RememberSchiff

From what I read, NESA membership was required for those scholarships. Is that correct, being a plain, old Eagle scout was not sufficient to apply? Congratulation to all scholarship winners.

Good point NJ. I expected to hear a progress report regarding the 2010-2015 Strategic Plan. Anyone hear anything about that?

He threw a few crumbs our way. I see the Chief automatically getting the 10% performance (for what?) bonus so just a 10% reduction. To be transparent, just explicitly state the new Chief salary range which IMO should be $400-500K. I am not seeing the transparency. I am seeing more layers between myself and the information/help that I seek. Is it easier to become or remain a volunteer? Are we getting more volunteers? Again no numbers were presented. Maybe I am reading between the lines, but I get the impression that STEM scouting is the future direction. My $0.01

Rumor: Toys 'R Us will offer a discount on water guns to any uniformed Boy Scouts. If true, scouts may suddenly become more visible around here.

Bad Wolf wasn't there more in that pile, that Phil O. Crapply unloaded? Something about scouts not being allowed inside simulated weapons like overnight stays in WW2 battleships and aircraft carriers? BP, the old general, must be spinning. If only the BSA today had a leader with a military background such that he could distinguish between a firearm and a toy.

Maybe this compromise can be made at the Annual Meeting, those members under 18 may use water guns but adults using water guns are barred from the BSA.

I had a similar experience on Sunday. I tried to create a new topic in Unit Fundraising and got that error "You do not have permission for this action". Ok, so I tried twice to post it in Open Discussion. Each time there was no error reported and the post was never seen again. Gave up.

By all means, this fun has to stop now! from http://www.myfinalphoto.com/jubilant-squirt-on-4th-of-july/

...Well the comments are entertaining http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2015/05/06/water-guns-ok-for-target-shooting-not-for-firing-at-other-scouts/ I think my scouts will get all Charlton Heston about this.

Great idea! Plenty of Youtube animation tutorials. Free animation software (Scratch, Blender, Pencil, various simple Stick people apps ...) for various hardware platforms is easy to find. Cinema 4D Rev14 was freely available awhile ago. Autodesk Maya was free to FIRST students and mentors though it is a bear to install

Sorry to hear that your scouts' earnest and expert effort was ignored. I have scouts that started from Scratch (2D) and are now using Maya or Cinema 4D. I doubt they will bother with this MB.

Boy's Life recently posted a story with video links. http://boyslife.org/merit-badges/animation-merit-badge/ IMO, after a long delay I expected more than Easy here. This seems ready to join Fingerprinting for merit badge Saturday or camp. My $0.02

Now Atlanta seems to be booked, ditto Vegas and Disney. Could we have this, I dunno, outdoors/ Say at one of those camps for sale. Mebbe call it a woods meeting? Good Brainstorming.

Are you suggesting that we the scouters should review their strategic plan and grade it? Met Goal Partially Met Goal Failed to make progress towards goal Should not have been a goal ??

"Coraopolis, PA -- The 171st Air Refueling Wing is cancelling its annual Scouting Skills weekend this year as a result of an increase of the base's security. A directive to increase the force protection condition was issued to all Department of Defense installations in the continental United States (CONUS) last week by the U.S. Northern Command Center (USNORTHCOM). The 171st Air Refueling Wing intends to continue hosting the annual Scouting Skills event next year." http://www.171arwscoutingday.com/site/default.aspx?PageID=1 This has happened in the past to scout activities at a base w

Not a bad idea. Maybe there should be an incentive for more best answers like popcorn sales. I dunno, contribute 10 best answers and win some handy electronic device to take into the woods. Contribute 100 best answers and get a Xbox, BSA edition.

Thanks for the link.

Does anyone have a working link to the original plan? All I could find was last year's (2014) progress report. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/stragegicplan/pdf/Strategic_Plan_Progress_Report.pdf Hopefully, the upcoming Annual Meeting will update and report this. IMO, some improvements since the last Strategic Plan http://scouter.com/index.php/topic/6182-was-2006-2010-strategic-plan-a-failure/

Two is the Philmont minimum and four is the Philmont maximum. A council can up the minimum to 3 (or 4) as ours did when faced with adults failing their medical check upon arrival. IMO, it would be better that so-called 'pinnacle experiences" in scouting required no adults. We train our scouts that they are ready to plan and complete a Philmont trek with a patrol of just scouts, ditto Eagle project,...instead the BSA is going in the opposite direction.

Sort of. I encountered this when my son was the only one to sign-up for an out-of-state scout activity. He wanted to go and so we were a Troop of 2 and the question arose did I need a tour permit. No. A tour permit is not required for a parent solely acting as a parent. Current YP was required and I had health forms just in case.

Right guy or not? I find it interesting that both Deputy Scout Exec and Chief Operating Officer and the Assistant Scout Exec were stepped over. http://scoutingnewsroom.org/about-the-bsa/national-leadership/assistant-chief-scout-executive-council-operations/ - Gary Butler http://scoutingnewsroom.org/about-the-bsa/national-leadership/assistant-chief-scout-executive-development/ - Brad Farmer In this discussion, we could use an updated list of the job responsibilities of the Chief Scout Executive. My understanding is the CSE responsibilities are closer to a Chief yeoman than a

“With inmates from the Barnstable County Correctional Facility in Bourne lending a hand, the Cape & Islands Council of Boy Scouts of America is preparing paperwork it now hopes will land it in the Guinness Book of World Records.†And there you have it, results from the Council’s annual Camporee, held this year at the Barnstable County Fairgrounds and attracting scouts from ages six to 20. Scores of them showed up from every town on the Cape and Islands: Cub and Boy Scouts (males) as well as Sea Scouts and Explorers (both genders). The current Guinness record, set two years ago

If you can find another troop(s) clearly using the patrol method. Observe their meetings, campouts, as much as you can.

De facto local option. Seems more are doing this without threat of charter or individual memberships being revoked.

Times change. Maybe the BSA program will change towards STEM as more of our members have a background, confidence, and interest in STEM. At a recent troop meeting (plan was knife and ax), about 1/3 remembered to bring their knife but they all remembered their smartphone. Calling Bill Nye? My 1 bitcoin,