ScoutDad2001

The offical Uniform Inspection sheet (34283) says in the "Left Sleeve" section: "Council shoulder emblem, unit numeral and veteran unit bar are worn as shown snug up and touching each other." If a unit has chosen to NOT wear a veteran bar, shouldn't the unit numeral then be touching the council patch, so that it adheres to the requirement to be "snug up and touching each other? Or should there be a space left between them? This is a grey area that is subject to interpretation in our quarters.

Just picked up 9 copies of new Scout Handbook at local Scout Shop. When I started to fill in the boys' names in the front of each, I discovered that in 5 of the books the "Protecting From Child Abuse" pamphlet had been glued in upside-down / backwards. Obviously these are going right back for an exchange. I was curious if anyone else had run into this? Seems an extremely high percentage of errors.

But in this situation, both the ceremony and the reception will be at the parents, with the reception immediately following the ceremony. I doubt that ANY of the leaders, will be willing to even go out to their cars to change, let alone go home, change and return. Plus, remember, scouts will be at the reception, and the mere presense of alcohol violates BSA policy. Unless.... Does the BSA consider that a Eagle Scout COH reception (where scouts would be present) held at a private home is NOT a BSA activity, and would not fall under the "no alcohol" policy?

Question raised to me regarding soon-to-be Eagle scout who is having his ceremony and reception at parent's home. Concern was likely presense of alcohol at reception. (As seems true in just about any community these days, adults expect booze at parties.) As scouts will be present, and leaders will be in uniform, how to best diplomatically remind Committee and parents that reception must be alcohol-free per BSA policy. Sticky point is that scout's parent is past CC & still influential member, and all the other CMs enjoy their adult beverages. As the SM is a known tee-totaler, she wi

Have a new 11yr-old scout, whom I'll call John. Family adopted him from mainland China during the summer. John speaks a little English and reads hardly any English. His patrol leader and our troop guide have worked 1-on-1 with him quite often, but just can't get around the language issues. Once demonstrated, John does well with rank requirements that are "physical", ie, tying square knot, scout salute, handshake, etc. But he's not been able to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, describe the Scout badge, show understanding the Scout Oath, Law, etc. Our Guide pointed out that a Ma

Have a new 11yr-old scout, whom I'll call John. Family adopted him from mainland China during the summer. John speaks a little English and reads hardly any English. His patrol leader and our troop guide have worked 1-on-1 with him quite often, but just can't get around the language issues. Once demonstrated, John does well with rank requirements that are "physical", ie, tying square knot, scout salute, handshake, etc. But he's not been able to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, describe the Scout badge, show understanding the Scout Oath, Law, etc. Our Guide pointed out that a Ma

Which youth leader positions "earn" the "Trained" strip? I'm specifically interested in our OA Rep, Historian, Librarian, Scribe and Instructors. We held our Junior Leader Training recently. All were invited but only the SPL, APL, PLs, Guide and one Instructor attended. Is having the individual "Introduction" meeting with each of these appointed scouts sufficient? Or must they attend the Junior Leader Training session to earn the strip? And what about APLs? All the books say an APL should be trained by their PL. Does that mean an APL doesn't need to, or shouldn't attend JLT? A

Does anyone know if there is some sort of video put out by National (or anyone), for promoting the three BSA High Adventure locations (Philmont, SeaBase and Northern Tier)? We'd like to get our troop thinking ahead about their next High Adventure trip. (We did SeaBase 2 years ago.) We felt that showing a video (or videos) of Philmont and Northern Tier, at a troop meeting, would be a perfect introduction to those places. I've tried to navigate the National Council site to see if they have anything, but gad... that's an easy place to get lost in. Thanks, ScoutDad2001

My son returned from the National Jamboree with an "English" interpreter strip that he'd traded for. I'm pretty sure that these were intended as jokes, and that no such strip really exists (at least in the BSA). Right?

My son ruined one of his uniform shirts at the National Jamboree, by accidentally leaving the candle (from the memorial service) in his left pocket. The shirt was left the next day in his tent, and the intense heat melted the candle into soup, which resulted in an immense wax "stain" covering much of the upper left side of the shirt. Needless to say, the shirt could not be cleaned and can no longer be worn. I have removed all of his "personal" patches (ie, jambo patch, rank, AOL, patrol, counsel & troop numeral). My problem is that I am uncomfortable with simply tossing a Scout shirt

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I had pretty much already determined that the "proper" way for me to resume wearing my OA sash, was to re-join the lodge. But just in case I couldn't arrange for that prior to the OA tap-out at summer camp, I wanted some guidance on what alternatives I had.

