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The best scout I ever knew aged out at 2nd Class. What made him the best? He invited me to join his troop! Get your scouts to be friendly ... that's a greater achievement than any rank.

We have a 14 boys signed up for camp (the week starting on Father's day) and yesterday one parent asked to add their scout to the list.

@Shameed79, welcome to the forums! Here's one that might fit the bill ... Click here to my reply to a discussion on working with post-modern nomads (that's my term that I recommend instead of the m-word or gen-whatever.) A lot of organizations and municipalities need some major help with archiving old materials, etc ... and doing so demands a lot of leadership and communication skills from a a scout. Best of luck in the idea search!

I remembered thinking this 12 years ago with my crew: "These folks now have tech that Star Trek would covet.* But they can't communicate any better than if they had semaphore flags." *I have a flip phone for lots of reasons. One is in hopes that someday I'll have a friend named Scottie.

Well, statistically, be it in terms of accidents, abuse, ignorance, or perpetual health disparities, the kids are most "at risk" from you, your spouse, your siblings, and each other on a per-hour-of-contact basis. By sending kids to school and scouts, music and sports, I am expecting some of those intrinsic risks to be mitigated. In slightly different terms, a century ago, that's the conversation the superintendent of schools had with my grandfather ... I think he'd be pleased with the results. It's like vaccines. Artificially Inducing herd immunity has intrinsic risks for which our nation compensates human victims. (A friend has someone in his household experienced the side effects - and the claim for compensation -- first hand.) I would never ask my fellow citizens to participate in it ... if it weren't for the dead and maimed harvested by naturally induced herd immunity. The jury is still out about how much two-deep engenders the accountability required to prevent abuse. Either 1) there were a few incidents where BSA felt that a general guideline was necessary or 2) risk managers sat in a room and took guesses at how harmful new tech could be (either to individual members or the organization as a whole). My bet is #2 is close to the real story.

One source of burn-out is asking adults to do a scout's job ... I have no idea why we think telling a parent how a scout can do a requirement helps the scout in any way. There's a handbook. Read it. Do what it says. That's all I said ... once. (in another thread, I posted the contents.) From there it's the SPL/PL's responsibility to show leadership. If they don't, come summer camp (as ASM) I'll be asking them why some of their patrol members aren't even Tenderfoot yet. (I'll do it politely, because we leaders are guests of the patrols for dinner. I'm not doing anything to mess with that gravy train!) The pandemic will not be an excuse. Lack of internet will not be excuse. Heck, if the phones get cut off, that will not be an excuse. And by all that is right and holy, parents not getting an E-mail will not be an excuse. Either they are Tenderfoot scouts or they are not. If they are, good. Time to plan for the next rank. If they are not, time to tell them (not their parents) to get cracking. If some MC whines about us losing JTE points (which, by the way, none have for the past 8 years), I will say that's proof of a great SM. Our troop? The boys evidently finally asked the SM to hold a zoom meeting to discuss O/A. We'll have one tonight. Will we have another one? i dunno, that's between the SM and the PLC. I sent one blurb out that camp will be rough if the patrols aren't getting in shape. It's now up to the boys to figure it out.

Mrs Q and I binge watched it last weekend. Cute show.

The persistent banner ads for Boy Scout compensation fund are getting old. Any way the forum can charge them double and send them to troubled camps?

@RichardB some of the points on the "Safety Moment" are more intuitive than others. Say, for example, avoiding recording. That is very hard not to do! I have had parents who review all of their kids' texts. I am certain we no have such parents who record every online session. Lacking incident reports, it's hard to tell which suggestions are reactions to actual abuse and which ones are defensive out of fear of hypothetical litigation.

Success in spite of drawing the short straw of a 1st ASM @ WSJ! His was the last ECoH I attended before lock-down.

On it. Well, except for the vax tat. Nowadays kids are all about stickers ... https://www.pittwire.pitt.edu/news/covid-19-vaccine-candidate-shows-promise-first-peer-reviewed-research Some who see a bevy of patients might be selected to give it a go. If you're interested and in the area, you've probably already seen announcements, but just in case ... https://www.upmc.com/coronavirus/vaccine

So, scouters, if your PL got with his buddies and, with parents approval, did this hike, would you sign them off on the 5 mile land navigation requirement?

Online has yet to be delivered uniformly across districts around here. Pittsburgh public is having an especially rough time.

@Treflienne, that scout of yours is in it for more than just rank, so brag about her to your troop, your district, and your council. Send her a patch, or maybe a backwards necker face mask from your collection! As far as rank requirements go, none of us should meddle in the machinations of you and your PLC. Read the requirements (and in this case, I'd stick with the ones in the Handbook) discuss with your PL and SPL if they think it would be fair for them to sign off on her work, and proceed accordingly. It's not a thing to leave to strangers on the internet, be it National's advancement committee or us. But since you asked ... My bottom line: conceptually, is she a second class scout? If she fell in with one of my patrols -- or my crew -- could I expect her to have the skills and demeanor commensurate with her rank? Or, would her provisional PL/officer come grumbling to me that this kid barely has tenderfoot skills?

