JMHawkins

I'm in favor of mandatory liability insurance for every firearm. Policy limit could be determined by magazine size at $250,000 per shot, or something similar. Of course, this would only affect legal and responsible gun owners and not solve our real gun problem which is illegally possessed hand guns used by the average criminal. So why advocate it then? Seriously. The problem isn't law abiding, mentally stable people owning guns. Even "assault weapons?" So what possible value is there in advocating laws that don't apply to the people who in fact are the problem? Does it ma

The moment someone is labeled, you start to think differently - now the kid is "not quite right in the head". Stop thinking that way and start treating the lad as the individual he is and things will be much better for all. I complete agree. But... "Treating the lad as the individual he is" has to actually mean something. If the individual he is is a dangerous and unstable one, you've got to treat him as such. And by "you" I mean "us - all of us." And if we don't have labels conveniently applied by someone else (who then is reasponsible for any mislabling), then we have to

The right to bear arms is in our constitution. I suggest as a start, this country should consider strongly regulate the ammunition and ammunition supplies for reloading etc Disingenuous and in violation of the spirit of the law. The 2nd Ammendment isn't an obstacle course you're supposed to cleverly weave your way through. If you think guns are bad, then advocate repealing the ammendment, don't try to weasel around it by claiming the right to keep and bear arms doesn't guarantee the right to load them while chanting "Ha ha, clever lawyer found a loophole..." So let's look at the se

Secondly, the vast majority of Scout leaders are not qualified to make judgment calls about financial aid. The most certainly are qualified when it's their money being given out.

Two lessons here: One, people who make rules should have a great deal of humility, because it's very easy for the rules to have unintended consequences. For when that happens, it's important that the rules have ways of being bent in order to mitigate the unintended consequences. Usually that boils down to trusting someone's judgement. If the rule makers are unwilling to trust someone's judgement in bending their rules, then... Two, arrogant rule makers deserved to be removed from their positions of authority, and shouldn't be entrusted with any other positions until they've done s

There seems to be a theme throughout the troop where the older scouts (15+) want to have little to do with the newbies (under 13), unless it is required for credit on their POR. Well, at the very least, the SPL and ASPL - as part of earning credit for their POR - need to intereact with the 13 yo PL to help him learn his job. Then the 13 yo works with the 11 yo's to help them learn their Scout skills. I'd sit down with the older Scouts and ask them to provide leadership for the PL. Also, he should have an APL right? That's the guy who should fill in when he's gone. If the APL is one of

I agree, if you have one patrol, then you don't need, should not have, a SPL. Just have PL elections. There's literally nothing for an SPL to do if you only have one patrol. Like Basementdweller said, your troop meeting are patrol meetings. The PL should run them, with help as appropriate. If he's overwhelmed, first see if he can offload (aka delegate) some work to the APL. Then if both of them are still swamped, as SM do a little back-filling (or better, sit down with the two of them and coach them through the things they are having trouble with. Even if you end up doing most of the wo

I dunno. Is the patch made from sustainably harvested materials? Free range polyester farms perhaps? Or shade-grown dacron? On a serious note, I'd assume the only change would be to make the WCA the same thing: either Sustainability or E. Science.

Desertrat77, I hear what you're saying about the image adult scouters convey. It's a difficult message to convey while still being kind, but I think you did a good job there. I'm conscious of it. I try to keep myself in decent shape and convey a sense of competency. At summer camp last year, all three of the adults with our troop did the High Cope course. I was kind of surprised at how proud the scouts were of us when the staff called us up to give us our patches, but I learned something from it.

When a pro focuses more on getting a raise than having a quality, thriving program. In an ideal world the only way a pro would get a raise would be by having a quality, thriving program. A part of the problem may be that BSA isn't "selling" a service that people directly pay for in the way that, say, AAA sells roadside assistance. Instead, BSA sells mostly an image that they use for fundraising. One of the big problems in any large organization is when the external feedback loop get's longer than any of the important internal ones. External feedback is when people external to th

Good Luck. I hope someday I can put some of your thoughts on Venturing to use in my neck of the woods.

So, I do use my real name on here, and I try to write posts with the idea that the parents of Scouts in my unit(s) will read them. Now, like Beavah said, without the intonations and body language of an in-person converstaion, sometimes it's difficult to get the words across with the right tone. For writing to do that generally requires more words, and I'm long-winded enough as it is. You folks don't get college credit for reading my posts so I should keep them shorter than the Great Russians... Well, at any rate I suspect I often come across harsher than I intend, but there it is. One

The problem I have with what you did is the depth of learning on a single weekend.... True, like I said, they do have to keep practicing. But it's also not like that was the first time we did anything like that. In fact, the Scouts mostly already had the skills, what the weekend was about was putting them to use in practice scenarios. First aid skills aren't really hard, but keeping your head in the situation where you need to apply them can be.

