scottteng

Because they are still a member of the BSA. Most of them are dual registered but there are those that chose not to belong to a troop or that the troop does not want any more. Scoutmasters find it annoying that an older higher rank boy has developed another interest and is not willing to supervise the middle school scouts. Thank God some of them are so we have SPL's etc. but some of them are selfish and want to expand their own horizons before reaching adulthood.

Rather than free online of which there are already good sources for worksheets how about a yearly cd with the pamphlets on the cd available with the requirements book for printing or other electronic distribution. I have no objection to nationals piece of the pie that they need to operate but selling books as cheap as they sell them can't be very profitable.

We generally run it as a half day training. I does kind of depend on how many attendees you have as it is one of those interactive participatory ones.

It is possible to staff a course having never taken it. The sections you are assigned to teach should be something you have some expertise in. I have staffed for three BALOO courses and have never officially taken the training. I started out as a WEBELOS leader and took Webelos leader outdoor. I have taught the gear portions of three BALOO classes. Sleeping bags, Tents,Stoves, lanterns etc I have lots of different gear being a major gearhead which I bring with me. I have examples of sleeping bags from slumber party bags to 0 degree down filled all different variety's of tents both liquid fuel and propane lanterns and stoves. I have also assisted with lunch and everything else. Instructors are provided with a syllabus and all the handouts that part is not hard. The hard part is the add on visual parts that help people understand. When you tell them to gear check their cubs and then hand them a slumber party bag and ask them if appropriate for a November family camp even here in Florida they get the picture. Webelos leader outdoor and IOLS are much better when done together as the latest syllabus suggests you actually impart to the Webelos leaders some of the trauma their young charges will be undergoing in crossing over. I took the old stand alone Webelos leader outdoor and the new one works much better

We have all members sign a general release as part of their initial paperwork that photos may be used to promote the troop. i.e. posted on troop website, used on CO bulletin board published in the little community paper one of the moms writes for. These are usually recognitions or troop type photos and we are always careful not to share too much personal information.

The BSA insurance is more like an umbrella type policy that covers you when everything else has run out in a major incident. The few dollars in copays and deductible he will incur is the price one pays for being active.

"Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation (BALOO) is a one-day training event that introduces leaders and parents to the skills needed to plan and conduct pack outdoor activities, particularly pack camping."

http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/training/baloo.aspx

The assumption that BALOO is just for camping is incorrect it is a how to on any outdoor activity see above quote from national.

Our council changed one year and we did have a different experience albeit a much worse one. Trails end has our business back.

That sea base thing looks real interesting. I am an ocean guy I just don't get the whole mountain trail thing. The $300 sounds too cheap for meals, lodging and classes for a week in the keys. Heck the troop is going camping there for three days and the cost per boy is $120 they are going bug hunting. It does include the one day boat charter. BTW for those of you in the mountains bugs are Florida rock lobster a tasty treat. I have paid or had paid for me significantly more dollars for various trainings attended over the years. The price is not really the problem it is putting it where you can get too it cost effectively that is. Dollars poured into your head are never wasted if you come home with one thing you can use you are way ahead long term.

Webelos leader outdoor is not required to be trained it is required for your webelos leader knot. Your BALOO is good as a webelos leader until the next time your district offers Webelos leader outdoor. Here that is in late fall so they will get it early we do it in conjunction with the IOLS course as the syllabus specifies so it is also a great team building exercise for the webelos leaders and boy scout leaders. If noone has baloo noone should be camping or holding any other outdoor events so every cub leader including committee members should go to baloo

We are on the annual retraining bandwagon as well both for the Totin chit and the fireman chit. Too many of our serious reprimands involve misuse of these items so the annual training is a safety precaution and we do cut corners and revoke cards when needed.

One caveat make sure that what you take will be recognized by your council. Call one of the shooting sports directors to make sure. Our council requires 20 hours OJT on our ranges no matter who else you may be certified by. This helps with their staffing needs and is non-negotiable. After the 20 hours you get a council card for two years and must maintain that card by participating a minimum of 10 hours every two years either by running ranges or staffing one of our two yearly events.

BSA certified lifeguards? Would be better to do this as a family type of planning event. If you want to make it official go to a pool with official lifeguards ie a city, county, or YMCA pool.

Back when I was in cubs we had a parent who fund raised us a new aluminum track selling "sponsorships" to businesses they got a banner on the day of the race and a blurb in the program and the pack got a track we also presented them with a nice suitable for framing sponsorship certificate.

