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I would pull the pain-in-the-but-SM routine and require at least two shake-down/conditioning weekends (similar physical challenge, not so isolated) before the event. Scouts must attend at least one to qualify. (Or if you think you need more than a couple backpacking trips to be sure of everyone's skills, require as many as you need.) You might even emphasize an age minimum and at least 1st class rank for every participant. No compliance? No event. I would have your JASM line up the dates for the training weekends, and relay the above "minimum" requirments. Then, have the you

This is good stuff, but not much different than VLST. Of course you need to recap some basics, but I think commissioners need to know some council-specific stuff: Who needs a crew? (Talk about some of the back-and-forth that was typed on these other threads. Selling points to a scoutmaster/youth leader, etc... Possibly identify some CO's that have yet to be approached.) What are the top 5 crews in your council doing this year? Names and contact info for the council venturing officers association advisor, committee chair, and executive (whatever you have). My crew got a good "

Outfitters are a good bet. An outdoor/sportsman's club that wants to extend its reach to youth would be a good idea. A church that want's to add a wilderness component to its H.S./early college youth ministry might also work. Each of these may come with their own set of caveats. (E.g., a business might want you to sport the company's logo, the sportsman's club might want a junior membership fee, a church might ask your youth to work on their Trust Award.) Or they might be like our CO (a church) which just expects us to be good and say grace before meals (and turn the lights out and

You know a division has "arrived" in this organization when there is a "vintage" uniform. My daughter and I did choose vintage. One youth told me the only reason he bought the new one was that there were no vintage shirts in his size. If he can find a vintage one, he will return the new model. Of course it wasn't raining at the time. Oh: no cigarette pockets.

Have the fun of being a crew advisor is handing out membership cards to young women, shaking their hand, and saying, "Welcome to the Boy Scouts of America." I don't think any name change is necessary. The young women who join this program (through the few channels they are permitted to do so) are proud of the association.

Plus, the leadership corps patch looked really cool. (Gold lamp, with a flame, on a read background.) Sthiker, find out from your stubborn SM why he would be uncomfortable with a Venturing Crew under the same CO as his troop. Then, find someone who has been known to work well with this SM, is willing to get Venturing Leader Specific Training, and can serve as the crew's advisor. Crews are crazy things. (As the above posts attest.) They are trying to attract the age range that the BSA has the hardest time retaining. They function best with appropriate training and teamwork.

Prevention helps. We know in advance that father-son pairs can irk one another, so we dads have a pact that we will "ride herd" over one another's kids but not our own. I am always thankful when other adult leaders tell me (in confidence) how they've handled my sons' disciplinary issues, even if I feel they were too lenient. Frequent pow-wows at summer camp over how we've dealt with the tough cases of the day are really helpful. Our troop is blessed with some really experienced adult leaders who take time to camp with us, so their example in handling "tough cases" is invaluable.

If you all haven't seen my recent replies on posts, the crew I advise has been slow in adopting a uniform, but ... After seeing another crew and their flag at a community gathering, a youth took it upon herself to sew us a crew flag. She's using the standard venturing unit flag as a pattern, and from what I was permitted to see so far, it looks pretty sharp. Now, the crew's not dirt poor. (She should know this, she's the treasurer.) We could buy a flag, but I'm always a fan of anything handmade, and she took up her first day of summer break getting started sewing. So I'm inclined t

It's really not a matter of if you withold your reccommendation (right now it sounds like you don't want to give it), but for how long? Then, if you do so you may need to decide -- maybe along with your officers -- if suspension is in order.

I'd have to echo Bevah on this one. My first real rescue was when I was the only guy in a pool surrounded by swimmers (youth group, private pool) to identify a freind who was drowning. A simple "reach" saved the day with zero fanfare, but if it weren't for prior consecutive years of red-cross/bsa "in water" training, I would have missed it. My take on SSD is that it outlines the "minimum standard", and STRONGLY ENCOURAGES you to get "physically" trained adults and youth on your aquatics activities. If you're the only one in the group who has read GSS, and none of your adults have even p

I see it in the opposite direction. We need to stand by the youth's choices (that includes choosing a crew with a particular uniform - or lack thereof) within the boundaries set by the program. If it means "educating" the board of review, when introducing the scout, so be it. ("It is my pleasure to introduce Pee-Wee Harris, currently sporting the uniform of crew ___, which is deemed appropriate according to BSA regulations for occasions such as this ...") Hopefully it will boil down to a few guys like Eagle92 sucking it their breath and moving on to more pertinent issues of character.

I really owe the youth in my crew a lot of love and respect after reading this thread. But, dhendron, your crew members need to know that they will not be put at risk so someone can have a "safe haven" from their behavior in a sister unit. The crew officers are responsible for discipline within thier unit, so your obligation to them is to get them educated on YP. BSA has some decent videos on sexual harrasment and date rape. Even if they aren't making judgements (which in this case, it seems that's out of their hands), they need to understand why you are taking any action. What ac

The best scout I ever knew got to second class and aged out five years later. My pack was not communicating well with the troop, if he didn't recruited me there'd have been one less Eagle ...

