Horizon

For Trail to First Class - the HB is the only record the BOR can use to make sure that the boy is ready for Review. Above First Class, it is necessary to see the sign-offs for SMC, POR and Scout Spirit (assuming the boy has other evidence of merit badges).

So the Handbook is the record of advancement. I admit, I don't know how detailed Troopmaster is, but it is the boys' responsibility to track his progress.

That all said - the Board can Review him, but perhaps not sign off until they can confirm that the boy has fulfilled the OTHER necessary requirements.

Stosh:

I dunno. Honestly. In a perfect world, the boys would talk about their dad being out of work, that they can't afford summer camp, etc. The boys who are secure in their personal identity will happily state that they can not spend that amount. I am worried about the quiet Scout who hides his financial status and simply "misses" a campout or three due to finances.

Maybe I am being overly sensitive due to personal history - I just don't want a boy to HAVE to admit to financial problems during the Patrol meeting. Then again, I might be trading one lesson for another.

You have given me something to think about - thanks.

Stosh - I understand your point. However, it is very dependent on the troop I think. I have some extremely wealthy families in my troop, combined with some single moms (My area has both multi-million dollar homes and a university campus). If the boys set their budgets, some grubmasters would just grab their parent's ATM card and go camping with prime cuts of filet, throwing away the excess.

By forcing a budget, even those who do not need to be on a budget learn TO budget. It also means that the poor kids don't get socked with a food bill that is beyond their family's means.

Filters and tablets - only has been an issue when backpacking.

Our troop charges a $15 camping fee per Scout. A Scout who provides a round-trip driver does not pay the camping fee.

Patrols collect $15 from each member for the food budget, and carry over some excess at times. Patrols are required to get SPL sign-off on their menu before the trip.

The troop provides the following: Propane & Charcoal.

Paper towels are not allowed, neither is bottled water.

There is nothing wrong with a camping club if you can sneak in the rest of the stuff - game with a purpose, remember?

The boys are not going to request a campout that focuses on being thrifty. However, you CAN set up a campout with an award for the best dinner for under $2.00 per Scout.

For teaching values - I try to immediately point it out whenever a point of the Law is followed or broken. I was in the vicinity when one patrol asked another for some supplies for dinner. A member of the patrol rejected in a negative fashion, shall we say. I walked up with a smile and said that I had never seen 4 points of the Law broken so quickly! (Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, & Kind for those of you keeping track). We had a great talk about it, and the other Patrol then admitted that they were not Prepared.

175 gram ultimate Frisbee is my plate. Once dinner is over, we can start playing...

Official Sierra Cup is what I drink hot liquids from, or eat chili, or soup.

Titanium spork for eating, sheath knife for cutting (but NOT on the Frisbee!).

Start them now, and have them register now. We just had Camporee, and one Patrol had several boys who will not "cross over" until next week. We made them a part of the troop early, rather than waiting for the Pack's ceremony. Perhaps one of the folks here who know the P&Qs can answer whether or not a boy can be dual registered in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts?

For Summer Camp, we sent out registration materials to all of the Packs that expressed interest, beginning last December. We knew that one group of Webelos had made their decision to join our Troop when our online Summer Camp registration form showed the names of 3 boys who were not yet members of our Troop! You can never get the Summer Camp information out too early, IMHO. A well organized Summer Camp sign-up can also be a good part of your recruitment efforts.

The difficulty with Backpacking is requirement 10:

"Using Leave No Trace principles, participate in at least three backpacking treks of at least three days each and at least 15 miles each, and using at least two different campsites on each trek. Carry everything you will need throughout the trek."

To accomplish this, a Scout Troop needs to leave early enough on a Friday to get in an average of 5 miles before dark, then another 5 on Saturday, concluding with 5 on Sunday. That assumes you are trying to make the badge possible without leaving school or without two adults having to take extra time off of work.

I am working with some Scouts to plan treks for this badge, and we are trying to find some loop trails to hit a basecamp after 2 miles on a Friday instead, but it is tough.

At my troop as a boy we had awards for those who never missed a troop campout over 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 years. Each one was named for a Scout who had achieved it.

