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@The Latin Scot, coed scouting does not a prima facia repudiate complementary of the sexes. Let's face it. Segregated scouting has done nothing to keep the complementarian position popular. But your point should be respected. BSA is not providing the tools LDS thinks it needs.

@Popcorn06, welcome to the forums. Although troops can stipulate age/rank requirements for youth leaders, there is no national recommendation. Part of the fun of being SM/ASM is working with the boy who the troop elects and helping him become a better leader/manager over the course of his term. (FYI, there is no national recommendation for term limits or frequency of elections.) A lot of this has to do with the SM/ASM's comfort level. Some of us have had so many challenges with different boys, that we've come to realize that age comes with both advantages and disadvantages. A young scout with lots of enthusiasm and dedication can be a productive SPL.

I never saw it that way. Old timers were part of my game. My SM mastered backpacking in his late 60s because I wanted to do a local 50miler. Adult association has no upper limit.

'Skip and Ian, send up the chain that detailed plans should be in plain text/jpgs, not .pdf's. Half of the pages aren't formatting properly or quickly on my tablet. Let them know that there are yanks out there who will nick any good idea, and maybe share experiences about not-so-good ideas.

The age thing bugs me as well. I'm currently missing a campout because of a scheduled old-person procedure. But, I remember at Jamboree as a kid meeting a guy being wheeled around in his chair. He introduced himself as "the oldest scout in existence." (A claim I probably smirked at, at the time, but since, my aunt was probably the oldest campfire girl for a few years, I'm no longer taking the memory of him so lightly.) I've since met other scouters who are revered by boys. So, sticking around seems to be a matter of humility on the scouter's part and accommodation on the boys' part. I look at the religion thing from a different standpoint. Of course, Protestants aren't known for their loyalty. But, that's not it. Nor is it that I'll likely find some church somewhere who favors scouting in most any community. If I'm called to something else, I'll set BSA aside. But the opposite has been happening in the past few years. My two loves (for international students/refugees, and spending time with youth in the outdoors) are growing together. Especially with the upcoming World Jamboree. BSA4G only facilitates that.

My breaking point happened 10+ years ago when My wife, who volunteered on our crew's committee, came home from a youth protection class where a fellow student tossed out the, "I thought we had Girl Scouts for girls." One scouter told me I was wrecking the program (promoting venturing) when in fact I was giving our boys more hiking/camping hours. Adults blew smoke over local adult-contrived boundaries that youth rightly found to bIe stupid Yet on each adventure, in a dozen different ways each time, I reaped youths' smiles. I broke. I did. I broke in favor of as many youth in the field under my guidance ... with or without BSA. Today, very close friends lost their son (and Son #2 lost a buddy) in a bicycle-meet-car accident. I've been on the verge of tears all day. I regret not having more hikes with this young man, not encouraging his dad to let him try our crew (in spite of his issues ... he had a few), not doing more to be his mentor. Compared to that loss, BSA's organizational blips mere trifles. So, my organization is bending and flexing to get me and other adults with integrity in touch with more youth? That's not a breaking point. That's a building point.

My take: If the districts are in the same council, they are arms of the council and the one award of merit applies to both districts, as well as all defunct districts in which the scouter served. So, the second district wanting to confer the award is simply too late to do so. If they are in separate councils. The scouter would need a different uniform for each council patch. In which case could earn two awards of merit.

The "field uniform" can now officially be the neckerchief and appropriate clothing for the activity. Besides myself, I have not seen any BSA member wearing it. We wear the field uniform to summer camp morning and evening flags. Otherwise the boys leave it at home. I have given patches from my collection to boys who wear their uniform camping. Except for the obscenely large patches, it is a nice wearable shirt. I like my canvas shorts. All other standard issue pants aren't worth my time.

When I teach scouting safety to youth or or adults, I explain we're trying to bring them as close to their Creator as we can without making it a permanent stay.

Tell that to Son #2 who held a swimming partial for 5 years, then decided to earn Hiking at age 17.9.

Welcome. Our district lost all but one of its crews. What could have helped: Agressively market venturing in every high school and community college. Press releases. Lower fees.

