allangr1024

I am glad to hear of this direction. I do not think that these MB events serve anyone very much, except in the case of earning a small badge, like finger printing, which can normally be done in one sitting anyway. Certainly Eagle Required badges should require effort, accomplishment, and skill or knowledge acquiring. When I see thirty scouts come out of a First Aid badge class with a signed blue card at the end of the day, I am pretty sure they will not know a lot about first aid by the next camp out. But they will receive a badge at the next COH. And I have seen scouts learn to "work

Some of the tents at our council camp do not have the straps to tie up the tent flaps any more. The tent straps tore away long ago and we will not see them again until the tent is replaced with a new one with buckles.

It is all about the gear. You should know that you have to insulate your underside, and equip yourself to do so. I have been using a hammock as an adult leader since 2007, and I have missed few camp outs, either winter or summer. For years I used my ground pad inside the hammock for insulation, with my 20 degree sleeping bag zipped open and draped over me. This year I started using a DIY under quilt attached to the outside bottom of the hammock, and that keeps me warm down to the 30's. I had to conclude back then that my tired old body could not handle being a ground dweller any long

I went to Philmont in 2005, and my pack started out at 35 pounds. Then they added 15 pounds of food and water. You are looking at a base weight of 20. Not hard to do these days, but you have to plan carefully and look at the gear you want to carry.

I really see the Scouting movement splintering, with each of the splinter groups going off and creating their own Scouting organizations. We saw this happen with Trail Life five years ago, and now we see the LDS groups going off to do their own program. That is already three Scouting groups out there, and the programs will be similar because the people who leave the BSA will still implement a program that they are familiar with. Who will be next? The Catholics? I hear that they have a program in the planning just waiting for an impetus to launch. What will that be? Further changes to BS

You know, even though the BSA has been trying to get us to stop using the term "Class A uniforms" and "Class B uniforms", and instead use terms like "Field Uniform", I rarely hear the sanctioned terms, and much more often hear about Class A's or Class B's. If there is such reluctance to change the usage of terms to refer to clothing, how much more so will there be resistance to talking about people and groups in terms that have been in use for generations. You are not going to find this change occurring unless the Scouts BSA enforcement division steps in and starts revoking peoples me

TLUSA, It is good to hear from you. In my area there are only 3 real TL troops, and they have been set up as either extensions of or replacements for the church youth ministry. The adults involved that I have met were part of a Cub Scout pack or were new BSA dads when the cut occurred, and don't seem to be as familiar with the BSA program as I would have thought. The area point man is a quiet guy who is the head of a troop at his local church, but is not that familiar youth leadership principles or the Patrol Method. I would expect there to be more TL troops in our area, as we in East

For all its hundred years of experience, the BSA seems to know almost nothing about marketing. We heard rumors since 2010 that soon there would be girls in the Boy Scouts. The folks at BSA headquarters have been thinking about fashioning the BSA after the English Scouting Association for some time. That means no membership limit due to sexual orientation, that means co-ed troops, that means Scouting groups for all the ages sub-grouped by age, that might mean more national control at the local level. But the marketing campaign was about "Family Scouting", implying that a parent could bring

In our district the scout meets with an Eagle project approval committee of three adult volunteer scouters. Youth protection is not a problem.

So here is a question we the adult scouters are throwing around right now. We are seeing that our older scouts are coming to fewer camping trips. Some have expressed to me (ASM) that they have done everything on camping trips there is to do, and they are boring. We do mostly car camping at local scout camps and at state parks in the area. I know that varying the types of camping trip will help, with doing some backpacking and water based traveling (canoes). But the PLC does not choose these kinds of things. So the Scoutmaster wants to require that all scouts holding an elected office

Hi Denise, To me, the most important aspect of Scouting is THE PATROL METHOD, followed closely by THE PATROL METHOD, and of course then followed by THE PATROL METHOD. Did you catch my drift? This is the easiest thing to say, but in many respects the hardest to implement and facilitate. But going back to Baden Powell and on through Green Bar Bill, this is the most important thing. I got some good stuff from Bill Hilcourts Scoutmaster Handbook from the 1930's and 1940's. There is a section at the beginning of the book that fairly well explains the subject. How do you start? The

You know, dkurtenbach, The BSA originally set up governance of the program in a diversified manner. They looked at the original setup of the country as a guide. In our country in 1800, the idea was that the most control was at the local level, so government that touched the lives of most people was in the hands of local, county, and state officials. The Federal Government was weak by design, having only a couple of tasks that it had to do, like defense, foreign policy, interstate trade, running Federal courts. Everything else, like roads, schools, police, water and mineral rights, property

I just found these in a google search: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/concerned-about-the-boy-scouts-there-are-catholic-alternatives https://troopsofsaintgeorge.org/

This has already been happening. Trail Life split off five years ago. The LDS church will make their own, and I bet it will follow the Trail Life model of sponsorship. I have read that the Catholics are considering putting together a Scouting type program for their constituents. The fracture has already begun.

