Eagle69

It's been done in our council (Quapaw Area) for quite awhile, but what they do is have a position called District Director or Senior DE and then a separate DE position. I can't speak to the effectiveness of it since I haven't done anything on the council or district level since they started it

I used to be the Eagle Adviser for our troop but that was back in the day of the old workbook. When they came out with the Project Book a few years back it got to the point that anything they slapped down on paper was okayed so my job went by the wayside.

I went through WB back in 1978 and it was a walking(backpacking) course at that. When WB for the 21st Century came along I couldn't fathom sitting in an indoor classroom all day watching Power Point Presentations. As has been said Scouting is about the "Outing". The course needs to be separated again for Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts and it needs to be more outdoors. I don't think it ever rained on us, but it was cold. Every time we stopped the Staff was conducting a learning session, sometimes we didn't even realize it. We quickly learned how to operate as a patrol and that the Patrol Leader needed to pay close attention at meetings with the SPL and SM because they got dumb afterwards! From all I heard about the old static course I missed out on some things, but doing the course on the move brought it's own uniqueness to it.

I did a Backpacking WB course almost 40 years ago. While there was some Scout Skills taught, the bulk of the course was using Scout/Outdoor skills to learn leadership. From the get go when we were sent to get our patrol gear and find our way to the campsite it was a teaching experience. We spent the first night in one spot and had some afternoon and evening sessions then got up on Sunday, fixed breakfast, broke camp and had an opening then took off. We would stop along the way and do things that were all part of the overall learning/teaching, though we didn't know it at the time. We camped in a different place every night. We soon learned that whoever was PL at the time had better pay close attention in the meetings because getting information afterwards was difficult by design. It took the whole week, but finally my patrol got itself organized so that we made it to a morning formation on time and didn't get sung to for being late. The new WB where you sleep indoors and eat meals someone else cooked and watch computer presentations just doesn't seem like the way to experience Scouting like a patrol would. Talking to other leaders in my troop who later went to static courses I found that the Walking WB course was quite different in some aspects probably because we were never in one place for any length of time and we provided our own food.

The Eagle Project used to be a way to see how the Scout thinks, how is planning and leadership ability are. I was Eagle Review Chairman for a number of years and have been the Eagle Coordinator for the troop. When they changed the form, dumbed it down in my opinion, they made it to where a kid can slap anything down on a piece of paper and turn it in. The project helps make sure the Beneficiary gets what they want and gives the Scout a taste of what he may have to do later in life.

I woud say that once the project is done it is done, no hitting up anybody else for additional funds.

" was told by my UC it is a big deal when a unit folds under a DE"

That's funny, I was SM of a Unit that had had 43 years of continous charter and never heard a word from anybody at the Council when we didn't recharter and that was 7 years ago and nobody has yet to inquire as to what happened to Troop XXX.

If you go here and click on a Merit Badge you will see the date of the last Requirements Revision and Pamphlet update.

http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Merit_Badges

It is on Page 17 of the Eagle Scout Project Workbook

I came back into Scouting as an adult in 77 and experienced the "Urban Scouting" era. It was possible to get Eagle without ever going camping. I was so glad when Green Bar Bill introduced the new handbook. I wasn't aware that Woodbadge was originally a Scoutcraft training course. I went through it in 78 on a Walking Wood Badge course and while it was leadership oriented it was done outdoors. All the way into the 80's and maybe 90's I had some of my leaders go through the Course and it was still conducted in a camping setting. This new course where you sleep inside and watch power point presentations is just another example of how they have gone back the other way taking the "outing" out of Scouting. The new Eagle project requirements, or lack of as they are, are horrible.

You can also just wait until the next meeting, thus giving you time to go the Scout Shop and turn in your paperwork and buy the badge. that is still better than waiting until the next Court of Honor and is what we do. We do have a stash, but sometimes you don't have that particular one

When I click on OPEN DISCUSSION - Program it doesn't show me all the posts in this instead it opens a new session of the main board, the others I tried (Advancement, Patrol, Working With Kids, Camping, etc) all show me alll the posts in the thread. I am using Firefox.

Based on the new Eagle Project packet I would say watered down requirements. What little they have to do to get a project approved now is horrible.

When I was doing HA we never went to BSA areas. We did Rocky Mountain National Park twice, Pecos Wilderness in New Mexico, Porcupine Mountain State Park on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on the shores of Lake Superior, Appalachian Trail in Virgina (based out of Shenandoah Nat Park), Nantahala National Forest, NC.

Code 112 isn't on the list. Does anyone have any idea what it is? Our District Director didn't when we asked him last night.

The best way to get into shape for Backpacking is to do it. Start out just walking with no pack and then gradually start working towards hikes with a pack at the approximate weight he will be carrying over progressively more difficult terrain.

Leg and back strength, the ability to lift a heavy pack and getting the feet used to it. He can start out in tennis shoes but needs to work towards doing it with the foot gear he will be using.

I feel your pain and agree with where you are going, but he has met the requirements and the Council would probably side with the boy if you turn him down and he appeals.

" I think most councils would be well served running a series of Saturday workshops on different skills throughout the year"

Long time ago there used to be something like this called Show An Do or "Showando" as I heard it pronounced once. It was a day long event where people demonstrated Scout Skills for adults then the adults got a chance to actually practice the skill. I can't remember when it stopped, maybe back in the 90's.

I was a Scout Camp Counselor at Summer Camp the day he landed. The Camp Director had to make us leave the Admin area with the TV to take the troops through Check-In and to their campsites, we didn't want to miss anything. That night instead of the normal Sunday night program, he told the staff to bring their TV's up to the dinning hall and after supper we all sat in rapt attention watching history in the making.

We use the Unit BOR. There is no retesting, the boards are usually a discussion around the Eagle Project, Scouting in general and the character of the boy.

I served as one of the District Eagle reviewers for a number of years, i.e. the guy from the District that shows up at the unit, and I don't ever recall anybody getting into retesting. If they had I would have gotten them back on track.

I think the Unit Level review with people that the boy knows and that know him is the way to do it.

Our Troop is at camp this week and the forecast calls for multiple 100+ degree days this week. I bet if you went to camp you would see very few people wearing pants.

I will be 60 this year and once the temp starts staying in the upper 70's my casual attire is shorts.

There is a 4th reason: It doesn't require any thought or effort to fix.

They look at time spent cooking as time that could be used to do something else.

I've done the menu approval bit in order to try and stop this kind of mindset, but it gets old after awhile.

As an adult I always looked forward to campouts because I knew we would be eating good.

I can't speak from experience, but here it the link to the Camp Rockefeller, which is the Quapaw Area Council out of Little Rock, AR camp. It is located about 20 miles North of Conway, AR outside of Damascus.

http://www.camprockefeller.org/

When I was SM we paid for a cake, the Eagle Presentation kit was free because of FOS, punch, Eagle Napkins and Plates and plastic silverware and before PC's with good printers we paid to have the programs printed up.

I'm glad to see that someone else has this problem. When I logged in and then clicked on the tab to pick my Council there was nothing in the drop down. I'm registered as an ASM. I wondered if my problem is because I seem to be registered under 2 different ID's or at least that is what it tells me when I try to update my Profile. As someone who has been in the IT Business for 35 years I must say that I'm not impressed with MYSCOUTING.ORG. It seems to be way too buggy.