Hawkrod

I will add my rambling thoughts to this. Our Council is charging $3300. I do know that transportation is a big chunk (which is why I always believed Jambo should move around the country every time, give everybody a chance to afford it) but the tours are a big chunk too. I know our council goes to Philly and DC and hotels and meals are a big, BIG expense. I have applied to be in the contingent and will know soon if I will be going but both of my sons will be applying and if chosen will be raising their own money to go just as my oldest did last time. He saved for nearly a year and mom did make

I appreciate the thought but having a large number of participants is critical to help fold the flag. Folding a flag this large requires a lot of people just to hold it. I have one this size that I use for events and it takes an absolute minimum of 20 people to fold it and that is doing it the hard way. I prefer to have 3 dozen or more to help me to do it well which is why Camporee is an opportunity I would hate to miss. The area is not a concern nor is sparks or embers as we are in the desert and are hoping we can do it in the middle of a large horse arena so have enough barren land around th

Sorry I did not respond sooner but just got back from a backpacking trip. I posted before I left and I thought I was clear when I wrote that I was hoping to be rid of one of the large flags and make it special for the boys helping because many are new and there will be a lot of help on hand making a large flag retirement possible. Thanks again

Maybe I need to be a bit clearer, we are not in need of a ceremony for flag retirement, we are in need of a ceremony for a giant flag retirement. Plenty of good ideas and suggestions here but we are not new to doing retirements and usually do several hundred per year (we currently have a backlog of over 800 flags waiting for retirement) but the retirement ceremonies we have are not designed around the work of retiring a monster (we have more 20 X 38's and also have some 30 X 50's waiting for retirement as well). The idea is to take advantage of the fact that we will have a lot of help and we r

Excellent, keep them coming! We are worried about how much time would be involved in cutting a flag this size so if we do cut the flag it will be done in advance but then it can't be displayed so that is a tough one. I am not a fan of cutting flags to retire them as it just does not seem right to me, but thats me and it is not my call. I know a lot of people do it but we really want to try and avoid that so we can display it as that is how we learned it, always display the flag one last time out of respect and if it is cut we can't. TA

My son will be coordinating a flag retirement at Camporee and he is looking for ideas and suggestions. Now, to put the spin on it, we are looking at possibly retiring a 20 X 38 foot flag and so traditional ceremonies are not going to easily adapt. My son wants to both, make this a memorable event as our District has a lot of new Scouts, and also take advantage of the large group that would be present to deal with an obviously difficult retirement that we have been putting off for obvious reasons! So far in the running are cutting the flag into components and folding them to lay in the fire or

There are activity pins that can be earned in a long day or weekend. You did not tell us which ones but they do not all require the same effort. Some more info may help us give perspective.(This message has been edited by Hawkrod)

I have both sides of this coin in my area of responsibility and can offer that we believe it is the Troop responsibility to provide the bridging program. In our area each Troop has their own way of doing things, some do not do anything but shake hands and welcome boys, others build pioneered bridges and anything in between. I can say that the bridging ceremony can reflect a Troops "program". The more involved the ceremony, usually the more involved the program. I doubt that right now, our unit can keep up with the guys building a pioneered bridge! Our Troop uses a bridge that I built that we a

I see two sides to this and do agree that a DE should be able to earn volunteer awards up to a point. A DE should not get the DAM unless they are the best there ever was! LOL They are pro's and as such should be doing an incredible job and so the standards to earn a DAM would have to be exceeded a hundredfold or more. The SB has rules and we should abide by them. But pretty much I think that most of the rest of the knots are open season. If you have a DE who is also a volunteer Tiger leader then I think they do deserve to earn that knot. If they are a Tiger leader because there is not another

Yup, I own the Troop trailer, oh yeah, and the Troop truck and the... I am not even sure how we could have it any other way because of insurance and such. It is my trailer and I got it just for the Scouts. It is currently waiting renovation but it will be painted red and white like a Troop flag when I am done! LOL For the last 5 or 6 years if it needed moving, I moved it with my equipment and I realized that packing and unpacking was getting old so a Troop trailer was needed but because of the way finances work it really was not possible for the Troop to have those expenses but for me to do it

Yup, sounds like a blast! My wife does not understand why I want to do it. I have a small program that I agreed to take over last year and it was a dream so I agreed to do it again this year and boy is my wife frosted! LOL She does not understand how wonderful it is to see the boys laugh and have fun at camp (she understands, but why do I have to do it?). The reality is I am aiming to get the OA involved with the program so that the boys will get the benefit of youth leadership and my sons can be part of the staff and learn to be better teachers and leaders. It is a win-win in my mind. Sorry t

