resqman

~~ Most packs have fundraisers and use the money to defray the costs to the scouts. Lots of different ways to apply the money to the various scouts or activities. A scout "earns" a portion of the fund raising money based on time spent fundraising vs money collected. If a family members participate they can "earn" X hours wage to apply to scout account. Yeah, much discussion about scout accounts... Some packs buy all/some of the awards, patches, etc. from fundraising. Some only buy a certain amount and the scout buys the rest. I have heard of packs only buying up to X number of be

The boys really enjoyed a cooking challenge. Troop supplied the food. Scouts did not know what they would get and had to cook something based on what they were provided. Did it two different ways. One time each patrol was given basically the same ingredients but had to cook the using the specified method. One patrol had to use a box oven. One patrol was provided a propane turkey fryer, pot and oil. One patrol was provided an iron skillet and propane burner. Each patrol was given fish filets, potatoes, onions, and a bread mix that would work with their cooking style. The fryer people

In 1972, 24 merit badges were required for Eagle. Not sure when it got reduced down to 21. I know cooking was removed as one of the three. Not sure what the other two were. I agree there are too many required and not enough optional required for Eagle. Merge the three citizenship badges. That would free up two spaces to encourage more optional badges. When I went to summer camp the first time in 1970's, there was no New Scout program. You were a scout so you did what all the other scouts did, you signed up for merit badges. Having been the First Year Adult Mentor for my tro

Parents are expected to retrieve their son from the CO parking lot. All the drivers have cell phones. We have the scouts call their parents when they are 30 minutes from the CO. The SM calls a designated parent who sends an email to all parents with the ETA at the parking lot. Most adults have email forwarded to their smart phones so double notification. No scouts are released until the troop trailer is unpacked, gear stowed in the shed or assigned to patrol members to clean and return at the next troop meeting. Only then does the SPL release scouts. Parents might have to wait a few min

I attended camp as a scout numerous times, later as staff for a couple of seasons and as adult I accompanied the troop to 5 different scout camps over 6 years. The purpose of camp varies depending on the scout and his needs. For many of the Webelos who crossed over just a couple of months before, this is the first time they have been away from their parents for more than a weekend. The first weekend campout is often the first time many have been away from their parents overnight. To spend an entire week with no communication with their parents is a big deal. Granted Tuesday afternoon

Depends on when space is available at your sponsor. I scheduled den meetings on the same day of the week as the Pack meetings so it would be easy to remember. Held den meetings every week there was not a Pack meeting. Some dens meet less often. Initially the den meet at the sponsor but then other group meetings complained about noise in the hallway. My scouts did not make noise in the hallway but not all youth groups were as well managed. I felt it was easier to meet at my house. That way I didn't have to transport supplies. Seems it was Tuesday or Wednesday.

We have done a mixture of low/medium on the same campout. The troop went to a state park with trails and campsites. Friday nite everyone camped at the large group campsite. Sat morn, the Philmont crew packed up and backpacked all day to a new campsite, spent the nite and backpacked back to the parking lot the following morning. They did about 15-20 miles of backpacking and backpack cooking. They planned their meals to emulate Philmont. Philmont shakedown hike. The rest of the troop took a day hike around the top of the mountain, set up an axe yard and taught Totn' Chip to the

Merit badges are designed to give scouts an Introduction to a topic, not master the topic. It is a chance for scouts to get acquainted with a topic to help them decide if they want to learn more or find out it is not for them. National often touts that many scouts choose avocations and vocations based on the merit badges they attempt. I can tell you that while I completed all the required merit badges to the rank of Eagle, I probably could not tell you anything that I learned from many of the required "school work" MBs. Did the work to get the check off for the requirement. Did not

I have earned my Triple Crown. Been a participant of Philmont, Sea Base (twice) and Northern Tier. Son has been a participant of Northern Tier and Philmont. His patrol took scuba lessons locally and planned a week long dive adventure to the Bahamas. Dived minimum 3 times a day plus night dives. Did not earn the Triple Crown because they planned a trip outside of Sea Base. He doesn't care he doesn't have the triple crown patch. He just remembers the fun of the adventure. The rest of his life he can tell stories about diving for a week in the Bahamas. Think anyone will ask or care

Minimum age for a scout is 14 if attending thru the Northern Tier High Adventure base. You got a couple of years if he is a Webelos now. Went in 2010. We had too many for one crew and but were scrambling to find enough to meet the minimum for 2 crews. As mentioned, we announced at Round Table and let council staff know we were interested in taking on more scouts. Northern Tier also has a waiting list kind of thing where you let them know you are willing to take on another scout and they pass on names of people who are singles or doubles that are looking to attend but their troop/council

The book referenced in the article is not the current standard BSA handbook. Yes, the current handbook is still necessary. The standard response in our troop is ask your PL or look in the handbook. If you smartphone dies during the weekend, how are you going to figure out how to tie the knot, sharpen the knife, pitch the tent, bandage the wound. Read the handbook.

