qwazse

Even less vision of independent hiking and camping. I'm not exchanging my current den of vipers for one that insists on outlets for their curling irons.

My kids don't need no stinkin' patch to know I'm an old crow ... Why don't you just get another one of your son's patrol patch?

Considering Son #2 just called the paintball range to set up Son #1's bachelor party, I'd say this is long overdue. This has the feel of the typical archery challenge courses. I'm sure following their guidelines (adjusting for the differences in range and accuracy) would serve you well. Nonstationary targets (on pulleys or windmills) would add to the fun. (Although it sounds like range 3 may have those kinds of elements.)

Actually, smiting an individual with lighting in oddly absent from the Bible.

This is a crap piece that judges therapy based on stereotypes. Discard it. The kid was in therapy because he was a sociopath. Folks just didn't realize how much of one he was. Sometimes you catch 'em before they start their spree. Sometimes (as my colleagues sadly experienced two years ago) you don't. It's the cost of doing business in the absence of institutions that can keep patients under lock and key for extended periods so that the only folks they eventually act out on are caretakers and fellow patients and the tools at their disposal are less efficient than firearms. On the bright side, society has benefited from the majority of mentally ill being in our midst rather than locked out of sight and out of mind. We've all become better "therapists." That counts for something, but it doesn't make the news cycle.

J. Are fleur-de-lis or "BSA" stamped on your shirt's buttons? Does not look like it from the picture.

I get the impression that the "universal spirit" phraseology is meant to identify lots of folks from Judeo-Christian persuasion who would rather treat God as distant and impersonal. Such surveys were never intended to quantify atheists who have a "closet belief." The crossing of categories is incidental to the primary thrust of the survey. My personal experience is that the overwhelming majority of folks who call themselves atheists do so because they don't believe God exists -- not because they believe that God is so remote as to be unworthy or unwanting of their worship. And the converts from athiesm that I know of spent very little time in some middle ground that could accommodate the "universal spirit" notion. They remained convinced that they shouldn't believe ... until they were convinced that they should do so with fervor.

Oh, let's see. Yep. But, you saw this coming. A year ago they said they wouldn't help you. They specifically said it was to funnel kids toward their (inferior, according to your estimation) event. You had a year to explain to parents that council is approving your neighboring district's event instead of yours and everyone will have to decide if they want to attend that event or do something other than shooting sports. You could have asked your charter organization reps to gather and meet with the SE and council president about the importance of having two similar events in the same month, how it is a hardship for some in the community to travel across council to get to an event in another district, and how it is insulting to your way of thinking that if multiple units in a district come together to hold an event that that event would be anything other than a district event. That would be playing politics with no clear end game besides pointing out a problem and maybe getting yourself on a committee that you would rather not be part of. So scramble and get the boys signed up for this activity (informing them of the location change), or do your own activity with non-BSA RSO, or plan a different activity, apologizing to parents that you were overly optimistic that council would reverse its opinion. This is something I would never bother discussing with a DE. Rather, I would bring this up with my district commissioner and other volunteers.

Yikes! Central supply changed the buttons on the standard issue field uniform from black to beige! (Can't tell from scoutstuff if the venturing shirt buttons have been changed to green.) When did that happen? For what it's worth, when the venturing shirt was revised, our female VOA officers refused to buy it because the buttons (also black) no longer had insignia on them.

All of your questions fall outside the "summer camp" category, but anyway ...

$55/year. But if we didn't count fundraising, our boys would probably have to toss in another $10-$15/month to cover expenses. (Campsite/cabin, reservations, gear maintenance, etc...)

Some Christian sects do not have professional clergy. I've kept company with a few such houses of worship. They have a lot going for them. They also have a lot of disadvantages.

We do this. Unfortunately so do a lot of other folks, so the return isn't all that great. I recommend contacting a producer local to your area. Ours is Sarris candies and they have sales programs tailored to fundraisers.

How is this a bad thing? Either you have just learned that your peers have found something lacking in your behavior, or - in the outside chance that you are God's gift to scouting kind - that your peers are idiots and instead of wasting your time in honor societies, you should devote the year to helping them be better scouts.

Son #2's buddy had Aspergers and scouting was a challenge for him. Bugs were terrible, homesickness was overwhelming, even when his older brother came with him, he admitted he wasn't a fan of hard work. He did give it a fair try however and even wound up taking his family camping. So some skills were transferred. I regret that we weren't the activity for this boy to really find his wings.

Oh, "tapping up" is what we call "hitting up"! It took me all day to get that!

Canvas drop-cloth + exterior stain = winning banner. However, we have a vinyl one that's held up nicely. (We raise it over service projects.)

Hoorah! Our troop loves patrol cooking. Steak night is AWESOME! Huzzah for the boys!!!! Well maybe two out of three ain't bad. Especially, if you are positive and maniacally enthusiastic about the boys to the nay-saying adults. Get beside these two adults in those new positions and listen to how they feel about everything. They may be able to leave the other adults' bickering along the trail like the remains of a head cold. Or they may need you to run interference for them. Follow their lead. If you think it would help, teach them useful sayings and maxims that may comfort consternated adults. Things like "I'm not about to be bothered by the burrs up anyone's butt, especially yours." Be open to the idea that this could be tough on the boys and nightly open-ended evaluation may be in order. Have your people learned "Thorns and Roses"?

ML has a point. And, looking empirically, which is BSA's fastest shrinking program? The co-ed one. That said, boys and girls take a little getting used to each other. But only a little. And adult expectations will need to shift. When most of us talk about co-ed, we're thinking about inviting girls in to be part of that pioneer spirit that we are trying to engender in our boys ... not about the boys fitting in to another classroom-type setting. For each point on our "If I were Bob" list, we need to think about what this country really needs. I personally think it needs 14-20 year olds experiencing physical challenges with both sexes helping each other through. Thus, I advise a co-ed crew. Some of my fellow advisors think that this nation needs 14-20 year olds doing the same thing without being burdened by the needs of the opposite sex, thus they advise unisex crews.