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Or, when they want to have a POR they could be Instructors where one thing we do in our troop is make sure they know their stuff before they teach it... "Next month you will be teaching lashings, be here at 7:00 next Tuesday so we can go over how to teach it." Not sure about preventing them from taking merit badges. It is not their fault.

There is also the activity requirements. Is it possible for them to have completed everything? Yes. Did they do it? I do not believe so. From talking with them they went to a week of camp and a couple of troop meetings. No way they managed 8 troop or patrol activities. Did they do their homework and learn these skills? Not that I can tell from what they've demonstrated since they have been back. Do I think that the leader of the troop in Utah pencil whipped them through? Yes. Is there anything I can do about it? Not a thing other than help them learn as they work tow

I'm not sure it really matters. It is rare that I have a scout that is delayed in advancement because of the activity requirement. In the few cases that it has occurred, counting these would not have changed things, except counting courts of honor on a meeting night. The main bottle necks for our troop seem to be: identifying animals and plants, map and compass skills, and rope work. By the time they've learned those they have more than enough activities under their belt.

Sometimes you just got to wonder what is the deal with some leaders.

I guess we need to add some more: YM = Youth Member AM = Adult Member SA = Assistant Scoutmaster (proper) ASM = Assistant Scoutmaster T21 = Tenderfoot to First Class or Tenderfoot, Second and First Class(This message has been edited by jet526)

See: http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=240852

You do need to make sure that they understand that while the rest of the den may earn their AOL and crossover in March that they will not be able to join Boy Scouts until school is out. Although you will likely find a SM willing to let them come visit for a couple for months.

"Also why does the Eagle A) have no flag on his shirt" It is there, just covered by the sash "and B) has the wrong size MB sash?" Because they bought it when he was a wee little scout.

I had one scout that wanted the position until I told him what was involved and that was the last I heard from him about it. The local council promoted one about 9 months ago. Looks like there is one (not BSA hosted) coming up in November, I'll need to contact the trainer and see if they are taking youth--not that I have anyone wanting to go. My main point was that this is not an easy POR.

"LNT Trainer counts for giving a short class." Hardly. They need to take a two day course to begin with, which requires that they be at least 14. http://www.lnt.org/training/PDFs/BSA%20LNT%20Trainer%20Course%20Manual%20F2010-02-21.pdf Then they should be doing ongoing LNT training in the troop. See this for details http://www.jayhawkcouncil.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=89&Itemid=99

The 2010 patch is just red, white and blue. http://nsa-bsa.org/resources/Centential+Quality+patches++ribbons.JPG

The camps around here have at least one disabled friendly site. It will have power and access that allows a electric wheelchair access. There are also all terrain wheelchairs available. http://www.planetmobility.com/store/wheelchairs/power/allterain/index.html

I found SSScout's idea of putting them on a display panel to be a nice idea for a pack. Our troop started stringing them on a coup stick after getting tired of the tangled mess on the flag pole. The troop is only 16 years old with about a 100 ribbons (a number have been lost over the years). I can't imagine what the veteran units do with 100s of the things.

ScoutMythBuster: "while others are disproportionate in rank (ei top heavy with few younger Boy Scouts or the opposite)" This should be the case for all traditional 7 year programs. Say the number of scouts scouts join each year and they all stay for 7 years (making this simple). Also assume that it takes an average of 18 months to First Class. Then about 4/5 of the troop is at least First Class. Of course there is going to be attrition, but even then a troop that recruits enough to replace loses will be about 3/4 First Class.

Gary_Miller: "The point I was trying to make is that a YM who is holding a rank above 1st Class, Should be holding a POR, and if they are not holding a POR they should be working on an assigned leadership project. The point being they should be doing something to fulfill this requirement, and its the SMs duty to make sure the opportunity exists." I'm not sure how realistic that is. Take the troop I serve as an example. Excluding special projects the troop can handle about 26 PORs. There are 43 scouts that are First Class and above. Currently, 24 of them are needing PORs. Twelve are curren

Gary_Miller, I'm sorry, I missed the second example.

Gary_Miller: "Why does a Star Scout not have a POR within the troop?" In the example this is not a Star Scout, the scout is a Tenderfoot.

Use the flag. It is a pack meeting. I can't even imagine a pack meeting without it. You can ask the church about it. The CO owns all 3 flags and can tell you what they want done. If you do use all 3 flags then look up the flag protocols and do it right. IIRC, the US flag goes on the left in its usual place. The other two go on the right with the church flag to the left of the pack flag. A search on battalion flags should give the answer. Regarding the ribbons. We've ended up putting them on a coup stick. It looks much better than the tangled mess on the unit flag pole. The SPL

This is an annual thing here. http://ontarget.mesavarsity.org/ About 100 teams take part. They climb different peaks in the state and see how many other peaks they can signal. Various prizes for distance, etc. Generally this is just a day hike so they would have packed their water. We were very hot last weekend with temps still over 100F in that area. Easily could have run out of water thinking a couple of quarts each would be enough when they ready needed well over a gallon each. Common enough mistake even with hikers with moderate experience. Down side of water-packs they seem like

For someone that wants to bust myths, you seem to create a number of your own.

The other lesson is: Don't buy expensive gear for a 12 year old. When he is ready for the good stuff he will earn the money to pay for it himself.

You live in Phoenix don't you? There are mule deer just about everywhere in the state. About the only place you can't find mule deer are up on the plateau in the Navajo reservation. You can probably find them on South Mountain if you look. They are in the White Tanks and the McDowells, 45 minutes from downtown Phoenix. They are even in the low deserts. There multiple species of skunks in Phoenix, no need to so out of the city. Go up to Lake Pleasant, plenty of wild burros and mule deer to track. You are still in the Peoria City limits an hour from downtown Phoenix. Here is a lin

are you kidding? we have deer, racoon, fox, rabbits, hares, bear, antelope, squirrels and burros. If you look real hard you can find bighorn sheep, lion and wolf. That's just some of the mammals. A few of the troop's scouts earned it this summer. It took them multiple trips from Tucson to Flagstaff but they did it.

There is no direct link between Scoutnet and TroopMaster. You can export data from TM and import it into Scoutnet. There is no method to go the other way. It would be much harder for a large troop keep track of things without it.

I have heard a little about this camp up in Northern California but can't seems to find any details or how to attend. I have some scouts that are interested. Does anyone know where I can find contact information?