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Our Meeting made almost ten dollars the first day this was installed.... Easy to build, DIY , perhaps an Eagle Service Project for your church?

We just had Conclave this weekend, so this policy change was a topic that everyone was aware of and talked about, but consensus is that changing from 10 months to 6 months does little of encouraging more involvement/participation. Most feel if we are losing the youth after they complete Ordeal today, this doesn't solve that problem. One observation that I took from the weekend, compiling various comments, was that we've had a much higher number of youth under the age of 14 going through Ordeal for the past decade+ than we did 20-30 years ago, and that may not have been a great thing in retro

The "Key 7" sounds great, but I'd also invite the SPL and the Crew President to make sure youth have a voice

so...I'm an OBE now? Cool! Will there be a rota for the medal?

I would suggest contacting your council to get coverage details from the horse's mouth. I have not always found a great deal of clarity about who is covered and when even at the council level, but at least it is a place to start. Whatever the pack or troop thinks is likely to be wrong.

Dinosaur fossil hunt? Nothing could be more Scouty…. ""....Arlton Murray, who worked with fossils at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, hid his own time capsule in a dinosaur installation in 1947. The wooden box — containing Murray’s Boy Scout membership card and a note about one of the installations — was a surprise find five years ago as the museum’s Fossil Hall was taken apart for renovation...."" ""...It took a bit of research to discover the significance of the Boy Scout card . . . Murray discovered his passion for fossils on a Boy Scout outing. "" htt

Nobody likes mosquitos. They bite, they annoy, and they can spread disease. They are also a persistent problem for scouts and anybody else who enjoys summer camping. Mosquitos are a part of the natural ecosystem and there's no way to completely avoid them. But there are ways to keep them off yourself. Here are a few strategies that scouts and scouters can use to help keep the mosquitos at bay this summer: Repellant / Bug Spray. Spray on mosquito repellant before you leave your tent in the morning and re-apply several times during the day because it will wear off as you sweat. Also be

Well OA is an outside organization for scouts of a specific interest, specifically camping and service. It is (was) viewed as an honor organization because the members peers picked them out specifically, and theoretically, for the exceptional camping and service (character) skills. Of course "exceptional", as well as "camping" and "service" skills have changed over the years. I believe the reason the program appeals to older scouts today is because they have the maturity in those areas to plan, organize, and act with those skills. Something troops should be doing. That stuff is boring to young

We have the C-130 come over and dump the DDT on us, works great after you get over the coughing spasm

The longest journey begins with a single step. Let the Scouts form patrols: [A "patrol" in Scouting is . . . a small, largely self-selected team of friends who, under the leadership of a Scout they elect, experience a Scouting program they collectively plan and, through that leader as their representative, help lead the troop." [emphasis added] "Why do boys want to join Scouting? To develop their fitness, citizenship, and character? To give adults a smoothly-running organization?

My favorite approach is: Year 1 - At crossover time, form a partol of new scouts who have all joined together. Assign them a troop guide. This lets scouts go through "new scout" stuff as a group and learn together. Year 2+ - After a year, let the scouts shift patrols to their liking. Try to keep patrols no more than 8-10. This lets scouts for patrols of their friends and work in groups where they are comfortable.

^^This is the key insight..... FWIW, my lodge does Ordeal Ceremonies at Spring and Fall Fellowships, about 4 months apart. But, we do Brotherhood Ceremonies all the time. Fellowships, camporees, church basements, training events, anywhere we can gather eligible ordeal members and the principles. The 6 month requirement sets up this incentive, election in Jan/Feb, Ordeal in May/June, Brotherhood in December. That way a single scout can count for induction and conversion in the same JTE year......

Yes. Spiders (all varieties) can be controlled using permethrin. Info about permethrin, its uses, and precautions can be found here: http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/PermGen.html

My unit is 76 years old, all 76 years chartered with the same church. Some of the names on our original charter are family of current members. Permanence and solid roots are in our DNA, despite our 3-digit unit number that we got saddled with because of multiple Council mergers. I really dislike the notion that our 3-digits say anything about how we stack up to single-digit units. It's just a number, and Packs/Troops come by their numbers in a variety of ways. It's not just a "roots" thing.

Since you say the troop relies on the pack as a feeder, I would recommend that when you do have the Key 7 meeting. One of the things you keep in mind is that the cubs have no obligation to go to this troop when they join Scouts BSA. I would also encourage the Webelos dens to visit other troops. One reason the troop culture is not great is b/c they do not have to be. They keep getting scouts and have no competition. Introduce competition and they will have no choice but to change or dissolve.

Carry on with the good work of keeping the BS out of the BSA! What are they going to do? Walk around with sticky fours, grab a scout's sleeve and glue them on?

