qwazse

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)?

On 9/26/2025 at 9:27 AM, Tron said:

But that's not what's going on here. It's This is the wrong council patch, or the kid getting this uniform didn't earn these ranks or these awards. 

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.

22 hours ago, MattR said:

@Armymutt… If I were a better leader I could have convinced the adults that efficiency doesn't teach leadership. Rather, dealing with problems teaches leadership. But I was never very good at teaching the adults. I tried. 

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.

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.

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 …

On 4/12/2025 at 11:57 AM, yknot said:

… We are -- or at least were -- an outdoors related conservation minded organization. 

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.