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I don't wear mine because it's small relative to my frame. Otherwise I think it's a good idea.

Bring batteries. Some captains have solar on their boats. Others don't mind charging devices while the boat is under motor. But, that isn't always the case.

My pet peeve about how all of us approach PORs is the treating some as less time consuming as others. Done properly, each one should consume a portion of every meeting and every activity. There is no way a TG, if a patrol really needs one, can show up once a month and be of much use. He needs to get to know the boys, help them figure out who knows what, figure out what skills they should try given the next activity they are doing, and give constructive feedback to the young PL about how he's doing. That involves a weekly give and take. Waltzing in once a month won't cut it - especially if this patrol is scattered over the summer. Ask your 13 year old SPL what he thinks about this scout holding this POR.

Well, that stinks. Has he held a Position of Responsibility? By held, I mean has he done something every week (month at least) for the good of the troop? If not, drop him from that position (I'm certain your SPL will agree). With SM's approval, I gave this brief lecture to boys in upper ranks: We are not going to care about the patch on your sleeve. He who does the work, holds the position. Don't expect a sign-off from us unless you can tell us (or we clearly can tell ourselves) which of your actions lead to our troop being healthy. It cleared up a lot of unreasonable expectations ... unfortunately I think it might have scared off a scout who was great to have around but having some anxiety issues. So, I've been a little bit more cautions to not deliver those lines to the entire troop. Of course maybe this kid knocked out his 6 months after he earned life two years ago Start making sure that each campout has training requirements (e.g., backpacking trips need an instructional meeting and a shakedown meeting, camporees require strategic planning etc.) Be very specific about how you want him to demonstrate how he knows EDGE. Don't send him to his EBoR if he can't swim, can't tie every knot, stinks at land navigation, etc ... as far as you're concerned a scoutmaster conference is incomplete unless a Life scout - concept, not patch - is in the room with you. Can he dispute that? Yes? But, at least you can come out with your head held high. (And, he gets some law school practice. ) But ... Be optimistic. Maybe he's applied scouting in his youth group, school, relationships, or community. Ask him what he's been doing and if anything about the Oath and Law has made him a better participant in those activities. Help him think about those things as he writes his personal statement. Be friendly. Tell him you want him around because he's a great guy. Express what good qualities in him you'd like your scouts to see on a regular basis. Point out to him that Life Scout looks good on applications too. That pride in your work will shine through most every admissions exam.

What I looked for in a troop for my boys weren't in the BSHB's job descriptions: The SPL greeted me personally. Not just at one meeting, but every meeting and every camp out. I didn't need to be introduced to our SM, he was raising three boys as friendly and courteous as the SPL, and his three daughters were my kids' ages. We crossed paths at father-daughter dances, etc ... I knew most of the other dads from sports/music/school. There was only one public elementary school in the district. Son #1 was an extrovert, which meant lots of sleepovers. I didn't need a "how we do things" lecture from any of them. So, the only thing that needed to be confirmed at a scout meeting/activity was if these boys were any good. And for me that meant would these boys talk to me like older scouts talked to my Mom and Dad, and like I talked to new parents when I was SPL/JASM. Older scouts talked to my sons. Not just at the meeting. They looked Son #1 and his buddies in school and said hi. When he was starting middle school, they were there for him. If there was a bowling night (not a troop activity), they invited him. There was a vision of hiking and camping independently with your mates. Adults/Parents had one side of a field; boys, the other. The SPL would shuttle messages back and forth. On a hike the SPL held the map. Period. If he was confused, he came back to discuss with an SM/ASM. The troop had expanded rapidly, and they never fully got the concept of patrols. But they made up for it with enthusiasm for any and every idea for a camp out. Some scouts were conditioning for Philmont, so they might get dropped off on a harder trail to the campsite. They arrived at camp with smiles on their faces. Now, maybe as a former scout, I wasn't expecting much more. The newsletter from the scribe was a nice touch, but I was happy enough with a couple weeks advance notice for most things. Friendly and Cheerful made up for a multitude of faults. So if some one groused about "not really boy-led", I'd remember those guys' smiles (even when they melted a hole in the dutch oven -- ruining half the cobbler), and chalk up their criticism as armchair quarterbacking.

I did not intend for this to be a comparison of my method of "long-leashing" vs. @gblotter's. I've called back plenty of teens who dashed off in a fey mood. Sure, safety could be part of the picture. More so if boys lack training and preparation. But, it's not the whole picture. More importantly, it's not the end of the story when at stake is an opportunity for leadership development. A boy leader shouldn't take advantage of adult association for spur-of-the-moment babysitting of slower scouts. In that context, it doesn't matter how well trained the SPL is or what sense of direction he has. Developing leadership includes maintaining responsibility over your boys -- all of them.

