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Eagle92

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Everything posted by Eagle92

  1. Qwazse, Back in the day, the OA election team would go into great detail of the entire process. Usually I would talk to the SM and give them some paperwork to fill out prior to the election, and the youth would review it, make sure everything is correct, then go over everything with the scouts prior to the election. Sometimes we played a video, and sometimes we did it by memory. But talking about it in advance eith the SM, especially a new SM, is a good idea.
  2. Not only do the Folks in Irving have challenges, apparently some of the volunteers who helped implement the program's changes. Everyone keeps harping on the the fact that a very small percentage of Venturers earn any recognitions. For whatever reason, they seem to forget that the awards are not, and never were intended to be advancement like Cub Scout, Boy Scout, and Sea Scout ranks, but instead recognitions for Venturers to work on IF they, or as I was taught by the national director of Venturing at the time, the Charter Organization is interested in the recognition program.
  3. As others have posted, it seems as if the troop had a "bad night" in planning activities for Webelos. Sounds as if they are following some old, established routines for Webelos visits, and haven't changed with the times. Gotta remember It wasn't until recently, 2002 or thereabouts,that Cubs started to do active camping, and some packs still don't, or cannot, camp. I know of 1 CM who still cannot comprehend that Cubs can go camping becasue she was around when they couldn't. As for the "boring" section after Game Time, that was the norm growing up as we played hard and had the "boring " inf
  4. One thing I liked about the old Leadership Corps program, being a member of it could be used for a POR without specifically assigned duties. Grant you, LC I grew up in did have some folks with assigned positions, Instructor. ASPL, etc, but some folks had no assigned duteies, but were expected to g'git 'er doner" when told to do it.
  5. Unfortunately the election is over and done. As sst3rd stated, the process should have been explained, the nominees announced and if any problems arise, it needs to be handled BEFORE the voting. Don't feel to bad though. I had to wait until my 3rd year being eligible to get elected into the OA. Gopod things come to those who wait.
  6. Being a smart aleck now, Looks liek we can call Venturers "Scouts" now.
  7. Some pointers are here: http://www.seascout.org/ Best sources for a CO include local Power Squadron, USCG Auxillary, local marinas and yacht clubs. PM me for more info
  8. Yep, while most ECOH's I've seen were adult run, I've seen one or two where it was youth run, and in one case 100% OA run. Me personally mine had a mix of adults and youth. I had an adult MC, but youth had major speaking parts. One thing I tried to do, although it didn't work out, was get Eagles who had influenced me to do the "roast" the Eagle Challenge, and the Eagle Charge. There were 4 Eagles I wanted there, but only 1 showed up, and just barely. The one who showed up, the SPL when I first became a PL, had just gotten home from Iraq a few days earlier. 2nd Eagle, who also was my SP
  9. QUICK UPDATE: To quote Gandalf the White, "There's always hope... a fool's hope." For the first time in over 2 years, the troop had a representative at the RT! Ok it wasn't one of their registered leaders, and he showed up 20 minutes late, BUT THEY HAD A REPRESENTATIVE THERE! The parent who was suppose to go camping with the troop showed up to get info and represent the troop. He doesn't want to register because he is in the process of starting his own business, and cannot really commit like he would like. reason for being late was taking care of work. I am hoping and praying thi
  10. If you are referring to the pants that do become shorts, the size 36 is with the elastic fully expanded. Back in the day when I sold them, I would suggest getting a size, sometimes two sizes, bigger than needed, for the scout to grow into them.
  11. I compltely for got this uniform option. I remember seeing one CC wearing the dress uniform, aka professional uniform, or blue blazer, "barber shop tie," white shirt, grey pants, and BSA coat insignia .
  12. Yep, everything comes in cycles and change happens. The troop that is now considered the best one in the district by many was having issues a few years back. Troop that was considered the best at the time, is now losing scouts left and right. Found out another scout left them to join another troop.
  13. Well, after the Chinese made shoddy boots I had, I decided to buy American made boots. I like Bates footware, but for whatever reason it started huting in one particular spot an I returned them. Father-in-law said try Thorogood boots, and I have been wearing these, http://www.weinbrennerusa.com/dspNavCategory.cfm?rootid=1&catid=105&prodid=395 for almost a month now and am loving them. The look good, I wear them at the hospital, and am on my feet constantly now doing all kinds of tech set ups. The ones I wanted were these, http://www.weinbrennerusa.com/dspNavCategory.cfm?rootid=1&
  14. Again THANK YOU. Some follow up. 1) I told the first mom that A) give the troop some time, especially since the new ASM who was our CM will hopefully turn some things around and B) if the new Scout continues to be discouraged and frustrated, there are other troops out there. I mentioned the troop that moved to their church, and all, emphasizing ALL, the other troops in the district. 2) Not only request that some else take over as UC, even if it's in an activing capacity, but drop them like a hot potato. A lot of people's patience ran out with the troop, not only those scouts who left
  15. While I hate the quote when it was done movie, I think's it's appropriate here. "NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Lord Vader, SW Ep.III RotS
  16. Grant you I have a bunch of uniforms, but I did see one guy with a baggie in his pocket with the different colored loops, different unit numbers, POR patches. He used velcro. BUT beprepared for some joking due to the velcro We had a scout in my troop growing up whose mom did the same thing with his rank badges. Only rank sewn on was his Eagle.
