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Not sure about symbols, but I know that the 5 golden rings refer to ring neck pheasants. Also the total number of gifts is 364, one for each day of the year 'cept Xmas. And from my economist buddies: http://www.psfk.com/2012/11/pnc-true-cost-of-christmas-cpi.html

YPT certs came in today, with all sorts of apologies. The very last said I deserved to yell at her, I told her I would never do that. Instead I have a more devious "punishment." She gets to be the next round's training czar! Redo-ing the whole process is well and good, that's what our troop did, but that make's for one more adult application and a COR's signature to chase for each adult who decides they want back on the roster!

JB. A little bit of both ... the "once and done" mentality doesn't just apply to advancement. And it can get complicated. I'm behind re-certifying my BSA guard because of bad weather interruptions. I just haven't found time to commit to redoing those requirements, including updating my first aid and CPR. One thing slips, other things follow. The interface isn't perfect, but the leaders who through it last week showed up on my unit training report as soon as they completed the course. I have adults who experienced the problems f8033 and skeptic mentioned. I'd have no problem if someone said "found my certificate, can you swing by and get it?" Or, "I can't get this computer to work, help!" That's not what we have here.

D.R., I could probably use a little touch-up on woodcutting skills. Now that I'm older, the effects of poor posture (and poor tool maintenance) are coming home to roost! Also, true story: at my beading, the MC stuck the ax in the log, but couldn't keep the darn thing from rolling sideways nearly off the table! Nobody taught him about preparing by shaving the bark off of one side or splitting two short pieces and notching them for a stand. But, if the course did that, you bet there'd be topic in this site's side bar: Woodcutting Session I was reading through the WB horror stories, and there were a lot of complaints with that segment. I remember no issues. Some people have feelings hurt ...

call their house, go visit and wait as they complete it. Their seeing you show up at their house will help them realize how important it is. Hopefully, they won't be such a pain two years from now. I think f8033 has the answer that fits for me. Meetings haven't worked, so it's time to make house calls. It's also time spent away from the youth. What I should have done: arrange for youth to go caroling at each slacking adult's: "We wish you a Merry Christmas ... now do your YP!" Yes, I have issues with adults. And 2C has a point. This is somebody else's job. But we're dysfunctional that way. Most of my adults are pulling double shifts or holding down three jobs. (Kids in college, grandchildren to attend to, etc ...) Make's 'em scatterbrained in spite of their big hearts. I'm affected too, there's a month-overdue check for the soccer association on my breakfast nook. I guess I'll run it over tonight.

My crew's charter is not ready to be approved because two adults haven't re-updated youth protection. Plenty of repeated E-mails, phone calls, etc ... and these are very nice, generally helpful adults who offer to do anything for me. Really, if I asked them for the world in a phone call, they'd leave it at my doorstep in a minute. I've probably accumulated more time in phone calls and e-mails than the hours it would have taken them to do this course. So at this point, what would you do? Delay turning in the charter until they complete YPT? Or, drop them from the roster? (For me dropping would be problematic because one adult is the CC.) This all would be so much easier if they would just cuss at me and tell me to go pound sand ...

But, CC that may require fathers to maintain a long standing commitment to the person of the opposite sex with whom they chose to have relations. We would have to elevate the status of such a relationship, and that would slight those whose long-standing relationships have minimal risk of pregnancy.

Although I wholeheartedly agree with the "death by PowerPoint" sentiment, "real patrol" distances are more likely to engender transactions that model game theory. TGoL could be played across a football field at equal effect. Given the physical distance, one patrol may be tempted to operate at the expense of others. An SM who experiences this among fellow adults might be prepared for when it happens among youth. Or, maybe an hour spent sharpening axes and splitting wood would benefit the troop more.

The aspects of prisoner's dilemma that aren't discussed in TGoL are long term strategies. Obviously, if your cliques are all helpful, then continuing that way is a productive strategy. But, what if you have an unhelpful clique and (unlike 2C) you do care? Game theory suggests that the next most winning strategy involves all of the cliques becoming unhelpful and not attempting a mutually beneficial strategy until the belligerent clique takes a beating. (In TGoL that means everyone chooses unhelpful until the obnoxious table takes a loss by choosing helpful while everyone else still chooses unhelpful. That the signal that for the next round, everybody tries helpful. If a clique tries unhelpful again, all switch to unhelpful for the following round until that clique "pays" by signaling it's willingness to take a loss.) In a sense, this "corporate discipline" is its own kind of helpfulness, enforcing a culture of altruism. We aren't all wired one way (selfish or selfless), but we all have the ability to inculcate a spirit of increasing or decreasing altruism in others. We just have to know how to "trip the switches."

This is right at your 10 hour mark: http://heritagereservation.org/eaglebase/index.php Road construction (a.k.a. orange blossom season) will probably add an hour to that. I met some young ladies who were in the midst of this program one evening. They were having a great time, by all accounts and by virtue of the fact they were making a bee line for the lake after a day of hiking.

