Eagle92

This is one hornets' nest I am running with my life away from. I'm friends with both mom and dad, and I aint asking anymore questions form them. I'm going straight to the horse's mouth, the Life for Life Scouter, next time I see him, to find out what happened

Rick, When I was awarded my Smokey Bear after completing BA22 way back in the day, It was brand spanking new and very stiff. 45 minutes after getting it was very well broken in because all of us got caught in the outer bands of a hurricane.

Perfect storm is an understatement.

Base, Actually, the SM was the one who told me the scout gave up. SM encouraged him, told him what needed to be done several months ago, etc, but "No one is going to give it to him. He has to do the work." I know dad had a hard time saying that and living up to it, but son knew all along the deadline. Mom on the other hand, the one who called me up and told me the first story, is not happy about the situation, or the ex whom she thinks is not getting involved enough to fix the "problem." Again I think there is a lot more behind this.

Sorry it had taken so long to get back to this post. Busy with family, work, and Scouting. Going to post and then unload the car from the camp out. 1) I want to thank everyone for their advice. Kinda figured as much, but wanted to see if anything was missing. 2) I also want to apologize to everyone. I sometimes go off half-cocked, getting involved in something without knowing all the details. I admit I still don't know all the details, but after RT on Thursday, I talked to another friend involved in the situation, and got a different story on the situation. So here is the differ

Peri, the old How-To-Book has the plans. Real easy to make. Need cardboard box, aluminum foil, and STAPLES ( emphasis) Basically put fopil all over the box, allowing to cardboard to be exposed, and staple the foil to the box. Tape comes undoen in the heat. I put in two brick to elevate a pan with charcoal, and then larger bricks to elevate a grill over the charcoal. I've cooked cookies and pizza in one.

Need some advice here. Got a phone call from a friend telling me the son's Eagle project was not approved due to, "lack of time." The district Eagle BOR approves the projects and meets once a month. problem is that they didn't meet last month due to weather conditions. Scout went to them last night to get approval, and tell them that he has everything ready to roll, and the Eagle BOR said that there isn't enough time to complete the project before his birthday next week. Some background on the scout. This is the one who had to take a sabbatical from scouting for a year or so for family re

I know in my district, we have lost several Leadership level givers, and one donor who would have qualified as a Heritage Society member if it went towards the endowment and not FOS. I also know we lost and entire troop over the vote. But I also know that a lot of families are lowering or not giving to FOS due to the economy. They are hurting, and do not have the financial resources as they have once had.

SM Bob, Yep, look good and take naps, that's what an SM is suppose to do at camp. I admit I'm planning on being bad this summer I want to recertify as a lifeguard and get those other aquatics certs. Next year I am hoping to nap. Tokala, Now that I think about it, you're right. last time I worked summer camp, 2001, most of the units did rely on the camp to do programs every night. Kinda sad. I still remember being the provisional SM one summer camp and the "troop's" campfire. Most of the scouts were in my home troop, were pyros, and I knew how they built fires. I thought

SM Bob, Were you a Scout as a youth? I ask because if you were not, then some of the things us old fogeys complain about may not make sense. YOU ARE 110% CORRECT IN THAT SUMMER CAMP SHOULD BE FUN! (caps and bold not only show emphasis, but shouting at you in agreement in a very positive manner, still a Cub leader ) The problem that some of us old fogey's are seeing is that more and more camps appear to be focusing solely on merit badges, and not enough on the fun. They have classes running all the time, and do not have as much in the way of campwide, nighttime programs, except

Most troops I've been involved in have the adults cooking and eating separately. 3 troops I've been in, (Brownsea 22 training troop, JLTC troop, and high adventure "troop" I went to Canada with) had adults and Leadership Corps/Staff as guests of the patrols. Personally I prefer adults on our own as we get better meals

I think you need to have a chat with your son and see what he wants. If he wants to move on, talk with the SM. In my experience, most Webelos IIs are chomping at the bit and raring to go into Boy Scouts. I know my oldest son's den was like that, and so far so good. I have not seen any real problems with new scouts and older scouts. Me personally I do not think a Crossover should be later than March of 5th grade. My reasons for that are the following: 1) give both the parents and scouts time to get to know the troop before a week at summer camp Sometimes even if mom knows the lea

Scoutnut, They are not selling as many choices as they use to. And when i talked to a council distributor, I was told by them that national is getting rid of what they have, and then you will have to special order or go to thrid party vendors. Reson being " Everyone wears bolos now." As Col Sherman Potter, USA would say "HORSEHOCKEY!"

