johnponz

What sense is there in a Scout planning his own COH? What other award requires the person being honored to plan the ceremony. This system just does not make sense to me (tradition or not).

I agree with Beav on this (all points). The COH is the Troop's. They are honoring the Scout's achievement as they honor every other advancement. This one is just a little more formal and a little more special to all involved, recipient, leaders, parents and troop.

Some troops have a reception afterward and some families have their own reception (party). I don't think that matters much.

As far as the letters, send them out. You might be surprised at some of the responses. It wouldn't surprise me too much to find out some of those "extremes" are also eagles. As BSA 24 likes to point out about other matters, Scouting is supposed to be fun.

In the past he has accused me of being of the uniform police variety (which I can be a little). However, I would never advocate electro-shock for someone wearing their OA sash on their belt.

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Lord BadenP has spoken Hee Hee Hee.

LOL. I really am not close to the AHG issue at all. I have two sons. I just like pulling your chain

Projection, projection, projection

By the way many of the aguments that are being made against AHG could also be said of LDS Scouting. BP, are you sying that LDS Scouting is not part of the program?

Baden P is kind of a funny guy. He accuses everyone else of having a closed mind, but then dismisses anything that is contradictory to his original ascertain. I believe that BP should first look up the definition of closed minded, and then should look up projection.

Saying that you can repeal "Obamacare" with a simple majority in the Senate is too simplistic. The Supreme Court ruled that the mandate was a tax (if you read the opinion, it really is not clear that it is a tax-Roberts says something to the effect that it is like a tax), but the mandate is only a part of the Affordable Healthcare Act, maybe that part could be repealed with a simple majority, but to repeal the whole Act would require a filibuster proof majority.

Sounds like another complicated constitutional question, not one easily answered on an internet discussion board.

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The new shirts are great and hold up well in the outdoors (if something goes wrong they are warrented for life-you cannot get better than that). Some people will complain no matter what. You cannot please everyone.

BSA 24, I understand what you are saying but your stats do have a flaw because the majority of people are heterosexual. You would need to compare the percentage of heterosexuals in the population with the percentage of heterosexuals in the molester sub-population.

Then you would need to calculate the percentage of homosexuals in the population and the number of homosexuals in the molester population. You may find (I don't know) that being homosexual does indeed predict molestation when you control for the population difference.

I really do not believe that is the case, but just wanted to show that your statistics were a little simplistic to use as a basis for a conclusion.

This is something the media does all the time. They pull out any numbers that sort of corroborates their point. It is kind of a pet peeve of mine.

I was thinking about your situation, and have an idea. Have you tried getting a support role such as Council Registrar or running a Council's Scout store, or maybe seeing if there is a support role at National?

This is not your final destination, but may help to get a foot in the door, and your face in front of the right people. I know DE is considered an entry level position. However entry level does not mean what is used to.

I agree that he did not say much, but this is very important. Reading between the lines and directly from what was said, it seems like the entire program is going to be changing in 2015 with new rank requirements and materials. I believe this is a very significant event that will touch on all of scouting. Not much of a preview was given, but all Scouters need to watch this carefully.

I know from the business world when people start talking about significant changes in the strategic plan, WATCH OUT!!!

The Scout can wear the patch if he and his parents want him to. Personally, I would not wear that Council Strip. I think it is more for collecting than for wearing, but if someone wants to wear it, it is fine as the strip is official.

Sounds like the degree is not the problem. I have heard that is better to get your professional commission after you land the job instead of before you land it, but that is just what I heard. The job market is tight, and competition is tight. I was out of work for 9 months, and I have a MS and more than 10 years of experience in my field. Looking for an entry level position is just tough right now, and if you limit your pool to a BSA position you have compressed your universe of positions.

Keep trying and eventually it will pay off, you just may be trying for a while, and the rejections get harder and harder the longer you have been looking.

My next advice will seem pessimistic, but don't let each rejection get you down. Getting a job today is a long process. You really need to leverage your home Council's SE if you have a good relationship with him. The SE community is rather small, and everybody knows each other. The job hunt really is about relationships (the real kind not the on line kind).

By the way, are you an Eagle Scout? For this job that qualification should help (but is nor guarantee).

Good luck and chin up!

BSA does a lot right. The biggest, current accomplishment is the Summit Base in WV. The idea to open an East Coast equivalent of Philmont that will be the permanent home to the National Jamboree was excellent thinking on BSA's part, and from what I have seen they are doing it world class.

Some will say that I am wrong, but I also believe that the rewrite of the GTA (Guide to Advancement-edited after Outdoor's comment-I made a mistake and typed GSA instead of GTA)to make it more clear and user friendly was a plus. National's focus on the Commissioner corps and the activity level of the National Commissioner and his staff is also a definite plus.(This message has been edited by johnponz)

I am talking about the principle not the application of the principle. Of course National wants Eagle to mean the same thing no matter where you get it. That is the business principle and definition of "quality."

Alas, we agree again. It does not work that way in practice, but it is what the policies are aiming for which is why you have the sentence about not adding or subtracting from the requirements.

I actually had a SM try to do what I describe in my district. We provided some coaching to the SM, and the Scout and their parents decided that he would spend another 3 months in the POR before the time would count. These are the type of mediated solutions that have to happen sometimes. It probably would have turned out differently if the Scout was hitting the age out deadline, but I am glad he was not.

