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We all should keep them in our thoughts and prayers. Loosing a loved one is tough, loosing one so young in unimaginable.

I knew this would get it's own thread Does our troop have any attendance rules and or expectations? YES (if so what are they) We expect a boy, in order to get the most out of the program, and in order to give leadership via his POR, to attend 7 out of 10 outings and 3 out of 4 meetings. Scouts that cannot manage this level of participation should step down from Positions of Responsibility and consult with the SM regarding their availability. Now this lends itself to advancement, in that a boy must hold a POR for a defined period of time. In our troop, we expect the boy to fulfi

I've had the "frickin", "flippin", faux "F" Word rule for a while in our troop. Using a replacement explitive is still swearing and Swearing is a dirty habbit, like lying, like picking your nose, like other dirty little habbits. It's bad behavior and must not be tollerated or condoned. We, as adult leaders, must set the example. OGE has a pretty good idea. Since we adults must make a conscious effort to promote positive change in our units, it's only right that the boys follow our lead. If you have a language problem, give the boys the same rule OGE did, they may use whatver language

I think that allowing the PLC to make a recommendation, through the SPL to the Troop Committee is a positive productive thing. The boys should feel empowered to help make decisions alongside adults. That's where they learn to do it after all. Case in point: My family owns a small business. My father, a Scoutmaster by the way, made each one of us (6 sibs) equal partners in the business. By the time he retired, we each had 1/6 ownership in the company. We also each had 1/6 ownership in the decisions and problems too boot. We do business with other family owned operations. In one of

When I discuss this with the people in my unit, there's always some confusion, mostly with the adults. Adults want to make conditions on Scout Spirit such as attendance, service project hours, etc. I'm guilty of this as well, at least I have been in the past. Scout Spirit is living the ideals of Scouting in your every day life. We don't ask boys to hold up the Scout Sign when they see a teacher want's a room quiet. We don't ask them to wear thier uniform to show "scout spirit" as as ASM of mine once asked...We determine if they've been displaying Scout Spirit in thier actions and deed

I've had both of these same scenarios in my troop recently. Regarding Scenario #1, we had 3 14yo boys in my troop earn Eagle together, or should I say we had the mothers of 3 14yo boys Earn Eagle one year. The boys did learn and two of the three did contribute (the one that didn't was the son of the CC, she did all the contributing, and she was the biggest pusher for "finishing" scouting). When the 3 received thier Awards at the ECoH, 2 dropped out immediately, and 1 stayed active for another 1 1/2 years. We decided as a group at that time we would discourage any boys from becomi

Any news on this yet, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a good outcome.

I'm also an FOS Presenter, in fact, I've been the FOS Chair for my district for the last 4 years. Don't kill the messenger I like to say... In viewing some of the local 990's, I'd say "you get what you pay for" and believe me I know what I'm talking about. Is $200,000 for a top executive a lot of money? Depends on several factors. How much revenue is coming in to pay that 200 G's. For a council that earns 3.5 - 5.0 Million that seems like an awful lot, but that top executive is on the hook for a lot. Remember as well that it's not BSA that sets the actual compensation, it's the

I've been hinting about a crew to them, but they don't want to seriously talk about it up just yet. Most have been together for almost 12 years now, so they're really tightly bonded but ready to move on if you see what I mean. 12 years, 3/4 of thier young lives, have been spend in the same program with virtually the same people. That's a pretty heavy commitment already. I've got 3 part time ASM's or JASM's now(get to see them when college schedules avail). I may be able to keep 2 or 3 at any rate in some form or another. I've got one that is a very accomplished musician,

We take a multi-tiered approach. We have elections every 6 months and ask that those who have just finished serving take some time off and let others take the reigns. We cycle through the kids on a pretty regular basis. The new leaders are given copies of the PL handbook and SPL handbook. They're given an overview by the ASM Patrol advisors and the SM in the case of the SPL. We hold a JLT once a year for everyone in the troop. Leadership is a cooperative effort and we encourage everyone to demonstrate it and participate in it always. We send all eligable boys to NY

I'm having a problem and I don't think I'm alone. I am in denial. The problem is that a good portion of my troop, almost 1/3, will be aging out in the next 18 months. Heck, my son turns 16 in a few weeks... I've only been SM of this troop for 2 years, but this current herd of boys has really gotten under my skin. Before it was one or two here or there that adopted me as their 2nd Dad, but now it's 8 fantastic young men that make me proud each and every day...God I'm gonna miss them. Out of the 8, 2 are 99% complete with Eagle reqs, just some cleanup to go. 3 more are planning Ea

I think that one of the worst parts of our "job" as leaders is having to dish out discipline. I'm really not worried about correcting a scout for making a mistake, or for simple odd errors in judgement, but what chaps my hide (I've been wanting to use that term for a while) is when I'm dealing with behaviors that start at home. Not the messy slob that won't pick up his dirty crunchy underwear in his tent, but the kid that bullies others and gets kudos from mom and dad for being a tough guy. And so begins my saga... When my son and I joined the troop I'm in now, there were these t

Our troop uses tarps or plastic sheeting. The entire patrol can fit under one or two tarp lean-to's. They're open to the world so behavior isn't usually an issue. I can see them wriggling around like worms from my place in the adult area. It's good to be king! We don't use tents for younger scouts because they don't take care of them. They have to earn the right to bring a tent along on a campout and use it, first class is one requirement, demonstrating propper care is another. It's an incentive for younger boys to advance in rank.

