Scoutfish

Where can I find a check off chart for tracking boy scout rank. One that I can list all the boys in the new patrol all at one time? Okay, I DO NOT need trax or the online version of what is in the scout handbook. Not looking for any online spread sheets. I have that. I just want a one /two page printed chart of the boy scout ranks for me to keep up with while working with my scouts. Something I can keep in my clipboard. Something I can check off at meetings ( after signing off in the scout's handbooks) and then use as a reference when updating whats on my computer. I guess an individual chart each for: Scout, Tenderfoot, 2nd Class, 1st Class, Star, and Life. Not so worried about Eagle. At least not yet anyways. The closest thing I can compare what I am looking for is to the cub scout progress charts that you'd find in the back of the cub scout leader handbook. Not individula, but the entire patrol on one chart. Been looking and looking , but you know how it is, I specifically type what I am searching for, but results are any and all kinds of charts, dogs, cats, somebody's car, a picture of the president, a cactus, a reference to a chart on how many times a person has sex, pirate map charts,etc..... Thanks! Mark

Nah, slider is coprrect! It even makes sense: It slides down off the necker onto the floor! First time the name was used, I imagined it was something like this: 1st Scouter: "What's this on the floor? Oh, it's a necker device.Bet it slipped off without anybody even noticing" Second scouter: Yeah, it must have been a slider." Woggle sounds like the mating dance of a wild turkey!

Same goes fort adult transfer. The form could be a index card sized single piece of paper. All it needs Your name, your BSA ID #, is a "from" unit number and unit type and a "to" unit number and unit type, and check box indicating wether it's a transfer or dual registration. Then a signature at the bottom. There really shouldn't have to be a list ofreferences section, Criminal record section, or agreement of the DRP. That should alrady be in place since you are transfering instead of joining new. If nothing else, the adult application should be like the med forms: broken into sections. And BSA id # box like the youth application has.

When my son was going camping for the very first time as a cub scout, I bought a tent and two sleeping bags a week before - as a trial run. Bought two of those 1/2" thick foam pads too. Pitched the tent and by 6 pm , my son was beside himself just waiting to get in the tent. It was April, so the temps dropped down to anout 39 degrees that night. Sleeping bags were rated to 20 or 25, nice , soft, warm. Air was crisp and clear. It was perfect except thinking that pad would be comfortable. Next week was the pack campout. Went camping with everything I bought plus a brand new air matress. Set up the tent and that day and night it is about 78 degrees, humid and the air is thick. Gnats everywhere . Miserable with a capitol M! But at least it wasn't a big spider or bear after me.

I stand with shortridge on thsi one. Not everybody sggested calling the police or the welfare department on this guy. Not all of us suggested calling the FBI and claiming he was a sexual predator. "and to my mind that means we should be Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, and Kind. " Yeah, ascouter is also obedient and courteous too. And that also applies to a leader who tells parents one thing, does something else, and then passes away the phone when the parents are concerned about it. The scouter swears to follow the scout law, the parents haven't ( although it would be nice if they did!) And following the scout law means to everybody, not just fellow scouters.

I'm gonna be blunt: Our pack meetings used to suck! The were dull, boring, monotonous affairs. Our former CM was a great and caring person, but dull. "Bueller...Bueller....Bueller..." So the very first thing I did when I took over as CM was to follow Robin Williams example in the movie "Good Morning Viet Nam" I came in loud, obnoxious and not caring what the other adults thought about it! Okay, we spend all our lives being told to grow up, act our age and be serious. As the new CM, it is your job at pack meetings to stop being so serious, stop being so serious looking , and be less serious in how you carry on. Don't flat out abandon it, just scale it back alot. Time to laugh, goof off , be a little bit silly and burn off energy. As CM, you are the emcee of pack meetings. Your crowd is in the 7 to 11 year old mindset. That means you have to get into the 7 to 11 yar old mindset. Learn songs, learn storis, get the boys up and running around and burning off built up energy. THis is how I see it: After my first year as CM, a new parent asked me and the CC what the difference between our jobs. I said that the CC handled all the boring buisnes side of scouting and my job was to make sure leaders understood the program during den meetings and that during pack meetings, my job was to get the boys all riled up so the parents could get them to bed!

Why I didn't think of it beofore ........ Neckers are not such a hated thing as is the device that hold the necker in place - the slider! How many slider a year do you guys find in the CO, outside the CO, at a campout? I have a brown bag full of them. Some only have one tab, some have both, but they are nent all out of whack. I do wear my Cub Scout leader necker on more formal-ish occasions, but I use that leather slide with 3 holes and the fleur de lis stamped in it instead of the universal BSA slider. It doesn't slide, slip or twist around. If I had to use a metal slider, I'd probably stop wearing my necker all together.

