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Probably a local tradition, which is A-OK in my book. I love local traditions. I staffed for the first time last spring and our local tradition is that every staff member give a gift to each other. We ended up walking away with a LOT of mementos. I'm already working on my gift for next year. Why is it a Marlin Spike knife? Easy splicing? I'm curious.

CRW, the problem with events of the troop and lodge intersecting is easy. The OA asks each member to honor his commitment to his unit first, lodge second. The OA enhances the Unit's program, it doesn't take away from it. I hope your son finds an amicable solution to this. He should at least try for dispensation for him and the others affected by the lack of communications. Regarding keeping the election a secret. It's a wonderful thing to see the face of a boy that is honored without warning. Since your son makes all of the outings, and the call-out was to happen at an outing, t

Welcome Tommy, plop down, join in and have fun. Matt I used to be a Bear... WE4-51-2-03

1. Troop stuff. Meetings, full field uniform w/ pants, switchbacks, or shorts (mostly shorts), thorlo socks, hiking boots, beads, leather belt and buckle (wb). Camp in activity "b" only, travel in field uniform. No troop hat, prefer wide brimmed straw to protect from sun. Have troop jacket, nylon green w/ troop logo. Have Jackshirt as well, usually too heavy for So Cal. 2. District/council. Full uniform as above, for formal events have nicer uniform (own 4). When at WB functions, wear WB necker with collar turned under (to honor those that came before us). 3. Venturing, new cre

Good luck and have fun, One of the things that really stuck in my mind this last course I was on. One of my patrol members, he was a Beaver after all, read in the equipment list that he needed a "camp chair". He thought this meant a "backpacking chair" and brought a very small, very uncomfortable tripod arrangement. That lasted about 2 hours. I loaned him my chair (padded directors chair from Costco) and he enjoyed the rest of the first weekend. I brought 2 chairs. 1 for my tent/cabin and one for classes. That beats hauling a chair around everywhere, believe me. The stadium s

John's correct, for Eagle, the boy must have a POR, so you should prioritize these. In our unit, which isn't that awfully big, each boy First Class or higher are assigned a POR by the SPL and must carry out his responsibilies or risk being fired by the SPL. I have only had to use the service project option a couple of times, once when a young man transfered into my troop and was ready to advance. We do a couple of service projects for our CO every year, and we do a couple for our host (church) as well. I asked him to head up one of these and gave him the authority to get it done.

I'm with OGE, seems a sneeky yet great way to get attendance at campouts. Oddly, I can understand the SM and his rule here. While Fred is probably correct, it's unenforceable at it's core and the "adding requirements" umbrella argument can be used to discount it. It's worth remembering that the Scoutmaster has set this as his preference for program, which is his discression. In my business I have to deal with government regulators and know the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) that applies to my industry. I also have to make sure my employees follow these regulations, and I find

JeffD, from the last post, sounds like you're doing the work of the Cubmaster. When I was cubmaster I took pride in the ceremonies and making each boy feel special and proud of what he had accomplished. That was my job month after month. As for the fundraising, we had a budget for awards of about $300 a month (we loved patches of all kinds), so we set our fundraising goals accordingly. We sold popcorn, candy, wrapping paper...We had "drawings" at our blue and gold for donated items like movie tickets, dinners, gift certs from local stores...we had a Father Son cake bake every year a

When I was a scout, one of our Asst. Scoutmasters died while active. We all attended the funeral in our uniforms and sat together. His son's (our troop mates) appreciated the support from us. In my opinion, I would consider it an honor to have uniformed members of an organization that I undoubtedly loved represented at my funeral. I can think of no honor more befitting a Scout or Scouter than that.

What I heard you say was... I think Cubmaster Randy payed attention in the Communications presentation at Wood Badge! LOL

Regarding quality of training, you'll find that even within councils, different districts have different approaches. My council is pretty big, 9 districts serving 40,000 youth. Each district is responsible for developing it's own training teams. They tried unsuccessfully in the past few years in having two districts team up and share training resources. Seems there's just too much rivalry. I'm proud of the way our district approaches training, very professionally and expectations of the presenters and trainers is very high. Other districts don't have that same commitment and it

Nice Blog Stevejb, I work it like the PGAC, kinda rolls it up into a nice square ball? Back in the day the Personal Growth Agreement Confrence (circa 1970's) helped the scouts set goals relating to scouting and to other areas of their life. We do this for every scout at every sm confrence and make notes in the margin of their Scout Handbook. By the time they get to Eagle, we review thier stated goals, laugh at the early ones, puff up our chests at the goals met and all this helps the scout develop his statement of ambitions and life's purpose. Beyond that we review the project,

Ever thought of a back pack trip in the Eastern Sierra (Southern California)? Our troop takes a High Adventure back packing trip there every year, we fit the trip to the capability of the scouts going. It's a great time and one of the most beautiful parts of the world IMHO. There is a Boy Scout Camp that runs what they call "Sierra Expedition". They do a good job from what I hear. Check out their website http://www.sierraexpeditions.org/ It's a part of Western Los Angeles County Council's Camp Whitsett. Variety is the spice of life. I hope you pick some place sp