I can't speak for the other camps, but Redwing avoided recent closures because it was so popular among GS around here. My venturers loved the place.

@Jeff1974, I definitely relate to the "old folks at home" experience. Mrs Q's mom is at our house. Plus my grandson is just around the corner on home isolation due to major surgery last month. We are grateful for every day we can keep the two of them out of the hospital, and we are resolved to keep it that way. My TC knows that'll be a deciding factor in my availability going forward. At the same time, a couple of scouts (before all of this happened) asked me to restart our crew. So, I'm asking myself: is this the right time to get online and throw down the gauntlet with these boys to start a recruitment plan?

If you leave your boots outside your tent (even in a vestibule) put them sole side up. It's easier to shake out scorpions than snow.

Oh, the trading opportunities one would have next year with a certified NYC COOVID-19 response necker!

Excellent question. Obviously a lot of fossils are found because someone moved the rock that was covering them! File under all things in moderation?

LCD = lowest common denominator scouts (and parents, and some scouters). Focusing on them, disappointment is certain. At WSJ one day our scouts scuttled off leaving their dining area littered. There was an LCD scout in camp slumming in front of his tent. I approached him, and asked (in that ASM-ish way of asking that is basically an order) to police the boys' dining tarp, count the pieces of litter that he picks up, and be sure to tell his fellow scouts when they returned how much their mess he cleaned up for them. The scout looked at me, and seeing that I was indeed talking to him, got up and proceeded to clean up camp while I returned to plunging my laundry in my 5 gallon bucket. He did a find job, so I thanked him. Then he said, "My home troop doesn't give ask me to do much because I've got a reputation for not being very responsible." I told him that if the SM and I waited for someone responsible to come along, nothing would get done. I could spend all day fuming over scouts like that. Or, I could ask them one favor (give them one order) after the next, until they started acting like the 1st class scout who I expect them to be. And there is no mistaking the skill differential of a scout from a troop or crew and other fine young men and women of this community. On average, they seem to have done more, interacted with more people, cooked better food, and generally navigated college or military better. So, weather it seems like bean counters at National notice it or not, once again I will repeat, without reservation: Skill mastery in a wide range of areas is definitely BSA's most valuable asset.

I've seen far too many scouts take the same course every year long after they earned the badge to think the little round medallion was the goal. Skill mastery in a wide range of areas is definitely BSA's most valuable asset.

Plan A makes the "where we want ... when we want ..." assumption, so your first deadline is for deciding go/nogo with that plan. If your committee says they have no stomach for waiting any longer, you should decide that Plan A is a no go ASAP. Plan B contains a different "where" for the same "when" or a different "when" for the same "where". Or, you make each those two different plans. It depends on how much energy you have for that sort of thing. Creating each plan consumes a lot of energy. (As many of us know because our jobs -- if we're blessed to have them --- are now already operating on plan B and there's pressure for us to have plans C and D at the ready.) The challenge as scouters is to be open-minded and positive. If you have good district scouters, let them know that you are looking for some plans B and C. They might have something to offer. I was in a situation where plan A tanked, and Seabase offered a plan B1 (FL Keys instead of Bahamas) and my committee found a plan B2 (Bahamas, but we'd have to pay more). My crew went with plan B2 by majority vote -- and fortunately we didn't lose the minority. But, with 4 from my family on that trip, my big-ticket scouting budget was tapped for multiple years.

That's a strong argument for camps moving to 14-day sessions.

My daughter took a flight this week. Six passengers on each leg. I'm pretty sure the airlines will be ready to take your $$s. IMHO, the right call to make is have a plan A, B, and C. Be open to your committee helping you decide to drop plan A now. Some people find keeping options on the table too stressful, and you've already mentioned why that might be the case. But, if the you all come out of that meeting willing to keep everything on the table until next month, and even the month after that, roll with it. In these situations we learn a lot about our teams.

I'm editing in order to deccentuate the negative .... I want to quietly make one modest evaluation: That is one awesome group of scouts! @TMSM, there is only one thing you should strike from your list: I am thinking of bragging to my troop about your troop. But if you throw in the towel now, the scouts who know which forums I browse will get wind of it and say, "Serves you right for listening to strangers on the internet." Don't let National freak you out. If your scouts and their families are letting you keep channels open, spend time on those channels. We work for smiles. I agree about not making these online sessions feel like school. Troop meetings should be shorter and more like roll-call and reports from PLs. Screen time should involve boys posting their accomplishments. Provide that structure. The scout/family who really needs you or has something unique to offer will reach out.