In cases like this, I say : To each, his own., Do what you want, but what alot of you call AoL arrows sound like carrer arrows instead. The colored bands represnet ranks, awards and arrow points...thus representing his cub scouting carrer. Again, if that's what you like and the scout liks it, then it's absolutely the right thing to do. Here's what I did - partly because I like doing stuff myself, and partly because I am cheap! I took some 1X6 pine boards about 22 inches long and rotered the sunray of light part of the arrow of light symbol. I stained the wood a dark oak color and then went back and painted in the carved out part with yellow paint. I also painted each scouts name, pack number, and date under the middle of the arc. Under the bottom edge of the board, I used two gold colored cup hooks to attache a wooden arrow. I then attched two feathers to the arrow just because I thought it looked cool. They don't actually mean anything, but again, they look cool. I wroter my name and the date on the back so that 20 years from now, they will at least know who made them! The scouts loved them! Here's a pic of them at the Scouter.com facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?fbid=403493456345610&set=o.172739770499&type=1&theater

My pack will award any scout any beltloop they have earned once...for that rank year. But if they do it agin next year...depends on the activity. If a scout plays baseball, as a Tiger, then a Wolf, and plays it again as a Bear or Webelos, we will award him with it again 1 time each of the following rank years. Here's why: t-ball, coach pitch, player pitch. The level of skill and what the scout does and learns each year increases just like the scouting ranks. Same with fishing. For some of our scouts, the first time they go fishing( say as a Tiger) daddy puts a piece of bait on the hook, and casts the line for them, then hands them the rod. If somethin g bites, daddy might even reel it in for them. As a Webelos we watch the boy tie his own rigs, snell his own hook, bait the hook, pick a spot and cast to that spot and work the line ( if jigging) or tend the line if just sitting and waiting. We see him reel the fish and even adjust the drag on the reel. Then watch his bring the fish in....by himself. Kinda makes you wish there were different levels of beltloops for the same type of beltloop. Of course, the D l's have alot of discretion on the beltloops.

"I think generally it's the responsibility of the parent to know what's goin' on before they send junior off, and they shouldn't expect that if they weren't payin' enough attention before they dropped him off that a scouter is goin' to have time to spend explainin' things to 'em from the woods. Phone calls to the field should be saved for true emergencies, like a death in the family. They shouldn't be used for "Oh, yeah, we forgot to ask what the itinerary was before you left. " And I agree, but that wasn't the case here was it? The OP said: "They are also doing a lot of activities that parents were not asked to pay for like going to an amusement park, etc." So, if the parents are given an intierary, and the group doesn't follow it, then you bet your butt that the leader does owe it to the parents to let them know. Since he is the adult in charge, he does need to answer to them personally instead of a youth. Actually, he should of contacted the parenst first before changing the plans as parents did not agree to or sign any permission slips for the extra unplanned activities. This guy is lucky he doesn't find himself in a big bunch of trouble.

The COR has to do it. He is the Rep for the CO, You know...COR The committee looks for and suggests to the COR who they would like to be unit leaders/committee, but they can not approve them or appoint them. Basically is like this: "Hey Bob ( COR) , ole' Jimmy here is a mighty fine adult who is really good with the boys and he would be a great asset to the unit. WE'd like t him to be our "X" ." Then they pass Billy's application to the COR who goes over it and checks the info and references. He feels good about it, he passes the application to the scout office. ( maybe your CO requires that the IH approve too? ) OR "Hey Bob, Billy here is just sucking the life out of our program, Nobody likes him, he is causing scouts to skip meetings , and parents have no confidence in him nor do they trust him. Also, he cannot work with or get along with anybody on the committee." But the CC cannot hire/fire anybody unless your COR and/or CO specifically gives him that power. And even then, they have to go through the motions as stated above.

Well, she questioned my "awareness at first...which is understndable. I mean, she was weighing her literatue against my word of mouth. Can't say I blame here. But when the council commisioner and the DE confirmed what I had said , she made a few notes and said: "Well, that means a handfull from my pack need to retrain. She was glad of what we said. I apologized to her and said I wasn't trying to upstage her, and she thanked me for pointinmg out a serious error and was glad now since they can get it all straightened out. Not sure if she went to or is going to her source or not. Source was from a different council than ours and our RT meeting ended around 8:00ish.... I can tell you she is going to make good on the info and she is taking back to her pack also.

My first DO was a lodge and I pre seasoned it before I found out on this site that I didn't need to. It was my first DO. Still, it didn't hurt to add another layer of protection. I then inherited another DO that was not a lodge that had been outside in somebody's yard for a couple years. The lid rusted to the pot. I cleaned it up , seasoned it and posted pictures on facebbok. Within a few weeks, I had a friend call me to clean up and re-season her DO. Go to scouter.com facebook page to see the pics..after I post them in a few minutes.

7 to post that in keeping with being thrifty, conservation, and respecting the evironment - that you should use the new energy saving flourescent "swirly" bulbs and set an example to those around you. 9 will post that the new bulbs are actually more dangerous due to what happens when they break and how the damage landfills when not disposed of properly, 8 will post about how the new bulb is a result of government intrusion and politics and a blatant abuse of government power 1 will again ask that the thread be moved to I&P thread. 1 will question why we are using light bulbs to begin with because BP never used light bulbs , but used a kerosene lantern instead! Awesome post!

