LongHaul

I don't know if this is going to clear up or muddy things. Lets say that National in it's infinite wisdom decided to change the required badges for Eagle. Beginning January 1 ,2006 you must earn Swimming merit badge. does that mean that those who have earned it prior to Jan 1 , 2006 can't use the badge already earned? LongHaul

BrentAllen, Surely you think the UN is the great arbiter on the planet! Not even close. Have you ever thought about the possibility that, given your views and positions on these isssues, that if you had been born in Bagdad instead of America you'd be a terrorist?Pushing the Israelis into the sea is how one would get them out of the area. Everywhere else is Muslim. Yes this was done in the 1940s ,again the short memory ,like 1940s is so long ago that it doesnt matter anymore. To the people of the middle east it matters. Hey the Israelis claim to the land is that God gave it to the

My question to him would be "Are you embarrassed because someone will find out you are a Boy Scout or embarrassed by the uniform?" If the boy is Ok with everyone knowing he is a scout, he would be in plain view if at a meeting, why the problem with the uniform when everyone else is in uniform? Sounds to me as if there is some peer pressure going on here. The boy has been active but now is embarrassed by the uniform. Maybe a discussion with the SM and SPL or with the other members of the troop this boy identifies with might help him past this hurdle without loosing the benefit of scouting. I do

BrentAllen, I would suggest you brush up on our National Foreign Policy with regards to the middle eastern countries in question. What have we done over the last 100 years to help the common man find a forum for his needs and grievances. What have we done to better the lives of the common people in the countries we are so determined to free now? Look back at which governments we supported with monetary aid and military training and supplies. Look at how our actions have impacted the lives of the common citizen. You may get some idea as to why we are once again the ugly American. Just

Rooster7, How is trying to understand why something happened or what motivated some one or some group to do a thing justifying it? Where in anything Ive written in any post have I condoned, or justified violence committed by any group? Why do so many people believe that disagreeing with a current administrations policies constitutes un-American activities? The president is not America. The military is not America. One can actually support the men and women in uniform and still disagree with the mission they have been given. You question whether I am trying to justify 9-11 in a man

Am I reading these posts right? Do some of you actually believe that ANYTHING and I mean literally ANYTHING can be justified as long as the price is right? In 1941 the Japanese Military bombed Pearl Harbor, which incited Congress to declare war. (The atrocities committed in China, the Philippines and the Okinawan chain before that had little affect. ) Yet in 1971 we couldnt wait to sell them Southern California . Deliberately avoid bombing certain mainland Japanese cities to leave them in good condition to judge effect (the fact that it also attracted civilians fleeing the bombings elsewhere n

From Accro40's post; 2. During transportation to and from planned Scout outings, A) Meet for departure at a designated area. B) Prearrange a schedule for periodic checkpoint stops as a group. C) Plan a daily destination point. A common departure site and a daily destination point are a must. If you cannot provide two adults for each vehicle, the minimum required is one adult and two or more youth membersnever one on one. Have a common meeting place, periodic check points as a group, daily destination point BUT UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CARAVAN!!! You may be interested to know that

Sorry folks was speaking from memory and forgot the age requirement was just changed. You can join boy scouts at 10 if you have earned the AOL. The boy can join a troop if he completes the AOL requirements. LongHaul(This message has been edited by LongHaul)

Exactly unless it is for long term camping. Then what? Must he still sleep in a tent? We can imply that cabins don't count but does it actually say that? What it says is "Sleep each night under the sky or in a tent you have pitched (long-term camp excluded)." Being "Old School" I know how I read that, what I want to know is how to the rest of you read that. LongHaul(This message has been edited by LongHaul)

What is need here is to read the rank eligibility portion for the Cub Scout Ranks. To be a Tiger a boy must be in first grade, hence he cant join right out of kindergarden. Will certain councils accept apps from boys not technically eligible? See Lisabobs post. A boy is a wolf as soon as he graduates first grade. The eligibility stipulation reads has completed the first grade. An individual pack can give a boy what ever award they choose and allow work on badges and ranks under what ever conditions or in what time frame they want it, does not make it right. Rank eligibility, advancement, and

So often in this organization the youth are forced to suffer for their parents. The bottom line is that if the boy isn't registered it is actually against BSA Regulations to award him any BSA rank or recognition. He can not join a troop LEGALLY until he has earned the AOL and is 10 1/2 (unless he has completed fifth grade). So if the parent won't pay to re-register for another term the boy is no longer registered after December and thus inelegable to participate. Holding an AOL for him in December is up to the Pack Committee. LongHaul

In General a boy can work on any requiremetns for any rank up to First Class at any time and in any order. The stipulation of "While a XXXX scout (where XXXX is a rank) do the following; has been removed from the lower ranks. As I understand it a boy can finish Frist Class before he finishes Tenderfoot but can't pass the BOR. Ranks must be completed in order. The question is can a boy fullfill a requirement by doing something that wasn't a requirement when he did it? The requirement says do "whatever" it doesn't say do "whatever" while, after, during, at, or any other qualifier. If the b

All you Camping Merit Badge Councelors out there. Questions have been raised "Do all 20 nights of camping for REQ. 9 have to be completed AFTER the date the blue card is first issued?" Question 2 "Req 9 states that nights must be spent under the stars or in a tent you pitched except for the nights at summer camp. Does this mean that you can sleep in a tent already pitched or that you can sleep in a cabin?"

