scottteng

When she turns 14 she can join a venture crew lots of girls do.

Thanks I passed how much is the patch going to set me back? Sent the URL to my son he is own his own. I am just lucky they let you keep answering til you get it right.

Most scouts have mothers that would freak if her precious baby came home and told her that this is what he ate on camp out and despite what we think mom is an unseen presence whispering in the boys ear. To gain mom's seal of approval and remain dishless I would add alum foil, all of the above dishes would be great in foil. Here is another taste treat wrap a potato in several strips of bacon more fat the better. then in two layers of foil roast in coals like the unga-bunga beef tasty beyond belief. Sweet potatoes also roast well without the foil but the foil does keep mom happy! I have always liked the concept of Frisbees for camping plates they will hold a stew , a soup , a regular meal or a opened foil pack and also give you something to play with the rest of the day.

Actually the PLC runs the troop the SPL runs the PLC and the JLC. Chain of command for the individual scout is first to his patrol leader and if the patrol leader is unable to handle problem it will go to the SPL who will solve it, delegate it to one of the other JLC or kick it upstairs to the adult leaders. The poor SPL cannot personally run everything in the troop. Patrol leaders run the patrols and are members of the PLC (patrol leadership council) SPL chairs the PLC and his staff is the JLC plus others that are in troop POR. In our troop JLC is only for star and above and they are their own patrol under the SPL not that there are scads of them. RHIP they more often eat with the adults and have their own camping area and perks and all hold a troop POR but are not the only ones to do so. SPL is an elective position not by rank so our current SPL is first class still working on Star and has Star and Life scouts that he is the leader of.

Do you attend the monthly roundtable meetings? Yes

Do you even know what they are? yes

Does your roundtable staff conduct good meetings? Sometimes

Are they worthwhile attending? To me yes but I can see where others might not.

I have been a round table regular since becoming a WDL couple of years ago at that time the Cub Scout roundtable had a real dynamic and very successful cub master as the leader.That only works for a while though when the person leaves the group is back to square one. When my son crossed over so did I. Round table became less dynamic and less predictable as far as things I could use. The incorporated trainings were great for the first year as I had not had them and it was another piece of the puzzle. A lot of time seems to be spent on the social portions i.e. district banquet when and where commissioner and exec. comm. meetings and district event planning. I would like to see the roundtable staff and district comm. establish better communications with the unit leaders like an email loop system to keep one and all up on events. How do the troops that never have anyone at round table find out about district events?

Change your perspective on it your not being used you are sharing, doing your good turn for other scouter's who may not have the experience or skills you have. Remember the law of reaping and sowing if you are sowing into other packs and troops than your own the results may not be immediately apparent but it is not our job to worry about the harvest just to go on doing what we know is right. Think of the example you are setting for the boys in your troop that outings and good times are for sharing and cooperation not competition. The other way to look at it is wow I've finally gotten to the point where I can give back something for all the camporees, day camps, trainings, summer camps, family camps etc that others have done the hard work of planning and organizing so that the pack, troop could go and have a good time.

http://www.scouter.com/Forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=145552#id_147945

According to the above thread blue cards are obsolete and not used any more!

I recommend the trading card plastic sleeves put into a small binder with all ones cards blue, rank, toten, fireman, and training each scout and scouter should have one. After all what do you say if the DE comes up to you at an event and asks if you have the training to do what your doing?

http://usscouts.org/netresources/forms/genpatrolboxinv.pdf

This is link to inventory sheet for patrol box. Some troops still use patrol boxes they usually have them all made up with the gear to go in them. New scouts need to learn how to use the stuff before attempting something real ambitious like building one. Lots of troops use plain old plastic totes with the stuff inside and a folding camp table. We use totes each patrol has a patrol box with the pots and pans and gear, a propane stove, small propane grill, propane tank, lantern, hoses,plastic table, a dry goods tote and a large cooler. It is usually better for the new scouts to work on assembling their personal camping gear and run with whatever patrol gear the troop provides.

Sure as long as proper two deep leadership is maintained it is ok for a SM not to go. However it may be hard for that SM to say much to scouts who choose not to go.

"I don't know what you mean about 2 certs at the camp the boys go to. NRA Certified Instructors are made by NRA Training Counselors. The way I read the G2SS anything that is not an NRA instructor or NRA coach is just a helper and cannot be a MB counselor. I don't doubt you ran the range but if another certified person wasn't there you may have broken National's rules."

