Eagle76

Committee meetings are held during troop meetings, so I tend to keep an eye on the Scouts, while the SM attends. My understanding of the plan was for the SM and SPL to present the calendar, but I'm not sure if the SPL was there. The SM expressed his opinion, but the committee members expressed their opinions (obviously negative in the majority), took their vote, and overrode the SM.

Here's the story, as short as possible. The troop calendar was put together by the PLC, with guidance from the SM and myself, the ASM. Historically, our troop, which meets on Monday nights, didn't meet on any holiday. But the SM and I had discussed how there was no reason not to meet on the "minor" holidays, like Columbus Day, MLK's birthday, and President's Day. So the calendar presented to the troop committee showed troop meetings on those days. The troop committee (which includes any parents who wish to attend) discussed the calendar at length. They took a vote, and decided th

I address this to the original post: "...I do want to know to what benefit it will be to the troop and not my personal gain. Elaborations and experiences would be appreciated. " I base this on my personal experience. Unless you are incredibly blessed, your troop in not perfect; there is room for improvement. I will assume from your question that you are interested in helping your troop improve. You probably even have some specific ideas on what you would like to see improved. You are not interested in the response "You'll have fun", because if your goal were to have fun

I'm going to chime in, but there are a few things to bear in mind that certainly affect me, and probably other posters here: 1. The filter of our personal experience affects how we interpret the questions/statements of others. This especially pertains to the terms "adult-led" and "boy-led". Without specific examples these terms will conjure different images to each of us. 2. Our thoughts are given without many supporting facts you (the OP) possess 3. We are more cavalier in our opinions, because we will not bear the consequences of a decision Regarding Troop 1, could it be that th

Aha! (light bulb comes on) I forgot that part. The Scoutmaster brought a large plastic bag filled with those individual size bags of potato chips, Fritos, Doritos, etc. Apparently these were left over from a recent Scout activity; Webelos Woods or something. I believe these were distributed as "prizes" for demonstrating bandages, and everyone ended up with some, including the Webelos, of course. As Scouter&mom says "maybe it was just that food always wins boys."

This may not be exactly what you're looking for, but... Last night our troop meeting was unexpectedly visited by a local Webelos den. (I think there was some communication at the adult level, but I don't think the Scouts were briefed.) The plan had been to work on first aid bandages, then do a bandaging relay. So, the Webelos Scouts were provided the same instruction as our younger Scouts, by the older Scouts. I'm not sure if the bandaging relay ever came off, but for the last 15 or 20 minutes the boys played Steal the Bacon. The Scouts were divided into 2 teams, and the visiting Web

Congratulations, purcelce! It's a nice feeling, eh? The "tradition" in our council is to urge us to try to get our ticket completed in one year, and then come back for a big beading ceremony in front of the next year's Wood Badge participants, so that's where I was Saturday night. Out of 28 2006 participants, 14 of us got beaded Saturday at the end of the 2007 Wood Badge course's participant's campfire, along with 3 participants from 2005. (At our campfire last year, there was a much larger contingent of 2005'ers getting beaded.) 5 of us were Bears, the only patrol there in full f

Maybe this will work better than resurrecting my old thread... I haven't been reading or posting to this forum much lately, as I've been spending my lunch hours working on ticket items instead. Now, looking back over the last year, I think the most important thing Wood Badge has done for me is captured by this quote from Lisabob: "It also offers you an opportunity to develop your vision for the unit and come up with a comprehensive strategy for achieving that vision." In a nutshell, it made me focus, and it made me set goals, which I think made me more productive than I would have

I really like this idea of a monthly competition. The variations and possibilities are endless. Since your stated goal is to strengthen patrol identity, here are a couple thoughts off the top of my head: - Points for having the patrol flag at every troop meeting - Points for performing the patrol yell at every troop meeting - Patrol competitions for points: knot relay, compass course, etc. And maybe it's not very original or creative, but for a name, how about "Patrol of the Month"?(This message has been edited by Eagle76)

So I''m resurrecting this thread one last time as a means of reporting my progress. I haven''t been reading or posting to this forum much lately, as I''ve been spending my lunch hours working on ticket items instead. Now, looking back over the last year, I think the most important thing Wood Badge has done for me is captured by this quote from Lisabob: "It also offers you an opportunity to develop your vision for the unit and come up with a comprehensive strategy for achieving that vision." In a nutshell, it made me focus, and it made me set goals, which I think made me more product

I'm in the exact same situation at J-dawg. Our troop has gone to the same summer camp for at least 7 years in a row that I know of, possibly more. This is my 3rd year with the troop, and I'd like to encourage the boys to try someplace new. Our council has 2 camps, and I know the Scouts like the camp with the lake. Maybe in the past the adults have not given them other choices. So I've done some research, and am planning to present some options to the Scouts. They want a lake? OK, other camps have lakes. How about a lake 10 times bigger? How about a camp that offers merit badges not of

Maybe my troop is affluent, but... We budget, and pay the complete registration fee, for 2 Scouts per year to attend NYLT, (called Brownsea in my council) BUT...the Scout pays the fee up front, and is reimbursed upon completion of the course. Course completion includes coming back to the troop after the week-long training, and with the SM's participation/approval, plans and carries out 2 (or is it 3?) leadership projects in the troop. Projects must be completed by the following November to get reimbursed.

