Frank17

Same sort of result for our Troop: 60 boys in the Troop, about 40-45 attend meeting during school year, only 10-15 attended summer meeting events. This was the first year we attempted a Summer program (other than Summer Camps/ high adventure trips), so I count it a qualified success. I had fun along with my son, so the rest is a bonus.

Philmont just published the 2012 planning guide this week on their website. Take a look at the gear listed at the back; tents are provided by the camp. I did not see any regulations about bringing your own, but it looks like there is no need to purchase one if you do not want to.

Please also do not forget that zinc is a macronutrient, and is a necessary part of our diets in order to survive. It is not like lead or mercury which are automatic toxins to our bodies. In the U.S., the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is 8 mg/day for women and 11 mg/day for men. Red meats, especially beef, lamb and liver have some of the highest concentrations of zinc in food. The minor amount that leaches out of buckets into cleaniung water that then is used to wash dishes is minor. Also came across an EXTREME case of zinc poisoning while looking this up, involving ingesting 461

"The controversy as to allowing parents to observe the ordeal and ceremonies is one of fairly recent origin and one of great concern to every OA leader and member." Completely the opposite here. As a parent and an OA member, I do not see the issue with allowing a proud parent to silently observe the ceremony, without photos or video. Allowing a scout to progress on their own can still occur simultaneously with adult observations. Is that not what "boy led" is all about? I have challenged many "ceremony guardian" adults in our area and have never gotten a satisfactory answer other than

Our sister Troop has one, and they seem to love it. That being said, they do almost constant fundraising to help defray the costs. Aluminum collections, hoagie sales, plant sales, etc. They also have a dedicated group of ASMs and parents who were willing to get CDL licenses and training to be able to drive the bus. It is expensive, but works well for them. The biggest cost I see is not financial, but time needed. They use their bus for every summer high adventure trip they take, which adds 2 to 4 days traveling each way to the trip times. As a result, the adult leaders have to burn

I would agree with the others; it will depend on how it is written up & presented. As a reviewer in our district, I can tell you some of the pitfalls: 1. Make sure it is of sufficient scope that leadership can be shown. It is hard to tell from what you listed whether this is a multi-day or multi-hour project. 2. Make sure your write up stays away from mentioning regular maintenance or repairs. This project sounds more like improvement / rahabilitation to me, but others may see it as more routine repairs, which are not allowed. 3. Doing a project for your chartering organizatio

It depends entirely on the MB, the scout(s), and the MB counselor. Some MBs take months to do based on their minimum requirements; others can be knocked out in a few hours based on their maximum requirements. Most scouts want to accomplish the maximum amount in the minumum time; occasionally you will run into one that has a genuine interest / passion for the topic and who will want to learn more. That is rare, especially for the Eagle required ones IMHO. So that leaves the counselor, which is one of my pet peeves. The counselor should be trained, experienced, AND ENTHUSIASTIC abo

Weekend backpacking: Usually 2X per year Day hikes: Usually 6-8 per year, minimum Week-long+ backpack trips: Usually once per year in summer

We carry, and use, sheath knives all the time in our region. They are called cooking or fillet knives, and are in each and every one of our council camp's patrol boxes, our troop's patrol boxes, and in many of our personal tackle boxes. And that is where they should stay unless they are in use. There is really very little use for a long knife outside of cooking or food preparation or hunting, which BSA does not allow. They are awkward to carry, bigger than is needed for most tasks, and in most cases are just a "bigger is better" philosophy (remember the "Crocodile Dundee" scene). As suc

Based on the responses, I would say our District seems to be in the middle of the curve when it comes to level of effort / detail presented in the Eagle workbooks. I personally am comfortable with where we are; most of my issues come from some of the reviewers themselves. On some reviews in the past years, reviewers declined approval and required revisions for: 1. Poor grammer in the general description section 2. Use of power tools by scouts (clarly an urban myth, with propoer supervision / training/ safety) 3. And from my Troop, challenging a scout whose project was to hold a book dr

Wow! Coming as a volunteer from a District with over 200 registered units, we do up to 10 EBORs in some months. I cannot imagine having to contact 60 people every month to get references as a volunteer for District. It seems like they should either eliminate this altogether or put it as the responsibility of the Troop / Eagle candidate to do. Right now, Eagle candidates send out the letters but the responses go to the Troop / Scoutmaster. They review them and bring them to the EBOR. Seems to work fine with us.

