ljnrsu

TheScout

If you have the card for the Palm,just go to your Council Scout shop and buy another one.

My Council Scout shop requires to show proof before you can purchase Eagle replacement items, badge,medal and Palms.

Had the same thing happen to me.

National can replace it.I sent you an e-mail on getting a replacement.

The pin is another story. If Supply doesn't have it try e-bay.

Thanks for the link. I got 16 of 17 correct.

I just love trivia questions.

SWScouter you are correct about the footnote. Except that in this case you are using Backpacking hikes for Hiking not the other way around.

This is how it was explained to me by the Dean of MB counselors for my council since I do both badges.

It is up to the MB counselor what they will accept. As a Hiking MB I will accept up to 3 hikes used in Backpacking MB as long as the 10 mile requirement is met.

The summer camp we go to has a trail to eagle program. They offer Cit Community,Cit Nation, Cit World and Communications to Scouts who are at least Star and are attending summer camp for at least their third summer.

All the badges have prerequisites that must be turned in on the first day to be accepted.

Communications has the following prerequisites for 2005:

4,5,7(typed/printed out) req 1,8 & 9 best done in advance.

I hope that this will help you.(This message has been edited by ljnrsu)oops double post sorry(This message has been edited by ljnrsu)

The summer camp we go to has a trail to eagle program. They offer Cit Community,Cit Nation, Cit World and Communications to Scouts who are at least Star and are attending summer camp for at least their third summer.

All the badges have prerequisites that must be turned in on the first day to be accepted.

Communications has the following prerequisites for 2005:

4,5,7(typed/printed out) req 1,8 & 9 best done in advance.

I hope that this will help you.

You do have a problem and it is not you. From what you said you have done nothing wrong.

First off I agree with the Committe member you do need to talk with this ASM in the presence of the other adults.

You need to explain that he is an advisor to the patrols ie help when needed. He is not "in charge" of them. Does he understand the principal of boy led troop? If not it needs to be explained to him. PLC meetings are set up and led by the SPL it is one of the functions of the SPL, adults should only observe and help if asked.

"adult patrol method" what is that,I've never heard of that one.

As to adult procedure, he is the one who broke that one with his action reguarding the PLC meeting.

It sounds like this ASM has not been to Leader Specific Training. You need to enroll him ASAP.

As long as you only use the EIN for a bank account you should be ok. As a Tax Accountant I concurr with dancinfox you should not need to file form 990 since you did not file Form 1023 for exempt status under 501©(3).

Some CO's may not want to give out their EIN's for Sales Tax exemption reasons.

IRS Pub 78 Cumulative list of Organizations does list over 100 Packs and Troops that are exempt.

No they were dropped in the 1998 catalog. They were listed as closeout in the 2002 catalog. You can try e-Bay.

Thanks for the suggestions. The old bag was a Morsan mummy I bought in 1971 for my trip to Philmont. I guess I just gave my age away. It was just over 5 pounds. What I bought is a Slumberjack Glacier on sale for $79.99 it is under 4 pounds. Our Troop has yet to go camping in Jan/Feb that we have snow or it has been coldest weekend that winter.

I will have to try the box idea, normally I put the bag on a hanger in the closet.

Anarchist thanks you your insight. As to getting a new bag that was done right there and then. They were having a great sale,picked up a -20 Slumberjack for 40% off. It was a no brainer. Yes us old folks do have a harder time keeping warm. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Now I am sorry I opened my mouth and created this can of worms. It was only food for thought.

Yes I do know BSA Policy for Advancement. I also know that on the bottom of the blue MB card the SM is giving their approval for the Scout to work on that MB. In effect BSA leaves it up to each Unit to decide what to do. BSA Policy for Advancement never has said can't do this or you can't do that. It is their legal way of putting the onus back to the Unit. Why do you think each Unit has a seperate Charter? Because it makes you a seperate legal entity from them. It is the same reason why they can't specifically tell a Unit Leader what to do. Why is it called Policy for Advancement or Guide to Safe Scouting? Because that allows each Unit to fit it to their specific needs. That way BSA or NATIONAL can't be sued because Unit A in Maine has 5 weekend camping trips in a year while Unit B in Nevada has 10. I learned most of this years ago while serving as a District Commissioner.

