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(BTW I do not think girls showing up in my Troop is the same DEFCON level as war with Korea) I think now the decision is made individuals can either live with or not. I feel sad if we really are losing something and sad for boys and scouters who may leave--on that we shall see.' I think speculation is fair given how many holes in the announced-so-far policy by National is at the scout level. I cannot figure if they are being stupid, intellectually lazy, or sneaky. I do not think they have a very workable plan and will make us figure it all out. I am not hearing much organizational wi

I am genuinely unclear on whether this is serious or satire.

Devils advocate, if they're trying to set a tone of separate but equal, this is the mental imagery you'd do it with. girls all together without boys, doing cub scouting.

Sort of looks like them FLYER - GIRL BEING INTERVIEWED ON CBS You don't mean (SHOCKED FACE) that the whole thing was STAGED!!!

Sure looks like it to me. I don't think we can even assume these girls are actually enrolled in Cub Scouts. They could very well be child models recruited by a PR agency. That should not surprise anyone - such practices are normal and expected in corporate marketing campaigns.

We've got a mom of trips...all with ADHD. I cut her so much slack...

The entire First Class, First Year premise looks only at one factor and membership retention: advancement. And IMHO since it came out when NSPs came out, it is based upon how LDS units do things, i.e. 11 year olds are a separate group. Every unit that is “successful” with NSPs has to treat them like Cub Scouts, not Boy Scouts. Of course they will advance fast, but do they truly learn? With traditional patrols, advancement is slower, but they learn, truly learn.

To be clear, at this point, Girls cannot join your troop nor in the immediate future would they. Yes that will no doubt be subject to change, but wanted to level set (and I know you were being dramatic) Agree 100%. I am amazed that the National BSA office and board made this momentous decision, and literally had no real workable implementation plan. Anyone who has spent any actual time at the unit level can come up with multiple scenarios that need to be resolved. Admittedly they may not have the answers yet, but the shallowness and lack of even acknowledging there may be questions

I agree with this. With my own son, he was on the fast track as well... He earned Life Scout in just over 2 years and 6 months. There was not an intentional push by his mother or I, but he was afforded many opportunities to complete merit badges in the first troop he was in. I told him that we were going to slow him down on advancement... I didn't want to see Eagle until he was in high school. I was afraid he might "Eagle Out" before he was even old enough to do high adventure! I didn't want him to participate less, just get his focus off of advancement. So, the first Summer Camp af

While I admit my dealing with Venturing are very limited, I do know that I can count on one hand the number of years my council had an "active" VOA. As far as the OA, I've had a lot more interactions. As a youth officer and 21-23 year old chapter advisor, I was pretty much ignored. I had to get one of my friends to pass off my ideas as his to get them even considered. I had one chapter chief so ticked off at the condecesion of one district committee meeting, he vowed never to attend again. And to this day, his successors have not attended anymore ( approx 7 years now). Talking to the

Yeah, we wouldn't want our scouts to pick up on any of that garbage, right? Being responsible, doing chores, caring about others, being attentive. That would be awful.

Thank you for your service. I too have some experience with Scoutmaster training and Wood Badge, both starting in 1959. Start with this: understanding the Patrol Method is not even a learning objective of Scoutmaster basic training per the current syllabus. It should be THE objective. To avoid a wall of text comparing BSA training syllabus contents to more authoritative BSA statements on the Patrol Method over the years and today, please consider this: for fourteen years, until late Summer 2014, the section of the Scoutmaster Specific syllabus entitled "Working with Youth, the

Here's what our PLC did a few months back: First meeting was the parts of a compass and basics of map reading. They had a game called Orienteering Baseball, where patrols played each other by answering map and compass questions of different value (some were "singles", some "doubles", some "home runs"). Like First Aid baseball only with navigation questions. Second meeting of the month was more advanced map reading. They learned about UTM and magnetic declination. We got several large topo maps of Philmont and made up treks. Patrols had to navigate from various points, get wate

Headlamps make so many activities much more fun...

valentine blush.bmp valentine blush.bmp

To your first point (first paragraph), my point there is that the material covered is adequate enough, the materials BSA provides are extremely lacking and the training they give to trainers below sub-standard. My best example comes from one of the ILST training docs. They discuss "best practices in leadership", but rather than giving SPECIFIC examples of leadership and discussing their merits/detractions, they simply say "Lead a discussion in leadership best practices." Really? If these folks know zero about leadership how is this discussion going to take place. You need to give the trainer s

And people attending weddings at Gilwell Park (additional revenue streams eh?), and scouters that just fancy a bit of comparative luxury. Can't remember the last time I had Irn-Bru. I think I would drink beer in preference. Crisp flavours are entertaining, Worcestershire Sauce flavour *really* confused some Portuguese Scouts that were camping with us, on so many levels, from "they're ok I suppose" to "why did they do that?", then there's the pronunciation of it...

