NeilLup

Hello Eamonn, I believe there is great concern at the national level that: 1) Troops don't recruit 2) The very large fraction of new Boy Scouts have Cub Scouting background. The numbers I have seen suggest something like 90% have been Cub Scouts and about 75% or so have the Arrow of Light. 3) There is no good reason that Troops should not recruit. This is particularly true because one main reason that boys say they are dropping out of Cub Scouting is that they don't get camping. Which they would get in Boy Scouting. National has tried a number of techniques to encou

Fotoscout raises an extremely good point. But just because a Pack is or is not sponsored by a church doesn't talk to whether they are welcoming or not. The key thing is the culture in the Pack. When I was a Boy Scout, virtually every boy belonged to one church and all the men to their men's club. My father did not and, in fact, was a different religion. However, he was welcomed and was Advancement Chairman for the Troop. I also know of PTA sponsored Packs or civic club sponsored Packs which are very clannish and don't welcome new people. You certainly can, and should,

I once saw a rather good description of what "boy run" vs "boy led" can mean. Some Troops are run like a railroad. The boys get to blow the whistle and ring the bell, but all key decisions are made by the adults. Other Troops give the boys a bit more freedom but are still like a railroad. Maybe the boys can start and stop the train and choose its speed. Maybe even they can throw the switches occasionally. But still, the tracks are laid out by the adults. Other Troops run more like an airline. The boys can choose the airports they will visit, fly the plane under traffic

Hello NewScoutDad, I'm sorry for what you and your son went through. There is absolutely no reason that you know things about Scouting but here are some information which might help you. Your pack is not particularly small. In fact, it likely is a bit larger than average. However, Cub Scout Packs are not run by the Boy Scouts of America. They are run by individual sponsors. Your sponsor (church) is chartered by the BSA to run your Pack. There may be one or more other Packs in your community run by other sponsors. Most Packs are open but some, either formally or i

In our last Wood Badge, this gentleman and I put on the diversity presentation. I was prepared to wear a dashiki or whatever ethnic garb he wished if he would wear a "Fighting Whities" sweatshirt from the University of Northern Colorado. If I could have gotten one, I'm sure he would have too. You certainly are correct about the hue and cry if there were a scholarship exclusively for whites. However, we do have several scholarships in our council which are only for certain communities or certain units and those effectively are for all whites. The percentage of people of color in

Hello Trail Pounder, I believe that you didn't read what I wrote or what my colleague said. I didn't say that this gentleman would not pay for white Scouters. I did not say that he had said that he would pay only for people of color. What he said was that for cost should not be allowed to be an excuse for urban Scouters not to go to Wood Badge and he personally would see that it would not be a problem. Our council has a policy that no one will be kept from training because of cost. This leader was reinforcing this policy and assuring that it would apply to a segment of our po

Hello Trail Pounder, It may well fail your smell test and if so, so be it. However, you can give your money for whatever you choose and so can this individual. I am not stating that he would not provide scholarship money for other leaders. Rather, as we attempt to improve Scouting in the urban environment, we very commonly hear about the expense of uniforms, training, camping etc. Like it or not, agree or not, we do hear about it continually. So this individual said that when Wood Badge is concerned, concerning urban Scouters in our council, he simply did not want to h

Hello Laurie, A couple of Wood Badges ago, we had a woman show up the first weekend. She mentioned that both she and her husband were leaders and they both wanted to go but the coin came up tails, so she got to go first When I ran a course recently, I budgeted some scholarship money into the course. My deal with the host council was that we would not deny anyone who truly could not afford it. If we then took so many below full fee that the course ran into the red, they council would not complain. Fortunately, we did OK financially. One of our council VPs has agree

As a follow on concerning how an adult could become unconscious, a couple of years ago, my wife was on a hike where her tentmate who is diabetic went into insulin shock. It was pretty scary and she had to administer appropriate wilderness first aid several miles from the trailhead. On our last Wood Badge, there were 8 people (staff plus participants) whose medical form said they were diabetic. Also, to add to Eamonn's post, the ER will treat if THEY think it is life threatening I believe to the extent that they believe it is no longer life threatening. There also needs

Hello Greeneagle, If you look at the front of the BSA medical form, you will see a medical permission statement for the parents to sign. I would hope that EVERY unit would take medical forms on EVERY outing. I won't bore you with war stories, but you would be amazed what would not be considered an emergency (meaning that parental permission is required) if you don't have those forms. Also, particularly for major trips, be sure that you have a FRESH form. It can make a big difference if the form was signed a couple of days before and if it is a year old. Under any circu

I can hardly thing of a better example of Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful and Friendly than the one that you set. This will be a life lesson for some of these boys. I well remember that my first Scoutmaster remained active for several months after his son dropped out. Thank you.

