emb021

"Oh! where do we put our Totin' Chip? OA flap?" Youre Totin' Chip card goes where it always goes. In your wallet. If you mean your local, non-National Totin' Chip patch, it goes were it always goes: ON the right pocket like any other 'temporar insignia'. The pocket flaps look big enough for the OA flap. AND there is a button under the flap for dangles.

"Then, Add "Town" and "State" strips above the numerals. Add a "Council" Strip above the "Town" Then the PTB eliminated the "Town" and "State" strips and made the "Council" strip real pretty and prominent. ("Council" and Troop numerals") " Not quite. You had "Community" strips and "state" strips. (actually, the state strips came later). They didn't add a "Council" strip above the community strip, because then you'd have 3 strips. Instead they started to make a single large Council strip for JUST council/district scouters (and those boys on Jamboree contingent troops). Later, someone realize the pain and expense of maintaing stock of hundreds of community strips instead of just council strips, so they dropped the community strips. What as also a pain was that for a period of time, community and state strips were available in different colors for the different program uniforms: yellow on blue for Cubs, red on khaki for scouts, brown on green for Explorers, royal blue on sky blue for Air Scouts, navy blue on white and white on navy for Sea Scouts. (unit numbers, too!). So that was eliminated with just white on red community, state strips and numberals. And a little later, they allowed for the more colorful Council Should Patch (CSP).

Well, there's no hard and fast rule. It should be more of a percentage. The more youth, the more adults. Keep in mind also that there are different adult roles to fill. The issue is who is interacting with the boys. And are the adults doing the work that the youth should be doing? (the issue of the 'adult-run' vs the 'boy-run' troops). Not all adults should be dealing with the youth on a regular basis. People like your IH, COR, and troop committee are back ground support. Youth will not interact with them except at boards of review, meeting them at court of honors, or the occasional member who might help out at a troop event (ideally in the background). The adults who should mainly be working with the kids are the SM and the ASM. How many ASMs you need will depend on your size. 2-3 is fine, and may need more if you have more patrols. (also more would ensure that not every ASM has to be at every event...)

FWIW, many foreign scout associations use epaulets and shoulder loops. Usually the shoulder loops indicate the program you are in. I found it interesting that for the Russian scout association, they wear only ONE shoulder loop, based on the russian flag. The mexican scout uniform had epaulets, but they went from the sleeve seem DOWN, rather then up toward the neck.

"But I have to admit what I saw was a disappointment. First, did they listen to the boys? If they had they would have heard loud and clear, give us a Venture sytle uniform. These guys are more sophisticated than I think national gives them credit. They like the dark green plus the Venture uniform makes them feel less "dorky" or "cubby." If I could I would tell them all to buy a Venture uniform, strip off the Venture Scout emblem and sew the Boy Scout name on it. But I guess that is only a dream." First off, its "Venturing", not "Venture". Secondly, if you take away Venturing's uniform and give it to the boy scouts, what do the Venturers get??? There was a reason they gave the spruce green uniform to Explorers back in the 1940s... If your boys want to wear a Venturing uniform, join Venturing. Simple as that. Michael Brown

"I would have loved to see a nice cargo/millitary vest for the outdoors. You know, the waterproof ones with all the pockets? Those are very comfortable and are vary orginized." check out the latest catalog. They kind of have that: http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&c2=NEW&C3=&C4=&LV=2&item=24185&prodid=24185^8^01RTL& (get the catalog to see the vest: http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/images/pdfs/spring08catalog.pdf

FWIW, when the current uniform was rolled out, I didn't get it for awhile. I had to when I went to the 81 jamboree as a youth. After that, I pretty much used the new uniform. I would expect most people to do something similiar. You're going to have people run out and get the new uniform immediately, but also many who won't. And will still wear the current uniform for several more years.

"Let's see, we'll have Venturers with green shoulder loops, boy scouts with green shoulder loops, and boy scouts with red shoulder loops..... " No no no no! Venturers have SPRUCE green shoulder loops, boy scouts have FOREST green shoulder loops and RED shoulder loops. Totally different!

