Eamonn

ASM59 If I was going to make a presentation on attendance to the parents, I think I wouldn't try and explain a policy that at best is hard to understand and in fact may not exist. When I try and get the point across, I don't use any of the BSA material. I tend to drive home the point that you only ever get out of life what you put in and the same is true with a Troop (or in my case a Ship) I have over the time I have been involved in Scouting had Scouts who live and breathe Scouting, who never miss anything and I swear go to bed with a copy of Boy's Life under their pillow. I have seen Scouts who are great Scouts, but to them being a Scout is just another activity. Some Scouts will at times be at one end of the scale and then the other. At this time OJ is still a member of his Troop, he has done all the required time needed in a POR and only has his project to do to complete his Eagle rank. He holds the rank of JASM but the troop doesn't ask or require him to do anything, so he has got out of the habit of going!! He does look in every now and then and does attend the odd camp out, but at nearly 17 1/2. The Troop isn't doing anything for him. Sadly I'm finding this a lot with the Boy Scouts who are joining the Ship. Eamonn.

I think I'm in the same mindset as FSouter on this one. In Sea Scouting we do have a set 75% participation requirement for some advancement. When we started the Ship we were only going to meet twice a month. The idea being that we would have one planning meeting and one activity a month.Going with that a Scout could go AWOL?? for 3 months and still be in good standing. Of course I'm unsure what would happen to the Sea Scouts who remain on the charter and go to college?? Anyway we soon found out that only meeting twice a month wasn't going to get us where we wanted to be, so we now meet weekly. We also on top of the weekly meekly meetings have fund raising events, good turns and training's. I haven't counted but I think we will end up having about 60 meetings a month. So a Scout could miss 15 meetings and still be in good standing. (About 3 months!!) When we chartered, we went for the 18 month charter. I was trying to save money. Many of the Boy Scouts who joined transfered into the ship for only $1.00 thus saving the following years recharter fee. Before we held our election of Petty Officers I handed out job descriptions and went over what the job was about and how much time it might take. Going back to the the Scout Oath and Law I explained what loyal and trustworthy was all about. While I fell short of saying "If you don't have the time or think that you can't do the job -Don't run" I think the message got across. While I'm not in the job of turning members away and I would love to see the Ship grow. I have sat down with some people who were thinking of joining and asked them if they think that they really have the time to take on being an active Sea Scout? A couple of these have been Boy Scouts who I know really well and like a lot, some are outstanding Scouts, but they have so much on their plate already. So far I have yet to say you can't join, I don't think I ever will. I have asked them to go and think about it. One came back and said that after thinking about it I was maybe right. One joined the Ship but after a little while found that he did have too much on his plate. He is a super nice Lad, I really do like him, but he is active in his troop, the OA, his church, the swim team and his school grades need work. He does know that he is welcome back. I'm really happy that he worked this out before he reached overload or burn out. I in no way subscribe to the idea of being chartered and having the patch fulfills the requirements of a POR. The POR does require the Scout to do something. That something needs to be discussed and agreed upon before he takes on the job. Goals need to be set and agreed upon. Sure things can change and just like a Wood Badge ticket goals can be changed. Maybe in some cases things can be worked out in order that the Scout can still perform the duties of his office without being at all the meetings. At the end of the day the Scout has got to show that he has done his best. Is it his fault that the rehearsals for the School play fall at the same time as the Troop meetings? I think not. Is it his fault that he want to stay home and play video games and not attend the meetings? I think so. We deal with each and every Scout on an individual basis. This is one reason why blanket Troop rules just don't work. Eamonn.

While I don't see our family as being wealthy. Whatever that might mean?? We are not short of a couple of bucks. I have at times gone wild and bought very expensive items. Cashmere sweaters, jackets from Burberry in London and the like. Her Who Must Be Obeyed hates to shop. In fact she jokes that Mall is a four letter word. I love to shop and finding a good buy is in some way my way of beating the system. When it comes to Scout stuff, we used to be able to buy seconds from the National Store in Pittsburgh, but they no longer sell seconds. Scout uniforms never seem to go on sale. I don't think I have ever bought any clothing from Wal-Mart or K-Mart. I tend to be more of a Sears or JC-Penny Shopper, but I still don't pay $40.00 for a pair of shorts. I normally wait till they are on sale and buy two pair for about $30.00. OJ informs me that he was given a hard time at an OA section officers training for not wearing the polyester/wool Scout Shirt. I have shirts made by really good shirt makers that don't cost anything like the $50.55 that the BSA is charging. I think the $32.45 for a shirt that I think is worth about $19.95 is out of line. Thankfully we have managed to buy a lot of uniforms when we have been asked to serve on Council Courses or when he has been going to the Jamboree or on Camp Staff. On these occasions our Council sells us uniform items at cost. After some searching the web I did manage to find a supplier who is selling our Sea Scouts the working uniform (Chambray Shirt and blue pants) for $15.00. They are marked imperfect but the quality of the shirt is far better than the BSA shirt. We have had some problem with pants sizing, it seems that the pattern they use is from the U.S. Navy and is a little off. But with embroidery and patches we can get a Sea Scout in working uniform for less than $30.00. Many of the Ships don't seem to bother with the pants and do allow blue jeans, so they could get their Sea Scouts up and going for about $20.00. Eamonn.

