imasoonerfan

If this is actually the case then this is sad. Surely they can find an alternate location to hold this. What about the city in Arkansas that 'came in second'?

http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/article/boy_scouts_of_america_says_jamboree_in_2013_is_out/35253/

I have been to summer camp with our Troop twice and have seen mixed results so far.

Two years ago the program was very thorough and the boys came back from camp and had actually learned from being in the program. It was ran by caollege aged staff as most of the program areas were. Great camp over all. (I was a first year dad and was overwhelmed by the experience so very short opinion)

Last year's program at a different camp was not so hot. I served as SM and had a real eye-opening experience. It was staffed by high school aged kids that spent the week screwing around and not doing a good job of teaching. The attitude at the camp overall was very 'free spirited' and the camp director could have cared less. There were actually two staffers who were injured due to horseplay and both wound up with broken bones. Their OA callout was a full blown hands on tap-out complete with face paint and bare a** loin cloths. We had a couple of moms who were embarassed to say the least. The boys ENJOYED the ceremony as did I but it goes back to following the rules. I heard they have a different camp director so things may change.

We are going to a 3rd camp this year so we will see.

I think a big part of it is staffing and the overall attitude at camp. My 2.....

Since we are on the subject of $. Does your contingent tour DC and the area before the Jamboree or do they just go to Jamboree?

I will swap ya! Our cost is $3000 plus uniforms.

As Cubmaster I come up with the ideas for the summer but my word is not law. It is mine and your husbands responsibility to develop the program but be ready for feedback.

The big thing to remember is that everyone needs to be open to ideas. I have done the same thing the last two summers and told the committee that I was bored with it to help me out. They had some really good ideas and we changed a couple of things.

Again, be open minded and if you have something that you really want to do then you gotta sell it. If there is something you think wont work then try not to burn it down too hard because it was someone elses idea and hurt feeling will cause a problem. Good luck!

We recently had our callout at our District's Webelos Woods. Probably 1/2 of the Troops in our district were not there for various reasons. I expect to see the candidates from those Troops at Ordeal next weekend.

I would visit with Lodge Advisor and clarify the situation with him.

Good for him!

Now my question is how much are your payments?!?! We have been paying since last year and it costs us $170 a month through next March (I think). I am sure your overall cost is cheaper since you are closer but wow. I thought our council was slow out of the gate.

How many Scouts applied for how many positions?

I can feel your son's pain. I will go through Ordeal next month. I have a pretty good idea what to expect but there is still some unknown. My biggest angst is the fine Oklahoma Weather.

On the bright side my wife will be going through at the same time. She has NO idea what to expect and is as nervous as they come.

To top it all off the first night is our 16th anniversary. Our Scoutmaster told us after the callout that we will make it one more year married since we will not spend our anniversay together or speaking to one another. He thinks he is funny.

My oldest was not elected and is pretty down that both Mom and Dad will be going through before him. I just keep reminding him that his day is coming and he will appreciate it more if/when he does get elected. I wanted to go through Ordeal 'with' him but now I get to be on the other side to welcome him.

@Prof,

My error was due to not filling out the Travel Itinerary section. I completed it and it was approved this morning. I am now in the process of doing a National Permit for Summer Camp if I can get the bus company to give me the CDL info.

@Skipper,

I would not call it trouble as much as it is a learning curve. I can see some of the points around being forced to reenter info from training but in my case we have 50 registered adults and I can understand the system not pulling that much info over. Shoot I can see it not pulling over anyone's but mine. The nice thing is enter it once and it is stored permanently.

Much better than signing and faxing and driving and begging and..... Well you get the point!

My DE's approach has been to ask eveyone to ask 5 people around you to donate. They have even ask volunteerd to come to the council office in the evening and telemarket contributions. Their main target is calling people who gave last year but not this.

One thing our council does for donors is if you pledge $125 you get a special edition CSP. It changes every year and each year it is a different point of the Scout law. If you donate $250 youe get the CSP and a coffee mug . Seems to get people to donate.

The $125 comes from the question above. The council says it costs $125 to support a single Scout for one year.

Actually you have to go into 'Edit My Profile' and there is a check box that you must check in order to add the Tour permits to your profile.

The good news is it only took our local office 30 minutes to process it. The bad news is that it was missing stuff and rejected! Try #2 has been submitted.

I actually like the process. No rounding up signatures and driving to the Scout office.

"But I'm one of those pathetic scouters who knows nothing about sewing and relies on my wife to put patches on my shirt. "

Take that bad boy down the dry cleaners and have them do it!   ;-)

The link on Myscouting is dead. There is no link.

It might depend on the Council.

Are you using the online Tour Permit in My Scouting? If so mine does not work.

Or are you referring to the Tour Permit that is in PDF format now?

Edumacate me!!

I have to say that the episode was very tame compared to what it normally is. Not sure if the Scout thing was reason or not. To me the only funny aspect of it were the Pinewood Derby bits. It hit way too close to home with our Pack and parents trying to get away with stuff.

Welcome!

I have been the CC of our Troop for over a year and served as the Pack CC as well.

Get ready for every emotion you can imagine. Take everything in stride and just remember it is about the boys!

Dean is right on target with his advice. I would add that if you are new to leadership find someone that can give you advice (inside or outside the unit).

Remeber to have fun!

The patches are not offered by BSA and are somthing offered at the Council level. Really at the unit level. Our Scout shop used to carry them and now they don't since they switched over to a National shop. We had to order customer patches.(This message has been edited by imasoonerfan)

The event is this weekend so I will let you know how it goes.

I think there is some confusion over who I referred to as going.

There will be Bears as in still in the 3rd grade until next month and Webelos 1's still in the 4th grade. All are camping BUT all MUST have a parent with them the entire weekend.

I got the idea from other councils doing this same thing.

Additionally, our Troop has until this year put on a Pin Fair allowing Webelos and Bears to come in late may and earn two activity pins. Our boys taught it and it gave the Cubs and parents the experience of boy run.

Oklahoma would cheer!!!

Boomer Sooner!! :-)(This message has been edited by imasoonerfan)

Are you trying to say that parents bend the rules at the PWD? That would never and I mean NEVER happen! **oozing with sarcasm!!**

HICO_Eagle brings up a good point, so let me ask a direct question on this. For those of you who own trailers (presumably owned by the CO, but maybe not...) who pays for insurance on the trailer or other equipment?

We are chartered through a UMC and they pay for the insurance on both of our trailers.

We actually have scheduled a time (6:30-8pm) on Saturday night for all of the Packs to go to each of the Troop's campsites and visit. We just called it a Webelos Walkaround. All of the Troops will be camping in one area and they have the opportunity to 'showcase' their 'talents' to the Cubs.

We also have an event in October called what else????? Octoberfest! All of the Troops in our district setup at a local Sportsman's club and the Webelos come and check them out. Sort of like a huge District open house.

I cannot tell a lie. I am actually the person that suggested that the Bears be invited to Webelos Woods this Spring. My thinking was that if they can see the Webelos in action with the Troops it would get them excited and keep them in the program.

I guess we will see if it works.

It is a Subaru commercial. My wife (the GS and Den leader) saw it and just shook her head and was amazed.

Anything to sell a car!

We have them in our national store.

Personally I do not like them. For the Cubs they are ok due to the time frame they are being used but for Boy Scouts they do not hold up. The pages tend to tear out very easily. The cover on my son's book came off within six months of buying it.

My advice is to go with the glue bound book. Just my two cents worth.