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I haven’t seen enough adults with ovals on their pockets to be bothered. I find the rule to be a quirky one the sole purpose of which is to sell one more piece of insignia.

The kid probably passed out with his foot on the accelerator. The trailer may have very well saved his life. I know far too many young adults for whom it ended differently.

I'll push back on @fred8033 that it's not a celebration. At least our BoR's don't throw confetti, play music, and serve pizza! It's still a review. And I have had them tell a scout to come back in a couple of weeks because something was not up to snuff. But, @Armymutt, it's no formality. It's also a great way to hear about troop life from the the scouts most engaged with the program. The job interview analogy is apt. Also, some of us had to give a statement of faith to become a proper member of their church. By the time I had to do that, I had completed several BoR's and some of my church's elders were on the board. I think that helped me to better engage with that process. Then there was Aunt Mary who loved to stir the pot at any family gathering. You weren't allowed to sit quietly in a corner around her. Yes, my BoR's help me keep my nerve in a hot-tempered Mediterranean family! I think it helped my sons too. When I had friends over for dinner, they would be impressed that our boys would stay at the table and participate in conversation. Their kids didn't experience the adult association that mine did through scouting. There are things that I think the advancement method has formalized unnecessarily (EDGE, bean-counting service hours, etc ...), but personal growth conferences are not one of them. If you are just jumping through hoops in SMC's and BoR's, you're doing it wrong.

Of course you should be always flexible, but recruiting will go smoother if you have an SPL in place. That said, I hardly see the point of an SPL in a one patrol troop. It doesn’t sound likely but ask around if another troop might want to loan an SPL. That’s how the troop of my youth got on an even footing when it started.

Regarding orienteering in general: the only way to master it is to constantly have opportunities that necessitate using it. 1. Several months of orienteering races where scouts pair up and compete for accuracy and time. 2. Land navigation hikes where destinations have multiple choices. 3. Bridge building and other distance:height measurement challenges. 4. Map study: route planning for trips. 5. Dead drop ingredients for meals/dessert. Give headings to find them. The possibilities are endless once enough of them have earned the badge.

It’s not about class attendance. It’s about assigning a counselor who will go over all of the requirements with the scout (and a buddy or two) and review how the scout performed each requirement. Any scout may take your class and try your course. But most won’t take the time to meet with you and actually earn the merit badge. It’s really between you and the SM how to handle that 1st step. If the SM agrees that any scout coming to your course deserves a blue card with his signature, let him know who attends. If the SM needs scouts to be a little more intentional, then tell the scouts to talk to him about getting a blue card. This will free you up to focus on the training you want to deliver.

My troop growing up held BoRs after committee meetings which were concurrent with a troop meeting upstairs from where the troop met. Scouts stayed after the meeting for their BoR, waiting for the SM to finish his report to the committee. We literally were “up for review.” Every troop manages business differently, but reviewing youth progress and personal growth should be priority business.

Having closed and reopened once (and now with fairly robust numbers), I have tried to keep our assets lean. It’s hard to do with a steady stream of donations. Two months ago, we got a hundred flea market knives. Food donations covered the booth at a local carnival. Weekend campground fees are paid for the year. Last week we were given brand new axes. We are looking for troops who need gear, but that would require successful launching, which the council is not doing. I continue to encourage the committee to not have revenue in excess of expenses. The last thing we need is a huge balance in our checking account.

Welcome to the forums! Try picking a few things from Troop Leader Resources , Program Features: https://troopleader.scouting.org/program-features/ You and your PL’s should familiarize yourself with this site and navigate to the “meeting suggestions” for each feature.

Regarding length of a lower rank BOR, 15 minutes would be about right, so four a night doesn’t sound far fetched.

Now that we’re in the throes of WW-III, I can see that belief in God should face a healthy dose of skepticism, and faith in atheism is not the same as abdication to totalitarianism. Those were merely the exemplars that were elevated in the last Cold War. But while I was a young adult sorting things out, I came to divide people into a more subtle rubric, and I think the BSA of the 70s gave me a framework to do this. There are those who want to follow their religion, and those who want their religion to follow them. I’d be tempted to say that actions of the latter would be a pet peeve, but the Good Lord put them both here for a reason and learning from both is part of our journey.

From the moment National rolled out the ODL field uniform … why not the same tan shirt for Explorers (but with green epaulettes) and Sea Scouts (but with white epaulettes)?

My scouts are so slow about updating their rank patches that maybe they would be better served by just handing down their shirts to the kid who just made their last rank!

This is not new for deep water swimming (as one might do from a boat in a lake/river of any substance). In the 70s, ARC swimmer classes included practice jumping from a diving board with a PFD. An increasing number of recreational boaters came with an increased number of accidents, and media campaigns encouraging PFD use arose in response to this.

@Tron good questions, but the honest answer: if it works, it will take decades.

You were probably quite good at it, but it wasn’t your job. That’s the job of a UC or DE. And National has not adopted a vision of the pinnacle scouting experience: hiking and camping independently with your mates.

You led with “immature 14 y.o.” so let’s chew on that. By definition, immaturity defines the movement. He’s 14 and you’re wishing he was 16. I find that knit-picking requirements is not a great way to do that. Instead, make him responsible for opening and closing meetings, introducing adults who have announcements (or having him read them instead of handing adults the floor), inspecting patrols, reviewing the QM’s needs, keeping a clean camp, etc … Regarding nuances of advancement, ask the PLC what is fair and best for the troop.

A month has passed and, sadly, we now know how wrong things can go. Mrs. Q took the tragedy of the Guadalupe river quite hard. Most of us have dropped our young kids off in youth camp cabins, promising we’d see them at the end of a week or weekend. So, we all can relate. The leaders who can see a potential catastrophe and act decisively even when the probability is low are too few. The co-leaders willing to hear them out and join in action are even fewer. Be those leaders.

Back to her point … SA does poorly at recruiting board members from minority communities. However, many leaders in minority communities could lose support from those communities if they side with progressive causes (which SA is now seen to have become) or if they side with causes that attract mainly white makes (which SA factually does). It’s a tougher sell than most academics appreciate.

Let’s not overthink @Armymutt’s strategy. His troop has a lot of immature scouts. (I wouldn’t use “junior” although they all would probably be in junior high school.) It’s not entirely clear how to adjust for that. They will grow into their positions of responsibility with a lot of hiking and camping, and adults fading into the background a little more after every campout. I would discourage leaders from establishing hard and fast prohibition of electronic devices. Rather, develop systems of etiquette for the youth to apply using their devices.

The qualified adult may supervise a team of competent youth. Your location is non-trivial. It is easy to let one’s guard down in a home pool. Simplest suggestion; make sure everyone has left the water at designated times. Don’t take for granted the swimmer on the ladder will be out if your back turns away.

Hopefully the WiFi is so bad that you won’t read this until the week ends. Have a hand time!

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.