Miami_Chief

I don't see this as having a major impact one way or another. Does it make things a little easier, yes. Do I think the Brotherhood conversion experience will be significantly cheapened? Absolutely not. It's certainly not a silver bullet that will solve our dwindling numbers, but it's not going to kill us any faster either. We can play the "it was better in my day because it was tougher and therefore more meaningful" game forever, or we can roll up our sleeves and help support the youth officers in delivering the program. Looking over the PMP it really just looks like a simplified JTE

What most will call a "Class B" is also referred to as an Activity Uniform, and while it's much less formal that the FIeld Uniform, it's still a uniform, and can still look very sharp. I don't buy that they're angling to get rid of uniforms, but I understand why they would emphasize it less in the marketing. It's an important method of the program, but I imagine very few youth are signing up because of the BSA's spiffy threads. They're selling the sizzle, putting the focus on the cool things the BSA offers in order to draw them in.

I was a part of a Broken Arrow ceremony a few years back in my old Council. It was a very unique and meaningful experience. The brother who passed was a former Lodge Adviser and Camp Ranger. Our Lodge at the time did not have a very strong ceremonies program, so our Scout Executive asked myself and another "youthful" adult to conduct the ceremony. While an actual youth would have been preferred, we didn't want to have one of the youth try to stumble through it given the solemn nature of the occasion. The only regalia we donned were headdresses. It was unlike any ceremony experience I had

Our Council has been doing "Family Camps" over Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend for years. The program varied depending on who was organizing it and what camp staffers they could round up to help out. This year they're also planing to do a program similar to the one posted above. As I see it, it's not an attempt to replace the traditional resident camp, but to supplement it. Are they "desperate to get users to the camp property?" Maybe. I'm not sure what their attendance looks like and I'm not familiar with the stats for my own area either. But last I checked getting more peop

After college I moved out of state for 3 years, and while there took WB in 2015. It was fantastic and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. After moving back, I have discovered how "cliquey" and odd the Woodbadgers are in my home Council. There have been a number of "local traditions" that distract from the course and I have a number of friends my age (late 20s-early 30s) that are so turned off by WB that they have no interest in looking into it. I was asked to be on staff for an upcoming course, and the SM is pretty serious about doing things "by the book" so I'm super excited!

As a youth ceremonialist, I throughly enjoyed conducting Cub AOL and crossover ceremonies. The regalia was neat, but as others have said, to me it was just a tool that we used to help achieve our aims. If we can’t provide the recognition and inspiration to the Cubs without feathers on our heads, we’re doing something wrong. Beyond that, most Cub Packs will turn over most, if not all leaders within a 6-10 year period. Some even faster. What is “new” in 2019 will be “we’ve always done it this way” by 2025. It’s not going to shock me when they announce regalia is going away altogether

The regional governors now have direct control over their territories.

As a young adult (18-20) I wasn't too involved outside of my OA and camp staff roles, but there were a few times I ran up against the "You're just a kid and don't know what you're doing" mentality of some of the more seasoned volunteers. But because of the skills and fun experiences I had as an OA officer and camp staffer, I knew I wanted to keep coming back. After graduation I was given the opportunity to serve as a professional scouter a couple states away. While I'm sure some volunteers in my district questioned my age and experience at first, over time I believe I had a great working

Councils vary on when they administer the recharter process. Sometimes even within a Council each District has a different month and occasionally not all of the Units within a District recharter at the same time. It can get pretty messy. In my current Council we recently re-aligned the process so everyone recharters at the same time. The membership all expires at the end of December and packets are handed out at the October Roundtables with a "due date" of mid-December to allow the Council a couple weeks to work with Units to clean up as many issues as they can with incomplete paperwork, t

Since the District is an administrative territory of the Council, it can't really "go away" without being merged with another by action of the Council Executive Board. Even if all of your Commissioners and Committee members walk away, the District still exists. It can even exist without all members of the Key 3. A District in that scenario will definitely struggle in carrying out the 4 functions, but it still exists. High-performing Units will still be fine, and likely not notice much until they need something. But Units in need of greater help will suffer. Often times to plug these

The last increase when into effect in January of 2014, and that only bumped us up from $15 to $24. Here's the full FAQ that was released during the last change: http://scout-wire.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/2014-BSA-Membership-Fee-Increase-FAQ.pdf "4. Does the BSA increase membership fees often? There have been nine fee increases in the organization’s history. On average, the fee increase has been 68 percent. Since 1969, the BSA has increased its fee every two to eight years, but averaging every five years." Will costs go up in the future? Of course they will. But I wou

I grew up in a very Catholic area and just about all of the parishes operated a grade school. The majority of those with schools also chartered a Pack and Troop. Sometimes smaller parishes/schools would partner up to make a decent sized scouting program. The units would vary in their degree of Catholic-ness in the program depending on their leadership. I think my Pack and Troop were a little more Catholic-centered in our program than most. While not everyone in the group was Catholic, it was understood that the Unit was a Catholic one. We had regular prayer at meetings and outings, we wo