Ditto to all those who said send him the trinkets and let him know you're willing to participate in the COH when it's set up. But, to repeat something from a thread not too long ago, if you find yourself in a position to talk to a Scout who is thinking about forgoing a COH because he doesn't like to be made a fuss over, or doesn't like being the center of attention, remind him that probably one of the most important parts of the COH is the opportunity for a newly-minted Eagle Scout to acknowledge and thank his parents and others who helped him along his way. In this specific case, maybe

uz2bnowl says: "Mostly we let people walk all over us and come and go whenever the hades they please" Sorry to say, there's a bit of this in my troop, but there's more to this behavior: Then we complain, but when someone suggests we do things differently, we say "That won't work, so we'll keep doing things the Way We Always Have."

I spun off what I hope will be a fun thread (Adult Patrols) and made a throw-away comment that it's bad for Scouts to sleep with their parents, and I figured I should probably elaborate and defend my statement. Although GTSS is not violated, and maybe it's not a deathknell for the Patrol Method for Scouts to sleep with parents (and I see no difference between Mom and Dad), I think by the time a boy reaches Boy Scouting, it is time to give him some independence (as always, barring any extenuating circumstances, especially medical in nature). Sleeping with a parent immediately raises the q

I feel a little guilty spinning off this frivolous thread from a rather serious one discussing whether boys sleeping with their parents on campouts undermines the patrol method (it does, barring extenuating circumstances, as noted), but I'm going to do it anyway. In the original thread, epalmer84 mentioned the adults in his troop operate as a patrol and call themselves the Old Vikings. I seem to remember someone else where the adults call themselves the Grumps. My question is, do any other troops go so far as to have (interesting) names for their adult "patrol"? We call ourselv

Hold the phone! MarkS said: "However, we were on an orienteering course when he asked for my Totin' Chip that was in my daypack which I decided to leave at our troop campsite because it was raining cats and dogs (large ones). I offered to escort him to our campsite to retrieve the card but he declined and let me off with a warning because I was an adult so nothing came of it." Do adults need to earn and carry a Totin' Chip? I thought that, like all other awards and badges, this was for the youth.

To quote the Scoutmaster Handbook, Chapter 3, from the Troop Guide position description: "The troop guide is both a leader and a "mentor" to the members of a new-Scout patrol. He is an older Scout, at least First Class in rank, who helps the patrol leader of a new-Scout patrol in much the same way that a Scoutmaster works with the senior patrol leader - providing direction, coaching, and support as determined by the skill level and morale of the patrol leader and members of the new-Scout patrol." And from Chapter 4, from the paragraph on Patrol Leaders: "Most troops select patr

There's Beaver, Bobwhite, and Eagle, Fox and Owl (but no Beagle) But none compare, With the mighty Bear, Who have as much fun as is legal.

Thank you for all your interesting memories and experiences. Thank you for listing all the requirements. I know I left some out, but I was just focussing on a possible historical age requirement. To get back to my original question, sifting through the responses, I gather that no remembers there ever being an absolute age requirement for OA, and that the 14 years of age requirement that I remember from 30 years ago (or think I remember) was imposed (probably arbitrarily and improperly) by the adult troop leaders at the time.

I don't normally stick my head into this newsgroup, but I figure it's the right place to ask. Upon my son bridging to our Scout troop, I was slightly surprised to learn that we had a couple 12 year olds who were OA members. To the best of my memory, in my day one had to be 1st class rank and 14 years old to be eligible for OA membership. I was told the only requirement now is to be 1st class rank. When was the age requirement removed? Thanks in advance.

And I am a Bear. We're almost ready for a newbies-only virtual round of the Gilwell Song. Just waiting for a current Beaver and Fox.

I figured I would resurrect this thread as an attempt to update the kind and concerned forum members who shared their advice with me. I just returned from my first Wood Badge weekend, and it was great. Lots of new insights. My patrol mates are a great bunch of guys, and we have the best patrol one could imagine. I now begin working on generating my ticket items, along with other planning that has to occur before our second weekend, 3 weeks from now. I am optimistic that the ticket I end up with will mesh well with the things I want to accomplish. I am a Bear. We're

We have several yells, but I think I'll share our marching song. The staff seems to like it that we sing it wherever we go. You all know the tune, and I'm sure you can guess my patrol. The Bears went over the mountain, the Bears went over the mountain, the Bears went over the mountain, to see what they could see. To see what they could see, to see what they could see. The Bears went over the moutain, so see what they could see. They saw another mountain, they saw another mountain, they saw another mountain, and what do you think they did? What do you thi

Considering the way the wind seems to be blowing, I'm probably going to regret this, but I'm going to stick my neck out anyway. Coming from a troop that had not done Junior Leader Training for some time, with the predictable result of poor performance by youth leaders, I sympathize with the SM in the original post. I'm not going to even try to address whether or not it's BSA policy, but it IS the SM's job to train the youth leaders. And I'm not talking about training that just goes through the motions so they can wear a "Trained" strip. The SM is responsible for a type of training that