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Hi folks! Please welcome @desertrat77 and @MattR as the newest members of the moderator team at SCOUTER.com! As a reminder, these moderators are volunteering their cheerful service for a quality experience around our virtual campfire. They aren't forfeiting their roles as members of the forum, they are just stepping up to help keep the area clean, and remind us all to remain Scoutlike in our interactions. Be kind, be friendly... and thankful to the full team!

The necker may be my favorite part of the uniform after my trusy campaign hat. They really are SO useful, and being a smaller guy, even the modern versions are plenty large enough to suit my needs. And I am somebody who LOVES color, so having a host of neckerchief options in a variety of colors keeps the artist in me perpetually happy. I even have one with a black-and-white checkerboard pattern on it that I wear for Cub Scout derbies! We were instructed not to wear our neckers during my Brotherhood ordeal last weekend, and I will be totally honest - I felt half-naked without it! When I a

Wow, a lot is happening this week. I finally have completed all my merit badges which means all I need is to meet with my SM before scheduling with my district! As many know, I did my project in September 2017. I finished Cycling this weekend, I did the mountain biking portion and did the 22 Miles.

Matt, I'm sorry to disappoint, but I was a good quiet kid. When I was young (Eagled in '67) corporal punishment was expected and encouraged. My dad's woven Army belt would plow out strips of flesh. The worst I ever remember was being given a pocketknife to go out back and cut a switch. Too small, and I'd be sent back for another switch after the first one wore out. Too large? Just damn! Although I was part of a crew that floated our DE's VW Beetle on Thunder Lake atop two war canoes (Flint River Council), I never got caught. In college I was a master prankster. (Launching firew

Funny thing is, we didn't even plan on finishing it that weekend. We were camping as a family and since the trails ended up being mountain biking and all muddy, we decided why not and let's finish it this weekend. We were planning on just dirt trails.

Mike Rowe, perhaps. My impression is that Mr. Rowe is not the sort of guy who would take on an honorary position that has no real authority to make changes. He seems to be more interested in getting the job done than in collecting personal honors and bling.

Boys are on a hike today. If son #1 completes a few more things, he will earn First Class before summer camp (#3, he's 13). Son #2 completed the Swimming merit badge. We are encouraging them to log for Personal Fitness over summer vacation.

Hi Everybody, I will just share my experience and perspective from when I was a Cub scout den leader. We did the requirements in the book to the best of our ability, but since I had no experience with the Boy Scout program, I was not aware of any expectations that the Webelos journey was all about prep for Boy Scouts. We did the things in the book, which included some things related to Boy Scouts, but that was about it. Regarding the young man who will be coming into your troop, take him where he is when he comes in, just as you would take in any other boy with an interest in Sco

The necker is a much maligned item. It started out as not only a Uniform item, to identify one as a "Scout", but as an all purpose "be prepared" item. It was expected the Scout would wear his uni to all Scout activities (hence the term "Field Uniform") and even to ordinary places. As a Scout, he would be expected to be available to help and "be prepared", "why , for any old thing". The old Scout book I have lists no fewer than 52 uses for a neckerchief (remember, these were four sided, 36" neckers.). Signal flag, bandage (many types), arm sling, horse bridle, dust mask, sunhat, sweat ban

I have never believed that it is at all necessary for a boy to have been a cub scout and earned AoL in order to become a successful scout. As a scoutmaster, I considered AoL to be irrelevant. It's just another piece of bling.

The switch from pins to urns at 100 years of service ... https://www.inthelighturns.com/life-s-trail-boy-scout-light-oak-urn.html

Want to know whose job it is to keep the program grounded and cool? Not the executives at the BSA Corporate. Not the members of the Board or Executive Board. Not some figurehead like a Bear Grylls (and lets be very honest here - Bear Grylls is in that role for one purpose - and one purpose only - marketing - to sell the Boy Scouts to boys and their parents in the UK). Every volunteer Scouter should look in the mirror if they want to know who is responsible for keeping the program grounded and cool. When it comes right down to it, the Scouts in your units aren't looking at Surbaugh - m

I am now a Brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow

Haha. I did it at an Adult day care center, I found it by doing clinical there. I put stone around the building, rebuilt two moving carts (I made the base out of trek wood), built a horse shoe pit, & some small stuff.

Well, we Scouters have a quaint habit of making complex the simple....and to our credit, can do the reverse. There is a certain class of folks that have been aptly named over the course of time, "Uniform Police." I suggest trying to avoid that lot! 😆

I am not sure what the confusion is ... Troops can vote on and then go with one of three options: no neckers, neckers over the collar, or neckers under the collar. That's incredibly simple.

Ain't misbehaving no more!