Eagle732

I don't know but when we figure it out I'll forward the information to my DE!

MRJ25, The SM's job is to administer the program to the boys. The committee is there to SUPPORT your program. If the troop's secretary or committee chair want to run the program then let one of them be SM. When I took the job of SM 5 years ago I said to the committee that I would do the job as long as they did not interfere with my program. I had been an ASM with another troop that had an excellent program so I had an idea of what I wanted to do. They agreed but I've had to hold them to their agreement a few times over the year. Fortunately I have good committee that supports me so that we can offer a quality program. To answer your specific concerns: "Am I wrong in asking the Chair to tell the committee what the function are for the SM?" The committee should know what the SM's job is if they are trained. "The other day one of our parent told me that the scout oat and law are just words on a piece of paper, you really expect us to follow that?" Yea, some parents don't get it. Hard to get the boys to buy in to something the adults don't believe in. Our CC and COR booted our secretary and advancement chair (husband and wife) for violations of the oath and law. All adults that work with boys are expected to live up to the Ideas of Scouting in my unit. "Fund raisers are bad. When I bring up ways to make the fund raiser better, Im told to do it myself." I believe this is joint effort. The committee should make the plans and arraignments and the boys should participate. "Can I tell parent that if you do not show up for fund raiser, our troop is going to ask you for $150.00 or so per family per event to help fund the troop?" That's kind of a troop policy thing. You might as well accept the fact that not everyone is going to pitch in. "This committee does not want to charge dues and no one shows up for fund raiser." It's the committee's job to provide you with the resources needed. They need to figure out how to do that. When you make reasonable requests for resources the committee needs to provide them. "This troop has not recruited in 3 years. I want to start recruiting, I was told to do it myself." Again it would be nice if this was a group effort, after all you're all in the same troop. Frankly I do most of this myself. "I have been threatened that if I change things to fast that a couple of families will drop." Yea change is always tough. You should have heard the screams when I proposed to change meeting nights to Sunday, four years later you could't pay people to go back to Tuesdays. "I was told that I need to put in my time, like all of the senior parents have to be counted." I don't really understand this but rest assured that if you keep the SM job you'll be putting in plenty of time! "The camping equipment is trash. I asked a parent to look for thing at rummage sales. I could not believe what language she used on me for mentioning rummage sale." Using foul language against another member is obviously not appropriate. You should be able to make a reasonable request for specific equipment to your CC and expect it to be met. Seems like your unit doesn't want to do fundraising or pay dues. How do they expect to operate? "I was talking to a parent today and was told that a couple of parents in this committee want me removed." Maybe an ultimatum from you is in order. They either trust you to run the program or not. If not they need to find someone else to do the job. Just my opinion, hope it helps, good luck!

No but this is basically what I did myself, buy the velcro and cut it to size. Their shipping is $5.50 per order, I bought enough velcro to do 3 patches from the place I mentioned in the original post for $5.60 shipping included. Out troop been doing this for a year now but we only use this for Position Of Responsibility patches (SPL, Quartermaster etc.), not rank, merit badge or unit numbers. Essentially we recycle the POR patches which saves money, Scouts are not wearing POR patches past their term and they get to wear the patch on election night. Works for us.

In my troop the boys use a camping trip planning form that shows patrol members attending the trip, menu, duty roster, grubmaster, tent and buddies. The PL has to get the SPL and SM to sign off after completion. They make 2 copies, one stays with the PL and one goes to the SPL. Send me a PM with your email and I'll send it to you. "A plans just an idea unless it's in writing"

Having an adult QM advisor to check up on the process helps. When you have over $3,000 in tents you need to protect your investment.

The troop's QM is responsible for all troop equipment and also supervises the patrol QMs. That's the job he accepted and he's responsible. And QM is a pretty popular job in my troop.

We have over 20 Eureka Timberline 4 man tents which currently cost about $175 each. All tents, fly, poles, and storage bags are numbered. Each patrol has tents permanently assigned to them. Each patrol has a QM who is responsible for tents and other patrol gear. The troop QM is ultimately responsible. Tent buddies are noted on the patrol's duty roster for each camping trip.

