nolesrule

The exact phrase from the Advancement Committee Guide is "No council, district, unit or individual has the authority to add to or subtract from advancement requirements."

have you thought about asking the scouts in the troop for input? One troop I work with as a UC was having their trailer repainted and an airbrush artist offered his services if the troop had a design. The troop held a design "contest". there were 2 finalists for the design, so rather than picking one, they had the 2 scout designers work together to combine their designs. It was a greats success.

I received approval on all ticket items over the weekend. Can't wait to get started. One less thing to worry about over the next 20 days before the approval deadline.

Scoutfish, there are indeed adjustments made to the program for Lone Scouts.

Being Jewish, I can sympathize with your situation. There is a Lone Scout program for Boy Scouts, but quite honestly, you'd be missing out on much that the scouting program has to offer. I know there is no way to change the Hebrew School schedule (and most shuls require maintaining enrollment and attendance in order to have a bar mitzvah), but is it possible that you could find a troop in your area that meets one of the nights of the tutoring and possibly move that day's tutoring session to the weekend? I understand that may only be possible if you are using a flexible private tutor, but it's just a thought. Edit to add: You might also want to look into seeing if there is a troop that meets on Sunday. i had forgotten to mention that possibility, but there some who do. On a similar note, if your shul is not the CO, you might look into seeing if they are interested in starting a troop that would meet on Sundays. It takes a lot of work to start one from scratch, but it can be rewarding. Just a couple more possibilities.(This message has been edited by nolesrule)

"By the way, I took care of that scheduling conflict of Yom Kippur and the Commissioner's Conference. " You moved Yom Kippur? :-P Good news from Troop Guide Bruce. Preliminary approval for all 8 items, and I managed to weave diversity into a 2nd item. Now we just need to get the patrol project completed. It's a bit ironic that we're giving a presentation on shooting sports at the exact same time as the council's annual shooting sports day is happening at Sand Hill.

OK, I now have 8 potential ticket items, which are out in the ether awaiting feedback from my counselor. the only one where I need help from someone else to pull off is my potential diversity item. If my counselor thinks it's good, I'll just need to get buy-in from the person I need help from, but really all I'm asking her for is a Scouting-related twist on something she does regularly.

I only use wine in my stew at home in the slow cooker where it's in there for 8 hours. But then I'm a commissioner, so I'm not cooking for anyone in scouting anyway.... except SR-1022 2nd weekend at the end of the month.

I apologize. I couldn't help it.

Alcohol takes longer than you might think to cook it off. Percentage of alcohol remaining in a dish (i.e. not cooked off) based on various cooking methods (from a USDA study): alcohol added to boiling liquid & removed from heat 85% alcohol flamed 75% no heat, stored overnight 70% baked, 25 minutes, alcohol not stirred into mixture 45% baked/simmered, alcohol stirred into mixture: * 15 minutes 40% * 30 minutes 35% * 1 hour 25% * 1.5 hours 20% * 2 hours 10% * 2.5 hours 5%

You sure you aren't wearing a Toy Yoda on your uniform because you have a stuck Scouting accelerator?

Earning the Commissioner key is a requirement for earning the doctorate (but not the BCS and MCS). The doctorate itself requires a minimum 5-year tenure as a commissioner. I don't think that the program was intended that someone earn the Key and then start on the doctorate program, otherwise it would have been written into the requirements as a prerequisite for the whole college program. In addition, the Arrowhead Honor is a requirement for both the Commissioner Key and the Masters degree. Why would Arrowhead Honor even be a requirement if it was designed that you had to earn the Key first due to tenure restrictions. It's obvious based on the requirements that the College of Commissioner Science program was designed so that it could be run/earned concurrently with earning the Arrowhead Honor and Key. Edit to add: Agree with that last paragraph Chazz. It shouldn't be about the square knot above the pocket. It's about taking steps for personal improvement to help improve your particular role as a Scouter. The physical award or knot is a carrot for those that need that sort of thing. It's a shame that the knots themselves have earned any kind of connotation beyond what they actually represent.(This message has been edited by nolesrule)

Errors that start with a 5 are server configuration issues. Clearing browser cache won't do anything to fix that. This error means that there is an issue either with the server hosting scouter.com or another server that acts as this server's path to the internet. A time-out error of this sort means the server is running, but that a program running on it may have caused the computer to hang.

