Exibar

Why are the critters ordered in this way? Beaver, Bobwhite, Eagle, Fox, Owl, Bear, Buffalo, and Antelope thanks! Mike B

LOL, found my answer: http://usscouts.org/advance/boyscout/bsrank8.asp it's better worded there than in the handbook.... ;-) thanks all! Mike B

ok, so I have a scout that just finished his Eagle project. He has earned 47 Merit badges in the past 5 years. What's the deal with the Palms? I know that for a total of 26 he gets Bronze, 31 he gets gold, 36 he gets Silver, 41 he gets another bronze, and for 46 he gets another silver. am I correct in saying that 3 months after his EBOR he'll earn Bronze, then another 3 months after that he'll earn gold and so forth? Or is it just 3 months after his ebor that he earns all his palms? sorry the book is slightly confusing in the time department about palms and I want to make sur

The staff for my WB course was great other than this one piece after TGOL. They got half way through the "lecture" before they calmed down and started speaking to us instead of lecturing. I chalk it up to them being so wound up during the game, that they didn't have time to calm down... I still say that TGOL sends the wrong message. I got out of it that during the meetings between rounds that we were supposed to agree to all do the same, but then do what would give us the most points.... I for one wouldn't agree to something that I wasn't going to do, as did most patrols in my

the game of life was interesting. During the middle of it my patrol and other patrols "got it", meaning we understood what we had to do to win.... although, if all the patrols agreed to the same thing, we'd all get the same score and it would all be a tie I had to mention, there would be no winner.... But agree we did, and we went on to the end of the game.... It ended rather abruptly, with the SPL almost yelling at us and we felt like we were in trouble for playing the way we did. I didn't like that part, because the way we all played was the expected way to play.... The end, all

just time for a quickie reply: The event happened about a month ago, I should have put that this was the worse thing that happened to him in the past year. Kids judge a year as school years :-) His mom was upset, and it appeared that the CM was going to handle it, but nothing actually was followed through. It happened at a Pack event, one witness that saw the end of the fight. No medical treatment needed, but the scout was crying, and did not provoke the attack. I have no doubt that this part is true after talking with the scout, and a couple other scouts that were around s

Forgive me it's been a while since I was cubmaster and I don't want to be fuzzy on this particular item. Being Scoutmaster I have many different options available that can be done if I had this situation. What is BSA's current policy on Cubs that get into a fight? The local pack had an incident where one cub "beatup" another cub, and then lied about it, never apologized, his mother never did anything after the cubmaster brought it to her attention, etc. The current cubmaster contacted the "attacker's" mother and wanted her son to write a letter of apology, this never happened, nor di

happiness is... hearing my son and Daughter laugh at my silly jokes (for some reason I just crack them up!) coming home after a hard day at work to my family Being Scoutmaster to my son's troop, teaching the scouts scoutcraft and giving them the chance to do things they never would have dreamed possible or have been able to do otherwise... not having to discipline any scouts on a weekend trip (yes, it actually happened once!) Mike B

yes, this is exactly what I'll do if there's a next time. "The one thing i would have done differently, and might have changed everything is if you asked the "thief" to think about it and that they had 24 hours to come forward to you privately OR that they could talk to the PL or SPL in the same confidence and without fear of repercussion while in the field. " I guess if no-one comes foward there's a problem. I'd just have to keep it in the back of my head among the cobwebs and keep an eye out in the future... But, no-one other than the culpret and myself would knwo that they did

Wow Scoutnut many questions ;-) The extra cans were just that, extra that I brought. I like to have little games around the campfire, I usually bring some treats that I'll pack in. Usually it's a big bag of candy/lollypops/etc. I was going to use the extras in that manner. This Backpacking trip each participant was accountable for their own supplies, including food. Usually it's by patrols, but this trip was the first that the troop did that was an honest backpacking trip. Each boy packed in their own gear, and was responsible for themselves. They would have been allowed t

Hi All, Thank you for the replies. A mixed bag for sure, but the general theme among the majority is that having a discussion with the boys and perhaps the early bedtime would have been enough. I made for sure that the cans were not misplaced beforehand, and that none of the 4 adults present took one. The last thing I wanted was to accuse the boys of taking them and have them come up simply misplaced. I have to say that discipline of the scouts is my *very* least favorite part of being a ScoutMaster. It's always the boys that come from homes where they're allowed to run

On a recent backpacking trip my scouts and I (I'm SM of the troop) had a great time. Until it came time for the special treat I had planned for them. ahead of time my CC and myself brought in a dutch oven and some fixins for Mountain Dew Cobbler with blueberry filling. This was going to be the cracker barrel treat for the day. Well, we were going to make two cobblers and we brought in a number of soda cans for the cobblers. After having the troop share the first one, I went off to make the second one, about 20 minutes after the first... I notice there were only 2 cans of soda left out

