emb021

Will also be part of the Sea Scout booth!

"I'm beginning to think it's not the Rank of Eagle which is the problem, but the perception, expectations and emphasis placed on it as something which it was never intended to be. It's not the holy grail of Scouts, it is just another rank, the last one which one can attain." I have to agree. And I think this is something that has happened more in recent years (ie, last 10-20 years or so). I don't recall this in my youth as a scout. Some people get WAAAAYY too worked up about Eagle Scouts more so then other aspects of scouting, and I think it overshadows things. Heck, I get shocked when I say that we need to recognize OTHER high achievements in Scouting, like the Venturing Silver and Sea Scout Quartermaster, and I get verbally attacked because I have 'dared' to 'put down the rank of Eagle Scout', as if recognizing these award recipients lowers the importance of Eagle Scout.

Actually, this SOD group reminds me of a similiar group in my old home council called the "Broke Back Dogs". Basically, a group of scouters who, amoung other things, now run their own annual camporee: the BBD Challenge. Here is their website: http://www.brokebackdog.com/ Several scouter friend of mind are involved in it, several don't want anything to do with it. My view when I was still going back for training events at my home council was that if they asked me to join, I'd consider it. I was never asked. Whatever.

"I thought Heart of America also had a Lodge, and they run both programs?" Yes, HOAC has both OA and Tribe of Mic-o-Say. Each exist at separate camps in the council. The Tribes at Pony Express & HOAC are considered the 'mother tribes' of Mic-O-Say, and own all the rights to the name/program.

"I know of one council that doesn't have OA -- they have their own honor society that reports to the SE and that's it." there are actually 2 councils that don't have OA. Long Beach California has Tribe of Tahquitz and Pony Express Council has Tribe of Mic-O-Say.

"And I'm guessing that Indiana Jones wasn't a Life Scout after-all in the third Indy movie, huh? Harrison Ford was a Life Scout. That's why Spielberg made Indie a Life. Ford was also a merit badge counselor for reptiles " And Spielberg is an Eagle Scout (a Distinguished Eagle Scout also), and helped the BSA develop the Cinematography MB. He was involved with the Jamboree show during the year they rolled it out.

"How do you go about making a suggestion to national about a centennial award? It's only five years away so it may already be too late to get something done by then." Am sure the National OA Committee is already thinking of centennial plans, including any awards. If you're that concerned about it, speak with your sectional leadership, as they would be in contact with the National Committee.

We've had the 50th & 60th Anniversary Awards, which were patches. We've had the 75th Anniversary Award, which was a special ribbon. In the last 10 years, we had 2 additional ribbon awards (each could be earned annually during a 3 year period). Am sure we'll see a 100th Anniversary Award. What form it takes would be the question. moosetracker- I guess you don't know that in many lodges, a dirty sash is a sign of a hard worker. Those with clean sashes obviously aren't out there working. And one can always get a new sash. I've had several over the years. Or get one of those plastic sleeves that some people get.

Problem with the Air Scout program (its not "Air Scouts of America") was that it was a PRE-flight program. Flying was never a part of the program. And that turned off many youth, who joined CAP.

"Collarless shirt was one of the dorkiest outer garments ever made." It was only dorky if you didn't wear a neckerchief. If you were going to wear a neckerchief, its better then a collared shirt. But since I don't like neckerchiefs, I like collared shirts, which I always wore with a bolo tie (for years an old SE Region one I got at the 81 jamboree), until I got my beads. No disagreement on the red beret. Since it was near impossible to get them to look like the cool berets we saw in the movies, AND they don't keep the sun off your face (a must in my area), we hated them. The 'stake in the heart' for me with the red beret was seeing some overweight female scouter wear it like it was a french beret...

Ideally, the committee meetings should be open. But people need to keep in mind that the only ones who should be talking/discussing stuff are the members of the committee. Any non-committee members there are there either to just observe or to provide information. (same thing is done by most groups, including those within the BSA like LEC and Council of Chiefs meetings) If the committee feels they need to discuss something in private, the proper way would be to go into 'executive session' for that discussion, which means that any non-members need to leave the meeting room. Once this is done, executive session should end and everyone can come back it.

AFAIK, the only courses they are planning to put on-line is the leader specific training courses. I don't believe they are going to put the OLS course on-line. Personally, I don't like the idea of the leader specific courses being put on-line. Have someone actually TEACHING this course, and ensuring people understand what they are taught is important.

"Gee BDPTOO "Thanks for shooting down an idea to help the youth so quickly. We are just looking to offer something to the youth that they might be able to use back in their troop." Sorry, but I have to agree with BDPT00. There is a reason why the NYLT, NAYLE, and WB syllabi are restricted. You would be better off following the excellent advise from Makaking and Eagle92.

"Since you are THE MAN with reference to Venturing, do you know which trained strip is suppose to be worn?" red & gold trained strip for Venturing. Somehow this is overlooked by some who think the red & gold is only for Cub Scout leaders (why, I have no idea, since the Cub Scouts don't wear trained strips, and the leaders will be in tan, like Boy Scout leaders). "Also do you know if they will eb coming out with a green and white trained strip like I've seen in the unofficial catagory, but works alot better than the tan and red?" Never? I really don't expect them to do this. They refuse to come out with knots on spruce green and THEN go after the people who do make knots on spruce green.