Yes, we do. The most common brand in my area is ReaLemon. I do like a few sausage links with my pancakes/maple syrup. Was that sausage? I thought they were over-cooked hockey pucks. If sausage makes you shudder, you best not ask what they try to pass off as butter.

After reading for months on this site, I asked for 2 books for Christmas. These are the North Star to which my compass points. My wife gave them a special place on the fireplace mantle.

Mattosaurus, The fundraising application is generally forwarded to the Council office and checked against known donors to the Council. They dont want individuals, units, etc asking Council level donors for donations that would then potentially cut back their $. The Council also wants to make sure the application does not run afoul of a offensive or restricted activity (think firework sales). Bottom line is from your description, fill out the app and send it in with your correct dates. Note in your Eagle book the "change in plans", in that you missed sending the app in the proper time

I have never found BSA training to be wanting in time consumption. That's one of their biggest problems is the length of time they take. They take 6 hours to teach 2 hours worth of material. Material is their next problem. It is inadequate and out-dated. Training the trainer is the next deficiency. Their materials for teaching delivery -- and actual course content -- have few good examples and don't teach trainers how to teach well.

Hey guys! WM crossed over to the dark side! One FCFY down, umpteen thousand more to go!

We see scouts get first class anywhere from 1.25 years to 3 years. Depends on the boy, some of them look at the book at are very focused on advancing, others couldn't care. Some of the slower ones we have discussions with them to see if they understand how advancement works.

It's a national policy. I think the general idea is if a scout is favored by the majority of half his unit, that's a 25% of the boys registered in the unit weighing in on his election. I'm pretty sure they didn't spend a lot of time examining the properties of the multivariate binomial distribution for this one. They just figured it was a good enough number of boys to judge if the lodge was getting a decent candidate or not. Obviously, if you've screen your boys and 3/4 of ballots from 40% of the troop endorse each of them, the other half of the troop would make no difference. We've had s

They will put bling and sequins on hats, will be simple

LMC and I will get back to you. EDIT: Had a look and couldn't find them. Have asked the Librarian and JASMs to have a look in our online archive. In the meantime, try this.

Jealous. Gambinos is awesome. I lived 1/2 from their Metairie bakery. Two of my cousins worked at their Gentilly bakery. My cousins stole their recipes and made goodies for Christmas.

I doubt any of this is new. I recall doing this when I was a Scout. The pizzas may be new...well, at least different. It's a bit like geocaching but rather with an edible stash. Try this site and this site if you don't already have it. It is a collection of all the Troop Program Resources and Troop Program Features books that BSA puts out. They are literally "meetings in a box" for PLCs.

I’ll be stealing some of these. I really like the baseball one, I’ll be doing that tonight

Looks like those girls are not models, but actual scouts. Which is cool. I'm not against using models in advertising and marketing, but for something like Scouting, I think it's preferrable to show real scouts. Even if they are real scouts doing staged activities.

Non-NSP units have these too. They're called Patrol Leaders and Instructors. Adults drink coffee and train the Instructors when needed if a JASM is not around. I've seen more four leaf clovers in the last 15 years than I have seen UCs.

I will simply attest that folks like this exist, but also acknowledge that they are far outnumbered by good Scouters.

No. Another Mom. Sorry. Mom of fast advancing Scouts does not help out but she does have 4 kids so I cut her some slack.

Good points We did not cook on the MLK trip. Stayed on the Alabama and got meals there. Then ate on the NAS base in Florida for some meals. Did the Battleship and camped on the NAS recreational area, all meals, free Naval museum, played on the beach, $50 per person. Scouts had to pay for their own lunch on the way there and back. If we had included mileage charges, would have more than doubled the cost Gifts in kind are your friend

I get what you are saying... but as the Eagle mentor, I would have gone over his head and removed that roadblock. The Eagle candidate has enough on his plate without having someone add to the requirements.

