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A lot of our state parks can only be reached via website. Rangers offices closed on weekends. Most campsites that we shoot for, traveling in groups of 10 or less, do not require reservations. Some rangers are harder to contact than others. Often times my communication has been via messages left with the secretary who will let me know when rangers are due to report in and when I can call after that.

Just back from, troop, crew mtg., then soccer ... That last one was a bit of a surprise, so yeah, I feel your pain. That said, my scouting career was rife with sciences. So, the importance of this is not lost on me.

BD, the course sounds like it's for people who aren't in STEM fields themselves, but need to figure out where to start to make it happen in their district.

Then you truly do have two problems although they may have a common source. 1. The CC lacks management skills and needs to be retrained or replaced. Contact your COR. 2. The boy needs some negative reinforcement, maybe suspension, at the very least a good talking to with parent in the room -- then followed up with positive reinforcement if he improves his behavior. Contact your CM and/or DL. The politically correct (or honey vs. vinegar, or whatever) way to handle this is simple in both cases: "There are some rough edges that will make it very difficult if you continue in scouting (and

Not sure what being CC has anything to do with this. If his kids were gems, would you be able to put up with the mile long E-mails? Some people are verbose, and everyone just endures it if those folks are still great servant leaders.

I made sure I knew what I was taking (got the opinions of lots of scouters) before I took it. I knew I was taking it to light a fire for me to complete some moderately challenging goals. I enjoyed the fellowship that I built. But I missed those weekends with my unit(s)! Plus, a high adventure that we were planning demanded more of my time than expected which -- since all of that work wasn't part of my ticket -- delayed my WB homework. One scout was starting to get too much pleasure in calling me "Old Man", so it was very gratifying to come back from my first weekend and say "Boy,

As mentioned one of the threads about destructive behavior, "park rangers cringe when they see scouts coming". This may or may not be true of the ranger nearest you. Idiots abound, and BSA only contributes to a portion of those. But, the fact is that a wilderness recreation area is much different than the wooded corner of a friend-of-the-troop's farm. So, before your unit goes there, how often (and how) in the past year or so have you or your SPL/PL contacted the park service the week before you intended to make a trek there?

Save up for those lean years when not a single pro team in your town brings home a national championship. (You'd think breaking a 2 decade losing streak would count for something, but even though I was pretty sure the Cards would stop the Pirates, I still was expecting a little more. )

I'm not saying anything about them doing it for YOU! Ask a favor of the retiring pack's key three. By now I shouldn't have to tell you if a door closes you can wait for the good Lord to open one for you, or you can find where He left the sledgehammer and knock out the wall.

Several of our DEs moved on to some decent careers after doing their jobs as pro scouters well. (By well, I'm talking about that integrity and grit thing.) I recall one getting a foreman's job in a factory, another got a job directing a development center for troubled kids, another became a sports store manager. The first two fellas had a stall in their careers, and the DE job came at a good time for them. The other one really needed to get a break from scouting for the sake of his wife (and dog), and the skills that he picked up as DE gave him the skills he needed to excel in the corporate wo

Sounds like you have the right background, but you have a steep learning curve. Now, it may be that your council has an executive devoted to just to Venturing and Explorers. But it wouldn't hurt for you to read up on those programs. Find out how many of those units are in your council,. A good question to ask is if you'd be responsible for any of them.

Time to call the registrar and reprint the charter. MT you need to print your units to figure out what was paid for whom. BD you need your registrar to print up the wannabe retired unit's so you can contact the parents and apologize for everyone else's graft and corruption.

Why be cynical? The guy's applying for a job as if it's just about sales, when it's also about shepherding adult volunteers. He'll be starting to do this without ever having been a volunteer himself. Never sat on an Eagle board of review. Never been through a district/council budget crisis. He may need to help a crew, post, or ship get on its feet when he's never been an Explorer or Venturer. (He's mentioned "boy talks", never about "co-ed" teen talks.) He's being fed a line that a couple of nights a week will be all it takes to do an excellent job. Well, maybe if his district has onl

You've never been in a house with a Jr. high kid, have you? Brace yourself. This is a fairly common dynamic when 11 y.o. boys are kept to themselves ... especially with male leaders. They do tend to "cut loose". The question that you need to ask yourself: were they managed to the best of the leaders ability? - Did the older boy introduce himself to you? - Did it seem like the leaders truly loved the boys? - Was the lecture time in a context? Were they going swimming/boating soon? - Who picked that particular topic and that particular way of teaching it? I am pretty serious abou

This is why visiting is so important. Troops have different personalities and priorities.

But is a fair characterization of what can happen to someone who only thinks that "this is most definitely a sales/PR position first and foremost". Yes, it is about market penetration. But like a decent insurance agent, it takes some spine to say "I'll cover this" or "I won't cover that." The DE's who've served me and my youth best were men and women who didn't waste my time trying to add BS to the BSA.

Hope they enjoy your troop and pack. I'd take their paperwork to HQ asking to waive the transfer fee.

I know a lot of leaders who would leave a site without a cold-out test. In fact that was a serious problem that I was having with my scouts. It's been building over a year. In spite of our best efforts, they have been nurturing an attitude that they can light a fire anywhere without owning up to making sure it is 100% extinguished. What's worse, is they think they know what "good enough" is.

Clearly Steelers/Penguins and Patriots/Bruins fans fed into the temperamental and uninhibited class.

Clove hitch will work. And, I think is easier on the tree. Thicker rope is better than thin (1/4" or less will likely dig into the bark), web rope (that has a tendency to flatten when under tension) is better, and straps are best. The standing end should come from the side (or even back) of the trunk to the hammock. Problem: double the trunk diameter, and you need 6.3 times the rope for a clove hitch. You'll only need 3.14 times the rope for two half hitches. Try placing a dowel or sliding a ring in the bend in your two half hitches (i.e. on the standing line between one half hitch

There are two ways to think about this: - Do I want my boy to be in a troop who lets things play out with the SPL when they have a boy who acts out like that? - Do I want my boy to be in a troop who brings up a caliber of SPL (and presumably PL's) who will handle my boy that way when he acts out like that?

Now, you are coming up with a list of questions that I would ask! The other question you should probably be asking is if your benchmarks will be based on total units or total membership, or membership based on Packs, Troops, Crews, or nontraditional units. For example, if your boss wants to boost the number of Venturing Crews in your district, that's a completely different animal from recruiting new boys to existing packs! Fundraising usually involves you contacting adult volunteers to help coordinate the Friends of Scouting Campaigns. From what I hear every council does it different

Depends on the tree and how much rope, I guess. I don't do camping hammocks, but for my afternoon nap (crew advisors own the siesta so we can rule the night) I usually use two half hitches or a clove hitch. What I like about the clove hitch is that it's reasonably easy to work tighter or looser without loosing its grip on the tree. A timber hitch might work if you are between large trees and your hammock has some weight to it. I'll let the guys who use web belts comment on their preference for anchor knots.

NOW you tell us about the canopy! That changes everything. How sturdy are your cross bars and poles? You might want to consider some kind of hanging case for your utensils. We keep our sharp knives in a PVC tube with rope knotted through the end caps (partly to avoid losing the caps, partly for ventilation, and partly to hang the tube.

If you're asking if I have venturers take their tan shirts off on the nights our crew meets immediately after a troop meeting ... No, I don't. But, if your asking if a crew can adopt the tan shirt as it's uniform, no it should not. In my training, I was told that crews don't use any part of the Boy Scout or Cub Scout uniform.