My old Council ran two family camps (spring/fall) staffed by current and former Camp Staff. They'd open up swimming, boating, and the shooting ranges and ran a campfire one of the nights. Some years they even opened up the climbing tower if they had the qualified staff for it. It also served as a casual staff reunion, which was nice. They "paid" the staff with a free weekend of camp and food. Usually each month had some sort of District/Council event at camp. Sometimes it was a camporee, other times it was a specialty program like a COPE weekend or training course. Current Council

By that logic, the BSA should ban straight females leaders and have no issue with lesbian leaders. The straight females are attracted to males- do they too put our boys in danger? Lesbians aren't attracted to males, so by this logic the BSA shouldn't have an issue with them. How on earth would this be applied to a coed Venturing Crew? Gay leaders would be banned for posing a threat to youth of their respective sex, and straight leaders would be out for posing a threat to the opposite sex. Who will lead our Crews? This line of thinking unravels pretty quickly when you follow it thro

I'm in the process of changing roles and am updating my uniform accordingly. As I'm checking out a uniform inspection sheet it dawns on me that I've never worn service stars. Growing up my Pack and Troop didn't use them, and likely didn't even know they existed. I can see some pros and cons with them, and would like to get a few more opinions: For those that use service stars, do you find it a neat addition to the uniform and do you use them in such a way that it adds to the experience for the boys? For those that don't do you find it unnecessary, too gaudy, etc? Any other thoug

A long overdue change, IMO. What does upset me is terrible outpouring of hateful comments left on some of these news articles. While sometimes these are from both sides of the issue, the most unScoutlike things are being said against the BSA and those who support this change. Many are quick to cry "morally straight" and "A Scout is Reverent" when making these vicious comments, completely forgetting that these are part of the reason the change is occurring. Not every religious organization shares the same beliefs. For the BSA to remain reverent towards the many different religious

Personal feelings about the camp closures and the Three Harbors Council aside, I really couldn't find any issues with this piece. For starters a Council's Scout Executive IS its Chief Executive Officer. CEO is also a term that parents, volunteers, and the general public can easily recognize. I'd wager that most parents/volunteers couldn't tell the difference between an SE, DE, DFS, FD or most other BSA professional acronyms. CEO is pretty well understood by the general public. The Chief Uniformed Officer or Top Uniformed Volunteer is a pretty common term for the Council Commissi

The STEM Scouts program being run in Knoxville is indeed an official BSA pilot program and is run by the BSA's National STEM Directors: http://stemscouts.org/pilot-program/stem-scout-staff/ The program has the same aims as the rest of the BSA, and even uses many traditional BSA methods, including the Scout Oath and Law. http://stemscouts.org/pilot-program/stem-scout-aims/ While the BSA STEM awards (nova/supernova) surely overlap topics with the pilot program, they are programatically separate.

Does anyone know why the DAM is a simple overhand knot rather than a regular square knot? Is there some fort of significance other than tradition? I'm not a recipient, but the lack of "uniformity" bugs me. And yes, I'm aware that the Seabadge "knot" patch isn't a knot at all, but honestly I've never seen someone wearing one so it bugs me a little less.

There has been no announcement of altering the Pre-Ordeal or Ordeal ceremony in any way. The New Brotherhood Ceremony was not finalized at the 2013 OA National Planning Meeting and is undergoing more review and adjustment. Last I heard was to expect the new script to be available in May at the earliest, and Lodges wouldn't be required to use it until 2015. We were told this at our last Section Council of Chiefs meeting. Are the "minor" changes you were informed of differences in the ceremony script itself?

I haven't heard anything regarding changing the Pre-Ordeal. There are wheels moving to revamp the Brotherhood ceremony. A draft version was presented at each Section Conclave this year for review and feedback from each Lodge. If approved at the National OA Meeting in December it will be optional to use in 2014 and mandatory starting in 2015.

Welcome to the forums and congrats on your achievement of the rank of Eagle Scout. Having the new Eagle and his family make arrangements for the Court of Honor is pretty standard. It allows you as the new Eagle to make the event your own and not have just any old ceremony that was just like the last. There are countless suggestions on scripts, ceremonies, invite lists, decorations, and every other thing you could possibly imagine for the event. There was even a book put out at one time with script ideas and event planning suggestions. Some Eagle parents have joked that it's a good war

"But honestly the OA is nothing more than a lodge flap to 90% of the OA members." This sums up about 95% of all problems I ran into as a youth officer and now as an adviser.

As long as the boys are getting a quality camping experience, the location of the camp shouldn't be an issue. That being said I think it's important to at least consider the local Council's camping program. If the boys are wanting something beyond what they offer, then go to a different camp that offers it. But make sure the PLC is looking at the camping options, not just the adults. Go with what the boys want. I once ran into a Troop that always went out of Council- when I inquired why the Scoutmaster informed me that the Troop had a bad experience at our local camp in 1989 and will never go

Hundreds of parents have been calling the national headquarters over several months just to ask if they should tuck in their shirts? Not sure if parents have too much time on their hands or if it's just a slow news day for the BSA.