""Its a bad idea to just accept the whole slate of nominees in one swope." " "I agree 100%, but have been told this is the way that the BSA wants it done. " Yes, am aware its how the BSA wants it done. Yet another (IMO) negative legacy of James West. Problem is is that some people think the purpose of a NomCom is to find the orgs next leaders, which the membership just 'signing off' on them by voting them in en mass. Then you have the people who think that there is just something WRONG about voting for anyone OTHER then those put forth by the NomCom.

Probably because the PACK picks up the ribbons and distributes them to the Dens who earned them??

Also, to make it possible to put the trained patch ON the sleeve pocket flap, they shrank the patch. For Boy Scouts and leaders, they should be wearing the tan & olive trained patch. For Cub Scout leaders and those in Venturing, should be wearing the red-gold trained patch.

NOPE. The 'full pocket patches' is actually a fairly recent phenom. Originally, lodges just did a NOAC flap. Then, a few NOACs back, some lodges started doing 2-piece NOAC sets (flap & full pocket patches). I think before that, some lodges were doing 2-pieces, but the patch wasn't a 'full pocket'. Keep in mind that for most people, if you do a 'full pocket patch', its intended to go with the flap. So doing a full pocket patch event patch, what particular lodge flap will it go with???

"Also, Annual meeting???? Does your district committee only meet as a whole once a year, or is this talking about a specific meeting?" Most organizations who meet regularly, (say monthly or weekly) will have an Annual Meeting, which is a particular meeting (meeting in month X, specific meeting in month X) in which a major part of the meeting is the annual elections. Hence, if you use a nomination committee, it must be organized before hand, make their report prior, and elections held at the Annual Meeting. Standard purpose of a Nominating Committee is to ensure a complete slate of candidates. They will typically interview people and select those whom they feel will be serve the organization. Yes, people can put themselves forth to the nominating committee as being interesting in certain positions. Ideally, organizations should STILL allow for nominations from the floor for additional candidates (a NomCom is not infallible, and there may be others who wish to run, but were passed over). All nominees should then be voted on. Its a bad idea to just accept the whole slate of nominees in one swope. Best to put it to a vote for each position, or if you are trying to fill a number of slots, have people vote for a certain number and those who get the most, get the positions.

News to me, and I know our Regional Commodore, who is part of the National Sea Scout Support Committee. When they came out with the current SSM (10th edition) they made some radical (IMO) changes to the uniforms. This occured around 2002. Now, I have heard that a new edition of the SSM is coming out real soon, so don't know what changes they might make to the uniform. I don't agree with a lot of the changes they made, and would prefer they reversed some of their changes, but really don't know. Heard nothing mentioned on the national Sea Scout email list. Michael Brown

"Do any of you engage in cultural studies and informational classes/demos and Pow Wows with local nations?" This would depend on both the availablilty of this in your area, as well as the interests of the scouts. In my area, the local nations really don't do much in the way of cultural studies/classes or the like. What has happened is due to some members of the tribes getting interested in this thru local reenactments, many times meeting up with Arrowmen also interesting in this, and some good crossover involvement. When it comes to Pow wows, most of the cultural stuff is more centered around the standard dance styles seen at Pow wows, which isn't native to our state, and less on teaching local cultural studies. Now, what I do see is that those scouters (and some scouts) do really get into this area. They are the ones doing the research, meeting people who are knowledgable (both native and non), going to events, etc. Ideally, these are then the ones who present classes at lodge/sectional events (and hopefully at NOAC and such), and bring this info to the scouts/scouters interested, but not as hard core.

Yeah, but what about the people who will now think that since they DID pay that $10 admission fee, that they are now entitled to participate in the activities...

"emb021 said "not to mention all the First Class Anchors on the collar and hat" "emb021, actually you are not supposed to have any insignia on the white hat at all. " sailingpj- its a bit confusing to quote something posted over 2 years ago. Yes, the SSM says the 'dixie cup' hat is to have no insignia. Yet another area that the current leadership has changed, as from the early days of Sea Scouting, you must certainly wore the small sea scout insignia (aka the 'bug') on the front of the cap. Again, to avoid confusion with navy personnel. Many traditional sea scout leaders still put the patch there...

Both Explorers and Air Scouts wore ties in the 1940s, 50s, and beyond. In fact, there were different color ties they wore depending on their uniform. For Explorers, they wore brown ties with the green uniform, maroon ties with the khaki uniform (which they wore in the 40s). Adults, btw, wore khaki ties. Explorers wore a red/white/blue tie with the blazer uniform of the 60s. Air Scouts wore royal blue ties with their sky blue uniforms.

Its just a recommendation. I've always had a footlocker at Jambo. It IS simple, and why ship it?? I bring it on the plane like any other checked luggage. I now use plastic footlockers, and am planning on getting one that has wheels on it for about $40 at the local Container Store. (tho I'll double check to make sure the size is ok for my airline) http://www.containerstore.com/shop/madeintheUSA/travel?Ntt=foot+locker&productId=10004100 If you've use duffles in the past, go with that.