Eagle007

Thanks Bdweller. You're awesome. I will definitely contact you.

It has been my experience that the looks on people's faces are amazing when they see a troop of scouts/scouters police the areas they have been. One of those experiences included national park law enforcement. After a the adventure of a 50+ mile canoe trip we had a gazillion oyster bags full of trash that we had picked up along the way. Included in the findings was an abandoned canoe that had been stuck in the trees in the middle of the river after it had flooded its banks. We had actually called the canoe rental owners and they had the park law enforcement to pick it up for them. That was our do a good deed for the day. When the officers saw all the trash that was collected they kept thanking us and thanking us. One of those officers had also earned eagle rank when in scouts. The thing is that the boys "get it" when policing up after themselves and this will carry on in their lives beyond scouting. It also positively influences others who aren't involved in scouting.

All this talk of using the old dutch oven is making me hungry and wanting to get out in the cold air and fire one up with some good recipies.

Help! I just fell out of my chair from laughing so hard at this post. And by the way, my name is Eagle007 and I'm an addict, too.

Bdweller: my apologies if what I said has easily offended you. That's not what I meant. I tried not to use first person - "the use of I" in this forum. So let me explain. I also wear a cpap and my question was one asked out of self-consciousness for sounding like a friggin bear vs. diesel engine when I don't wear it. I did a search on here and found several good suggestions "dealing" with cpap issues that I may have such as the battery issue while at summer camp or hiking. That is where I was coming from. And you nor anyone else wants me to camp with them without my cpap; that I can promise you. When I sleep without my cpap my family says the walls in my house expand and contract like a pair of lungs. I hope this clears up any miscommunication on my part for you Bdweller.

In today's world of fast food I think we could all stand to give up some yardage on the old belt. Ha, ha. Thanks.

Without breaking the rules of confidentiality, has anyone dealt with scouts or scouters that must wear a CPAP mask/machine? What do they do with respects to overnight camping?

I think that these forums are a great tool to help make scouting all that it can be.

Scoutfish, I totally agree with everything you said. I am going to participate and do everything in my power to have an awesome time even on boring subjects. I'm very optimistic and enthusiastic. I am fully aware of the numbers game and the sales pitches but all in all I want and need input to help make scouting in my troop all it can be. Networking is great and this Scouter.com proves it.

I forgot to mention the fact that it is around $100. This may be a little pricey for a 14 year old but you get what you pay for.

I like my Ken Onion Kershaw Tanto Blur. Here are the specs according to kershaw website: Steel: Sandvik 14C28N stainless steel Handle: Sandvik 14C28N stainless steel, DLC coating Blade: 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm) Closed: 4 1/2 in. (11.3 cm) Overall: N/A Weight: 4.2 oz. What I like about it is the locking blade and skateboard grips when hands are wet or cold. The additional feature of a pocket clip is nice, too.

I'm actually ashamed to admit this but I have been to only one roundtable meeting offered by our district. Although it has been several months ago, what I remember about it is this: 1) I had never heard of such a creature and was ignorant in a good sense as to what was involved. I wanted to find out so I decided to go. 2) When I asked another ASM in our troop to go along with me it, was as if I were pulling hen's teeth. I'm not sure what was going on there; i.e., if the troop didn't like the roundtables or what. 3) The topics of the meeting revolved around popcorn sales, soliciting cross-over Webelos and the numbers game of recruiting new cubs and boy scouts. Since there are less than a handful of scouts in our troop that actually participate in the popcorn sales, that part of the meeting went in one ear and out the other. Our troop has another way of earning money altogether. But I kept an open mind. 4) The meeting seemed to drag on and on even with an open mind about it. I'm certainly not knocking this roundtable since it was the only one I ever attended because I know one only gets out of something what one puts in. And it seems that our troop's scouters by in large were at the time were uninterested in attending. I'm not sure how the mood towards those meetings are now, as I dropped the subject and never brought it back up. I will certainly be attending the meetings again as I want to give and receive input on making our troop better with new ideas or networking if you will. The suggestions in this forum are awesome and I would like to see more discussion from those that participate and lead in the roundtables. Thanks for all the advice.

