MattR

Taps on an instrument is a simple melody but very powerful. I think it only has 21 notes. Don't touch the keys on a trumpet and it's a bugle. Have the bugler back away from the audience, where it can be heard but not too sharply. Another thing to do is walk among the grave stones. Read a few names. Do the math and figure out how old they were when they died. Some of the older scouts may be surprised. I did that when I was 17 at the US cemetery in Normandy and I realized a lot of those guys were only a few years older than I was. That's what brought it all home to me.

Welcome to the forums @@cubscoutdan. First, it sounds like you're doing a great job (15 to 20 new scouts is fantastic), so be happy about that and pat yourself on the back. Seriously, it's these successes that need to be savored to keep your sanity. Second, anything you do is good, and you can't solve all the world's problems. Remember that. Just a guess but it looks like you have a few options. 1) fix the mess you're in, 2) pack up and move across town, 3) work with the mess you're in, or 4) create a new pack. Number 1) fixing the leadership in this pack, sounds like a maalox mom

Very sorry to hear this. It's always hard to put it in words, especially on a forum. Of course, your mom did a good job of putting down words on this forum and I always appreciated that. But tell us, is there a story behind the name Moose Tracker? Or Moose the Italian blacksmith? Stories are always a good way to remember someone. I'd make that a part of a memorial.

Capital Gymnastics' point system was one dollar earned equals one point earned equals one dollar donated. That's pretty clear that each parent gets a reduction exactly proportional to the amount of money they spent at the grocery store. What I'm talking about is based on participation. Just to pick numbers, say every $10 raised is 1 point, as is going on 1 campout, and a service project is worth 2 points. One scout raises $100 and goes on 2 campouts, and a second scout raises no money and goes on 6 campouts and a service project. Do the math and the first scout gets $60 and the second gets $40

I read that gymnastics document and it's kind of like reading tea leaves. Trying to compare it to a troop is a bit of a challenge. On the one hand, it did say that because all the members of the fund raising organization got a benefit there was a violation. So does that mean, since all the scouts are a member of the fund raising organization, that we can't pay for anything for a scout that a parent could pay for? But there was also the comment along the lines of "unlike a church youth group, where the primary purpose of the organization is not to raise money, it's okay to have bake sales and t

Just a story... I had a SMC with a scout last night. Long story short is mom won't let him go on a campout with water because of some fear she has that he'll drown. I talked to her afterward and she knows it's irrational. I told her she needs to get over it because his son shows huge promise that will be wasted if she doesn't. What I didn't tell her is she needs to start letting go or her son will suffer. But this is just one kid. Maybe 10% of the parents are like this. Just an observation... The title Eagle scout does not mean a parent understands scouts. It likely means he understands

When I was a boy I'd just put that big ol' knife twixt my teeth, jump that boar, and we'd have us some fun. I don't know, it just sounded fun to say. Actually, scouting always was, in my mind, really good at training safety and then letting the scouts do things that others would not. When I was a kid the guy at the rifle range was not to be crossed. He was a crusty old coot and he was very serious about safety. I'll never forget that guy and many years later, when some idiot was showing off his gun by swinging it around, that old coot jumped up in my mind and I told the idiot to put the gu

I liked this lesson because it got to the truth much more readily than all the other activities. Competition gets the blood going. Conflict is a big part of being human. Leadership is a lot about working with personalities within conflict and competition. This game brought all this up so much better than a floating hydrogen stick game. I've been talking to each of my patrols about problems and personality conflicts are one of the biggest issues they have. The scouts can read the personalities of the other scouts just fine. The challenge is how to deal with those problems. The first thing I tel

Take care, @@skeptic.

I took that class about the same time this thread started. I remember that game and I just sat back and started to stew about how at a scout training function people were just getting so greedy. It was so much against everything we had been working on. I was disgusted and refused to get involved. The guy leading it was just a slime ball. Very good acting and he sucked a lot of people in. The difference with what you seemed to have run into and my experience is that your trainers just kept going with it. At one point our staff just stopped everything and said okay everyone, look what happened.

@@Eagledad, I think the condescending remarks being referenced are along the lines of "Do I look like your patrol leader?" when a scout comes up to talk to you. It's not something here that anyone said, it's how we work with the scout that has an honest question.

Go for it! Just from my own experience last week, take it for whatever you want: New PLs that haven't seen this work before seem to have a much easier time leading a small group of scouts. All those adults that want 12+ kids in a patrol create a nightmare for a kid. Even 6-8 scouts is hard on a new PL. They could easily handle 4. An older scout said he'd like to be SPL some day so I asked him to camp with a younger patrol and give some tips to the PL. Given the lack of focus of the older scout he did not get in the way. In fact the PL said it was great. This is the same PL that rea

I took a "wilderness first aid" course from an EMT and he told me there is no standard for what such a course should be. He just did more training than the standard red cross. So I doubt there will be a requirement. It was a really good course and our troop paid for half of it. The training we got included quite a bit that is not in the first aid MB. Things like checking for spinal injuries. About epipens, those are by prescription only and dosed by the weight of the person that needs it, so you can't just carry an extra and give it to someone. Give one to an 80 lb kid that is set for