Generally, common sense rules in these situations, but as in any mediation situation, it is good to know what the actual rules are before you go modifying them. I really believe that most of National's rules are in effect to stop out of control troops from continuing down that path.

The same troop had added requirements about the hours spent on an Eagle service project because one of the fathers who was an Eagle Scout did not like the removal of the hours requirement. National really wants Eagle to mean the same if you get it in Troop 5 or Troop 500. It only makes sense to keep the integrity of the award. Troop 5 could say no service project is required and Troop 500 could say 500 hours is required.

The kind of standardization National is demanding (strong word-I know) is to keep a meaning to the ranks.

I generally try to see the good side of people at both the National and local level, and try to remember that most of the people at National are volunteers just like us trying to give of their time to make a better program for the youth.

I think we agree. I just do not like to see a Scout spend 6 months in a POR with no one telling him he is not doing a good job, and then at the end of the 6 months be told that his time in POR does not count. This is the kind of situation National is trying to avoid with their rules regarding this subject.

I agree with SP

Beavah,

1. You are comparing advancement to PORs which is an improper comparison. If a Scout decides not to work on a particular advancement requirement, he is hurting no one but himself. Maybe the Scout is more interested in just having fun than advancing. That is ok in my book. As far as the POR, if the Scout is not properly performing his duties than he is hurting the troop as someone else is doing his responsibilities or they are not getting done.

2. No one is talking about removing a Scout because they are not liked. We are talking about removing a Scout because they are not doing their job. These are 2 different things.

Now a question to you, dont you think the Scout deserves the opportunity to know where he is falling short, and the opportunity to improve rather than spend 6 months in a POR only to be told at the end that the time doesn't count for advancement. It is certainly the leaderships responsibility (youth first and adults in an advisory role) to tell the Scout that they are not performing and to try to help bring their performance to a satisfactory level.

Waiting until the end and telling the Scout sorry you did not perform is the lazy, cowardly way out...hmmmmm 'ey

Then and now, it is the adults fault if they let a Scout stay in a POR for 6 months doing nothing. It is clearly their job to counsel the youth leadership to counsel the non-performers, or to counsel the non-performers themselves.

It is a disservice to the Scouts to allow someone to spend 6 months in a POR doing nothing, and at the end disqualify the Scout from advancement. If necessary, the Scout should have been disqualified and removed from his POR well before the 6 months was over.

This is consistent with the former GTA and is spelled out more precisely in the new one.

Do you have a college degree? If so, what is your major?

Thanks for the advice so far. He has done this a few other times. Just a few weeks ago my wife and I woke up to find him on the couch in the living room with all his blankets with him.

Tampa Turtle, he actually was in the back of the tent and managed to walk over the other Webelos Scouts without waking them up. I agree with your points 2 and 3. We did talk about this with our pediatrician who said that there was not much that could medically be done. He is on the autistic spectrum, but on the very functional side. His actual diagnosis is PDDNOS (pervasive developmental order not otherwise specified). The doctor said that these episodes are more common with people on the spectrum. It is true that he will probably outgrow this.

He usually does this when he misses sleep or is overly tired so we have to encourage him to go to bed on time. This is very hard at camp because he is so excited to be there. The night before this happened the Cubs were up very late playing cards and generally talking. The next day the program at camp was packed so this is probably what caused the incident. I hate to limit his social interactions because he enjoys them so much, and really needs to develop these skills, and Scouts is a very safe place to do this.

I took my son to Cub resident camp last weekend. First we had a great time and a lot of fun. My son is 9 y.o. quickly approaching 10. There was an incident at camp that scared me quite a bit, and do not know how to handle since he will be going into Boy Scouts next year and most likely will be camping without me. I am not a unit leader but work with Scouting on the district level. I probably could sneak my way into going to camp with my son's troop next year, but prefer that he learn some independence.

Now the incident, he was sleeping in a tent with the other Webelos Scouts (about 5 in one tent). I know that is overcrowded, but the Webelos Scouts wanted to sleep together so the leaders let them, and I tend to let them make those decisions even for my son. They are in charge, and if it is not a YP violation or a safety issue, I yield to them.

In any case, on Saturday night one of the leaders was heading back from the latrine when he saw my son wandering around apparently leaving camp. He was in his underwear. When the leader asked him what he was doing he started shouting Mom!, Mom!, Mom!. The leader immediately called for me. I heard this, and immediately left my tent, and went outside. When I got to my son, I directed him back to the tent and told him to go to bed. He said something about jumping in the pool, but eventually went to his cot. I do not think he woke up during this entire incident, and of course I did not go back to sleep for a couple of hours because the incident really shook me up.

I cannot imagine what would have happened if the leader did not happen to be returning from the latrine. We could have woken up the next day, and my son would have been missing from his tent, and possibly wandering around the woods lost in his underwear or worse. Have any of you ever tackled a sleep walking issue while at camp, and how did you handle it?

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Romney as said time and again that the nations plan should be modeled on MA, and there is tape and editorials to prove it.

The mandate is actually based on Republican ideas presented when the Clintons were trying to reform healthcare.