LPC_Thumper

I thought it was the role of the District Advancement Chair to ensure a couple of things happen: 1 - That there is a current list of qualified and trained Merit Badge Counsellors 2 - That qualified volunteers that wish to be Merit Badge Counsellors are trained and equiped with the tools they need. This chair of course can delegate this work, but isn't that what they are supposed to worry about?

We call ours a Merit Badge Pow Wow. We hold it for 3 consecutive Saturday mornings over a two month time (this way troops that want to go camping each month can). This last year we celebrated our 20th. We have nearly 300 scouts come and offer just under 40 Merit Badges. We try to keep the classes complementary to (rather than competing with) summer camp. The headaches we face YEARLY are counselors forget to show up, boys loose their schedules, and misinformed adults refer to us as a merit badge mill. Here's how we handle each of our problems. We always have two counselors for each ba

Sounds like you are having the worries that many of us have had. Here's what we do... When the Troop needs help with training, we use the Crew to provide that. (Sort of kills two birds with the same stone, since this is one of the things you need for advancement anyway). There are trips that the crew goes on that the troop is not invited. For example, we have gone to all the National High Adventure Bases, but the troop hasn't. We do things as a troop that the crew is not invited to. Most of those things are summer camp (partly because summer camp staff gets all weirded out by co-ed crew)

One of the things we do in my community is have the Web II dens shop for troops. This allows 2 things to happen. 1st it allows the Webelos to see if they like the troop. Or in other words if they think new scouts are where these new scouts are at. 2nd it also allows the troop to see the Webelos. You know there are some that will have a hard time in your program, but will LOVE another's. We try to be positive as we direct them. There are also those that on first evaluation, you think they just aren't going to fit with you. I'm sure glad they know better.

Great posts. As a Committee Chair for a troop, I wear these six: AOL, Eagle, Adult Religious Award AoM, Silver Beaver, SM of Merit As the District Chair I wear all 12. Both times I wear my 3 beads, my OA sash, and a PTC patch as my temp patch. The fancier uniform has everything to do with "I understand," while the simpler one allows me to take a back seat to my friend, the SM. I've noticed that we have a tri-fold flyer we had to visiting parents. It lists the SM as a contact, and lists most of his awards, even though he doesn't wear them all. My name is the other contac

I'm on our Council's training team (as well as a former District Training Chair) I can tell you that the Junior Leader Training course mentions the position, BUT leaves in fairly blank. This is an intentional ommission from National. With so many COs it's hard to make a one size fits all situation, so the things your CA needs to do is attend your troop's JLT, and then according to the syllabus, talk to the Chaplain to see what specific duties are required. Sounds to my like a special course from your CO would be a welcomed thing. Good Luck!!

It seems to me that the preferred method by National is to have Tigers use a seperate identity such as "Tiger Den" so I think the orange flag is a great idea. For Wolf and Bear dens they should be numerals, since it larger packs, you could have multiple dens of the same rank. Then Webelos get to do the Boy Scout thing of den names, like animals, or characters.

Are there any local hunt clubs or gun clubs in your council? We get about 1/2 our bullets this way. In your case, 1/2 won't be painless, but it will be a lot better than coming up with all the money yourself. Good luck!

HI Folks! I have provided answers to all sorts of questions in the past, now I'm looking to those I trust to do a "reality check" with. There is a rumor in our council (a couple of DEs and volunteers saying one thing, the SE and some volunteers saying the opposite) Please let me know. I've checked my resources, and I see no changes, but then out here on the left coast things take longer to get to us. Anyway, here goes... If a Scout (let's say he is 1st Class) transfers from his troop into a Venture Crew can he finish up his Eagle? I'm looking for NEW information, or lack there of, to

Hi, First there is nothing in the National Rules to say you can't... but with that said let's look a little closer. Can you see that if you have to go meet a stranger and learn from them this could help you gain new skills that aren't related to the merit badge at all? Can you see how getting yourself to someone elses location (whether it be their home, their church, their troop location, a school, library or whereever doesn't really matter) at a predetermined time could help you later in life? How do you do that with Mom & Dad? I'm an old adult, let's just say that my son i

I think when you go shopping there are certain things you need to look for, here's my list; 1 - Is your SCOUT happy? (I mean if they are having problems that are not safety issues, an experienced scouter can make a world of difference, is your SCOUT happy can't be fudged.) 2 - Are they running something that looks like the program? Remember many units have trouble getting to the full picture, you don't know the history of how they got to where they are at... etc. Are they headed in the right direction? 3 - Do you think you can be involved with the adults? If not check into helpi

OK now I have a question. I've heard that when a Venture turns 18 he should change his Eagle Patch to an Eagle Square Knot. Is that correct? It makes sense to me, but before I go running around with false information I thought I'd ask. Also I was approached recently (I'm on the Council Venture Committee) by a new Venture Leader. He said that he has heard that Ventures can no longer earn Eagle. This is not correct, right? I'm under the understanding that as long as a Scout earns First Class before he leaves the troop he can work on anything he needs up to Eagle before his 18th birthday. Ri

I also use Dickey pants as my greys. I understand that you should use BSA issue, I just have a hard time spending that much money on clothes. I do have official green BSA pants and use them on my Boy Scout training courses. When I'm training Venture I explain that these are not the official pants, I have not seen anyone in the official pants.

