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RangerT

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Everything posted by RangerT

  1. Not a sheepshank more like a Gordian Knot that has no solution and just causes confusion. Still with all its warts this forum is a whole lot better than most of the others I have seen out there and sometimes you even get some good advice.
  2. Hey all, Have you thought about getting a custom patch done celebrating the event. Places like The Patch Place and others are very reasonably priced. Make something positive out of a negative, what they did to achieve the award is what is important, not the piece of cloth. Celebrate the Accomplishment!
  3. emb21 They said the same thing about the military academies, women in combat, women in the space program, etc., etc. The point is all things and organizations change over time in order to stay relevant to the current culture, the BSA is no exception, neither is the OA. Now, I am not a proponent to making the OA or BSA coed but I would not oppose it either. Even with all your stats you keep quoting the point is among 1st world countries the BSA is still in the minority with its policy and like it or not it will probably change to mirror our society.
  4. John, I would not be too sure about your statement,"the OA won't be open to young women anytime soon", the doors have started to crack open with female advisors, etc. and it is just a matter of time (short time). The reason I say this is because most OA chapters are suffering from severe membership loss, many struggling to stay alive. I attended the last NOAC and had long discussions with fellow advisors who concur that OA is in trouble and what can be done about it. Many of them were open to the idea of elections in Venturing crews open to ALL members male and female. This would obviously mea
  5. I think that Eamonn gave you some sage advice to follow. I would only add that this program is for the boys and they can detect trouble among the adults. Six months may not seem to be a long time but if your boy has a bad experience in cubs he will be turned off to scouting forever. So if you and the Cubmaster can not come to an agreement then you owe it to your boy to find a new pack and let him enjoy his final year in cubs, don't expose him to a 6 month battle between adults who can't act like adults. This kind of problem is all too common nowadays and one main reason we keep losing ki
  6. Don't feel too bad Eamonn, two ships in my council called it quits this summer as well, both have been around for more than ten years. This has resulted in the end of sea scouting in our council with no new prospects in the forseeable future. The reasons the skippers gave were a lack of new members and the aging out of most of the others, expenses exceeding all expectations and a lack of financial support from former contributors, another reason "the crew got tired and bored with playing sailor and the long cruises" the other skipper stated. I think most young people today really don't w
  7. Long Haul To answer your question 1) HE LIED 2)He is in denial about his own sexuality 3) He committed illegal acts with an undercover cop, and he has done the same thing in the past 4) Then he lied again about his actions, even his fellow GOP senators are now calling for his resignation. So, don't fall on your sword for this guy , he is not worth it.
  8. TOUCHE! John, lol. Or better yet "female venturers". Or in my crew they like to say, "female (do all the work) venturers". Just kidding emb021.
  9. Speaking about problems the main one I see is that in Boy Scout troops the average age for a SM is 40-60 something, very few SMs or even ASM's are 20 - 30 something, at least in my council. When I turned 50 this year I decided it was time for me to hand on my crew to two young adults both in their late twenties. It was not because I couldn't keep up anymore, quite the opposite in fact, but the new leaders are now getting established and doing great, and so is the crew. They still come to the old man for advice and the teens still love to see me go on trips with them, but now I can pick and cho
  10. I decided to bring this up because I recently turned over the reins as advisor of a crew after five very sucessful years building a solid program and watching phenomenal growth in membership, starting with 10 and currently 50 active members for the past three years. Our next recruitment bash this month we have 20 more potential members. This is a coed crew with excellent teen officers our activities follow the memberships top interests each year, including some outdoor skills and treks. Basically we follow the Venturing Leaders Manual and it seems to work. I love the program and it seems
  11. Kudu I applaud your sentiment although many of todays teens may not agree. One of the last treks I took my crew on was to a beautiful wilderness area for a week, trees, a pristine lake loaded with fish, and a lot of wildlife. The one rule was no electronic devices allowed, even cell phones were only for emergencies and were kept locked up, this was to give them the feeling of being at one with nature with no technology. Well the first day and night were absolute misery most of the teens, a coed group, wanted to go home, many were afraid they would not survive. The next morning I taught them
  12. I think that scouting will continue and evolve into something different than us old timers knew as youth. As our culture continues to change into a more global community it will reshape scouting into what is relevant to the youth of today and tommorrow. The reality is that while there will always be a place for outdoor skills it will become much less emphasized in the future because thats probably not what will attract youth 10, 20, 50 or 100 years from now. Instead of crying the blues about losing the "good old days" of scouting, all of us over 50, I am very interested to see what scouting ev
  13. I agree with "E", a district event is exactly that, it is not and never should be the responsibility of a single unit. It sounds to me like your district committee is malfunctioning, to say the least, and its up to all the scoutleaders at roundtable to demand acountability from your district leaders and your DE. It sickens me to see boys suffer because the adult scouters are acting so petty. Time for some reshuffling of district positions. What a bunch of petty bull c--p if you ask me, we are there to serve the youth not our own self interests, and we wonder why we keep losing more youth ever
  14. I do not feel that a Totin Chit card is really an advancement and should be awarded when the scout finishes the class. THe SM and parents should of handled this issue before the boy even went to camp, if the boy was mentally deficent or dangerous he should have not been allowed to go even with parental supervision, bottom line. The trading post is not at fault, most never even ask for the Totin Chit, besides if this kid was going to get into trouble I am sure there would be a variety of things he could have gotten his hands on in camp to use as a weapon. If there is indeed any blame to give th
  15. Beavah I agree with ya 100%, those on line trainings are close to worthless. I also have to say most of the current Boy Scout leader training leaves a lot to be desired, including the current WB course. The other problem is that councils ,especially mine, have real trouble finding really qualified people to train others in outdoor skills and survival. Inferior teachers with inferior skills leads to unskilled leaders and deadly accidents. Maybe every council should have to contract with a professional outdoor training group to do training in wilderness skills. At a recent University of Sco
  16. OGE, maybe we ought to let JK Rowling write and design the next BSA recruitment video and literature, maybe even the next handbook. She couldn't do any worse than most of the recent attempts by national. Imagine Harry Potter in a Boy Scout uniform with his wand at the ready. JK has captured the minds and imagination of our youth worldwide, maybe its time for the BSA to think outside the box, eh. Just a thought.
