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I have no problems with a worksheet as an aid to a boy. The need for such aid can be decided by the counselor on a case-by-case basis. I do have problems with it as a crutch for paranoid adults. How does a worksheet in someone's hand prove anything? Little sister could have filled it out for all we know. And, so what if Timmy borrows Johnny's worksheet? When Timmy meets the counselor, they can decide if Johnny got an answer different from the MB pamphlet, then determine if Johnny knows something the BSA doesn't. Everybody learns. Question @MzKelly: do they at least use the blue cards as spelled out on the card itself? (E.g., the scout holds onto his portion, the SM merely signs on it that he has received the unit portion.)

Boyscouts love paperwork! No, the worksheets are not required. Nowhere in the MB requirements of any merit badge pamphlet ever written does it say they are. IMHO, boys would be better off never even looking at a single worksheet, ever. For advancement tracking, the blue card tells all the story that needs to be told.

If it helps, let them know that folks here have their country in the center of their prayers. The courtesy that residents of Manchester had shown to stranded travelers has also been part of the news cycle. The malice of our sworn enemies should always be eclipsed by our compassion.

Do inform your boys that the BSA tan shirt trades quite well internationally. The right necker or two, would be worth the shirt off of their back.

Or .. wait for it ... ASCII instruction sheet. Blank paper. (Or graph paper. I've had good kitchen contractors draw up a decent design free-hand.)

Judging from the current National Leadership photos (http://www.scoutingnewsroom.org/about-the-bsa/national-leadership/), they have. But, there also was a brouhaha last year (I think) when Scouting published a photo of Wayne Perry in tan shirt and brown pants. Meanwhile, a couple weeks ago some scouts were going over first aid, so I asked them if they could secure their victim's sprained ankle. Cricket's. I say "Pity that we don't have a triangular bandage that we can fold into something that might brace a foot ..." Off comes a necker, and away they go!

How do you identify an inferior system? By the nature of its organization-wide mandate (http://www.scouting.org/Home/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/EagleWorkbookProcedures.aspx): The entire fill-able electronic workbook should be scrapped. Specifications for proposals and reports need only be outlined, and the scout writes out his proposal free-format in the legible mechanism that best suits his skills and resources. If a boy can't do that, then he's not ready to make rank. It's called sub-contracting. Welcome to the real world. If a district can't adjust to different fonts and styles, then they aren't ready to work with boys.

Sounds like a new requirement for Digital Technology MB: 10. Identify a digital tech method that has failed many of its intended users. a. Come up with an alternative based on simpler tech. b. Measure the advantages of the alternative in terms of speed, capabilities, and interoperability. Be sure to account for time getting support, etc ... c. Multiply the time saved by 50,000 to get a national estimate of the hours a national organization could spend actually doing service instead of Byzantine beurarcracy.

I agree with the above. Two or three is reasonable. Encourage him to think about badges he might not be able to earn on his own throughout the year. (For example, I could have never done Pioneering at home. Fathoms of high quality rope were not a priority expense in my family or troop. But, I could practice knots and splices in advance and work on towers and zip-lines in advance.) Also encourage him to pick different areas (e.g., one scoutcraft, one aquatic, one field sports) and ask older scouts what their favorites were from previous years. Supplements to the MB program depend on the style of the camp and the troop. Our boys may set themselves to camp-wide challenges, like building a one-man raft that out-floats any other troop's vessel. Or, they may opt to set up a lakeside outpost bunk using knots and lashings (and my spool of baler twine). Or, they may plan ways to outdo themselves on steak night. And there's always applying those basic 1st class skills ... making sure every knot on every canvas is perfect and every rope whipped. Some scouts are all about chopping wood; others, scrubbing pots.

So, are you Dad? Brother? Uncle? A lovely blog, but you're missing out on the old-school fun of getting post-cards every couple days from the re-supply stops!

Since the troop reserves the first session of summer camp, and that's when national inspection occurs, I've seen SEs (two of whom went on to be our past and current CSE's) in camp. They didn't disrupt the boy's activities at all (unless going down to water's edge to chat with scouts fishing is disruptive). I certainly do think an SE who can visit a different unit/round-table every month has a leg up on every other pro at his level. Cross-training is even good for us amateurs. I often talk to the kids in my church who attend different troops/packs. I'm usually asking pretty targeted questions. Every now I might ask after a one of their leaders, if I know him/her, and the boy will say, "How do you know so much about this stuff?" "I just read a lot," I reply.

I may be dropping scouts over a climbing tower tonight ... Does that mean BSA will drop it's oldest membership restriction? (One non-sequiter deserves another.) FWIW, @@tyke, I was driving to the next county over to help Mrs. Q put gem settings on a shelf (long story) today. The usual national public radio (equivalent to your BBC) talk show I listened to was out of range, and the nearest station was beginning an interview with a boy scout leader whose troop operates out of a conservative CO, and the founder of American Heritage Girls. The salient part of the dialogue for this host was that the Boy Scout Leader's CO still had the right to select leaders as it saw fit so that from their local perspective, the status quo could be maintained -- this was seen as a good thing. Meanwhile while a GS mom - she learned that there is no local control of who may lead a girl scout group and the removal of duty to God from their oath and the general progressive endeavor of the organization beyond the scrutiny of the rank and file -- this was seen as a bad thing. In contrast, the host had great enthusasim for AHG's attempt to restore a more theistic role (a pro-life feminism, if you will). Sorry, but the station went out of range before the interview ended I could get the call sign; otherwise, I would have asked if they had a transcript to share. Point is, the part of the country that elected our current president has no inclination to move into the fast lane for the little activists in the back of the car screaming "are we there yet?"

