Eagledad

I guess Im not sure what you are asking. I must admit when I read your question, I felt that you don't quite get the campfire. When you suggest team building, I wonder what you did during the day up to the campfire. Instead of trying to understand your question, let me just give a little explination of what I feel about the campfire. The skills to perform a well done campfire are not juvenile and require practice, heart, creativity and showmen professionalism. I think our scouts finally understood that when they got a standing ovation by other troops at summer camp once. From beginning t

Well said Packsaddle. Barry

>>Articles like this are nothin' more than policy "spin" by people who stand to benefit personally or professionally from a particular public policy position.

New findings indicate today's greenhouse gas levels not unusual By Dr. Tim Ball and Tom Harris http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/global-warming051407.htm Hi all, I found this quite by accident while scanning todays news. It is from the Canadian Free Press. At the very least the article is one more contradiction to confuse folks about the new Global Warming crisis. I gave the source so anyone can read it, but one quote goes like this: Clearly, the federal government must immediately convene open, unbiased hearings into the science of climate change, something that has neve

>>Finally, be sure you share enough with the DE so that a determination can be made about whether the man should remain registered with the BSA (to potentially serve as a leader in another unit).>How do you two handle the 18 y/o's that want to stay in your respective troops? Do you just assign them as ASM's? Do you place them under the wing of an experienced ASM for a certain time period? Just curious how you do it?

Hi Oak Tree We were at exactly where you are at, we started with 15 scouts and got 50 new scout in two years. We looked at all the options you mentioned. We visited and interviewed several troops to find the best way to limit the troop and I wrote an essay on our experience a few years ago. After several years of watching units from the District and Council level, I feel this essay is pretty accurate. By the way, when I left as the SM about five years after I wrote this essay, our troop had 90 scouts. We were very boy run and 40% of our scouts were 14 or older. Barry Troop size

>>So if da structure is gettin' in the way, why don't yeh change it? Forget havin' separate committees for this and that. Have just one "Unit Support" committee and then break out into subcommittees as needed. That way commishes can talk to membership and to program, etc. So many times I see council's and districts locked into a dysfunctional structure because they think they "have to do it that way." Bah. Service first. Everything else is negotiable.

>>Does your Council have an "SPL2B" program?

We pay our guys to go, but our troop invest a lot in leadership development. We also pay for the summer camp fees of our SPL because he works so hard that many times he doesnt have time for a MB class. Now I personally dont think the scouts come back all that different from NYLT, but the course is a tremendous confidence builder for taking on more responsibilities in your troop, which is usually a boys biggest hurdle. Also, our guys plan, train and lead our Troop JLTs, so confidence and maturity are important. To me, the real BIG benefit a troop gains from a scout going to NYLT is

>>The important part, IMO,

>>The people who spoke up at the committee meeting actually surprised me because one is a former SM who is usually the one pushing "boy led" and the other is a longtime ASM and probably a future SM (both are on the committee for now). Upon reflection my best guess is that they spoke up when and where they did because the SM did not. Maybe the comments they made were really more a nudge/push for the SM to do a better job of communicating with his SPL.

>>The committee members seem like the only ones who overstepped bounds here, stepping on the SM's and SPL's turf. Chances are the boys know more about boys' backgrounds and what's really necessary for "other patrols' needs" than committee members do. If there's some feedback or additional information to give, it's da SM's role, not the committee's.

>>The inescapable fact is that the overwhelming majority of such climate scientists believe that climate change is a serious problem and that human activities are a major cause. There are a few scientists who disagree, as there generally are with any broad scientific consensus.

>>I guess in your troop if the QM can't be there, the whole troop doesn't go because they don't have a key for the trailer.

>>The SPL will be discussing a change of QM POR this Tuesday with the SM.

I had the same response to that subject. Our troop has two historians because they do a troop newsletter among other duties, and our two scribes update the Web Site, among other duties. I will say that these are challenging responsibilities and require well trained adult counselors. We modified the responsibilities of those jobs and other so that the experience had value toward developing growth in behavior and leadership. If the adults don't see that happening, something should be changed. We talk a lot about SM assigned PORs, but I think this is misused as well. I don't think ask

>>How would the boy know that the troop adults expect him to arrange for a BOR? The boy's Handbook tells him "your Scoutmaster will arrange a board of review for you" (for Tenderfoot) and is silent for the other ranks.

>>The Eagle COH is the Scouts responsibility; just like you stated. After he his EBOR, tell him to give you a call and let you know when the date for his EBOR is determined.

>>While advancement is the measuring stick many use for the program, I see it as just one of the many tools we have to help develop young men.

>>Our troop is taking a high-adventure trek to the Pecos Wilderness in the Sangre-de-Cristo Mountains this summer. We are staying a day in Santa Fe to do some sight seeing and get acclimated to some higher elevations before we take off on our trek.

>>Despite claims to the contrary, we really DON'T embrace diversity, do we?

>>1) Has anyone ever done/seen the NYLT split up over several weekends. That seems like a good way to schedule it for maximum participants, and around adult and youth staff work schedules. But, to me, I think splitting the course up would be a net negative.

Yes and we moved it. You would be surprised how few weeks there are to choose from. Wood Badge itself takes up six of the weeks in our council. The best weeks to get camp are in the middle of summer after summer camp. But, those weeks are taken up by family vacations and high adventure. So we got creative. We started experimenting different weeks. We tried Fall Break, Christmas Break and Spring Break. When I left the program we were doing Fall Break and Spring break. But Christmas had a very good turn out as well. The thing about Fall and Spring breaks is they are close to the Wood Badge cours

>>The discussion died down with the suggestion that maybe we try to insitute your idea with the younger Scout's, that the troop will pay for tham to go to NYLT once they turn 13y/o, and that it would be a prerequesite for ASPL and SPL. If they opt not to go, they can be a Guide, Scribe etc., but not SPL or ASPL.>> Hi All This is a pretty interesting discussion. I spent several years involved with troop and council JLT, which at the time was called JLTC in our Council. I also communicated with a lot of Councils comparing their JLT programs and performances. Many if not mos

>>That's fine - they should see what a PL is supposed to do, except for attending PLC's.