Howdy Eagle Pete, I think you're right about the CM being present at every outing and activity. I find it odd that the CM would cut out early from a Pack Meeting. Seems to me that she's showing what not to do to the boys and their parents. I was given an award once, they called it the Iron Man award. Got it from the den leaders of the Pack. Without trying I managed to attend every Pack Meeting, Outing, and Activity for 3 years straight, so they gave me this award. It was a lot of fun. You have every right to feel frustrated and perturbed. But be careful venting to the cur

Welcome to the forum and Congrats on taking on the job of Pack CC. Below are my thoughts. I think that what Scoutldr said is about what you need to push - Training for all adult leaders. By what you've posted, it sounds like your CM is not trained unfortunately. If your committee feels the same way you do, then you should consider making training a priority in your Pack. If you do choose to make it a priority, then you should take it upon yourselves (collectively as a Pack) to ALL get trained. Pack training can take as little as 2.5 - 3 hours total and is well worth the investment o

"I suspect defense of this suit will cost more than what the grants would have been. Beavah" That's the point usually, isn't it. Most anti-scout organizations will file suit for just that purpose, even knowing that they do not have a solid case. Happened to my old Council. ACLU filed suit because they received a public grant. Sued them and caused them to spend twice the amount on legal fees, then dropped the suit. Scum in my opinion, absolute scum (the ACLU, not the Council).

The last two I held were very informal affairs. I asked the young man over for tea or soda and a talk. We reviewed his paperwork, his application, and his records one last time. We sat in the den and talked for an hour or so, reminiscing on old outings, summer camps, etc. Talked about future commitment, what's next, how he will fit in to the troop when he IS an Eagle... When we were done I asked for his book and signed the SM confrence part. "Did we just have a Confrence?" "Sure did, and you're ready for the EBoR with no problem". Wish I had time to do all my SM confrences li

Welcome Troop 20 Scout. I hope you find this forum useful and informative. The rest of us sure do. Congratulations on becoming 1st Class. I hope Star is just around the corner.

Yep, that's one of them ManyIrons. Thanks. They're having a great time, one of the kids contacted the outside world so the parents shared with us the message. "having a lot of fun, will talk soon." LOL, I chimed in "tell my son to step in front of a camera to get photographic evidence that he's there". The Crew was planning a reunion for next year before they left, I hope that comes to fruition. I can't wait to hear the stories.

"I see that 'Kbjra', was most likely trained by our latest national guide lines, "How to run a Troop ", which seems not to be very successful, the way I have observed it " It's working for me? Opens up an intersting point, but the "new" thinking that moves away from forced discovery to full disclosure of expectations is more to my management style and liking, so it fits me better than the "old" thinking did. In any event, new or old, I think the PLC is a tried and true method that has changed very little, as evidenced by SM handbooks dating back to the wee early days of the BS

"Think, Think a Thong, Think it simple Think it strong Don't worry if its not good enough for anyone else to see Just think, think a thong (Kiddie Chorus) La, La, lalala, la la la la lala, la la la la la " Now that there is funny, I don't care who you are!

I would say it really depends on your circumstances. Our troop tries to have a PLC for 15 min before each meeting, 5 min after and for 45 min - 1 hour each month DURING a meeting. (troop busy planning an outing, PL's and SPL, etc. planning next month) The problem we've had in the past is adding an additional night, or an additional hour before a meeting. Seems everyone is running in too many different directions. Mostly the parents, so transportation is an issue at younger ages. The reality is that if the boys want it, it will somehow, someway happen. They are most effective

donomiser, First item, I'd say that's just fine. Scouting is scouting no matter what city you're in. He can get things signed off at other place, but remember at your sm confrence you can see if he actually learned anything without retesting... Second item, I'd have to say to him "stay with your patrol" and get him to visit his relative instead of stay with him. The patrol method relies on the team model and sleeping together, eating together and competing together is all part of that model and method. Good luck

Lisabob, Some kids don't have any experience in finishing, just starting. Some adults are like that, too. They don't understand what a great pleasure you get from finishing something until it really happens to them. A sense of accomplishment is learned, it's not an instinct after all. Try helping his finish off a couple of the easy ones just to give him a taste. Get those MB's awarded and maybe he'll take the hint and get going on his own.

oddly enough this sounds a bit familiar. Had this happen to a TG on the last course from my old Council. turns out he could send all the email in the world, but getting it back was an issue. Most of the return email was weeded out by the spam filter of his email program and he didn't even know it. It was unfortunate and caused a lot of ruffled feathers until he figured it out. Try and have another scouter get ahold of your TG. Could be the same problem. If it's not and he's just ignoring you, at least you'll get him to notice your attempts at contacting him and you don't have to "go