Having been a volunteer in 10 councils ranging from the largest (GNYC) to one of the smallest (15 units, I think this is a great question. There are pluses and minuses to a larger council. The pluses are that the resources are there to do a great job with the basics and to have plenty of extras. The minuses are that communications can get to be a problem. The best experience for a district or council level volunteer can be in a wealthy, well funded small council. The worse experience is in a small council in deep debt or other financial trouble. Everything is difficult and

Hello hops, It's great to have you post. I am sure you know this and you haven't said where you are in school, but try to be sure to have your Eagle Scout completed by the time you begin applying to USMA. I understand that it really does make a difference. If you have been Boy Scouts for 4 years, that suggests that you are 15. You probably want to have your Eagle Scout by the summer after your junior year, so that probably gives you about a year.

Hello Carl, I am sure that any "BSA policy" would be to follow the US Flag Code and follow the wishes of the parade sponsors (assuming no disrespect, no inappropriate commercial ventures, etc.) As far as individuals trying to get you thrown out of Scouting for this, a technical violation of the Flag Code by carrying such a huge flag in a parade in accordance with the wishes of the parade sponsors is the proverbial flea on the hair on the wart on the leg on the frog on the log in the bottom of the sea in terms of importance.

I don't want to speculate on what would have happened had I tried to wear my Eagle Scout medal at my wedding. Likely my marriage would have been brief, if not nonexistent, and my daughter would never have been. I did want to respond to the post by OGE although that was 3 years ago. He said that the "Eagle is the only rank you carry into adulthood." It is true that Eagle Scout is the only rank that one can wear on an adult uniform. However, as other posters have said, any Scouting rank is carried 24/7. I am sure that persons who were Life Scouts or Tenderfoot Scouts or Webelos S

I am sorry that you have this problem but this kind of thing does occasionally happen and not, necessarily, only in Scouting. To answer your questions as best I understand matters: 1) Can you kick the parent out? Not sure what you would kick them out from. If they are not a registered leader, then you cannot terminate their registration. 2) Can you kick the boy out? I believe you can. The membership of all of us, youth and adults, is subject to the review by the individual or organization who appointed us. 3) Can she sue you? In our American legal system, virtually

Hello acco, I think your answer is in your post just above. If your purpose is to drain the swamp (obtain storage space) rather than to get into a microbiological investigation of what lives in the swamp, then could you ask your chartering organization, which is a welcoming community, to obtain the storage space for you. You are, after all, their youth group and they pretty clearly would qualify under the terms that the storage organization wishes.

Another "intermediate" approach that I have seen used is to have the patrol members elect the Patrol Leaders, then have the newly elected Patrol Leaders elect the SPL. Sometimes, this means that one of the PLs becomes the new SPL and that patrol must have a second election.

Hello Bob White, You are absolutely correct. The OA Chief was registered as and completed training as ASM. It was a looong time ago that I looked at such things, but I believe that only ASM could be 18. I thought that ACM had to be 21. I thought the only other "adult" position that one could hold between 18 and 21 was Merit Badge Counselor. I know that one can be a "youth" Venturer; I don't know about the rules for Venturing leaders.

Brent, If you have the opportunity, go. You will have a great time and will learn much that will be of value in Scouting, in your job and even with your family. We have a young man in our council who took WB in Atlanta. They do things a bit differently but not in that differently. I believe that the "invitation" would be automatic once your qualifications are verified. Wood Badge courses now are encouraged to have as many Cub Scout leaders and Venturing leaders as possible. On our last course, about 25% of participants were Cub Scout leaders. Our next course dire

Interesting question about why the color scheme was changed. No idea. However, that previous color scheme was, and I believe still is, the scheme used in the backing on service stars.

Interesting question here. I would suggest that you want the Scout to know enough that when he gets a bit older and needs to consider buying insurance, he has at least heard about the types and can't be taken for a ride. And that he knows where he can get additional information if he wishes it. But not so much that you turn the Scout off. In addition to the differences you mentioned, most whole life that I know about also builds up cash value while term life does not. If you can get across the concept that one should consider the lifetime cost of a product rather than just

Is Outdoor Thinker incoming Venturing President or outgoing Venturing President (whom I have met).

Let me thank Barry for encouraging me to clarify what I mean, first to myself and then on the board. If a boy wants to be a leader, I would help him to achieve that goal. That means that if he isn't elected to a position like SPL or PL, I would work with the SPL to find an appropriate appointive job. I would try to help identify what the boy's talents are and then guide the SPL toward appointing him to the position. If, by some chance, that doesn't work and the boy is going for Star Scout or Life Scout, I would find an appropriate project for him to demonstrate leadership, m

I am quite willing to come out very explicitly with what I think. There is, in my opinion, a big difference between "wants" and "needs." Nobody in a Troop really "needs" anything. One can say "But he has to have a leadership position in order to advance." Fair enough, but who said that he has to advance. Nobody "needs" to advance. Wants is another matter. If a boy wants to advance then he presumably wants to meet the requirements in order to advance. I believe that an opportunity for leadership should be made available for any boy who really wants to display and practi