Leaderboard

Today was out Christmas Pack Meeting. I really needed to talk to parents today that still haven't paid fees so we can turn in recharter this week. I had all the activities for the meeting planned and took the Den Leaders to the side this afternoon and told em they had this today. I then moseyed around doing what I needed to today. I kinda liked it.

Well, outlaws and narwhals.....

A nice set of lightweight (carbon fiber) trekking poles would go great with those boots. Unlike the boots, you can adjust the trekking poles, so they will not outgrow them in 6 months.😃

By Larry Geiger on January 25, 2012 in Scoutmastership,The Patrol System Adult leaders often say things like; “I don’t override the boys decisions at all. ” “I asked them what they wanted to do.” “This was their decision.” What most of us fail to recognize is that many of these ‘boy led’ decisions were probably coerced, at least in part, by the presence of adults when they were discussed. It’s not that the adults shined bright lights in their eyes or twisted their arms behind their backs – it is much more subtle than that. When adults are present youth leadership – th

I suggest banning the CC from PLC meetings. He/she has no business there anyway.

Ultimately it the SM, who would have already had consult with the PLC (and ASMs if needed) that would present a request to our committee for X $s to purchase tents. I wouldn't at all have debate in my meetings on the type of tent, just whether we had majority to allocate the funds. The SM might come to me as CC, or I may go to him, to discuss the item(s) if we each felt it necessary. Being a first year group, your committee seems to still be "norming". A private aside with the CC to encourage that they try to keep these discussions on point and concise might be a good idea.

Yes, sounds like to many cooks in the kitchen. I agree with empowering the smart people, or person. Look for the expert to ask the right questions for considering the right selection. Budget may be one of those questions, but you don't need a whole committee to make that point. And keep the PLC in the discussion. As for the tent itself, I agree that the Timberline is a fine tent for scouting in general, but it doesn't hold well in the Oklahoma winds. They tumble away really well, which is why dome tents are more popular here. Just an example of why you need to ask the right questions, an

or it could be done in reverse order. The QM in consult with the PLC determines what gear is needed, puts together a proposal to the SM who brings it to the Committee to approve the funds.

Do not involve a Committee vote on tent selection, leave it up to those sleeping in them. The Eureka Timberline 4 person is probably the Scout standard and a good choice. I would set the budget max at the cost of a Timberline. For flexibility of sleeping arrangements and avaialble tenting space, I've found that a 4 person is better then 2 person tent. Campmor is great and they advertise a less expensive Mountainsmith Bear Creek 4 Tent. Involve your Troop Quartermaster more and FYI... I've found that putting an inexpensive plastic ground sheet under the tent helps save the floor.

For your specific issue, our committee gives the SM a yearly allocation for gear purchases. (Usually this is an estimate based on the SM and QM trying figure out what the troop needs will be. If the PLC is running smoothly, the SPL would be the one submitting the estimate.) The committee does not get into the weeds of what gear is purchased. That way, if the SM and scouts are buying a new stove, and see a couple of tents competitively priced, they may buy them. Receipts are turned into the treasure, and the committee sees the total dollar amount of gear purchased in the treasurers report, and

Good hiking boots would be a good gift also. Sadly I am not sure if my sons feet are done growing yet. He will be 13 in March and is in a men's size 11 shoe.

Yep, the more you delegate, the more you can get done! Just curious: what's your role in the pack? I think packs work best just like troops do....the Cubmaster works with the boys, the CC and his/her committee take care of back-office stuff like chasing down parents for recharter fees and paperwork.

When narwhal tusks are outlawed, only outlaws will have narwhal tusks.