Not sure how getting lost is a safety issue. Given their age, I might understand your concern. However, I've seen enough adults get stupid lost that I'm convinced that they often don't know best. But, the aspect of boy leadership that the SPL failed to grasp is that one should not abdicate one's responsibility to tend slower scouts. If our runners want to sprint part of the trek, they need to give us a plan that includes rendezvous points, sets up trail signals, identifies which boys will serve as PL in their absence, and confirms that they have all they need to survive the night if they do take the unintended trail (which, they have done ... although it only costed them an hour -- not a day -- of their time). One time, I revised a hike plan on the spot because the younger scouts wanted to keep hiking while the older boys wanted to cut short a loop in the trail to spend the afternoon lounging at camp. They were pretty steamed at me. I told them "Go ahead, tell Mom and Dad that Mr. Q made you hike an extra three miles for the sake of enthusiastic 1st-years. Let me know how they reply." They caught on that day that boy leadership included making good on the promise of scouting -- for everyone.

Awesome picks @JasonG172! We should have a naming contest! I pick "The <CO's name> House of Scout".

On one hand, IMHO, he who does the work deserves the recognition. On the other, https://oa-bsa.org/resources/ucl-support/ttr/ttr-adviser So, there is this gap between 18-20 that doesn't come with a patch. Go figure. He should ask his lodge chief for an official title ... maybe a local NA name for "he who guides between".

^^^This. The method of scouting is leadership development. Not leadership. We expect rough edges. The real question is, "How rough?"

Welcome! And thanks for all that you do for the youth. I used to pull stuff like this on my crew treasurer all the time. It really irritated her. Oddly, what didn't irritate her was when I left her in pitch dark in a cavern. (To my credit, I came back as soon as I realized I had misplaced her.) Tell your WDL: respect whoever's doing the work. Treasury issue, treasurer's rules. If it keeps pack $ safe, support it. Have the CC doc 5% from his end-of-year bonus. Tell your treasurer: it's scary being left in pitch dark in a cavern. If she actually deposited the funds, she is complicit in all that "co-mingling", such as it is. Have the CC doc 5% from her end-of-year bonus. Instruct her next time to return the deposit with a check for the WDL's expenses, asking him to sign it back to the unit along with his deposit. Ask him to do it as a favor to her to help make reconciling the checkbook and any future audits straightforward. Remind everyone that you work for smiles. And your WDL and Treasurer your year-end bonus better be the two of them together with their boys ... the lot of them with ear-to-ear grins. Payment in advance always welcome.

@Treflienne, welcome to the forums! Thanks for your insight. FYI - If you were anywhere near the Tiber (or the Po), your daughter could join Scout's Italia today, and she would have a "Boy Scouts Italy" patch on her shoulder. At least that's what an exchange student from there had on her uniform when she joined our crew.

Welcome to the forums! It's a very tough balance because parents these days really believe in having tons of information. For troop events, my parents were content with a permission slip that we filled out by hand a few weeks before an outing. It was so much fun teasing the SPL as he tried to rattle off the facts we were to transcribe. (E.g. "Sir, how does one spell 'April'?") Patrol meetings were even more informal ("Hey Mom! We're building our Klondike sled at Tom's house. Jeff's mom's picking me up in an hour. OK?") Bless my mom, she really had no clue what I was putting in my pack until I came back and tossed it in the laundry or she went to the pantry and realized some canned goods were depleted. My distinct advantage was that my much older siblings were giving them enough grief that I learned from them pretty quick how to fly under her radar - most days. It sounds like you have is a "boy-led" troop that's a bit shallow on the patrol method. The way this should work is the boys should record events centrally. (Really, a hand-drawn poster-board calendar is best.) Then, a committee member notes the calendar, and at some point in the committee meeting they ask the SPL and SM, "How can we support the events currently on the board?" This gets trickled back to the PLC, and the PL's counsel their patrol accordingly. The harsh reality is that BSA requires adult leadership on every trip, and SMs have real schedules to work around. (Not just them, if the SPL/PL are on various extracurricular activities or go to different schools, settling on a date for a troop activity is chaos.) So, we wind up having narrow envelopes in which to operate. What's worse, for a few years, we had to fill out tour plans online, and SPL's didn't have access to them. So BSA has conditioned SM's into thinking that they are travel agents. Now, if the SM is vetoing boys' decisions to the point that the promise of scouting is not delivered (e.g. campouts dropped in favor of merit badge classes, back-country ideas dropped in favor of flushies and electricity, etc ...), then you begin to have serious problems. Charlei

Pray. Sorry. We've seen a variety of these boys. And they will take a while to get better. Nothing we've done as scouters changed that course. Tell dad to make sure he get's professional help if it's more than just scouting. If it's only scouting, tell dad it's okay to lean in to the other activities the boy likes to do.

