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""The impression I got was they developed this award system to give the Boy Scouts parity with the Venturers's Ranger Award." "And here I always thought that was called Eagle... " No, why would it be Eagle? Eagle is meant to be the top boy scout award, whose equivalent is Silver, QM, etc. It is NOT an award for an outstanding outdoors person, which is what Ranger is about. I've never understood the attitude of some who try to match Eagle with Ranger that way.

"The OA puts out a book that has all the current national lodge flaps." No they don't. All the OA flap books out there are put out by collectors. the most recent, good work on this is the Blue Book, which hasn't had a new edition is a few years. "I think that it would be interesting to see National put out a small 4"x6" book for scouts to carry around so they know what the real patches are and who has the fakes." Impossible. the collectors' hobby can't keep up with this, how can national????

"I have to agree as well, and another recent case-in-point is the newly announced National Outdoor Badge and the associated National Medal for Outdoor Achievement. The one other thing they are not is available to Venturers. For some odd reason, only Boy Scouts and Varsity Scouts can earn these awards." Funny thing is, these awards were developed by Doc Miller & associates. Doc Miller was one of the movers & shakers in the National Venturing Committee. With the recent re-org, it seems like he and most of the old NVC moved over and are now the Youth Development committee (I

"It must be nice to see all things as either black or white with no shades of gray. The fraternization policy you throw around is a guideline aimed at Venturing to mainly prevent things like a 20yo dating a 14yo crew member, or a 22yo assoc advisor dating a 15yo youth. A 19 or 20 yo crew member dating a 22yo assoc advisor is a whole other matter, legally they are both consenting adults, and as long as they leave their relationship at the door at meetings and curb it on trips it does not have to be a problem. The BSA can not mandate what two adults can or can not do especially during their time

"Another curve ball. Can a married couple both be associated with the crew if one is under 21? i.e. Husband is 21, wife is 19." Again, NOT a curve ball. They are married. The fraternization policy doesn't apply. There is no issue.

"If I could just throw in a curveball. What is the Crew member is dating one of the Advisors??" That's not a curveball. I covered that in a previous note. That is a violation of the BSA's Fraternization policy, and clearly covered in the Venturing Youth Protection Training. An advisor may NOT date a crew member (a youth). They either need to break it off, or the advisor MUST leave.

"I won't repeat your description, but I would have to say that you have perfectly described National's approach to a lot of things!" Sadly, I have to agree. I had some long chats with othe venturing people at the Jamboree, like Craig Murray & Doc Miller. Doc recommeneded I do something, which I plan to within the next week.

Actually, Venturing DOES have advancement. Bronze-Gold-Silver comprise the basic advancement program. Ranger, Quest, TRUST are expert awards. Also, while we have advancement, we do NOT have RANKS. Boy Scouts and Sea Scouts have RANKS. A Venturer who has earned advancement does NOT 'out rank' a Venturer who doesn't. BUT, advancement is NOT a method of Venturing. Recognition is. Hence, we don't push advancement, crews are not judges as 'bad crews' for not having youth advance, etc. (however, you will learn that crews that do use it usually have a better overall program).

"I was in a powderhorn event with a young fellow venturer who was soon to turn 21. He was a bit concerned how scouting would then view his relationship with his 19 yr old girlfriend in his crew." As he should be, because the BSA is very clear on this. Its part of their fraternization policy. A person 21 and older is NOT to be dating someone under 21 and expect to be involved with that unit. They will be asked to leave. This is clearly covered in the Venturing Youth Protection Training.

"If so did you see any patches of white amongst the tan and khaki?" We Sea Scout people came in late and were sitted far to the left of stage. I doubt you could see us.

