perdidochas

I thought so. We almost never cancelled a campout for weather. We camped in some pretty miserably wet conditions, though.

Well, with the old Troop, we never had that happen. Rain meant get out the ponchos and play.

You are welcome. I've researched it some, and came to that conclusion. I have two Minis (bought for me as gifts, never used, but sometimes carried), and a Sawyer 3-in-1, which is an older model (pre-Squeeze) that I got on sale at the Scout shop. I've had good luck with the Sawyer.

In our old Troop, the grubmaster was usually either somebody that needs rank/MB requirements, or it usually ended up being a leader's son. Why? We could usually say "yes/no" at the time, and the answer was rarely no.

We kept the leftover condiments (ketchup, mustard, etc.) in the fridge we have in our Scout hut. Saved a lot by not having to rebuy.

Very few filtration devices can handle chemical contamination or viruses. I wouldn't worry too much about occasionally drinking that water with the fish advisories. Why? Biomagnification. The fish have high concentrations of those chemicals because they are towards the top of the food chain. The concentration of the chemicals goes up each level of the food chain that the creature is on. The water itself probably doesn't have high levels of those contaminants. That said, for biological filtering I would recommend the Sawyer mini over the Lifestraw. They are about the same pric

It's a tough merit badge. If I were the SM, and I knew he didn't do it (and he admitted that), I wouldn't sign it either.

I think there is less wariness of leaders without kids in Boy Scouts than in Cub Scouts. I will be honest, being a Tiger and Bear Den leader was tough. I didn't particularly enjoy it much, but I did it cheerfully (at least to everybody else involved) because the Pack needed it. I did enjoy being a Webelos and Boy Scout leader. I cannot imagine how anyone without kids in a Pack would be a Cub leader, but that's just my personal taste. I can imagine being a Boy Scout leader without a boy in the Troop.

The Troop my boys were in had a budget for food for every campout. That budget was a certain fixed amount per scout (and was part of the campout fee) per patrol. One Scout per patrol had to volunteer to buy the food, and they had to provide a receipt to the treasurer and were reimbursed. Generally speaking, unless a scout's overindulgent parent (usually mother) did the actual shopping, we found this worked well over a period of a year. Sometimes the food cost was a bit high, sometimes a bit low, but unless the food cost was way out of line, it worked well.

You'll see my point when the coffee pot is viewed as just as evil as the Marlboro pack. Mark my words, it WILL happen. Doubtful, as there are reportedly health benefits to moderate coffee drinking.

I would start with a commercial kit, then as I saw it's usage, I would start to change it. You will probably want to get a wider variety (and number) of band-aids than the commercial kits. You should also make sure you add stuff like antacids, analgesics (aspirin, acetaminophen and ibuprofen), pepto bismol and Benadryl to it (if it doesn't already have it). Something like this might make a good start, and it advertises that it has extra room for customization. It might have more than you need, but if you have medical people who are parents in the Pack, it might be useful. I would defi

The best app is the Scout handbook.

As Treflienne says, it would be politically impossible to do so. Should have been a Tenderfoot or Second Class requirement years ago, though.

That SM needs to start a Venturing Crew.

Just an FYI, the iPhone Compass app has the GPS latitude/longitude coordinates.

Generally, the BSA plan is to crossover the Webelos into Boy Scouts in the early Spring. That gives the Troop the chance to camp with the new scouts a few times before summer camp. Talk to the Troop that most go over, and see what they would like.

The Scouts often don't look beyond the places that they have already gone to. I suggest that you talk up different sites with the senior boys.

Adventure. We have to be brave enough to go on out of the ordinary adventures with the Scouts. We have to be willing to go into the back country backpacking or canoeing/kayaking. We have to be willing to climb through the cave. We have to be willing to set up camp in the monsoon.

I would tell him that BSA was supposed to be apolitical. A better project would be an education campaign about plastics, or about plastic recycling. Wish I could read the linked article.

And the above, IMHO, is why Scouting builds men better than most sports. Almost no sports are actually led by the players. They simply do what the coach says, and cooperate to accomplish the coach's plan.

Well, I would disagree. The Scouting experience has more value than sports. That said, my oldest was a freshman/JV football player, and lettered three years in Lacrosse, two in swim, and became an Eagle during the football years. (youngest played tuba in marching band for 4 years), Only band practice he missed was for his Eagle BOR. Scouts can afford flexibility more than the sports teams/band. Part of that is that, at least in most Troops, Scouting is year round, and doesn't require 90%+ attendance.

I do keep the blue cards as a counselor. I kept them in a section of the binder I have for Scout business. I have actually given them to the Troop Advancement person, when that person lost the troop copy of the card, and the scout misplaced his copy.

At least until the boy ages out of Scouting.

I had the boys keep a list. What the "show evidence" is for, is that the boys can show you a bird nest as evidence of a bird, etc. I've signed off this requirement in three different ways: 1) On a nature hike with the boys, have them show me the evidence as we're walking. 2) Photographs 3) direct evidence, like sea shells, feathers, etc.

Uniform, if you were a Scout leader while he was a Scout.