Animal Science Astronomy ? Bird Study Conservation Environmental Science Fish & Wildlife Management Fishing ?? Forestry ? Insect Life Mammal Study Oceanography Plant Science Reptile and Amphibian Study Soil & Water Conservation. What am I missing? All this in a week, with a staff of 8 -10? And 800 Campers!! The staff don't need T-shirts they need Superman uniforms. Eamonn

The cost of a UK Dog license had remained unchanged for nearly 100 years. It was Seven Shillings and Sixpence. Things remained unchanged until decimal currency came along. Where there used to be 20 Shillings to the pound and 12 pennies to the shilling, that changed to having only 100 pence in a pound. This of course meant that one new-penny = 2.4 old pennies. So the halfpenny which had gone the same way of the farthing (0.25 of an old penny) came back. This made the cost of a dog license 37 1/2 pence. But then they did away with the halfpenny. In 1987 the dog license was abolished. Only about half of dog owners had one. There is however a dog license in Northern Ireland and it costs five pounds a year. Which is cheaper than in the Republic of Ireland where it costs 12.70 euros a year!! The House of Commons did a research paper on dogs in 1998: http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp98/rp98-006.pdf Where I live we have to have our dogs licensed. When we had Rory "Fixed" we were able to get him a lifetime license, we had the option of having him micro-chipped or tattooed. We went with the tattoo. Up until that time OJ had his heart set on getting a tattoo. I said if he got "Fixed" I'd allow the vet to give him a tat. Strange I haven't heard much about him getting inked since. - I wonder why? Eamonn.

BSAChaplain While I kinda, sorta agree with you, I also kinda, sorta don't !! When OJ was a Cub Scout, we owned and ran two restaurants. We sold a ton of popcorn. Or maybe I should say I sold a ton of popcorn. We live out in the sticks, so selling anything door to door, doesn't go over very well. People want to buy from kids in their neighborhood. The same can be said for mowing lawns and doing odd jobs. I come from a very large family. My Mother was one of eight and my Dad one of seven!! Sadly they are all either dead or 3,500 miles away. Both of Her Who Must be obeyed parents were only children. She has one brother who most of the time owes me money. Up until recently OJ wasn't old enough to get a real job. Most places will not hire a youth under 16. His nice kind Mother does give him an allowance of $30.00 a month. He mean Father doesn't give him an allowance. I do pay him for mowing the grass $35.00 per yard (It takes about seven hours) and I pay 50% of Scout Trips/Camps. I as a Dad agree that I want my son to learn that there is no such thing as a free lunch. However as a Scouter, I'm happy to leave how someone else's child pays for his or her Scouting up to them. To be very honest I'm far more concerned in the youth participating in the activity than I am in how they come up with the cash. I'm sure that some will say that I'm not doing a very good job of teaching "A Scout is thrifty" and they might well be right. This past weekend we had our OA Lodge Banquet. This was my first big outing since I stepped down from being District Chairman and had the chance to hear the feedback about the cost of summer camp going up $25.00 (The biggest jump ever.) One leader was very upset and informed me that he was never ever going back to camp!! I know that the Troop is not doing well and the parent they have as SM can't go to camp. One nearly normal leader said that he was sad to see it go up as much as it did. When I asked him how many of the Scouts in the Troop actually come and pay for camp with money from home? He said none. It all comes from funds raised by the Troop. Troops using money that they have raised to send Scouts to camp was new to me. Back home all money raised by the Troop was used to buy Troop equipment. Once we had decided where we were going and come up with a cost, the Scouts could if they wanted use the Camp Bank. Before each Troop meeting they could make payments. We had a suggested weekly amount. Before we departed for Summer Camp we gave each Scout a check book. At a pre-determined time each day Scouts could write checks to withdraw their spending money. How much or how little was up to them (Of course the friendly Banker -a ASM was known to offer words of wisdom!) At one time I did try and have set levels of spending money. I was worried that Joey Moneybags, would have so much that he would make Stan Stonebroke feel bad. It didn't work. Scouts would take whatever they were given (Many a time as we were departing Grandparents would give a Lad money) If this put them over the set amount they wouldn't tell me and then if they lost it they would get upset. Also some Scouts feel that they have to buy stuff for the people that they have left at home and this number can change from family to family. All OJ ever brought home was dirty laundry!! OJ now has a job. He is working about 20 hours a week in the produce department of our local supermarket earning minimum wage. A few hours ago he surfaced from his room and informed me that if he worked at Summer camp ($185.00 a week) and worked weekends at the supermarket he would have $2,285 by the end of the summer. I just didn't have the heart to tell him that things aren't that easy. He can't leave camp before 10:00 AM on Saturday and has to be back by noon on Sunday, then there is the time he wants to take off to go to NOAC and the week he wants to take to go sea kayaking with the Ship. He also got a ticket for a Stop Sign violation, so I think that he will be paying me whatever my car insurance goes up. The bottom line is that I think there are some values and things that are up to the Scout and his family, we as Scouter's can and should set a good example and do what we can to reinforce these values. We should do what we can to teach our Scouts what a budget is, why it is important to live within our means, how money works. But I know some adults who are parents and leaders who just don't get it and never will. Eamonn.

