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ScoutersMom, welcome to the Forums. Based just on what you've written here, its hard to know why "another leader from another pack" would think you may be out of compliance with Cub camping requirements. Its usually best to go right back to the source (i.e., the Scouter who raised the question) and ask them to show you in black and white why they think you might be out of compliance. The best we can do is guess at her reasoning; but only she can answer that. Once she gives you her answer, we can certainly opine as to whether or not we agree with her. But short of an answer from he

I know I've posted this before, but one of my pet peeves is when person A tells person B something, then B goes to person C (manytimes C is this Forum) and asks "A told me such-and-so; is he (or she) right?" Its not our job to prove A right or wrong -- if A puts forth a position, then its up to A to prove it. I've been chided when bringing this up as not being responsive to B's question. Suppose A makes a claim for something that doesn't exist, then no amount of googling by C (i.e., us) will ever find it. When do you give up looking for something that doesn't exist, but you don't k

What a tragic loss. I will indeed keep them in my prayers.

John, sadly I won't be at PTC this summer. I have one week scheduled for family vacation and another to be a camp commissioner at our council's summer camp -- I doubt if my boss would let me take a third! Enjoy your week.

John -- my apologies. I see now you were replying to GernB not me.

John, were you responding to my question to Nick about being "forced" to participate in "those rites"? I'm not sure what you are alluding to with your somewhat vague references to Bear achievements 1 and 2. Bear achievement 1a states under the Character Connection for Faith, "Practice YOUR FAITH" (emphasis added) Achievement 1b states: "Make a list of things you can do this week to practice YOUR RELIGION" Bear achievement 2 states: "Earn the religious emblem of YOUR FAITH" So what exactly does practicing your own faith have to do with Nick's statement about "forced" to par

Sounds to me like you have it covered -- and it sounds like it will be a fun campout.

MarkS: the whole point in going to BALOO is to learn to plan & conduct a pack family campout in accordance with BSA guidelines. If you let a non-BALOO trained person do the planning & organizing, what's the point of sending anyone to BALOO? So they can go along on a campout they didn't plan? The risk of having a non-BALOO trained person plan & organize the campout is that they will inadvertently plan or do something not in accordance with BSA policies. After all, isn't that why you send a person to get BALOO-trained in the first place? Here's a quote from the Cub S

Nick, like I told John, sometime my thick skull misses things -- can you point me to where the Interfaith syllabus (or ANYTHING in Scouting for that matter) "forces" anyone to participate in "those rites"?

I posted this article to illustrate an example of a group that chose to form their own Scouting organization, rather than trying to sue BSA to bend to its will. American Girls is another example of an organization formed as an alternative to Girl Scouts, and did not try to reform Girl Scouts into their own image. One wonders why other critics of BSA can't do the same . . .

Pagan Scouts http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=6124046 5/6/2008 Fresno, CA (KFSN) -- A scouting organization founded by Pagans is opening a chapter in the Central Valley. The local troop leader of Spiral Scouts says it's dedicated to reverence for nature and religious tolerance. Beckie Tetrault says for her son and daughter it's an alternative to Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. She says, "Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts tend to separate boys and girls and I wanted them to be able to scout together." The other issue for Tetrault is religion. While Girl Scout

[sctDad, I don't mean to criticize, but if you're going to post a Cub Scout question and assume we all know it's about Cub Scouts, it would help if you posted the question to the Cub Scout forum. Most of us think of "Camping & High Adventure" as a forum for Boy Scouts and Venturers and some responded accordingly to your question.] Having said that, as others have said, most of the "duties" for a Cub Scout family camp belong to each family. If there are common elements (campfire, for example), that's probably best left to the pack leaders and others experienced with campfire building

Again, I haven't seen it first-hand (and apparently, neither has everyone else), but I don't think the intent is to make the boys necessarily advance any faster -- I think the intent is to make the DL's job easier in terms of planning den meetings. Given the constant complaints I read here and elsewhere re: how the current training syllabus doesn't teach DLs how to actually plan & run a den meeting, I think (like I said earlier) that this sounds like just another step in an ongoing evolution: from written program helps to den meetings in a box to fast track online planning tools.

