qwazse

Our district holds Klondike there (using several of the pavilions). It includes rope rescue (however, on a steep hillside). I have been in the park on an orienteering course during a flash flood. It can get sketchy fast.

There’s nothing stopping a scout from carrying his/her pack throughout the trip.

The liability question will be does BSA have some operating procedure on a national level that increases the risk of such incidents? Renting to outside groups is one procedure. But, are ranges being allowed to be built and operated in a way that now increases incidents? Once shooting sports is addressed, we’ll have to take a hard look at acquatics. National has offloaded guard training on to ARC. It’s good, but is it reducing risk.

About three weeks before camps open. Perfect timing.

To boil the job description down, it’s on the patch: assist the scoutmaster I routinely ask my SMs and MCs if I’m helping or hindering (not necessarily using those words). Then I adjust accordingly.

Regarding your original question about choices of activities: they evolve as the troop evolves. The bad news: a huge influx of crossovers will require you to focus your on basic skills and relatively short hikes to campsites. Nothing can make a 1st year hate backpacking like 4 hard miles in backcountry. On the other hand, with proper conditioning, they will be begging for a 4 day midweek outing in the middle of Dolly Sods. Regarding load balancing of chores: it takes attending multiple events to understand those dynamics. You may have seen a weekend where the younger scouts did the dishes, but on the previous camp out they may have been the cooks. You might not have seen the hours after the first trip that the older scouts had put in cleaning carbon from pots, or the hours before the trip you were on that they spent organizing gear with the QM. Attend several consecutive outings, and you might be qualified to put a bug in the SM’s ear about patterns of behavior that should be reformed.

World Jambo your jam? This is one mailing list that you might want to be on. I am really excited that Bill is head of the USA contingent.

Depends on the project. In general, scouts at this age are better served by being asked to exercise verbal presentation skills. I would encourage troops to avoid mandating boiler-plate formats.

We really enjoyed the West Point Camporee when we went. But, that hill top is mighty exposed. I can imagine foul weather triggering mass casualty. Snow amounts are unpredictable. Two inches less and a bit colder and everyone would be bragging about getting another winter campout in. However, the need to declare such a casualty alert should not be considered a failure. If hundreds were treated and released the same day, that’s a success. Winds, on the other hand, require mass evacuation—all with serious risks. If such an advisory is in the forecast, dodging is the best option.

Things are a lot more positive when you have your hammock on a sandy plain with rice plants and praying mantis nymphs while the Italians host Catholic mass at sunset over the Yellow Sea. But put my biases aside … WOSM and BSA are youth movements. Nothing in either organizations’ mission statements speaks explicitly to environmental activism — certainly not above all other considerations. There is no reason to think that any member should turn down the opportunity to camp on a site merely because of the political controversy generated. Our troop, during pre-tour, was privileged to have a guide who walked us through various challenges and ensuing protests that his country faced. He traced many to population density; some, to superstitions about building homes on mountain sides. Context makes one slower to judge.

@yknot, were you there? Do you have anything (say a garrison athletic complex or a reclaimed strip mine) with which to compare it?

I hope other countries around the world will not be discouraged from hosting the WSJ fearing lack of “Experience working on large international events.” I had a great time on that reclaimed seabed, and would’ve have rather spent more time there. It’s tragic that the event continues to be used for political witch hunts.

This might actually be a boon for recruitment. “Hate this admin? Have we got a program for you!” Fact remains that my scouts are more comfortable in their skin under open sky than most other recruits.

The best benefit a scout could have is lots of buddies being able to afford to join the troop. We’d use windfalls like this to offset registration or camp fees. You could even recognize that a particular weekend was thanks to the efforts of the family and their corporate matching program.

You probably have three things working against you: 1. Memorabilia worth in dollars is cyclical, not linear. Councils have tended to over-produce patches. So there’s a glut. 2. People like me give old patches away to young scouts. We don’t care if you’d pay a grand for it. If you aren’t hiking and camping with us and we haven’t seen your Scout Spirit IRL, you ain’t getting it. 3. I personally invest time sharing my values to scouts. They grow up and become hard customers. (Just try selling anything to my adult children.) I’m sure others are like me. We work for smiles. If there’s an opportunity to put a smile on a face instead of a dollar in a pocket, I’m in.

Motorboating and Water Skiing merit badges have been around for a long time. They are part of the program because in many parts of the country they are things that kids *do* experience, and nation benefits from them learning to do it safely. But when a camp program tries to be all things to all people with limited staff, the aquatics director needs to dig heels in and limit the programs offered.

The simple reason: a reputable caving association has not put forward a coherent set of requirements and waited for the roughly five year process of comment, testing and revision.

@acco40 short answer: yes. Half of that audience became of voting age, and the majority likely voted in favor of the challenger. The incumbent did not present at the ‘23 Jambo. A smaller portion of the audience became of voting age, and the majority of those voted for the challenger. Regardless, “sheltering” scouts from our nation’s leaders (and what thoughtful opinions we may have of them) is an immoral capitulation to memes.

@Scoutmom3X scouts in my troop are going coral reef sailing this August as well. (I decided to sit this trip out so other adults could have a hand in emptying their pockets so that they could sit back and watch boys master a real boat. The key thing that I pointed out to them is if they get mad at everyone, the furthest away hat they can go is 44’. I strongly encouraged team activities, so that everyone knows how to put up with each other's quirks.

Soon to include Canada and Greenland?

Reality check: now that he’s making the effort, he may still fall short. But at least he’s making an effort. I think the thing that was depressing you was that period of lack of concern that befalls most teens. On some it happens at the most self-defeating moments.

This doesn’t sound like the cost of material, but rather labor. The bean-counters have been converting service hours to dollars for decades. Edited to add … @DuctTape undersold himself. Based on the amount of people that could be fed for that amount 50 years ago, his project must have taken hundreds of man-hours. Even with labor costs of the time, it could have been worth a thousand dollars.

Definitely let him be a patrol member even if for a few weeks. If the patrol has a medallion, send him a care package with a few of them.

That’s been the strategy for 8 decades of membership decline.

As I’ve mentioned before, membership was increasing until the age limit was codified nationally. I think we can draw a chronology from that decision to the “schoolification” of what became required for advancement and what was removed from required lists. I would agree if the number of First Class scouts we offered this nation stayed in the millions per year. But that line is slipping. It’s only a matter of time before we produce reduced numbers of Eagles per year — not because kids can’t make deadlines, but because the award won’t seem to be much of an achievement. I also agree there is something to be said for earning a badge as a youth, and maybe awards for adults should have a different border. But, the more a badge is about skill, the less a maturity deadline matters. Two things come to the fore: how you serve your unit, and how you master skills. There will be problems with having our adults work advancement. Some may conclude that certain MBs are a complete waste of time, and team up with their scouts to appeal for change. But some might be reactionary with no sense of purpose. E.g., upping the camping nights to 50 might simply not be practical anymore in our complex society.