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@69RoadRunner, I was thinking that we should extend it through December for any scout who turned 18 during this national emergency and was willing to serve as an ASM. That would not only help ambitious scouts who were about to knock out their next rank, it would motivate scouts who maybe had given up on advancement a chance to try for that next award (be it 2nd class or their next Palm). MB work is, by definition, independent ... at most in small groups no greater than 10. What's novel is the virtual meetings with MBCs. The really tough part: getting two adults to support a patrol activity. Then, leading that activity or leading the troop remotely.

Our troop hosted a motor-boating weekend last summer, and the host parents got certified as counselors and did nearly everything to make sure things went smoothly. The parents were so generous that I gave them a stern lecture that next time the boys can plan and purchase their own meals, pitch in for refueling the boat, and generally spoil them rotten by keeping house for them during their stay. I think nearly all of the boys attending earned the badge.

Have them call the bottled water companies. My office's delivery guy says they swamped with new orders!

Most definitely file for an extension! Most parks do not want large group gatherings, and that would include a number of scouts working on a project together. I would be happy if National extended the age deadline for all scouts who turned 18 this month if they are willing to serve as ASMs -- not just for eagle, but Life and Star as well. There are a number of Scouts with time on their hands, and there are a lot of service projects that will be piling up.

Well, a camp director who does make a stink might be justification for choosing a different camp. In general, I encourage troops to give the director of a camp they've never been to a call. It's usually always worth the effort.

@RichardHall, welcome to the forums! So, I hope your inquiry to national wasn't based on a decades old thread! Did you have a scout who came up against some deadlines, and this really mattered?

Sounds like your issue will be with the camp. Call the camp director and let him/her know that your troop has home-made activity shirts. Ask if there are any guidelines. Frankly, if they are not for sale, nobody should be bothered.

Resurrecting this discussion. So, Bryan's article has discussed the "how to" for BoR's. And, I'm sure there are some favorite services not mentioned. But also @FireStone raised the question of how to make it work for other scout/scouter meetings? More importantly, can anyone move us from "how to" to "how to make it fun?"

Hey! We have a thread for that! It's in venturing, but maybe we should move it someplace else because we've learned a few things in the past four years. In the next couple months we'll learn a few more. I'll reply to resurrect it.

It's the hardest thing to do, but we never want to write for last year's troublesome parents. I suspect this year's parents will be emotionally impacted by this state of emergency. Unless we in this country defy the odds, many parents will have lost (if not nearly lost) an elderly relative. Another reason to keep it simple.

You already know how this worked in preventing "egregious offenders" before, so you know what to expect in the future (plus some other curve ball yet to be seen). Letters like these only get you so far. But if you're asking for revisions, I suggest one: Write less. (And now I will proceed to waste your time by writing more ) Look at every sentence. Scratch anything that excuses your behavior or tries to empathize with a parent's misbehavior. Don't waste time justifying your actions. This is your troop's culture, it needs no excuse. For example, your last point, I would rephrase: "Parents, new or returning, are expected to attend any adult training that the camp makes available." you have about 50% deadwood or more in those instructions. Get rid of it, and you'll do just as well.

We must be in different demographics. I've only been getting business and investment ads. I was wondering when the buxom models selling custom tshirt printing would appear. Pages here are loading more slowly. If it continues, no problem. There are other forums.

Or, maybe not. Consider the trajectory of membership growth since the addition of And agressively promotion HA bases. If BSA isn't squandering $$ on swaths of property inaccessible by most scouts (by miles and fees) it might just afford to keep costs down, thereby affording more members. If all the litigants asked for were titles to property, I'd give it them in a heartbeat.

