Roadkill Patrol

My son got back from NYLT from which he was given a patch. He wanted that put on his uniform and said everyone wears it above the right pocket. After looking in the guide and finding it was a temporary patch, I informed him he could put it on the pocket because he is going to need the space above his right pocket for his jambo patch when he goes next year. If he wasn't going to jambo and didn't need the space above his pocket, I probably would have told him to ignore the guide and go with the norm.

I learned that it is best to see where official patches go and anything else is considered a temporary patch worn on the pocket.

I have used Badge Magic and notice that after washing, the edges tend to peel up a bit.

Instead of using Badge Magic on the whole patch, I cut the sticker down to about half the size of the patch which leaves the border of the patch not stuck down. Then after sticking the patch on so it won't move, I sew the edge down. This makes the badge magic less visible if you have to peel a patch off, although I never had an instance where I removed a patch and did not put another patch in it's place.

I taught this to my son which he found helpful. He changed ranks recently and just had to remove the stitches and peel the Star patch off. No harm done to the patch and the spot on the shirt gets covered with the Life patch anyway. Then he sewed the edge down and was good to go.

I have tried pinning it, but I still end up bunching up the fabric under the patch. On some areas like the short sleeve, I have tried a 4" hoop ring that keeps the fabric taut, however I ended up sewing it on crooked.

Our former pack has a 4 lane Best Track. We even bought the loop so boys that were not going on to the district race could see if their car could do the loop after the normal race was done. They have a blast doing that.

We handed out about 350 postcard size recruiting flyers at a 4th of July parade in a town that did not have any scouting groups years ago while my son was in cubs. There were a couple of scouts from that town that were part of scout packs about 12 miles away, but not many.

After handing out all of our flyers, we waiting for people to call or show up at our recruiting nights, but got zero response.

Maybe since most parade participants throw out candy, we should have included this on our flyers:

"In order the pick up the candy the scouts would have thrown to the crowds, please visit us with your scout age son on recruiting night"

Our troop summer camp rule - shower every other night. Mandatory on last night of camp or in the morning before departure since I am driving.

For weekend trips, I always have to inform one or two that for the return trip, I do not want to see them wearing clothes that wore all weekend. A 4 hour trip in the same vehicle with smelly clothes is not fun for anyone. On one 4 hour return trip, I had a 14 y/o scout remove his shoes, which I could tell instantly. I told him he had to leave his shoes on and he apologized and put them back on. About an hour from home, we made a rest stop. He was the only one left in my truck (in the back seat) as everyone else got out to use the bathroom. I came back to the truck and he had his shoes off and propped up on my center console!!! The last hour ride home was horrible for everyone.

My son just got back from NYLT and they had only one Venturer, a female, attend from the entire council. The leader for the team she was on was also a female Venturer.

We award advancements at the weekly troop meeting following their advancement date. We do live in a rural area and have no problem getting our patches without traveling 80 miles to the scout shop. This is how our advancement usually goes:

Monday troop meeting - scout has BOR at end of meeting or turns in MB card. BOR committee given advancement report form (34403) to sign once they approve the scout for rank. BOR committee enters information into Troopmaster and hands signed form to me.

Monday night when I get home - I enter the information into the online internet advancement system.

Tuesday morning - I email a copy of the internet advancement report, along with the signed advancement report form to our scout shop. We put money on a BSA gift card to purchase our advancements since we can no longer maintain money on account with our council.

Wednesday - I normally receive the patches in the mail. At most, I receive them Thursday.

This has worked well for us to get advancements in time for the next Monday troop meeting and award them.

At the court of honor, we honor all of the scouts earned MB's and advanced in rank since the last COH. For rank advancement we give the scouts the rank pins and we give them the parent pin to pin on their parent.

The only time we wait a short period (2-3 weeks at most) for advancement is between summer camp and the next COH to award all of the MB's earned during SC.

Moosetracker - your entire post regarding being honest and trustworthy incorrectly assumed that our CO is a 501©(3) non-profit, which they are not.

