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Rich, The thing is, councils take national's attempt to simplify things (like the tour plan instead of a goofy array of tour permits) and bludgeon volunteers with them (like attempting to require them for every gathering outside your regular place of business). The medical form is now a small novel. On the bright side, if one of our languages is ever lost to history, archaeologists will now be able to use it as a Rosetta stone. And everyone waves that insurance bogey man! Simple program changes can be stifling. An SM gets wind of boys planning to camp at Farmer Ben's, they

Is every molester of young boys a perpetrator of having gay sex with young boys? Absolutely yes. Unless the perp is female. Which, I guess kinda makes Trev's point.

Pardon me if while growing up reading the "Scouts in Action" section of Boys Life about medal of honor recipients who while on an overnight with their patrol, happened to complete a rescue of some hapless stranger that I took it to mean that "patrols, well prepared, save lives." Heck, I remember one time while hiking with my buddies (back in the day when you just got together and did those sorts of things) that we crossed a pipeline and smelled gas. We hustled home and reported it. There's no telling if it amounted to a big problem or not. But that's what I think patrols should be doin

I'm wary that letting the scouts elect/select and self-regulate might not result in the change we need. That could be your problem. You think that, by allocating boys on your own, the odds are in your favor of getting the intended results. Whatever does or does not happen will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Something to think about.

You are paying the cost of being "first" to break in this HA base, there will be bumps in the road. When Jambo moved around every time, I bet there were similar challenges. I was at the first Jambo at AP Hill. Not everything ran smoothly (as I learned later), but I had a great time. So, do think of things from a youth's perspective. Maybe your son does need to know exactly what he will be eating six months from now, but maybe he'll have fun regardless. I agree that this is overhyped. At it's core Jambo is about gathering scouts. All the other stuff is just Disneyland.

Our scouts do share. (Sometimes they have to wait until they get near a cell tower.) It does do something for esprit-de-corps. It hasn't helped recruiting.

The removal of the patrol overnight exemption was just after your SM HB. We discussed it here: http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=307375&p=1 OGE, sure, I'm using a little hyperbole. But, I sincerely believe our citizens are better served by properly trained patrols of scouts out in the field. Having to coordinate a rendezvous with adults for their overnight unnecessarily limits the range of a patrol.

We changed to this configuration his year. It was getting ridiculous at rechartering time to chase down both the COR and EO for signatures on three separate charters thet never seemed to get completed at the same time. Both persons had the same position in the CO ("elders on session" in a presbyterian church), so functionally they had the same responsibility/authority and just divided it up because it sounded like BSA required it to be at way. So in practice, one would be our go-between with the church, and the other would sign paperwork once a year.

Via two means: 1) Biannual YPT training. 2) Tour plans that cannot be completed by youth members, unless two adults are attending. In our neck of the woods, the commissioner staff has very little influence in the matter. If you have a dozen electronically trained adults whose only responsibility is the unit, who aren't hashing things out at roundtable, in a district with few UCs, well then edicts direct from national are all there is. Now, the one positive of this is that if patrols do plan their outings independently, more adults will be called upon to support them. And, more i

Acco, Specifically, patrols are no longer to be on overnight activities without adult supervision. A few of us find that patently absurd, as once a patrol reaches a certain level of maturity, overnight independent camping is to be expected. Boys are naturally camping independently at this age. The point of First Class is to teach them the basic skills and citizenship to do that sucessfully.

I don't know. I trust the boys to be excellent on their own, but all it would take is a single instance of something bad happening and in today's world of information and litigation a boy could be face effects of a mistake he made, which may not have happened under supervision, for the rest of his life. How about the three lost souls on the Ozark trail last weekend? Would they not have benefitted from crossing paths with a patrol of boys prepared to treat for hypothermia, build shelter, signal for rescue, and coordinate safe extraction? BSA should be sued for abandoning real patrols

Sq21, I've used the you-only-got-one-shot-so-take-it argument for cubs through venturers, so I'm with you there. It works for most young boys (9 out of 11 in FTB's case). But then there's those other youth who need a get-the-most-out-of-what-we've-had-to-offer argument. And that works on maybe 1 in 10. It's the boy who it dawns on him that you would actually like if he "helped" you by completing his requirements. Unfortunately, it's a crap-shoot if the boys who don't respond to the first argument would be the ones who would respond to the second!