"I am drafting (not yet sent) a letter to Mr. Mazucca. My desire is to make him aware of what happened to me so it may not happen to someone else." FWIW, I recommend that you EMAIL your planned letter to Mazucca. I was discussing things with a national-level volunteer I know, and he made it clear that should I want to bring it to the CSE attention, that it be by email. Mazucca reads emails, but doesn't read letters. Go figure. Not sure what happened to your application. I do know that local Councils must approve the apps before they go to National. I assume they put in th

"Also, there were many staff members who were uncertain about whether or not they could earn them. I know a few that used their free time to do as much as they could as adults and earn them all, and then had to scramble to fight through ill-informed commissioners with conflicting directives about rockers to even get the patches. There was never anything to say that adults -couldn't- earn them, and at past Jamborees they were handed out to adults. I figured if they handed us the guides with the stamps, and the areas were allowing adults to go through and were stamping them at the end, adults we

There is a LOT of possibilities/potentials in the OA. In many cases, what is available to Arrowmen in your local lodge will depend on the drive of those arrowmen to seek them out, AND the leadership of the local lodge (both youth & adults). Some lodges are great, running well rounded programs. Other lodges are, lets be honest, pretty cr*ppy, having poor programs and poor reputations. A good leadership team will work to ensure that Lodge & Chapter programs are a good balance of fun and work. And work should be a good balance between doing work at camp, doing work to s

"You gotta love how this guy managed to get 4 full sets when you were only supposed to be able to get 1 per day." no. you could buy only one at a time. nothing stopping you getting back in line.

Eagle92 is correct. Sea Scouts have always used a full salute, and shake with the right hand. Venturers have a modified salute, where the thumb is held out (see the Venturer Handbook). Was a little annoyed that one of the papers ran a big picture of a bunch of scouts saluting, and had one female venturer giving the boy scout salute. Incorrect.

"Being somewhat new to Scouting, I was curious as to why this event only occurs every four years? Someone mentioned that if you only get one shot at it, then you are going to go - ready or not. I assume the reason is fiscal, but would every three, or even two, years be totally out of the question?" putting on a Jamboree is a MASSIVE undertaking. Doing it more often is really out of the question. Jamborees, both National and World, occur about every 4 years. Keep in mind that people are working on the Jamboree 4-2 years out.

if you want to follow what's going on with the Sea Scout Booth at the Jamboree, check out our Facebook group: SeaScoutsatJamboree (one word). We have many photos uploaded and post updates to the wall.

"I've submitted forms for the council-level VLA to our DE over Venturing. She doesn't know how to submit this for final approval. Does anybody know the next step? Is there another form that needs to be submitted to National?" they are council awards, and the selection is handled at the council level, just like the DAM or Silver Beaver. As noted, get a group of Venturing youth and adults to review them. In one council, its pretty much been me making the selections, but I want to form a committee to do this going forward.

Someone already noted about the ac in barracks. Wifi has been spotty. Its been unreliable so far, and my tent in longstreet doesn't get very good reception. Our booth gets good reception, but we've seen the hotspots go down here. The Trading Post- well, this is why you should buy stuff in advance!!! I did, as it means less stuff to bring back. Only stuff I'm getting is new stuff they didn't have in the catalog. As to it being open early for the staff, keep in mind that the staff paid to be here, and we work hard and many of us won't get a lot of free time during the Jamboree.

If you want to follow what is happening at the Sea Scout booth at the 2010 National Scout Jamboree, go to Facebook and search for "seascoutsatjamboree" (one word). This is the official FB page for the booth. We are posting updates, events, and photos there. check it out.

The BSA has an agreement with PADI. Not sure how it works.

There are actually several 'scuba ships' out there. I know of one in my council (in Broward), and elsewhere.

"I believe Regional officers do hold a position on the Regional Committee though." The Region Chiefs are members of the Regional OA Committee and the National OA Committee. Hence, they wear gold loops and appropriate office patch. "Often times, a Lodge officer will hold a position within the Council, as here, we sit on the Council Committee and the Executive Board." The Lodge Chief should be on the Council Executive Board as a youth representative. Its not a hard & fast rule, so may not be so in some councils.

First off, check the forms. they tell you how many you can give out each year. For councils, its based on the number of crews. Keep in mind that you have 2 'pools' of awards, one for adults, one for youth. There is no requirement of giving x youth for x adult awards or such nonsense. If you have any awards 'left over' in a pool, you can't shift them over or hold them for the next year. Ok, as to your question. In one council, I'm pretty much in charge of them, and we try to give them out at our annual venturing event, else we do it at one of our council Venturing roundtables. I

That;s the smaller PH pin. Been around from day one. Personally, never liked to wear it as a replacment for the PH medal on the pocket.