All I was referring to is the 20 hours required for each card. I made an assumption that the Shooting Sports Director would be qualified to train the people under him. There is always someone else one does not ever run a range alone ! At a minimum there is a qualified shooting sports director and a range master for each venue that is open plus whatever trainees are there. As a rule the experienced range master will have the trainee operate the range as much as possible under his watchful eye of course. as to the G2SS:

"All training and shooting activities must be supervised by a currently NRA-certified rifle instructor or coach who is 21 years of age or older."

is the section to which you are referring. I sign qualifying targets shot on a range I am running thus they are under my supervision Five of those targets are needed for rifle merit badge and for pro-marksman medal. If they want to go further I refer them to the on site shooting sports director. In our council we have a lot more range masters than rifle shooting merit badge counselors.

No we were discussing adding just such a policy when we were given a letter by our district advancement Chairperson that such requirements for "active" or " Scout Spirit" were expressly forbidden by National Advancement Committee. We have had more experience with an eagle candidate working very hard to keep younger scouts as far away from his eagle project as possible. Not asking openly for help but specifically recruiting the older scouts only. The younger scouts lack necessary skills and self discipline to be an asset to the project apparently. They just want to play and have fun. I was there the one day that younger scouts were and it was difficult for the older boys to keep the younger ones focused. Some of the adult leadership are upset with the eagle candidate in question because of this issue his attendance is spotty to meetings and events. He has sports commitments on meeting night. We are trying something with our non cooperative scouts requiring their parents to go on outings with them until their behavior improves. We will see how this works.

I don't know for sure but I think you are supposed to have all your certs b4 going to camp school such as rifle, archery, shotgun, black powder. The camp school from what I hear more towards running the overall shooting program. ie keeping the guns and ammo magically appearing in the armory lengthy discussions on the best firearms to purchase. The 20 hours are not seat time they are basically OJT I spent most of my 20 hours in summer camp running range for evening rifle shoot at summer camp. and I like doing that so much I go up about 2 nights a week of each summer camp week. As I have said on threads before their are many rewards to helping out with the shooting sports program. I am also on call for weekend troop shoots if the troop does not have a range master, and help out with the two big shooting sports events council has during the year. Now a RSO here is the middle guy when we have both rifle ranges which are side by side operating at the same time he relays and coordinates between the two range masters. I do understand that you are in NY which has some pretty onerous state laws on firearms so I would think that the council would like having the guys that were up on the state regs at least around. Like any "job" in boy scouts make it known to the guy in charge that you are looking to volunteer some time and get a little training if you are already at summer camp spend some time on the range. At 20 hours each you can get two cert's in less time than you spend working and still have time for the troop.

"Developin' character takes time and effort. It doesn't happen on a schedule, nor does it happen just because a boy finished learnin' all his knots. In a lot of ways, buildin' character is the hardest of any of the requirements, and takes a bit longer."

I quote because someone said it better than I and I don't think it can be tied to attendance percentage. I am also hesitant to tie it to what the boys say because they get adolescent attitude and tell you I don't want to be here but my Dad or Mom makes me come I really am too cool for scouts. When given the option not to continue they change their tune. They hate scouts because they have to give up their video games to go on the outing when they get back it was the most exciting fun thing they ever did. I am sure most here have been through this with a scout or too or had the scout who shows for everything causes no trouble but ends up in serious trouble or even worse as a suicide. I will go with the character building measure and it is tough but arbitrary percentages on attendance are not the answer. I have in my possession the letter from the national advancement committee forwarded by our district advancement chair that these percentage attendance criteria are not to be used to define active or involved in any definition of scout spirit. I Quote " Showing "scout spirit" means being a good example to one's peers "Scout Spirit" is not to be interpreted as having to attend a certain percentage of scouting events but rather how by example a Scout brings out the best in others as a reflection of his own character and attitude,"

girls are eligible to join crews

"Demonstrate Scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your everyday life."

The requirement clearly states that the scout spirit you are to demonstrate is in your everyday life and not tied to scout function attendance. If we are experiencing poor attendance at scout functions maybe we need to adjust our program to better fit the needs of the scouts. When a young man is excited about doing something then try and keep him from doing it. This applies at all age levels a camping trip is exciting to a new scout but old hat to a 16 year old. It's like the old adage for salespeople find out what the customer wants then selling it to him is no problem.

