Gunny2862

I think part of my confusion is related to we are talking swimming and somehow the Canoeing came in and while the two are nearly hand-in-hand you seem(to me) to be conflating the two while there ARE differences in how they are handled. Plus depending on the inflection you are intending vice the one I may be reading I have may been receiving an unintended message. Thank you for your clarification, but many of us have heard that Liability word thrown around one time too many, and those who use it to bolster an argument without the specifics of a situation tend to get asked a few more que

So is LlBob suggesting that if a group of Scouts who are on a hike come across a swimming site that they may not enter the water without performing not just a SSD evaluation and set all the rest of the proper precautions in place but must perform some subterfuge about a training evolution? Folks rocks and Sticks with some twine suffice to mark swim boundaries. And I think even Irving would say that at some point a pool is too shallow, and small an area to require marking. Guidance people, thinking about things, avoiding intentional negligence and above all doing it to keep the kids safe.

Well, unless you will be serving on a Camp Staff the question may soon be moot. According to our Camp Aquatics Director (NCS Trained), Unless one is working as Camp Staff, or HA Staff at a HA site with Aquatics activity then only the BSA Aquatics Supervision - Swimming and Water Rescue and/or Paddle Craft Safety will be available. We were not given the option to recertify our BSAL or to train a new one as we are Troop Leaders and Scouts, not Camp Staff but did put an ASM thru the new courses. Not having gone thru the course myself - so take this with a grain of salt - my underst

As SM I chose to have a Campaign hat. I choose to wear it at Formal occasions; i.e. Scout Sunday, New Parent Orientations, When acting as a Council trainer really anytime I need to let it be known with a emblem of authority that I am the person the adults need to listen to - does it stay on my head throughout any of those? Rarely. But at Times the Scouts want me to wear it, At Campfires at Summer Camp. When they want to Show off for another Troop (how my wearing the hat is showing off I have yet to figure out_ I think they're messing with me.) Personally I like hats but I don't wear

Okay Disclaimers first: I am a current BSAL©, I have one Youth BSAL also current, I have an ASM who will pursue and I have no doubt complete BSAL certification possibly continuing on to the Counselor certification module also, at this upcoming Summer camp - in this area with a troop of less than 30 I have a wealth of resources in Water safety. I currently have one non-swimmer(swims okay, hasn't learned to float yet...) the rest are all "Blue" Swimmers. It isn't explicitly spelled out by BSA and in a perfect world I prefer Beavah's interpretation. However, I've not ever seen in the SSD (u

I really try to avoid either being irked or at the least to avoid showing any ?irkiness? It looks to me as though there a several possible answers because I'm reading more than one situation/issue going on. But, It's the adults responsibility to retain their cool - or at least not blow up. When a youth challenges an adult there is usually an underlying issue and the challenge is rarely made on the topic the youth is really dealing with. The topic of the conversation has usually been chosen for the win rather than to deal with his actual issue. The first step is to separate the

If they are my Training records, AND I want credit for the work, I am. I keep the cards in my mini-first aid kit - that is usually with me in or out of "Scout Time". I print the My Scouting Cards and add them to the collection and occasionally Scan them, file the Scan, make two copies, one to file with Council and one for my files. I'd love to give one to my Training chair but at The Troop Level we don't have one and at the Council level I've never given the Training Chair anything they haven't lost so when I give the Scan sheet to Council I try to put it directly in the Registrars h

You've received great advice, unusually for this group it is remarkably cohesive. The question is, will you use it?

I Don't know what TtT is but TLT or TlT both stand for Troop Leadership Training. It is a valuable resource thatIf you can find it I highly reccomend. But EDGE for Explain, Demonstrate, Guide and Enable is the new method BSA is advertising as it's way of teaching both Skills and Leadership now and in the future. I don't see or understand how EDGE could replace the Patrol method, I think someone was confused. To me and several others it's nothing new you may have heard; See one, Do one, Teach one - which is very much the same method but I don't even know how old it is, at least 30 yea

The Trainers EDGE is the new Trainers Development Course (TDC). It seems there is resistance to changing the name of the training for the end recipient, it makes it harder for prospective students to find the Training they need/want. We teach The Trainers EDGE but still hold TDC courses - because that's the one the students are looking for. And TLT and JLT's are primarily for youth, The Trainers EDGE is primarily for Adults but could easily be for Youth also. As far as I know, the prior version of Trainer Development courses were only held for Adults and in the better circumstances,

DP, argh. (This message has been edited by Gunny2862)

