we only get about 25% participation here). The Adult in Charge makes the final call on all health and safety related decisions on an outing. E. The SM corps and MCs are also expected to be the adult planner for a trip during the year. The adult planner is to work with the PLC designated Scout Planner to make all arrangements for an outing, to cover expenditures for an outing on behalf of the Troop, and to reconcile the accounting for a trip after the event concludes. F. Once TRAINED, ASMs may sign off any requirements they are comfortable with, with the ideal being that they will help develop youth leaders in the Patrol who are also capable of signing off requirements. This is a constant work in progress (not everyone is good at lashing or orienteering, for example.) 3. We have reached the cultural level here where we are all "Scoutmasters" for our respective patrols, but there is a "first among equals" Scoutmaster who is the "frontman" for the Troop, and represents the SM Corps to the Committee. To further elaborate... since the Patrol Method is the heart of Scouting, each Patrol is encouraged to act like it is its own unit... (including conducting Patrol-only events), and that the Patrols come together to form a Troop. (versus the view that the Troop is made of Patrols...) Hope this helps -
I took on the Scoutmaster role in mid-January. Since then, my focus has been on trying to move our Troop toward some of the direction given by Scouting America that we were not following. I typed out an example, but deleted it. Suffice to say we weren't too far off track, but changes definitely needed to be made. I feel like I still don't have a handle on all of this, but it's been a few months, and I want to sit down with the ASMs to have a discussion about the changes made and where they see themselves in this whole thing. I've been so focused on the scouts, all the training, and the stuff like working with the quartermaster to get patrol box equipment complete or cleaning out the shed (still traumatized by that, and I think I may have lung damage, lol), that I've not even thought about ASMs beyond asking who can go camping. To date, there is one ASM who is pretty reliably there for meetings and camping trips. The others (6 of them) vary in how often they show up. One ASM whose son transferred from another Troop has offered a lot of suggestions and ideas and is a regular at meetings. The input I've gotten so far also varies wildly. It seems like we're all in the 'not quite sure of what we're doing' boat, with the exception of the transfer ASM. I figured I'd ask what the role/responsibility is for the ASMs in your Troops ahead of our meeting. Thanks! -
Nah. I hadn't sworn off just signed off while occasionally lurking off set. I was in and out reading updates but had nothing to say as the appeals processes and my claim review were grinding away. -
I'm sorry for that reduction, my friend. I really am.
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By johnsch322 · Posted
Thank you so much for your update. I have thought of you often these past few years wondering how you were doing. I am glad to hear you are alive and kicking. Personally, I am still in the waiting period to hear the value of my claim. I decided not to ask for access to look at the progress thru the portal as I believe it might trigger some anxiety. Instead, I have continued to work to keep myself busy and of course to make a few shekels. I am definitely ready for this phase to be over with so I can roughly plan the next decade or more of my life. I want to thank you for helping me feel like there was someone else riding shotgun with me in the first couple of years of this process. You will always hold a special place in my heart.
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