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I'd like to see the fundraiser that your SPL would pull off to get your QM that extra $15million suit! P.S. - Some folks in town are working on the next gen suit. It really is a nationwide endeavor.

We only set up the big dining flys (as you describe them) if we're expecting guests, setting up tables, etc ... Otherwise, it's tents and hammocks by patrols around their respective open-air fire/cooking area. Or maybe a small fly for each patrol as @jjlash described. FWIW, I met one troop from Michigan who had backpacked in on the North Country Trail and only set up flys ... no tents. They seemed happy as clams.

With each iteration of GPS tech, I've made a fool of myself. Then I went in the trunk, set up my burner, cooked up some espresso, unfolded a map, committed my route to memory, and when necessary corrected any wrong turns by celestial navigation.

Consider yourself lucky. Scouts around here (and I've seen a lot of them) don't put anything but the MBs they've earned on their sashes. I've tried to encourage them to do otherwise, and they look at me as if I'm some kind of alien. Full disclosure: I've never put anything besides MBs on my sash. But, I thought that would inspire my sons to be different. No such luck. At least your rodeo clowns are proud of all the places they've been!

I think you mistake what it means to be partisan. To allow individuals to express their political views on non-uniform gear is not partisan. That opens the door for productive debate. One kid brings a MAGA hat, another a Hope-and-Change hat. They invite dialogue upon themselves. Partisan is using your associations with an organization to misrepresent an organizational endorsement of a particular candidate. Most people know that if one scout is wearing a hat or even a campaign pin, and another is not, that the scouts are expressing individual -- not organizational -- aspirations. If the community at large is getting the impression that your troop is favoring a partisan endorsement (e.g., the candidate's banner on a campsite flagpole.) The scouter needs to reign things in. If the individual expressions are leading to boys not working amicably with their mates of differing views, the scouter needs to reign things in. If all the different hats look stupid, the scouter needs to lean on the PLC to adopt a headgear standard. I say this as a scouter who would probably tell boys to not wear their campaign hats at unit activities. If they have an opinion, they may articulate it while they cook a meal, clean up, chop wood or otherwise serve their fellow scouts. That's me. But, I never rushed my kids out of a troop when my boy's leaders let the scouts sport a slogan. That's basically because all the folks who actually held views I thoroughly despised never dressed the part.

Let us remind ourselves that it is a big country. What you've been told things represent may not be exactly what they do represent. One is certainly allowed to drop from any troop that allows for symbols that they don't like, but I would suggest that could lead to your youth falling in with persons whose malice is more vile than that of the youth sporting their trite shibboleths.

@Eagledad, That's like saying our patrols' consistent victories at Klondike is discouraging other boys in the district to join scouts. Let's face it, this isn't an absorption of GS/USA. This is a recruitment of scouts who care about skills the way many boys who drift into a troop actually should. In the short term, we can expect them some of these Scout's BSA for girls troops to give the lion's share of established patrols a run for their money. In the long term, we can expect the boys in the district to step up their game if their SM's are half the coaches they should be. Why is this? Most Scouts BSA for girls are a de-facto patrol. They have to work together and plan their own rank advancement and activities. If there are seasoned boys who they'd like on their team, the can't have them. They have to build their own with what they have. It's basically the mythic Rat Patrol or McHale's Navy in kid form. This weekend I finally got to meet a troop of Scouts BSA girls. They are sharp and diverse age-wise an slowly chipping away at their Scout Rank after one month of existence. (I.e., this is not one of those previously rogue troops.) I encouraged them that, from here on, their line to their leaders must be "Mrs. SM, where to this month?" If that does happen, then the boys in their linked troop will be inspired to step up their game as well as these upstarts who are sharing their CO have done.

This is a very simple and practical scout skill. If I'm transporting scouts who have hand-helds (and their parents will allow it), I always ask them to look up directions and help me navigate. I might even suggest they add a coffee shop I'd like to try as a waypoint!

@ScoutMom45036, welcome to the forums! A couple of son #2's best buddies had anxiety issues ... maybe related to divorce, but usually it was more complicated than that. If the boy's telling you he's nervous about it now, it's a good indication that giong "cold turkey" wont work. Our troop has welcomed moms like you with kids like yours to come camp with us adults. You're not the problem mom who we generally worry about. Generally, you're good company, and you're not hovering over your son. You get to know the leaders and other parents and catch them up on the things your son is going through. You might actually do us a favor and mentor some of our other boys -- that's not expected, but when it happens, it's good to see. During the day, you might be able to help the camp staff . But, at the very least, by getting registered and trained, you'll get a sense of how we leaders should be accountable to one another. That's always helpful. One other thing you might not have noticed: but your son is old enough to take on chores. Make sure he's responsible for some things besides homework ... garbage pick-up and putting out ... setting up and cleaning up dishes ... helping you cook ... checking the doors/lights in the evening ... putting away laundry ... making his bed in the morning. Just enough of those, and a week away from home begins to sound sweet.