This "policy" was instituted to end the utter chaos the Unit was in. The ASM,Troop Committee Chair and 2 Troop Committee members wanted to work on MB's exclusively. They were not concerned with the time requirements for 1st Class and above. The other 3 Troop Committee members wanted to work on basic Advancement. This split of course flowed straight down to the boys themselves.

This Unit was started 30 months earlier by 2 Webelos Den Leaders with 16 boys. Who wanted to stay involved with their boys but had been told by the only other Scout Unit in town "we will take the boys but we don't need any more Adults". My son had crossed over with 6 other boys 12 months earlier. By talking with different parents I found out that 7 boys transferred out of the Unit did so because basic Boy Scout advancement was NOT being done. At this point there were 12 boys left. Of the original 16 boys 8 were left, no one was above 1st Class. In fact 3 were still 2nd Class but they had about 20 MB's between them. The Unit was going nowhere fast. Yes we did lose those 3 boys within 6 months.

Do we "hold" a boy back probably,for about 8 weeks which is about the time it now takes to reach 2nd Class. Is it detrimental to the boy,that is open to debate.

I see the results over the last 8 years, a Troop of 12 that was floundering to one of 27 with 3 active Eagles and 2 more before this year ends. Six Eagles including both of my boys who are now ASM's. Summer camp now with 90% participation. Five consecutive quality unit awards. Boys crossing over in March and walking out of summer camp with up to 5 MB's.

At our annual parents meeting this policy is brought up. The consensus has always been the same,leave it alone. The vast majority believe that it gives the boy time to adjust in the transition from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.

Now that you know the whole history and considering what was happening. You tell me if we were right or wrong.

In reply to FScouter:

I am a currently registered MB counselor for Cit Community,Cit Nation,Cit World,Camping,Hiking and Personal Management.And have done First Aid,Safety and Personal Fitness. I am a CPA w/ a MBA in Taxation. I also hold a current EMT certification. I earned Eagle Scout in 1971, along with Scouter Training award,Scoutmasters Key and have served as an instructor for both Youth and Adult Training in my district. I am not new at this.

We meaning the Troop committee,Advancement Chair and the Uniformed Leaders did this 8 years ago. We did this for a few reasons. The main one being basic scouting skills/advancement was not being done. Some boys were working on MB's and NOT working on 2nd or 1st Class requirements. The idea behind this is to give the boys a firm base of scouting skills to work from.

To quote from a Boy Scout Handbook:"Your first steps in Scout advancement brought you through the the basic Scout ranks of Second Class and First Class"."Your next step is to set out to earn merit badges in special fields that interest you as well as the specific merit badges required for Eagle".

You mentioned Cit Community, lets look at that one. A prior requirement was to obtain a copy of a budget either for the town or school board and explain/discuss it with your counselor. Do you actually believe an 11/12 year old could do that?

Personally I am glad that requirement was removed with the Jan 1 2005 revision. I had many 15-16 year olds that it took me over an hour to explain that one with until they could understand I wouldn't want to try with an 11-12 year old.

Have you seen the new requirements? Take a look at #7 and #8. #7c choose a charitable organization outside of Scouting that interests you and brings the community together to work for the good of your community and volunteer at least 8 hours of your time for the organization. #8 develope a public presentation about important and unique aspects of your community. Include information about its history, cultures etc. Stage your presentation in front of your counselor or a group. I figure those 2 requirements will take a minimum 11 hours and he still hasn't finished the badge.

Would you rather have a Tenderfoot spend 11 hours on this or spend the same amount of time working on 2nd Class/1st Class Requirements? Also remember that service hours used for 1 requirement can't be used again for another.

I know what my choice will be.

Be thankful you are becoming SM. In my opinion your current SM doesn't have a "clue", Eagle or not, and is hurting the Unit and the boys.

