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Showing content with the highest reputation on 07/22/19 in all areas

  1. When I was a scout, the scouts in our troop who attended the OA Ordeal weekend came back a different more mature person. The requirements of that Ordeal are considered hazing today. It seems today's culture feels that growth gained from enduring the strain of designed purposeful circumstances is not considered healthy. Barry
    3 points
  2. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/21/world/europe/netherlands-dropping-children.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage Blindfold your scouts, drive them out to the middle of nowhere, give them a GPS (for the first half of the trek only) and wish them luck getting back to camp. Don't try this at home.
    2 points
  3. On late Friday evening, a severe storm hit Camp Makajawan in Pearson, Wisconsin. No serious injuries to the hundreds of scouts and staff present, who reached shelter before the storm hit. The physical damage, however, was significant. I am told the winds exceeded 100 mph. Hundreds, if not thousands of trees, are down or damaged, with buildings and roads impacted. Kudos to the North East Illinois Council and camp staff for implementing its severe weather plan and keeping scouts and staff safe. As a result of the storm, the camp is closed for the remainder of the summer. Our Troop was set
    2 points
  4. If you really want to cover your bases, and I do think that this is technically required, you might think of how this would be easiest for the situation. I would recommend providing the form to volunteers ahead of time (A&B) with something like the following explanation on an envelope containing the form) As an explanation - I advocate for the following handling of the AHMR- Forms are turned in sealed in a standard envelope. Each participant (or guardian) is asked "Do you (or your scout) have any medical issues we should be aware of before we are away from prompt medi
    2 points
  5. Sounds to me like a sure-fire way to discourage people from wanting to help the scouts... I know that mindless bureaucracy and paperwork sure does dampen MY enthusiasm....
    2 points
  6. From 1910 to 1948, scouts were expected to do a solo outdoor experience in order to complete their First Class Rank. Here is a sample of the requirement from the 1936 Scout Handbook... "5. Make a round trip alone or with another Scout by foot or rowboat to a point at least 7 miles away, and write a satisfactory account of the trip & things observed." Earlier versions of that requirement suggested the trip be done over 2 days. Source: "BSA Rank Advancement Requirements, 1910–2018", http://www.troop97.net/pdfbin/bsa_ranks.pdf
    2 points
  7. I didn't want to post this in the original thread because I didn't want to derail. I seem to see someone bring up the classification of uniforms any time the words "Class A" or "Class B" are used. I just wanted to say that this interjection of correctness (pedantry IMHO) isn't helpful or courteous most of the time. Most of the time it easy to tell if people mean "Class A = Field" and "Class B = Troop T-shirt" or some small variant of that. In most circumstances it really isn't important that the field is the only real uniform and that there isn't an accepted variant on "fully uniforme
    1 point
  8. The most surprising thing out of all of this is that a unit actually followed the correct procedure and submitted a fundraising application
    1 point
  9. We're supposed to get Council approval for fundraisers? 😁 We didn't get approval for our spring fundraiser, we just did it.
    1 point
  10. Generally, something along these guidelines.
    1 point
  11. I think they should be able to save up "Eagle credits" for years they miss their targets. They can also sell their "Eagle credits" to low-performing councils....kind of like companies trading carbon offsets. Who knows, a whole new kind of futures market might be created!
    1 point
  12. He's actually not from New York, but from outside Cleveland, Ohio. It just got picked from the wire by the Daily News. Still a great story, though.
