lone77wulf

Back on page 7, I posted a list of stories about things I experienced and heard about AHG during my time working next to them. I've been contacted off-board and had a discussion with a leader in the organization, who has explained much about their programs and operations. Her messages have reminded me we're all in the game together regardless of team. I'd like to ask the members of this board to ignore the things I said in the post, it was based on misunderstandings. These e-mails back a forth show that their program is self-sufficent, which I implied wasn't true, and that I works toward

I was going to stay out of this thread, but since the BSA's signing of the MOU has me about an inch from resigning my positions, I'll share some stories here. Back when I worked in a National Supply shop, I worked at a satellite store in a strip mall. The council had the next unit over, with a secretary there for registrations and the like. The Council executive gave AHG's National Office a free lease to that space, since the council secretary only used a fraction of it. So, I got to witness a lot of things first hand. First, Management from the NDC had to get involved with telling

In the Wood Badge Administrative Manual it says: "Staff costs are not to be passed on to the participants. Staff members must pay their own way. The staff fee should include all costs directly associated with the staff (meals, daily charges for insurance, beads, certificates,staff guide, etc.)" Not sure about Powderhorn, but I'm guessing its the same.

Congrats! Got mine earlier in the month at roundtable. As I told the people in attendance, my 3 longer-term projects are still going to continue, the Ticket just kicked them off. Ted I used to be a Beaver...... C-18-10

Unfortunately many have given up the value of earning an award for the ability to say "look at all our Eagles". Back in 95 I went to OA NLS, where a question was asked to Clyde Mayer, the National OA Director about testing people, because many Lodges were under the idea that no one could fail. His response shocked them when he said "of course you can test, just like EARNING Tenderfoot, Arrowmen should EARN Brotherhood" Wish more people thought like that. I'm a trainer at work, and I teach courses that lead to certification from professional organizations or the Federal Governme

Just to hit on a few points here as a former camp program director. When I went to NCS (1998), it was made very very apparent by our instructor that: A)Requirements were to be followed to the letter (do means do, show means show) B)Program area directors were the real MBCs, even if younger staff taught, they had to sign due to the the need for an adult C)As program directors, we were ultimately responsible for every signed off blue card. If a parent/SM/etc questioned it, we'd be the first asked. Now, I took that seriously, but I still know there were people who got "gimmes" be

"How many units are you and your solo ADC trying to take care of? " Well, that all depends on how you cut the district up. We have 52 units, with 2 new ones coming on line. But, of those only 9 are "traditional", as in volunteer led. The other 45 are under program managers. So, basically, between the 2 of us, I'm working with 4, he's working with 5. I work with the 5 program managers, but they really don't get Commissioner Service in the traditional sense, because of their status as employees. The ultimate goal is to get them commissioners, but they're behind the other 9 priority-wise.

"And while the other 18 'don't count' -- they count for the unit ... and that is what truly matters!" That's why the concensus is that we the metric will be addressed. While unit visits are nice, helping units is the ultimate goal. "How many units does each UC in your district have?" My district is the odd one out in the council. It's me and an ADC, and that's after 13 months of me attempting to recruit everyone I can think of. I've gotten 3 to volunteer, but for the committee. So my loss, but the scout's gain. I'm one of those Eagledad hints at, really not the best fit for t

"Then they are not entering the data into UVTS correctly!" They're entering correctly, and getting credit for all 24, but when the gold standard is 6 visits to 50% of your units, the 18 additional don't "count". That's where the discrepancy lies, and where we hope a change is made. Not because the 6/50% is unreachable, but because those visits may fall by the wayside if a UC has a major issue in one unit. We're getting some UCs to retroactively enter the "other" contacts, so I doubt we'll not reach gold, but it seems that metric needs some adjustment. The tracking is fine, we just feel th

fred8033, What you propose, on the training level, is related to what I'm working towards as a Commissioner. As we bring on trainers or commissioners, our goal is to cross-train them. So, while a Unit Commissioner is visiting for a training "check-up", they can observe the unit as well. And if they're there on a unit visit, they can discuss trainings in the future and roundtables (which most councils don't use as the training opportunity they are), From the thread, it sounds like the quality of the Commissioner service is hugely varied around the country. In our council, there's a f

Try Crestcraft at http://www.crestcraft.com/. They do a lot of thin metal work that I've seen. A fair amount of it looks close to the old skill awards in method.

I think there's a two-fold reason for the knot program in the BSA as a whole (and because of this there's conflict over what to wear), and it reaches all the way back to the first knots. The first knots made were: The Honor Medal, Silver Buffalo, Antelope, and Beaver, Eagle Scout, Ses Scout Quartermaster, Scoutmaster's Key, and the Scouter's Training Award. So, from the very beginning, we had a mixutre of "presented" and "earned by requirement" awards. The knot program has always had these 2 faces. So, as the Cub knot program moved away from the Boy Scout knot program, the knots in

They're offering it at camp each week (this week is staff week). They're allowing anyone to attend the sessions, and they are apparently allowing people to attend over multiple weeks if they can't attend all in one week. From what we've seen flyer wise, they are offering IOLS testing, not sure if they'll try to offer it as a class or not. In terms of winter, our District traditionally did Youth Protection then, because it made it simple to remember you needed it by the end of an odd or even year, but that's out with the new requirement. Now we've got a couple trainers with personal lapto