@CaptBurgers, welcome to the forums! Any chance you have your dad's handbook? That would contain the guide that boys would follow. Boys Life and Scouter magazines have online magazines that you could also research. As to Eagle pins and knots, try browsing https://www.sageventure.com/history/

Not a prize that I was looking for, but it's the world we live in. 😪 Just a reminder, folks: use that "Report" button for posts that seem a little "off". (Not off base - that could be my posts on any given day!) That just don't add up logically. Feel free to look at a user's other posts to see if they "hang together" like they are something that would come from a single scout or scouter. That's tough because we all have multiple positions, official and unofficial. This poster's give-away was when he/she/it reported volunteering in a BSA program, then started a thread purporting to be in a country that did not use that program. Didn't add up. I noticed the obtuse replies before I noticed that each reply had a quotation of an established forum member had links to vile content in it. Then, I clicked "report" for each similar post (i.e., all of today's from this one account). Thanks @John-in-KC for prompt action! I'm sorry for everyone else who got hijacked.

Finally took a look at the requirement as GBB wrote it (BSHB, 9th Ed, Camping skill award, 3.a.): Whip the ends of a rope. What!? No fusing? And we didn't have to show anybody. We could come to our leader with one rope -- ends neatly bound -- and say, "See, I whipped it. Whipped it good." [Cue Devo] Then for fun I could go find some strike-anywhere matches, light them off my teeth, and melt me some of that new-fangled nylon rope. Advancement was so much easier back in the day ... at least I didn't have as much legalese to parse!

With a cub? I would just go for one. At this point most of the places you'd stay are full, so you would have a substantial drive to the nearest hotel or campground each day.

Like Cleveland Rocks said ... plus we're telling our scouts it's not so much a trade as giving a memento of your meeting. Our contingent is designing a shirt in hopes that it will be a desirable gift. It's a challenge to come up with the right balance of leading edge, cost, and quality.

@EastCst, welcome to the forums! I don't have much to add, except this ... Son #1's cubmaster (of about 10 years ago) was laid to rest yesterday. He was a stand-up guy. But there were moments of contention. I thought, "What was so important that everyone had to dig their heels in?" Time is short. For some, way shorter than anyone thinks. Remind everyone of that. Move on.

Yeah, scouting becomes such a different environment that there's no way of telling how this will tilt. A scout like this who has come up to me with issue X (that has nothing to do with safety) will usually get a response like, "Good news: nobody cares." I try to be as polite as possible and support the chain of command. Generally there's plenty of work to do. So, in the process, things like this find their own norm if you let it. You will probably have to convey to such a scout that you hold your PL's in highest esteem. But, as time goes on, focus on how he/she performs in the troop and encourage the rest of the scouts to do so. Eventually you all might just be able to discuss if a change in manner in the rest of life is in order.

Most scouts will be at activities. But the SM and I and our two other ASMs in our troop are preparing for anything. For example, if the scouts might rather split up and exchange patrols with another country, one group may just decide to bring treats and chill in our campsite. I'll have my espresso ready for any leaders who were "forced" to tag along with their scouts and come to our campsite. Likewise if some of our scouts "need" me to come with them to meet Saudi scouts and I "have" to drink spiced coffee with their leader ... well I'm bracing myself for that kind of sacrifice. We won't let our scouts sleep in their tents all day. But we herd them all to the activity areas if they came up with a better plan.

@willray, stop struggling. This is a scout who should be suspended from your troop (at least from camp-outs) until he decides he wants to actually work in a patrol. His behavior is 1) unsanitary, therefore threatening the health and safety of others, 2) willful and unseemly, and 3) has no chance of changing if you deny him discipline. I assure you, games where you reward the other scouts for showing scout spirit -- no matter how rich the reward -- will not inspire this kid. Let him and his parents know that up until now he has chosen to not be a scout (as in helpful, courteous). Your troop only has scouts. And until he chooses to be one -- just like he promises every time he gives an oath -- he's not welcome. You might have to insist that a parent join you adults and be prepared to haul the boy home at the first sign of misbehavior. Now, be prepared to listen. There might be some bullying going on, and this is his way of protesting. So you may have more twisted threads to untangle. But you simply have no game until the boys decide that they want to be on the playing field. P.S. - We had a scout who slept in a lot. No problem. He missed breakfast, and sometimes his tent was dropped for him with him in it. (Parents were fine with this, BTW.) He packed up and hauled off with his patrol without a complaint. He was a swell kid in so many other ways -- especially courteous and helpful. The guy's an Eagle scout now -- gainfully employed.

