Gold Winger

" The DE's and DC's are constantly complaining that it is nearly impossible to recruit volunteers to this thankless position." There's probably a reason for that. I volunteered to be a UC which was fine until one of my packs* had an issue with another pack. CC from pack 2 ran to DC and DE and whined. DE and DC started "laying down the law" (their term) with pack 1. I first heard about it from a friend who is involved with pack 2 and later that day I got copies of all of the angry emails that flowed between pack 2, the DC and DE to the CC of pack 1. When I talked to the DC, I was told in no uncertain terms that it wasn't my problem, I didn't need to know anything, they had "laid down the law" and that I needed to do my job which was to worry about rechartering and make sure that the units made quality unit. The former UC from pack 1 contacted me and let me know that this is why most of the UC in that district quit unless they are part of the circle of friends.

Gee, I learn something new every day. I didn't know that the SM could approve new leaders. I thought that job belonged to the CC and COR.

" Considering that I know how to read, and have read the handbook many times, the Scout badge still qualifies as a rank in my book." Sorry, I'm with BeeDub here. Scout is not a rank. The Scout badge was created to give boys something to wear on their shirt to show that they had met the joining requirements. People who don't know any better might call it a rank but that doesn't make it one.

I'm with BeeDub here. I doubt if the crossover date had anything to do with the quitting. Sure the boys might want to crossover as early as possible but boys would also vote to live on mac & cheese and Vault soda.

"There have been however, incidents at rest areas where travellers have been attacked. " People have also been attacked and killed at the grocery store, while camping and even while walking down the street. Perhaps instead of just having an extra adult, a company of Rangers would make evey one feel safe. Of course, you might not be able to trust the Rangers so to watch the Rangers you'd need a platoon of Marines.

Gr' Gott! Deine Englisch ist besser als mein Deutsch. :-) For testing courage? There are two things that I did last year that tested my courage. The first was a zip line. You were hooked to the cable but had to step off into space. The zip line was the longest that I've ever seen. Right before you ran into the tree at the end, your trolley hit a stop and you came to a sudden stop. The other was something like what we have at amusement parks where you are attached to a cable and pulled up into the air, maybe 50 feet up. Then you are released to plummet to the Earth but you swing back and forth at high speed for a time (seemed like hours). I did both with my daughter's youth group from church.

Depends on how fast he's going.

Another option is to go see a lawyer and get a paper that says that the fianc (only one 'e' for men) is the boy's guardian.

In five or six years, he can pull out that necker and wear it with his Boy Scout uniform on special occasions, IF that is permissible in his troop.

Nah, it's more fun to pillory the state government without any data.

We have rules that don't work well in today's society. However, they are still the rules. Mom and daughter can tent together. But boy friend and and boy cannot. Neither can mom and sweetie pie. Just the rules.

Road side rests aren't manned at night either. I don't see the great danger. The likelyhood that some loon will drive 20 miles to rob some Scouts of free donuts is very low. It could be that someone at DOT knows someone who is complaining that their vending machines are losing money on Labor day.

Aw gee Dad! I guess as a Brit you've never taken to the American sport of plinking. Plinking is where you toss some old tin cans out into the field and then shoot at them. It's not much fun if there's no one to see you hit or miss the cans.

Call me sill, but I never gave the whole thing a second thought. I thought that two deep was supposed to be in place so that if a boy got injured, one adult could go for help whilst the other stayed behind. Not for CYA. The no one-on-one is for CYA. My son's patrol used to go on outings with two ASM who are the parent's of one of the boys. I never gave it a second thought. Now I guess I should start interrogating my son about what went on. You have to let go and trust folks at some point. What if you send two unrelated ASMs? They could be in cahoots and as soon as they are out of sight of the parents, they'll light up a joint and start drinking Southern Comfort from a hip flask.

"Odds are, all of the people and businesses who give your Pack donations will be expecting to be able to declare those donations on their tax return. Unless you are able to give them your ID # they can not use it as a charitable donation, and they will most likely be a bit upset at your organization." Since a unit cannot request a donation of money, they can only get goods. I used to solicit door-prize donations for a few clubs that I belong to, it was apparent that we weren't charitable but I still got ton's of stuff. The businesses? They wrote it off as advertising.

Baden, Bob sleeps at a Holiday Inn Express. I know a fellow, an Eagle Scout who after college decided to become a Professional Scouter. He told me that he bailed at the end of his first hitch because he didn't like the constant pressure to raise money. Maybe he was making it up.

He met the requirements, he gets the badge. He might not meet our ideas of what an Eagle is supposed to be but he's met BSA's. I think that this is one place where GSUSA has it over BSA. To earn the Gold Award in GS, you really need to stay active until you are well into high school.

"As a CA of a coed unit, I checked into it and was informed by my council (for what that's worth) that no one under 21 in Venturing is ever considered an adult." I like the "for what's that's worth," comment. We're always told, "ask the professionals" but I get bad gouge so frequently from the Council office that I don't accept their answers unless they can point to a written document.

Learn something everyday. Thanks.

A friend uses a hammock/tent. He loves it and explained to me that the secret is that you lie diagonally (not Diagon Alley). It weighs next to nothing so for backpacking it is great . . . as long as you can find a place to rig it.

"In a crew both need to be over 21, one male and one female. If they are married and the husband is over 21 and Crew advisor, and the wife is registered as a Boy Scout Leader (ASM, or example) she still cannot attend the crew outing as a leader. She cannot attend at all because in the crew she could only register as a youth. Go figure on that one." I recall reading once that once a Venturer is over 18 and married they are considered an adult for Venturing purposes. I don't remember if that was on this forum, another forum, or some obscure BSA publication.

" while I am confident he or she is a very fine person the world is certaly not at a loss for MBAs or fopr scoutmasters with three years of experience. Neither would immediately make them a first choice for either an audit or for evealuating a snother unit's program." Do I detect a note of jealousy?

"We will be doing both. If you have a link to any examples or reference material, that would be great." Like most here, I've never heard of doing an audit on a troop. The financial aspect should be pretty straight forward, especially for you. The Scouting aspect would be far more subjective. Are boys actually doing the work for advancement or are the adults letting them slide? Do boys lead? Are they actually doing "Scouting"? By that I mean camping, hiking, helping in the community and not just playing video games. Find out what the boys think. Are they there just to please their parents or are they having fun.

To be pedantic, they aren't choosing a "patrol" emblem or name, they are choosing a name and emblem for their den. That said, my son's den opted to stay in blue and keep their number. The reason was that they didn't want to look like Boy Scouts.

" It was offered freely and without conditions" By someone who, by you own words, wasn't supposed to be making the announcement. Let's close it with this. Whatever floats your canoe, BeeDub. You leaked the information in your "I got a secret" fashion because . . . you're BeeDub.