Here's an interesting idea our Council is trying this year. http://www.danbeard.org/training/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27:summer-of-training&catid=19:basic-training-information Not only is it promoting training to the untrained, but its getting people to come in and make sure their ScoutNet records are up to date, which was a major issue with YPT at recharter. When they check the records for the patch, if there are missing trainings, they're being updated on the spot. Any other councils trying this approach to getting records verified? How well has it worked

I think with the new scoutstuff.org, we're seeing a lot more old stuff they've got a few of in the warehouse. In the 2004-2005 range, the jac-shirts went from the old jacket sizes to the XS-5X we've got now. he old sizes were made 25% off as the new stock made its way to the stores. So the sizes on sale for 19.99 have been marked down from that point, and these are the bare few left. Years ago, this was known as "Discontinue when gone", so I doubt you'll see the other sizes on sale until they drop the jac-shirt completely. I've seen a few older items like that pop up on the new site when I've

Back when the first shirts were moved from Newco manufacturing to overseas, we wondered how the made-to-measure shirts would be handled. It sounds like that's what the CSE, etc are having done, which I'd assume they had done in the past with Newco and Sweet-orr. Begs the question though, if this is the M2M program through supply, then would people be willing to pay extra and order them that way? (M2M required a 2-piece order of "like" items, so you could get a long and short sleeve shirt, or a pair of shorts and pants, but not one top/pant)

I trim the excess since many are cut out of square now. One thing I've also done in the past is to sew the knots with one continuous thread and zig zag stich between the 2 edges. I only have 3, so no clue if this would work for more, but by stitching them together, they lay flat in a group, rather than gapping between each. One thing I have noticed is that the centenial uniform pockets seem to be just a tiny bit narrower (like 1/16"), so 3 knots just barely hang over on each side, so I place the center knot first, then the outer ones so the overhang is even. And I guess you could ca

When I was Lodge Chief (95-96), I was invited to a meeting with the Scout Executive. In that meeting, he explained how he had delegated his Supreme Chief of the Fire duties to the council program director, but that he was interested in the program running well. We discussed the plans I had as Chief and what he'd like the OA's camping focus to be, since we were in the process of building a new camp. At the end of the meeting, he said "I'd like to invite you to be a member of the councl executive board", which my Adviser later told me was pretty much a formality as the LC and EAA president were

I know when I worked for a National Scout Shop, we did anything and everything we could to help the customer. If we said we couldn't get something, it meant no one anywhere in the country had it, because we had already called each store to try and get one. Territory and Store managers have a network of "go-to" stores, but we would look everywhere we could to find an item. I guess now it's done via e-mail, now that more staff has internal mail. In terms of ordering from the warehouse, we always tried to steer people away from it. Not to "get the sale" as it were, but because we usually ha

I know when I worked for a National Scout Shop, we did anything and everything we could to help the customer. If we said we couldn't get something, it meant no one anywhere in the country had it, because we had already called each store to try and get one. Territory and Store managers have a network of "go-to" stores, but we would look everywhere we could to find an item. I guess now it's done via e-mail, now that more staff has internal mail. In terms of ordering from the warehouse, we always tried to steer people away from it. Not to "get the sale" as it were, but because we usually ha

"Basically, my point of view is this: If it works for you our yours.........what's the problem?" I think this train of thought isn't shared by many because of the fact that the LDS differences are organized and printed. So instead of not knowing or not caring, it's "look at these differences, its because of X,Y,Z" I've worked with LDS scouts and scouters both at camp and as a Scout Shop employee. Guess what? Some are great, some are good, and some are questionable. The only unique issue to LDS I've seen is leaders who feel they shouldn't be doing Boy Scout things. I guess this is fr

Looks like there's a new version of the Jac-Shirt in green: http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&c2=NEW&C3=&C4=&LV=2&item=611024-9&prodid=611024-9^8^01RTL& Hopefully this is an additon to the line, and not a step in elimnating the red ones. The red one has 2 styles on backorder, which gives me hope. From the picture on the site, it doesn't seem to be a Woolrich, its thinner and has buttons similar to the centenial uniform pants.

shortridge said: Why not have the Scout Shop staff put it all together for a small convenience fee and make it easy? I'm scratching my head on this one. When I worked for a Supply Group Scout Shop, it was a given we would help with this. We distributed sheets to the units to have them fill in the scout's unit/patrol and check of the optional items for troops like hats and neckerchief choices. We would bring in extra staff in the fall so we could walk around with the customer and get them everything they needed, while helping with size choices (buy big, etc). We also kept a few "often mis

Thanks for the welcome! -jblake47, the 99+% is what makes any forum worthwhile. I can deal with the bit that doesn't... just have to shake my head and move on when I see it. -prof, Uh-oh, the competition I worked at Woodland Trails for Miami Valley Council. Up until the re-opening of DBC's camp, the troops seemed evenly split between Ransburg and Woodland Trails. We always seemed to get inspection the week after Ransburg too, so we heard about the program year from them. We also got a lot of customers when I worked at the store from Hoosier Trails and Crossroads of America councils.

I was working for at a scout shop when the shirts first went from being made in the US to overseas (Vietnam and China if I remember right). The company making them at the time went out of business and the BSA began shopping the contract out. Apparently in approaching every uniform manufacturer they could find, none would take on the contract. That's when the switch occured. Some of the reasons given were that they were unable to provide in the quantities the BSA wanted, and others said they did not want to work with the material that was used on the shirts. Same thing occured with the Cal