Remember that pack family camping is car camping -- the campsite s/b close enough to "civilization" so that families can make a run to the local Wal-Mart for anything they might've forgotten. Cub Packs don't "rough-it" when they camp, at least not in my experience. The purpose of the camp is to make it fun for the families, not to teach wilderness survival. With that in mind, you should look for public campsites with running water (and all the other BALOO criteria) that are within a relatively easy drive for the families. As others have said, less than 2-3 hours is a good guide.

Another possibility for disaster preparedness / disaster response training is your local CERT (Community Emergency Response Team). Not all communities have a CERT, but if yours does, you might contact them to see what they can do for you.

John, you know me, I guess I'm just dense so you'll have to lay it out for me. You object to the online syllabus -- I get that. You object to interfaith services -- I get that. What I don't get is this: what EXACTLY does your troop do during your campouts to observe the 12th point? Or do you have issues with your own troop as well? Not trying to be argumentative -- just seeking to understand. And I note for the record that it is far easier to criticize than it is to offer a constructive alternative . . .

Well, I haven"t seen it yet, so I will withhold judgment on it. But this should come as no surprise: we"ve had Program Helps for years, and for some DLs that wasn"t enough. So a year or two ago, National started putting out a "Den Meeting in a Box" every month. Now we have online program planning and tools. Seems to be the logical next step in an evolution that"s been going on for some time now . . .

I wonder if they represent the same lineage? Was the USS Scout named after the Boy Scouts? I think we can safely assume that was the case for the USS Boy Scout. I note there have have been several ships named USS Scout, but find record of only one named USS Boy Scout.

I was not a Boy Scout, so only recently became an adult OA member. I get a newsletter and pay my dues with my recharter. Its unfortunate that some lodges don't send a newsletter -- I think its one of the requirements for quality lodge. Ask your DE to find out who your chapter advisor is then bend his (or her) ear at the next RT.

Bob, unless you can write an interfaith service that is guaranteed to be non-offensive to all Scouters, then it seems to me just good planning to consider what you might say in the event the interfaith service does in fact offend someone. Or are you seriously suggesting that it is possible to write such a guaranteed non-offensive service and the syllabus should reflect that by ignoring even the possibility that someone could be offended?

John, I understand where you're coming from -- did you also take offense at the interfaith worship service during your WB course? Because that service was written by the chaplain aids using guidelines very similar to these. I don't understand why they had to change the name from "Scout's Own", but other than that, I have no problem with the concept of a spiritual gathering that is not faith-specific.

(I saw this posted on scouter-t) Conducting an Interfaith Service http://tinyurl.com/3rezc6 The purpose of this one-hour course is to teach Boy Scout leaders and Boy Scouts how to conduct a simple interfaith worship service at camp, on the trail, or during other outings. When we conduct Scouting activities, it is important that we call attention to a Scouts Duty to God through prayer at meal times and at other appropriate occasions. [excerpted]

erickelly65: IANAL (and not trying to hijack another thread) but I think there's much more involved in properly using BSA logos and trademarks than simply indicating that you are using a trademarked image. License fees, for example. When some (authorized) third-party mass produces a bunch of Scouting patches, you think they get to keep all the revenue from sales of those patches just because they put a or on them? If they are following the rules (and most companies pay their attorneys a lot of money to keep them out of trouble), then some of that money flows back to BSA in the form of

Also, budgets being what they are, I can certainly understand a family decision to keep their Webelos Scout in blue, especially if the shirt still fits. Some want to go to tan as soon as possible, thinking they will need to change only a few patches when the boy bridges (especially if pack and troop share the same unit number). But parents should keep in mind that the tan shirt will be worn for 3-4-5 years, and that the shirt that fit when the Webelos was in the 4th grade will be very tight by the time they age out of the troop as high schoolers. So some families delay the purchase

I would also urge that any Scout taking on a service project for purposes of satisfying rank advancement, not to assume that the SM will approve his hours of service. The Scout should secure his SM's approval before starting any service project. I was at a district camporee a couple of years ago, when the DE asked several Scouts to help set up and put away chairs for an OA Dance Team show. To incent the boys, he said they'd get service credit for it. In total, the Scouts put in about an hour of work each (probably a dozen boys from various troops). I know of at least one SM who re