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"""Yes, the OA is a service organization. But there was a camaraderie in the work. Sometimes that "cheerful spirit, even the midst of irksome tasks and weighty responsibilities...." resulted in turning it to fun or even turning the task into a joke to make it more bearable. Sadly that is missing. When I was CA 10+ years ago. I suggested promoting the fun stuff as well as doing our own. We sent folks to fellowship and conclave. We had fun meetings and even did some special trips. Our work load didn't decrease, in fact we did a few extra community service projects. OA was getting back on tr

Much harder for all scouts period. I'm always surprised by the major difference of difficulty of the eagle merit badges. Some are significant work. Some are almost automatic.

The most popular option is the easiest.

You're going to need about 50 scouts to do this over the course of the year. With 40 scouts between the pack & troop, you'll probably want to ask each scout to sign up for 1 or 2 spots. That's not an awful burden to help fund the pack. But, I think my real question would be - do you want to do this? As I see it, your CO is basically asking you all to be more involved in the CO's success. We as Scouters are often commenting how uninvolved the COs are in our units. This strikes me as an opportunity to be more engaged with the CO. That can be a very good thing. My recommendati

I wore this patch on my uniform as a youth from probably 93-97, only taking it off to put on the JLT patch. Over those years I had pretty constant requests to trade it or sell it. To this day I think it's the coolest patch I've ever seen, although my opinion may be slightly biased. 😁 I check eBay for these periodically, and there are plenty of Allamuchy patches up for sale, but never this one. If anyone has one or ever sees one up for sale, I'd be interested in picking up an extra.

My dad was an ASM and went to summer camp my first two years. I saw him at mealtimes and sometimes not even then. He had to have been anxious as heck when skinny shrimpy me did the mile swim and the Wilderness Survival overnight, but never showed it!

So, if I understand that statement, any Sea Scout can earn a merit badge as long as they have First Class rank. They do not need to be part of a Scouts, BSA troop.

Not harder for the scout who, 5 years straight, "forgets" to check in at the aquatics area to round out that last requirement his swimming MB partial.

And several other merit badges. That's a big reason I tell scouts to do fun, outdoor-focused merit badges and leave all the boring, class-oriented merit badges to workshops or independent effort. In our council (maybe yours too), the spoon feeding has gotten so bad that council-run camps actually double-up merit badges *in a single session*. This lets them either: 1) lie about having done the merit badges, 2) deliver a horrible experience that inadequately covers the requirements, or 3) send kids home with huge numbers of partials. (This tends to be especially common with the classroo

My gut feelings... Swimming over Hiking Swimming MB is 9 times easier than hiking. Absolutely true ... I'm surprised cycling isn't more popular than hiking. Cycling MB is fun and can be a great troop program. ... But there are many back-packing troops. Env Sci MB over Sustainability Env Sci MB is not exciting, but a "sustainability" MB sounds duller than dull. I can't believe a scout would ever choose it. Troops have a history of pushing Env Science MB. Sustainability MB is newer. Emergency prep over Lifesaving I'

I must say the cycling merit badge was fun though. 😀

I agree. But open the communication channel and find a way to manage the scouts and their commitment. IMHO, the original poster's situation is like popcorn in reverse. Buying popcorn is really a donation with popcorn as a thank you. In this case, the church is is donating $1000 to the unit, but they want 250 hours of free labor in exchange. At that point, you can't call it a donation or gift.

Events need to stay fresh. A fun once a year event done monthly can quickly become a drag with burnt out volunteers and burnt out scouts. Then mix in when the monthly burger night overlaps with summer camp or school break or a district camporee or ... IMHO, it's hard enough to run a healthy troop. I fear someone may have seen the scouts as free labor and thought "hey we give them $1000 per year". They don't realize it costs about $10,000 to $35,000 per year to run a strong healthy size troop and the troop has it's own program to run also. Plus, if $1000 per year breaks down

This isn't a clear cut situation, much of it depends on the CO and the Troop leadership and membership. 1,000 a year no strings attached is generous. 1,000 a year to to staff the CO's fundraiser? Maybe still. It's definitely within the CO's rights to ask for assistance and make the financial support contingent on support for their fundraiser. Depending on the troop size, that money covers rechartering and dues. The free rider principle comes into play very strongly here. If it's the same folks running this event every time, and it's mandatory, you're going to have some ticked off fa

Why is it a "dumb idea"? You detailed why going to camp was good for you. But what's so "dumb" about a parent or adult leader wanting to keep their distance from their own scout, especially the first year at camp?

That's ridiculous. I run recruiting for my Pack and I'd quit the job in an instant if my district wanted that much control over how we recruit. Guess I'm lucky. My DE showed up at our last recruiting night and the only time he talked to me was to just say that he was impressed with what we were doing. Beyond that he watched from the sidelines and that's exactly where a district rep belongs at a recruitment event.

When my son crossed over, he went on 4 weekend campouts with the troop without me. I had signed up as ASM right away, but only came to meetings. I went to summer camp his first summer, but that was for me, not him. In fact, there was very little times we were together. I took a training class the first two days. Summer camp is the closest thing I have to a personal vacation, and I very much enjoy it.