Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 12/22/18 in all areas

  1. came across this on youtube, brought back a lot of memories especially with the clothing! Shows scouts using their mess kits to cook, open fire cooking, sharing the fire to cook individually, and more.
    2 points
  2. Duct Tape, that video rocks! I agree, brought back a lot of memories. What struck me: all of the scouts were fully engaged. Whatever they were doing, they were doing it together. No one standing around, waiting to be told what to do. I also liked the fact that their patrol cooking was not "perfect." They were figuring things out as they went. I got a kick out of their "field expediency." Aluminum mess kit too hot? Run a stick through the holes in the handle. Forgot/lost your mess kit handle? Pair of pliers will do. I especially got a laugh at 6:34, the scout cooking
    2 points
  3. I'd consider myself fairly religious. I guess you could consider it a prayer of sorts. I do ask God to help me identify what is will is for my life. I appreciate your kind words. I should also thank the many members of this forum. I've learned a great deal of things about Scouting and life from my time here. I will still be dropping in from time to time here, but like my Troop, I'll have less to contribute as I scale back how much time I spend on Scouting.
    2 points
  4. These are still basically a thing, but published on the web. If I remember correctly, at one point (decades ago) they came as newsprint inserts into Scouting magazine and yoo got either the Cub Scout ones or the Boy Scout ones depending on your primary registration. The web site is https://troopleader.org/ and you probably also want to take a look at https://www.programresources.org/. If you look under "Program Features" on Troop Leader, you'll see what you're looking for, a resource for planning a series of weekly activities based on a theme leading up to a "main event," which is g
    2 points
  5. I think there is a tendency to reinforce negative thinking on a forum. Not necessarily because we're negative, but because the positive things are happening in our units, district and council, and we come here for support on the things that aren't going so well. I don't think this requires a whole new thread, but I'm greatly optimistic for my troop. The New Scoutmaster took over in May, and from May until now I've done my best to support him and pick up slack as he learns his role. I found out in November that I've been accepted to Graduate school, and that starts in January for me. I'll
    2 points
  6. I've been re-reading a history book, created over 15 years ago, outlining the rich background of Scouting in my area. In one particular chapter, the author highlights some pretty cool things that took place during the "Improved Scouting" years, despite the changes that the National Council, BSA introduced in 1972. Dedicated Scouters gave countless hours to mentor, guide, and teach countless young people how to navigate the world and society. This is exactly what each of us is still doing today! I think the general malaise I feel from reading some posts on this Forum is due, in large part,
    1 point
  7. I think we, as Scouters, are generally a fairly humble bunch. We don't do it for the recognition, and when things are going well we tend to just privately be happy about things going well and try to maintain the positives in our programs. When things go badly, that's when we turn to others for help, and on an Internet forum looking for help means shining a big old spotlight on the negatives. I think we do mention the positives, but we often don't start new threads about them. I'm pretty sure I mentioned our wildly successful recruiting effort in my Pack this year, doubling the Pack size
    1 point
  8. @Sentinel947, you definitely have a lot to look forward to. Graduate school is it's own kind of troop; and your class, it's own kind of patrol. Then, there's a family, or if you are so led, the ministry. And as you visit your troop, you can explain what's the same, different, etc.
    1 point
  9. So, if we send National the receipt for our ink, will they reimburse our recharging fee?
    1 point
  10. Outdoor Bird house: Natural wood, no finish. Check with your local Audubon, I predict they will say paint or oil can be off putting and even injurious to the bird tenant. Our natural Pine and Cedar houses hang on the tree limbs and are occupied by sparrows and House Wrens each year. You have to clean them out at the end of the season, so make them with removable floors or sides.
    1 point
  11. Well...you can't have your CEO out and about with the great unwashed.
    1 point
  12. Welcome @FormerBSA to our Forum.
    1 point
  13. Most Boy Scouts do not even realize they have a membership card/number. That is until they start filling out the Eagle application
    1 point
  14. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. (Which actually includes me even though I'm Jewish, because my wife is not. I'm not there for the religious elements, but the peace and joy and goodwill etc. stuff transcends religion.)
    1 point
  15. Funny you bring this up. In the last 8 years of being a volunteer, I have never needed my card for any reason. And now with the Myscouting app on my cell phone, I just load the app to find my BSA number. As a former pack committee chair, it would take months for the cards to come in, and then a couple more months to chase down all the boys to give them the cards. I've never had a scout that showed they cared to have a card either.