When I get temporary patches, like Camporee patches or WOW patches, I take a hot glue gun and a 3 inch piece of leather shoe lace, and glue the ends of the lace on to the back of the patch, making a loop. This will allow you to button the patch to the pocket of the shirt. The patch hangs from the button, the same way that the plastic patch holders do. It acts like the Philmont patch, which hangs off the button the same way. I can change out the temporary patches in 5 seconds as the need arises. The glue does not harm the patch, and can be removed fairly easily if need be. I have found i

I have found that training is OK up to a point. I have been doing Scout Leader training since 1999, from fundamentals through Wood badge. Formal training can give you an understanding of the form of the organization, rules of the BSA, and familiarity of the scouting program. But when a man takes up the role of adult leadership, the training does not offer much. The leader really needs to read extensively ask advice of more experienced leaders in the district. And he needs to heed the lessons of experience. When I became a Scout leader, and later a Scoutmaster, I had been to the Leade

You could say that the Spirit Board is a tool for helping sign off on the Scout Spirit requirement for all ranks, and that involving the scouts in a decision making process is a worthy undertaking, but not if it can affect any scouts advancement. As @HelpfulTracks has pointed out, advancement is meant to be in the hands of the SM and ASM's, to be confirmed by a board of review made up of committee members. Any Scout Spirit issues that arise should be caught by these adult Scouters. As a committee member, I have had to address the behavior of scouts if it went against the Scout Oath and Law.

I think you will have to define the terms "requirement" and "Advancement Program". I do not see this as being a specifically redefined requirement. I do not hear the SM saying, "I require you to go on 3 10 mile hikes and build a lookout tower out of lashings before I will pass you off. " He is not even denying the scout a conference. He said "Come, I will be here." (BTW, I would not set this up this way, as there will always be exceptions to the circumstances this guy is envisioning.) Holding a conference may fall under the admonition to recognize advancement quickly, but that is not qua

I do not see this as a problem of the official scout program, or of scouting policy. This is a matter of scheduling (even if it is bad scheduling). The SM is offering scoutmaster conferences, only at a place and time of his own choosing. In our troop scouts meet with a specific person (SM), at a specific time (last monday of the month) and at a specific place (church meeting hall). This SM can say he is exercising his prerogative in how he implements the scout program. As far as the Unit Commissioner and the District Advancement Chair are concerned, these men are support personnel,

There is still something not being said here. Why do you think there is discrimination on the part of the committee members? Age? Gender? Political persuasion? Religious beliefs? Past behavior? Has there been ANY communication between this scout or his family and the leaders of the troop. This is not coming out of the blue. Tell us everything about the scout and the troop. There is an animosity here that is still unexplained.

I bought this battery: https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-CPAP-Battery-Standard-Kit/dp/B01H637L82/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1531240045&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=freedom%2Bbattery&smid=APZ6KY51K4CVC&th=1 So far it has worked well. I use a Hennessy Expedition Asym Zip hammock. It is ok. If I had to look at something else, I would look into the Warbonnet hammocks. They are pricey, so I would have to go for a used one. I have also made hammocks out of tablecloths from TableclothFactory.com. They have some crinkle taffeta tablecloths that make great DIY hammocks.

I have to use a CPAP too. I have a net suspended above my hammock with the CPAP and a battery with a 2 day charge. The hose reaches down from this net and into my hammock. I camped for years without it, due to lack of power, and sprang for the battery this March with some yearly bonus money. I had this setup at summer camp this year and slept very well. I never realized what a difference it makes. Sorry to hear about the gear failure. It happens to all of us. I went camping with a different troop a few years ago, and decided to use an extrawide Tablecloth hammock. I tied the ends

Buggie, I live in Tulsa, so I am very familiar with the weather conditions you mentioned. And, I LOVE Trappers Rendezvous. I have been there when it was 40 degrees, and when it was 4 degrees. With little in the way of a planned program, it is amazing how many people come. I camp in a camping hammock year round. This is on troop camp outs and private trips. I found 10 years ago that I could not sleep on the ground anymore, and alternatives like air mattress and cot seemed either too heavy or too prone to failure. I would seriously consider using a hammock when you go camping. W

I saw the dance thing happen at a camporee this past spring. It was planned and run by a team of Eagle scouts, with a theme of the Olympics. It was very well carried out, and at the ceremony on Saturday night, after the awards were passed out, we had an ice cream social. The team also brought DJ equipment and strobe lights and had a quarter of the dining hall set up as a disco. We had a lot of scouts get up after they finished ice cream, and try to boogie to the music. It was part of the program the older scouts came up with, and I think all the scouts liked it. I am not sure about the

I believe that the troop started using the worksheets in the past as a tool to help the scouts to prepare for the requirements that say "Discuss" or "Describe" or "Talk about". If you view these sheets as a tool then it makes sense. But of course, after the original visionary Scouter has retired from his role in the troop, behind him comes adult volunteers who were not privy to the reasoning behind the use of the worksheets as tools, and saw them as the fulfillment of requirements themselves. I think the attitude on the part of the adult Scouters is supposed to be "how can we help the scout