Practice with your gear is really important. Some techniques are listed here: http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/manual/water.shtml One that isn't mentioned, but is related to hose contamination is forward dilution. There was a sick hiker incident in Dolly Sods, WV that was traced back to not rinsing the bottle mouth and lid with some of the purified water.

I almost forgot (easy to do given the cloud cover in these parts ): magnifying glass lens! Along those lines, has anybody ever try a parabolic mirror or frensel lens?

Bring back memories of this cute girl at youth group, pyromaniacly dropping chips, one at a time, slowly, onto the coals, wistfully watching each flame. I thought, "Better not bring that one back to the house ..." Thanks to you Skip, I'll now go wondering what would might been had I offed a "belly-button fluff" suggestion.

Wait, I had to memorize the Outdoor Code for Tenderfoot ... Or is my memory playing tricks?

If they are in clusters of three or four tents, you shouldn't let that spook you. Some PLs really deserve their own tent. Some, after coming from O/A or their venturing crew, are setting up a hammock (or less) anyway. We don't micromanage sleeping arrangements. Patrols acquire the tents they think they need. I try to get each patrol to set up as far away as the SM can stand from us and any other patrol. It works quite nicely.

Not a Philmont traveler, but I have come to agree that everyone in the crew should have the capacity for 8 liters, only half of which is necessarily kept full while trekking. I.e., if one person is down to his last liter, the nearest stream or spring is time for a refill to get everyone back up to at least 4 L. Even if you are camping beside a glorious spring or stream in a mile or two, there might be enough of dry terrain and heat to make that last hump tortuous. Obviously, if you are approaching a dry camp, everyone fills to the max and balances their loads. I prefer nalgene wide-mouth 96 oz. collapsible. I filter/fill one of those and, once purified, dispense into three smaller canteens, then fill it again. (Note to self: remind crew president to add water management to his scoring rubric for next month's wilderness hike.)

@Carbenez, Welcome to the forums! From your post, it's not clear if this problem should fall on your SM or your committee chair (CC). If your son needs a SM conference (SMC) for Life rank, I can understand why a new SM might be having trouble blocking out time for that in a meeting. He's basically playing catch-up with every scout, and those conferences in particular can be lengthy. The SM probably realized that constantly telling your son "next meeting" wasn't working. Once they've had their last SMC for any rank, our life scouts are often responsible for going directly to the CC and asking for a board of review. It goes something like this: SM "Well, scout, looks like you've grown a lot while earning that rank, let's consider this conference complete, I'll sign here, and you may go over to Mr. CC there and request a board of review at the committee's earliest possible convenience." We really try to encourage the scout to contact the committee chair or advancement chairperson directly. They are usually pretty nimble and can assemble a group of three members for a BoR. Because of this, we don't consider it the SM's responsibility to line up each scout's BoR.

It's a big country, and I bet these relationships vary. For @@Phrogger, a UC might help identify an issue within the unit that, if addressed, could make the scout feel more welcome in his troop. The UC may serve one or two other units, but I'm not entirely sure that helps the boy. Those units may be a bad fit as well. The DE should have a comprehensive list of the units. So, that's where you'd get the numbers of SMs to call. A seasoned DC (district commissioner, not den chief ) probably would know everyone in every unit. But, not every district has a seasoned commish. The problem with all of these positions is that they are far removed from the scout. (Well at least in large districts. Where I grew up, on the other hand, I was friends with the DE's kids.) And, often the parent has specific questions, while these folks can at best give general answers.

DE = District Executive. He should be able to put you in touch with other scoutmasters. It's good that your SM is willing to try a change. Hope it works.

It seems to matter to lots of folks in this one of Bryan's most popular blogs https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2015/06/24/ask-expert-isnt-camping-night-camping-mb/ Based on the pamphlet and the phrasing, I felt that the point of the badge was to get the boy into a routine of planning, packing for, and returning from camping trips (lather, rinse, repeat). With all of the hair-splitting that has since ensued, makes me wonder if the requirement would have better been worded "Go on, and return home from, 15 camping trips of varying lengths." Would that stifle the hair splitting? Probably not, but at least there could be a uniform reply ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjsSvjA5TuE

Our scouts ask for winter weekends in a cabin. I supposed there's a lot to be gained from them - just not nights towards Camping MB. As I said elsewhere, I only saw the outside of boy scout cabins until my boys joined this troop. It was a magical memory, bunking down in the snow wondering how the "other half" lived. However, I also got frost-bite once, and later spent a long night as SPL in a warming "hut" (i.e. re-purposed dining hall) thawing out unprepared crossovers. Learning how to attend to myself taught me how to attend to symptoms in others. Hypothermia? Got a mild spell of that myself as an adult one June training for BSA guard.

Weakness of mine: listing possible solutions, when in fact it is up to the patrol to figure it out. I think this is why LDS kept the Cub and Boy Scout programs. They explicitly force boys to work in community to resolve complex problems. There's no boiler-plate to fulfilling a vision of camping and hiking independently with your mates. Yet, we can offer everyone some milestones so they know when they've "arrived." A well-performing patrol is one of those milestones. I'm sorry, but Venturing and Varsity offers no comparison.

Here's the view from where I sit ... 1. I am not just a scouter. Kids see me around long after they stop participating in the life of the troop or crew. 2. They still made those oaths. Just because a youth let his/her registration lapse, I still hold him/her to what they promised. 3. Boys quit for lots of reasons. Only a few of those are the troop's fault. 4. A senior scouter once told me a story of how he went back to his troop one May after realizing the best thing about his previous summer was camp. 5. About a third of my venturers are boys who want to "catch up" to their scout buddies. So, I hold out hope that something I say might sink in and make a boy feel welcome.