fred8033

If the patrol flag is lost, get together with your friends and create a new one. It can be very fancy and professional ... or a simple craft project ... or a hand made cloth hung on a tree branch. It really depends on what you want as a patrol flag.

Some of my favorite memories are watching from a distance as my sons split wood with an ax. I'd be far away and nervous as heck, but it was very maturing for them. And confidence building.

It's a nice article. Hopefully, it's an uplifting story.

@Scoutmaster Teddy ... I'm not sure what you would do. I wish you the best though. Perhaps another council would welcome the help. IMHO, best method is to work thru your existing connections. @Tron ... I can conceive of other solutions. ... Commissioner service WAS fundamental 30+ years ago. Not anymore. Now, few attend roundtable as they get their resources online: training, schedules, contacts. ... Unit commissioner performance has always been hit and miss. ... Then add that councils have cost to support commissioners, such as expecting a paid staff member to attend ro

Is your council dropping commissioner service? I assume yes, but I wanted to explicitly ask.

We've been thru this.

We've been thru this. Views differ on the same facts. BSA had procedures in place before many others. BSA tracked and blocked many. BSA had training before many others. All of society is shamed. BSA is a scape goat being financially raided.

I view it as 31% (56,000 remaining from 82,000 claimed) as a payout of $3500 is nothing and the claims then are not really vetted or proved. I suspect there are so so many reasons that I don't like reading in reasons such as failing to destroy BSA. I suspect the number will continue to reduce, but perhaps not more than half the original.

It will be interesting to watch the numbers diminish. 31% of the claims went away without significant scrutiny.

Time for a dedicated volunteer corp. Linux is based on volunteer maintenance. BSA could do similar with leadership materials.

I have to speak up as I'm an opposing view. PDF documentation enable BSA to rapidly update documents and provide the documents free to the end-user. BSA should just partner with a printing company that then can print and ship on demand. It is wrong wrong to charge for materials that volunteers need to volunteer and have already paid their membership fees to volunteer. ... Maybe, BSA should charge for bigger books like the scout handbooks. Beyond that, we want BSA documentation to get into the hands of volunteers as fast and cheap as possible. We don't want people volunteer

THANK YOU ! I love seeing how documents change over time. I've repeatedly compared versions of G2SS, GTA and rank requirements. It's extremely useful to understand how things evolve.

Agreed. Fundraising can mitigate the cost as it can in sports and other programs too. The cost discussion started because of asserting scouting is a good value compared to other programs like sports. Since those programs can also fundraise to reduce cost, the comparison is best done on raw cost. What is the family cost before it is reduce by unit fundraisers. I'd still argue scouting is a great program, but not necessarily cheaper at all. If your scout is active, it costs money.

Yep. When our first son started in 2000 (2001?), the cost was way way way less. I think registration for him was $12? Plus $5 for a year of Boy's Life? Plus, another $12 for the adult leader app? It was reasonable. Add a Tiger cub shirt and minor items; reasonable cost. Ten years ago when I had four sons and my wife and I were registered ... and active ... we were easily spending $5,000 a year. A high adventure a year. Four summer camps. Campouts every month for at least two kids. Activities. Uniforms. etc, etc. ... I can't imagine what the cost would be now.

Eagle application deadline is not when the scout turns 18. BSA Guide To Advancement; section 9.0.1.5. https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/33088.pdf The scout has up to 24 months to complete the Eagle Board of Review; BSA GTA section 8.0.3.1. Assuming three months to schedule the EBOR, the Eagle application needs to be submitted within 21 months after the scout turns 18 ... but ... just turn in the Eagle application ASAP. The Eagle rank "REQUIREMENTS" must be completed before the scout turns 18; not the application. https://www.s