    1 point
  13. Semantics of a different question. ... To answer the that question, you can skirt the issue with making it a charter org fundraiser. ... The challenge is I've never seen a charter org run a fundraiser for a unit. Usually, it's the exact same people that run unit fundraisers. And the same rules are applied for scout accounts and sharing the results. ... Heck, most charter orgs are just not involved at all. ... It also introduces other issues ... if it's a charter org fundraiser and the charter org donates the money to the unit, I think that makes it much more difficult to credit any spec
    1 point
  14. In the OP, the Dutch drop a group of blindfolded scouts called a dropping team, on a paved road with GPS and cellphone. The dropping team does carry a cellphone in case of emergency, and the scouting association requires participants to wear high-visibility vests and distributes a long list of guidelines, mainly geared toward traffic safety. “Pushing boundaries is fun,” reads one recommendation, “but that, too, has boundaries.” Yawn...lame. I believe Scouting should have a solo outdoor experience akin to what Outward Bound does. Back in the day, I solo'd on a OB expedition. (
    1 point
  15. Its isn't quite the same. But yes, done correctly, it can still accomplish a lot of growth. However, we averaged 4 High Adventure Crews a year and my experience is the adults find letting the scouts have that level of independence "EXTREMELY challenging", they fail more often than not. In fact, our scouts come back frustrated because they weren't even allowed the independence they are accustomed with at troop monthly campouts (where the SM can guard the scouts from the adults). Barry
    1 point
  16. When hot water is outlawed, only outlaws will have hot water.
    1 point
  17. Astounding the kind of overreach and unnecessary paperwork that some people can fantasize about. I'll be sure to avoid reading that FAQ so I have plausible deniability when I continue to use common sense about when to collect (like for camping and adventurous activities) and not collect (like for trivial service projects, merit badge workshops, non-strenuous day trips, etc.) Thanks for the heads-up about astounding stupidity abounding in some corners of scouting...
    1 point
  18. You don't really need to give them a compass and map. Just make the destination a video game arcade and let their instincts take over.
    1 point
  19. It is not official, but could be worn as a temporary patch on the right pocket.
    1 point
  20. Absolutely not. Let's not get carried away with paperwork and regulations!
    1 point
  21. There are no class A or class B uniforms in BSA.
    1 point
  22. I absolutely disagree that adults need to lead the course. IMHO, one of the best teaching methods is having scouts work with scouts. Our troop hasn't done ISLT recently. But when we did ... SM coached the SPL (who ran the course). The coaching was not hours and hours. It was more to familize with the materials ... 15 minutes at a time. Over a few weeks. The night before the course, the SPL and SM (and another adult) prep'ed the training and the materials. The training itself was a combination of 10 to 15 minute segments of BSA produced VHS tapes specificall
    1 point
  23. if you want to educate in the patrol method, you might review the ILST materials. They are overwhelmingly, as the title suggest, about the "troop method, " unlike the long-gone district-level Junior Leader Orientation Workshop, killed off in 2001 without explanation. JLOW began with 'Welcome to Scouting's Toughest job," and that referred to Patrol Leader, being based on actual Boy Scouting. Some Councils fight the good fight by offering JLOW despite BSA's abandonment of training outside the troop short of NYLT . Some volunteers offer JLOW independently of their councils e.g.
    1 point
  24. Depends on the Scout's reply. If it was "Sorry for the omission, please let me try agian." --- that suggests to me that he is living by them. If it was: "Well, I don't think a scout really needs to do all of those things." or it was: "Correction, a cuttlefish is ..." or any such variation ... --- that suggests that there's one or more that he'd rather not live by. The Oath and Law are no mere shibboleths. If you advance the snake who says them masterfully, but you know he's refused to live up to them in his daily life, you're doing nobody any favors.
    1 point
  25. A BoR is not a re-test. The committee's job is to evaluate and provide feedback to the SM if the youth are coming in prepared in a less than fully competent manner. The question mark is then really about who has signed off on the kid, and why. That is really the purpose of the BoR- to evaluate how the program is going, not the kid themself. Your issue with that particular youth seems more of a conversation for your next committee meeting and ask the SM why the kids don't know the Law. A BoR shouldn't be given until all the requirements are signed to begin with, so it should be ultra-r
    1 point
  26. I would absolutely not put that in place. A special camp out for those that sold seems wrong. Pack program should be for everyone. Packs have a hard time doing one or two pack camp outs a year. I fear an invite only campout would not be an "addition" but rather a limit that reduces opportunity. Most importantly, those-that-camp may not always be good fundraisers. And, those-that-fundraise may not always want to camp. Incentives are important. Boys (and parents) compete for incentives, but this is a badly matched incentive.
    1 point
  27. Our Meeting made almost ten dollars the first day this was installed.... Easy to build, DIY , perhaps an Eagle Service Project for your church?
    1 point
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