I believe the mid-term votes and the change of command in the HOR show the will of the people isn't behind the previous two years. If the right doesn't go through with a promised vote to repeal the healthcare bill, though, the will of the people my shift back to the other side. I'll be able to give a more informed opinion on the aforementioned topic when I see who will actually declare a run in the primaries. Until then it's all purely speculation. Now as far as to what side of the fence I am leaning on is up to each one's imagination. But I'll give you a little hint. It's not the right and it's not the left.

Please allow me to set the record straight. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that minors can and will give in to the desires of the flesh no matter time or place. Give me a little credit for I didn't just fall off of the turnip truck. It is a personal issue that I have as far as overnight co-ed camping. It's my personal feelings and convictions and I don't expect anyone else to see it from my point of view. And again, no offense or disrespect intended to anyone. Thank you.

I would like to formally apologize to anyone who may have taken offense with anything I have said in this forum or any others that I have posted on. Nothing that I post is meant in any offensive manner or meant as harm toward anyone, especially a scout. On this particular discussion I'm simply giving my opinion as a concerned parent with my children and me playing a hypothetical role. And as we all know opinions are like noses - everybody has one. And sometimes it's better to agree to disagree on sticky subjects as these and everyone remain civil. I do wish the young lady nothing but the best. Again, my apologies.

"I'm no Xpert on Venturing ---- aren't they supposed to decide issues like this rather than the parents? If they are, how should they do it? Should parents expect to accept the decisions the Crew leaders decide? Interesting point that the pregnant girl is a Venturing leader. Is it reasonable that should give parents pause about her being in the Crew? Suppose the Crew decided that they have a duty to support the pregnant Crew member and decide that aiding and supporting her during her pregnancy and after the child is born should be one of their major projects." I will preface my response by saying that my comments are largely from a father's point of view and not that of a leader in Venturing; therefore, I'm not an expert in that organization either. I believe as long a the pregnant crew member is a minor the parents should and will have the final saying all matters concerning her. As far as the parents accepting what the crew decides... they would have to make that a personal decision. Everyone is different. A pregnant minor Venturing leader would certainly give me pause as a parent and cause me to question many things. First and foremost I would remove any of my children from that crew as I do not see that being a positive influence on my children. I think it is totally ridiculous for a crew to put themselves in that position as you suggest for a major project. My family would certainly not be a part of it as I do not see rewarding someone for something I believe is morally wrong. I'm not throwing stones at the girl. I'm simply giving a perspective of what I'd do for me and mine. I have to look out for my family and raise them the best way I see fit. But to each his own. If that is what the crew chooses to do, such is life for them.

BrentAllen, you make some very valid comments concerning a family with a daughter who are visiting a crew such as this. Have we all pretty much seen unwed minor females become pregnant in the public school system or even in the church we attend - ABSOLUTELY. And do the parents of the other students/minor church members remove their children from these institutions - rarely and most of the time not, at least in my experience. But, because this is such a small and specialized group in our world, the impregnated girl seems to stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. If I were part of that visiting family I would probably look for another crew also and leave that one to deal with their particular baggage as I wouldn't see that as the role model for a daughter(s) of mine. Call me old school and that is fine. When I was a scout at summer camp we were given fair warning not to cross into an adjacent girl scout summer camp area. I am not sticking my head in the sand by any stretch of the imagination because I know that kids are going to have premarital sex no matter what; and there are consequences for those actions. But why we are co-eding these kids up in overnight settings is beyond me. Before anyone starts, I know there are separate sleeping arrangements. But why put an alcoholic drink in front of a recovering alcoholic? Why put temptation in front of these children? If you don't think these kids don't think about sex on a constant basis then you must have been locked up in your closed your entire childhood. This girl may have or may not have had relations during a crew outing. If she did then I would say that adds to my opinion that these co-ed organizations need to be separated into a boy's crew and a girl's crew. I have made it very clear to my wife and my step-daughter that if she (step-daughter) puts herself in a compromising position resulting in her impregnation then she would need to pack her bags and live with her biological father and his family. Am I being a jerk - absolutely not. I'm not raising somebody else's baby(ies). I've raised mine. By the way I've told my son the same thing. "Don't expect me to raise any illegitimate children - so don't put yourself in that position in the first place, son." My family is in total ageements on this one - marriage first and then procreation.

