Eagle92

I am actually all for a national standard. As mentioned, people do move around. There are several problems as I see it. #1 is the "One and Done" mentality that is pervasive. Heck you even get that one and done attitude from reading training syllabi from national. Instead we need to get back to basics and focus on MASTERY of the skills. Unfortuantely that word is not in the BSHB, and the closest to that is the sentence, which I need to paraphrase, ' The badge represents what the Scout can do, not what he has done" which is not even in the book or any trainging literature, but in

Richard, Yes national is suppose to create and support the program. Problem is, national has made some mistakes IMHO. I am glad that national now allows packs to go camping, but some of the CS program needs more outdoor emphasis and less arts and crafts. I have lost one family b/c "you don't camp enough," and my pack is camping 4-6 times a year with the district and council events included. On the Boy Scout to many traditional skills and activities are either not covered in materials or are severely restricted. Best example I can give is trying to do IOLS last year. I could no

Base, Could be that they were trying to be program neutral as Sea Scouts and Venturers can also work on Star, Life, and Eagle if they got First Class before becoming a Sea Scout or Venturer.

EDITED: Double post (This message has been edited by Eagle92)

Base, Could be that they were trying to be program neutral as Sea Scouts and Venturers can also work on Star, Life, and Eagle if they got First Class before becoming a Sea Scout or Venturer.

Music all depends upon the type of ceremony and what's being done. When I was more active with the OA, the chapter ceremony team and drum would go and do the ceremony. Songs sung would be Native American ones usually the Melvin Kerchee song since he allowed the OA to use it a while back.

ACCO, No patrol camping without adults was done away with approx. 2 years ago, and is in the current G2SS found here http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34416.pdf on page 1. Scoutings Barriers to Abuse The BSA has adopted the following policies for the safety and well-being of its members. These policies are primarily for the protection of its youth members; however, they also serve to protect adult leaders. Two-deep leadership on all outings required. (Bold in original, italics ime) Two registered adult leaders, or one registered leader and a parent of a particip

Boy Scout Handbook and ziploc bag. never heard of a blue card until I worked supply. MBCs either signed off in the BSHB or the Reuqirements book a lot of us used as we could see the updated requirements for MBs when we used the troop's library for MBPs. had a conversation today with someone who sits are our district Eagle boards. He loves it when he sees a "well loved" BSHB that is dog-eared, held together by duct tape, etc. Told one Eagle to not be sorry about the condition of his handbook when the scout apologized for the book's condition. My friend did ask what were some of the t

Joe, As an IOLS trainer, I WANT the best outdoorsman I know teaching the classes, even if they are youth . I had a 16yo Star Scout teaching with his dad, and a 15yo Life Scout working on another section.

If Dad is not doing it right and just signing off, then HECK NO! See if a First Aid MBC or other qualified person would work with him. I know it is not against BSA rules, but I am uncomfortable signing off stuff in my Webelos' book, unless A) it was done in a group setting like Readyman, B)done at CSDC, or C) I was given permission by the WDL to do so.

Yep the Cub Scout, who had his Whittling Chip, pulled a knife to defend himself when he felt threatened.(This message has been edited by eagle92)

Rain, With no disrespect intended, I've been in similar shoes so I know a bit, but 1) Officially you are too young as you do need to be 21 and B) there will be some who will completely ignore you, think you do not know anything, etc etc. As someone mentioned, if you want to serve on the district level you can be registered in the College Scouter Reserve, the only district position available to 18-21 yos. (BD, FYI college got into the situation because that is the official title of the position, and it's a district level one. I've seen it used to help some folks stay registered in col

Acco, Life is funny at times. When I did SMF, I thought of it as a hoop to jump through. Again i didn't learn anything new except the paperwork. I did enjoy the camaraderie, and luckily I had time on my hands as I was single, in college, and no kids. If I had to do it today being married with kids, highly active in scouting, and dealing with normal life stuff, I may be a little ticked. Ok a lot ticked b/c I had one of the biggest mouths complaining to national when they were trying to make folks redo training last year But some folks have very challenging lives. My Philmont friend w

We had a similar situation at day camp. Long story short: the den chief assaulting the Cub was dismissed from staff, Cub pulling knife expelled from camp. Both reported to DE and council.