@kmcsenior, welcome to the forums! Please do not let insignia dorks get you down. Yes, that piece of real-estate on a modern uniform is reserved for national and world scout jamborees. (And at that, we were all confused as to which of the three patches we were given for this past WSJ were meant to be "the" one.) But, your patching being a piece of history -- a rare and valuable window into your (and our nation's) past -- nobody will ask you to move it elsewhere. Worst case scenario: -1 point on inspection by someone who probably forgot what it was like to be a child. Worth the hit in my book. In a perfect world you would have the memo from your council that directed you as a scout to place it there. (Stuff like that really adds historic "value" patches like this.) But, other clippings emphasizing the event's importance will do. For example, this from my cursory google search: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36058946/cam-nisatin-news-19-apr-1960/. Even with such documentation, someone may perseverate on the possible appropriateness for a vintage uniform, but not the current Oscar De LaRenta design. Was this event truly on a scale comparable to the jamborees? If @TAHAWK recalls it. It's good enough for me.

It's been a while since I've seen ads on the forums. They seem to be back with this latest upgrade. l'm ambivalent toward efficiently placed sales pitches. Don't clog up my reading/writing experience and you can sell whatever you want. What's the new policy? For folks whose business might be scouts and scouters, how do they get in on the action.?

Got ours. No RT tonight.

So, before Pitt's spring break, any University programs bound for Europe (and, I suppose, other countries) were canceled. Unlike Harvard, we still have a few students on campus, and they aren't being kicked out of their dorms. Our work-study students feel "in limbo". They might be able to attend classes online, but they won't be able to do their jobs. If all you all have an odd job that needs done, you might want to ask your stranded college student neighbor if he/she would like to work a couple of hours for a little cash. Also, keep in mind that flu monitoring (the actual work of sitting in an urgent care center asking for cheek swabs of anybody coughing in the waiting room) is often performed by students or college graduates working part time. Others are working in nursing homes. Those could be your erstwhile scouts. Drop them a line. Their jobs have just gotten 100x more stressful.

The other issue that I've seen when the SPL is from the one patrol that has a different agenda from the other two or three in the same troop: that SPL is not invested in those three PLs as much as should be. Is it a grave problem? No, the other youth in the majority of the troop will need to step up their game. This is nothing new ... at least I remember having to deal with it when I was a scout. We certainly had those issues when troops merged. I would not be surprised if it arises in linked troops who go rogue.

Intended by whom? By me and @atrox79? I've argued that the most sensible thing for two groups working closely together is identify one senior scout to be on point. Other senior scouts assist. But, I'm just a stranger on the Internet spouting off rogue advice. If you pay too much attention to scouters like me and ignore the positive models that BSA promotes, you'll never be convinced. Sitting around waiting for BSA to say "no" to every variation on the theme is no way to identify the intended standard. Of the 360 degrees on a compass, only one is north. If asked what north is, I don't say "find Casseopia, that's not it, find Ursa Major, that's not it ...." Sure, you're not in grave danger most nights if you settle for splitting the difference between the two, but nobody should give you credit for being well oriented. I have produced official literature that aknowledges in writing a prized linked troop that has an SPL for each sex. You have not produced anything that upholds a different model. There is no ambiguity. We may conclude that BSA intends linked troops to field two SPLs. So, given that the literature cited confirms that you're wrong, so what? Well, for one thing it means that we can't have a scouter be dismissive of his/her committee. It's all he/she has in terms of folks who will dig deep and support the youth nearest and dearest to his/her heart. Some committees will drink the scouter's Koolaid and let him go rogue. Others will set boundaries. Worst case: they will just back away from the program. Unite or untie. That's the choice facing adult leaders. Being honest about where they are and are not adhering to standards is the first step in being a team.

On the flip side, many of your scout alumni are on extended spring break. They've probably already stopped in and visited your troop. Just something to let sink in.

Requirement 6 is It does not say: "after preparing a statement ... participate in an SMC." It's kind of a wierd requirement. It's intended for the BoR, I have no idea what a unit leader has to do with it. If it's there when the SM and CC sign, that's gravy. If not, we just tell the scout to write it up by the time of the BoR. most of ours bring a draft to review the following week. They are somewhat surprised when we don't ask them to change anything.