I became an Ordeal member at the age of 17. Now, 35 years later, I am an ASM of my son's troop, and, at this time, I have not re-registered with my local OA lodge. I have read the back topics in this group in an attempt to determine what of my old OA stuff I am still eligable to wear. This is what I have determined... OA sash and right-pocket arrow/ribbon - Yes. These are national OA insignia. The common comments regarding these seemed to be "Once elected to the OA, you are a member for life." Lodge flap - No. You must have your current dues paid up to the lodge in order

Okaaaayyyeee...... enough theories about the award placement on the female uniforms.... But can anyone answer Daveeby's original question, about the origin and history of the award? My wife's late grandfather was a recipient, and she has always been curious about what is behind it.

Also... he would have been one of eight candidates, the others being older/experienced/mature, and I think it highly unlikely that he would have been elected anyway. So, I don't feel that I've denied him anything this time. And, yes, I could have asked the OA rep about this at the campsite, but I didn't begin to question my interpretation until long after camp was over.

As "Acting Scoutmaster" at this summer's camp, I may have erred when approving the list of scouts who were eligable for election to OA. According to the printed info I was passed out by the OA rep who came to our campsite, the potential candidates had to: * be a registered member of the BSA * hold the rank of at least First Class and (I'll quote this one exactly as written) * "After registration with a troop, team or post, have experienced 15 days and nights of camping, including 6 consecutive days and nights of resident camping, approved and under the auspices and standards of th

Camping Merit Badge requirement #8c is "Cook for your patrol a trail meal requiring the use of a lightweight stove." Just what is considered a "trail meal", these days? When I was a Scout, in the 60's, a "trail meal" usually referred to a commercial, pre-packaged box containing several mysterious envelopes. You'd dump these into several pots, add water, heat and... Voila! Beef Stew with biscuits and chocolate pudding. Very light-weight, perfect for taking on long backpacking treks. I've skimmed through the merit badge book, and although it does spend time discussing good camping

(I already posted this in the Cub Scout forum, but wanted to garner any feedback from here as well.) Our troop holds a weekend camping event where we invite the Webelos IIs from the local packs to join us for the day. This is one of our primary activities where we attempt to "plant the seeds of interest" in the Webelos and their parents, so that they will want to crossover to our troop later in the year. At the campout, we have several outdoor "Scout stations" where we either demonstrate some aspect of Scouting, and/or have the Webelos join in. These have worked well, and we have been

ScoutNut - Good ideas. We were already looking into building something (lashing skills) but scaled down suitably for indoors. Knot tying is under consideration as well, as long as we don't go over Cub knots, and can demonstrate that the knots have a practical use. Making scarf slides is an interesting one. Indoor games like you suggested are impossible due to limited size of the cabin at the campsite. As far as what does our troop usually do when it rains? Well, if it just involves the troop, we just cancel the activity. Otherwise we muddle through as best as we can. It's ha

Our troop holds a weekend camping event where we invite the Webelos IIs from the local packs to join us for the day. This is one of our primary activities where we attempt to "plant the seeds of interest" in the Webelos and their parents, so that they will want to crossover to our troop later in the year. At the campout, we have several outdoor "Scout stations" where we either demonstrate some aspect of Scouting, and/or have the Webelos join in. These have worked well, and we have been able to keep the Webelos happy and active for the better part of the day.... as long as the weather coope

Eamonn... WOW! That's GREAT! I'm going to remember that. What a wonderful way of handling a "no flag" situation. I can't wait to spring this on our troop sometime.

Thanks to you all for the feedback. Based on what I read here, plus the private replies I received, it appears that I can... 1) Wear my old camp patch, proudly. (Unfortunately, it is still attached to my old 60's green uniform, in a trunk at my parents. Maybe next year.) 2) Wear my OA sash to the camp Call-Out ceremony. (Already packed for camp.) 3) Wear my OA flap patch, provided that I pay my dues (and assuming that my lodge still exists.) 4) Wear my God & Country medal on formal occasions. (Alas, I never made Eagle, otherwise I could wear that also.) 5) Obtain and wear t

Can (should) an adult leader wear any of the patches that they obtained when they themselves were Scouts, on their scout leader shirt? Obviously rank badges are out. But I'd like to wear the patch from my old scout camp (on the right pocket.) What about my OA pocket flap patch? And would it be permissible to wear my OA sash to the tap-out ceremony at camp? (Here I am, less than 24-hours from my attending camp for the first time as an adult leader, and I just find this great site.)