I can see it now... Eagle Pete's Wife "Eagle Pete, how did you get banned from Scouter Forums?" Eagle Pete "Well, OGE started talking about OFS, then he tossed an LOL" EPW "Uh Huh, go on" EP "Then of coures Gonzo1 riled me up with OFS, CRS, BTW, LOL, IMO, IMHO, CBS, NBC, PDQ, XYZ, and PX" EPW "Not sure I'm following Eagle Pete, but go on" EP "Then OGE tossed out PL, APL, ASPL, SPL, JASM, SM, ASM, CC, CM, COR, IH, CA, ACA, DE, FD, SE... you see where this is leading" EPW "I wonder if our health insurance covers this exactly" EP "And we can't forget FOS, SME, KISMIF, LSMFT, EV

Wow this thread really took a weird turn...LOL EVOO = Extra Virgin Olive Oil, as touted by Rachel Ray, the lil sparky 30 minute meal chef. SSDD = Same STUFF Different Day

EVOO Love that one, use it all the time. SOP SOS SSDD (sorry) ROFLM_O WWJD TTFN

Lot's of good stuff in this thread. My troop, for standard operational dollars, asks that each scout bring in 100 aluminum cans per month. This will pay for our standard program of patches and standard expendatures. Years ago the parents decided they "did not want to be a fund raising institution, they wanted to be a scout troop." So we typically don't participate in the Popcorn sale, however each boy is given the opportunity to do that on his own when the time comes. We have in the past done car washes to fund Eagle Projects. We've wrapped gifts outside local retailers. The retaile

Yea, what local1400 says... And it seems the training committee isn't paying much attention to it's own calendar. University of Scouting is a new thing for me, our council recenlty merged with a huge neighbor. I was excited to attend, but let down when I got there for various reasons. that asside, Who's gonna be providing the presentations at the UoS? I would think you'd want your best and brightest working the UoS event and the TDC...someone's got some 'splainin to do. I may have cracked the O.F.S. come to think of it..."Old _art Syndrome"...no disrespect sir, just making th

FWIW, I'm no expert keep in mind. This is my experience. First off a lot depends on the "culture" of the troop. Cliquish behavior can be ignored or we can give it some reasonable competition. Giving each of the clique members jobs that make them responsible for welcoming the newer boys, perhaps becoming a troop guide for the new scout patrol, or for the patrols they're put in may help. Make them own the program that incorporates new boys. Most older boys will work hard on welcoming new kids faced with the reality that if they don't promote their unit, it will die and nobody wants to

Sounds like you were in my district in 2003. I had not been too keen on the district since I wasn't terribly involved. I went to WB and needed to give service and such for my ticket items, but when it came to offering that help, there was nobody there. My then DE, like yours, was about as useful as utters on a bull (cleaned that up a bit). I finally ended up calling on the DE for the district my company was in. She had visited me in the past asking how I can give to scouting. When I explained that I was in another district, it didn't phase her, she just said that's great, but how w

Our Troop is small, we have 25 boys registered, 23 active. We have a well trained adult leadership base and our older scouts attend NYLT and are expected to provide leadership to the troop for years after thier initial training. We currently have 7 boys 16 -17 years old. We attempt to recruit 6 - 8 new boys a year. When I joined the troop, I brought 5. My son is the only survivor of that crossover. The next year we got...Zippo. No new scouts. This is a wonderful troop, but nobody knew who we were and were we met. I started attending Roundtable. I showed up and helped ou

"Are we safe here"? No would be the true answer, and you know it's true, the other would say yes which would be false. I either got it right or I really blew it... When you ask the question, what if the guard was like the "corsican" on Princess Bride. "If you ask me is it safe, and I answer no, then you'll know I'm lying, however if I answer yes, then you'll think I'm telling the truth, but if I answer maybe..." I love that movie.

You've gotten some really great advice here and I'll admit that IMO every troop has issues similar to this. The Scoutmaster should know what's going on. If the boys feel comfortable talking to you about it, it is your duty to bring it up to the Scoutmaster. Adults do weird things all the time. We make mistakes as often as the boys do, sometimes more often. It is just as important for us to learn the how's and why's as it is for the boys. The CC has been to training? Doesn't sound like she's been paying attention. Perhaps she should attend SM specific trainaing and that would gi

nlscout, Let's face it, we're all human. We've all made mistakes, some worse than a home run derby with the mail boxes I'll wager (at least I have). In the end the test is whether or not we learn from those mistakes. I have a feeling, based on the last post you made, that this is a lesson learned and a mistake not to be made again. The look on their faces told you their level of remorse, the shock of learning what consequences such a lapse of judgment can yield is a great reminder of why people like you and all the rest of us are doing what we're doing for the boys. Whatever

In our district we provide the SM/ASM Specific training over 4 week nights (2.5 hrs/night) culminating in a weekend that also includes OLS. We eliminated the NLE on this coarse and made it a pre-requisite. Our are offers it at least once a month for about 4 hours on a Saturday morning. Other Districts in our council do the two Saturday approach. We have a friend on the training team that says "the mind can only absorb what the butt will endure". He's absolutely right about that. A 2.5 hour weeknight meeting a few times seems better on the attention span than the lengthy 8 hour course...