"Somewhere along the line deep in District Lore we picked up the notion that the Eagle Project Planning should be complete enough if the Scout could not complete the project, another scout could pick up the plan and follow it to completion" We use the same standard, and it still comes down to level of detail / vision. Is it enough to say: My project is to build 6 picnic table for my church, placed in the back, with all the materials paid for by the church. Or, do we kneed to know every detail about the project, including the who, what, when, where, and how of the picnic tables wi

How complete / comprehensive a project plan do you require for your life scouts' Eagle project plans in your District? Some background: I am a SM of a large troop (60+ boys), and have been involved with Eagle Project reviews / approvals for the past 5 years at the district and troop levels. In our district, project reviews / Eagle BORs happen once per month at the district level. Projects must use the NESA Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Workbook, and they must be approved in advance before any work / fundraising is done. I have no issues with any of that. The problem seems to

"They had to bring him back from Retirement around 1979 to redo the handbook and stop the bleeding as Scouts left by the tens of thousands." I was one of the casualties of that time. We moved in 1978, and my new Troop never went on a single outing or trip involving camping. They were all about book-work and earning MBs, and I dropped out of scouting within 3 months of our move. Fortunately, I joined up with a Pathfinder's group that taught me all my outdoor skills. It's a shame that Irving is downplaying his role in scouting so much.

We have also used Indain Waters and had good experiences. We usually take their 2-day, 35 mile trip and camp on Hemlock Island in the river. The Allegheny is a fun river at that end.

We have had a Troop bugler for about the past 3 years (4 different scouts). All are in band in school and play the trumpet. They use their own trumpets rather than play on an actual bugle. We only use them at COHs and resident Summer camp. Too hard to travel with an instrument when camping / backpacking.

I just had one approved last month for Canoing and did not have BSA lifeguards listed. The reposnible adults did have valid Safery Afloat / SSD, and I also had First aid / CPR, but that was it. May be different council by council, or they may have missed on mine.

Here in Pittsburgh, we have 2 great resources: 1. Monthly "star-gazing" parties during the warm weather months held by a local astronomy club at a nearby park. They are very scout friendly and allow the scouts to look through (not touch) their telescopes and ask lots of questions. We usually attend and wander with the boys for 1-2 hours while they talk and explore. 2. Our local Science Center also has a planetarium and MB program for the Astronomy MB. The scouts cannot earn it in one fell swoop, but must observe the sky for several weeks and document their studies. The planetariu

I love my dog, and she goes family camping with us at camps which allow dogs (PA State parks DO NOT - don't get me started!), but I have never taken her on a scout trip. Even the best mannered dog mixed with a scout troop is a recipe for sorrow. Too many scouts who have never owned a dog and do not know how to treat one and too much opportunity for the dog to be mishandled or be surly. I would love to bring her, but I also respect that not everyone likes dogs. That is the real problem with many dog owners that I see. They feel that "their" dog is special and no one would not want to

In our neck of the city, its a lot easier to get them to join up in 1st grade than it is in 6th grade. School sports and activities have become a lot more competitive for time and involvement than they wre in my day as a youth. At the middle & high school level, they train over the summer daily in August and expect mandatory attendance at all practices/events during the school year. As a result, they are not very forgiving about a boy who wants to miss occasional practices for a Troop meeting or trip. I think that without the cubbies to lay the "fun" groundwork, our local Troops wo

I have never seen one, although I am sure one exists that you can use on the temporary patch pocket side. I would be against simply sewing one onto the uniform, as CPR / 1st aid classes expire fairly frequently (1 to 3 years). Thus, a patch would provide a false sense of security if the wearer is not up-to-date. I beleive the card is enough. The Trained patch we use now if for permanent position training, not temporary health and safety training.

No one NEEDS woodbadge, at least in the same sense that one NEEDS youth protection or weather hazards training. It is a bonus, and is appropriately placed at the end of all the training classes in the training sequence. It does assist some, but not all. Some come back re-invigorated; some go back to what they had been doing. It is up to the individual to take what they want / can from it. Like most courses of this type, there is a lot of material, so there is a lot of potential.

All OK now: LANGLEY, AR (AP) - The six Louisiana Scouts and two leaders have been rescued by helicopter from Arkansas wilderness area. Arkansas State Police said helicopter pilots working overnight spotted the group. Spokesman Bill Sadler said a trooper at the scene reported National Guardsmen spotted the group from the air. Reports indicated they were located around 2:30 a.m. Rescue operations resumed at sun-up. The Scouts from Troop 162 in Lafayette, LA, arrived Thursday at the Albert Pike Recreation Area. The search began Monday morning, after the group didn't

If it helps, I had the same problem about accepting my adult OA nomination as you do. I declined my OA adult nomination the first time as my son had just been elected, and I wanted it to be "his" honor, and not a joint honor in our family. The next year, I accepted and did my ordeal with my son helping out. He initially was upset with me that we had not gone through ordeal together but later admitted that it was pretty neat to be able to help with my ordeal ceremony (he was brotherhood by then). I do not think either choice was right or wrong, just different.

When I teach that requirement, I pass out field identification books I have (picked up at used bookstores) and let the scouts use them to help out with ID. I also encourage the scouts to share IDs and info about each others plots. By no means do I require scientific names or taxomomy - long brown grass vs. short green grass is fine. BUT, I do want the scouts to realize that not all the grass they see (or flowers, or weeds, or etc.) are the same. It takes many species in the same area to make an ecosystem in most places. Usually, common names or descriptive made-up names are fine. When I r