It's a bad day when SM's have consider optics on anything besides their field specs. I've always been frank with scouts when we haven't been running the program as its designers intended. (Generally that's because the committee has some apprehension about youth leadership, apprehensions about a specific youth, or apprehensions about the integrity of advancement.) I try to explain why. If the youth think I'm stupid, we adjust. This has usually meant getting the committee to chill regarding youth-lead, but it has also meant getting them to stay sharp on training. @yknot I think most scouts or scouters reading the BoS article would conclude that it was written specifically to highlight how a linked troop should work with two SPLs. The last CSE (Surbaugh) was on record being explicitly concerned about girls being more prone to leading to the exclusion of boys. You and I can think that's all bunk, but no BSA publication that I've found suggests that a single SPL for both units is a model that national would endorse. Feel free to provid sources to the contrary. Now, if national doesn't endorse it, would they denounce it? I'd almost say no. But, if a committees from a half dozen units in similar situations make phone calls, we'd probably see an article or two about it. We could see them circulate a memo to SE's and down to DE's about defining their brand on this matter. (Thus my "don't ask for a rule" policy.) I also don't believe in beating a drum against another unit when they go rogue. If that SM's made peace with the unit committee, fine. If not ... those folks are your safety net from stupid happening fast. Best to show you care about what they think -- especially when the literature favors their view of things. And the youth? It's easy. You say, "I didn't deliver on the promise of scouting like it says I should in this article. My committee is concerned that I'm doing you a disservice. Can you forgive me? What's the best way to work to make it right?"

I've had a lot of scouts asking me about the letter of reflection recently. The SM or CC do not need to see it. For our council it goes in with the application and is not graded, they just check that it's done. It should be the scouts own words, and I've encouraged scouts to keep it to one page. (Or two, double-spaced.) It is for use in "preparation for your board of review".

Well, lucky us. A positive article on how to "make it work", was posted by Bryan on Scouting about a linked troop on a modest little hike. Bryan asked of the boy leader ... I may be reading into this a little, but when any two troops join in on an activity, they often may appoint the SPL for that activity. Same thing has been happening for years with activities shared by crew/troop. Basically one leader may defer to the other for the sake of running things smoothly. And it sounded like, at points, this happened here. Although identifying both as SPLs, Bryan did not ask the sister her about being SPL, but clearly she faced leadership challenges ... Again, reading into it, it sounds like her direct responsibilities were to the girls. The participants were listed at the end of the article: 16 from the boys troop, 3 from the girls troop, 9 adults (not entirely clear who was registered with which troop). Clearly, this doesn't talk much about day-to-day troop operations. But, I think for anyone trying to operate under a linked model, it gives a really clear vision of what BSA expects in terms of youth organizational structure. Your PLC(s) will probably read different things into the story than I will. But, this story allows for some Kodiak level reflection, so it might be a good one to do over a cracker barrel with your youth leaders.

Yeah @atrox79, as one who couldn't care less about who's in whose patrol -- I barely care about who's tenting with whom -- I can feel your pain. But, face facts ... you've gone rogue. No matter how much better off the boys would be with this SPL, and no matter how much the girls don't need an SPL because their recruitment hasn't garnered numbers for multiple patrols, you have two troops and one is established with parents and committee who have set expectations. I suspect "liability" is a smoke screen for fear of what you will do next. So, reign yourself in. Your 17 year old female is SPL of the girls troop. She's not doing bed-checks on the boys, not hearding them to showers, nor is her first responsibility to leaders who are only registered with the male's troop. Your male ASPL is de facto the SPL of the boys troop. He is not checking that the girls are tucked in, not hearding them to showers, not inspecting their latrine. Nor is his first responsibility to the leaders registered only with the female's troop. Explain this to your committee, include the SPLs on the meeting. make it work.