qwazse

The tactical inefficiency of the executive orders can be debated. (With what little I can stand to read of our sworn enemy's tactics, I see no reason to feel safer with even the most comprehensive proposed travel bans in effect.) But the point here, is that rather than requiring troops to have contingencies for border detentions, Guides Canada has opted to execute an across-the-board travel ban.

You're not alone. I got the same prompt. Skipped it. Logged in the usual way.

What you are describing is an open-source development platform. It's not all roses, but it does set up this "buffer" between clashing personalities, so that work can get done if there are problems that can be solved.

Yes. They checked that box. At least our district gets that list and in a sense, it does save them time. No more checking if an MBC quit or died ... if they haven't completed YPT, they might as well have ... then off the list they go. But, the list we've been provided is still not sortable or filterable by badge or zip code. Essentials for a list that serves units in geographically diverse councils with lots of MBCs. That is, if the goal is to get back to something as user friendly as what we had in the 70s ... So we have a map of the on-ramp ... just no exits or intersections.

Well, your are in a no-man's land. From your district's perspective ... Who is the head of that organization? Right now, no man. Who in the organization has the signed copy of the charter? Right now, no man. So, you'll remained deadlocked until the person in charge of that organization makes a call to council HQ and says, "I am the IH for CO of unit ###. We would like to see our charter and assure that it identifies the volunteers whom we approved to run the program, starting with Mr. Runner as our COR -- with thanks to the professionals who got us started last year. We'll take it from here." Turnover does make it hard, but you need those couple of year-in year-out volunteers to go the extra mile, and the IH needs to believe in them. Because of membership churn, you and those one or two other people need to assure council that you'll see to it that new adult volunteers are brought on every year. Otherwise, you will remain at loggerheads with an overtaxed professional staff who see you all as fly-by-nighters. Keep that in mind when you make that call to the SE.

@Col. Flagg's strategy for building up MBC depth is excellent. Every unit should be doing this regularly for their district. Part of the problem, I think, is that some districts are now as large as councils used to be. That makes for a whole lot of MBCs for a district advancement chair to keep track of. I'm guessing our district (in the north of Pittsburgh) has an average of 10 MBC's for each MB ... that's at least 1,350 names, some repeated for multiple badges. Needless to say, YPT compounds the challenge, but I bet it also helps thin the herd down to folks who really "get" scouting. When I was growing up, there were maybe 6 troops in a small everybody-knew-everybody district with no more than a couple of counselors per badge. The list was typed up by some pastor or professor's secretary, copied, and pinned to the cork board of every scout house. A firm handshake guaranteed your name on that list for life (... and sometimes a few years afterword). That made things manageable, but did nothing for YPT which wasn't required for MBC's until this decade. I still don't count on that requirement for MBC's. And like Flagg, I think well-trained parents and scouts is the best solution. I don't, however, put more faith in in-house counselors over district counselors. Nowadays, the list is on a password-protected site. So, if a scout asks me about a MB, I print up the names listed for that MB, highlight the ones I recognize within a couple miles of the scout, then go over them with the SM/ASM's to make sure none of those have any red-flags. (Usually not YPT, but maybe someone's on vacation, counsels only at a particular high school, etc ...)

Sounds completely bogus. Every MBC is registered with a district or a troop within that district. The district advancement chair for the district should have a list that is made available to the SMs in that district. Folks. If your SM cannot produce a list of MBC names and phone numbers for any MB in the district. Something is broken. Scream bloody murder until it's fixed.

Welcome to the forums! I have two 6-man tents from Coleman. The price was right. They serve well for most of our family's open field, national park pads, and beach campsites. And from time to time they work for youth-group and troop or crew "plop" campouts where density is an issue. But, if I didn't have have repair kits and spare poles from scrapped tents and tarps, I wouldn't touch them. So, if you and your boys are handy with sewing, splicing rope, and cutting and finishing fiberglass and aluminum, they are cost effective. But, then again, if you all have those skills, and you can't get the units for a cut-throat price ... build your tents from scratch.

Post modernism, NJ ... holding things constant is a cardinal sin.

Our DAC pounds it into our heads that we are not to equate hours spent to leadership. We get that talk (along with a few recent "for-instances" by way of example) every year at round-table because the units around here host the EBoRs with a rep. from the advancement committee presiding. Some MC's can be pretty rough until reigned in. So, I can see hours that are "overly padded" might give a committee member trained this way some pause. I'm sure other districts have committees who promote other aspects of the project, and maybe they encourage folks to look for a robust man-hour figure. Either way, the boy can overcome those nuances by actually talking about what he actually did.