Before I continue let me say something about my Boy Scout background. I made Eagle in 1971 at the age of 17. After college I became SM of my old Troop and sat on our Council's Eagle boards. Then 10 years ago when my oldest joined Boy Scouts I became involved again as ASM which I sill am.

About 5 years ago I was talking to a father of one of my soccer players and Boy Scouts came up.

He said that his son was going to drop out of Scouting because after 1 year he was still a Tenderfoot. I asked why,he said that they couldn't schedule a SM conference. Of course I invited them to visit our Troop. A week later they show up along with 2 other boys and their parents who also were being held back. The 3 boys decided to try us instead of dropping out. Today the 3 of them are still active as SPL,Instructor, and JASM,one should have his Eagle board next month. The other 2 are Eagles with palms.

Every boy will advance at their own pace, sometimes they will need prodding. But if you hold them back you WILL lose them.

It varies Troop to Troop. Our Troop, where I am ASM does not allow Scouts under the Rank of Second Class to earn Eagle Required MB's except for Swimming. The summer camp our Troop uses has a "Trail to 1st Class" where the Scout can either earn Swimming MB or 2 other MB's. Which is great,by earning Swimming MB the Scout has also fulfilled the 1st Class swimming requirements.

As a MB counselor for 5 Eagle required MB's including Camping I totally disagree with KoreaScouter in regards to Camping.

Yes the Scout is acquiring his nights without realizing it and there is a lot of information in the MB book that is useful. What KoreaScouter forgot is that MB's test the scouts proficiency of the subject matter.

The requirements for Camping MB to me are based on experience. The 20 nights equate to 7 weekends and 1 summer camp. Requirement #1 is a combination of 1st Class and First Aid MB which as an EMT I take very seriously. There are a couple of other requirements that can be very frustrating to a young Scout.

In my unit I do not start working with a Scout on Camping MB until they have earned First Aid MB, which I do not do, and have 16 nights camping.

How many uniforms do we really need?

BSA all ready has 3:

class A: full dress

class B: Scout activity shirt

class C: troop shirt

What I would like to see is the cost of the pants drop $36.00 is to much. Yes I know they wear like a suit of armor, my 2 boys out grew them before they were worn out. I put their old uniforms in our Troop swap box,where they are being worn for the 4th time.

I mean that you can go to almost any store and buy green cargo pants/shorts for $15.00 and less.

To warm is better than to cold. As been said if to warm you sleep on top,unzipped like a quilt.

I would recommend a +15 bag but I live in northern NJ very close to the Campmor store.

Campmor has a great selection of bags that are $150.00 or less. I like mummy bags,and I am partial to Slumberjack which I bought for my boys.

I was recently at the Campmor store talking with their camping mananger who I know thru Scouting about recommendations for bags. He told me thing that I never heard in 40 years of camping.

Temp. ratings vary by up to +3 degrees before being moved to the next rating bracket. Some manufactures are strict with the ratings and some aren't,but he wouldn't tell me which ones. He also said that over time bags loose their warmth. He said that bags can lose up to 7 degrees every 10 years. That might explain why my 30 year old 0 degree bag wasn't that warm this winter.

I would like to know if anyone else has heard this.

Bob White's and Anarchist's replies are right on the money.

I am an ASM and a registered MB conselor for Camping. Every camping trip our troop goes on, when we check in we ask if there is anything they need help with. In most cases this has fulfilled requirement 9c.

Your son needs to talk to the SPL and SM in order to incorporate a service project on their next camping trip.

Since service hours or projects are required for many ranks and MB's approval should not be a problem. The best part is they only expire when used by the Scout. It is win - win for everybody.

It sounds like this Scoutmaster knows how to handle 7 new boys joining at the same time. We assign one of our Instructors to guide new Scouts. If we have 5 or more join at one time we use a New Scout Patrol.If there are less than 5 we place them in a regular Patrol with the Instructor to guide them separately. I am the ASM assigned to the new scout Instructor. Over the past 10 years I have watched my sons and 5 other boys join me as Eagle Scouts using this system.It works for us.

As many of the replys have already stated Cub Scouts are "parent" led and Boy Scouts is "boy led". It does take some time for Cub Scout parents to understand the difference.