Please don't make unwarranted assumptions and accusations about someone's posts by reading more into the post than what the person has written.

Our unit's status follows our CO's status.

Taken from scouting.org:

The BSA National Council grants a charter to religious organizations, service clubs, businesses,and others who want to sponsor a Scout unit. A unit is actually owned by its chartered organization. Chartered organizations vary widely in tax status, but the tax status of your unit is the same as that of your chartering partner."

The pack my son used to be in split the 30% popcorn profit so that the pack received 15% and the scout earned 15% in their account. When the scout crossed over to the troop, their scout account transferred with them. The pack had a policy to transfer any scout account funds to a new unit.

The troop, since they have other forms of revenue, give the whole 30% profit to the scout's account. If the scout moves and joins another troop, our policy is that their scout account will transfer to their new troop.

Our feelings is that the boy's did earn the right to the scout money they worked hard for. The prizes they earned from their sale level was a bonus.

If they were unsure if and when they will find a new troop, we just tell them to purchase camp gear, hiking boots, uniforms, etc. before they move from the troop to use up the funds in their account.

I heard during my re-cert class in April that the chest compression only is for the layman (non-certified) and is better than doing nothing. By focusing on chest compressions, ordinary people don't have to remember the ratios of chest compressions to breaths.

I am certified for CPR for the Health Professional which is different than normal CPR certification. There are different certifications for different groups.

I would think that for any requirement where it states "demonstrate CPR", it should be both the chest compressions and breathing.

We have troop meetings every Monday during the calendar year except for those that fall on a holiday and in between Christmas and New Year's.

Our troop meeting attendance barely drops in the summer. We understand that people have lives in the summer and may miss a meeting or two or three. We also keep up with at least one activity per month.

Seems to work for us to keep the boys interested all year long. I saw that when we were in Cubs with no summer meetings, the activities they did each month kept the boys interested enough to come back in the fall.

We are in our 68th year.

The scout has not finished the swimming MB yet. Since he did not even want to attempt to try the swim test administered by the MBC, he did not do the canoeing MB.

The 2nd half (after MB requirements) of the weekend consisted of canoeing to a lakeside campground to spend the night. He was able to ride in a canoe with an adult swimmer (per GSS rules).

Sorry, my original post had a typo in the scout's age..he is 11, not 14.

Thanks for the replies. This is one area where I think the BSA can be vague in its requirements and open to a lot of interpretations.

This was a multi-troop outing. The MBC (other troop SM) was making everyone, even boys in his troop, take the swim test before starting. The MBC even had youth in his troop balk that they had passed the test at their summer camp last year. It was his MB to run the way he interpreted the MB requirements. The youth asked me (his SM) if he could use his prior swim test which I told him the MBC was making everyone take the test.

The GSS does not state the BSA swim test has to be administered in a designated swimming area. The area had a floating dock and was marked off for the depth and distance required to jump in over your head and swim the required distance. Under the Safe Swim Defense section, it actually states:

Safe Swim Defense does not apply to boating or water activities such as waterskiing or swamped boat drills that are covered by Safety Afloat guidelines.

I do not believe that swim checks are like rank requirement where you do it once, have it signed off, then never have to do it again.

I have a question regarding merit badges such as canoeing that have the swim test for requirements. Canoeing requirement 3 states:

Before doing the following requirements, successfully complete the BSA swimmer test: Jump feetfirst into water over the head in depth. Level off and swim 75 yards in a strong manner using one or more of the following strokes: sidestroke, breaststroke, trudgen, or crawl; then swim 25 yards using an easy, resting backstroke. The 100 yards must be completed in one swim without stops and must include at least one sharp turn. After completing the swim, rest by floating.

When does the scout have to complete the swim test...completed during a previous outing or at the time he is working on the merit badge? I have a scout who completed (but not a strong swimmer) the swim requirement during the swimming merit badge at a pool, but did not want to redo the swim test in the pond where the canoeing merit badge requirements were held. He is 14 years old and was mad that I would not allow him to use a prior completed swim test. I informed him that I had not seen him swim outside of a pool in the cooler conditions of a small pond where they would be in the water during the canoeing requirements. My belief is that a scout's ability to pass the test is contingent on the water conditions he will face.

