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Just got back from a 72 mile canoe trip on the Buffalo River in Arkansas with our Sea Scouts. It was quite the experience. It was a long drive there and a long time paddling but it was quite the experience. We even got buzzed by a Bald Eagle. Best part was my son's Instagram post: "We all had a great time except for some near death experiences but it was totally worth it!😅😎"

I would make sure that your scouts know that they should report it. About your question for who can administer first aid, I believe anyone can. I don’t think there are age restrictions, I am the highest certified in my troop but I am a scout.

"4.. Getting Troop Committee support SPL presents written Annual Plan to Troop Committee and asks them to support plan. SM attends same meeting and asks the Committee to support the Plan. Because the youth leaders are to plan, the Troop Committee gives them the benefit of the doubt."

People on these forums use 1,001 different abbreviations and acronyms. Many are common across scouting. Some are just invented on the spot and assumed to be understandable (but rarely are). BSA publishes a list of common scouting acronyms. The list is here: https://www.scouting.org/resources/los/abbreviations/ As I read through the list, it is obvious that the folks compiling the list missed many, many very common acronyms. Here's my quick and dirty list of additional acronyms.... AC - Advancement Chair BL - Boys Life BOR - Board of Review CC - Committee Chair CM - Cub

Looking for service project ideas? How about negotiating with terrorists to release a hostage? Or maybe tracking down cases of the deadly Ebola virus? Such things might not be approved activities in BSA, but according to this story about how scouting helps hold together the country in Central Africa, its par for the course in some parts of the world... See: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/big-in-peacekeeping-boy-scouts/590614/

I saw this in National's list BSE – borough Scout executive shouldn't it be BSE – burrowed Scout executive...as in head first?

It was great. lots of problem solving, horrible food and all. We were on the river for 5 days.

Then God's pretty handy. If we provide Him the scouts, He'll put them where they need to be.

Boys, LOL, men are by nature not detail people. Sometime they, LOL, we will assume the best and basically ignore injuries. I'm looking at a few scouting scares on my fingers as I type through the arthritis. Usually, with something like this, the adult leadership comes up with kind of a policy for everyone to note. Doesn't have to be a written policy, but a mental process that if an injury has bleeding or protruding bone, the responsible adult needs to be told so they can determine what, if anything, needs attention. I would make it a troop policy for everyone, not just the scouts. Barry

Read the fine print, """ References: Must list all six (five if not employed). If not affiliated with an organized religion, then the parent or guardian provides this reference. There are no restrictions on who the Scout may list as the two other references. The candidate may list anyone, including parents or guardians not previously listed, other relatives, Scout leaders including those from the candidate’s unit, or other Scouts and friends. There is no requirement that any of the references be 21 years of age or older. "" (from https://www.scouting.org/resources/guide-to-advancement/eagl

This is going to be touchy issue. My first response is for a parent/grandparent/guardian not to write the religious letter for their child. You already support the child and it shows if they made it this far. Whether an "active" church goer, or not, there are other ways duty to god can be displayed. One of the most generic in a troop could be the troop chaplain position. Used correctly, that could be the only duty done. We never asked denomination or attendance records of the troop chaplain. Level of devotion and duty is measured differently in everyone. Some showboats have to sho

Please reach out to your council / the camp and report the incident. Dependent upon the unit and / or council some accident insurance assistance may be available to the parents. Incident reporting page: https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/incident-report/ RichardB

Welcome @CarrieScouter. Congratulations on your son's advancement. You have it right. How does your son fulfill his duty to God? Has he met your expectations? What does he do on his own? You don't have to spend a lot of time on this. Just a couple of scentences about how he's applying the religion that you handed down to him. Of course, a deeper question for yourself and none of us here is why your family doesn't go to church? Has your duty to God changed? Did you have a revelation that St. Paul was mistaken about "forsake not the assembling of yourselves together?" Have your fellow worsh

I leaned on my scouts a little here. I told them to pick a good patrol name, a name that meant something to them, a name that they would be happy to keep for a long time (years). I told them that they could design the artwork for their own patrol patch so that they could have a good patrol patch. (I also made fun of some of the existing patrol patches available from Class B and elsewhere: the flaming nuclear biohazard something-or-others.) Then I watched to see what they would come up with. (They had had a couple of months to think over their patrol name before the decision time.

Welcome to the forum, @CarrieScouter.

HEAR YOU SCOUTS, AND YOU PARENTS TOO, OF THE ... TALE OF TWO EAGLES! Once there were two Eagles. The First Eagle was the son of a "Double Eagle," or an Eagle Scout and Explorer Silver recipient. "Double Eagle" dad pushed and pushed and pushed his son to earn Eagle at the ripe old age of 13. Since the Silver Award was no longer around for Exploring, dad did no pushing for that. Since the First Eagle met his dad's expectations, and thought his journey was over, he quit Scouting at 13, only to rejoin many years later when his own son became a Tiger Cub.

Sort of. The COR is not typically part of the approval process for unit activities. But, should the COR feel a need to act and make a decision, the COR has that right. The COR has whatever authority the COR feels he/she needs to have. They supervise the unit on behalf of the CO. If the COR feels that they need to micromanage the unit, then that is their decision and well within their authority. I think these arguments often confuse intent with authority. It is not the intent of the BSA system that the COR overule the unit. Similarly, it is not the intent of the BSA system that the C

They can't be completely inflexible if they were willing to try it in the past. What motivated them to try it? What happened? Was there a problem? Was somebody injured? Did they have complaints? One thing about us old duffers is that we love to talk about the past. A friendly, non-confrontational conversation might reveal a lot about what they are thinking and what motivates their decisions.

I don’t care as long as it get them excited, promotes Scout and patrol spirit. More power to them.

I'm particularly proud of the names and emblems in our units. Our Webelos den is the "Merry Archers" den, the 11 year-old patrol is the "Savage Viking" patrol, and the older patrol is the "Knights of Light" patrol, all with attractive patches. What's fascinating about their titles is that, as a boy moves up through the different groups, he also moves through various phases of English history - first the Anglo-Saxons, then the invading Norse vikings, and finally the knights of the Norman conquest, each with successive advancements in warfare, technology and government - just as the boys themsel

This is a touchy issue with me as two brother scouts in the 70s, that recruited me, never made eagle as they didn't go to church. They were the best scouts around that I knew of. One even helped me when I broke my leg in three places...longer story for another thread. They had all the skills, BSA gear, summer camps, and OA participation. That one active attendance "duty to god" piece kept them out. It was disheartening to see them scout from 12-18 yrs old, earn all the good stuff, and turned away. No leader or adult came to their aid. That was the late 70s, but times change or do they?