Leaderboard

I understood beads for WB, back when it was an advanced course for experienced scouters. Now that it is an intro to leadership (nothing wrong with that), having beads or other regalia for completing an intro course seems a bit much. There aren't beads, etc... for IOLS or SM Specific. Maybe it would make sense if there was an AOLS course.

Ron Robinson, on left, earned his Eagle Scout rank at 14 back in 1959. Ron's son Ryan earned Eagle. Recently, his grandson Nathan, on right, also earned Eagle at age 14. Congratulations to all three. Story link. Note how much wider our old sashes were, material was thicker too. Ron's Scout Sign necker slide was likely carved from a Make-Your-Own kit which were popular back in the day. Also looks like a full size necker, properly worn over the collar.

Our camp: the boy's shower was harboring our ner-do-wells. Although, your "poor English Roses" had some especially flowery speech echoing through their house. Ambient temperature water has been known to do that.

Thanks, Barry, that whole post is very helpful. I have been appreciating your taking the time and effort to answer my questions. Not just this one, but the previous ones, also.

That is interesting. But, it raises the question of when the character growth of service crosses over into the motivation for profit. I have to think about this one. Barry

I can tell this is an adult discussion. I relate with Barkley421 as to being a minimalist and my uniform represents that style. But, my scouts on the other hand liked adding to their uniform most of mrkstvns list. They didn't care to wear their MB sash on their shoulder, but really liked wearing it on their belt. On the other hand, they liked wearing the OA Sash on their shoulder and hated being restricted to only OA events. Our Scouts like all that pocket stuff, especially the OA. I don't know of any official BSA beads for the youth, but when we created our own Unit JLT course, they wanted to

When I was a kid, thanks to how I grew up, I felt pretty confident in my ability to handle a lot of stuff. I was also around a lot of adults who engaged in what today would be termed risky behavior. However, their overall competence level was such that I never felt much at risk. Today, I look at a lot of the adults around and very few seem to have common sense of the variety that was developed based on either street smarts, outdoor living, rural living, whatever. The exception is people who come here from other places, or maybe live in some of the few places where life is still a little bit

Eagle1993 - your council is the only one messing with The future of Cub Scout Camp. I posted earlier this month (in the Cub sub forum)about the hair Brained idea our council is doing this summer. And add to it the council that shares our state has a council camp not 15minutes away from the town the pack I work with and they aren’t even offering a Cub Day Camp this summer. They rented the facility out to another camp group to run a day camp program at it. So they suggest the people who want the 2 overnight program use those in our council. Honestly - if I still had a Cub Scout who wanted

For me, it is really aesthetic. Not all unofficial flair will make an ugly/cluttered/ridiculous uniform; but UP approved uniform, in full compliance with the guide to awards and insignia, will almost never look too bad. I don't have much artistic or design ability, so I stick to a simpler uniform. I don't even like temporary patches much because they are either a pain to sew on and off or they are dangling things that can get caught on stuff. Same reason I don't like the powderhorn or emergency preparedness insignia- more stuff to catch, clang, remove before washing, and put back on a

Good question. I believe BSA documentation states it as something like scouts developing the habit of using the Law and Oath in their future decisions. The theory is that scouts learn the virtues of the Law and Oath by their struggles resulting from past bad decisions. I know that is a bit idealistic, but if you as an adult can see a scout change a behavior or process of making a decision as a result of bad decisions, then you are watching personal growth. One very common area I saw personal growth is with new PLs working patrol members, compared to how they worked with them as an experi

Possibly that he really thinks of himself as a volunteer who's now charged to run the ship. If I were hired to the CEO role of our Scout council, I don;t know if I'd really consider myself a Scouting professional either. I'd consider myself a volunteer who now has a job to run the council. It's neither respecting or disrespecting the professionals - just simply that he doesn't think of himself as one.

RS, excellent point. Here's my hunch. Mr. Mosby graciously declined the CSE title to help assuage the hurt feelings that are no doubt percolating through the "commissioned BSA professional" corps as we speak. Some gold loopers knew it was potentially "their turn" to be in the running for the CSE job. Not only were they passed over, their whole world is about to change.

Well said. Mr. Mosby should not lose much sleep over missing those classes. After all, "commissioned BSA professionals"--who had the required training--have been at the helm until now, and they have steered our organization into dismal waters. Societal changes and other external factors cannot be solely blamed.

