Nike

There will be troops in many localities that will keep a ban on gay leaders and maybe youth, vigorously proclaim their openness, and others that will just go on as usual. All things change, some at different rates. I would ask many who are not happy with the proposed change if they could talk with their Scout and ask what he honestly thinks. I would be interested if as many of the boys are as concerned about this as Scouters and parents.

There will be troops in many localities that will keep a ban on gay leaders and maybe youth, vigorously proclaim their openness, and others that will just go on as usual. All things change, some at different rates. I would ask many who are not happy with the proposed change if they could talk with their Scout and ask what he honestly thinks. I would be interested if as many of the boys are as concerned about this as Scouters and parents.

Well, not knowing sheldonsmom's district, those units might migrate to other COs. Those units might become very insular and only go to events with other like minded units.

Was this more than a narrated slide show? (I turned it off after about 4 slides and yakky commentary.) It's completely possible that this video was too hot to handle for the EU.

If you notice your 16 year old Life Scout can't help the newbies put up a dining fly with appropriate knots, by all means sit down with him and the newbies and practice knots. Every camp out you have a chance to reassess every active Scout's outdoor skills as well as every troop meeting. A lot of those skills are use-it-or-lose-it.

Our family is the perfect example of why advancement standards need to be maintained at a national standard with no more or less. Son #1 is a month away from his 18th birthday. He's been in three troops. Each troop thankfully stuck with the national vision. What if in Troop 1 he could only advance by continually upgrading his first aide skills in addition to the national standards then we move to Troop 2 where only kids with gold medals in marksmanship advance? My son hasn't been working hard at marksmanship, just first aide, and is immediately behind the eight ball. Then we move to Troop 3 where if you can't do a 50 miler in four days at 2500+ feet in elevation, no hope for advancement. My son just spend two years trying to advance while becoming an expert marksman, letting his first aide skills slide, and not touching a pair of hiking boots. Now he's behind another 8 ball. Son #2 just crossed over into Boy Scouts. We will probably be in a minimum of four duty stations between now and his high school graduation. Several will be geographically remote and he will be a lone scout. When we get to Super Troop near the end, are they going to look askance at his previous advancement because it was done with small troops in weirdly named places or through Lone Scouting? If one troop is getting away with adding requirements, other troops will do it as well. Eventually, every troop in an area could be doing this giving transferring Scouts, whether from one troop to another locally or even internationally, that much less flexibility and choice. There are two places for program/advancement based upon a very narrow set of additional criteria: Venture Crews and University Departments. I don't understand why people feel like they have to improve locally upon the National Advancement standards. What is so difficult about agreeing to implement a program and then doing it by the book? If you want your troop to stand out, have great boy-led programming and not rely on some adult sense of required elitism.

Print your own. One of our HOAs had alteration permits printed on waterproof paper. It was kind of expensive, like maybe 25 cents a sheet.

Good Lord, next you'll ask me my age! I've given a lot of info about myself and my family on here over the years. If you knew me around post through Scouting, you'd know who I am. As for people landing on my doorstep, not a problem! Just don't mind the mess while I get you some coffee and cookies.

I know of several council camps that have a JROTC week. So basically, AHG is just renting the camp for the week. Sounds like it could be money maker or at least move towards breaking even.

If camp is co-ed, can you allow the kids to ever be unsupervised? which is a big part of camp for Boy Scouts. I really hope AHG is planning on having girl-week while using the same staff and program.

The family recently moved from our community here. It has been devastating. Dave was truly a brother in Christ and a true Scouter. He always had a smile, and he always had room for one more Cub Scout. The world is dimmer without them. (And yes he was a well-trained and experienced outdoors man.)(This message has been edited by Nike)

I pulled this from the page AHG MOM posted, but was under the tab Boy Scout Stuff. I think I most object to teh term "brother Council" as it implies a closer relationship than the MMU seems to. I wonder if the brother councils know they've got sisters? -------------------------- Boy Scout Stuff AHG is affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America through the 2009 Memorandum of Mutual Support. This provides numerous opportunities. Our brother Councils include: National Capital Area Council Shenandoah Area Council Heart of Virginia Area Council Opportunities include: Summer Camps Training (NCAC for now) Find a Roundtable near you PowWow (Pathfinder-Explorer Leader Training) University of Scouting (All Leader Levels) Wood Badge (The Lunatic Fringe of Scouting!) https://sites.google.com/site/ahgpsa/boy-scout-stuff