What would make them question that the requirement is fulfilled? There is a beneficiary's signature ... for project #2. The number of hours is being reported "for statistical purposes" whatever that means, but we have been assured on the application that it is not for the purposes of assuring that the requirements were fulfilled. So, if it's not to make sure the boy met the requirement, who needs it? Why? Like I said, I honestly don't know. I'm open to the idea that there's someone out there who would care that those hours of futility would be tallied as Eagle project hours (vs. JTE or whatever). But, lacking knowledge of who benefits from that line on the Eagle application having a larger number that includes the time our Life scouts spend on non-starters, I'm not willing to commit to one action or the other.

This seems like grandstanding ... using the girls as pawns. It could also be that the Guides are making inroads into Canada's immigrant communities, and they want that to be a priority. Troops that plan trips where the immigrant girls can't attend would undermine that priority. Needless to say, troops with no immigrants who don't like being pushed around by their national organization, or with immigrant families who would rather the other girls have the opportunity even if their daughters might not be able to attend,won't give two hoots about national priorities.

They key principle here (and in your subsequent Workbook reference) is that the scout continues to deal with the same beneficiary. Fred's candidate ditched the 1st beneficiary (or they ditched him), along with the 1st project. So, the 2nd beneficiary, when they sign off, is really only acknowledging the plans and modifications and completion of the 2nd project. Is that enough of a difference to not include project #1's hours in the calculations? I have no clue. Honestly, I'd take my cue from my district's advancement committee ... knowing full well that the next district over might be directing some other scout to do the opposite. Also from your non-highlighted quote of workbook: "... or he may decide —if he believes his completed project worthy and in compliance—to complete his Eagle Scout Rank Application and submit his project workbook without final approval. ..." It speaks volumes about the scout that he didn't push to submit project #1 and all its troubles unsigned with his Eagle application. He clearly wanted to accomplish something. So, I think that should be discussed at the BoR. That discussion might be a good moment of reflection for the boy and the leaders in the room. But ... does adding the 1st project's hours to the total on the Eagle application "for statistical purposes only" do anything for him? The unit? The district/council? If it doesn't, isn't this one of those "keep the BS out of the BS of A" moments?

When you think about it, if under the same beneficiary a boy said, "Because of border disputes, I couldn't build a bridge across the ravine, instead I was requested to built a guard tower. So I changed plans ..." The bridge-planning hours would count. But, it the boy said "I couldn't build a bridge for community Y, so I built a wall for community X ,,," The bridge-planning hours would not count.

In my experience, most teens have already gone over this. That said, most of them haven't really thought through applying the material to their circle of friends. Out of date? Yes. Out of touch? I think people are continuing to use technology to control other people. Our little school district had become a suicide cluster. Two fine young men in as many years, lost. There is no option to wait for someone more qualified or "comfortable" to bring up the discussion. Some of the best discussions I've had are when I opened with "Let me be the first to admit that I'm out of my league ..."

Two things to consider: The actual number of hours does nothing for the boy. National is the one grubbing for reported hours so they can get bragging rights regarding the value of their community service, specifically as a function of Eagle projects. Hours aside, the documentation of the plan forming, getting approved, then rescinded, etc ... is an interesting story. And, by your description, not at all trival. So, I'd encourage the boy to include the "failed" project in an appendix. For his BoR. If I were you, I'd follow the lead of your district advancement chair. Maybe the folks on the advancement committee don't want BoRs to be bogged down with stories of first and second tries. Maybe this is exactly what they want to hear about and to make sure is reported and on record.

simple, open a book, master a knot, stop playing video games for 5 minutes, show your PL you did it, PL signs book, done. Same applies to a cub and his akela. Sometimes the world looks to you to take the BS out of the BS of A.

Contact your district or council advancement chairman, they should be able to send you the papework. The process usually involves gathering witness statements. Enjoy it!

Looked perfect until I posted. Hopefully it's a little better with edits.

