hicountry

My oldest has aged out and my youngest will age out within a year, they are done with fundraising. Agree the popcorn is marginal in quality and over priced but what took the cake with trails end was the trail mix. A few years ago they offered the standard trail mix with peanuts, mm's and raisins, $20 for a small can. It was over priced but in the realm of possibly normal. After that they went to a bag (Not even the perception of value the tin provided ) but the quantity (ounces) went down and the price went to $25. Out Kernal showed me the bag they provided and told me how much, I ab

We are one unit that is finding more efficient ways to manage Merit Badges. I love the idea of boys seeking other adults and working on their own on badges but in 5 years despite promoting this idea for 3 of those years, only two boys came to me to independently work on a badge with a counselor, in one example I was the counselor. Given the nature of the way boys and families work, I don't have time to change the world but with my limited time, I adapt to it (within reason). We encourage participation at the dreaded merit badge colleges, merit badges at summer camp and we sometimes hold

I certainly don't know both sides of the story or in person know the personalities or witnessed the history but from what you have said here..... The SM appears to be looking for any reason to delay you The relationship with the SM is not good I know may adults who hold grudges a long time over small things and react way out of proportion to the issue at the root of it all You have already made many attempts You have a small unit with limited otehr adult resources Other adult resources in your unit are not very actively engaged or attending. Not knowing how m

One other thought (And Calico I was not meaning any disrespect, just pointing out a road we maight not all want to go down)... So when is it BSA will make a rule against water sponges and water balloons, either that some kid gets hurt when his glasses get busted or some whiney parent complains it simulates hand grenades and miliary and BSA caves to pressure and bans them. Don't laugh, it could be closer than you think, how many threads have we read regarding CAMO and is it banned or not, the bandwagon for banning citing simulation of miliary garb. Maybe they can throw water b

Either we accept their wisdom on this or move on to another organization. It's time to stop bringing our own baggage in to this and act like Thomas54's Boy Scout - accept it maturely, and move on. I respect your opinion but last I knew there was freedom of speech and expression, just because someone does not 100% tow the line without feedback or opinion, does not qualify it as baggage. Most of the adults involved in BSA are volunteers, they don't have to be here if they choose not to. To insinuate they do everything exactly as prescribed and they are not allowed to have an opinion on any

See the thread regarding too many BSA rules taking the fun out of scouting. G2S2 can be interpreted to outlaw the use of squirt guns and in examples provided by others, some individauls or councils or districts already have. Our scouts have had water pistols at some campouts, no one became a gun nut and no hypersensative neighboring campers called the local media to spin the tale that BSA is raising a bunch of ultra right gun nuts at age 11 or 12. I guess someone bent on following every rule to the letter, no matter how ridiculous could have given me and my fellow scouters on those e

BSA and almost everything else anymore is a hassle due to WAY TOO MANY RULES AND REGULATIONS. Not so much BSA's fault, it is typical CYA efforts thanks to whiners complainers, the politically correct crowd, our good freinds, the lawyers, govenment pressure, standards and laws etc. There are many things one can't do with scouts and other activities that have such a ridiculous burden of requirements, paperwork etc that they are effectively not worth the effort to make happen. Anyone can pick the pet rules of thier choice and illustrate justification for it but at a point long ago, Scoiety and

I will start this again with a heartfelt praise to guys like Brent who somehow are able to have troops that run to some of the highest standards, in this case uniform, but Bren or others it is a litel condecending to automatically beleive any troop that doesn't meet the bar where you managed to get it is inferior or not doing things right. I COULD HAVE pushed the troop to full uniform, no parents wring checks as the boys all fuundraised sufficiently, total boy led patrol method etc but I can tell you from my experience witht eh scouts and families in my troop and the folks in my community I w

Not limiting this to just uniforms, there are enough of those threads elsewhere. Brent, I envy you, if you knew me, I really wanted to get where you are at, I just retired as SM after 5 years (now on committee to be there for new SM but not to be in his way). I was beyond burnend out by my seconf year and had it at the begining of year 3 where I planned to drop. My wife pointed out to me that all the work that was done to turn around the troop was mostly in place and it was time to just enjoy the troop becasuse the boys were and the parents loved how our troop was going. Something was still gn

Sorry for the double post but I missed this one..... National would be well advised to look at the volunteer fire service as a model of how to maintain professional standards in a volunteer service. While rules vary from state to state, there are national standards in place created by the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association). Most firefighters have some level of NFPA certification. In some states a certain level of continuing education (CE) is required to maintain that certification. The individual has some choice in what kind of CE they want to earn depending upon their need

I was fortunate to develop a solid adult leader team over the 5 years I was SM. All those people are still on board as ASM's and have considerable experience on campouts, hikes, backpacking and the way a BSA troop and patrols should run. Denver area council is not on the manditory training list that I have heard of but the topic has been discussed by adults on a when, what if basis. All our adult leaders have had YPT, Leader essentials, safe swim, weather etc etc but the IOLS would be a waste on active and experienced scouters doing it right. Even the test out is un necessary for them. We deci

For my first few years I tried to sell OA in my troop, no one has been an OA memeber from our troop since about 2004 and before that, no one has any memory of anyone else being involved. The scouts asked what OA is about, the initial answer is the promotional line of it being Scoutings Honor camper society. The kids are smart enough to see that as a generic marketing label and asked what exactly does that mean ? Our response was that they did special lodge campouts, service projects and the ceremony team. Our scouts responded that we camped at least once a month on events they love and attend

We have wondered why bother at Centennial unit award or quality unit award or all it's variations for years now. The title Journey to excellence is a complete turn off. When I took over our unit 5 years ago we did the paperwork for Quality unit or whatever it was called that year and we earned Bronze. After that we went through the motions and easily made gold or silver for a couple years. We finally thought about the question we were asking ourselves....why are we playing this game ? We skipped it the 4th year. Year 5 our UC who is a really nice guy went to the units one by one in a very nice

Thanks for the compliment but I used to post here under a slightly differnt handle......I've been here before. I posted as this entire scenario really digs at me, the continual degradation in America where people become increasingly selfish, totally disregard others, want everything done for them and complain constantly. If things aren't delevered to them their way on time and exactly how they want it they complain and proceed to make other people's lives miserable. I have seen these attitudes killing the pack I mentioned, I had several of these folks in the troop until they were "we

The price point is now way too high on the popcorn products (for the most part) and the percieved value is very poor even when one considers it supporting a good cause. Our troop still does a fair job selling but they are getting more and more that don't buy and an increase in comments about price. We are seeing an increase in folks who don't buy but kick the boys $5 or $10 as a doantion to the troop. If you stop and look at a tin and think about a $20 bill the price is crazy, $5 is kind of OK, maybe $10 is a stretch but at $20 bucks a can the asking price is crazy. I hear the pitch about it b

Basementdweller, as long as you continue this you not only make yourself miserable but you are enabling the rude, selfish, self centered behavior of the parents and other leaders you have described in this and other threads. The benefit of what you do for the boys is far outweighed by the abuse, lack of help, demands and total BS you described. If you leave it is highly doubtfull the remaining leaders or parents will pick up the ball, things will likely collapse but that is on them, not you. I read what you say about cross overs, be careful what you wish for. In an effort to increase scou