  17. Eamonn, my god man you are only 50 and you are already writing your epitaph? This is the time in your life to start living your life with your spouse, going to all those places you always talked about and enjoy the good life. Scouting like all your other experiences now become happy memories to look back on. Life keeps on going and so must we. I just turned 50 and next month two of my early crew members will be taking over as advisors while I become the CC/COR for the crew. Part of me is dreading it and another part rejoicing in the fact that there will be no more long backpacking treks or whi
  18. While I might agree that the current BSA program might be softer than the program of old I do not feel its realistic to put all the blame on National. When most of us were kids we used to love going on hikes and camp out, go exploring, etc. This is not true of most kids today and the reasons why are diverse. First of all in most of the country kids don't play outdoors or go off exploring very much anymore for parental fear of the child being kidnapped or worse. Our kids of today grow up in an environment of fear, this is a societal problem that has been erroding our way of life for at least tw
  19. As a former scoutmaster for many years and now a crew advisor for the past five I kind of agree with Beavah about Venturing standing alone. However, I have had a few youth who have dropped out of a troop, for a myriad of reasons, and wanted to finish their Eagle in the crew, so I make sure they really are committed to getting that Eagle before saying okay. As far as BOR's are concerned Beav, when I was a SM we always had the SPL and ASPL sit in on them, and now in the crew the President and one or two other officers not only sit in but are allowed to ask one question, if they desire. I feel t
  20. This is what galls me about BSA policies, there are precise guidelines for a myriad of minutia type issues yet when it comes to BOR procedures it seems to be whatever the custom in the district is okay. And then we wonder why the boys get fed up and quit. While I agree there should be some written record kept by the boy we all know thats not always the case. So instead we can take a signed statement from the SM or Advisor giving as much detail as possible or we can be gestapo police and deny the advancement, which is in the best interest of the boy? If the boys handbook becomes lost or d
  21. Gentlemen Refer to the Venturing handbook pgs 7-8 "If a Venturer finds themselves in uniform at an occasion where a salute is required they should use the full hand salute." Definition of a uniform, "the spruce green shirt and grey pants is the recommended uniform, however, the uniform, if any, is the choice of the crew." My reading is that any crew uniform identifying the wearer as a member of a Venturing crew makes them eligible to use the Venturing salute, and my friend at the Venturing division in Irving concurs. I hope that settles things. YIS.
  22. scoutleader hit this problem in one, LDS scouting is an animal all unto itself. LDS Scoutmasters can't resign and can't recruit outside their own ward. Your only option is to go to your stake leader and explain your situation. With a troop of 3-4 boys the interest levels will drop and soon they will all disappear. Not to be critical but most of the LDS units I have come across in my time are little better than paper units. Most of the leaders are on a one year appointment and never go to training. If scouting was not a mandated activity by the LDS church it would never survive, as it is it bar
  23. lee Old Grey speaks words of wisdom, you can earn both awards. Ranger is considered an expert award as is the Quest, Trust, and Quartermaster. As an advisor for over 5 years now I can tell you that both awards gives you special gifts that would be useful to any troop or crew. Organizational and leadership skills that you will learn with the silver will be invaluable to you for your entire life, and the outdoor skills you learn with the Ranger will be a great asset to any scouting program as well as for certain career fields you might be interested in. I have had ten teens 5 boys and 5 girls
  24. Eamonn I feel for you and understand your doubts, but there comes a time in everyones life when they know its time to step down. Your wife and son should be your only priorities right now, and with your wife so ill she has got to be number one. You have given much more than most others have to scouting, and it is not your responsibility to keep the ship going, that is up to your crew. You have a lifetime of scouting memories to last you, and now as someone once said,"it's time for the young bucks to keep things running." With this crew of mine I know this will be my last hurrah afte
  25. AAHH Eamonn, Sounds to me like you are letting that old Catholic guilt get the better of you. You did all you were supposed to do. I am curious though, did you have some earlier feelings/doubts about this boy before this and never followed up? Is that where your guilt is coming from? No one is perfect, we do the best we can. You have brought this boys reign of terror to an end and THAT is the important part.
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