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@John-in-KC, are you suggesting that it is that way, or you think it should be that way? @an_old_DC seems to be reporting (correct me if I'm wrong, AOD) that he was able to file advancement for MBs for some of his crew who never earned 1st class. Thinking from scoutshop's perspective, they don't have to check if a troop is ordering badges for a scouts who haven't earned first class. If among those thousands of advancement reports, there's an order for MB's from a crew, why would they build in the business logic? Especially since that logic is not spelled out in the GTA? In other words, there's no such thing as a "qualifying boy scout", so who would tell them that they have to check that an order is for "qualifying venturers" only?

Given the AI capabilities that the guys down the street from my office are putting into robots, we might soon need a different metaphor, but so long as the analogy stands ... Implied within obedience and loyalty is a certain sacrifice of autonomy. So, if in the last century, congress defined what is respectful behavior toward our nation's banner, then behaving otherwise is disobedient and disloyal unless congress says otherwise. Now, there may be cause to be disobedient and disloyal (e.g., one comes to the conclusion that under that banner, our nation has done more harm than good), but I don't think this scout thought that far ahead. The councilman (or one of the board); however, should know better. This is no prime time pageant bought and payed for by some federal agency. This is a meeting of local leaders who are in office because, under that banner, free and fair elections are in force. Under another flag, for example, a military officer favorable to governors appointed by a foreign regent could be in those council seats. The board members could have politely explained the difference to the young man. They evidently did not. Their opponents should hold them accountable in the next election.

I feel your pain. But the larger portion of the market wants sex segregation to be the law (or at least very strong suggestion) of the land.

If the pipes are in the right position, hang hooks and post with poles horizontal. Essentially, you are hanging the flags. (You could also, put loops on the poles to hang at an angle.)

Not a hill to die on. One town councilman approved, time to see what votes he gets. For my part, I would make quite clear to my scouts that if they intended to continue to violate US Flag Code they might not be welcome to serve in other ceremonies.

Welcome, and thanks in advance for all you'll do for the youth!

Bless your heart for wanting to uniform in the out of doors!

Leave grill, foil, boil bags, and skewers behind ... Coals ... Potatoes and chestnuts buried under them, peppered (or your favorite dry rub) steak on top of them.

I agree with @David CO Thirty minutes away (an hour in transit) every week is too much for young boys. It's not a good trade in order to stay away from undisciplined, impertinent youth. There are a lot better ways to enjoy time with your boys .. not the least of which would be cracking open their cub scout books (or any other book from the library) and doing the activities with your family. Revisit the idea of scouts (literally, visit the troop and talk to some leaders there) when they are 11 years old.

It is funny how procedures that are couched in "protect the scout from failure" actually are to "spare some adults grief."

Folks are tripping over "qualified venturer", because nobody knows what that means anymore. We think it means qualified to work on Star, Life, Eagle, and Palms but that's not spelled out in https://www.scouting.org/resources/guide-to-advancement/the-merit-badge-program/. How, pray tell, would internet advancement "know" that you can order an MB for one venturer, and not another? I mean, there's no business logic for a troop that keeps them from ordering MBs for a pre-1st class scout? Is there business logic to tell me who is a "qualified venturer." The whole MB thing was written back when nobody thought Venturers who weren't in a troop would care about them. We thought we could tell them, "Earn a bronze award, it's way more cool." That worked 0.1% of the time, thus the new ALPS program. Not sure how much better that's working. What if we're missing something? Maybe we've wrongly linked MB's with rank advancement. What if it's simply fun to earn an MB with another venturer? What if this bar of "qualified" is keeping someone from proposing an MB-related activity to his/her crew?

WiW, which candidate is being endorsed? This is the reverse: an elected official is endorsing a particular citizen. We're going to expend a lot of energy if we go around chasing every issue button and ball cap off of every uniformed scout. Miss Ireland is coming off as unprincipled. Her stance would be more mature if she requested BSA go back retroactively for a lot of people ... way back ... probably even before Katrina Yeaw in 1991, and then ask National to work its way forward based on the official records they may have of similar denials of the award. It's like the whole instapalm debacle. Parents of affected scouts (and maybe one or two scouts themselves) were complaining that the deadline cut their scout out, but they had no interest in cutting in all of the scouts from years past who may qualify for an extra palm or two.

@PinkPajamas, welcome to the forums and thanks in advance for all you will do for the youth! All the cool kids have BSA Guard. Yes re-certifying requires a commitment. Especially the older you get (or is it the younger the instructors get?) and the harder it is to complete those sprints. At our boy scout camp, both can be earned in the same week. But, my time has become spread so thin, that I'm having difficulty freeing up a week to do it. If you can't do both in one fell swoop, I'd recommend you get BSA Guard first, then add the other one at a later date. Then, and this is the crux of the matter, find time to assist at aquatics areas. That's how you stay fresh. If this isn't practical because someone else can't watch your kids, then focus on them. They are priority #1. Get them trained. There is no greater peace of mind than knowing that your kids can get themselves out of a rip current. Swimming 100 yards in a strong manner in the right direction solves lots of problems. As they mature, keep challenging them and in the process sharpen your skills. Then if the dark day comes when forestalling death is in your hands, the odds will tilt in your favor if the four of you are competent.

We'll that was a little weird to try an figure out! @Skye08, welcome to the forums. No two 8 year olds are the same. That said, smaller bodies are at more serious risk of hypothermia. If your daughter has not camped in these temps before, you're taking some chances. I would only visit camp for a couple of hours, then return and stay home with her, if I were you. It's really hard to make sure a child is safe when you are also helping keep track of other scouts.