As Scoutmaster, I am working on a couple of these. One of them will be for the boy who goes 100% Scouting at Summer Camp - never pauses from trying something or getting involved. I just need to finish the design and get 50 patches made. It will be named for one of my Scouts.

evmori:

Smoking: The evidence against smoking is clear across thousands of research studies - when you smoke, you are weaker than if you abstained from smoking. Anyone who smokes is not doing their best to be physically strong. If you wish to get the numbers down to a few decimal places, just price two life or health insurance policies - one for a smoker and one for a non-smoker.

Drinking: Alcohol consumption, however, is different. For the majority of the population (genetic variation being a factor with some), the light to medium consumption of alcohol can have a positive health effect. However, there is a negative mental effect whenever someone is drinking, which justifies the "no alcohol" part of BSA's policies in my opinion.

Though 5 years old, this article from Slate does a good job of describing the challenges of honestly evaluating the impact of gay parenting:

http://www.slate.com/id/2097048/

If you wish to review the science, APA has a summary of the research on the impact of gay parenting on children here:

http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/publications/lgpchildren.html

"Summary

Results of research to date suggest that children of lesbian and gay parents have positive relationships with peers and that their relationships with adults of both sexes are also satisfactory. The picture of lesbian mothers' children that emerges is one of general engagement in social life with peers, with fathers, with grandparents, and with mothers' adult friends-both male and female, both heterosexual and homosexual. Fears about children of lesbians and gay men being sexually abused by adults, ostracized by peers, or isolated in single-sex lesbian or gay communities have received no support from the results of existing research."

I want my red beret back! I LIKED it, and I gave mine to my son already.

I will take that jacket in a tie-dye pattern please, 42 long. I will even wear it when fulfilling my service time as a Deacon!

From the Handbook:

"A Scout is Reverent.

A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others."

That last sentence seems to be forgotten at times by some Scouters. I have a Minister in my troop who now serves as the Troop Chaplain. Before he took the position we had a cup of coffee to discuss how he would feel about following the Scout Law as the Troop Chaplain. He admitted that it would be a challenge to him, but that he felt that he could walk the line.

I have been to both types of camps, and I don't see a difference from the attendee perspective. At all of the camps we had to pre-register the boys for their merit badge classes long before the week of camp. That registration was all done online (handled by one of my ASMs). It makes perfect sense to take that online registration, then to push it a classroom tracking system as well. The final step is to deliver to the Troop the list of completed merit badges and partials.

If the troop wishes to transfer the partials to blue cards (we do), that is the troop's choice.

Once again: The Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church and the Episcopal Church in the USA are all opening their doors to gays and lesbians.

To those who are telling us to leave Scouting if we don't agree - are you in 100% agreement with every single rule that the BSA has? We have rules that we change over time, and this might be one of them.

I am fully aware that my location has an impact on the types of people I interact with on a daily basis. I come from the Bible Belt, and can easily see the difference in culture in many ways (both positive and negative).

I simply believe that we should trust the Charter Organization and Parent's Committee to make the right decisions. In America the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church and the Methodist Church are all moving towards an acceptance and welcoming of Gays and Lesbians.

The original topic is certainly an interesting one.

Physically Strong: We don't ban smokers, we ban smoking. We don't ban the overweight, we limit their participation in high adventure.

Mentally Awake: We don't ban drinkers, we ban drinking.

Morally Straight: We only ban open homosexuals. We don't check on tithing levels, marital obligations, divorce rates, gambling, or dancing. We are open to ANY faith, yet on this one issue we take the position of some faiths (a position that is changing) and apply it across the board.

I am very happy that the BSA won its USSC cases to be allowed to choose their membership. Now I just want them to let the Charter Organization decide who to register.

I already have to spend time talking to Ministers and Rabbis so that they will support the youth in their church being involved in Scouting. Those Ministers and Rabbis are concerned that I run a bigoted organization contrary to the tenets of their faith. Their concern is based on the bigotry of the BSA's official policies towards homosexuals. So far I have been successful at keeping their support - but it has required a significant use of my time.

One of the most moral men that I know is an openly gay youth Minister. One of the more difficult conversations I need to undertake is asking him if he would be willing to work with my son on his God and Church medal. I will once again have to defend my Honor and openly state that even though I belong to an organization that has bigotry in its code, I am not myself a bigot. I will tell him that I am one of those on the inside working towards change.

It would be easier to quit smoking than to change your sexual orientation. To quote a gay friend, "You think I would CHOOSE to be gay? To be beaten in high school? To be thrown out of my family? To have my church equate me with Satan?"