Yes, things have changed, dramatically from your day. Did you know Third ID moved to Ft. Stewart in 1996? Deactivated the Victory Division. JAG cares very much about everything on post due to a much more restrictive SOFA than was in effect when we were here just fifteen years ago. We have two on post banks contracted to operate by DoD from large US based banks: Service Credit Union and Community Bank. With out a bank permitted to operate in Germany, no one can pay rent. Most everyone lives off post, everywhere. And without a letter from JAG, no Private Org can have banking privileges. Trans-Atlantic Council maintains a shop in Ansbach still, and we also order from Scoutstuff.org. The German government is tax hungry. They will tax anyone they can find. The German American Women's Club pays 50% tax on the earnings from the Pfennig Bazaar, since it is open to anyone who wants to come. Money that used to be used for community welfare grants in the American and German communities has plummeted. Staying on post keeps the TaxAmt off our back. We make all our own travel arrangements and use POVs, TMPs, and contract buses. Since I've been here, our pack has gone to the Bastogne Historical Walk twice, the Normandy Camporee, and skiing at Kandersteg Center. My older son's troop has gone all over France, Germany, Switzerland, and England. As for where I am...Let's just say the high end car industry is very important here.

Unfortunately, in order to have access to on-post banking services and permission to fund raise on post, we have to be certified private organization, and we have to have bylaws. That BSA doesn't require or recommend them is a non-issue. Going off is a complete no-go, as we simply are not prepared to deal with the German banking and tax authourities. There is no such thing as a tax-free non-profit in Germany. You make money, you pay taxes.

A Cub pulled a knife???

thanks for the responses and sorry for the earlier incoherence. I'd like to be most unScout like to the ring leader of this. No, Garrison is not our CO. OMG, they would flip at that suggestion. We are chartered by a service org, the members of which are too frequently deployed, that is also a private organization certified to operate on post. No certification means you can't meet on post and operate as some kind of formal group or have on-post banking privileges. JAG is the certifying agency--basically make sure you aren't discriminating, embezzling, or fomenting the violent overthrow of the US government. (Yes, that prohibition is required to be in the bylaws.) Because we are overseas, things are different. Pounding sand...That's what I'm ready to do myself. How do you explain to people: 1) That BSA units are not run like the Post Quilting Guild or the Post Gun Club? You don't get posted here by being stupid. These are the original "Show it to me in writing" crew, few of whom have much experience at civic organizational governance, as opposed to command and staff experience. (There's a reason the Spouses' Club never has a competitive election. You only get to approve the slate.) 2) We want to teach citizenship but are not perfect little democracies. 3) That there is a very real deadline we have to meet, which is sooner than we can argue over every comma? My plan is to get the minimal amendments to the bylaws passed necessary to get our paperwork accepted by JAG, then redo the whole shebang, and resign in order to prep for our PCS.

My committee is making my crazy. We have to amend the horrid bylaws JAG approved during our last re-certification as a private org on post, and one of them led the others in a foaming lemming drive over the Cliff of Reality. If we don't amend the document, we don't get recertified, and our pack ceases to exist. The language is mandatory as required by JAG, and there is absolutely nothing we can do to fight with JAG. We're overseas and what JAG says goes. I just needed somewhere to say this to people other than my husband and 17 year old.

Real Question: how could we make virtual blue cards that wouldn't turn into a bloated and buggy database?

Not exactly an open invitation. Perhaps you need to get with the local AHG director and discuss how you will let them know when they are invited to an event. It was very nice of you let them participate. I'm sure the girls had a lot of fun.

I have to admit...I'm tempted to buy something like this generator if we ever move back to the South.

http://www.scoutstuff.org/kit-1250-yetti-goal-zeroat.html Don't forget the speakers offered at the bottom of the page.

From my travel Germany to the US, prices always go up on June 30, so if you can be outbound before then you may save some money. And, avoid Delta. Delta has one of the few direct flights to our current city, and it is a horrible, horrible flight, with a horrible plane, and just all around hideousness.

My son's troop does this every other summer, and the boys really enjoy it. They take the train, while all patrol/troop gear goes by van, hike to the lodge, camp out in the Alps. Focus is on Scout skills of all kinds, building patrol identity, independence, and along the way they usually earn the First Aide and maybe Pioneering merit badges. They cook by patrol. The older boys can take a one or two day climb to the higher peaks. The boys and adults all have a great time. Some adults do go up a few days early and stay a few days after.

Frohes Weinachten from Germany!

Our CM is retiring and I would like to get him a framed mini-pack flag--like when the CO gets his guidon. Any ideas of a maker?