Question is, am I adding to the requirements by insisting on a new open water swim test just before the activity? Or can I interpret that since it does not state "have completed the BSA swimming test" that I am right to insist on a new swim test?

I could not find where the GSS specifically stated when (other than summer camp) swim checks were required just before an activity?

How do other troops base their scout's swimming ability and how long they are valid for? If I had seen this scout pass an open water swim check recently, I may have allowed him to use that. It seems like a lot of interpretation can be used when regarding swim checks.

What I would do since he made so may remarks to the other scouts that were very hurtful and he was not even close to apologetic:

1st offense - council scout as you did, but also meet with his parents to discuss his insolent behavior to other scouts and lack of respect for his leader. Advise both scout and parent that if he cannot change his behavior, he will not be allowed to remain in the troop. Notify committee of the youth/parent meeting so they are informed.

2nd offense - boot him from the troop. By this time, the parents have been made aware and warned about his behavior and what actions would happen if he continued.

If a scout made one remark to another scout, not as sharp as you described, and was apologetic, I would add another parent/scout meeting and make the 3rd offense the booting from the troop.

Do not let one apple spoil the whole bushel. If this type of behavior is allowed to continue past a 2nd offense, you may lose other scouts because of it.

Our troop trailer was donated before I joined the troop. We only use it on district or council wide camporees and summer camp. If anything, it has been an advertisement for us which has helping in a few boys joining our troop. The people who donated it had our council shoulder patch painted on the side. It also lists every Eagle from our troop since 1933. Is it show-offy? Yes, but if it helps us recruit from it, then more power to it.

It serves us well for the few bigger events, but otherwise it stays home on the regular monthly outings because no one would see it in the woods anyway.

We have had a couple scouts do both Hiking and Swimming for rank advancement since they they changed the Star and Life rank advancement from Hiking or Swimming or Cycling to Hiking AND Swimming AND Cycling. They preferred the hiking better even though it took longer simply because of the scenery. With swimming, it was more of a chore to do in a pool and wasn't as fun as enjoying the outdoors at a slower pace where they can converse with the others on the hikes. Overall in the troop, we have had about equal numbers taking hiking and swimming. I guess it is a personal preference for the youth.

Question...if you only print a few cards from the sheet of 8 and separate those few, how do you feed a partial sheet back through the printer without it jamming? Only seams feasible to purchase and use the sheets if you have 8 advancing the same rank at the same time.

Some of the factors we try to decide if we are going to cancel are:

Is your troop made up of mostly older scouts or relatively younger scouts? Ours is mostly younger, inexperienced scouts, so that would lead me to deciding for our troop to cancel the event if we were camping in the conditions you described.

The other factor is how long is the weather going to be severe? Did the storm show on radar aa a sliver that was going to pass over quickly or did it look like it was going to go on for hours. No one likes to spend most of the campout in a tent or under a shelter without much to do.

To me, you did the smart thing and went with your gut. No one wants to have to "learn to survive" on the fly. You can always camp another day instead of something going wrong and saying "we should have canceled."

Just received an email from ScoutStuff that all nylon uniform items are Buy 1 Get 1 free and sizes are limited at scoutstuff.org and local scout shops.

Makes me wonder if they are on the way out since the micro fiber were introduced.

If you go for the supplex nylon, I just got an email that all nylon uniform items are on sale buy 1 get 1 free (free item equal or lesser value) at scoutstuff.org and all scout shops. It also said sizes were limited. I wonder if this is a closeout since the new micro fiber uniforms were introduced.

I am glad for you that they were removed and maybe now you can move the pack forward without having the puppet strings attached.

By the way, watch out if she started a new pack. She may very well try to pull kids from your pack over to hers.

Eagle792:

How do you go about mixing your new scouts into the existing patrols?