True story: last weekend, I had cracked open a new mini flashlight that came with its own AAA battery. I was having a heck of a time closing up the light until I realized the battery was wrapped in plastic. I gently pulled it out with some pliers, peeled off the plastic, and re-installed the battery. No light. I unscrewed it and tried to reseat the battery, which was gradually feeling warmer ... then hotter! (I thought it could be my paranoia, so I had my SM check it.) Sure enough, the somewhere in the process of packing and removing that battery it became what I'd call a "short" stack. I dropped it in a mini-solo cup (a.k.a. hillbilly demitasse cup), scooped some snow in the thing, and set it out side. It melted about half the snow until it decided that I wasn't going along with its mission-impossible antics!

You will have days like this. The balance between discipline and fun is always hard for young ones to figure out. (My poor Webelos DL ... we kids sure gave him a run for his money. And this was back when parents dropped off and picked up.)

Many buttons, e.g. T.V. Remotes and older calculators, have lodestones in the plastic buttons. They were used to close circuits without worrying about narrow guides that would wear away after repeated use. Those little buggers have pretty weak fields, however, and make for terrible compasses.

$100 on the spot would go the the scout who could fashion me a wide brim (3.5") leather hat ... or patch the gaping hole in my old one. I can't even find my make and model in any western store or online.

It is the Committee's job to support the Unit Leader as he/she delivers the program. I would tell the CC that tails don't wag dogs, but as I'm watching mine, I'm not entirely sure that's true.

Some scout associations in he world do not use advancement as a method, especially for their mid teen and later programs. The youth I've met are fine with that. @gblotter, you may have missed some of my musings on the subject, but I'm of the opposite perspective. Not only do I favor rank advancement, I favor granting direct-contact adults the privilege of working on rank advancement while they serve our scouts. First class rank should be a goal for all SMs and a requirement for any member of the national advancement team, and no member of that who hasn't earned Star, Life, or Eagle may draft policy regarding that rank. A lot of us sit in judgement of MB programs, but our only evidence is our boys who go through them. I've actually been quite pleased with the experiences our scouts have had with their various counselors (be it district, camp, or MB pow-wows) - rarely needing to complain about it. But, I do wonder if I missed something that could be caught if adults were motivated to try and master the same skills as the boys.

They always to seem to find something ... Hang out and give sage advice to younger scouts. Talk with adults around campfire after taps about how to solve the problems of the world. Master a specialty like BSA Guard, Medicine, Shooting Sports, Climbing, Snorkeling, ... Ask the camp director for a service project. Retake a favorite merit badge, helping out the counselor in the process. Walk around the lake (it's a 5 mile hike) with some younger scouts trying to master land navigation. Walk around the lake and chat up the girls running the trading post at cub camp. (I later conveyed my troops apologies for that one.) Build a giant hamster wheel out of lashings and sticks for a scoutcraft competition. Convert a tarp named Bruce to a coracle named Kaitlin for an anything-that-floats competition. Use up my bailer twine to rig a lakeside bivouac in the trees. (Think basket weaving, but beds instead of seats.)

@UncleP l feel your pain. During the rechartering process, I have generated far more detail than BSA has ever published. For example, for each member who doesn't renew, I have to explain why. There are some check-boxes and one open-ended field. Those data of how many quit for which reason have never been in this report to the nation. The annual report does include financial statements. If you have nothing better to do, you could fish through those and see how they stack up over the years. I don't like the belligerent tone this POTUS takes, but I wouldn't mind if he asked our VIP scouts, "Where have the rest of your mates gone?"

Yea, about that Venturing growth ... 2008 was about when we insistedd that our DE stop feeding us numbers from paper crews whose youh hardly even knew they were registered with the BSA. I wouldn't be surprised if the number of Venturers who actually ever read their oath/code never exceeded 1/4 million. Registration fees, adult applications for 18-20 year olds, and YPT demands didn't help. But, I was surprised last year when my crew couldn't drum up even five youth who wanted to engage the program.

Contact your district or council advancement chairman. You might not like hearing what he/she has to say. But he/she is the one who schedules Eagle boards of review. In general, I have been coming across more 17 year-olds who just don't do paperwork. We had a boy come back to us in consecutive weeks with an incomplete Eagle app. You'd think at SMC #1 when we said, "Go home, look at all of your blue cards, and fill in the dates," he would do that that very evening, call the SM the next day for a signature, and take that paperwork downtown as soon as office hours opened! But, evidently that's not how post-modern nomads operate.

Good luck. But, I suspect the name will get changed to something like "mats and macrame" -- which is the art ... of which paracord is only one medium.