I have a friend, a professional trainer, who just retired from the army and came up with what seems to be a solid wilderness first aid course. I told him I would probably try out his course if the BSA would honor it. The problem: he's getting the run-around in terms of certification. (I shared with him links from scouting.org and national camp school and he has had no response from E-mails.) He tried contacting a "local" guy ('bout an hour's drive away), who said that he already offered plenty of courses. (Yeah, on weekends that non of us could attend and we would have to commute or find lodging.) So does anyone have a "step-by-step" process of becoming a certified instructor? One that BSA will honor on a tour permit.

Forget this low-brow stuff Ea. Be patient, the time will come when the world needs a British pope!

Just one poor hobo telling another where to find food ...

Sentinel, read up on game theory and the prisoner's dilemma. It's interesting stuff -- especially if your fields touch on computer science, behavioral evolution, or philosophy. The bottom line: there is a cost to being helpful. Specifically, if you are risking someone taking advantage of you. And one way of avoiding paying that cost is putting you (or your clique) first. However, the trade-off is that you never reap the long term benefits of being mutually helpful. The game-of-life is set up so that if every clique is "helpful" they all gain points. But if one clique is unhelpful, they will gain more at the cost of others losing. The challenge is that you aren't communicating to other cliques for the first few rounds, and even when you do, a clique that has the "edge" might not be willing to change to a helpful strategy. Of course, Woodbadge participants aren't told that they are playing out a prisoner's dilemma, and folks are caught off guard by how other folks behave.

I think that's what happens when we "toss the salad." There are some boys who hold together as a core, some boys who work well with anyone, some who don't, and some we just can't figure out. We just hope hey land in bowls fit for serving!

I've seen backpacking crush some of my crew. Should I remove it from my program? The prisoner's dilemma is a pretty common topic in most decision theory classes. I think it helps people to see that we are often more selfish than we let on (even to ourselves). It also gives an idea of how to redirect people who are bent on a strategy of "always out for #1." Acting it out brings out more emotions. But I don't think that's bad. Besides, it's a game. It sure beat watching one more film.

We're lucky if they last a year. Our patrols seem to constantly reform and rename themselves. Our numbers have been at 18 for some time. No four boys seem to be in the same set of activities, they come from markedly different neighborhoods, they avoid competitions. The boys strongly prefer to operate as a troop. I've really never seen anything like it.

Had a look. Pretty good. I think a side-bar titled "I found an error in my training records", with step-by-step instructions on how to correct it (including who to contact, etc...) would help those who have no patience for fine print!

Ya, Frank, sometimes that's the only way to deal with "mama bear." Especially if she's trying to work each ASM in hopes that one will eventually cave. Sometimes, even when we're courteous and gentle, moms take it hard -- even moms who are truly helpful. A mom was brought to the edge of tears when I explained last year (or was it the year before?) that it'd be fine if junior wouldn't advance beyond Life scout. That boy just started his Eagle project today.

Didn't load over the coffee shop internet. When I get a land line, I'll see if it's any better. Looked at my unit toolbox last night and brought up our training records. Our most senior member had lots of records, but not his Woodbadge. His daughter, however, earned it at age 11! Needless to say, a page about constant maintenance is probably warranted.

Vision doesn't have to be a complex statement, and actually we sometimes use different words for different parents: "Troop __, we take bad kids." "Hike and camp, hike and camp, hike and camp ... and fish!" "We want a troop full of first-class scouts." "Don't worry, we'll let them know once they've hiked a mile out of their way." Note: we don't exclusively recruit kids with behavioral disorders. Our calendar isn't only hiking and camping. Most of our boys are Star or Life, going on Eagle. And, we do guide boys even when they're only 100 yards off trail (sometimes). But, those little catch-phrases give adults a picture of what our youth are about.

That's cheaper than some people's annual cable bill.

Tents are warmer by maybe 10 degrees, but our boys are nuts about those Adirondacks and bunk-houses! Everybody up here has decent bags and extra blankets. Once your in them, you're warm no matter where you lay them, as long as the bed is dry.

Options are always nice to have. As with all such things: communicate, communicate, communicate. Don't suspect anything. Find out from your high adventure guy how many adults your troop can supply. It may be two, but it could be one or none. You also want to be clear if this contingent is recruiting among crews in your council. That means it could be co-ed. This may be a problem for some of your parents. (It usually is not for the youth.) On the flip side, it's a great way for your boys to meet and work with youth from all over your council. That usually winds up being a very big plus. I had a scout/venturer be part of a council Philmont contingent. For a while, he was our go-to guy when it came to backpacking weekends. It was a positive for our crew and troop on many levels.

How do you incorporate new Scouts into these patrols, which are in excess of 8 each? Just noticed that part of the OP. Start asking some of your more capable scouts, "How would you like to start a new patrol?" That's what happened to me and a couple of buddies of mine when we got a swarm of crossovers. Our new "Wolf" patrol had the majority of 1st-years, but the other patrols each picked up one or two scouts moving over. Eventually, the older "Cobra" patrol retired as those boys moved on. The flag and other patrol equipment went into storage and was available to anyone who wanted to restart the patrol.