Spare time? I've been home 2 days and I still don't have any spare time. Still have a project and a ticket to work on. Breakfast was at 7am, Cracker barrel at 9 or 9:30 pm. When you saw the word BREAK on the schedule, it really meant that as soon as the current segment ended be out the door to the bathroom and head straight to where you need to be next. Oh yeah, and I thought the movie choice gave excellent examples of many of the things we were being taught, and it happened to be a favorite movie of mine.

Well, there was one minor gaff regarding a clarification of our duties as Program Patrol at the closing at Gilwell Field (as in we were told we had none for two days until 2 minutes before marching in), but we rolled with it as best we could. That's why we looked a little tentative, we never got a chance to practice. I've been working on some ideas for my ticket. I'm trying to come up with 7-8 to get approved because a few of them are at the scheduling whim of the Council calendar, which I have no control over, and if there is a conflict of dates, then there's no way I can accomplish it. For example, as it stands right now, the annual Commissioners Conference is scheduled to be on a Jewish holiday for the 2nd year in a row (I guess it doesn't help that they get the holiday date wrong on the calendar every year), so I'm talking to John Fought, who is our ACC for training and Dean of our CCS, in order to come up with a possible alternative. My biggest difficulties are going to be two-fold: 1) Coming up with items that I can use to improve service to my units while maintaining a distinct role as their commissioner (don't want to step on toes or usurp roles) 2) Not putting on extra Scouting hats that might cause problems at home, so I really want to focus strictly on what being a commissioner is all about As for that ham & cheese sandwich, John Smith (cook crew, fellow commissioner in my district and also a Bobwhite) took care of me. I like grilled cheese so it worked out nicely. And it was nice to see half my patrol jump up and run to the kitchen to help me out as well. We really are a great patrol.

"Thoughts?" Yeah. I have one thought. That's just silly. I can think of numerous reasons why.

The problem is that just being a Cub/Webelos Scout isn't enough of a credential to prepare you for Boy Scouts. How much did the youth actually get out of the program while in Webelos? How prepared is he to transition? It's the Arrow of Light that is used as the benchmark for early entry into the more advanced program. It's the nationally accredited certification (so to speak) that says a boy is ready to begin a program designed for ages 11 through 17 without yet being 11.

