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E441: You and my previous crew president! She said "Venture just doesn't sound right and why couldn't they have chosen something that slips of the tongue easier?" It's all about branding. Which matters to a lot of people. Not so much to others. (For example, the person who labeled pics from Jambo on BSA's Flickr stream used "Venture Scout".) In terms of who I will be climbing and rappelling with on Saturday? It won't matter an ounce. As long as they're on when I need belayed, I'll be happy. BP, no koolaid. I'm just trying to give us a view from behind Wayne's desk and why he wou

It's a big country and "what venturers want" is very diverse. But, there are some trends ... The most striking one is they don't want to stick around. For the past 7 years, venturing membership has been the fastest declining division of the BSA. Very few of crews buy awards, which is a good sign that thy are not earning them. Many of them aren't heavily invested in the venturing oath and code. It's just not pounded in their heads. Clearly, if they aren't earning their gold awards, there is no real need for them to bother with the oath and code. There are troop members who think

Rick First, it's six feet. Secondly, have you ever seen bridge height signs? That's the height to the BOTTOM of the bridge (the space a vehicle has to pass under it).

And here's the other dirty little secret about venturing (that I really wish weren't true). The only venturers who are highly experienced and more mature, were the ones who are also boy scouts and about half of those who are also girl scouts. For a lot of them, we are making up for lost ground.

The Good Book tells me that the Almighty chooses the weak to confound the wise. Go figure.

Well, in our troop very few scouts make 1st class until they are moving into high school. Most of our FYFC's (first year, first class) don't run. It's 15 camping days which, you're right, does tend to favor Jr. High kids with a more flexible schedule. High-school boys with only same-school peers for a constituency, have not get elected in our troop. Jr. High boys who disrespect older boys and boys who aren't in their "special clique" have not got elected. The boys who command the respect same-age AND different-age peers, they get elected.

I'm not an active arrowman, so my opinion is strictly from what I see in the youth in my troop. It's nice to see young people keep bantering this about. The point of your argument is that it is entirely possible that a venturer, without being in a troop, can: 1. display tremendous scout spirit (vouched for by his/her advisor), 2. be a first-class scout even though he/she hasn't obtained that rank, 3. have done lots of camping with his/her unit and under the auspices of the BSA. Therefore, what would make them any different than the current youth membership? There's only one thi

Our crew welcomes youth-leaders from other troops. Shoot, I have one from another state on my roster! From the troop side, we'd rather a youth stay on both rosters, even if it means we won't see him around as much. One of the boys in my troop was in a crew a few miles north of us. For him, it was an opportunity to take what he learned in one place and apply it to the other. All I'm saying is don't rule out the "both-and" option. I saw your post in OA, I have a few ideas you haven't considered. I'll try to cobble a reply for you later.

Welcome! Nice to have someone willing and able to set us all straight! Keep diving in and serving where you best can. Not sure why you would hold back on joining a crew based on your election to SPL. My crew officers take on SPL/ASPL from time to time, when that happens I just remind other venturers that they have to step, but if they don't that's cool -- we'll just do fewer activities. Even when they aren't in a position of responsibility in the crew, the SPL's often like a weekend or two when they don't have to be top dog. But I guess that depends on the attitude of your advisor and

It was recommended to me by another crew advisor who I met at an Area Venturing Officer's Association meeting. At the time I was getting a lot of cross-talk of how things were to be done between my crew and my troop. I've been asked to open meetings with prayer a lot. I don't think it was because I always matched the religion of the folks who asked me. I'd like to think it was because the folks knew I had the best interests of everyone present at heart. And honestly, love makes up for a whole lot of unorthodoxy. So if there's someone like that who, although likely to step on some of your

Yes, Rick, they would do that. And, yes Stosh, I'm pretty sure sure these fellas knew the flag code well enough to make accommodation for weather, age and gender. They were directing their attention to adult males (especially the immigrants, who as far as I could tell were glad to oblige). Son #1 might of been old enough to pass for an adult, but since he did the respectful thing without being asked, I suppose we'll never know. Geez folks, it's not like they were carrying batons and pepper spray!

Yep. Son #2 was ASPL and he and SPL performed as expected at camp this year. We had an older group of guys, so there weren't too many hiccups. But since thenI have been getting reports from their church and school youth leaders (different schools, different churches) about how hard-working yet nurturing both boys were in various different environments. Now that I think about it, same sort of thing happened with Son #1 (although he was never SPL or PL, he was crew president). Outside of scouting folks would come up to me and say "he gets stuff done."

It really depends on what you and your people make of it. And really, what matters is what it sounds like to the folks in the cheap seats! If I were a new parent, I would think that "pack overnighter" was for me and my son and "family camp" was for me, my wife, son, daughter ... maybe the dog and crazy old uncle Joe! But, not everyone thinks like me, so no matter what you call it, your announcement needs to be specific about who should and who may attend.

