JoeBob

10 hours ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

We have a bunch of guys working in Indian Lore MB, and to make doubly sure it OK, AND ARE NOT OA MEMBERS ( emphasis), doing  AOL ceremonies now. They are using the MBC's dance regalia for the ceremony. Since they are not Arrowmen,  they are using one of the discarded AOL ceremonies the OA use to do.

Funny.  The witch hunt for a 'Secret Society' has created a secret society.

Inito

I'm a big fan of candle lanterns.  Especially in the winter.  A single candle can add an amazing amount of warmth to a small tent.  You can dry out gear, sit around comfortably, read (remember books?) and just be cozy in your tent while the weather storms outside.

If you suspend a candle lantern inside, you need to use a carabiner or metal clip to isolate the hot candle lantern hanger from your cord. Don't want to melt through your suspending line and have the candle drop.

Unfortunately, every Scouter that I've ever run into says that candle lanterns are an 'open flame' and barred from scouting as such.  Hope I'm wrong.  

You must send the letter in order to have any chance of closure.  That way you will know that you have done everything that you possibly could do to help right the course of Troop XX.  Not sending your explanation will bolster the Webelos 3 mentality, "I asked him for an explanation, and he never got back to me. So he must have had personal reasons."

Retaliation?  These folks have driven you from your home troop.  What could they possibly do more?

Merry Christmas, y'all! 

I put this in the 'Issues and Politics' forum in case some of you wanted to suggest that we say 'Happy Holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas'.  Masticate my hiney!!

1- I wish that every girl scout troop finds enough female members and adult leaders to successfully  launch their own scouting adventure.

2- I hope that all Scouters find satisfaction in their efforts, and that their visions of Scouting's gifts are fully realized.  I appreciate that you are giving of your time.

3 - I freely share with all Scouters who are carrying forward with the new vision of Scouting, that I am jealous of your zeal; and no matter how misguided that I think that you are, I do wish you success.  I just could not do it any more.

4 - If you should find your stocking full of switches on Christmas morning, remember; it makes good kindling.

5 - Nevermind...

My 19 year old daughter is home from school tonight and cajoled me into watching what she remembers as a her favorite Christmas movie with daddy : 'Die Hard'.  It was great!  Beethoven wrote some great sinister rifts.  In the spirit of 'Die Hard', "Yippe Kye Yea, Mother Pluckers! And to all a good night!"

Legal Caveat: In case any of you should ever quote anything that I have said in this post and use it against me in a future thread, I shall deny that I wrote it and claim that my account was hacked.

12 hours ago, FireStone said:

You unfairly characterize this news as part of some liberal agenda or plot by liberals to destroy the BSA. In doing so you insult every liberal BSA member, volunteer, and family. For some reason the moderators tolerate it. I have no idea why.

Really, @FireStone ?  Moderate voices on the forum have been drowned out by the cacophony of "Times change.  BSA must change, too."  We politely disagreed.  Once it became obvious that closed minds were not listening,  we retired to a less vocal status with the caveat "We'll see." 

Now we are seeing.  Part one.

In 1,542 posts, I've never whined about being treated unfairly; or chastised the moderators for allowing viewpoints differing from my own.  My beliefs are strong enough to withstand scrutiny, disagreement and criticism.

I truly hope that National's abdication of its strong leadership position leads to a more localized version of Scouting.  But I fear that councils where abuse occurred will not escape being payees to settlements within their bailiwick.  Funds will diminish.  There is no way to spin this as good news for recruitment numbers.

I lurk on this forum not with morbidity as drawn to a train wreck; but with hope that somehow Scouting will pull it off, and survive to teach and inspire youth as Scouting inspired me.  I don't think that any of the changes recently imposed can be reversed; BSA as I knew it is dead.  Please prove me wrong.

Firestone, several impolite responses come to mind that the Scout Law prohibits me from saying.  So I'll leave you with one piece of advice: grow a sense of humor; you're going to need it.

4 hours ago, Hawkwin said:

The leadership we currently have is not necessarily responsible for the failings of past leadership that resulted in so many sexual abuse cases.

Yep.  I find myself bemused that Irving is blaming their Chapter 11 considerations on the one thing that is NOT their direct responsibility.  

Diminish nature and the outdoors in the core program - No harm - No foul.

Gay Members - No harm - No foul.

Gay Leaders - No harm - No foul.

Diminish God - No harm - No foul.  (Did we really need Mormons?  Guess not...)

Bechtel (Did we really need Bechtel?) - No harm - No foul.

Undercut the value of Eagle - No harm - No foul.

Add girls and eliminate boys' safe space - No harm - No foul.

Sexual abuse lawsuits...  Oh the cost!  (We didn't do it! We've put YPT on steroids!  We're blameless!) The foul cost!  Money pouring down the drain! Dastardly foul lawyers!  Punitive damages most foul.

And fowl droppings.

See Liberals!  There is a Santa Claus!

Can't you just hear the wine-coolers clinking together?

3 hours ago, cocomax said:

Boy Scouts of America (BSA) should be renamed  Scouts USA. or "SUSA"

I can't do 'Susans', but I can do SUSA.  Especially if we make Mr. Potato Head our national spokesman:

Then he can be the savior of Irving's membership numbers, the Re-SUSA-tater.

I can sink no lower...

My father drove a Higgins boat during D-Day.  He said it was just like 'Saving Private Ryan.'

What Eagle Dad said.  But make it a couple of years.

