scottteng

We usually participate and probably will this year but our main ham dad got called up to active duty and is NLA.

A point to remember hikes do not necessarily need to take place in the woods. We have a Scouter in our state who has charted historical hikes through most of the cities in the state. These have a written site plan and a script with descriptions of the buildings you are seeing. When I was a WDL I took the den on one and most of them really enjoyed it. He also has cool patches available which go on their brag vests. Hopefully someone has done something similar elsewhere. He also goes around the state and personally leads hikes the one we went on was one of those in our local area. Here is a link to his website for those in Florida:

http://www.geocities.com/yosemite/rapids/8428/historicalseries.html

Taking all the den leader trainings as well as CM may be more of a daunting task than you think due to the way the position specific trainings are done with the den level specific and CM and CC being run concurrently in different rooms. Far be it from me to discourage anyone from attending training but I think a CM should take some of the oddball stuff designed to keep things fun like skits, songs, and ceremonies class or cub scout science, or weather smart scouting. Course titles stolen from our Univ of Scouting catalog. You taking den leader training may indicate to the den leader that you lack confidence in them to do their job. Most of the specific trainings are very nuts and bolts oriented how and why of advancements etc.. A CM's main job is as MC of pack meetings and general cheerleader for the boys and for the den leaders.

What may be more important than you not having these Merit badges in hand is that your permanent record at you council may not be up to date. It would behoove any scout star and above to ask the staff at their council office to please print them up a copy of their record. This will show all your merit badges and ranks earned and the dates. The dates are actually most critical as well as certain requirements require tenure so you must make sure that your Star BOR is at least 4 months after your first class BOR as an example. Better to correct these now when there is plenty of time. You may not have the Merit badges because they have never been submitted on an advancement report and therefore never awarded to you in which case they will not be on your record. Alternatively you may find that you have several merit badges on your sash which don't show up on your report. This could be because your troop gave you the MB out of their stock and forgot to include it on an advancement report or a clerical or a name error. Name errors are very common with boys that use their middle name all registrations and therefore all advancement reports should have a full legal name. Be prepared applies to advancement as well know what is in your permanent record.

We use the rather dated JLT training and award them a trained patch. Council offers a class at Univ of Scouting and gives the boys that go a trained patch. We have several that have been to NYLT but all of them had a trained patch when they went.

In most districts Life to Eagle is more under the purview of the district advancement chair than unit scout leaders. I would recommend staying in close contact with him/her during this process. In larger districts you may be assigned to an Eagle coach or Adviser. There are generally training classes put on by the counsel. the paperwork can be daunting and one must be meticulous about proper preparation. They keep changing the stuff they want as well so last years info may be no longer current.

http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=189850

Search and find existing thread that organization does not have a good rep here.

I paid to go to Trainer development. All of our training classes have a cost. Sometimes even the instructors end up having to kick in a few bucks to cover our own food. I even had to pay to teach all day at last years Univ of scouting.

If I was the scoutmaster of the troop I would hold a meeting with the scout and his parents and explain to them that since this is a safety issue that this scout may bring his own food and supplies on each outing he attends. He and they will be responsible for his safety. There is no other way to insure that some uninformed grub master or the grub masters transport to the store does not endanger this kid. Even if his patrol cooperates what if they run out of oil and unwittingly borrow peanut oil from another patrol? I would credit them with alloted meal money for each campout. A major portion of most troops diets is PB&J look what they put out at most summer camps for seconds (that reads I don't like what's for dinner to adults)

"Effective for tours on January 1, 2009, at least one adult must have completed Planning and Preparing for Hazardous Weather training."

The above is a quote from the latest tour permit application. BSA is being proactive in regard to weather issues. That being said we were camping in feeder bands of Gustav recently. The wind set some of the tents dancing. Generally speaking we are camping at a state or county park the park rangers pull the evacuation trigger quicker than we would. In the past 3 years we have been ordered out of a state park for a storm that never materialized and had to leave gear and be transported to shelter on a backpacking trip at a county park. That was only for a couple of hours and was due to tornado warnings. My son also got to spend a night in the dining hall at summer camp due to a Tropical storm. The money issue can only be answered by the council office each one has their own policy on refunds or credit for future events. These apply if they cancel the event not generally if you decide not to attend.

One small tip that does help make sure that your full legal name is legibly on the training attendance sheet. The data entry person has no idea that Jim Jones from troop 6 is the same person as the James A. Jones that is registered in troop 6. The same thing applies to advancement report we have several goes by's in our troop their legal name needs to be on the advancement report so their records will be accurate. I know this because I am guilty of it going by my middle name.

As home schoolers we already did the dropping out of elementary school thing. I have on occasion had to lay down the law to my son that he is free to quit scouts and that I am also free to discontinue our cable TV and to dispose of his collection of video game systems. I have kept him in scouts so far. I have to agree with Lisabob he will be involve in something. He is at the moment in karate as well as music lessons and scouting with two different units a troop and the shooting sports crew. I am sure that he will do less with his troop and more with the crew as he matures. The bloom is off the camping rose as a life scout with 30 merit badges and over 100 nights of camping experience. It is onward and upward as he is looking forward to competing in shooting sports in the coming year as well as advancing in his karate belts.