Back in the day... We held an Annual Planning Meeting in July. This was the first step to making a budget. Once we had a budget we worked out how much it was going to cost for the year for each Cub Scout. We then presented the parents the cost. I called this the "Magic Number". Some parents didn't want anything to do with fund raising events. That was fine, they had the option of just paying the amount. As long as the magic number was reached I didn't care where the money came from. We didn't include Cub Scout Resident Camp in the budget. So if people raised more than the magic number they used the excess to pay for camp. Eamonn.

I read the other day that we tend to marry people who are like our parents. Men marry girls who have the same traits as their Moms and Girls marry men who are like their Dads. Her Who Must Be Obeyed is a few years older than her little brother. When he joined Cubs his Mom was a Den Mother and her Dad was the Cubmaster, who later went on to become Scoutmaster. The story goes that when she was little she tagged along and gave herself the title of "Scrub Scout". As a teenager she was up at camp visiting her Dad and her brother. I think the real truth is that she was checking out the good looking guys. Maybe that's how she landed me?? Eamonn.

purcelce I couldn't agree more. I blame the professionals and the SE. Of course at the end of the day it's because the BSA and the AARP have a monopoly. Of course if we all used the NSP there wouldn't be the problem and uniform would be better. The answer may lay in frog marching the Scouts to the shower house. Darn dots. Eamonn

A little while back someone in the forum questioned the "National Policy against Scouts drinking coffee and cola" At the time I thought someone had just got their wires crossed. Then last week someone else mentioned it. Now I'm 99.999999% certain that this is just a myth. While I do know that LDS units are not going to be drinking cola and coffee. I just don't know where this idea that there is a policy is coming from. I'm not saying anything about what harm or what good caffeine does and I'm not debating if there should or shouldn't be a policy. I just want to know where this myth is coming from? Eamonn.

I think I must be getting old!! I looked over the list of films that are on the Oscar nomination list and I think I've only seen one of them and it's a documentary!! I do enjoy TV. A night at home with me in my chair, a dog either side and Her Who Must Be Obeyed on the couch is just great. Sadly we don't get to do it very often. I like to think that I'm a selective viewer. When I was young I watched whatever was on. I'm not snooty or snobbish but I find American sit-coms to be very boring and not very funny, so I don't watch them. I quit watching when Roseanne or Roxanne Barr ?? came along. I really hate to miss West Wing and I hate the idea that it will not be coming back after this season. To me watching sports on TV is for the most part just a waste of time. I do watch a fair amount of the programming that is on PBS. I used to send a donation when "Pledge" was only once or twice a year but now it seems every-time they have a program that I want to watch, they break it into nine parts and ask for money eleven times -So I showed them!! I have heard that movie theaters are starting to feel the pinch, people are just not going like they used to. I remember when I would go twice a week. I do wonder if young people are not going to baseball games like they used to and are not going to the movies - Where are they going? Sure the young people have X-Box and video games, but we had books. I have never watched a real movie on a computer. I do as a rule wait until the movies I want to see go on sale and buy them then. A pal of mine just canceled all of her premium cable subscriptions and has gone with Netflix, but she says that after only a few months that there just isn't that many movies that she wants to see and $120.00 a year is a little steep. Of course when she does get something worth watching, after she has seen it she passes it on to me. So at least I'm doing well out of her Netflix. Eamonn.