We have email lists but in all honesty, I don't think they do much. My email is certainly ignored so I've been sending out less. Sure, kids and or parents get the information but it doesn't register unless it's close to trivial information. By trivial it involves something like a number. The meeting time has been changed from 7 to 6:30 so we have more daylight. Asking someone to help at an Eagle project or sign up for a campout is too complex because the person will need to think about it. What does work is a scout explicitly talking to another scout one on one. I tell scouts to call scouts an

Update: The crew adviser and one of the girls had a meeting, that was prompted by the girl saying she was not going to recharter. The girl said only the one adviser was allowed to be there. She talked about how too many parents are sticking their noses where they don't belong. The adviser was shook up about this. He didn't deny it, but honestly felt bad about it and would like to make it right. The girl, and all her friends, asked me to come to another meeting and they asked for my help in fixing this mess. So they don't want to start a new crew, and this is a relief to me. Now comes the delic

There are a lot o layers to that story. It's in the Talmud and it's about Rabbi Hillel. A non Jew tells the rabbi he'll convert if the rabbi can explain Judaism while standing on one foot. So the rabbi replies "What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your fellow man. That is the whole Torah, the rest is commentary. Go and study it." The go study it part is key. How to treat a neighbor is just the start. One has to study the Torah to learn the rest and that's a really big deal in Judaism. Of course, there's another layer above this because there's another rabbi that previously smacks this

@@ghjim, a lot of rabbis, non fictional at that, have talked about the balance between selfless and selfish. I saw one that says you've hit the sweet spot when you see no difference between selfish and selfless. I have a long way to go on that one. But in my defense the rabbi's example was Moses.

Scouts and sports complement each other. I like them both and liked them both as a kid. But times have changed. Everyone knows horror stories like the kid that couldn't go to Philmont because he was going to miss 2 days of 3 weeks of band camp. But maybe we aren't so innocent. Unfortunately sports and scouts are similar in one way, the drive to succeed (win or get Eagle) is watering down the program. I ask scouts why they're in scouts and most will bring up the fact that having Eagle is good for getting a job or getting into college. I usually want to puke right then. I've yet to hear a sc

The thing with the older scouts dealing with the change has been one of the biggest surprises to me. Before I was SM I offered to help any scout that wanted to organize something fun for the older scouts. Just ask for help and I'd guide them through the rest. Go hiking, mountain biking, backpacking, anything. I told them that even if they didn't know what they wanted to do I'd help them. I got nothing. If I just told them the date to show up they'd be there. We went caving, rafting, biking and something else before I made my offer. Zoom forward to about a year ago. The older scouts that st

Try this. I'm not the scholar, I just looked it up and condensed it. The 3 letter root of the verb used in the 6th commandment is R-Tz-Ch (you can't pronounce it without the vowels). It is used in numerous places throughout the Bible. In Numbers 35, Deuteronomy 5 & 19, and Joshua 20 & 21, it refers to accidental deaths but the word accidental is explicitly put in the text. In Deuteronomy 22, Judges 20, 1 Kings 21, 2 Kings 6, Isaiah 1, Jeremiah 7, Ezekiel 21, Hosea 4 & 6, Psalms 42, 62, and 94, Proverbs 22, and Job 24 there is no modifier and the deaths are willful and premedit

Several rabbis have told me translating Hebrew is difficult at best. There are lots of subtleties in Hebrew that requires context to understand. Most words are built from 3 letter roots that group words in interesting ways. There are subtleties in Hebrew and consequently lots of options (and puns) in the Hebrew that never show up in English because the translators just went with a translation. Anyway, in this case the scholars have to go and look at where else the word is used in the Bible and decide the closest meaning from that. In this case Murder is closer than Kill. Kill is just a bad tra

I would not say that all older scouts are not going to help out. I just went through this and some of the older scouts just shined. I sat down with each one and told them the litmus test for me signing off on scout spirit for Eagle is whether the younger scouts look up to them, and that means they need to get involved. We then spent the rest of the time searching for something they really enjoyed in scouts and how they could use that to help the troop. They really surprised me with what they wanted to do and close to half followed through on it. I'm not done yet so there's hope for a few more.

To channel the ghost of BD: Really???????????????????????? Your giving up??????????? May your avatar rest in peace. There are some interesting personalities here. A lot of good tempered by some real quirks. I think the quirks come about because what we do, motivating people, is difficult. I remember when I first came to this forum and I just had to ignore a lot of snide comments. I honestly think it's better now. Joebob mentions the good ol' boy attitude that permeates his council and I've seen it before in mine. Maybe being a scouter is like being a soccer fan, you pray for good luck

I don't see that coed has nearly as much to do with survival of the BSA as adventure, fun, and the outdoors do. I'm excited about starting a venturing crew not because it has girls in it, but because it will get back to what scouting is all about; outdoor adventure and service. No Eagle. No kids that have to be there. No resume stuffing. No pushy parents. No merit badge schools at summer camp. No kids that are waiting around hoping for Eagle to drop in their lap. On the other hand, if you do a good job then you'll know it, your friends will tell you that, and that's all you need. You'll st

But my guess is someone that has experience in the outdoors in any of those areas would be willing to learn something new. If you like rafting you can probably pick up backpacking quickly as you're over the hump of dealing with bugs and sweat and enjoy the beauty and challenge. Getting someone up to speed for understanding scout led is another story.