Just back from summer camp. We have attended this camp for 5 years in a row now. Here's what worked for us. My ASMs and I did our own First Year Camper program again instead of sending them off to the camp's program. We are very thorough with advancement and the boys seemed to get a lot out of it. New this year was using one of the BSA advancement charts for the FYC guys. We blocked in advancements done prior to camp then X'd out blocks for advancements as they completed them. This showed progress and allowed leaders to make a quick check of what advancements could be done next for the most scouts. Parents got a good visual on how their new scouts did during Friday's family night after a weeks work. New scouts worked about 6 hours a day with us then were sent out to the camp's FYC afternoon program where they get exclusive use of the ranges, boating, etc. This program works very well for us. Again this year we did meals in house and skipped the dining hall scene. Our site has a cabin with a kitchen. Adults did most of the cooking since boys were in program. Scouts did the serving and most of the clean up. Each patrol had camp duties posted which rotated each day. Kitchen, Camp Clean up, and Latrine duty were all handled by the scouts. This also went well (a few kids even liked latrine duty!) What didn't work so well and could use improvement. Merit badges! Again we dealt with youth counselors who are late for class, leave early, and generally don't have a clue about what they are teaching. Lots of partials, mostly in the shooting merit badges due to lack of range time. Scouts who knew they did not meet all the requirements on certain merit badges received a a completed blue card. I guess the staff's theory is if they're close sign 'em off anyway. We will be addressing this with the scouts. No High Adventure program. Older scouts had a choice of COPE or taking merit badges. An ATV program was promised but never materialized. Camp Administration. Check in went well for us but for weeks prior to camp we had to make several phone calls to council because the online registration program was not working. Check out went like this: "There's your patches, blue cards and med forms, have a nice day". No final bill, no "how was your camp experience?, no "would you like to make a reservation for next year?". Maybe they're not having summer camp next year. Years ago the CSE would come out to visit all the SMs in camp towards the end of the week, now days I think the CSE only comes out for annual camp inspection. What I expect from a summer camp program: 1. Quality program including a First year Camper, High Adventure and merit badges with knowledgable staff. 2. Good facilities. I don't need AC or flush toilets but showers and pools should be working and latrines should be clean. 3. Motivated staff that can listen to and handle problems as they come up. 4. Good food and enough food. 5 A camp that doesn't create more problem for me, I have enough to deal with! Well I'm off to camp to find out what to do about all these merit badge partials!

Tents are a headache for the reasons you mention. We never send tents home, we dry them at our meeting hall. There's two ways that I can think of to deal with this; 1. Inspect each tent upon return from home the next meeting after the trip in hopes of catching a damp tent before it turns into a mildew mess. 2. Get out of the tent business and require scouts to bring their own tents. Kinda inconvenient for the scouts but then the ruined tent is then not your problem.

Basement, I know a dad who did his son'e Eagle project for him. Dad did everything from the write up to the construction with no help from the son or anyone else.

Our district advancement committee use to have the benchmark of 250 man hours for a project. Planning, fundraising, preparation and actual work all count towards the total number of hours. Of course now they can't set a minimum number of hours.

I would suggest your son read his Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook, page 18, item 2. I would not allow fundraising after the fact in my unit.

Well if the troop wants to do Family Camping for summer camp, the camp allows it, and the SM and CC are all for it then what's the problem? If that's not your son's idea of what a troop should be then the choice is obvious. When my troop goes to summer camp the only ones allowed to attend are Boy Scouts and registered leaders.

So where is it in writing that a troop can't put the name of a sponsor on it's trailer? Seems the CO would have a say in it but not the DE. "Trailers need to be donated, not purchased". Never heard of that one before. Where would I find that in the rules and regulations? People like to make up rules, especially DEs.

How about this, "Mike Rowe has never been married, but in a question and answer session for Discovery he was asked who he was dating. He replied that he is continuing to "pursue a life of serial monogamy with a very understanding woman in San Francisco." That's all he's willing to divulge." Seems like he likes to keep his private life private. Can't say I blame him. Eagle Scout Mike Rowe was a member of Troop 16, Kenwood Presbyterian Church, Dulaney District, Baltimore Area Council. My dad was in the same troop as a kid and my parents went to that church. We grew up in the same area, Mikes parents still live in my parent's neighborhood. Google all you want, anybody can post anything they want on the internet. Doesn't mean it's true.

What do you see that makes him disqualified? Living in sin with his girl friend? His T shirts that say "A Scout is clean, but not afraid to get dirty" are popular with my scouts.

I second the motion to recruit Mike Rowe as a spokesman or honorary Chief Scout.

I like Les Stroud's show but what is his background in Scouting? I think a celebrity spokesperson for BSA should be someone with a background in Scouting that is popular and well known by our youth. What makes you think Eagle Scout Mike Rowe doesn't understand Scoutcraft?

Very clever, I've never heard that one before.

I think he already has a job.

Then why wouldn't you want him to help out with your troop? Ya'll must have some high standards! I think I know enough about Mike Rowe to believe he would do a great job promoting BSA. I would assume that when BSA bestows the Distinguished Eagle Scout award to someone they have an idea that they have the same values as prescribed by the organization. So if not Mike Rowe then how about Larry the Cable Guy? I think he was a Cub Scout as a kid.

"BadenP suggests that a poor or low quality Eagle is not the fault of the Boy, Parents or Program.....But the Scoutmaster..." If the premise is that the majority of the fault low quality Eagles lies with the SM then I disagree with that. Of the four parties mentioned the SM might just have the least influence over the quality of Eagle.

Is that single guy down the street a Distinguished Eagle Scout Award recipient?

I think the question should be "Why not Mike Rowe?" I think he would make a great spokesman for BSA.

Blockage in the air intake. Sometimes spiders make webs in there, happens a lot on gas grills too. Glad it's fixed and thanks for the update.