I am a rifle range master when a group of boys come in and I am done with safety briefing I open it up to questions. There are usually a lot until I say I would love to sit here all day and answer questions its a lot easier than running the range but I thought you guys were here to shoot.

Take a couple of nice deep breaths. Money one pours into ones head in the form of further education is never wasted. Put yourself in the position of an NRA or military range master that shows up at the Boy Scout range with very active shooting program and is told he must retrain for 20 hours just like everyone else. A scout range is a little different than all adults. I gather there is not a shooting sports program in your council. If there were it would be relatively easy to get your range master training from BSA. Range Master does not a MB counselor make all we do is sign the targets for the shooting portion and sometimes do the full safety instructions. Rifle MB can be earned with a rifle an air rifle or a muzzle loading (black powder) rifle. If you are wanting to establish a shooting sports program someone needs to go to national camp school to become a shooting sports director. If you are just wanting to get some boys thru rifle MB seek out a summer camp that offers the MB and the adult leader that wants to be a range master should see the camp shooting sports director and volunteer to be trained. Here it is 20 hours each for rifle, archery, black powder, and shotgun and ten hours for rendezvous sports (knife and ax throwing)

The only camping weekend I ever went on as a scout my entire and I do mean entire food supply was a package of hot dogs and two cans of baked beans. Hot dogs will never spoil too many preservatives and are fully cooked anyhow and my pocketknife was up to opening a can of beans. Plus I had a grand mess kit fresh from the army surplus store. This was back in the stone age we literally burned rocks for fuel and had a grand snipe hunt in the woods along the beach after dark. I mean to tell you some of those older scouts almost got one in their burlap bag we could tell because of how loud they were shouting about it.

I guess it all depends on the area you are in. Here in the go-go growth area of west Florida we seem to have Webelos and cubs coming out our ears. There are about seven from our pack and we have been troop shopped by several others and have been told to expect three more tomorrow. A brand new pack was started this past year by our scoutmaster and in one school nite for scouting 60 cubs were signed up along with a complete leader and committee team. The people with kids move to where they can afford to live and there are jobs available the nice weather is just a pleasant bonus.

The best long term CM I have seen is one where the CM is grandfather to a couple of boys in the pack. Lets the parents be closer to where the rubber meets the road and gives a stability to the pack. This is a large pack with active committee and plenty of den leaders available so the job is not too onerous.

For the larger pack have the swim parties at the public pool where there is a lifeguard. A park meeting to have the kids run around is fun too. Day camps are great especially for the over achievers they get lots of stuff done st day camp usually including the all important bb gun and archery belt loops that are only allowed to be awarded at council event. Two meetings a month is too much for the entire pack how about one pack activity per month and if a den choses it may have a meeting or activity per month.

the boys love the driving license we had one lady who even put their pictures on them then laminated the color printed paper and each one on a string around the boys neck. The boys were trying to talk their parents into letting them drive home from the derby.

Are we sure that this is not someone at council's scheme to save camp onway as the Mormon or LDS church is the largest charterer of Troops by far in the country. The church as a major promoter of scouting may be willing to buy the property to insure that it's units have a camp to go to. They also run their scout program slightly different from the rest of us so may reserve some weekends and even their own week of summer camp. My only contact with LDS troops has been at roundtable but most of them are dedicated scouters.

Our campouts are usually themed making program planning relatively easy Search and rescue exercise, wilderness survival, canoe trip, bike trip, Climb and rappel, camporees. The JLC has input on what activities to do which months except for the district/council events. However all of this needs to be in your yearly plan well in advance. Deciding the month b4 the campout what you are going to do is tough. Reservations need to have been made for the more exciting activities. That's why council preview their program to you in August so you can sit down with JLC in August or September and fill in the schedule for the next year. Face it the adults have to have some input we are the transportation element as well as supervision. Patrols plan their meals and are given some time for their own activities. We have more of a challenge with troop meetings and spl losing control over noise levels and behavior.

"The voting bloc then disappears, having no further involvement in the unit."

Then at the next committee meeting like oh say tonight the committee reconsiders and votes whatever idiocy was perpetrated out. Nothing is binding about committee votes on future duly constituted committee they actually tend to do and redo until they find something that works. As always the first question should be: this serves the youth of our unit how?

maybe a three month requirement along with appropriate records etc. just like what is needed for Family Life, Personal Management, Personal Fitness