E-mail is not the perfect solution. But it definitely helps. Here's my suggestions: 1.a. Make sure the responsibility of tracking E-mails goes to the unit secretary. Sometimes that's a little tough because the best recorder doesn't always have the best tech skills, but if you can find a him/her a buddy to help with "best practices" then oversights will drop. 1.b. List-servers are helpful (groups.google.com is my favorite). The neat thing about these is that if someone misses a message, there's usually a web page that someone can go to to retrieve old posts. If your unit maintains a web

Thanks for the "heads up". Three of my crew (that has been very slow to adopt a uniform) just got elected to the council VOA cabinet. Two of them are very excited about buying the kelly-green shirt. I would like to take them to the scout shop and get this done at the same time. Now I know to call ahead and make sure they have the sizes we need in the same style. I honestly don't care which style, I just know they'll want to look sharp as a group (even the third one who won't admit it).

I don't think there is a caliber specification, but most of my youth who haven't shot before or rarely shoot want to gain/improve their target skills, so they prefer .22. The youth who have shot before and have good skills want to try different calibers/styles. Fortunately we have a number of NRA certified adults in our district who are willing to share toys.

If at all possible, we have scouts pay for merchandize up front. Most of them and their folks would pay us back, but people are blitzed with so much paperwork already that they don't always keep track of it all. So, unless someone on your committee is willing to politely "nudge" the late payers every week, don't even bother with fundraisers that advance merchandize.

Got lots of participation patches. My venturers (the non boy/girl scouts) still look at me funny when I hand them out after events. Despite the tone of some here, rank *is* something cool and admirable. It can be blown out of proportion, but it can just as easily be undervalued. Now I have had somewhat confrontational discussions in committee meetings with parents who expect every scout by their third year to make FC -- or every scout to advance a rank a year -- or whatever. I frankly have stated that boys making rank is not a priority of mine and it should not be of any scoutmaste

Got lots of participation patches. My venturers (the non boy/girl scouts) still look at me funny when I hand them out after events. Despite the tone of some here, rank *is* something cool and admirable. It can be blown out of proportion, but it can just as easily be undervalued. Now I have had somewhat confrontational discussions in committee meetings with parents who expect every scout by their third year to make FC -- or every scout to advance a rank a year -- or whatever. I frankly have stated that boys making rank is not a priority of mine and it should not be of any scoutmaste

Community service: the quality of Eagle projects surpasses that of other projects of similar aged youth. The communities in our area are hungry for youth to take leadership, in fact some local park boards have "wish lists" for prospective Eagles. Actually, they are there for anyone to take the lead on, but who does? Not adults who have to hold down multiple jobs to make ends meet. Not the ones that have time because they have to jet out to their vacation villas. Not non-scouts who could just as easily take on "mop-up" projects to earn the community service credits their high school may re

Community service: the quality of Eagle projects surpasses that of other projects of similar aged youth. The communities in our area are hungry for youth to take leadership, in fact some local park boards have "wish lists" for prospective Eagles. Actually, they are there for anyone to take the lead on, but who does? Not adults who have to hold down multiple jobs to make ends meet. Not the ones that have time because they have to jet out to their vacation villas. Not non-scouts who could just as easily take on "mop-up" projects to earn the community service credits their high school may re

We haven't had to deal with this issue, but in general our rule to the press or anyone from the outside is refer them to our council. If they don't have a scout who wants to join or a service we can perform for our community, we don't want to talk to them. We tow this line and only make public statments if expressly requested to do so by the scout and his family. Regarding the boy, he's a member of the troop until 18 (or a crew until 21). Beyond that he has to decide between his lifestyle and scouting. (Sounds like our loss.) Though offered, a portion of our 18 year olds (orienta

One other option (assuming you've talked to your son, he really likes this troop, and you have decided -- unlike others here -- that the COR's desire, although an imposition, isn't morally objectionable): 1. Let your son join, advance, etc ... 2. Find a venturing crew in your area that may need a co-advisor. 3. Assist their program (maybe help a young lady plan a camping trip on the dates your son is away with the good-old-boys). 4. When your boy turns 14 (or if 13 if he's finishes 8th grade early) offer him and his buddies (scouts or otherwise) the chance to join the crew. If they

Youth or adult, if you're goin to just sleep in shotgun, I'm swapping you out for a more talkative rider. Oh, and I require youth to plug one of their ipods into the stereo system. No "teenage ear binkies" in my tin can. Before departure, I circle up adults and repeat the "no convoy" rule because I once saw the car in front of me get t-boned. (Scenario described as per Pack212Scouter.) Fortunately nobody was hurt and there was minimal damage to both vehicles, but it was clearly our driver's fault.

How about a crew dedicated to building an airplanes? Each entering class gets a design and fundraises for parts. Over the years, assembles it and gets FAA approval. You fly your class' model on your 21st birthday. Graduates "buy back" their model by advising underclassmen!