Other than about $15 a month for campground/food/limited travel costs, we've gone with a fundraising model so far. I have also toyed with the idea of a fee structure but to date (more than 30+ years of Troop history) we've been able to pay for the things you are talking about with OPM(Other Peoples Money) rather than placing the additional burden on the Parents. Out of that fund also come First Aid supplies, Supplies for the Fundraisers, Awards, and Plaque Maintenance funds and a donation towards HA trips like Philmont. It's worked so far for us but if you do go with the Fee mod

I don't really see the point of infringing on someone else's developed pool with my balloons or Milk jugs and weights, but even at someone else's pool the boys need swim buddies, the supervising adult needs a method to tag the pairs in or out whether or not it's little metal rings with colored markings, pairs of sticks with their names on them or a simple list. The water and pool still need to be surveyed - is that actually the bottom or is there a chemical cloud obscuring the bottom? OTOH, at the lakeside or at casual swimming holes even if we didn't hang our own markers, even runn

GKlose, that looks like a great organization, ours is usually about 3/4 to 1/2 half that size. moosetracker, Yes, it does need to address the needs of more than just one group of Scouters, be for those Scouters and not just re-hash/re-cycle old issues. Unless it is KNOWN, that only one group will attend - In which Case I wouldn't advertise it as a University to keep from weakening that name - I'd call it Council (InsertGroup) Seminar weekend (or something to that effect) While it CAN be a good place to do the Basic training courses; With the online training being available I hate to

Look, I have organizational issues. Especially when one considers balancing Work, Family Life, Religious Activity, Scouting and it's many faces (the Boys, the Committee, the Parents, Council, the Public... The trick is, IMHO, Is this young fellow Mature enough to chase all of these loose ends or just as importantly, know which ones to chase and which ones to Drop. Which ones are Important and which ones are Urgent and what the differences are in those two ideas. I don't know him or his situation but also wonder if the next year might not be better spent doing the SM job in an ASM slo

It's pretty easy to mark even in moving water, and I would propose that if the water is moving fast enough to drag your balloon or water jug tied to a rock on the bottom, that you might want to reconsider swimming there. See John's post above...section on moving water...

www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34426.pdf here's a copy of the file. Your local Council has to approve it anyway, so why not just find out who does that and do what I described above?

WE have a clean copy of the file saved on my PC. Then fill in the appropriate blanks, digitally sign and then e-mail to secondary signer's who then forward to our Councils Tour Permit Coordinator who then returns copies to all signers. Print and go. Not quite what you seem to be thinking but we've been doing it for about six months now and it is working fine and is much easier than the fill out and drive it around model we used to do.(This message has been edited by Gunny2862)

@ moosetracker unless you would like to point those comments at someone I 'm going to assume you can't read - because I said none of what you are trying to imply I said.

@OP First as a male, I'm not in your case and so can't truly give a good answer but my feeling is that either I'd leave the decision up to the boy OR I'd pull him on a principle that is offending me, not necessarily him. (Although as his Parent I would feel perfectly justified in my attempt to keep him by being influenced by people who hold values(any particular values, not necessarily the example given) other than my own, as a serving Scoutmaster I would be very conflicted about determining his course for him in such a fashion) Now, if it were my wife in your shoes - there would be a l

I am our Troops SM, One of the first things I did when I put on the hat was to ensure the ASM's all knew that if I was talking to my son on an outing it'd better be as SPL, ASPL, or a PL or Scout they'd sent to me. They all concurred and we pretty much don't deal with our own kids to any extent possible on any outing.

Still in agreement with desertrat77, but he only reason I don't say Scouts are completely in control of their fate should be obvious - look at the number of threads on this board about , ahem , interesting opinions of Eagle counselors, BOR members, Council or district self-appointed gatekeepers, etc.

Barry, for me, and using Crocs... Heel Straps make it easy to attach to the pack with a carabiner for those places where its cross a creek go 200 yds of boot country, cross a creek, go 300 yards of boot country , cross a creek etc. Straps make it more likely for the Croc to stay on your foot if you slip crossing a creek. Straps can be slipped easily if you need to kick the Crocs off while lifeguarding a natural pool, lake, stream, swimming hole(have I mentioned they float?). Straps help while walking in uneven terrain (where I normally wouldn't wear the Crocs). I also h

Ev, only once has my hat been removed/snatched by someone other than myself in a Scout dining Hall - and I was not even going to think about assaulting the 85 year old, 60 + years in Scouting, Volunteer Cook who, ahem, kindly removed it for me.

IF, I were going to do this... I'd start with my Committee and whatever local policies. You have a unique opportunity to start as a uniformed or casual Troop from day one. Will the troop help upfront with an over time payment plan for those who cannot afford to upfront the uniform cost. To emphasize Backpacking skills whether or not you choose a car camp, or even if Car camping is your style. To set expectations about fundraising and how it is distributed - by hour worked per Scout - Troop funds or a combination. How much fundraising? What is expected of the boys to be provided thru du