Beyond happy meals ... one could estimate the number of plaster casts. Given a nationwide incidence of .2% per year (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2856220/), treating all 10 day periods as equal, divide that by 36, multiply by 30,000 and you'd have at least 20 kids break a bone. Assuming that Jambo would be the peak activity time for youth, we could expect about 600 fractures - estimating on the high side. So 40 would be quite reasonable. 800 would be higher than the national average. But, then again, very few kids in the country go to skate parks.

All of our population statistics have been 25% inflated. We are actually talking about an event with 30,000 youth and adult leaders. That'd only be about 26,000 happy meals assuming that they probably wouldn't let you order them for your 19+y.o. venturers.

By the way, VLST is a pretty significant course because the mental framework needed to handle the program is completely different from cubs or boy scouts. The more folks who understand the program, the better. The folks at the Legion probably have some background in scouting, but unless these are fairly young vets, it's unlikely they've experienced venturing. Also for your personal sanity, Meeting other advisors regularly is critical. They will confirm that you're crazy, but they'll also help you know if you're doing things right.

First, thanks for all your hard word on behalf of your youth. Second, you're in for a wild ride. Throw the gauntlet down with your DE. Say "my people will be available for X hours on the . Send us a trainer, and well jump through your hoops". Hopefully it will be the same day as VLST. If not, ask your people if any of them can make the Charter training. If not, punt. JTE is filled out by your crew president. If you can be humble enough to apologize to him/her and ask her forgiveness for costing them a couple hundred points, you're done. Warning, if your DE does take up the gauntlet, it'

I think scouting does engender the level of respect for military personnel that most enlisted folks would like to see. They don't want youth holding them up on a pedestal, but they do want to be understood and respected for what they are doing for their country. I remember watching one parade in a AnySmallTown USA, my host told me to make sure my son knew to take of his hat as the vets came down leading the parade with the flag; otherwise, a member who walks down the sidewalk beside the color-guard will chastise him for being disrespectful. I told my host "After all of the training in s

Here's a thought ... I think honor expresses itself in groups. That's why I push youth to "put themselves out there". This is one of the prime distinctions between my ventures who come in from a troop environment, and the rest (i.e., some girl scouts, and boys and girls who were never in scouting). In a troop it is taken for granted that you will hold a position of responsibility (not talking about patches here, talking about a job that everyone expects of you), and you will put some effort into it and nobody is going to take any excuses from you, and you are not going to make any excuse

By tent stakes, I'm assuming you mean something of the longer stakes you can buy in your camping supply store. No, they won't work. If your talking what the circus uses, that's a different story. 30" rebar (steel) works. Some people have that more ready than wood stakes. If you have a landscaper among your parents, he/she might be able to make a generous donation. But the general ideas was to go out in the woods, size up the plot of land, find the hickory trees with suitable branches (easy enough if you're somewhere with harsh winters and plenty of deadfall), and hack away.

I remember in college (a little later than you would have been going, Stosh) a buddy of mine and I were in the same class. He was always looking sharp, and I -- well let's just say I never left the wilderness too far behind. The prof was just a few years older than us (maybe more, but she looked very young) and a very competent instructor, who was generous with office hours. I remember going her office and he was just leaving -- in full dress ready his ROTC meeting. Her first comment to me was "Students didn't dress like that when I was in college! Times have changed." "For the better?" I

"Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain." -- If he heard an "Oh my Gosh" (or even a "Golly gee" or "by Jove") from our lips, he'd bust us on it!

We'll need Richard B to direct us to an after action report. And that, IMHO, means every "near miss" should be followed up this month. Many spiral fractures (like the one my daughter acquired to her wrist this spring) aren't diagnosed at the ER, but rather a couple of weeks after the fact. I know in recent years, I've had one boy with a sprained wrist backpacking. Estimate that at 1 per 1000 boy-days, multiply by 40, and you're pretty much right at the same #. :0 For my modest statistical consulting fee, I can compile the published research on skate park and BMX injuries and give you a p

If that was true, then why do the "leadership skills" types go nuclear when we suggest that the Boy Scouts of America (in exchange for our lucrative monopoly on Scouting) be "trustworthy" enough to "obey" the statute that we include all those requirements from June 15, 1916? For the same reason that we pay the morbidly obese a million dollars a year to mock that law, to promote Wood Badge, and to explain why it is wrong for the Boy Scouts of America to expect a twelve (12) year-old Boy Scout to sleep in a tent away from his mommy and daddy: Not a ten (10) or eleven (11) year-old Boy