Wonder if they have a dragon patrol.

Attrition by a thousand cuts: No youth drivers No skinny dipping SM/SPL screen every song/skit No boxing No independent patrol overnights No one-on-one contact, down to electronic correspondence Pioneering project height limits Power tool restrictions No PL sign-off in Scoutbook Some of the rules make perfect sense to some people ... those who see risk and no benefit.

Oh, god.

?? Since "inception" ?? The Gold Award (by that name) was rolled out in the '80s. Or, are they lumping together Eaglet, 1st Class (both versions thereof), and Curved Bar? Looking at this history of "rebranding", we see GS falling into a perpetual cycle of re-branding beginning a decade after Low's death. Whatever compelled GS/USA to abandon the Eagle as their mascot?

With that many adults, keep them in a patrol at a distance from the boys. (Our reservations is large, so that's generally doable without ordering an extra campsite.) The ASMs should follow the SM's lead. Our camp does patrol cooking, and we have a tradition that each patrol invites two adults as guests at their meals. The guest roster rotates daily. The adults stay in their site until a PL comes and lets his guests know that the meal is ready, and the adults return to their site as soon as washing up begins. That provides just enough involvement for a new scouter to get to know the boys, but not so much as to interfere with the boys managing themselves.

Welcome to the forums. I would say that if the scout just started to hold a leadership position, yes. The best thing to do in these kind of situations is contact the course organizer and see if he can get in touch with one of the younger boys who took the last course, and have that boy talk to your boy about it. References go a long way in helping to decide these kinds of things.

Not complicated: SM coaches the boy. If something comes up that is over the SM's head, he may call the DE, UC, or go to round-table and talk to the DAC, or simply ask the CC the best course of action. But at the end of the day, how the SM coaches the boy is his call. CC "coaches" the parent. If something comes up that is over the CC's head, the above resources as well as the COR and are available to him/her. Under no circumstances is a parent to be belligerent to any adult or youth. Period. COR represents the CO. So if this matter involves them, he/she may have something to say. He or she may remove registered parent(s) from the roster if they are not acting in accordance with the general expectations of the CO. These key-three may get advice from the committee, or even the PLC. But they are not obligated to do so for every decision -- especially for every advancement. I once had a CC refuse to sign an Eagle application. The scout called me about it, and bottom line: he did not complete all of the requirements as written. Some adults were sweeping observations of that fact under the rug, CC caught wind of it, and decided the buck stops with him. No meetings required. I congratulated the boy on aging out as a Life scout.

"Mubarak" is better translated "blessed". As with most imperial tongues, the word or its variants has made it into many other languages, like Swahili. Thus our last POTUS was literally a blessing (at least according to his first name)!

The two-deep serves a secondary purpose of enabling a couple of scouters to divide up responsibility. With at least another scout, one can care for the injured while the other mobilizes the rest of a troop to procure rescue. Or, provide transport for the injured while the other makes plans for extraction. In our venturing YPT (back when it was face-to-face), we were strongly encouraged to bring four adults in wilderness scenarios where transport and/or extraction may extend overnight. Adherence to that and the typical LNT guideline of contingents no larger than 10 sometimes put us at an adult:youth ratio of 4:6.

Name one. Tell us his/her price. Confirm the commitment to the same # hours as the present CSE or whichever pro you intend to replace. Post the cover letter and resume. Check references. Convince us that we'll get the same bang for less buck. It takes a lot more than the stale "raid the Bishop's allocation" rhetoric to convince antidisestablishmentarians. Like @Eagledad said, pensions are usually the biggest bullseye in these situations. Adjusting them is easier said than done.

Not cheeky enough. He should have sent a check (from your tax-cut) to the treasury to cover the cost of the staffers' time to do the paperwork.

Do you have nominees who will do the jobs for less?

Here's a situation: Encouraging youth leadership, I have a scout take point as the contact person for our Memorial Flag placement project. Leaders from around the district are to send that scouts their contact info and #s coming. Is it on me to remind leaders to CC another adult?

Not a fan. Graphic looks like a short sword with grappling hooks.