"Is there not a middle ground between giving an award and sending him packing? Perhaps working with a scout to help him improve? And providing high expectations and the encouragement to meet them? "

Yes lots of middle grounds. Most infractions are handled by the boys among themselves. It has to be a fairly major offense to even come to the attention of an adult. Most of these seem to involve misuse of fuels, fighting that causes injury requiring first aid, and willful disobedience of buddy rules(ie storming out of camp alone and not returning). Most offenses are easily corrected but when offenses are repeated in our troop the matter is referred to the troop committee. They are basically the formally impartial dispensers of justice. The first time the boy is given a warning to not repeat. The second time his parent is requested to be at the meeting and stronger warning is issued. The third time the punishment is usually that the parent accompany the youth to every meeting and outing that the boy goes on for a period of time. Most of the time troublemakers will self correct either by changing their behavior or by leaving the troop. In the end though it is better to expel one bad apple than have the entire troop endangered by his actions.

Unless "they" enforce the deadline then people will flaunt it. I guess they got tired of people doing that here so they set up a two tier pricing. On time registration is one price late registration is considerably higher. If people are willing to pay the extra then they get in.

Wow on the other thread I stated my first question to a scout during SMC on scout spirit now you have come up with my second I do divide it up if they need it, My personal hardest point of the law is cheerful because I tend to be a grumpy old man. The easiest is thrifty because I am by my Scottish nature a thrifty person. The hardest point of the oath is duty to country in that I dislike paying my taxes the easiest is duty to God because I know my path. A majority of the boys own up to having problems with obedience (who'd of thunk) and think of themselves as excelling in helpful maybe I should check with their Mom.

Classifying someone as a habitual liar means that that person has already made up their mind about the person in question and has given up on attempting to influence for the better. Both parties may well be served by a change in venue. If you reach the point where you have given up on a boy let him go maybe someone else will reach him.

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

This is the requirement in question it is part of every rank. It is specifically addressed to the scouts everyday life to my mind that means it generally excludes scouting activities. It is easy to act scoutlike when you are at a scout function. My question is always what do you do outside of scouting that shows scout spirit, that you live by the scout oath and law. This is supposed to be one of those self evaluation exercises because most of us do not follow our scouts around in their daily lives. I would suggest that if you are having a problem with habitual liars that you not accept their registration money next time recharter comes around rather than stretch requirements beyond their bounds. Noone has a "right" to be in your troop if you are not happy with em send em packin maybe they will find a better fit elsewhere.

http://www.byerofmaine.com/amazonas-traveller.htm

They even have an answer to the mosquito problem about halfway down the page. I and my son have these we have never spent a whole night in them. They are light and fairly easy to put up with some rope. Our troop has a rule that one is only allowed to sleep out when on boy scout property not in a public campground and most places we have been going this year are the public campgrounds of state parks. The rule does not apply to me but then I don't camp often.

From all appearances it seems the BSA expects too much of it's DEs. Why else would the turnover be as much as it is. To us who do scouting for fun it looks like a great job. A DE does spend some of his time doing scouting stuff but his main job is fund raising. It's real similar to a sales job in that he has a quota of FOS money he has to bring in. They are making DEs here do every FOS presentation to every unit. We used to get real bad presentations from volunteers. We also used to get more for just having the presentation than we do now. They have raised the bar so you get no perks until you attain gold card unit actually paid in so with the monthly pledge system it happens late in the year. This district is most of a county and the council office is in the next county appx 45min to an hours drive. Des have meetings at council office and then lots of them in their district. The other thing that DEs are expected to do is increase the number of units. This involves seeking out potential chartering organizations and meeting with them. They are also expected to be at district and council functions on weekends. Thus far we have filled up their days, most of their nights, and some of their weekends. Who's ready to do it now for the salary BSA is willing to pay.

Go for it we had the benefit of a young man recent eagle scout for a couple of years. The scouts love em and they are considered more fun than us old fuddy duddy parents. Young men need to be on a career development path though and that is why the young fellow who worked with us moved out of state.

Retaining Tigers is a good priority. We have a local pack that has a permanent tiger cub leader. That helps the new cubs and their parents get used to this scouting thing gradually. In a larger pack wow three Tiger dens maybe a ACM assigned as Tiger coordinator. The larger group may actually make it easier to arrange better go see its too.

Gassed up the car today at $3.85 per gallon the gas one is buying today is oil that has been purchased at a price per barrel as crude some time ago then refined and shipped to the market there is some lag time. The crude oil price quoted is light sweet crude for delivery on x date in the future. Most US produced crude is not of the light sweet variety especially Alaskan thus is a little cheaper. Also requires a little more refining. Don't forget who owns those "evil" oil companies millions of Americans , their 401k plans, and mutual funds they had better turn a decent profit or you won't be retiring with any dignity at all. Look at profit margins by industry and they really do not vary much. Obscene profits don't last long there is always a competitor out there willing to settle for a reasonable profit margin. If you think their profits are to high set up in competition with them and take some of it don't use armed force to extract it in taxes.

Sometime back when I was a den leader our cubmaster would call up the den leader to present the awards for the den. The den leader had a better grasp of the names and the specific accomplishments. The cm was basically the ring master of the often three ring circus. Due to the size of the pack one den did a skit, another did flag, another did a song, and another did a cheer. These duties were rotated