It is left to the scout to maintain his own records whether those be blue cards or printouts from summer camps. How would one correct records otherwise. What if one was not entered properly. How would the candidate show he had earned mb? that was not in the computer's records. I am all for tech tools but the scout must know what his accomplishments are or suffer the consequences. A computer is only as good as the person inputting information into it and especially in these times of multiple nicknames the scout must keep his own records to "be prepared".

My kids love broccoli especially when smothered in cheese sauce or cooked up by the Chinese restaurant with chicken or beef. Brussel sprouts on the other hand oh well they will learn.

If he wants to go to that trouble I would say let him. However most of what our troop considers valuable is not in the trailer at a campout. We value our tents, patrol cooking gear, propane tanks, and our fund raised 10X20 canopy for those campgrounds which do not offer pavilions. All of that stuff is scattered around the campsite and the trailer is secure storage for tomorrow's food that may attract varmints, specialty personal gear and as general more weatherproof than tent storage for days like this AM when two of our tents were skipping across the campsite courtesy of Gustav(Note we were in the process of taking them down so they had been unstaked).

The reason for the pick is obvious the very conservative base of the republican party is Jazzed over it.Search for comments from James Dobson if you don't believe me. Palin, Jindal, and Cantor are the up and comers on the horizon. Either of them would have solidified McCain's dubious position with the base. McCain has severe problems with said base due to his years of experience compromising in Washington. The base does not trust him. By picking one of ours he gells that important part of the republican coalition in support rather than leaving them up for grabs ala Perot and Brown voters in the Billy Bob victories. Much the same as George Bush reassured the same block with Dick Cheney. That it might draw some wicked witch of the north supporters is just icing on the cake. As for her child being properly cared for nannies are fairly reasonable to hire on both sides of the political aisle you just have to make sure you are paying their taxes. I am sure Barak and Michelle have had their share of nannies as she is the main breadwinner in that family.

We had a rash of this a couple of years back several packs and troops lost trailers and gear the thieves are probably not much interested in the gear but the trailers are expensive and salable. Tongue locks help anything that will make it harder to back up to it and drive away.

If it weren't for old books we'd have hardly any books at all. My librarian son is actually in charge of the books but I see his inventory. National should get with the program and supply a CD of pdf's of MB books with the yearly requirement books that way they would get their pound of flesh without any printing costs. As it is we print up "free" worksheets and use old books.

The reason behind a lot of party switching seems to be a desire to vote in primaries. Sometimes people have a favored candidate for their own reasons sometimes it is pure political maneuvering such as Rush Limbaugh's operation chaos. In some areas one party or the other maintains complete dominance so the winner of the primary is unopposed in the general election.

I was at a day camp meeting where a group of cub scout leaders and boy scouts was asked if they knew how to tie an overhand knot the universal response was no. We then asked them if they knew how to tie their shoes. The first knot you tie to tie your shoes is an overhand knot. Unless you are a total yutz you can tie an overhand knot you just don't know its name.

He might do better if you placed him with a Tiger den rather than older cubs. First class is too lofty for den chiefs by the time they get there they have been patrol leaders etc, But Tenderfoot for tigers, 2nd class for bear/wolves and first class for Webelos would maintain age separation

I have a hard time as well with understanding how a Scout made it to life without meeting the 20 nights camping requirement for Camping MB the rest of it is a song and a dance. With camping mb now being offered at summer camps far and wide we will not sign a blue card for it unless the scout in question has his nights in the bag and at least two out of three of his challenges with the third being doable at the camp in question. We camp 10 months per year, summer camp one month and have a leadership trip the other month. That runs to 30 nights per year well over 20 even allowing for the occasional cabin night or missed trip. We have 13 year olds that have close to 100 nights if they are good attenders. Once they have their 20 and get the NB they don't have to go again. Its not like OA that requires nights within the last year.The active thing they will hang you on every time as you are seeing from the other posts. The POR is six months from his Life BOR need to check the records carefully. All of these things may have been completed many years ago and still be valid. We always issue a certificate at the court of honor following each election one for the completed position and one for the new position with the patch. Your side of the appeal won't look so good if he shows up with one of those. You are doing the right thing meet with him and let him make his case and then let him know if you have reservations. Up until the last requirement change it was not stated that the camping nights had to be at a Boy Scout function as well

Den Chief is a great position for boys that get along well with younger kids but are too geeky, smart, or uncool with the older boys in the troop. They usually have a great time and will bring the boys into Boy Scouts maybe not with your troop but somewhere.

Hope they are re-booking your trip for you as well. Fay is a nothing storm but the Gulf waters are very warm and better safe than sorry when you have someone else's kids in your charge. Our leadership just returned from their annual bug hunting trip to the Keys late last week. We have been chased out of several places due to fowl weather the boys seem to relish those experiences even more than the ones that go smoothly. We did cancel our meeting tonight and the county officials have canceled school for tomorrow. Second day of school and already a day off but most of the schools are shelters and the red cross does need some prep time if they have to open.

Why do we have to constantly rehash this if you leave them in their position even if they are not performing then they have fulfilled the time requirement in their position. It is your responsibility or your troop junior leadership's to remove someone who is not performing. It's just like that raise you get after being on the job 6 months if your boss does not want you to get it he needs to fire you! Find a job they like and give it to them and it won't be work it will all be fun! Reminder den chief is a great position for some scouts the cubs love some attention from an older boy. The only place that demonstrating any leadership is required is in the eagle project otherwise responsibility is what is the standard.