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Not in one day! Although, there have been some boys that, for the sake of their health and safety ... Anyhow, I spun off the clean vehicle discussion as a topic under Working with Youth

What are your scouts responsibilities to drivers and their vehicles? From the World Jamboree Thread: ... and, concurring: I learned from mostly from band, rather than scouts, that riders can make a driver's time pleasurable by: Stepping out of muddy boots before entering, Putting your towel on your seat, Collecting litter just like the airplane stewards do, Riding shotgun and talking about life, the universe, ... Navigating, At the truck stop, giving a buddy your lunch money and your order while you clean windows and mirrors, Checking tires/oil/coolant/lights, Tuning the radio (especially if the current station goes to commercial for more than 5 seconds), Sharing your playlist (well, maybe that's just me, but I talk music and lyric analysis like nobody's business) .... Do you coach your patrols as to how to treat your troop's drivers? What courtesy tips do you give them?

I plan on having that many friends as soon as that aroma of the moka pot covers the grounds! If not, the SM and 2nd ASM aren't coffee drinkers, so the 3rd ASM and I can go six sittings before we have to wash dishes!

Seen a few such units. Met the scouts/venturers. They were impressive. Their leaders are gems. Troops devoted to scouts with disabilities have a lot of advantages. Everyone learns the rules for alternative requirements for advancement, so they can better help scouts get the most out of the program. If learning disabilities are the issue scouts may take decades to make rank. The challenge is volunteers. Not everyone is cut out for this sort of thing. And even helping one individual can be a very long game. Expectations change drastically. What's trivial for your scouts is high adventure, and potentially perilous, for these scouts. So, goals and methods have to be drastically adjusted. Still, if a scout can flourish among scouts with no obvious disabilities, I would suggest joining a troop with normal abilities. It's a tremendous growth opportunity for all involved. However, I'm not whitewash: the troop's program will change. That's not always a bad thing. But for those who want high adventure at all times, they will be making major attitude adjustments.

Since that's up 3% from last time, does that mean projects can have 2.9% fewer service hours?

Our no-my-first-rodeo SM has been reminding each of us leaders to bring a bottle. One is usually in my gear box anyway. Tonight and tomorrow's exercise will be removing extra gear and making room for the 5 lbs of coffee (ground for stove-top) and the dozen 4-oz cups Daughter got me for my birthday.

Note to self: add 5-gal bucket and plunger to list of stuff my family won't miss for two weeks.

@Double Eagle, the bottom line is always "neat appearance". The large patches (of any nature) were clearly intended for the backs of jackets, backpacks, and other non-uniform purposes. I agree that it's more important to give an 18 year old a Voter Registration Application than it is to throw him/her the Insignia Guide. That said, young adult ASMs do ask me when they should be removing their oval. I usually reply, "If you're old enough to ask ..."

No, but my church has reconfigured its youth ministry because of these shifting tides.

Upvoting @Double Eagle because councils may encourage the use of local totems with field uniforms. Wear it those shells with pride. It sounds like they are intended to be woven into a neckerchief slide. Check with your council to see if they have a particular suggestion. And Eagle? Wear the knot. At courts of honor, pull out the medal. You may also wear the medal with civilian dress if you happen to be at a suit and tie (or tuxedo) scouting event. From my youth, I always thought the whole fuss about ovals on the left pocket being youth-only was much about nothing. I would like as many adults who dare wear a uniform to go ahead and try to get signed of on their 1st class skills by the SPL or designated JASM ... then on to Eagle. But since that's not the case. So, when folks ask, I tell them, "I was an Eagle scout." To anyone who tries to correct me, I say, "When my SM's/ASM's can earn it, I'll replace was with am." Once a scout, always a scout.

Just so you know, none of us are required to wear our field uniform except for arrival, departure, and religious services. Scout related activity shirts and our necker are the key components of participant uniforms.

Another: "Never let them know that you can hear them."

A tightly linked troop probably won't grow beyond 8-10. That's because the girls will be seen as one of the guys ... effectively a patrol in a troop of 20.

I've started to see wooden steps in some of our State parks covered in galvanized mesh treads.

I'm looking for some "inexcusably useless" hooks to make a key-holder for my lake house.

I boiled down our Contingent Management Team's thousand-word missive about uniforming to what 'Skip heard from his contingent. SM and I agreed that we want scouts at the bus on time with whatever uni parts they pull together. File under: not-dying-on-this-hill and try-and-make-me.

They're here!!! One of the scouts in my Jambo troop met a Brazillian scout whose dad saw the uniforms of a troop coming from summer camp and asked the leaders if any boys would be at WSJ. Oh, if you see a Sweedish troop of the name Riddarholmen somewhere between Boston, Phili, and Shenandoah, tell them that you know a stranger on the internet who is looking forward to coffee with The Doughnuts!

We think we know everything about how to coach scouts, until that next scout! Then we start posting here!

... we would all say? ... When that happens, I'll go to another forum! If I'm in a troop that camps a lot (say a long weekend every month) and some of the proposed outings sound super adventurous (from an 11 year old perspective) and the camp's MBCs in the scout-craft area seem really nice, maybe I want to take Camping at my 1st summer camp because I really want to represent my patrol well. Since crossing over in February, I may already have 10-12 camping nights that might have been full of little missteps, and I want to do better. Now, I might be mistaken about how busy my troop is, and they might not camp all that much. But, my family or youth group may. Or, at least they would if I came back excited to keep working the skills I just mastered. So, I think I can very much see the point of a partial now, nights later strategy.

The purveyors of shower houses with individual rooms (toilet sink and shower in each) are slinging their wares at our scout reservation, and another that I just visited.

The site crashes while I'm trying to read the page.

One game for church lock-ins: sardines. Unfortunate about the older scouts. But, make sure the 2nd years especially have a lot of fun, but carry responsibility. It is well within their reach to read sections of the course, then instructions for games and excercises, etc ... The older scouts: back off things like EDGE or lecturing about the being examples, etc ... Instead, challenge them with a roll of twine and say, "Build a cool camp gadget. Try and impress ..."

Well, in this Arab American family, my parents and older siblings (i.e. old enough to be my parents) did not come with the troop on any activities. My dad and his buddies did enough camping right out of high school ... it was called the World War. After that, they got down to the business of working long hours to give their families good things. It was a rare day that they would even visit camp for an hour ... not even to help put up a gateway at the fair grounds for the bicentennial. That was for our SM's to teach, and us to figure out. My oldest brother was a scout! By all reports he still is a swell guy to camp with ... never joined me or my sons and daughter. Maybe if BSA would have let him earn Eagle as an adult, he would have served a troop well. In my mind ASMs were students from a local college. Only later did I meet ASMs who were parents. Nice people, and great role models for me, but completely unexpected. Clearly it wasn't just an immigrant sentiment. Plenty of other boys' parents left their kids in the hands of "experts" for the weekend of summer camp. So, some communities are a little "old school" and feel their presence on a campout or hike does their kids more harm than good.

I was just talking to a scout in our Jambo troop (and his SM dad), and reminded him "No pressure, but there is something really cool about being able to wear that Eagle patch during last (or in your son's case, last two) summer camp.

Our camp chaplain is pretty sharp and checks in with every unit at least once.