Ok a few comments from a former pro. Can the BSA salaries for top execs be high, yep when you compare to the average working stiff out there like you and me. But when you compare to comparable level execs in the private, for profit industry, it's small potatoes. I know when I was a DE, I had a bunch of friends who when they left, would double, and in one case triple, there BSA salary. I've stayed in the non-profit sector, so I've haven't lucked out like them.

Yep, national is getting out the necker business, and my son's SM freaked out after hearing about it. Apparently the PLC had just switched necker styles from their original pattern from way back when, to one of the few styles that remain. Now they are thinking about going custom. As for neckers being used for first aid. 1 story and 1 bit of advice When I was teaching First Aid MB to a troop, I was using some on my neckers as bandages. I started talking about how BP made neckers a part of the uniform because of their many uses, including first aid. Later on, The SM tell me a story ab

Not only states, but national BSA is requiring infrastructure improvements. check out this link and read some of the files : http://www.scouting.org/ncap.aspx Camps are being judged on infrastructure. I got some issues with that.

My Cub Scout pack held the line at $60/ year w/o Boy's Life, $72 With it. I see it going up. Oldest's son's troop doubled their dues this year. Went from $.50/ week to $1/week.

Again, BSA has no ban on sheath knives. But some jurisdictions do ban them.

Supply use to sell a replacement chinstrap that matched the hatband, but when I looked for it, I didn't see it though. I used leather bootlace for a while after I got my first one. We were told to bring bootlace to use as chinstraps when we completed Brownsea 22and received out Smokeys for completing the course way back in the day. You can try a surplus store as they may sell them, but it will probably be black.. I lucked out, when I went to Parris Island for JROTC trip, I purchased a black patent leather one for my original Smokey. Eventually I got a brown leather chinstrap from nationa

As both BD and Peri pointed out, the hardest thing is transitioning from CS leader to Boy Scout leader, even for those of us who know better. One reason why I am glad I am only able to help out occasionally with the troop, usually when they go camping or when the pack is not meeting. My personal expereince: One meeting I took over from the SPL, getting the older scouts together to organize how I wanted them to teach first aid skills to the new guys, i.e. handing out them the latest first aid info, aksing them who wanted to teach which skills, basically acting how a SPL would when organizi

While the BSA does not have a ban on sheath knives, I do know some councils do have bans on their premises, mine does, and some units will ban them, usually the result of a previous incident or accident and people overreacting. I also know that some cities and counties do have bans not only sheath knives, but also on knives over a certain size, even if they fold. Believe it or not, some of your BSA lockback knives like these: http://www.scoutstuff.org/bsa/campin...-inerlock.html http://www.scoutstuff.org/bsa/campin...nto-blade.html http://www.scoutstuff.org/bsa/campin...rta

My advice has been to get the project over and done with ASAP! I've known to many people who had everything but the project completed, or had to rush their project to meet their 18th birthday.

If I read Evan's bio correctly, he was involved with Venturing when it came out in 1998, and HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER! It is just exteremely frustrating to see national changing the 14-20 yo program every 15-20 years. there is no stability, to "branding" etc tec.

Again I have mixed emotions. I took the old SM Fundamentals as an 19 y.o. Eagle. Having been in a 'hiking and camping troop" that was youth run, going through Brownsea 22, and also a 64 mile canoe trip in the Canadian Wilderness, the outdoor portion of the course was not a challenge. I did it becasue it was needed. But in all honesty it was a waste of time. But, as we all have seen and heard, there are Eagles out there who I wouldn't trust in the outdoors. So I like the idea of the skill testing that national allows, i.e. show all of the the skills and get credit for the course. But

My recent posts have been on " what to avoid."