Nike

Just found our brand new CM his welcome present!

How about letting CM/SM and advancement chairs be able to see a boy's entire ScoutNet record, but not edit it? That and I'd like to be able to print the Pack's ScoutNet roster myself every three months. Here's hopin'.

I'd like to know how we got so many neurotic parents with so many precious little snowflakes for kids. Most of the parents I know are pretty much, "Yeah, just stay out of traffic, and the MPs better not be calling me!" when thier kids leave the house.

My son's troop generally camps in Nov, has a day outdoor activity or just an overnight in Dec, and heads to the Alps for snow shelter camping one month and skiing the next in Jan and Feb. Most other troops here follow a similar schedule Back in the States, the only months our old troops didn't camp was usually July/August due to the miserable weather, insects, and vacations. (This message has been edited by Nike)

Lyrics to "A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree" aka "The 12 Days of Christmas in NZ" On the twelfth day of Christmas My true love gave to me Twelve piupius swinging Eleven haka lessons Ten juicy fish heads Nine sacks of pipis Eight plants of puha Seven eels a swimming Six pois a twirling Five big fat pigs! Four huhu grubs Three flax kits Two kumera And a pukeko in a ponga tree!

We've just lost our 8 solid inches of snow and ice. Getting ready for a reset tonight. As for the 12 Days of Christmas, we sang the 12 days of Chirstmas in New Zealand at Thinking Day one year. We randomly assigned a day to a troop or two, and whenever it was that day's turn, they sang their line. Everybody sang "5 big fat pigs." It was totally unrehearsed and a smashing success.

I'm in a special situation being overseas. We live in a virtual small town of 20,000 spread out across a large metro area in Germany. There's one pack per kaserne, and we really push in both Cubs and Daisies-Juniors to join the pack/troop that's #1 right for you and #2 closest to your school so that you're in a group with class and grade mates. Our BS Troops and older girl troops generally end up sorted by proximity to home and convenience of meeting time. A recruiting event really should be run by the entire committee and all the den leadership with some extra Boy Scouts thrown in for

We need an industrial policy like Germany's that nurtures and maybe even gives a leg up to small & medium sized privately held companies. We have tons of small, precision manufacturing in Germany employing 10-70 people. Unions and management here also understand that they have to work as partners and not adversaries.

I'm the Membership Chair for my Pack. I collect the membership forms, turn them in, keep up a good relationship with out DE and the Registrar at council, sit with the treasurer to see who has and hasn't paid dues, and do the recharter, since I have all the paperwork anyway. I also make the initial entries onto our internet advancement site. I'll more than help out at a recruitment event, but I would rather the CM and DLs come up with an event I can attend as the paperwork queen. I don't keep any other records other than YPT. DLs handle the health forms and permission slips. Event

Why would you establish a permanent color guard within a troop? Shouldn't all the boys in all the patrols learn to perform each role adequately?

Whenever I am in a leader meeting I make a point to remind everyone that the girls want to be outdoors. No little girl ever told me she wanted to be a GS so she could be a leader. They want to go camping and shoot bows and cook on a real fire. In my mind, the gals at GSUSA HQ in NYC (got that old Pace's commercial in my head now) have lost sight of what we on the ground know the girls want. The girls want the cookies, crafts, and camping that are now so derided by our national leadership, if you want to call it that. The new Leadership Experience checkpoints were written to enable Cou

Boys and girls need and want their own spaces with thier same sex peers. BSA and GSUSA could federate using Venture as the bridge unit. BSA could start a girls' division called Girl Guides America with the Venture unit as the only co-ed program. GSUSA will never enroll youth males over 10. Feel free to contact same age GS troops in your area if you'd like to invite them to a service project or event. But, I really don't think we need to replace it all with K-12 co-ed Scouting in the US.

One of our packs did this as a Halloween activity. Each den had a station and you got your card signed if you ate snot on a stick (grossly yet expertly dyed vanilla yogurt on a pretzel) blood and brains punch (frozen strawberries mashed in cranberry juice with a few blue berries tossed in) etc. Boys who did everything got a special prize, a full sized real candy bar or something like that. You might want to incorporate a few gross-out science experiments too. And, make sure boys know that if Dad can't come, bring Mom. It'll be even cooler to watch her be extra grossed out!

Morse Code helped save the world in "Independence Day."

If we ever go back to red pens, green pens, blue ink only on the errata sheet, and use a straightedge, I quit as Membership chair.

The entire Army Air Force Exchange Services net was down world wide this morning too. No credit cards, no POV gasoline access. Their HQ is in....? Yes! Dallas, TX!

I'd hate to be the SM whose troop brought home bedbugs.

Why don't GS wear uniforms? Because GSUSA is constantly chasing trends, desperate to find the lowest common acceptable denominator. We're down to pins. It's all about leveling the hierarchy and trying to appeal to the fickleness of fashion. A vest/sash/tunic is not required. Girls only have to wear one with the white shirt/tan bottoms when representing GSUSA or for official ceremonies. PS: If you're looking for the GS leader, she's probably the one with six eyes and eight hands and a 270 degree swivel neck.

The beauty of the German ed system is that they haven't abandoned technical education. The beast is that children are funneled into the gymnasium, realschule, and alteschule at age 10-12, and studies show the entrance classes to these schools are highly reflective of parental social class. There isn't a lot of ability for a child to move up to the gymnasium. Also, these programs take place at physically different locations. Just imagine what certain hot-heads in the States would say about that.

As for Girl Scouts, I would almost kill (definitely give you a case of Samoas) to have the BSA's national training syllabus and abilities. We have no national database of any kind that local volunteers can access to see who was trained in anything anywhere. My new-to-me leaders sometimes have a stack of old papers and cards certifying they did this or that class. And every council has called the core traning something different for the past 20 years at least. The Welcome to GSUSA is on line and no certification is ever sent anyhwere but to the taker. Our new leaders have to comp

It's a piece of old Army drill and ceremony that has snuck into BSA flag ceremonies. If the boys are paying attention to the flag ceremony, they don't need aural clues. If you're in a brigade sized formation, you may need the hint. I've actually never heard it used in 18 years being married to the Army. Use or chuck it at your leisure.

Make sure your places of worship are involved, even if they don't charter a unit. Ask if you can collect at the service closest to the Scouting for Food weekend, and have Cubs, Scouts, Ventureres, etc. man the collection point. In complete uniform with a smile, of course. Also, I did it one year for our pack and troop. The Cubs collected, and the Scouts sorted, loaded the cars, and went with me to the Salvation Army. The 11 am show time for sorting was easier on the big boys.

I think I know why there are no 12 year olds: Their parents headed for the exits last year before y'all crossed over. I would begin visiting other troops now and transfer over as soon as you find one you like. Crossover season is coming up and your first year Scout will be able to fold in with the new Scouts in a well run troop. Boy led doesn't mean boy led into the ditch.

Most of the German Scout and Guide Associations here in Germany and elsewhere in Europe were founded to serve specifically Catholic or Protestant youth. There's usually a non-denominational association too. By enabling churches to sponsor units and limit the units participation to thier own sect, it seems the US organization found a way around that issue, for good or ill. These days, all the Scouting Associations in most European countries have federated and belong to WOSM and WAGGGS at that level. I'm pretty sure the Federation level organization is what the national governments he

Our troops have always taken the safety angle against camo in that if a Scout is lost, he's already going to be difficult to see, let alone if he's in camo head to toe. The desert boonie cap, fatigue sweater, or handy accessory was never disallowed, just anything that made the boys look like a member of a youth paramilitary outfit.