Depending on how well the class is laid out, it could be great. Here's what we did this fall, in partnership with a neighboring troop. (note, our Troop SM and myself are WRFA instructors so we have experience putting on this sort of training - if the Red Cross folks you work with do as well, then you could have a good experience): We had a joint campout with the two troops, Friday night to Sunday morning. The campout was basically run like a WRFA course but primarily focused on First Aid MB skills (though also including some WRFA topics like Stay/Go, Fast/Slow, etc.). We would have a

I wonder how much the paperwork hurdles have weeded out the woodsmen adults in favor of the patient plodding bureaucrats? Bureaucracy Scouts of America. Slogan: "We don't let youth cut down trees to make pioneering projects, but we slaughter entire forests for the paperwork we fill out!" In all seriousness, JoeBob is right about that - it's not just the applications, but the paperwork for going on outings too (which properly considered also includes the paperwork associated with verifying required training, etc.).

Yep, that's because da Cubs and Boy Scouts are separate, different programs for adults. That's what makes da transition hard, eh? I get what you're saying Beavah, but I actually think the programs should be separate. And while a bunch of Boy Scouts could probably run a PWD, I think it's valuable for the Dads (well, Moms and Dads) to do it. Cub Scout age, it goes fast, and with my son a Webelos II now, I'm starting to feel the first stings of him growing up and wanting to be around his friends more than around his dad. Maybe I'm just reacting to that particular phase I'm in right now, b

I think of this idea very parrallel to local sports associations. Cities often have soccer, swim, gymnastics, baseball associations that provide programs for all youth from the very young thru high school (or until high school sports pick it up). Fred, I gotta say, that's a great example, but I think it proves the opposite of what you think. The folks who ran the Little League - and just the Little League - I played in as a kid sure seemed to have done a better job putting on an organized program than the consolidated organization I see today. Now, I have to be fair and aknowledge

Beavah, There's definitely something to what you say about reducing the number of overall committee members to reduce the adult interference. However, there's a difference between the programs, eh? A Pack needs a committee that does quite a bit. A Webelos scout, even with a couple of Bear Cub assistants, isn't going to plan the PWD. It's necessary and appropriate for a Pack Committee to have adults highly active in lots of things. It's at the Troop level where it can be a real problem when TC members take too big a role and step on the youth learning process. As far as a Crew commit

The one-unit approach is the federated model... No, it's not. It's the consolidated model. "Federated" means separate units with their own leadership having a loose affiliation with other units. "One Unit" is combining and centralizing the leadership of serveral units, which is what you have described. The difference is infrastructure and how units working together and support each other. You have a central committee chair and then maybe sub-chairs... Right Fred, but you skipped over my main point- the Central Committee Chair position is a much harder one to perform effecti

The only solutaion I can think of for that problem is to have a better alternative to a "brand new application" that is a more obvious transfer form. Yes, this is exactly what I am suggesting. And the designer should remember to include a "Please leave me registered with my current unit(s)" checkbox as well. When I became an ASM with the Troop, the council processed my application by removing me from the Pack that I was still CC for, prompting me to need, you guessed it, fill out yet another form to continue being CC of the Pack when it came time to recharter.

I'm 110% against it. In general, I favor Federation over Consolidation. Please note, the following is something I believe applies to pretty much any human organization, be it a Scouting unit, a business, a government agency, charity, etc. In theory, if you combine two things into one, you can get the best of both outfits, realize economies of scale, provide mutual support, etc. Experience tells me though, that you are at least as likely to get the worst of both, overcomplication, misdirected resources, infighting, finger pointing, etc. The bigger an organization is, the more talent

Yeah, so I think the main source of multiple registration numbers is BSA's dumb fixation on using the same form for new applications as well as change of positions, compounded by their insistance you fill out a complete new form for every change. The Bear DL has to fill out a new form to continue being the Webelos Den Leader? Brilliant. So all theese new forms come in to the overloaded council office and it's just a guarantee to have screwups. Adopting a "change of position" form that had a spot for your current registration number would go a long ways towards solving this prob

I'll stick with my ENO, bugnet and tarp. That thing seems more gimmicky than useful. Doesn't look like you could get an underquilt on that either. Speaking of the evolution of the hammock, I was listening to the audiobook of Samuel Elliot Morrison's bio of Christopher Columbus this weekend. Apparently hammocks became the way to sleep at sea when Columbus' sailors saw the natives of Long Island in the Bahamas sleeping in them.

Maybe you should revisit the decision that has you "stuck in Cub Scouts" for the next 7 years. The Pack certainly needs leadership, but so does the Troop. Would it be easier to recruit someone to take your job in the Pack, or someone to get the troop functional?

We tried a no-cooking trek once, but almost everyone picked as a "thorn," the strangely depressing lack of a cooked meal at the end of the day. We encourage a no-cook lunch and a fast cleanup breakfast, but I'm going to have a hot dinner after a day of burning energy on the trail. And we'd like the Scouts to develop the skill to feed themselves something enjoyable and nutritious at the end of the day. It's up to them, of course, but we try to set an example. Of course, lay days are a great time to have an elaborate breakfast.