Leaderboard

I snatched up this 1930s dress jacket a couple of years ago. It was missing a button but after a few months of searching I secured a replacement. I wear it to parades and B&G.

Scouting is a verb, it is about doing things not sitting down listening. Scouting is about actively doing things, not sitting down in a large class. No merit badges should be instructed to more than 3 or 4 at a time. --- Clarke Green

Question for the long time Scouters out here, do you consider the Scouts you worked with YOUR Scouts even 5, 10, 20+ years after working with them? I mentioned a few months back how I had one Eagle come and stay with me a few days. He's a "Nomad," converting a UHaul truck into a mobile office and apartment. He's driving all over the US and I keep up via Facebook. Last time I saw him was 21 years ago. I visited another Eagle when I went home for a few days. Wasn't a long visit, but it brought back memories and we were able to catch up on folks we knew and had not heard from. Again it

I do consider them mine. Same for the athletes I have coached. With Scouts they may still refer to me by my last name even though they are older. But it really hits home with my former players that introduce me to their children as coach. That relationship, scouting or sports, never goes away entirely for either party. And I m glad.

An interesting note further down in the article referring to the FAQ transition document. (Any one seen this?) "it instructed local church leaders not to recruit adults or youth or distribute materials to those interested in remaining in scouts"

I have a different view on this topic. It's not malice so much as simple incompetence. We were trashing the GSUSA model of units for a lack of permanence and lost knowledge but it looks to me like there's a loss of knowledge in the BSA due to corporate structure. Where I'm getting this is what I've seen locally and it's possible I'm missing something, but let me explain. I'm so frustrated with my council that I turned in my resignation last night as camping chair. While I'd really enjoy to keep working on the camping committee making fun programs for scouts, I just can't deal with the cou

It's like drier lint. Nice way to start a fire... So many uses for many things.

Yep. Each patrol should have its own separate tent at some distance (at least 100 yards) from the others. This latter is with a view to developing the responsibility of the Patrol Leader for his distinct unit. --Baden-Powell, "The Object of Camping" In Scouts' camps the tents are not pitched in lines and streets as in military camps, but are dotted about, 50 or 100 yards or more, in a big circle round the Scoutmaster's tent. This keeps each Patrol separate a

I (electronically) asked my family and friends who have scout-aged kids whether they'd be considering continuing in scouting/BSA, regardless of what the church comes up with in terms of a program. The only two people who replied were my sister and my dad, neither of whom have sons in scouting anymore, lol. If what they said is any indication, there are still some families who want their sons to earn Eagle. Unfortunately, I think a lot of LDS troops looked at scouting ONLY as a path to Eagle, and know for a fact that more than a few troops never followed the patrol method well and did very f

Well I guess that is a problem of itself. Every state has plenty of backpacking, so Philmont should not be the got-to for Scout Backpacking.

The saddest observation I see in the list is that Backpacking is down by a third... Sad because that should be such a core activity of any unit's program.

Summer camp this year I saw a ton of different hats. This one is a Military style Garrison cap. The never functional Beret. This is our troop Black Baseball Style cap. When everyone wears the campaign hat it looks very sharp.

I don't know why there is a problem with black robes. Black robes are cool!

Both of my sons (and I as a youth) were recognized at the Brotherhood level. Both of my sons also cringed at the Hollywood Indian and copy of the Plains war bonnet worn, knowing that it a form of stolen valor in eyes of many tribes. It helped (and hurt) when a member of the Navajo nation stayed with us and had long conversations with them about history, abuse, etc. Some lodges do an amazing job of working with the local tribes, but unfortunately far too many do nothing of the sort. As for cross-overs.... When we crossed Cubs over, the invitation was delivered by the Patrol that

As a youth ceremonialist, I throughly enjoyed conducting Cub AOL and crossover ceremonies. The regalia was neat, but as others have said, to me it was just a tool that we used to help achieve our aims. If we can’t provide the recognition and inspiration to the Cubs without feathers on our heads, we’re doing something wrong. Beyond that, most Cub Packs will turn over most, if not all leaders within a 6-10 year period. Some even faster. What is “new” in 2019 will be “we’ve always done it this way” by 2025. It’s not going to shock me when they announce regalia is going away altogether

I recall a simple ceremony...on a very hot night in an un-airconditioned meeting room at Howard Air Force Base, Panama. The MC said a few words. Three of us lined up on one side of a wooden bridge. We walked across. Our new SM put a brand new Boy Scout neckerchief on each of us. We each received a card and the AOL patch. SM said a few words (Mr. Bates was a powerful man and 12 words from him carried more weight than 100 words from others). I couldn't have been more thrilled--Cub and Webelos days were over, a new adventure was about to begin. There was no OA or Native American

Got mine!