Wood Badge week 1 Some of you asked in another thread to tell you about my Wood Badge week 1 experience. For obvious reasons, I'll be a bit vague for those who have not taken the course. First, let me just say that for the next 4 weeks, I am an SR-1022 Bobwhite! (Feel free to respond with your tasty critter jokes... we may taste like chicken, but you'll never find out) Secondly, a big thank you to our fellow message-boarder Tokala, who is the CD/Scoutmaster (and used to be a Bobwhite), for putting together such an awesome, fun, good-natured staff. Can't wait for the second weekend. Now, to the nitty gritty. What a fun weekend. I learned a lot, made some new friends, met some valuable new resources from other districts. Our patrol was a mix of Cub Scouters, Boy Scouters and me, the token commissioner. We gelled together very well, and very quickly, and our guide was very proud of that. It turns out our patrol has a bit of a competitive streak in it. It seems we like to win, even if by accident. We did extremely well on the various games and competitions, even the ones where it wasn't about winning. :-P Which leads me to my one and only comment on the "Win All You Can" game. While I understood the lesson that was trying to be conveyed, I took away another lesson from it which still fit in with the concepts and themes of the training we received. And that is all I will say on that subject. And of course a huge thank you needs go to everyone here on Scouter.com. Without your sharing of knowledge about the various programs, there's no way the SR-1022 Bobwhites would have won the Scouting Jeopardy game (if only my teammates would have listened to me on the Venturing uniform answer). As to the course curriculum itself, I know there seems to be a lot of criticism about it from some people around here in comparison to the "old course". But from my point of view as someone who is not part of the coporate management ladder, someone who had no experience with either version of the course, I think the course is extremely beneficial to all Scouters, regardless of the color of the shoulder loops or even their experience with the leadership concepts being taught. I am a stay at home dad and self-employed with no employees, so I've never been exposed to this stuff before in my life, with the exception of a single small group communications course I took in college. But the concepts themselves can be applied to all groups in scouting: direct contact leaders with their youth, non-direct contact unit adults working with other adults, members of district and council committees, commissioner working with their units, etc. This stuff is also useful in life outside of scouting, in work and in the home. Heck, it might even save a marriage or two (assuming you learn not to over-commit to scouting). Just as important to the weekend, assuming the staff executes it correctly (and they did a fabulous job over the weekend), is modeling the course to give the participants the ideal scouting experience from the point of view of the youth. I think it serves to remind us of what the youth are supposed to be getting from the Scouting program... that it's not just about knots and first aid, or even about camping. It serves as an experiential reminder that we as Scouters need to make use of ALL the various methods in order to advance the ideals and aims of the various scouting programs to their maximum potential. Yes, my review is probably extremely vague, but I did that intentionally for the benefit of those who have yet to take WB21. Two final notes... 1) 40 degree nights are rare here in Florida. Fortunately I was prepared and was nice and cozy in my sleeping bag at night, although I wasn't sure I would be until I got settled in. I haven't slept outdoors in weather that cold since i was a scout. Our weather rock reader wasn't very accurate. Kept telling us it would be 72. :-) 2) The course presentation on Interfaith services was presented by Tokala. And I'll be darned if his presentation and discussion points didn't reflect all facets of the exact same discussions we have here on the subjects of reverence/religion/worship. I think I even detected a little bit of Beavah in there somewhere. But I think it served as a real eye opener to those taking the course who had very little exposure to religious diversity in their units or in their lives.

"The program has pretty much all levels of scouting and there is something that can be learned and garnered on all levels, whether your a den leader, District leader, Professional whatever. The concepts translate across the board. " Having just completed the first weekend, I'm going to agree with this. I think that former boy scouts and current/former direct contact boy scout leaders may have it a little easier because there is less of a learning curve in regards to the way the course is presented in a scouting-oriented manner, but I wouldn't consider it a barrier to entry at all.

It's only an issue when a Den Leader chooses to terminate the den before the end of the Cub Scout year when not all of his Webelos have earned Arrow of Light. This is a result of the idea that the Arrow of Light (and the crossover) is a group achievement, not an individual one. The idea of the Webelos leader continuing to work with the boy on AoL while being a guest participant in the troop is the way to go if there truly is only 1 or 2 boys in this situation. In the case of a 1-year Webelos, earning AoL is a challenge but not impossible... and it's something the Den Leader and the boy's parents should have at least discussed and tried to set a workable timetable when the boy joined the den. The only time it is truly a timing issue is the case of a boy who completes 5th grade and is not yet 10.5 and does not earn Arrow of Light, meaning he turned 10 in December or later of his 5th grade year. Didn't we have a big discussion about this subject a couple months ago?

edit: beat me to it(This message has been edited by nolesrule)

"I think BSA may need to tweak the requirement wording as I doubt that's the true intent." That is most certainly their true intent. The whole point of Arrow of Light is to prepare Cub Scouts to enter the realm of Boy Scouts. Without having earned AOL, the grade/age requirements are in place for a reason. Or, to put it another way, earning Arrow of Light creates an exception to the Boy Scout age/grade joining requirements that allows a boy to join earlier than usual. (This message has been edited by nolesrule)

Well I've been a commissioner for almost 5 years now, and I'm taking it in 2 days.

I picked up my UC and ADC patches today. I like them. I hope that they go to this design permanently (minus the 1910 and 2010). It's an improvement over the regular design. Also picked up a 2010 Eagle rank patch for my collection. It's the only rank patch that doesn't look terrible with the 2010 added to it, probably because it blends right into the existing design.

Cub Scout leaders (and Venturing leaders) cannot be nominated through their unit, but Scouters holding District and Council positions can be nominated on the District/Council level. The procedure is spelled out on page 21 of the OA Guide for Officers and Advisers, which is a publicly available document found here: http://oa-bsa.org/resources/pubs/