Not to my knowledge. Typically, to control costs, these intensive surveys rely on random sampling. So it's likely yours is that one in a hundred troop.

I'm a bit simple minded when it comes to these things. 1) If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck it most likely is. A thorough board of review should settle the matter. 2) It's probably just me, but I think the Eagle award is tarnished a little more anytime we fail to recognize someone who has accomplished what we require Eagles to accomplish. 3) Awarding ranks retroactively (all the way back to the 90s, if we have to) would take the wind out of the sails of anyone who's just in it to be 1st girl Eagle. On the flip side, I get how hard it is to trust somebody who disregards identity rules for the sake of one more smile. So I can accept being stuck with compromises.

I would like them to do that too. But lots of scouters are concerned that such charity would be open for corruption. So, we have the comprise that we do. The clock doesn't start until Feb 1 under everyone's watchful gaze, and if they are "all that" we believe they will cheerfully prove it (again) given the time to do so. Fine. But, if the girls understood and swore to the ideals on Jan 31, -unless someone tells me they have some kind of selective amnesia, I'm fine with putting at Scout Rank on Feb 1.

If you are a counselor for En.Vi.Sci., I think that's great. Then you could talk with the boy about something interesting he may have written in the essay that touches on your career or hobby. But, if you aren't committed to doing that with each essay, then you are denying the opportunities that a scout could have with a counselor who is passionate about the topic.

@PACAN, how is that any different from a bunch of boys who know Scouting's ideals before their troop is registered? Two years ago, if a bunch of boys started a troop this way, of course you'd tell them to date their scout rank from the day the charter was signed!

Typically, written word translation tests involve reading something in middle-level language. (I.e., what you might read in a everyday context. Prescriptions are often cited as a good example.) "from the written" means the writing is in the language that is foreign to the student, and the resulting translation is into the student's academic tongue (which, at times, can be different than the student's native language).

Brainstorm: rocket launches! It could be a "lifeboat" problem. The aliens could be bingo markers or small coins or -- if you have an obsessive scouter -- die cast figures. (Maybe they rescue them from the "debris".) The scouts will have to build a rocket with a payload to launch as many aliens as they can into "orbit", which would be some minimum height. Or, it could be scored, say they get 2 points per alien times the altitude traveled: 2 aliens x 100 meters=200 points, 4 aliens * 60 meters= 240 points.

How many GPS's do you have? I've set up a geocaching game where each team places cache, logs the coordinates on an index card, along with clues. Then brings the cards back to base. They then pick up the card that another team drops off, finds that cache and swaps tokens, the next team back picks up the next card, etc ... So, basically, you have the teams build the game (in your case, scatter the debris) that they are about to play.

I'm also wondering, how much more of a "fuss" is it really? If your SM is having a busy couple of meetings, so if you try to get him to sign of then, it may take a week or two to get him to go over your En.Vi.Sci. essay or review your Cooking recipe. My SM was the Music MB counselor for the district. He was also the church organist. Furthermore, he wasn't about to derail the scout meeting (and the committee meeting afterword) for the sake of your advancement. That meant that to complete the badge, you had to arrange an appointment with him usually after school or on a Saturday when the troop wasn't camping -- just like any other scout in the district. Same would apply for any other scouter from another troop. When you were at a meeting, you were supposed to be at the meeting, not knocking off requirements. Now, that has had to change a little for the sake of youth protection and post modern nomadic culture. (E.g., some of our adults counsel their MBs during meetings. It maintains two-deep while saving them or parents drive time.) We've found that former SMs who've kept up camping well into retirement years are our best counselors for the outdoor badges. The boys really seem to enjoy what the old-timers have picked up over the years. (Remember, the poor SM is spending most of his time camping with Jr. High kids who design their own program. That's not necessarily the best environment for a repertoire of skills beyond the 8th grade level.) On the other hand, if yours is an SM/CC who was an avid outdoorsman before picking up the patch, let him be a counselor. But part of the unwritten deal is that you all maintain a pool of ASMs/MCs who will take up the slack of bringing up a troop of 1st Class Scouts. Bottom line: if you want to make sure each scout receives quality counseling for each MB they try to earn, somethings got to give.

I would agree with @HashTagScouts that the Venturing's organizers were playing the "have your cake and eat it too" tune. Their intent was clearly to cajole former boy scouts to pick up where they left off in rank advancement. (This, if I understand scouting history correctly, was a play inherited from the Explorer book.) One side-effect, as some troops began to micromanage every aspect of a scout's career, was that this policy could be used to entice dual-registered scouts in a troop to forget accountability to their troop-method SM's. This did not happen in my crew (my venturers kind of got the idea that I'd be the more demanding of skill mastery), but SMs made it quite clear to me that they were afraid it would. Venturers of years past had a pretty clear understanding that they could not earn merit badges if they were never in a troop. However, this caused confusion as well. I had one of my crew try to check out a sailboat at a council camporee only to be told she had to have earned Small Boat Sailing MB. She was an expert member of a sailing club! I happened to be walking by and was able to stick up for her and her Boy Scout buddy. Multiply that by 50K and you have a lot of venturers who were slighted for the lack of one little round medallion or another. However, the fact still remains that no rank (let alone 1st Class) was ever a qualification to earn any merit badge. So, without further clarification, this is one more place where somebody somewhere is going to manage to push applications through. Frankly, I wouldn't like it, but if I had a class of venturers who were obsessed with MB's and wanted to earn them all with no concern for rank advancement, I'd find a way to make it work for them. Then when they were adults, I'd lean on them to register as counselors for whichever one became their career/hobby.

The requirements don't say what kind of unit a youth needs to be in or what kind of rank he/she needs to hold to earn a merit badge.