"There is no room for the Arrow of Light under the rank!" Current practice, I believe, is to wear it below the pocket. So there is room for it. "The sleeve pocket is pointless and will make sewing POR that much harder. I guess I'll have to just get use too it." True, but the pocket is more billowed, so it would be easier. It WILL ensure that people get those patches in the right place on the sleeve. But it means that CSP can't be the oversized ones that some council do for JSPs and SAPs. And there's no room for the veteran unit bars.

"Did it say/show any changes for the Cub uniform? " No. The flyer only shows the new Boy Scout uniform. It will be announced at the National Meeting and rolled out this fall. I've heard nothing about a new cub scout uniform, nor a new Venturing uniform. Maybe those will come in the few years? Considering that this new Boy Scout uniform uses forest green loops instead of red, how does this affect the Venturing uniform, which uses spruce green loops? And while white on red unit numbers don't look too good on the green Venturing uniform, the green/khaki numbers will look worse on both the green Venturing uniform AND the blue cub scout uniform!

"While I enjoy helping my main focus is the Troop. When looking for volunteers leave the SMS and ASM alone. Running a troop takes only 1 hour a week , right? Go to trhe Troop meetings and talk to the parents lining the room for volunteers. " Good advise, but which I seldom see followed. Personally I feel that those who are unit volunteers, especially key unit volunteers, should focus their time on their units. Instead, when looking for district/council volunteers, look for people who either don't have the time to be unit leaders (yes, they exist), or who want to move on from being unit leaders (ie, they want to pass on their position to others). But in my experience, the PTB too often look only at those still currently unit volunteers and ignore the others...

"Back in the day before numbered stars, I believe it was acceptable to wear an unnumbered star for every year of service." True. But unnumbered stars are very old. I think 20s and 30s or so. I recall seeing photos of James West with a row of 10 or so stars. They still had colored backings back then, but were colored cloth.

"One mo' ting. The stars are cumulative. So you if you have two years as a Cub Scout, you don't wear the 1 and the 2, you'd only wear the 2." Too true. I see this a lot with cub scouts, because their pack hands out service stars each year, and you see them with a 1 and a 2 and a 3 year stars. Also, people need to learn where they are worn. Not on the pocket flap. Not on the lapel. They are worn centered above the left pocket (or knot if you have them), with a certain amount of space between the backing and the pocket, and a certain amount of space between each star. This is all shown in the Insignia Guide, and I believe is also stated on the back of the service star card.

Service stars just indicate the years you been registered. Please note, that you MUST use the color backings. Attendence bars are a little different. I believe that its up to each unit to determine how they are awards, so that they can be used to indicate a minimum percentage of attendence.

FWIW. When I was a cub scout, packs pretty much shutdown during the summer. This was a big shock to me when I became a boy scout and my troop (and pretty much all troops) continued to meet and do stuff during the summer). Sure, you're going to have some boys gone for some times during the summer (I was), but you should have enought to do something. Since that time, cub scouts have been encouraged to do stuff during the summer (there are the 'summertime pack' awards to encourage this, there is cub scout day camp during the summer, etc). With boy scouts you have summer camp, troops doing their major trips, etc. I would think girl scouts would take advantage of this time as well.

All the info on Fire Exploring is here: http://www.learning-for-life.org/exploring/fire/index.html I believe there is a national conference for Fire Explorers, but not sure how often (2-3 years in between) or when the next one will be.

"Each and Every One of Us Is Loyal To the Rest of Us" Part of the OofF song. http://listserv.tcu.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind9504&L=scouts-l&P=126398 While I was 'inducted' in the group, it never was big in my section. Most of what I know is what I've read elsewhere. I do have a small brochure on it somewhere, along with a knot and flap. It was really big in the OA sections of georgia and the carolinas, especially in what's known as the 'Dixie Fellowship'.

Not sure about on-line sources. He has a autobiography (Hardly a Man is Now alive), and there are a couple of 'kid' books on him and his life. Also, several of his books are still in print. David Godine Press has his American Boy's Handy Book, Field and Forest Handbook, and Book of Camp-Lore and Woodcraft. Dover and others have several other works of his still in print such as Outdoor Handy Book, Shelters Shacks and Shanties, and Boat Building and Boating. Also in print is his sisters' book American Girls Handy Book. There are several others of his books I hope will be brought back into print. Be nice to see a new bio of him (Seton has 2-3 currently still in print). One story I recall about him is that he picked up an idea from Mark Twain (he illustrated his "Connecticut Yankee"). Twain, to 'stand out', would wear white suits. Beard would do the same, but would instead wear white buckskin.