In my humble opinion, if the crew isn't negatively impacted then she stays. I always try to keep an open mind in all matters. But until we have walked two miles in that particular crew's shoes and those of its leaders/parents and have been in that particular situation then it is hard to speculate.

Amen Brother Beavah. That sums it up in a nutshell.

Just for the record, I don't recall my SM wearing or not wearing any knots on his uniform when I was a scout many moons ago. He may have and I just don't recall because that was not a point of scouting that he emphasized. What I do recall is that he wore one of the olive drab scouting uniforms. I also recall that he had the MOST EXCELLENT program bar none. There were no ASMs and it was strickly a boy lead troop. Times have changes because of the two deep and I can understand why. Don't get me wrong. We had parent volunteers (meaning the parents were around here and there) who bought equipment for the troop and even purchased a Chevrolet Suburban for the SM's use, mostly to hall the equipment around as we were the largest troop in the state. But on outings I don't recall anyone but my SM being there as an adult. The point of the matter at the time was that we didn't care about any knots our SM's uniform or any other scouter's uniform. What we did care whole heartedly about was the best program with the best SM. I still hold to that thought today with the exception of several ASMs who are excellent. Wearing or not wearing of the knots is not the end all be all of the program. In my opinion, it's your uniform. You can choose to look as tasteful or tacky through your eyes and the eyes of other scouters but I don't think the scouts really care. By the way I only wear the Eagle knot.

I agree with Beavah - enough with the drama. Get over it and move on for everyone's sakes involved. It sounds as if there will never be a solution to any of your family's problems with this troop. Sometimes it may be better to agree to disagree and go separate ways. And sometimes there are just no solutions to the problem that can be agreed upon by all parties that are involved.

If Eagle projects required scouts to be in FULL UNIFORM every time I think the parents in our troop would pitch an absolute fit. The resoning behind my statement is that most of our scouts only have one uniform and 99.9% of the project that our guys come up with involve things that would utterly destroy a uniform at the very least, i.e. painting and maintenance type of projects.

pinkpooj it is obvious by your own admission that you are not a scout or scouter nor are you interested in scouting so go away. You have nothing to gain by bashing what we are accomplishing with this website.

The program at summer camp is awesome, but I seriously doubt that it takes doubling this years fees for what is being provided or not provided. All scouts provide their own tents, latrines for sanitation, cold water only for showers, and no electricity except in the mess hall and commissary. I guess since the fees for summer camp have not increased since I was a scout I just find it hard to believe that they could or would increase. The camp appears to have no overhead. And maybe other camps just blow this one out of the water as was suggested. Our troop has just never explored going to another one as an option. By the way this camp is definitely NOT high adventure.

Something has really been bothering me since our meeting this Monday night and I wanted some opinions. A couple of meetings ago I thought I misunderstood that our summer camp expense to be around $225 per scout and dismissed it to bad hearing. This Monday night it was brought to our attention that the total number of scouts for this year's summer camp, all five weeks, will be 300 scouts vs. 300 per week as in years past. When I asked what in the world has happened I was just given a blank stare and told that the council has doubled the price of summer camp this year and that must be the problem. Scouts just cannot afford to go to camp and that just burns me up, not to mention this messed up economy. It was suggested in fun that it looks like all the scouts will need to bow up on the popcorn sales this year in order to get the price of summer and winter camps down in our council. You don't even want to know what I think about that. We don't need to turn our scouts in to little salesmen. I had to take a deep breath and walk out side. I also posed the question of the economy and National Jambo. I had planned on attending as medical staff but with the economy the way it is I will not be able to afford to go. And that burns me up also.