fred johnson

BSA made their announcement Oct 11th or earlier. Our council should have started sharing immediately and continually ... even if it was as much as "we don't know yet". I'd like to give them the "doubt", but our DE and other council staff knew it was coming. It was just when would the announcement would occur. We tell our scouts to be prepared, but they were not prepared. Now, it's almost three months later and they have their first talking points about cubs. Nothing about Boy Scouts. Just limited talking points. I almost want to skip round table as it's sort of insulting and abso

I wanted to avoid the current topic as it's controversial. Perhaps I'm no better than the council and DE trying to shield information. But my frustration is not with the topic. It's with a repeated pattern that happens every time there is anything at all challenging or controversial. The volunteers are left out in front of the parents and scouts looking like the bad guy while still waiting for manna from on-high to be blessed upon us. It gets old. Current subject ... Membership changes. Talking points to share with units in the district, but the units are pretty much beyond those

I'm a gung-ho loyal supporter of BSA and I very much want to march in-step with BSA's direction. With that said, I was frustrated this last week. Our DE is a great guy and we're in a good council. But with all the changes coming and with being a strident volunteer, I expect just a bit more openness and straight forward talk. Instead, this week it was just too explicitly an emphasis on talking points and controlling the message. Us lowly volunteers are going to talk, discuss and debate what we are going to talk, discuss and debate. The volunteers are already creating content, discus

Related ... If I had a failing unit or a unit that needed change, the last thing I'd do is ask the CO what to do. My experience is the CO doesn't help raise the money, run the program or manage the equipment. The best thing I can do for the CO is to minimize the headache. As such, I'd find the best home for everything and probably make a significant donation to the CO too. Beyond that though, I fear I'd be asking for trouble if our unit started asking everyone's thoughts on what to do with cash and equipment.

If a trusted unit member asks pastor to sign something, usually the pastor will sign it. CO's are usually hands off and don't fully understand what's going on and usually don't care. It's one of the main issues with BSA's structure. COs own the units but don't really know what's going on or how the program works. It's like having a police force that doesn't know the law or having an accountant that doesn't know book keeping. If CC is also the COR, he can disband the unit.

The "truth" is often so wrapped up in hard feelings and twisted story versions it's hard to figure out. I often wonder if it's worth figuring out. Try to patch things together and find a path to move forward. It sounds like adults got so wrapped up in issues and differences and personal investment that they could not separate their feelings from working together. As such, the whole program crashed. Very sad to hear. Not the first time I've heard things like this happen though.

This is not a "versus" situation. None of the solutions will be enough on their own. TWH looks really nice in many ways. I'd be tempted to use it if we had not started with SOAR years earlier. Still love the quality of SOAR. What intrigues me about TWH is the money tracking. Looks pretty good there. I don't care for the communication features. IMHO, SOAR did better with that. But TWH has many great looking features. Challenge is BSA bought and invested in ScoutBook. It does advancement well, but that's about it. It is severely lacking for communication, calendar, financ

I often wonder if summer camp would be better without as many adults. I remember attending a week of summer camp when I was in 7th grade. No parents. No unit leaders. It was just camp staff and campers. I often think it was a better experience than troops camping at summer camps as too often the unit adults get in the way of the program. More importantly, the unit adults get in the way of the scouts growing up on their own and learning their own way.

We have a few scouts that are 6'5" / 6'6". Is there a place to get extra tall scout shirts? Is there a similar enough shirt that is "extra" tall? Some need to be long and 2X or 3XX. Some need to be just large, but extra long. Any "polite" suggestions are welcome.

For my sons. I try to give back as others gave to create and sustain the program that benefited my sons. I often wonder how long I will participate after my sons age out. I just don't know. I often think that scouting is best when it's a youth program. And, I'm not qualifying as a youth anymore . Perhaps I'll volunteer as a camp master. Perhaps I'll continue my current roles. But, I just don't know. I do love sleeping under the stars, listening to a rain storm at 2am, socializing and playing cards. But it's a lot of work to pack-in, pack-out and deal with all the issues.

I was given a large collection of old Boy's Life magazines. They are tabloid sized and thick. Very impressive magazines. The current Boy's Life is a shallow copy of the past. Still though, the current Boy's Life magazine serves a purpose with the youth. As for the Scouting magazine for leaders? I don't know anyone who reads it. IMHO, I read 100 times more articles online than I do in paper these days. I suspect that's true with most leaders except the most senior leaders.

Yeah. It's just a thought. I remember our local five and dime store had a four foot section for scout stuff. As a little boy, I remember looking at those things all the time. And the small section of knives and wood kits. By the way, thanks for the suggestion on the Magellan pants. I'm going to try some of the Magellan olive colored nylon switchbacks. I stopped buying BSA pants when I bought four of the centennial uniforms and the uniform pants all failed in the first year. The nylon switchbacks lasted forever. I'll try the Magellan and see how good they are. https://www.