For "fun" here are annual report stats and percent changes over the past 19 years. (I took previous years from a poster on scouts-l.org.) Year Cub Boy Vent Total dCubs dBoys dVent dTot 1998 2171987 1023442 188010 3383439 1999 2166289 1023691 202164 3392144 -0.26 0.02 7.53 0.26 2000 2114420 1003691 233858 3351969 -2.39 -1.95 15.68 -1.18 2001 2043478 1005592 276434 3325504 -3.36 0.19 18.21 -0.79 2002 2000478 1010791 293323 3304592 -2.10 0.52 6.11 -0.63 2003 1914425 997398 288395 3200218 -4.30 -1.33 -1.68 -3.16 2004 1875752 988995 280584 3145331 -2.02 -0.84 -2.71 -1.72 2005 1745324 943426 249948 2938698 -6.95 -4.61 -10.92 -6.57 2006 1701861 922836 244266 2868963 -2.49 -2.18 -2.27 -2.37 2007 1687986 913588 254259 2855833 -0.82 -1.00 4.09 -0.46 2008 1665635 905879 261122 2832636 -1.32 -0.84 2.70 -0.81 2009 1634951 898320 257361 2790632 -1.84 -0.83 -1.44 -1.48 2010 1601994 898852 238846 2739692 -2.02 0.06 -7.19 -1.83 2011 1583166 909576 231127 2723869 -1.18 1.19 -3.23 -0.58 2012 1528421 910920 219453 2658794 -3.46 0.15 -5.05 -2.39 2013 1417034 888947 192080 2498061 -7.29 -2.41 -12.47 -6.05 2014 1295527 854692 157655 2307874 -8.57 -3.85 -17.92 -7.61 2015 1261340 840654 142892 2244886 -2.64 -1.64 -9.36 -2.73 2016 1262311 822999 136629 2221939 0.08 -2.10 -4.38 -1.02 If the "bump" in cubs is real and represents an infusion of more than Lions, there may be room for optimism.

From the Report to the Nation 2016 (presented this week to POTUS and congress): 1,262,311 boys ages 6 to 10 in Cub Scouts 822,999 boys ages 11 to 17 in Boy Scouts and Varsity Scouts 119,268 young men and women ages 10 to 20 in Exploring career-based programs (including the STEM Scouts pilot program) 136,629 young men and women ages 14 to 20 in Venturing and Sea Scouts 372,891 boys and girls in elementary through high school in Learning for Life character education programs 102,888 units, representing partnerships and collaborations with businesses and community and religious organizations that support BSA programs

The specific words to me were, "Units without complete Charters will be “dropped†on March 1 – meaning you lose insurance coverage and can’t process advancements." I figure with cubs, we're not gonna stop enthused parents from doing family activities with their boys. Life goes on, play catch-up later. If a boy scout demonstrates mastery of a square knot while playing Zelda at the PL's house one day while the charter is suspended, are you really gonna invalidate it because the PL's signature date in his book was during the (hopefully brief) suspension period? Same thing if a boy who didn't get the memo has MB sign a blue card in that period. Once the suspension's lifted, you have the SMC, and order the awards. Call the registrar about being allowed to back-date the the big ones. There's one worst-case scenario that you may have to call in some favors on. If you have a 17.99 year old Eagle who needs to do his SMC, git 'er done. Let your pro's (i.e., the SE and the registrar) know you're doing it. Maybe even call an SM in a troop from another district to back you up on it. If your council is blowing smoke about it, send the boy to HQ with his Eagle paperwork and a signed transfer application + 1$ and have him earn that bird under the auspices of that other troop. Heck, if someone asked if I could bail them out in this circumstance, I'd drive the scout there myself and wouldn't leave until they printed his "new crew" membership card. (Then, of course, I'd give him an adult leader application and tell him to take Venturing YPT the next day!)

Our Crew and Pack had a near miss this year because our church was slow nominating a new charter organization representative (COR). Worse, the dear lady did not have a computer, so she had to jump through numerous hoops with the help of multiple people. If you meet and there is an accident, the liability is entirely on the organization providing the space. BSA provides no insurance. Likewise, with activities, the liability is entirely on the scout and his parents. If your scouts are not officially on the roster of a pack, they cannot register at scout camps. If your scouts' awards have not been purchased, they cannot be ordered. There's nothing stopping parents from helping boys do activities to qualify for awards. But until this mess is straightened out, the best you can do is make up I-owe-you notes for them. Whatever caused this bulk mess should be fixable quickly. Any troop who has scouts up for Eagle will keep a fire lit. The question to ask your CM: does the CC have a pulse?

?? I plugged in 1 million, 1/2 million, and 20 years and got 2.5%/year. Close enough. But there was no ending number that could get even close to 6% (well -500.K). So, the very fact that the formula allows negative numbers is a good indication that it's not meant for the kind of exponential growth/decline we're talking about. Pere's exponential growth/decay formula is the one I'd go to first. Calculate here http://www.rapidtables.com/calc/math/exponential-growth-calculator.htm.

Well, if they think taking advice from strangers on the internet is a good idea, they can borrow my tag line and call it "the concept, not the badge" award! Oh, here's one more "fitting": The Brotherhood of the Traveling Shirt!