Depends on how many adults go and what age. No college guys want to hang out with a bunch of older men when I can go to an outfitter on the new river gorge and have a day with my friends and then go hike the Appalachian trail.

I so wish I had more parents with this attitude. Monday night we had one mom post on FB that her son needed someone to sign off on some Second Class requirements. This is the same Scout who refuses sleep away from daddy. While he was working on requirements, Mom was lamenting the fact that he's been in the troop 10 months as is still only Tenderfoot (don't ask) and that he needs to be First Class by April. I had to talk to her about it is more important that he knows the skills and that a First Class Scout is not only capable of camping on his own, but is suppose to help others. Sadly I d

I think you're trying to mansplain something to me, but being a dude, I missed the micro-aggression

Why would you advise him to fill out the form and send it in if it is not needed? The beneficiary is doing the fundraising.

I guess it is a matter of perspective. If you know the material then it may seem like a waste of time. For others, there is not nearly enough time. Then I have those who "know all about it", that are consistently wrong in their approach. During my last SM Specific class I had two brand new Scoutmasters, who, by their own admission, did not know a thing. I could have spent two days with them and not answered all their questions. I have also have those that argue with me because "his boys can't handle that much authority and responsibility." I am perplexed at the out of date comment, when m

Alien families have clearly spoken and they are the future of Scouting. 87 percent of alien families would join Scouting if given the chance (in separate Dens, of course).

As long as they are cool with the declaration of religious principle, I'll SM a patrol of them too!

The level of speculation in this thread is astonishing. Now we are up to, what happens if the admission of girls (which has just barely started, and in only one of the two programs in which it will occur) does not work and the BSA tries to change back, what will happen then and what if someone sues? Perhaps we should next consider if, after all of this happens, a huge asteroid collides with the Earth and destroys all life on our little planet. What will the BSA's policy be then? I mean, if you're going to speculate, you may as well speculate.

Really, Colonel? An interative diuscussion on the Patrol Method + cover the syllabus in 35 minutes? All woods tools and each trainee applying the skills, all in, efffectively, fifty minutes? Woods Badge, when I first was "junior staff," was T-F Scoutcraft in eight continuous16hr+ days. Now we have twenty-two hours if we are lucky. Eighteen hours at summer camp version. As for the rest. +100 A

Depends on each person. Usually where guys need help is on the project plan, especially in figuring out their resource planning or developing their phases. Also, the fundraising form tends to throw guys for a loop. The biggest problems are 1) not reading things fully, and 2) not asking questions. That's where a good advisor comes in and makes the Scout think. It doesn't (and shouldn't) feel like they've had a big impact, but you can bet an outsider might see it differently.

All they have to say is that the girl program is being phased out for new registrations because the impact on overall membership has been disappointing. Existing girls can finish their journey. No suicide involved. But I agree that it is extremely unlikely. But no worry that the backlash from the departure of existing Scouts and Scouters may kill the organization? I wouldn’t tell someone directly to leave. That’s a decision each person has to make.

So if they can profit say 30% per leader ($89) they only need like 2.4 million leaders to attend to handle the balloon payment due in a few years

Yeah... that framing was extremely off-putting. Especially since they could tweak it slightly and have a great national Powderhorn course. Combine the skill development/fun with more location neutral workshops, etc. Unfortunately that would have Scouters building their own adventure instead of buying Summit's. Or even better make a weekend of day long short courses. A half day workshop on building climbing anchors and a half day trad climbing at the New or sport climbing at Sommerville Lake. A day of whitewater kayak skills . A day of mountain bike skill work... etc etc. Three day-long t

Of course, it was staged. It is a national TV program. Take the positive vibe and work with it, rather than look for reasons to lessen its possible impact and forward moving hope. Each unit, as they accept the challenge, will have a lot to work through. We do not need a constant drum-roll of negative "chicken littles".

I'm an Eagle since '74. I wear the same ring I was presented then everyday. Right ring finger, eagle facing me. It's there to remind ME how I'm to behave, NOT to brag.