OOPS, My bad, you are right, I was thinking AOL ceremony, not crossover ceremony. Our chapter does not do crossover or bridging ceremonies and I was taught that a bridging ceremony is the responsibility of the recieving Troop not the Pack or OA. OA does AOL ceremonies here usually followed by a bridging by one or more Troops (and as a Cub Leader, I expect the Troops to provide the resources they need for it, we recently had a Troop express a need for US to have it ready for them, I am still scratching my head over that! LOL). BTW, I was also taught that crossover is what Cubs do going from one

BartHumphries, my apologies, as I have mentioned in the past, I have Aspergers syndrome and am very literal. Have you seen the TV shows Bones, or Big Bang Theory? That is me at times. I don't actually grasp subtle innuendo or sarcasm unless I am specifically looking for it. I can be a real stick in the mud at times and when the stick isn't in the mud it may well be up my backside! Again sorry for not recognizing your post for what it was meant to be.

Singlemom, first, I am very sorry that your son had this experience. Obviously this is not something that we like to hear about and wish it never happens to anyone but blaming the Scouting program misses the mark pretty widely. It is a people problem not an organization issue. It does not happen often in Scouting but it does happen often in society, VERY often. As a general rule we can count on our boys to be better about these types of issues than the general public but as in anything in life there will be exceptions when people are involved. I can tell you that you being there or not probabl

Well, I already know I am weird but I have a dozen or more bags and I have tried a bunch and I keep coming back to an absurdly heavy Army surplus mountain bag. Like others have mentioned, I zip or unzip as temps dictate but I swear I sleep better with that bag even when its 80+.

Unfortunately"?" ours (Cahuilla 127) is all over the web. Google OA 127 Arrow of Light ceremony and you will find it. It works well for any size group. We have done it indoors and out and it works very well. I don't know who wrote it because it was done quite a few years ago but they were pretty good at creating a ceremony!

BartHumphries, you took my comment out of context and edited it. I do not think it is appropriate or fair to change the meaning of a statement by only using part of the statement. What I wrote was "I don't think that using camp tents on platforms with cots should count for anything other than the "You may use a week of long-term camp toward this requirement." and that has a very different meaning that the part you commented on, not too mention the context was about using summer camp staff time towards earning the MB. My point was that I think the camping merit badge should be earned by actuall

If you are talking about the official BSA bolo I would think it would be appropriate if the person is an Eagle.

Sometimes that can be true but being OA is not about serving their unit and that is kind of the point of what the last few posts were about. It has nothing to do with limelight, it has to do with carrying yourself appropriately. I agree that there are those that staff training, run Council events behind the scenes and such that serve but are not seen and should be eligible but those are not the ones I am talking about. The ones I am refering to are also referred to as sash and dash. They don't serve AT ALL (it was not a personal shot).(This message has been edited by Hawkrod)

I guess that is where our experiences have differed. I have done hundreds of nights of Cub camping and can't say I have ever seen an older sibling exhibit "Scout" skills when camping with the cubs (even when asked to). They usually bunk with dad and bro and generally don't do much although a few have gotten in some pretty good trouble! LOL I am not aware of ever having one come to one of our events with his "gear" and also have never had the boys following them around "like puppies" that I remember. That has probably colored my perspective. My experience has been much more the "why do I have t

I understand but as I noted, I don't agree that a sibling tagging along at a Cub event counts anymore than a church camp or anything else like that for the reasons I noted, it may be a unit event but the Scout is not participating in his role as a Scout. Now, having said that, you may need to know that I have been primarily a Cub leader and until recently was not all that involved with Boy Scouts so my perspective is from somebody who has spent most of his Scouting time as a Cub leader. I do agree that the Cub side does get a bad rap at times and don't think it is well deserved but poor Cub ca

We have a few OA adult "honorees" here. Everybody knows them because we see them at every Council or District social event with nice shiny sashes but when worktime rolls around they are nowhere to be seen! There are also some that are a bit tough to listen to but they do work hard and are always there. They can also be counted on in a pinch when nobody else steps up. I will always choose an obnoxious loudmouth who puts in the effort than somebody who only wears the sash as an award as if they have achieved a goal. LOL Hawkrod

I think that camp staff sleeping in the outdoors qualifies but it is a specific type of camping. I don't think that using camp tents on platforms with cots should count for anything other than the " You may use a week of long-term camp toward this requirement. If the camp provides a tent that has already been pitched, you need not pitch your own tent." part. Also, under normal circumstances, I would think that only a week of camping would count. Many camps work a week and then have a few days off and then come back and as a MBC for camping I would not count each time period as a seperate exper

Also Range Safety Officer training needs to be retaken too. Mine expires in less than 60 days! LOL

Sorry, ODS = Out Door Skills, I sometimes forget that everybody has their own terms!(This message has been edited by Hawkrod)