Every time I visited, looked in on my son, or showed up to speak at an EBOR; the boys or fathers would sidle up to me and say "We miss you."  Okay.  Too soon to be back here,

To know which trees are best to hunt under.

Persimmons and locust bean pods early in the season.

Red oak acorns next.

White oak acorns once they start falling, the whitetail's favorite mast.

I'm of the opinion that this candidate failed on the Scout Motto: 'Be Prepared'.

Let's differentiate from Girls Scouts by sharpening our nomenclature:

Female And Male Scouts:  FAMS.

Or has family camping already trademarked that?

Lyft and Uber offer ride alternatives to absent parents. 

4 hours ago, cocomax said:

"The course was mostly about managing adults... by creating... loyalty to the BSA brand through tradition and nostalgia."

Free volunteers cost so much less than paid lower level staff.  Free labor equates to higher salaries in Irving.

(Back to your hole, JoeBob! Back!"

I used my role as Scoutmaster to motivate myself to stay fit.  "I gotta set a good example for the boys!"  Whenever we had a physical challenge ahead, I'd scarf down a handful of chondroitin for the knees, and happily soldier on.  I liked being able to make 2 trips up Mount Yonah hauling water(1000 feet of elevation in 2 miles), paddling solo on the Flint and the Blackwater as lead or sweep, and coaching the younger boys halfway up the wall in the climbing gym.  I think that that is what being a Scoutmaster is about. 

Not to say that I never doubled up on s'mores, and heated my own hammock afterwards; or had a 4th hot-dog, when 2 would have sufficed.  In my world, only about 10% of Scouters over 35 would be considered fit.  I just really wish that more Scouters would push themselves to set a better example.  I wonder if part of the friction I have with District and Council bigwigs is them being intimidated by the difference in our levels of fitness.  (Probably not; that sounds like my ego talking.)

I'm 6'2", 210 lbs, and 64.  I have a physically active job, so I can still suck it in and display a sixpack.  (It's actually an 8 pack, and the two on bottom are 16 ouncers.)

Which one of these District level scouters do you want your child to emulate?

4 hours ago, MikeS72 said:

101st or 82nd?

Weapons platoon, Alpha Company, 2nd BN, 75th Rangers, Ft. Lewis, WA

You?

The Skunk Polecat
As Told by the French-Canadian Trapper.
I'm hunt ze moose, I hunt zee bear,
Sometimes, I hunt zee rat
Last veek I take my axe,
Forego to hunt zee skunk pole-cat.
My fren' Bill, he say
Ize very fine fur, somtimes ize good to eat.
So I tell my vife she get fur coat,
Same times, I'm get some meat!
So I valk two, tree, four mile,
An' I feel vun awful smell,
An' I tink dot skunk she gone an die,
An' fur coat, she gone to hell.

By an' by I get up close,
I raise my axe up high,
An' dot gosh dern skunk, she up and trow
Spmeting-—Plunk—right in my eye!
Sacre Bleu! I am I blind!
Jese Chris! I cannot see.
I run aroun and roun and roun,
An bump in beeg oak tree,
By an' by, I light out for zee shack.
I'm tink one million skunk polecats
They climb up on my back.

My vife, she meet me at zee doer,
She sick on me my dog;.
She say, "You no sleep here no more,
You go sleep wis hog."
So I go out by dee hog-pen.
An' say! What do you sink?
Zat gosh dern hog no stand fer dat,
On 'count zee awful stink.

No more I'm hunt zee skunk polecat
For to get his fur or meat.
For if his pee she smell like zat,
Jese Chris! What if he sheet?!?
 

On 10/20/2018 at 1:24 PM, Sentinel947 said:

Not "Walking the Walk"

@Sentinel947, I was all ready for you to hit on one of my personal hot buttons: bad personal example.

When one of these rotund individuals (from a folding chair pulled out of their camping van)

implies that this old Eagle Scout, Airborne Ranger, Scoutmaster isn't up to standards because I don't have beads...  

I need ViseGrip pliers to hold my tongue. 

The double standard for validation of argument has provoked me to react.

One side of this discussion has required that their suppositions, predictions of the future, and personal anecdotes are to be taken as valid.  While at the same time, they have demanded empirical data from the other side and dismissed years of personal experiences as unsupportable fantasy. 

I considered going back over the last four pages and cutting/pasting the many examples; but it's not worth my time.  One side won't change their minds, and the other side knows exactly to what I am referring.  They just have more patience than I.

Family Camping hasn't undermined the Patrol Method?  Linked Troops won't be going coed ?  Girls in coed troops won't impact the learning and personal development of boys?

Right...

Back to being a lurker. 

Hey Cole123, welcome to the forum!

My troop from Atlanta liked to plan a ski-trip (18 smelly bodies in a 3 bedroom condo) or a caving activity for February.  When you're underground, the weather is irrelevant.

March was usually a hike in South Georgia or a canoe trip in northern Florida, Blackwater river or the Suwanee.

“For some men, they think if they’re not raping anyone, that’s enough. But we’ve seen that it’s not. We need to train men on healthy masculinity at a young age”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/metoo-is-making-colleges-teach-toxic-masculinity-101?ref=scroll

They've already neutered the Boy Scouts, so why not?

3 minutes ago, ParkMan said:

Seperate ASM training from SM training.

I'm assuming that you mean 'separate'.  But I don't understand what you'd want your SMs to know that you think wouldn't apply to an ASM?