MattR

@ramanous , the most important one for me is whether the older scouts are looking out for the younger scouts. If the younger scouts don't look up to the older scouts then the troop will develop all sorts of problems from lack of participation, young SPLs that struggle while older scouts stay home, a lack of team work and just a real self centered attitude. The term scout led really is too vague. What most adults think of scout led is scouts making plans. But leadership, good leadership, is all the little things like including the shy scouts and encouraging those that are struggling. It's

@Maboot38 , you seem to recognize a problem and aren't willing, or more likely, know how to deal with it. You have an adult that is driving off scouts. This has nothing to do with titles. This is a people problem. Something needs to change, which you recognize. The options are he backs off on his own or you back him off. You're the SM. He's messing up your program. You have a vision of how this should work (and it sounds good from what you've implied) and he's hindering that. You need to decide whether the time it will take to change him is worth it. If so, great. If not, he needs to go.

I'm hoping you're wrong. Last night I found out our council has only 2400 youth registered. Our district, ten years ago, was larger than this. We used to have a pack in every elementary school (15 or 20?). We're down to 3 or 4. I think the packs are done folding but the troops are in serious decline at the moment. Our troop, which has always been considered strong compared to neighboring troops, is in serious trouble while 2 other troops have folded. If it weren't for a half dozen adults in our troop that no longer have kids in the troop, ours would fold. The common thread in all of this

Soros is to blame for the downfall of the BSA? That's a new one. I think I'm done here. This is a waste of my time.

Sure, but something about being prepared keeps poking the back of my gray matter. I have noticed that nay sayers jump out of the woodwork whenever a new idea is proposed. Understanding how, for example, the UK does this could help.

@Eagle94-A1, while a lot of us have bad stories, your council is the worst. Just to balance things out a bit, don't forget all the threads we see here about bad scout leaders. I once asked why we didn't have a commisioner and the answer was that we had one of the best troops and they trusted us and they had much bigger issues with out of control drama, drinking, etc in other units. @5thGenTexan 's troop is probably not too far from typical. Anyway, these are the things that we have to work around. None of the issues with a bad council are nearly as bad to a unit's program as not having pa

Welcome to the forum, @TimMiller. It's a great camp. At least for the past 10 years the volunteers taking care of the cabin ask for donations of money or material be given directly to them so they actually get it. Anyway, we ran our summer camp there this year. It's great. I think the council now takes care of the $99 payments. I forget the name of the guy that likely took over from Holm, but he was the best council exec I've seen.

@welcome to the forum, @Prime00. My suggestion is ask your scouts what they want to do and give them some options to get away from this troop. Find another troop, start a troop so they can get eagle, ... This situation is toxic.

Wow, the scouts run afoul of a bird sanctuary. So much irony to choose from.

Looking at it from the other side I'm not surprised. They don't have the numbers so, rather than adjust their budget they charge CITs. Summer camp itself is already North of $450. This is why we put on our own summer camp. And the price was very close to $100 per scout and adults paid nothing. That has its own cost, in time, but it was fun.

We rarely have cell service in the mountains. If you have service you're either on a peak or, possibly, at a trailhead. I'm glad they figured it out. Also glad the other hikers came by. A GPS that can mark a point seems like a useful idea. Does all trails allow you to mark a point? Also there are GPSes with emergency satellite communications. We rent them when we go rafting because the canyons are not only far from signals but far from people.

Every. Single. House. Project.

Yes, it's miserable but they got to go home. Nobody got caught in the hurricane. All I found was that 23 people across all of S Korea died due to heat. The scouts did okay. Going to the hospital for dehydration or eating bad food is not fun and a lot of scouts are angry at someone, but that's not the same as trauma. Money can be replaced. I'm not saying all was fun and good. Certainly there are 40000 upset people. I feel sorry for them but this won't get fixed until a lot more is understood. There are a lot of events that led to this mess. The S Korea scouting organization is only

Does anyone know the actual cost of a scout going to the jamboree? I did see that there are 4 different levels - the US and Europe pay the most, poorer countries pay less. I know US scouts paid $6100 but that includes taxes to national, the council and travel. I suspect that much like the Olympics, the WSJ is put on at a loss. I'm honestly not surprised with all the problems. This is a huge undertaking and when the BSA is looked up to as being able, of course the S Korea scout association is in over their heads. It takes time to grow trees! I suspect WOSM is just as guilty (who signed off

We had a DE, who still works for the council, that is the exception. He could have been a great SM. Very optimistic in spite of serious problems with the CE, put the units first and figured everything else would take care of itself. He's the exception because all the rest were either incompetent, quit in frustration or were pushed out. But back to the board. A board that doesn't fulfill its job combined with a hiring model that filters out the best and then only hires from within is why I will never expect the kind of leadership that could turn this program around.

Didn't you quit?

Welcome to the forum, @Charlie49 . I think you have the record for reviving an old thread. Well done. Anyway, what's the range of dates of the magazines?

I thought there were 40000 participants? All of these numbers are insane. I went to a mini jamboree when I was a scout. There were scouts from all over Europe (where it was located) and bits and pieces of Asia. I don't think there was more than a thousand scouts, but it was really fun. Maybe one jamboree every 6 months and limit it to 5000? Wasn't there a post about all the menus everyone could choose from? 600 calories a day? Maybe I eat too much. Oh, and did anyone notice that the UK scouts paid 2/3 of the US scouts. Ain't nobody getting a refund. I do feel sorry for all

We do a police line to pick up trash but we never threaten anyone. We've never needed to. The worst threat is that the spl walks behind the line and if any garbage is missed then they start over, up to a few times (and that number is unknown to the scouts.) As for punishment on campouts it goes as follows: the scouts try to deal with the problem scout (that takes care of most of it). Next, the spl will tell the SM that a scout is not following the scout law and a discussion ensues about what to do. If the spl says take the trouble maker home then that's what we do. The funny thing is the

Heat exhaustion at 93F is most likely from ignoring all the advice to drink enough fluids. It could also be from getting the wrong advice about salty foods and not getting enough electrolytes. It could also be not recognizing the symptoms. In the summer. If a scout starts complaining about having an upset stomach it's a huge red flag to get them out of the heat, sipping water and either eating salty stuff or drinking something with electrolytes. It takes a few hours before they start feeling better but the good news is they typically learn a lesson. Some kids don't like to drink water and they

Welcome to the forum, @OscarS

Nobody got hurt, so this falls under the category of a good story. Not sure about the keel, though. Or the captain's pride.

Only the masochistic like conflict. Firing people sucks. Technically, the SM reports to the CC. You don't want to micromanage the SM but there's nothing wrong with finding another. Oh, so you're not alone. Tell us about these others. Can any of them be SM? Are any of them used to big changes? From work or elsewhere? Honestly, all the things you've been talking about lead to one problem - the troop culture. And that only changes with real leadership. That means very little conflict. If someone, and it doesn't have to be you, can sit down with the SM and say the troop culture h

I looked at his name tag ... I don't know what to say.

@fred8033 , maybe your wife's book group could run the troop? Just joking, but ... would they? I agree with you mostly. I encourage scouts to find the few fun requirements in any MB, that actually involve doing something, and making a meeting or campout out of those. Leave the describe, discuss, explain requirements for those scouts that want it. It doesn't always work but it gets them thinking about challenging activities. @5thGenTexan , I have to ask, why are you still in that troop? Uniforms, meetings, campouts; it seems that everything is a wreck. You have good ideas and you're i