magic823

I would love collarless shirts like they had when I was a boy. Wearing a neckerchief with a collar looks tacky. If collarless scout shirts were OK with BP, they are good enough for me. Also another YEAHHHHHH for the knee socks. You need them to wear boots with your uniform shorts. On that topic, good shorts. I don't need or use all the dang pockets on the zip-off pants. Steve

Define relatively inexpensive? Costco has a decent Coleman for $89 right now. Also alway seam seal a new tent unless the manufacturer says otherwise, and take even that with a grain of salt. Steve(This message has been edited by magic823)

Find a mother than has an embroidery sewing machine. My wife has a Viking Designer 1 so it would be easy to make a bunch of these at pennies each. Maybe we should start a business Steve

Since it's my comments that was spun off. My experience as a boy, and my experience as an adult scouter let me to believe it would be exceptionally hard to have a good LDS troop, by virtue of how they structure their programs. The ways I would suggest they change for the betterment of scouting are: 1. Sorry, but no Varsity Scouting. Leave the boys in Boy Scouts till they are at least 16. The 14-16 year olds tend to be when the boys are finally learning to be leaders. Yanking them away from the troop leaves a leadership void. It also would allow troops to be a little bigger. 2. C

"Steve, I cannot imagine any Troop in Idaho not having a string outdoor program. You're in one of the areas of our great Nation that God designed for recreation :-D" Sad, but that isn't the case. I grew up in Idaho and the troop I was in rarely went camping. I was the only Eagle Scout in a 12 year period from that troop. It was an LDS troop, so I didn't have the option of finding a good one. The so called Scoutmasters that would be fostered on us would turn us loose to play basketball after the opening. We finally got a semi-decent SM that took us backpacking one summer in lue of summer c

As a Pre2000WB and one that is planning on taking 21CWB this fall, I have mixed feelings about it. In one case, its an opportunity to network in my new council (I've been out of Scouting for 20 years and I'm living in a different state now). Its also an opportunity to refresh some knowledge. However, on the the hand if its just Organizational Behavior stuff - I have an MBA and took plenty of graduate level classes in that. I'm sure I could teach it in greater depth than will ever be presented in the course (I probaly should bring my OB textbooks to training). My biggest issue is in having to f

Wish I could go through B-P orginal Woodbadge course. Now that would be fun! Steve

The bottom line is boys get into to scouting to have fun. As defined in most people minds, the fun of Scouting is camping and the outdoors. Anything that takes away from that fun will be a deterent to membership. Learning leadership from anything resembling a class was hard enough in my MBA program (and I had the reward of my Masters at the end of it). I can't see boys in this age of high stimulous activities staying around through it. As I look for a troop for my grandson to be involved with, a strong outdoor program and a boy led troop are the two things I'm looking for. Steve

Will do Kudu. To effect change, I need to get networked. If that requires (and it seems to do so in my district) that I jump through a few hoops like 21CWB, I'm willing to do so. To go off on a semi-tangent, the problem I see with Scouting today is they are battling issues and things they don't need to and have lost the focus on the things that bring boys to scouting. For instance, this huge battle about gays. Its a battle that doesn't need to be fought. Two-deep leadership will take care of any issues. If a parent is uncomfortable with a troop with a gay leader, don't put your boy

I agree, they are probably qualified. I was just surprised by the number of them since in my previous council it was one, possibly two a year per district, not 6+.

Quick question. What do you mean by "primary role"? Very good point on the networking. I'm new to this council. I moved from Seattle to Boise and really know noone here in Scouting except my co-workers whom are all Eagles. It certainly is different here (I've noticed a big push for Scouter Awards and WoodBadge - more than was in Seattle). My wife and I have decided that we will do the 21CWD this fall. The cost isn't that great and the experience will be good for her. Having done all the leadership and management stuff for my MBA I expect that most of it may be boring for me, but ther

Since it was my comment that spun this thread off I'll comment on what I meant when I said "earned" for the Silver Beaver. No, you can't "earn" the Silver Beaver by checking off a list of requirements, but you can "earn" the Silver Beaver by being selfless in your dedication. I "earned" mine for about 10 years worth of work; leading troops, OA advising, organizing and running district camporees. At some point someone takes notice and submits your name for it. In my opinion, the level of effort and accomplishment needs to be large to be choosen for the "Highest Honor" the Council can best

I'm just getting back into Scouting after 20 years. Just to set the stage for my following comments, I'm an Eagle Scout and earned it from a Troop that I was the only Eagle in a 12 year period. I've been a SM, ASM, OA Chapter Advisor and more in my Scouting career. I am also a Silver Beaver. As the OA Chapter Advisor I had the opportunity to observe almost all the troops in our district and having run a number of our district Camporees. I was always dismayed by the Eagle factories that a lot of LDS units in the District were producing. At Camporee my Tenderfoots knew more Scouting Skills than

Thanks everyone. My wife has shown interest in doing WoodBadge also, so if she does it, I'll bite the bullet and do it again with her. If she decides not to, I'll head to Philmont and do the refresher. I would like to someday go to a Jambo as a leader, so if its a requirement to have the 21CWD I might as well get it done.

I've been out of scouting for over 20 years. Back in the 80s and 90s I was a ASM, SM, and OA Chapter Advisor, earned my Silver Beaver and attended Wood Badge in 1989. Since my grandson will be 11 this September I'm getting back into Scouting and have been asked to be a Unit Commissioner. At Roundtable this month, they put on a big push for everyone to get Wood Badge trained. I mentioned that I had already been and they recommended that I attend the new one. My question is that it appears (and they said) I would have to give up my existing beads and rework another ticket. I'm OK with that,