Barry, I've seen the opposite. Only about 1 in 5 of the boys who came into the crew from outside of scouting (or even outside our troop) got anywhere near as involved as the boys from our troop. Not sayin' it's a bad idea. Just saying that just because the shirts may be a little greener doesn't mean the grass is. Son #2 finally got a buddy to come to a troop campout, they were building a foot bridge in muck and mire for a service project. The boy loved it. Came back wanting to join. That was six months ago. Still hasn't completed the app. I offered that he could join the cr

The AOL is not what's important here. What is important: does he know age-appropriate 1st aid? Has he demonstrated those skills? Make it clear to dad that that is what really matters, and say that if the boy needs a couple of months more in the pack to be sure, that's okay. If on the other hand, the boy's old enough and wants to cross-over without AoL and work on 1st aid skills in the troop, that's okay too. If the boy wants to quit scouts and learn 1st aid at the local pool (or wherever), that's also okay. Bottom line: one more boy well prepared. That's what we're af

Seen it done. For about the same reasons as you describe. Not judging the UC. It could be that you're too proud to listen to his/her advice. Maybe he/she's being fed a line of bull by the mom. Maybe, thanks to her, you're reading his overtures as insults. Maybe it's just an oil and water thing. No way to tell from this side of the interweb. Doesn't matter. You'll never know unless you swap a different person into the role. The down side: you might get a UC who is not invested in your unit at all. He/she might take the fact that you asked for a trade as an indication to keep

Ditto all of the above. Start yesterday if: ... you have a charter organization that will host a unit, ... you have three key adults who will take on roles as CO rep, SM, and CC, ... you have 5 or more boys who want to start something new and parents who will support them. By "parents who will support", I mean parents who aren't expecting an Eagle mill, who understand their boys may have to visit the next town to earn a merit badge, who aren't upset if you don't have a massive trailer with a pretty paint job, who will offer their pickup to haul gear when needed -- gas on their dime

Nike's afraid we might send former scouts studying there to the doorstep!

The issue isn't really about co-ed so much as it is about seemingly limited resources. You build this program that suits a large segment of a target population (this applies more to cubs than older youth), it's a huge draw. Judging by smiles on faces, participants asking to return next year, etc ... it's a tremendous success. So much so that demand rises from outside your target population. You're really not asking yourself "Are they allowed?", "Will the kids mix okay?", "Do the adults share similar values?". Chances are you've answered those questions (or in the case of the OP, someone's

We see so much of the gear that scouts purchase handed down through the troop, that I don't fret over the individual SA's. I continue to see them as money over which the boys are stewards to help the troop and scouting at large. Our troop benefits if boys recharter with us. Our troop benefits if a boy comes to summer camp. It benefits if each boy is geared up against hypothermia. Our council contingent benefits if one of our boys can make it to jambo. Now, SM_Travis' troop is hurting because it wasn't made clear to the boys (and their families, of course) that his troop would

Imagine the auto makers blocking research on transportation safety, drug makers blocking independent research on the long-term effects of their drugs, teachers' unions blocking research on teacher effectiveness - all because they want to preserve the status quo and their profits. Don't need to imagine. Once upon a time, the research center I was with had a follow-up data that countered some of the short-term results favoring a medical device. It should have been written by a prestigious MD. However, all of the other more senior collaborators had connections to the device manufacturer a

Awful news. One deadly turn. Nike, praying for your people. Mourning at a distance is hard.

Cub Age: loved it. Scout Age: occasionally read it. (Troop made it optional for families. Tried to make sure only one per family was being ordered.) Venturing Age: couldn't care less. In fact, I think this is one of the weak parts about the venturing program. There's no web 'zine with a graphic novel that includes the teen drama, tough ethical decisions, and physical challenges. I think everyone agrees that BL rightly skirts around choices about pornography, smoking, military life, college choices, marriage, following your parents' religion, etc ... Venturing leaves those up to th

Rule #1: Never ask anyone for a rule. There are plenty of other ones you'll get without asking. That said 18 is young, but are you the kind of guy people trust, and will you get help if you're in over your head? If for example there's an SM out there with a lot of heart but zero experience and a brand new troop. Your scouting experience, along with your connections to your district may be very helpful.

At the very least a few months suspension. Possibly for all of the boys. I know of one situation on a HS football team where the boy who pulled the knife was found to be in the right, because the other boy would persistently taunt folks wih the intent of inciting violence. The character of each of the boys needs to be called into question. The SE may need to call in a few resources to get counseling to the kids who need it. From this side of the Internet, we can't tell what exactly needs to be done with these three boys. But you need to have your best listeners able to take point on th

B. Those questions are ones that only Tom and his fellow planners can answer. As I said earlier, capacity is a huge consideration that must be addressed. (Of course, it's Texas, so maybe it only sounds big. ) There could be others. Like, are these AHG troops starting to host events that welcome cubs in their area? Is reciprocity working? Or, do you gain by shooting for even more #s of youth in the field for the event? For example, our council holds ski weekends. We get a discount from the resort for pumping as many youth as we can through their ticket booth. Therefore, the event