  17. UC is one of the toughest, least appreciated positions in scouting. It takes a very special type of person to do the job. In all my years of scouting, I know of only 1 district that had the ideal 3:1 Unit to Commissioner ratio, and then for only 1 year. And even then some UCs were not really doing their job. Best UC I ever encountered was the one that served as the pack and troop's UC before he passed away. Been there, done that, had the t-shirt. Also had the tact, courtesy, and charisma to work with folks. Boy do I miss him. On a different note, if the concept of the 'Scout Group" tha
  18. back for a few minutes. 2) continued. Don't know what happened to their UC that took over in Aug/September. 3) DE and district commish know of the problems. Unfortunately we have a new commish, and new chair, who don't know what has been going on. 4) COR and CC are MIA. Had a very long talk with the SM when I stayed overnight with the troop. Everything I mentioned was responded with excuses, how Scouting needs to change with the times, or how the district needs to change how things are done, specifically having trainers from other districts come in and provide training (instead
  19. Folks, 1) THANK YOU for all the comments, ideas, everything as it does help tremendously. Also thank you for letting me vent on this topic. 2) I know I am too close to this topic to see clearly. Believe ti or not, I know I am a bad choice for the UC position, told the DC my concerns and said I would do it until they found another. They did find someone in August, a former committee member from the troop who left town for about 2 years to take care of her dying mom. I don't know what happened, but I was asked in Dec to help them out with the charter, a UC duty. More later.
  20. Well, I feel like I'm in a no win situation. As most of you know, my old den moved up to Boy Scouts, and my son and his buddy went to a different CO's troop. Two of those new Scouts have brothers who are in my Wolf Den with my middle son, so I have some contact still. Last week we had the pack's PWD, and one of the Boy Scouts attended. I asked him how things were going, and he appeared to be getting discouraged with the troop already. I asked mom about it, and she was definitely not a happy camper. The troop had cancelled last month's camp out last minute because the SM got sick, they have can
  21. As Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramiez ocne sang, "B-A-L-A-N-C-E, balance...." While I agree that the scouts need to elect their own leaders, once reason why I am glad my son joined the troop he did, if you only have 1 experienced scout, then you may want to appoint him as the leader for 6 months with the job to get troop started so that they can do it for themselves. Then in 6 months time, IF the patrol wants a new PL, they can do an election. IMHO, a PL needs to the knowledge, skills, and abilities to run the patrol. Will he screw up, of course he will. Will he learn from his mistakes, I s
  22. While i do not find the Field uniform 100% practical for field use. I do think some improvements have been made since I joined in the mid 80s. I like the 1st generation nylon switchback pants, the ones with the zipper in the ankles. Ok they had the wrong waist sizes, and were a little long, but I have used them in the field for both scouting and non-scouting outdoor events. I am also glad for the Thorlo lt. uniform hiking socks, http://www.scoutstuff.org/centennial-boy-scouttm-uniform-thorlo-lt-hiking-crew-sock.html, and again have used them for the outdoors. Only complaint I have a
  23. Stosh, One of the Eagles I know did a collection of oral histories for his service project. He got the info on how to do it from the state archives, got tape recorders and tape donated, and sent folks folks out to interview vets. The transcribed it and turned it over tot he state archives. Unfortunately 1 vet I know refuses to talk about anything he did in Vietnam until it becomes declassified, by which time he'll be dead. I had the opportunity to read his full biography that the wife gave me when I nominated him for the Silver Beaver, and I was like "DDDDAAAAAANNNNGGGGG!" I take
  24. My troop encountered a situation where the CO wanted all the stuff and money in a unit's account before the troop folded. CO was one of those hands off units that provided just a place to meet and some storage. Long story short,the folding troop paid all their debts, using up all of the money, then sold my troop their equipment on the cheap. I think they turned over about $100 or so to their old CO. When my troop switched COs because the 1st CO no longer wanted a troop, but instead a church youth group, we lucked out in that they didn't know exactly what we had until after they agreed to
  25. I want to apologize if my previous posts have been incoherent. It's been a busy nite. I use to think it took 3 years to get something up in running: one year to get it going, one year to learn from the previous year's mistakes and make new ones, one year to iron out the 2nd year's mistakes.Hence a troop should take 3 years to get really established and youth led. But talking to some experienced leaders who have started and restarted troops, they say it usually takes 5-7 years. Part of that is because there is turnover in youth, for whatever reason. The troop aint perfect, as if
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