Acco, Challenge is there are some adult leaders who HAVE experienced scouting as a youth, have the outdoor skills, and do not want to waste their weekend doing training they already have. Give you an example. I went through the whole scouting program way back in the day: 3 years of Cubs (no Tigers and Cubs was 3-5 grades unlike today) and 7 years of Boy Scouts. Did the old BROWNSEA 22 program, had 2 50 milers under my belt, Eagle, etc. etc. I went through the old SM Fundamentals course where you had to complete all three sections to be trained, and no test out option. With the e

yep one knot, but multiple devices may be worn. Those devices are a PAIN, literally and figuratively, especially since one of the devices has been restricted by national now for whatever reason. I earned 3 religious awards, and am entitled to wear the CS, BS and Sea Scout devices on my knot. But they come off easily, can easily be forgotten when putting in the laundry, and now I have to special order my Sea Scout device.

The "dead" period is 3 months. Rationale is that things happen on both ends council and unit, that can cause a delay. Don't know if it's national policy or a local one, but when a unit lapses here, that number is on hold for the community and does get used by a unit in another city. We had a Pack and troop die a few years back, and their number was "reserved" for my town. Now that the CO has restarted the units, and they gotr their number back.

One crazy idea I came up with, but have not, repeat NOT, implemented, is an event at district camporee called "Are You Smarter Than a First Class Scout." The event would be a competition for leaders and compose the T-2-1 skills covered in IOLS. I see two things coming from this. 1) Fun way to keep skills current 2) Test out those who have the skills, but not the time to take IOLS. 3) When national finally decides that older training courses will not count towards being "Trained," so that old fogeys like me who took SM Fundamentals back in the day will have to redo training, (re

I When I use to work for supply, I would shake my head a lot and wonder what was someone thinking. Most of the things I thought were crazy usually were, and i find them on sale today.

Only way I know of is to go to one of the recognized agencies and take their instructor course(s). Usually very expensive and takes several days.

My turn My question is, how long do patrols in YOUR troop last (not the ideal, Norman Rockwellized version). 2 patrols of 6-10 since it's inception in 1967. 1 patrol came about no earlier than 1972, and that was the Leadership Corps which consisted of older Scouts, First Class or higher, who had served as a PL. Don't remember if they had to serve so many terms as a PL or not. Smallest number was 3, including SPL, largest was 10. now it's the Venture Patrol/Venturing Crew (when Venturing came out, the guys in the venture crew were a little confused about the program. After turn

VV, I know the focus has been on the NSP, but as Beav pointed out, your middle and esp older scouts can have stagnation. Ways to keep the older scout interested is A) let them run the troop, B) have opportunities for them to do their own thing either on their own weekend, or possibly on the same weekend as the troop, just doing a special activity: their own hike, own campsite away from others, etc. C) Team up with other troops in the district and council for HA.

VV, I gotta do a big ditto on 2Cub's post. The reasons why my troop stopped doing NSPs were 2 and 5. There is no solution to problem 2 that I can see. The only solution to 5 that I can see is getting more folks to help the TG work with the NSP. But that causes other problems, i.e. boredom of the older scouts, to many folks working with the NSP and not the other patrols, etc. Again splitting the NSP into existing patrols worked out easier. Problem 1 actually has a simple solution: SPL stops everything until the horseplay stops. I remember many a nite the SPL saying, "Gentlemen your wa

In regards to Sentinal's "patrols dieing" comment, I have to partially agree. Growing up, my troop's membership varied and we had 3 - 5, usually 4. The three patrols that remained constant were the Leadership Corps (even if they only had 3 members in it) Eagles, and Hawks, the troop's first patrols, and last I saw, they still had the original flags. Owls and Ravens would come and go as the troop grew. When I joined the troop, we had three patrols. When we we got enough for a new patrol, the new patrol was given a choice of Owls or Ravens by the SPL. We went with Ravens, took over some of the

As someone mentioned, milage may vary. Troop culture has a part to play. Again my experiences with NSPs and same age patrols have not been positive at all and I do not recommend them. A good friend of mine, one I trained too, uses the NSP until they get their Tenderfoot or Second Class. One solution we to the " be with their buddies" is that not all activities were inter-patrol. Some were teams created for the activity, usually game time, on the camp out or during the meeting. Kinda like a pick up game. As to incorporating new scouts into an established patrol, start when t