Prairie Scouter, Depends on what you mean by what do you do. Are you asking from the position of Scoutmaster, where the boy needs a new Blue Card to complete the badge? From the stand point of Merit Badge Counselor where the boy wants credit for achievement he cant substantiate? From the stand point of parent that wants their son to get credit for requirements completed? The Scoutmaster can attempt to verify or recreate the missing card by contacting the original merit badge counselor. The parent should contact the Scoutmaster or Advancement chair. As a Merit Badge Counselor you h

Acco40, You are correct that the decision finally rests with the Scoutmaster, I would hope that the SPL and PLC had some input. As to your example, if this scout is First Class then he has gone on outings but has now stopped. This would need to be discussed in a Scoutmaster conference in our troop. Our troop meetings though not entirely by the book do follow the concept of 4 weekly meetings preparing for a monthly activity. We try to have a theme for the monthly outing and that theme is used to prepare the weekly meeting plan. If a scout will participate in the planning and preparation but

Fleetfottedfox, First in my book the dad you mentioned is a prime example of a scout who attained the rank of Eagle as opposed to an Eagle Scout. Along with the list of famous people lets remember when Russia beat us into space with Sputnik. President Eisenhower made our space program a high priority. He demanded only the best pilots in the military ,he felt they were better disciplined, were to be tested. After all the testing and weeding out, the American people were presented with the Mercury Astronauts. Six of the seven were scouts at some time. The first American to orbit the eart

SWScouter I think you are confusing OGE with Greying Breaver. As to getting the "stuff" together the boy may be referring to his records. Dates of merit badges, BORs, POR dates etc. our boys don't have all the necessary info unless they or their parents keep really good records. We copy all the pertaining advancement reports and keep them in a folder at hand in case questions arise after the Eagle App is submitted. LongHaul

Sorry hotdesk your link was to a council interpretation of National Policy it doesn't work outside that council. Get a hold of some back issues of the scout handbook. Circa1957 and up, You'll find that the wording for this requirement has changed over the years. It used to say Serve in a position of leadership to the satisfaction of his Scoutmaster. Then it said hold a position of leadership. Then it said serve in a position of leadership. Now it says serve actively in a position of leadership. Just having a title no longer fills the bill. Holding a position and serving actively in a position

FScouter, Ever wonder why National didnt market their New Woodbadge as Woodbadge II and leave the original one alone? If you wanted advanced leadership and team building training youd have a place to find it. If you wanted the traditional course you could find that also. I think its because they wouldnt have found many takers. They needed the name and reputation of the course they felt was no longer relevant in order to get enough people to take their new course and make it profitable. When traditional scouting has been replaced by the Learning for Life Program, Woodbadge for the 21st. C

Kahuna touched on the cruel and unusual punishment aspect but the right to bear arms issue won out. Id like to look at the cruel and unusual punishment provision again. Anyone think that the framers envisioned a penal system controlled by gangs where inmates are subjected to physical assault, sodomy, sexual abuse, and intimidation as part of their sentence imposed by the court ? Society acknowledges the systems lack of ability to protect inmates. We had Scared Straight and other programs which used the reality of prison life to influence troubled youth. It is portrayed on television in mo

Ed, By that definition the Learning for Life Program which does not camp, use the patrol method, have advancement, is not youth run, is still "Scouting". The troop that is so by the book that they don't burp unless they can find justification to do so in the publications are one in the same with the in school/after school baby sitting program are one in the same in terms of being Scouting? LongHaul

This type of discussion and interjection of views is exactly what I was looking for, I will rejoin here to respond to Eamonn and Ed Mori. Eamonn wrote; A lot of what the youth see as the Scouting Program is the delivery person. The Adults that are there week in and week out, these people are the BSA to that kid.Still in the eyes of the youth we are Scouting what we do and what we offer is to them the Scouting program. Hitting the nail on the head does not do justice here. I was introduced to Scouting in 1957as a Wolf and stayed active till I was 25 and got married. Soon as my oldest son was

Nothing is wrong or bad about using the published materials but when we are limited by those materials to the extent that we cannot define what we do without them maybe we should step back and take a look at what we are doing. Have you ever proof read something and read over the same error because you don't "see" it even though it is there? When we use preset definitions and catch phrases repeatedly rather than our own words we sometimes drift from our course without realizing it. I was once told that "If it isn't in the training sylabus it shouldn't be included in the training." Are we to

In another thread it was asked What is a Scouter. In answering that question it was suggested that a Scouter is someone who lives the Scouting Program. Which prompted Define The Scouting Program. Iknow we can all pull out a training manual and quote page and paragraph definitions. My question was prompted by the suggestion that; the Scouting Program was like art, I may not be able to define it but I know it when I see it. Another forum member posted (Scouters) come in all shapes and sizes, but they all have the best interests of kids at heart. Some of them don't follow the program as pu

Ive sat back and watched this thread develop waiting to see where it would go. Nldscout, WB new or old is a tool. I think the old course was more Scouting oriented and it prepared participants better to provide the Scouting Program than does the new course which is more team building and leadership oriented. Neither course produces Scouters, as SueM posted its the people not the course. I did notice your use of the terms other course and present course which are used in the New and Improved Woodbadge for the 21st. Century. I think referring to a training course with 90 plus years