I use different terms in different settings. Youths or youth members is great when I'm talking about all of the Scouting programs. I admit I have to think twice when people refer to Cub Scouts as Scouts, maybe because back home Scouts were Scouts and Cub Scouts were Cub Scouts. If I'm talking with a Scout I might find myself calling him a Lad, a Scout, a boy or a kid. When I'm talking with a female Sea Scout (I don't know any female Venturers.) I use, Lass, Girl, Scout or Kid. Very often if I'm making a presentation to non Scouting types, I very often refer to our youth members as "Our Kids." I don't think kids like being called kids, but somehow "Youth Members" comes off sounding a little uncaring and sterile. Eamonn.

Over the past month or so I have been interviewing the adults from our Area of the NE-Region, who applied for leadership positions at the 2007 World Scout Jamboree. We were asked to grade these leaders from A -C. A being outstanding, B being Good and C being more than lightly not. I have yet to meet a "C" In fact most were "A" If we fill all the youth spots we need 68 Adults, sadly we haven't and if we were to leave next week we would only need a little less than half of the 68. I feel really bad for these applicants. I spent some time on the phone today talking about what we might have done to improve recruiting and there is a lot of room for improvement on our part. Please if you know of any Scout (Particularly from the NE-Region) who wants to attend please send me a PM. Please don't bother telling me about the cost or how little time there is to come up with money. Please believe me I know and I know that the closer we get the harder it is going to be. There are very limited funds available to help cases of need. It is worth trying. But I wouldn't count on the funds being available and being very much. Every Scout who attends will come back full of the joys of international Scouting and while the event is for the youth, I'd really like to see as many of the adults who applied get the opportunity to go, but without the Scouts they are not needed. Many Thanks. Eamonn.

Our Council operates it's own Scout Shop. The Lady who takes care of it has been there for a very long time and if the volunteers were to vote on the most popular person in the "Office" I'm sure she would get the most votes. The store doesn't carry a very large inventory, but nearly everyone is aware of that. What she doesn't have she orders and in most cases it's in stock in about ten days. I normally just phone and ask if it's in before I make the trip, if it isn't she orders it for me and calls me when it comes in. We don't carry the big items, she can of course get them, but in most cases camping equipment and outdoor items are cheaper elsewhere. If for some reason I need something she doesn't have urgently I make the trip to the nearest National Store, but thats about an hour drive. I never really minded to much as I would go and visit their FD and let him take me out to lunch, but he went and got himself promoted to SE of the Council on the other side of our Council - Maybe I'll have to go and check out their Scout Shop? Now that he is a SE he can afford to buy me a better lunch!! Eamonn.

" a leader walks them to the shower house & waits outside until they have showered." Oh dear. " The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law. I don't think walking Scouts to the shower house and waiting till they have showered is teaching them a darn thing. I find myself agreeing with a lot of what SemperParatus posted. I really do not expect to tell Lads of Scout age about personal hygiene, that's something I expect of them. Before a long term camp I do tell them how important it is to check for ticks and rashes. When we look at keeping warm in the winter, we go over how being clean is warmer. If Scouts are not taking care of personal hygiene you might want to look at the reason why? Is there time set a side for them to visit the shower house? Is the facility clean? Is there too much horse-play and rough necking going on? (Respect of privacy. Adult leaders must respect the privacy of youth members in situations such as changing clothes and taking showers at camp, and intrude only to the extent that health and safety require.) A Scout is clean is part of the Scout Law, we teach our Scouts why it is important, they promise to do their best. Of course every now and then we get the little toad who thinks that it's cool to see how long he can go without bathing. Some do it for the attention, I don't know but I'm sure some think that they are pulling a fast one or the wool over someones eyes? I see it as a violation of the Scout Law and tell the Lad that not living up to the Scout Law is not in keeping with Scout spirit. Before the 2001 Jambo, I had one Lad who just wasn't sure if he could go the entire Jambo without his hair gel? This past one there were some Polish female Scouts, one little Lad wanted to go and trade patches with them. So after supper he showered and must have used at least half a bottle of cheap after shave (Axe??) You could smell him half a mile away!! I'm not sure why a Lad who doesn't shave who didn't know that there were going to be any girls in camp would bring after shave? But I didn't ask! When I was a little fellow our nearest camp was Walton Firs National Camp site in Surrey. It only had at that time two showers in the shower house. To turn on the water you had to pull a chain, when you let go of the chain the water quit running. To this day I still remember standing under that shower head, with the chain in my hand knowing that as soon as I pulled that darn chain I was going to get hit with the coldest water I ever felt in my life. The memory brings goose bumps. Eamonn.

