asm 411

Ask the Scout what he thinks is the right one to wear at this time. Or ... sew a tan velcro circle (loop side) on the sleeve where the patch goes. Sew the patches to the hook side and switch when needed. Suggest he keeps the other patch in his shirt pocket.

What makes an Eagle project more worthy?

Da Bears, Da Bears, Da Bears... You get the point. Lincoln C-32-05

Cheffy, Hold on a moment. I think that the choices presented to you are just that choices. You can choose to pursue the course of action in a court room but what are the consequences of such a choice? It may take months or longer to get it resolved. Is it worth delaying the project over some idiot? The cost involved making it a legal matter may vary well out strip the benefit. Is your son going to log the hours and cost associated with this in his Eagle project. Where will he get the money to pay the lawyer? Or he could just note that the first approach did not work out and he weighed the

"What are the legal ramifications when little Johnny breaks an ankle tripping over a tree stump on a hike and the litigious parents find out there was no adults present." I would assume that if the protocol for a patrol outing, which is allowed according to the BSA documention including overnight camping, is followed including a plan approved by the Scoutmaster then the BSA insurance should cover the outing. As for me I believe that an "adult free" patrol outing needs to be well published and have signed permission slips so all concerned know that the Scouts will be working in an ad

I was a Den Leader Tiger -> Webelos II. When they crossed over my Scouts wanted to do something for me. So they asked my wife and son. They both said the same thing. Get him an official BSA campaign hat. They knew I had always wanted one. I wear the hat to almost every meeting and campout. When someone asks me where I got it I tell them "The best Scouts in the world gave it to me." My advice is to ask those close to him what he would really like and go from there. FWIW - I also got a plaque which I occasionally look at.

"... I recruited the adults to run the stations but the Scouts in my unit are the ones who planned each station." We just had a local camporee which was much the same as you described. Scouts planned stations run by adults. I had suggested that the boys run the stations but those involved in the planning chose to have the adults run the stations. I thought the Scouts could rotate between running their station and attending others. We had 3 troops with seven patrols. Out of curiousity why not have the Scouts run the stations?

In the previous thread a mention was made of more Eagle Mills in recent years. I was at an Eagle Court of Honor a few months ago and the father of the Eagle Scout made mention that the other troop in town was an Eagle Mill because they camped twice a month and focused on advancement. If our troop had the adults to support camping twice a month our Scouts would advance faster as well too. My gosh I am always amazed at how much advancement is done on a campouts as it is. For instance we had a mini-camporee this weekend (three troops from the same school district). The moment the

Oddly enough I have been thinking about this a lot lately. When I look over the requirements and think about if Scout John knows how to do a head bandage and the answer comes up no it is time to find an opportunity. It is up to me to be sure that Scout gets the opportunity fisrt to assist teaching that skill with a skilled Scout to a new Scout or Webelos. Then to follow that up with having Scout John to teach that skill to a scout by himself. I believe that very few Scouts actually retain a skill when they "learn" it. I believe they don't really learn it until they have to teach it

You may want to take a look at www.roadid.com. These are Dog tags for cyclist. I got my there a number of years ago and if I remember correctly they have a good number of choices. I think there was a blank that you could have engraved locally with your own image. So they may not be the exact ones you saw you may be able to get close. I have worn mine for over 5 years and in which I rode well over 10,000 hot and sweaty miles and it is still in great shape.

I am new to being a Cit in Comm MBC and I had a troop in our area ask for a list of movies I would approve. I replied that each patrol in the troop should recommend two movies which they thought would be good to fulfill the requirement and I would approve one. I have not heard back yet but I think it will be interesting to see what the Scouts think are good. Then again I may end up having to watch 6 movies to figure it out.

Just before I recieved my beads so one made mention to me in an email about the much coveted Wood Badge beads. This was my response a couple years ago and it still holds true for me today. "I never expected that Wood Badge was about wearing any symbol, square knot device, thong and beads, neckerchief or woggle. I considered the training about personal growth, the promotion of and dedication to the scouting movement. I am about to cross over six Webelos Scouts to Boy Scouts in about week. As I told them, their Arrow of Light award can be destroyed and the council building can burn to the

Last march, still snow on the ground, our troop got to a campsite late. The SPL had a really hard time locating the campsite the camp Ranger directed us to. The next month we were to do our first backpacking trip in many years. He did not want to look disorganized for a second time so he requested the PLC hike the trail we were going to backpack the week before. It worked out great. The PLC really shined because during the hike they made plans how to traverse certain areas when we had all four patrols along. Great team building experience and lots of fun.