I know an ASM who was very involved with the BSA troop. He had two sons who were active and eventually both earned the rank of Eagle. He had two younger children, one son and one daughter. He was a den leader and Cubmaster for his younger son. He and his wife joined/formed a Girl Scout troop. Girl Scouts do not like men in the organization. He took all the GS training he could so that he would know the GS way of doing things. He hoped it would show that he was serious about following the GS methods and aims and not just running a female BSA troop. There was a third adult leader for

"What I'm trying to say is that uniforming is just one method of Scouting and not the be-all-end-all of what we do. It's very important but kind of a waste of time, in my opinion, to make a special effort to tell a woman to tuck in her shirt. There's probably several factors there that you don't want to mess around with...know what I"m saying?" Why should we treat women differently? Why do they get a pass on wearing the uniform properly? Yes, it is a volunteer organization. Yes, their help is appreaciated. If they are a member, they need to follow the rules just like all other members

When was the good ole days? 20's, 50's, 70's, 90's? Very little is the same in the world today as it was 30 or more years ago. Not just Scouting but all activities. Was it better then? Well it was different then. I know we used a military surplus equipment. Not because it was better, but because it was available and relatively cheap. There not were camping supply speicialty stores on every corner like today. There wasn't as much gear to buy or worry about not having. It just didn't exist. Instead of having a specific multi-layer jacket of an outer shell, inner jacket, an

Phone coverage? When I was a scout the only phones were land lines. There was a phone bolted to the wall in the kitchen. The one and only phone in the home. CB radios in the adult cars to keep the convoy headed in the right direction to and fro campouts. Once you pulled out the Church parking lot, no communication until we returned Sunday. Troop rule forbade use of stoves. All cooking was over open fires.

MLK weekend council camp along the North Carolina coast holds a 3 day mini-summer camp style merit badge weekend. Typical evening temps are under 32. For southern lads who may see couple inches of snow once every 5 years or so, that is cold weather camping. Troop arrived on Friday night with temps expected to be in the teens. Camp Staff offered to put the troop in the mess hall for the evening if we felt it necessary. Scouts had packed and prepared for cold weather camping. They declined the camp staff offer. All scouts and adults slept in nylon 3 season tents all weekend. 12 degrees F

Probably gets lots of giggles and comments but as an exercise in "lateral thinking" it would be good.

Maybe not so much a closed group but may kinda taken back that people outside of scouting still think scouting is worthwhile. So much press that tends to show scouting as out of touch with current social mores, it is suprising that people do recognize that scouting is not a bad thing. As adult leaders, we see young boys enter scouting and with a very short time take on responsibiilty. We see first hand what a real impact scouting has on those involved. We see a value for not only our own sons but the entire next generation. I am not sure BSA National does an effective job at selling

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Like many projects this was driven by one adult leader. He found reasons to visit Noah during long bouts of treatment that kept him away from the troop. Blake Phillips contacted the media and council to make things happen. Noah has been battling cancer for years but when it became apparent that Noah would likely pass within weeks, Blake stepped up and made things happen. While the council sent a representative to the ceremony, it was mainly due to Blake's efforts to be a good friend to an ailing boy that made things happen in under a weeks time. If you see a need in your area, you ca

Adults act as a patrol. Use the same cost allotment as the boys when buying food. Cooking competition is held during every campout for the Saturday evening meal. PLC sets the theme. Patrols plan menu, buy food and cook to meet the theme. Started out a few adventurous adults would wander around and sample patrol meals. Very quickly patrols decided to make a presentation plate and deliver to the adult area. Troop rules are no Ramin, no poptarts, no hotdogs. Troop has at least one dutch oven for every patrol. Box oven making and cooking presentations are given annually. Level of cooki

Noah Spivey, 17 yr old Life Scout stated hospice care this week. The troop and the community completed his Eagle project for Noah this past weekend. A fund has been started to help pay uniform, summer camp and assorted other scout related costs for scouts in need as his request. The local news media has two stories on the lad. If you would be interested in donating to the Noah Fund, please follow the bottom link. The first three links are new media coverage of Noah from this week. http://www.wral.com/raleigh-boy-scout-battling-cancer-receives-high-honor/13409928/ http://www.wral.c

I disagree. If a scout feels a rule needs to be changed, then find out what it takes to get a troop rule changed. It may be that some rules are not up for debate. Then the scout can decide to change troops or give up the battle. Many troop rules were made when a scout did something stupid. Usually an adult decides it was too much trouble to deal with the consequences and drives a new troop rule through the Troop Committee. Most often the 12 points of the Scout Law cover most problems. Most troop rules are kinda like Hate Crime Laws. It is illegal to kill a someone due to a sp

The one advantage a lad has with an invovled parent is he always knows he has a ride to the meeting/activity/event. The scout does not have to be as diligent about sharing the troop calendar with his parents because the parents are already modifing the family calendar to ensure the scout can participate. All the scouts in my sons patrol have/had at least one parent involved in the troop as an ASM or Committe Member. All earned the rank of Eagle around age 17-17.5. Most will turn 18 after the first of the year but did not see a strong reason to pay a years dues for a few months so most

Wow! Just wow! So many issues with that troop. I agree that you should be happy your son choose a different troop. You might just send a friendly reminder to all "your" cub scouts that there are lots of troops all with different cultures. Just because you join one, doesnt mean you have to stay with that one.