Christmas/Holiday wreaths . . . . Troop 759 (male!) and 7592 (female!) will be offering their last stock (sold the heck out of THAT semi load) of their Holiday Décor at the Olney Maryland Farm and Artist Market, TODAY, Sunday, 8 December starting at 11am.... Some BIG fancy wreaths, more sedate styles, and small plantable shrub table top evergreens (Norway Spruce?) available. Come on out . . . The market also features farm produce (seasonal) and lovely craft/art material... The website sez they close at 1pm, but it will be open past that time...... Near the MedSta

Hi @KeystoneCubmaster, I'm a big believer that forcing a senior leader transition in a pack or troop is fraught with problems. It leads to hurt feelings and politics - never a good thing. I'm also a big believer that you have to look for the good in volunteers - even a COR. I'd try to handle this by developing an open working relationship between the key 3. Do you all meet regularly as a group? In that forum do you all speak honestly with each other? I'd use that forum to work out differences of approach. There, be brutally honest with each other. But, outside that forum -

File this under "Be careful what you wish for." The only folks who can select a different COR is the CO. So, yes, the institution head (IH) can, on behalf of the CO replace him. However, your denomination might order its churches differently than you are assuming ... 1) The pastor may not be the IH. In our CO, a Presbyterian church, the clerk of session (chairman of the board) is the IH, and he/she is obliged to the seated elders of the church (the board) of which the Pastor is the moderator. 2) Even in churches where the pastor signs as IH, he/she may still be obligated to w

Well, maybe not "move on", just take on the real COR responsibilities. and... Maybe to start a ScoutsBSA Troop? Female? Council chair for the XYZ committee? District Camporee organizer? District eNews writer/composer/editor?

Typically the COR is not directly involved with the unit operations as a COR. Seems this COR wants to be the CM or CC, he may want to be large and in charge because that's what he wants to do and NOT what you need or want him to do. The Chartered Organization Representative (COR) is the direct contact between the unit and the Chartered Organization. This individual is also the organization's contact with the District Committee and the Local Council. ... If the chartered organization has more than one unit, one representative serves them all. Nothing in that involves direct unit oper

I tell every new Scoutmaster with plans for changing the current culture to support two programs. The young scout program where your change will come from, and the older scout program that basically continues the same program. The human nature of youth 14 and older DON"T LIKE CHANGE" and I have yet to meet a Scoutmaster who successfully converted their older scouts to the new program. Bend a little maybe. Push as much as your willing to tolerate, but don't let the frustration interrupt working the younger scouts. Don't die on this hill, it's not worth it. Help them with their Eagle as much as

While to a Webelos it may be "backpacking," I do not think it is. I remember my old council having a mega event where people had a choice of either carrying their gear 1 mile or more from the parking lot to their campsite, or using the "4th Marine Division Delivery Service" to drop off their gear at some point at their campsite. We had a number of families carry things in. So I have seen Cubs carrying their own gear a mile or more to a campsite. I know when my youngest was a Webelos, he was ticked off that his older 2 brothers were going to go backpacking on the AT, and he could not go. T

Don't take that for granted. Troops don't need any council approval for camping locations.

Day Hikes are age appropriate. What you propose is most likely not age appropriate, unless you have council designation of the site. Otherwise this is prohibited.

I wasn't trying to say that you or your kids are lying or that people buying it are being lied to. I was only saying that calling it a "product sale" really isn't accurate anymore (it was once) and that it's ironic for an organization with written rules mandating that troop fundraisers must sell products in line with their value to exempt itself from it's own rules. (I'm also not arguing that they don't have the right to exempt themselves from their own rule) That's why when National Public Radio does it's seasonal fundraiser it doesn't talk about how people can "Call now to purchase th

Generally elections would involve every Scout in the troop, so elections at the PLC doesn't seem right. Discussion of the Plc and SM to create the new patrol rosters would have seemed appropriate, so that elections could take place at the next troop meeting. The ASM spending all that time at the white board tells me all I need to know- this is an adult run troop. Adults, and I include the SM, should speak only when spoken to or are asked a question in a youth-led PLC. Ideally, all the youth should be at the table and adults sitting on the outside. Appropriate that the SPL would give the S

I'm not up to date on official positions on this matter but when I did my project back in the day National had made a point of preference. They preferred the projects be of service, implying work, so that no one could make the claim that a boys family bought him his Eagle. Yes realistically you have to raise funds for supplies at times but similar to OA the project should be about service to the community. If your prospective Eagle needs money because he can't find suppliers that will donate materials then you are left with finding funds to purchase what is needed. And it's my understanding th

Weather satellites have more than paid for the entire space program in lives and dollars saved. The space program is a net gain, not a net loss.