The link to the canadian site has nothing to do with the OotF that I know of. The Order is a silly group that exists in some councils/lodges in the south, mainly in Georgia and the Carolinas. It has nothing to do with recognizing people who are good cooks. AFAIK, its just meant to be a silly group within the OA. You also have to be inducted into the group by other members of the group, usually at a sectional event or the like. When my section was enlarged to include several Georgia lodges, they tried to continue OotF stuff at our Sectional events. It didn't get too far... There motto is "EAEOOS ILTTROU".

blade & OGE- Well, I don't have a Silver Beaver or a DAM. Do I do the work I do to get those? Not really. Would I like to be recognized with one of them? Sure. But its not something that I really think about. IMO, most of the people who deserve and get such recognition appreciate it, but getting these is not their ultimate goal.

Your suggestion on chapters is good. That is how its done in many lodges. Be advised that it WILL take some time to get these chapters up and running. You are putting something in place that really hasn't existed. In some lodges, the chapters are working well and have been for some time. In some lodges, some chapters are working, others are not. Good leadership at the chapter level is a must. Most chapters meet at the same time and place as the monthly district roundtables. As to the LEC, unless its defined in your Bylaws (sorry, Lodge Rules), its not usual for committee chairs to be members of an executive board. The exec board should be your elected officers (C, VCA, VCO, Secretary, Treasurer, Historian, Chapter Chiefs) and their advisors. Quorum, btw, is defined by each organization, and should be the number of people who would normally be at a meeting. You never want to set quorum such that you can't met it, because you really can't have a meeting if you don't have quorum. Your VCA and VCO each should be chairing a committee. You don't mention what these 20 some committee do. I find it strange that you would need so many. And if they have only 1 real member, what, if any are they doing?? I would also suggest looking at these committees and seeing if you really need them all or if some can be dropped or merged. As to frequency of meeting, most lodges LECs meet monthly. There is just too much going on to leave a 3 month gap in between.

"Someplace in the official literature there is a comment that if a Scout transfers into BSA from another country's Scout association, there is a process by which he can be given credit for what he's done. So if he's reached 1st Class in Freedonia, if the requirements are similar, he can be directly promoted to 1st Class here." This is covered in the Advancement Committee Guidebook. Scouts from another WOSM-recognized country can join the BSA, and get credit for their work. They need to bring all records about what they have done, and this is reviewed to see what equivalent BSA awards, including ranks, they have met. They can NOT be given Eagle Scout, but can be advanced as high as Life Scout, and can then earn what is necessary to get Eagle.

"I think I know now why the local districts have trouble finding good help. After a while, a person gets tired of holding up their hand and saying, "I'm here and willing to help. Let me know what you want me to do." I'm tired of volunteering and no one let's me help. I shouldn't have to beg to become a volunteer. " :\ : I've made the same observation, both in-person and on-line several years ago. (I even used the same allusions of raising your hand and volunteering). It seems like you almost have to be a pest of yourself to get accepted as a volunteer, unless you have, somehow, built a 'rep' as a volunteer such that they ask you.

Well, in one council I am in, they are already looking for candidates for Jamboree SM/ASMs, with a due day of May 15, with announcements of who is choicen in June. Another council I know of has already set down the contingent costs. So a lot of councils are quickly ramping up for the jamboree in terms of costs/leadership. Am sure there will be a big push come this fall to get signups.

"when I clicked on the link in GNXguy's first post a user name and password screen came up. Does this mean that the jambo site just isn't online right now, or that in order to access it I will need to get some mystical password (and how do I do that)? " The Jamboree website has been taken down. I can only assume it being put on-line might have been someone jumping the gun, and they took it down (or password protected it). I would hope whatever reasons for this were will be resolved and it will be back up, hopefully with the on-line registration system a go.