I make a distinction between team challenges and trust-games (not to be confused with trust-falls). Trust games require you to depend on an opponent to advance your mutual standing. Team challenges allow you to be sporting - or not. One team might win a challenge, but another team might have a member who demonstrates unparalleled levels of sportsmanship. We really don't care if the same team consistently wins challenges -- if indeed that team has remarkable skills. But, in the long run, we want good sportsmanship to spread across the league. So much so, that unsportsmanlike conduct would lead to suspension/ejection from the game ... possibly even the league. Fine point: I've encouraged the use of suspensions only for a behavior that 1) threatens the safety of the scout or others, 2) is willful and unseemly, and 3) the scout has no chance of changing if we deny discipline. It really stinks when it becomes that serious, and has little to do with the positive reinforcement you want to apply. But, I think it goes along in the sense that the lives of 11-17 year olds are so volatile that even your most "scout-like" individual one day may need strict discipline the next. When a scout breaks bad, don't dismiss (or let others dismiss) your point system. A high score might be evidence to a wayward scout that he has it in him do better if he decides to come back. A suspension might be evidence to other scouts to not think too highly of their points because "But for the grace of God, there go I."

Oh, that's really ineffective. You're not having anything like a standard year-long competition. At the end of each day, patrols should know what points are being credited to them and why, and they should have a good idea of where they stand on the "leader board." You could have a traveling totem that at courts of honor, would move to a winning patrol for that term. So, time-scale might be your problem if your patrols reconfigure every year (that's why suggest recognition at every CoH, which should be happening more than yearly), but how you all are announcing results is the number one issue. As youth age out and new ones come in, you will find that what works today won't work next year. So, definitely your PLC is the place for after action review. Tell them you got some feedback from strangers on the internet, and listen to their responses. What they think is worthwhile, implement; what they think is dumb, put on the shelf and maybe bring it up with the next class of PLs.

They are especially my scouts when they go on be professional video-journalists of stories like this Orlando Sentinel article

I like @scotteg83's suggestion if the strips are still available. If they aren't ... I met one troop who had really sharp embroidered name name tags. They sacrificed one shirt for a seamstress to use for material to make the tags. This made the background an exact match to the shirts! Doing something similar for these letters sounds like a good idea. You could talk to your seamstress if it's worth the trouble to try and lift as many letters as you can salvage so that she can sew/glue them on the material from your sacrificed shirt, or if it's just as well to embroider new patches or just sew them onto the shirts directly. There are probably other modern solutions like digital-to-cloth printing/transfer, but I'm not sure they would be cost-effective.

I agree that "trust games" are not appropriate with youth. They may be barely appropriate with adults. Look up "win-all-you-can" on the Woodbadge forum. The best of these are classic disaster-drill/rescuse scenarios. Really good Klondike derbies should be set up this way. No single patrol has the resources to complete whatever task they've been assigned. (Usually they find their resources at "air drops" on opposite sides of camp, and they open their "crates" by demonstrating a skill or showing patrol spirit.) But, by delivering resources (which usually involves some sort of rope work) to every other patrol, they can complete the task. Observers award points based on skill and teamwork (both within- and across- patrols). That's why I like wilderness backpacking. As a complete exercise (with each patrol assigned a different hike from a common insertion to a troop rendesvous, adults who won't correct them until they've gone a mile off course, etc ...) it demands a level of selflessness that young scouts are not used to giving.

Oh the beauty of hiking in the land where you face shrinks so tight against the wind-chill that your eyeball's fall out. Here, backpacking dinner (preserved by a fleece wrapped around a frozen nalgene) is something like a dry-rub Delmonico steak roasted slowly on a bed of coals, potatoes under the coals, carrots/beats, bread baking on a stick over the coals, and your favorite green vegetable fried in butter with dried parsley, thyme, and marjoram and a clove of garlic. (You can try olive oil instead of butter, depending on the temperature.) Desert -- if you have room for it -- may be a muffin mix with fresh milk roasted on a reflector oven jury rigged from the foil used to wrap the steak. What are the boys eating? Dried noodles. But who cares about them? They're going to be hiking a half-mile up the hill because the oldest needs to check in with his new girlfriend because they let you pick the rendezvous point, and you chose the one which has zero cell coverage.

Online accessibility is definitely a problem -- even if we have parents who would allow the patrol to have the tech. For example, my solution (or any of the other cloud related solutions that I've proposed) requires the scouts be at lest 13. Works great for a crew or ship, not so much for a young patrol in a troop. In this case, I think Field Notes (it's actually a brand, but scouts could make their own) are a good idea. The youth would maintain the records required by their position, then at meetings have a responsible adult snap a picture and save it to the cloud. Actually, you don't even need to be net dependent. there are lot's of old scanners and workstations with a good many years of working life remaining. (Our Goodwill actually has a store dedicated to them.) Cloud storage is nice, but probably overkill for what most troops need. I honestly think paper + digital image backup is the ideal mode of operations for 21st century groups.