cubleader6 you make some very good and valid points. At the time I removed my info. I was very upset with some of the antics that a FD in our Council was up to. Of course I at that time thought I was right and he was a FCT (First Class Twit). I still think I was right! But I was aware that I was upset and while he FCT, he was a family man with three kids. I don't know who looks in at the forum. I don't know if some of the things that he was doing might have left the Council open to some sort of legal action? (I'd just read The Firm!!) I do think that over time if we stay in the forum we do come up with our own mental picture of the other members. Of course sometimes when we do get to meet them we find out how wrong we were!! Eamonn.

I really do enjoy Wood Badge. Our Council is part of a cluster and 2007 is our year to host a course. The Course Director will be a super nice female Scouter who I staffed a Cub Scout course with back many years ago. I started grooming her back when I was Council Training Chair and when I was CD. She was a ASM on that course. While at times I do miss not going back to "Gilwell" and being where the action is. I have moved on and I'm happy to let new people do what needs to be done. Add the fact that I'm really busy. 2007 is going to be the year that Her Who Must Be Obeyed packs my bags and sends me back to where once I came. I want to do Sea Badge this coming Fall, the Sea Scouts are taking up a lot of my time, they are talking about going to the BVI. I will be visiting the World Jamboree and OJ and I are off to visit my sister in Hong Kong. On top of all this I have been asked to be the Quartermaster for this upcoming course. I really would love to do it, but I really don't have time and I think it's better to give someone else the opportunity to earn that third bead. I hate the idea of seeming to let the side down and without wanting to sound big headed I know I would do a wonderful job. Still, I just don't have the time, something would have to suffer. So I think I'm going to have say no. Eamonn

Update: He arrived yesterday, with his papers filled out and $50.00 for his Sea Scout Manual and working uniform. It was funny we were working on Landship Ceremonies. Some of the Scouts see these as a waste of time and I think I heard the word "Poppy" something or other used!! I was trying to help get them into the spirit of the thing, so I suggested that they stopped looking at it as a ceremony and started looking at it as a play, the Landship being the stage!! It helped a little, so I thought I was being very clever when I suggested that they do it as far over the top as they could!! Benny Hill, would have loved it!! I had tears running down my face. It was just so darn funny.I don't know when I laughed as hard. We did manage to tone it back, but everyone ended up having fun with something that on the surface started out looking like it was going to be very boring. Next week we are visiting SSS 46 (The National Flag Ship) to participate in their Change of Watch and Quartermaster Ceremony. This poor kid must think we are all nuts. Eamonn.

At one time I did have a lot of information about myself in the profile area. I removed it because at times I found myself venting and thought maybe I had better protect the good name of the Council and the people in it. I'm sure that you don't need to be Sherlock Homes to work out where I'm from and some of the things I've done. There are times when I disagree with some of what other forum members post as there are times when they disagree with me. I can't help thinking that in some ways this helps make the forum a little more .... shall we say entertaining? But I really have no need to know where the person who is disagreeing with me is from. Over the time I have been in this forum, I have made several friends. I have met a few forum members face to face, spoken to some on the phone and exchanged E-mails with others outside of the PM that the site offers. Some little time back I questioned if we as Scouter's in a community reserved for Scouting related discussions have a responsibility to ensure that we do make the visitors to this site aware of where the BSA stands on the topics we discuss. I am aware that some forum members are from other Scout Associations, but the majority of the forum members do belong to the BSA. We do not have any control of who visits the site or what they take from it. My concern is that some people will see something stupid or something that isn't approved by the BSA and because it was "On the net" think that it's OK. I know that at times I have posted things that I thought were right and have been corrected, for this I'm grateful. At times the disagreements are over things that are silly and have little or no bearing on what we do as Scouter's or to do with Scouting. I'm sure the legal department at the BSA didn't care what music was played at the Olympics !! Many of us have our own pet peeves, many of us, myself included can't understand why if others are so unhappy or have such a big down on the BSA they remain in the BSA? My take on the people who want to go skinny-dipping, paint-balling, Lazar-tagging, sod surfing, and all the rest of it. Is that's fine and dandy but don't in any way try and dress it up as a Scouting activity. My real name, my geographical location and what my present or past positions in Scouting have nothing to do with me feeling this way. Eamonn.