The songs are the same, it is just the delivery mechanism that sometimes needs adjustment. I have also gone down the vinyl, cassette, CD and now iPhone path. I find that much of my music is the same. My son likes some of my stuff, and I like some of his.

We still teach leadership, self-confidence, self-sufficiency using the outdoors as a backdrop. We might not chop down as many trees, and we might have to cover a few more safety issues, but we are still fulfilling our mission.

BSA chooses to define morally straight as excluding gays.

BSA chooses to define physically strong to mean that smoking and poor health in general are bad, but not bad enough to exclude you. However, they have changed the health form and are supposedly going to tighten the restrictions on adult volunteers for some activities such as Jambo staff.

BSA chooses to define mentally awake to mean that there is no alcohol at Scout functions.

I don't think it is hypocrisy as much as it is a different level of standards. We can not smoke or drink at Scout events - so they ARE keeping to some of their requirements. You could argue that the BSA has an uneven level of measurement, but not pure hypocrisy.

I say this as someone who believes that the BSA should let the Charter organization make the call on homosexuality. If the Charter group does not see a conflict with homosexuality and Morals - then they can choose to have a gay volunteer. That has been hashed over in other threads.

I do SMCs constantly, and not just for rank advancement. I keep a bound notebook with me at all times, and make notes every time I have a real conversation with a boy. It makes a great reference for the roast part of the Eagle COH!

Troop meetings

Campouts (my favorite - I did 7 on the last campout, and we had three BORs as well)

Scouts can come to my home with their parents - this is usually if there is a time deadline for a COH or a Boy turning 18 however.

Every troop is a bit different, as stated. There is the program guide - and most try to follow a part of it.

We start with the pre-meeting, during which boys are usually tracking down various adult leaders for information, chatting, etc. SPL is assigning honor patrol for opening ceremonies at this time (or his ASPL if he is still at athletics).

Opening ceremonies (flags, pledge, oath, law, and outdoor code are recited at our troop).

Skills - Trail to First Class (Camporee Prep right now) plus some of our Merit Badge Counselors will offer to meet with Scouts during this time.

Games / Campout Prep / Quartermaster assistance

Service to the Church (we prep the room for the Church's weekly activities as part of our service to the Church / rent)

Closing announcements

Scoutmaster's minute

Benediction from the Chaplain's Aide.

As this thread devolves into partisan bickering, I thought I would toss something in:

http://www.civilpolitics.org/

John Haidt is a professor who has done some very interesting research into happiness and into moral discourse. He has also done some great work on the difference between liberals and conservatives.

The web site above is an attempt by him to educate both sides, and to try to encourage more civilized discourse. I think that as Scouters we could all learn from it.

We try to bring the Webelos into the family as fast as possible. Individual patrols run the crossover, having already helped recruit the new Scouts.

At an upcoming cross over, the Patrol Leader will invite the Webelos Scout to cross the bridge and join their specific Patrol. The Webelos Scout from then on will be a member of that Patrol (until he chooses to change Patrols). Each Patrol will be working hard to get their New Scouts along the Trail to First Class from within the Patrol.

My point was that you do not have to put any pressure on a society to reduce the number of children - all you have to do is provide more opportunity in education and employment to men and women. Once people no longer see their children as a resource to support them they stop having as many children. Add in space pressure and even the Catholic Italians in the vicinity of the Vatican find themselves having fewer chilren per family.

On the space side - I realize that the US is not all as cluttered as Southern California - I used to live in the Mid West. Some international travel let me see other nations (1st, 2nd and 3rd world) where population growth had reduced standard of living. For those telling me how much space they have around them - do you really want your town to look like Los Angeles?

Farms are being turned into subdivisions across the nation, reducing the arable land. Luckily, the use of pesticides and fertilizer helps us grow MORE crops per acre than ever before. Of course, we are still learning the effect of all of those pesticides and fertilizers. This is not to mention the issue of clean water. Irvine, CA is now filtering sewage water and pumping it back into the ground.

I was really only responding to the call for larger families. I think that each family must choose their own size, based on their own resources. I see no need to adjust anything other than the Ponzi scheme of Social Security and Medicare. Those we will need to learn to pay for without assuming a constantly exponentially growing population of taxpayers in the US.