Brownsea Island has some small displays and heritage stuff, a kudo horn but not I think *the* kudo horn, it's quite interesting. Gilwell Park has a museum, much of it about Gilwell Park and adult training, but also some decent general artifacts, but I think they're about to rebuild it soon, at least, I think they were begging for money to do same recently. Gilwell Park also usually has BP's caravan, and his Rolls Royce, Jam Roll. Though, fair enough, these are not very practical options for most US scouts doing their Heritage Merit Badge, but there you go. Of course, the text of loads of

If the rules for voting went back to the way they were it would have little impact on how many are nominated from my troop. It's been a long time since we've had more than 3 people nominated and that was when we had 70 in the troop. My troop usually nominates the best scouts. The scouts that screwed around a lot as younger scouts typically have a lot of work to do to fix the name they made for themselves. Most don't make it no matter how hard they try and the ones that do really are the better scouts. So I'm not sure it's about making it harder to get in. I remember when my SM encouraged

I don't see this as having a major impact one way or another. Does it make things a little easier, yes. Do I think the Brotherhood conversion experience will be significantly cheapened? Absolutely not. It's certainly not a silver bullet that will solve our dwindling numbers, but it's not going to kill us any faster either. We can play the "it was better in my day because it was tougher and therefore more meaningful" game forever, or we can roll up our sleeves and help support the youth officers in delivering the program. Looking over the PMP it really just looks like a simplified JTE

Thanks for the input, everyone. As near as I can tell, regardless of what the DC side-eyes me about, nobody else is actually *using* all 4 digits in their published unit numbers (except venturing crews, as noted previously). So for example there's a Troop 61 that's been chartered by a local church for decades. Two years ago they chartered a Pack 61, and this year they also chartered a Troop 61 for girls. Troop 61 for girls is officially 4061 in the computer but they aren't actually using the whole thing. I'll make an argument in favor of using 422 on uniforms (unless someone comes up wit

The Scouts would be covered by the council's insurance. The troop likely does not have its own separate insurance.

My understanding is that Scouts are covered because they are members of the BSA, not members of a specific pack or troop. If some other Scouts come to your event, they are covered. As Cubmaster I'd encourage you to attend their next Troop Committee Meeting and discuss what happened. Why didn't they respond to your invite? If they decided not to participate - fine, but why didn't they even tell you? Further, when this was problem was uncovered, why didn't they try to encourage Scouts to attend? We're all volunteers and volunteers can make mistakes in moments of stress. i.e. - oops, w

That's nonsense. I talked to the insurance company that provided our insurance a long time ago and if there were scouts at an event then it was covered. No permissions nor uniforms needed. Besides, nobody's likely to get hurt anyway. Sounds more like an ego issue to me.

I don't perceive this change from 10 months to 6 months as having much impact. Around here the Brotherhood ceremony is only offered at Ordeals. The big one is in the spring, the fall ordeal is 5 months later. So 75% of our new members still have to wait a full year. I suppose there will be a slight uptick in the brotherhood conversation numbers nationally, So on paper things look better, but at the local level? Little and less. The other change seems good in my eyes, some lodges are on life support, and having the section giving them a helping hand seems to be no bad thing. Al

The BSA's insurance provides coverage for visitors to unit events, I presume that would apply here. Individual units rarely carry their own insurance policies. Note that you still have a responsibility to cover things like adequate supervision, age-appropriate activities, etc. I'm all in favor of trying to play nice with my neighbors and fellow scout units, but if you've identified this other unit as having a toxic culture, you'll likely be a lot happier if you just ignore them.

You are dead on right. An 11 year old is not the audience for the theory of learning. Rank and MB requirements should not say EDGE. Instead, say "Teach a scout" or "Show a new scout". As scouts mature and age, then NYLT can reveal that BSA's preferred teaching method is EDGE and here's how it works. Learning is a continuum. (leadership, teaching, etc). At the earlier levels, learning starts with doing. This matches Baden-Powell saying that advancement is the natural result of being active. So, learning EDGE should be a natural result of helping each others. At those earlier lev

Who says campout lunches should consist of the same boring cold cut or PBJ sandwiches that every other new scout patrol in the nation serves? Wouldn't a really TASTY hot sandwich be so much more appetizing? Sure it would! Here's a few tips to help you have a BETTER sandwich for lunch... BREAD. Find a really good sub roll. If you can get small French bread loaves, like the ones that Vietnamese restaurants use for their Banh Mi sandwiches, you're in luck! A Mexican panaderia near my neighborhood sells fresh-made bolillos that are perfect! Another good choice is a sourdough sub ro