It is my understanding that a much better resource for the Gold Award (not as a conclusion, but as a start) would be to sign up for First Aid Courses with the Red Cross. While First Aid Merit Badge is nice, it is no where near the level of response as full blown first aid courses from Red Cross.

Hi, Let's look at your two questions a little differently... 1 - Packs camp as often as they'd like, and think they can. I know good Packs that NEVER camp, and there are Packs in my district that camp more often than some Boy Scout Troops. It really is an individual Pack's decision. Honest... 2 - Local Boy Scout property is a good place. My council has two camps, one rather built up and developed the other rather rustic. You guessed it, Packs use either or both. I've also seen Packs use County/State/Federal campsites. What ever is closer, and whatever your Pack feels will help t

Hi, AwHeck brings up an interesting point, and I'm not convinced that s/he even knows it.

tortdog - I have just one question, you mentioned 4 or 5 units per ward? I'm just curious... 5?? Let's see Pack/Troop/Team/Crew & ??? to make 5? Don't mean to split hairs, oh heck yes I do... I'm trying to be a pain! How am I doing?? On the idea of lack of training that you've experienced, your Stake YM President needs to get closer with the district/council (all depends on how your stake/council boundaries work) commissioner. You know about UCs right? Are your bishopric counselor over YM serving this function? What about your bishopric conselor for Primary? There's two good guy

OK this has totally gotten off subject. The original thread had to do with how to help LDS scouts in "mainstream units". See I have problems with just the title of the post. Let me explain. 1 - As a Latter-day Saint, that happens to enjoy the hobby of Scouting, why if my congregation sponsors a unit do people hold it up as "not mainstream"? As has been mentioned the LDS church on a national basis sponsors more units than any other CO in the country. Also the typical LDS congregation (ward) in the USA sponsors an average of 2.5 units. How many other COs in your district sponsor multiple un

I have been to over 100. I usually get a card, and include a check for $10 (OK when I actually know the scout I've been known to go to $20). With my involvement in the council, I get invited to many. I wondered if this was about right until my son had his Eagle CoH. Same amounts of gifts from many of the folks that were there. Many in our council have a meal, so there are expenses that are put on. My son paid for his trip from California to Northern Tier from his gifts from that afternoon. A gift is nice, but just showing up and telling the scout how great he is, really is a wonderful gif

amouse, Congrats on deciding to get invovled. It's a hard, good decision that you have made. May I put a different spin on this for you? Let's say you can't get Eagle, what happens now? Might I suggest to you that while your journey might end before other's, you can still decide how far you can get. Let's say that you find you don't have all the time you need. You can still make Life, or Star, or First Class or whatever. Why wouldn't having fun (one of the main purposes of Scouts) be any less important than what kinds of patches you can put on a particular pocket? Scouts is abo

What a great idea... I can tell I'll be venting here. I've been trying to loose weight for about six months, and have lost a total of 15 pounds. I'm 6'4" and would like to get down around 220, but that's over 40 pounds, and I'm stuck. Thanks for doing this. I'm glad to hear that there are others that are trying too.

Thanks for the GREAT post Bobwhite. In my council folks recognize me as a Scouter (I think I've mentioned enough of my hats in other posts) Folks are happy to see me at events, or training, or whatever. They know I'm gone come Saturday night, it's NO BIG DEAL. In my stake folks recognize me as a church leader, and are very positive and polite with me. When our LDS scouts and scouters find me at district/council events we get to share a bond. My question is what's so bad about that? The LDS unit leaders that see me at camporee, pinewood derby, or Eagle CoH all know that I'm very

Hi, I'm an adult and so you can weigh my opinions on that scale. I worked on summer camp staff as a Scout. I have also inspected various camps all over California and have some observations for you. I have also been to several camps as an adult, and have watched staff. Lastly as we're talking about my credentials I've served as a program director (COPE) for a summer camp for a couple of summers. (Do you think we can talk now?) I have noticed that camp staffs that understand these few things do better. 1 - Yes this is stressful. 2 - Yes I'm not doing this for the money. 3 - Y

I too would be VERY opposed to putting all the LDS units into a single district. I think you already know my biases, but I'm very concerned that we all understand and try to get along. As has been mentioned, the only problem you'd really have is trying to get LDS and Jewish scouts to exist in the same unit. Also a camporee/camporall of just LDS and Jewish kids would present some challenges. The only time they'd all be together would be Saturday's campfire.

OK this is going to be long... I'm sorry, I'm just trying to get this so it's clear, honest. I dont' think it's that hard, but then that's only my point of view. Let's start off with an 8 year old LDS boy. After his 8th birthday, he gets to start Cubs. He works with a Den Leader for a year and they get his Wolf (that's the first rank, right?) badge. When he turns 9 he gets to go to a new den, and he starts working on Bear (now if I've got them wrong, don't think LDS give them out wrong, just think that I'm confused and used the wrong ranks, they do the Bobcat -> Webelos progression as