In our Troop the rule is you don't work with your own son during Scouts unless it is group setting. If my son gets out of hand, the Scoutmaster or another ASM speaks to him about it. If it needs to be elevated to a parent the SM tells my wife and we discuss it as a family. This way my son can grow in Scouting like any other Scout. Also there is no questions of favoritism. I am an ASM, in particular the ASM that works with the New Scouts. Last February we had an interesting turn of events. The SM's son was elected SPL and my son was assigned Troop Guide. From February to September I did

Young Eagle Scouts... Cookie monster your son sounds like a Scout in my troop. He crossed over after earning the Super Achiever award as a Webelos last february. This young man is a great Scout. He has acquired the nickname Doc because since he earned First Aid merit badge last April he has been their as soon as anyone gets hurt. He has all the merit badges for Star and I think 1 or to 2 for Life. With just one requirement left for First Class. Are his parents pushing him. Nope. His older brother has been in our troop for 3 years and just made Star. Are the parents supportive of the

Vicki, "My socks! I can't move my socks!" That brought back a lot of memories. Thanks. I don't think I would want to share many those with my younger Scouts or older ones for that matter. Lincoln

If a MCB is a council level position what color shoulder loops does a MBC wear when acting as a MBC. Just curious.

Thanks to everyone for the clarification. I appreciate it and will have the right answer when he asks.

nolesrule: I agree that is reasonable and more than likely what will happen but that is not stated by the requirement. So that makes me think about why it is not clearly stated. Could it be that once a Scout completes the Merit Badges and community service it may be time to create a new plan instead of waiting for the click to finish ticking. jtswestark: What are the requirements for being eligle? The requirements simple state: "Take part in a Scoutmaster conference" and "Complete your board of review." His enthusiasm is what drives the question. Should we be helping h

I have a Scout that has two easy requirements left to complete his last merit badge for his Life rank. He already has in more than enough community service hours. He has been doing a good job in his leadership position and I don't expect any changes there. He has great attendance at meetings, outings, community service... and no problems with Scout spirit. He will have completed his participation and POR requirement on Nov 26th, about 6 weeks from now. I know once he completes the merit badge requirements he is going to ask when he can have his SMC and BOR. What I was wondering is what i

FWIW we have found the following works as a guide line for communicating with the Scouts. 1) If it is urgent the calling tree is the most dependable but we send an email anyway. 2) For none urgent information like campout announcements, community service, we do the following: a) We have an online calendar that has every event on it we know as soon as we know about it. Most are added after our yearly planning meeting. b) We hand out fliers at the troop meetings c) Announcements are made at the Troop meetings by the SPL d) We email the fliers out to Scout and parent

The troop I serve took a bit of a different direction as of late. The last PLC came up with the following scheme. 1) We have an SPL election twice a year. This was decided for similar reason as stated above that has to do with sports and band commitments. No term limits. 2) We have a pre-SPL election the week before the SPL election. Like the OA election any Scout who recieves votes from 50% of those in attendance is then eligable. The Scouts can vote for anyone in the Troop even if they are not at the pre-election meeting. Each Scout votes for everyone he thinks is qualified. Any S

Fair enough Eagledad, I agree. I still think he needs to pitch the idea to the PLC before implementation.

Have your QM present this idea to the PLC and see where it goes. If a QM approached me with this idea I think I would guide him in the direction of something more patrol oriented like others said above. Something where the Patrols select there gear before the campout and put it in their section of the trailer. Then the QM and AQM don't have to hang around the trailer waiting for some Scout to come and check out some piece of equipment instead of having fun with the rest of the troop.

It seems to me that every troop changes every day. The dynamics are incredible. Think about it. With adult leaders changing every so often and bringing a different vision for the delivery of the program. The youth change much quicker, the Scout who was enthusiastic before summer camp is now going into football so his interest has dropped for the time being. He may not return at all, you just never know. The troop I am in is going through some growing pains as well. Advancement and skills are all over the map. Seems to me that there is not a Scout in the troop that can light a fire. Perhaps tha