And that's the crux of the matter. The G2SS claims to lower the olds of abuse ("barriers" is a slight misnomer) based on the most general of observations. It hasn't seen your camping conditions nor does it know your youth. For example, I can imagine pairs of 13 year old boys who if I can help it will be assigned different camps, let alone tents. And I can imagine a half dozen 10-11 year olds would benefit from being in the same room as a couple of scouts two years older. I think the G2SS gives you the latitude in this case to make arrangements that will best serve your scouts.

I really hate that deadline. Without it, a scout like this would just keep putting off earning the badges until maybe his was 40 and an ASM himself. Sure, it's kicking the can down the road, but it will be at someone else's intersection. I tried to get one of my scouts who was into theater to draw up a skit that would follow a scout as he goes about earning a fictional MB -- one with two simple, but theatrically funny requirements.For laughs I considered making a prop of the oversize card by painting old dry-erase boards and hinging them together -- and an even larger MB pamphlet! At leas

DId you approve that this person was to be the MBC before work began? Sorry if you already answered this - but I missed it. I'm not sure the technical reason about why an unregistered MBC cannot sign off on merit badges. I agree that having someone not qualified to sign off make absolutely no sense - but I'm not aware if there is really any check on this. If there were, I have to imagine that many Eagle applications would be returned due to all the council mistakes about getting folks registered.

So, under normal circumstances -- which this is certainly not -- I strongly recommend that the applicant's record always stay with the applicant. As soon as the scout presents the card with the counselor's signature, the SM signs it, separates the portions, and returns the applicant record to the scout. Then, as soon as the SM or designee records it in the unit's records, he signs the unit copy. That's the point of that final signature. That's how I believe we can maintain the triple-redundancy intended by the blue card system. None of that would take away from the serious deficiency in t

Since you're new to the role, I think you have to ask yourself - "is what the Scout did in line with how things are typically done?" DId the prior SM require signatures ahead of time? Did the prior SM question the qualifications of the counselor? Did the prior SM review the dates and progress on the MB? Did the prior SM permit family members as MB counselors? If the prior SM was the laid back type and if you have not changed the process, then you have to recognize that the Scout and family probably thought this was all fine. If the prior SM was a by the rules type, then this Scout and fa

I certainly wouldn't phrase it as an accusation. I would simply tell them that certain questions are bound to be raised when the scout is up for eagle, and it would be better to organize the answers now, rather than putting them off until the review. Be Prepared.

In my view, the single biggest membership blunder that BSA has made is allowing Boy Scouting/Scouts BSA to develop in a way that makes it almost totally dependent upon crossovers from Cub Scouting. It puts the future of the Scouts BSA almost entirely in the hands of Cub Scout leaders and their ability to recruit kindergarten and first grade families. It allows Webelos and Arrow of Light Den Leaders to heavily influence whether Scouts should cross over to a troop at all. Having to leave one Scouting organization (the Cub Scout pack) and find and join a new Scouting organiza

Peer-to-peer recruitment among youth is doing just fine. Purveyors of recreational drugs rely on it to secure their future clientele. If scouts Eagle-and-out it is because they don't feel: needed. The adults will do all the work anyway. challenged. The troop isn't pitching Palms and other awards properly. respected. They aren't being asked to visit elementary and middle schools in uniform to promote the program. They aren't attending naturalization ceremonies, or opening a session of local government, or helping run a booth at a community festival. wealthy. Someone

The original establishment of Boy Scouting in Knoxville dates to October 1909, predating (by four months) the official incorporation of the BSA in February 1910. Local leaders of the Knoxville (Central) Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) are credited with organizing the first Boy Scout troop in the city. It was not unheard of for American scout units to be formed in the months or even years before Scouting was officially born in the United States by requesting organizational materials (i.e. the Scouting handbook, unit charter) directly from the headquarters of British Boy Scouting in Lon

Wrong discussion. We are talking about passing the swim test for rank advancement, not Lifesaving MB or Swimming MB. If you want to talk about those, then I fully agree mastery of swimming is required. For the rank advancement, the litmus test to pass is MUCH lower. I have seen guys who have passed the test but they are not really "Swimmers". Passing the test is no certification of one's swimming ability. It is a one-time test for rank. We should not equate passing the swim test for rank = being a great swimmer, no more than we should equate passing the cooking requirements to being a gre

My takes: peer to peer recruitment is practically dead Troops rely solely on AOL crossovers Packs keep dying off. Less Cub Scouts eventually mean less Scouts BSA Members Reluctance to recruit new members outside of Packs.