I have to say that I'm proud to wear my 2 knots and my training patch&segments. I worked many years trying my darnedest to provide a sound program to my scouts. I tell my scouts to wear anything that they've earned and be proud of it, because the earned it. I've earned my knots and training patches as well, dare I say that I'm proud to wear them? I'm also proud to wear my woodbadge training necker. My scouts see me wearing the proper uniform as their Scoutmaster, it makes them want to wear their uniform correctly and proudly too. I think that I may also want the scouts par

Even my DE can't find any records for anyone in the district. Who is this mysterious "staff advisor"? thanks! Mike B

Ahh, thank you for clearing that up for me. This scout said that his stuff was going to be mailed to me, that sent up a red flag as it sure sounded odd that the scout didnt' receive any paperwork at all. I'll check Scoutnet, and see if anything new is there. I'll ask my DE if I dont' see anything online. thanks! Mike B(This message has been edited by exibar)

I had a scout asking about the merit badges that he completed at Jamboree 2010. He said that the completions would be mailed to me. This is the first I've heard about this, anyone have any information about this? thanks all! Mike b

My Buffalo patrol yell was: "Yabba-Dabba-Doo" which was first heard by our ancestors back in a little town called Bedrock in Bowling allies and Lodge halls. Our Buffalo roots go way back to the original "Loyal order of the Water Buffalos". Today we've shortened our name to "Buffalo Patrol" and our yell is in honor of one of the original members of that Lodge! :-) Mike B I used to be a Buffalo

Am I the only one here? Boy I am part of a rare heard aren't i? I used to be an Buffalo and a good old Buffalo too, But now I've finished Buffaloing I don't know what to do, I'm growing old and feeble And I can Buffalo no more, So I'm going to work my ticket if I can. Back to Gilwell, Happy Land! I'm going to work my ticket if I can. NE-I-270 Mike B

I just had my first weekend of WB too! I used to be a Buffalo, and a good old Buffalo too.... NE-I-270 My 2nd weekend is Columbus day weekend, looking forward to it quite a bit! Mike B

Would it be unreasonable to expect a star or a life scout to remember how to tie taught line hitches, clove hitches, or how to lash poles together? How about ? I completely understand that some things slip the mind of everyone, but what if one of your higher ranked scouts appeared as if he never learned how to lash poles together? or if he clearly does not know how to tie a clove hitch at all, even after seeing someone else tie one? What if there were a couple other items that you've observed that he couldn't do but should be able to do at his rank? Of course we'd all give

I'm very glad to see the majority of you feeling the way I feel. When I took over the troop about 5 months ago, and we had our first campout (the troops first actual, real, honest to goodness PATROL campout too BTW). I declared at the end of a troop meeting while parents were waitinf to pick up their boys, that: "parents are strongly discouraged from camping out. Not prohibited, but strongly discouraged. This is not family camping this is BOY SCOUT camping as patrols! If you parents MUST camp out, you will of course be allowed. BUT! You will camp out as a member of "the Old Goat

Here's an old and new topic. simply, how much parent participation should a troop have? How much is too much and more importantly, how much would be too little? I'm ScoutMaster and Frankly, I've discouraged my parents from camping with us, they'll just be hovering over their kids. I've always felt that those parents that want to be involved are already signed up as a Committee member or ASM. Those that don't want to be involved, aren't signed up and generally drop their kids off at the meetings and pick them up. I would rather NOT force participation from parents that don'

Even though the Whittlin-chip is not a BoyScout program, it is still an earned item. They went through the tests and trials to earn the right to carry a pocket knife, I do not deny any of my BoyScouts the right to carry a pocket knife if they've earned the whittlin-chip as a cub. Now if they want to use an axe, saw, etc then they must have the Totin' Chip. Aren't ALL BoyScouts allowed to carry a pocket knife right away anyway? I could have sworn I saw that somewhere that the Scout rank allows you to carry a pocket knife... Regardless, in my Troop I don't allow anyone to ca

Would "Wild Cheese-Moose hunt" qualify as a song? It's certainly fun to do and gets the audience involved for sure :-) Going on a wild Cheese-Moose Hunt! Mike B

About a month ago a nearby troop volunteered (well agreed when asked ) to help put on our Crossover ceremony for our WebII's that were crossing over. I was CM at the time and my wife was web II DL. She wanted to do something special for crossover for her boys and talked with the SM of a nearby troop that usually puts on a great Crossover ceremony. They have also put on this ceremony for many other packs in the area. Well, This was going to be my last year as CM as I was becoming SM of the troop my son and the rest of the web II's were crossing over into. I just love great productions