    1 point
  16. Just curious... what do you use your membership card for? I have a note on my phone with my ID number, so have never used my card. Just curious when you use your card. For packs this makes sense as I think most kids/parents throw them out or lose them. The certificates sit in a plastic file cabinet in my office. I guess it is nice for historical purposes.... but again if this saves paper and cost (as most units probably won’t even print them out) it seems like it could be a good idea.
    1 point
  17. and a happy Festivus to the restuvus. I think we can dispatch with the airing of grievances, as the forum seems to do that weekly. Shall we move on to the "feats of strength"
    1 point
  18. I don't know how much of a religious person you think of yourself, but your last paragraph reads like a prayer. We've known you on this forum since you were a scout. I've enjoyed watching grow into the man you are today, and I am excited for the man you are becoming. Thank you for opening yourself to us and sharing a bit of your life. I must admit, through the years I have you found as inspiring to this forum as much as you have inspired those who are personally involve with your scouting ambitions and experiences. You truly live up to "Loving this scouting stuff". Barry
    1 point
  19. “…honoring all the officers who have died in 2018 by putting their name and rank on a ball and hanging it on the tree,” said Reid Saugstad, Boy Scout. They had a list of 146 officers from across the nation who have died. “I was kind of feeling bad for the families. Because I was seeing all the officers and they just looked like normal people,” voiced Spencer Dellett, Boy Scout. ... Video interview and more content at source link: https://www.kctv5.com/news/a-lesson-in-loss-for-boy-scouts/article_657040e2-04d1-11e9-9e00-a7303767d9b8.html
    1 point
  20. BSA used to have publications called "Woods Wisdom" and "Troop Program Resources", which was a monthly plan of program themes, consisting of 3 meetings and an outdoor activity. Those themes were generally followed by the Scout Roundtable plans, also. The plan gave you a syllabus of troop meeting activites centered around the theme of the month. Is this publication still a "thing"? I also encourage you and your fellow adults to attend the monthly district roundtable meetings (yeah, I know...ANOTHER meeting every month), however, if well done, the Roundtable can be an excellent training and
    1 point
  21. i'm going to disagree slightly with some of the posters. This sounds like a situation isn't a situation where the normal incentives/disincentives will work. The scout can survive without food if he's stubborn enough, or he knows adult will feed him, or he'll just leave dishes dirty whether it hurts his patrol or not. This is where adult association comes in, and it has to start before the campout. However the patrol makes the duty roster, this scout;s name appears in a place for doing dishes. Assuming like most troops this is probably the meeting before campout, then at that meeting,
    1 point
  22. Last night we held our final troop meeting for 2018. Ours is an LDS troop that will go out of existence one year from now. We used last night's troop meeting to motivate by highlighting the Scouting journey that lies ahead in 2019, both in terms of rank advancement and outdoor adventures. We anticipate up to 14 new Eagle Scouts in 2019 (in a normal year, it's just 3 or 4). We compared our 2019 troop activity calendar to a rock band's farewell tour schedule. We will be revisiting many favorite camping destinations from past years. As we moved month-to-month through the calendar, their excitemen
    1 point
  23. I have a success story in the making! A female Webelos - the only one in her pack, recently visited my son's troop to satisfy one of her AOL requirements. She visited us from the next council and county over. As the den leader for my daughter's AOL den (in yet another council and county over in the other direction), we invited her join us at our den meetings. She earned her Looking Back Looking Forward elective with us at our last meeting and will be joining us tomorrow to satisfy Build a Better World #4 - when we are visiting with yet another local pack who has invited the local school b
    1 point
  24. I think I will just wait until WB comes back to my council. I like the idea of building my Scout network at home.
    1 point
  25. I&P is definitely the right place for this thread, because Die Hard is NOT a Christmas movie. In order to be a Christmas movie, it needs to be about Christmas, or Christmas needs to be integral to the story. Just because a movie takes place near the holidays, doesn't cut it. In Die Hard, for example, the only thing "Christmasy" was that they were there for a Christmas party. Change it so that they were there celebrating "Nancy in Accounting's" retirement and the story is the same.
    -1 points
×
×
  • Create New...