qwazse

I've done Key West Sailing adventure with three crews (on the same week) and Bahamas Sailing Adventure with two crews. They are both very rewarding. Especially the snorkeling in the Bahamas. I'd go back to the Bahamas with my family in a heartbeat. Oh wait, I did! Yes, you can get private outfitters for each, but self-provisioning is a day out of your schedule. And the captains who sign up to host scouts are a unique breed.

@MattR, It sounds like your son's dog is my dog's evil twin. (Someone's chocolate took a shining to someone's golden.) Yes, he needs to get out. He'll hike till he drops. Those poor hips aren't doing mine any favors. And @heres_a_llama, being in GS/USA as long as you were, you understand the risks. People have not changed. @SemperParatus may have an axe to grind. But, his concern is valid. At the end of the day, people trust us adult leaders beyond the organization's ability to assure our integrity. Learning our Youth Protection Training is the best asset you and your son will have. If any of that unnerves you, post your concerns, we creepy strangers on the internet might be able to walk you through it.

@heres_a_llama, don’t let the curmudgeons get on your nerves. Yes some of us are dealing with national issues and cultural shifts, and that can be discouraging. BSA isn’t some up-front investment of thousands. Were it to fold next year, hopefully you’ll have got out what you put in this year. Positive attitudes year by year ... that’s what shapes the worlds largest youth movement.

PL’s cannot sign-off requirements in scoutbook. It is a read-only book to them. Patrol Method is optimized when the only signatures in a scout’s book are from his/her PL. That includes the SM conference. At PLC, the SM reports on which scouts he conferenced, and PLs note that in the respective scouts’ books. Really, the only things that adults are obliged to record are boards of review and advancement for each rank. Boys having to stop by the advancement chair or SM to have their books updated for every little requirement is an artifact of recent decades.

1. This season could have done with more preemptive bow-sawing in some parts of the west. 2. It’s sheer folly to judge someone’s mindset, especially a teen’s, based on a statement (probably parroted by adults throughout the scouterverse) clipped from an interview that was no doubt 10 times as long.

IMHO. There have been way too many scouters who think every Eagle project should be something more than a scout and his buddies slapping together a nice looking bench in a public location. I have more trouble with projects that are barn-raisers that take thousands of man-hours where the scout’s hand on the tiller seemed incredibly light.

If a governor limited youth camping to "groups of no greater than 10 close friends from the same neighborhood, adult supervision and other groups no closer than 100 yards," how many council/units would comply?

I will say that certain young teens have a special knack for those especially challenging kids.

No. Fun gives no specific benefits.

An adult sibling serves as a designated guardian. E.g., on the permission slip, who can take a child home from an activity. BSA is ambiguous on these scenarios because they are many and unpredictable. But think of it from a litigation perspective. Right now "public service" announcements are reminding us that being exposed to pornography is a form of sexual abuse. How many youth were introduced to it by their older siblings? How many older siblings were also ASMs? Things to keep us awake at night.

Photographing the color guard: cool. Photographing players and audience: not cool.

For me, the training offered a little more than the ticket. I was pretty good at goal setting and project management. The networking gained through the training pays dividends to this day.

Don't know about where you live, but eight buddies pitching in $15 can get a kid to some very sweet campsites in Western, PA. That includes filling their bellies with some quality ingredients -- possibly fresh eggs and milk if you're willing to pitch in and help the farmer/ranger with a project or two. So, the calculus has become: pay BSA registration vs. go camping once a month. I am honestly astounded that the parents in my troop think it's worth the price of admission.

Also, the dollar cost advantage of MB pamphlets are when they make it to a troop library to be shared with other scouts. Do you envision that your app for a particular MB could be purchased by one scout (possibly the troop librarian) to be shared with 40 other scouts over the next few years?

Are you aware that the scouterverse has been here before? https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2015/06/16/casting-call-bsa-seeks-boy-scouts-star-instructional-videos/

Thanks to @HICO_Eagle’s nods, I just realized, we were just two weeks to lockdown when I wrote this. The moral of the story: if your 1st years ask to mix, let them do so ASAP. You never know when the next wave will come.

We make a commitment form for each big trip. Here is an financial section that I used for a trip. It was not the crew's responsibility if you couldn't go. How much you got returned to you was between you and whoever replaced you. A. Finances/Paperwork: I will raise funds (no more than $1500) for the trip by participating in crew fundraisers, working on my own, or negotiating fairly with my parents. From now until April 2011 I will make monthly payments to Crew 321 to cover the cost of the trip. If I cannot go on the trip: I am responsible to find someone else to go instead of me, and they may reimburse me for what I have paid. I will complete a physical exam by within 12 months prior to the trip and have my physician complete the Seabase medical form. I will obtain a passport for travel to the to the Bahamas. qwazse, I edited this so it doesn’t take up two screens. John.

Go outside, mask on, extorting candy from neighbors, driving demons to flight. A perfect holiday for a pandemic.

Sorry the chips didn’t fall your scout’s way. But you are a greater victim of a propaganda machine that makes people think Eagle Scout is a “must have” on a scout’s application. It isn’t. Star and Life scouts get accepted to college at the same rate. It is more important on college essays to describe one’s leadership experience or how one overcame a trial, be it in scouting, school, or family life. Should a young man who has already applied to college work on Eagle? Of course! It flags to many employers that one pursued a goal for 7 years. Furthermore, I encourage scouts like this to not merely mark time. They should earn merit badges and rack up insta-palms during these relatively minor delays.

Interesting. I get the impression that two of the characters are female. Maybe a patch from Europe?

I don’t think GSUSA has an interest in being saddled with more land. With a motivated philanthropist, Trail Life USA could buy BSA. They seem to be expanding, but not rapidly enough to justify such a move for the assets they may gain. And they’d still gain the liability of the legal actions. I don’t think any other youth organization is up for a merger, at least not until the dust settles.

So, really, 25% of your troop’s scouts earn Eagle. That number is even lower if scouts drop out after 2 or 3 years as well. That approximates how National calculates its proportion: Eagle ranks conferred in a given year to percentage of scouts registered that year. If you used a cohort model, e.g. number of 11 year olds in 2012 who joined a troop vs. those who made Eagle by now, the two methods of calculating would yield a similar percentage. But, your perception highlights a very important point. It seems that troops have been brainwashed into thinking that the only thing that matters is rank advancement. If everyone isn’t doing it, they feel like the troop isn’t scouting. So, one forgets about all of the youth who left the program, and all of the youth who never joined the program, and all the youth who are fulfilling a vision of the pinnacle scouting experience of hiking and camping independently with their mates. All eyes fixed on Eagle perverts that vision.

Your district and/or council advancement chairperson would be the next person to talk to. If this involves applying for Eagle there are formal procedures if the troop is denying the scout a board of review. The other issues will involve polite conversations with your troop’s key 3.

Quantity has a quality all its own. - Thomas A. Callaghan Jr.

How are the lodges in each council? Which lodge has the most ownership of their camp?