I'm not sure we connected on the idea, etc. It's not about access or 3rd party on-line distributors. It's about visibility in stores people visit anyway. It's about putting BSA stuff in stores that parents visit so they see BSA uniforms and stuff BEFORE deciding to have their kids in scouts. Right now, parents have to decide for their kids to be in scouts before they see scouting merchandise. It's also partially about asking what is the profit level of our council stores. I see them very busy in September with new cubs. But if you remove the patches and advancements from the equati

I was reading about Canfield's closing and comments about them losing income due to their BSA distributorship ending. http://www.omaha.com/money/canfield-s-sporting-goods-to-close-after-years-in-business/article_24f5e53c-daa0-11e7-868b-d3258181146a.html I remember when I was a kid that our local five and dime had a scout corner / section for stuff. I think that scout shelf marketed BSA to the moms that shopped there every week and helped show to those mom's that scouting was part of a normal childhood. When it was removed, it separated BSA from where moms shopped weekly. Now you o

Often, scouts say "my dad made me" when they are bored or stressed. Kids don't know always how to express themselves and often don't communicate the real issues. Parents often tell their kids they have to do something. Sitting at home online playing games is easy and automatic. But it's also not acceptable to many parents. Sometimes that comes out as "My dad made me". I know one scout who is emotionally and socially stunted. He's getting better, but he'll always be a bit off. When stressed, he'll say his dad makes him be there. But we can also clearly see the benefit and gr

You are right. I never said it was perfect. It's just if you look for some documented element of BSA's program that exists for quality control purposes, it's the BOR ... and letting bad troops die. I really don't see other quality control mechanisms. JTE maybe, but it's mostly ineffective. Thorns and roses is a great tool when you can solicit real content. I just don't see it taught by BSA as part of the program structure.

Quality control ? BSA quality control is to let scouts and families vote with their feet. Units die if they go astray and it drives parents away. If units go astray and scouts and their parents stay and the unit successfully recruits enough to keep alive, then it's a good quality unit. Nope ... Training ... BSA training is introductory. It's not meant to produce effective leaders implementing the same program in the same way. Nope ... Commissioners ... BSA commissioners are helpful, but not a day-to-day quality control. Nope ... BSA Oversight ...

I've heard that reason mentioned multiple times too.

Every troop that I personally know has dues. Usually, it's more about knowing if someone is active then it is about financing the program.

I wanted to make one more comment. It's about philosophy. Scouting is person-to-person. Scouting is doing and interacting. I really fear checklists changing a relaxed talk into a bureaucratic performance review. Troop committees are not corporate human resources. It's a similar argument against MB workbook. As I believe the best MB counseling occurs sitting on the grass leaning against a tree, the best POR review happens with the SM at camp during sunset as part of a friendly relaxed chat. Not only do you NOT need a checklist. Checklists damage the experience.

I get scared when I see discussion of checklists and evaluation criteria. IMHO, this is more a power issue and a way for adults to justify their position and also a way to insert themselves into the process. I'd highly recommend reading GTA and then BSA advancement news and other sources. BSA GTA section 4.2.3.4 ... https://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/33088.pdf BSA Advancement news ... https://www.scouting.org/Home/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/Advancement.aspx I think the best comment comes from the Feb 2012 BSA advancement news ... https://www.scouting.org/filestore/a

4th Monday of month. No troop meeting that night. Only PLC. Otherwise, same place and time as troop meeting. Consistency.

I'm quoting Barry's post as he has a very good answer. He's exactly right concerning concerning the overall MB program purpose and approach. With that said though, Barry correctly describes the structure around a merit badge course without addressing the meat. The meat is what do you do in the course? Think of yourself as a presenter / entertainer trying to hold the interest of a crowd. They don't have to be there. They don't have to earn the badge. Will they be glad they spent the time with you? Will they leave energized about the topic ? Will they leave with more knowledge or

Welcome. Glad to see someone from WI not wearing a packer's jersey in their picture.

I agree. The "constitutes an aid" is unclear. It's also not part of the "requirement". It's part of the clarification. IMHO, the 2007 G2SS clarified the "aid" in the next sentence. "Walking in from shallow water, easing in from the edge or down a ladder, pushing off from side or bottom, and gaining forward momentum by diving do not satisfy this requirement." It also appears in the changing direction section where it is "without any push off or other aid". I just don't see a Facemask as a big accommodation. It's similar to eye googles or a nose plug. ON THE GOOD SI