Methinks someone needs to do a little research into the benefits of manned spaceflight, past, present and future. Eagle92 has it right, and he only mentions 2 of the trickle down benefits we see in our outdoor adventures. I'm not an engineer, but I do have a subscription to NASA Tech Briefs. You'd be surprised at the technology that NASA develops that then becomes available for use in non-space related fields. A quick google search found this page for me, which has a decent list of advances based on NASA technology... http://www.thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html I have no i

Challenge is that a lot of what NASA pioneered has trickled down to everyday use. And I don't mean just Tang either. Fabrics that were created for insulating spacesuits are now used to make lightweight but ultrawarm sleeping bags and camping clothing. Food used in space are now staples in the REI, and other outdoor store (MMM beef stoganoff with noodles, just got some today for next weekend.) And it goes on and on.

A year ago I was lucky enough to trek Phlmont with a great bunch of guys. Most of the fellows on the trek were from our own troop and you probably know who they were. Maybe you don't know that we also hosted two fellows from another troop on the east side of town. These two fellows were sorta poor and they didn't have a lot of fancy gear. Their troop didn't camp as much as we do and in fact they had not been backpacking much at all. Some of the fellows in our troop didn't think much of their Scout skills. These two fellows were slow on the trail, they had trouble rigging their tents, they cou

This is based on something that happened to me about 6 months ago. I wrote it up and used it as a SM minute. Though some of the specifics apply to our troop, and my situation, feel free to insert your own experiences: I was in the break room at work the other day when I ran into one of the managers who is a friend of mine. He was a member of Troop 3 and is, in fact, in the Eagles nest, right over there. He earned his Eagle in 1975, and I was telling him about our recent 100th Eagle Scout on that board. Keith was suitably impressed, but what he really wanted to know was to what pat

Let me re-write that for you more accurately. Our Pack of 38 Cubs will sell $65k in popcorn solicit $65,000 in donations. My son is on pace to sell $8k in popcorn collect $8,000 in donations, and will barely crack top 10 in our council of 60,000 scouts. Do people reach those levels selling meat sticks? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The core of the problem people have with popcorn is that calling it a "product sale" is so disingenuous it's pra

I think NASA does great stuff. Lots of technology came about because of NASA. But Mars exploration? Come on! Does anybody seriously expect going to Mars to be possible or practical? Even if man make it to Mars..how long will it take? How many decades? How much food would it take for just a crew of 3? How much fuel, oxygen and life support? Why even go? Is even considering putting a colony on Mars plausible? If the earth was in danger of burning out...would sending people to the moon or Mars even be an idea to bother with? Would it truely be worth considering? If people w

MARS EXPLORATION! PEOPLE ON MARS! Really now... Did I not plainly say that NASA has brougght about grea stuff and has benefitted us, But NOT exploring MARS! That is stupid and totally un practical. We will never live there, could not afford to send people there and the logistics of it are insane!. Any penny spent on Mars is a joke!

I'm in the space business. Obama turning the Orion into a life raft just gave me another year or two of work. What a joke. However, manned spaceflight is a folly. We were never destined for space. We simply cannot survive there and the possiblity of finding somewhere we can survive is way beyond our life spans. Sure it forces some technological advances that benefit our terrestrial lives. But its still a folly. We will never leave this planet permanently. We need to focus on this little ball of fuzz instead of playing Buck Rodgers. The same tech advances we get from

So I read the headline today: Associated Press Obama: US to Mars within his lifetime. WOW! Is anybody as excited as I am? What a total and complete waste of taxpayer money! Now look...I am a fan of science and I am a fan of learning. I'm also a fan of l;earning more science. But seriously...what benefit will "one day hopefully" reaching Mars provide? Right now, we know that there is a "pretty good chance" that there "used to be" water on Mars, but we don't know for sure. So lets spend a couple billion each quarter and maybe, if we spend even more..one day we MIGHT fi