Important things? Bangers!! Sausages!! Eamonn.

I don't know what part of England you are from Pint? Of course to my mind we have London and the rest of the country. London being where everyone wants to be!! Thanks to the power of the telly (TV) most American and British young people are fairly well versed in both American English and the real thing. Back home we of course have the Queens English, which sounds like someone trying to talk with a mouth full of pebbles. We have all the regional dialects, which can change from county to county or even hamlet to hamlet and we used to have BBC English, many will remember the voice of the BBC during world war two: "This is the BBC.." (where I used to work!!) Of course some things that become acceptable slang have double means. I remember Her Who Must Be Obeyed (Which comes from the Rumpole of the Baily books) riding on a bus and bursting out laughing when she seen an ad for "Fagots in Gravy" the fagot being a small meat ball. Is is also a small bundle of wood. She also had people do a double take when she said she was taking her Grand-pap home Suspenders. Everyone at the table thought her Grand-pap was a little odd, she was of course taking him braces. If you ever get the chance there was a really good TV series on The History of English. I found it really odd that they claim that the best English is spoken by the people of Dublin Ireland. Eamonn.

I agree with the points that ljnrsu has made about planning and communication. Some time back in these forums someone used the term "More carrot less stick". I really like the idea that our activities should have a carrot, something that no one wants to miss or miss out on. Having the Scouts want to attend is at least half the battle. Having those who do attend come back saying how great it was is also a big help. You might also want to look at the size of your patrols. While with the younger Scouts you can all most bet that they will turn up to just about anything, once they get older and into other activities, you also know that chances are only so many are going to make it. I really like small Patrols of six, but if it seemed only half of them wold turn up for events I would think about maybe enlarging the Patrols. You might also want to take a look at the make up of the Patrols: Is it better to have Patrols of the same age? Knowing that the younger guys are going to be there as a Patrol? And knowing that in your troop maybe the older Lads are all going to be busy? This might be something that the PLC might want to take a look at. Eamonn.

. What allows the Boy Scouts of America to exclude atheists and agnostics from membership? A. The Boy Scouts of America is a private membership group. As with any private organization, Boy Scouts retains the constitutional right to establish and maintain standards for membership. Anyone who supports the values of Scouting and meets these standards is welcome to join the organization. Q. Can an individual who states that he does not believe in God be a volunteer Scout leader or member? A. No. The Scout Oath represents the basic values of Scouting, and it addresses the issue of duty to God before duty to country, others, and self. http://www.bsalegal.org/faqs-113.htm Hi welcome to the forum. We have in the past spend some time looking at this. How you read the policy is up to you. The way I read it is that while you do not have to belong to any religion you do have to hold a believe that there is a God or what ever name you want to give to a higher power. To my mind if you can stand up and say the Scout Oath, with "Duty to God" in it and not be a hypocrite or feel that you are telling lies. I'm a little unsure how a Scouter who isn't sure that there is a God or what ever name you want to use can work with Scouts as they strive to do their best to do their duty to God? Some people will talk about the fact that it is better to do good than be good and the actions of people who don't believe in God. This might work for them? But the policy is very clear it states that you have to believe. I would think any SE who heard that a Scouter was claiming to be an agnostic would have to revoke his or her membership. Eamonn.

Now I know what it is!! Where is the syllabus? Eamonn.

Scouting the antidrug Summer camp plans = Drivers Wanted. Sea Scout Ship 777 = It's everywhere you want to be. Summer Camp = A vacation from the ordinary Scout Night hike = Intelligent nightlife. NSP cooks = With first symptoms, call your doctor immediately. Or Oven toasted tastes better. BOR = Talk. They'll listen. Scouting = There's a million reasons to join. NSP's first night at camp = Never settle. Popcorn = Tastes so good it sells itself. Campfires = The art of performance. Scouting = Onward. Upward. My fellow forum members = Just plain smart. Scout Uniforms = Finally, guys have an answer to the little black dress. The values of Scouting = Knowledge is contagious. Infect truth. Eamonn.