DLChris71 - They used to offer it until around '09 or '10. Not many people signed up for it. Some were waiting to take a one and done combined OWL/ IOLS course. others figured they didn't need it since it was reccomended, but not required for Webelos DL's to have it. I know a few who figured tha since they would have to take IOLS the next yer anyways, why take OWLS. As for BALOO, Yeah.... I hope they do get around to holding that in the fall instead of mid February as they have been doing up til now. Same for POW-WOW. They usually hold it in November, which is better than February, but September or October would be much better and make more sense as most poacks will have already gone p[ack camping by Mid October. I asked Trey about the possiblitry of holding districy classes for BALOO, POW-WOW, anmd a few others. Many of our leaders ( including me) in the northeastern side of our district have to drive about 2 hours to get to Bowers for training. That means I have to get up by 5 am in order to be dressed and hitting the road at 6 am. If the class was at Castle Hayne, I could leave 1 hour and 40 minutes later, or the class could start at the same time, and everybody in the district could go home afterward 2 hours earlier. And I also told Trey that I would bet that just as many in our district would sign up as do for the council event since it would be less of a drive and not be a dark til dark full day. They put out the Wood Badge S7-425-12 registration forms on the front table in the pre breakaway meeting just last night. If you want one, stop by the scout office or call : Beth Whitley - Registrar / Productions Manager (910) 395-1100 ext 29 bwhitley@bsamail.org

Yeah...reference materials. Can be tricky, no? I myself have 3 shelves full of BSA guides, books, supplimentals, and G2SS. I have the Cub Scout Handbooks from Tiger through Webelos. I also have the corresponding leaders guidebokks to go with them. I can look up stuff day and night and find descrepancies all over. So, this woman has "BSA " litereature given to her from a BSA council approved / qualified instructor. THis instructor basically says these are the rules and the literature has all the BSA stamps, signs, logos , etc.... Who is going to say :" Hey, I bet this is allw rong!" For that matter , you and I could just as easily challenge the copy of G2SS that my CC carries around that he brought back from the last RT when it was given to him by our DE. We like to say " Show me in writting!" to BSA rules or regulations we question. Well, she did! She laid them right on the table.

Basement, that's the tough thing here: She had reference material from a genuine ( neighboring) council approved and used BALOO instructor. She brought her reference material with her. As for the coimbined WEBLOT ( or what ever it was called) and IOLS...it never happened so at this pooint, I'd treat cub scout OLT as WEBLOT and not IOLS. * Exception being that some Webelos leaders do sign up for and take IOLS during their Webelos DL years so that they do not have to start over after transfering to a ASM< position. But, in that case, it is still IOLS and Not WEBLOT..or OWLT ..or whatever it was called from week to week.

Neckers are optional. Period. I always wear my necker when doing stuff with the cub scouts in my pack.Den meetings, pack meetings, B&G, PWD, roundup, etc..... I do not always wear it to RT or training events. I usually don't wear it to district meetings either. Depends on the mood I am in, how hot it is that day, or if it's really windy outside.

How about that! You were sitting on my right at the end of the table? WEll, like I said, Michelle is a great scouter as well as a great CC. Been working with/ around her for some time now. What she did was present to us - info that was taught to her directly at a training offered by another council. The reason she went to the other council was because the date of the BALOO training was offered in the early fall instead of late winter , which is when our council offers it. And if you think about it, that make s sense: Most packs recruit new scouts and parents and leaders in the late summer/ early fall. Most pack have at least one pack campout in the fall . Why does our council offer the class in February when the scout year is about half over? The other council offered it around the time you have recruited new leaders and committee and are ready to go camping. It does make sense to go to the other copuncil for that training. Plus milage wise, it was actually an hour closer. So, back to Michelle. She went to a class where a council trainer instructed everybody in the class trhe misinformation listed above. If you never had BALOO before, you wouldn't know to think this info was skewered. Any student really wouldn't have any reason to not trust the instructor...especially since BSA does change things up every now and again. Matter of fact, Michelle brought up Tour Permits. I told her vthat they were now Tour Plans. Going over the award knots, the council commissioner mentioned that some required your unit to earn the quality Unit award, at which time one of us said: "You mean the JTE?" So, my point is, Michelle - and all of us really - are not exempt from an instructor or councils ( our first line of training and info ) giving us bad info. Remember the red and white numbers versus green and tan? ?)

I am knot ammused!

Tonight was a very interesting RT. We broke into our seperate groups. I went with the cub scouts since I am CM of my pack. Well, tonight, our topic was training and leader's knots. We had a council commissioner as a guest for their award knot presentation, and one of my fellow district committee members was running the training side of things. She's a great asset to scouting. She's the CC of her pack and does an very awesome job. She also promotes camping enthusiaticaklly within her pack. So, the problem started when she started taling about particular trainings. BALOO to be exact. " We don't push BALOO anymore since Outdoor Leader trumps BALOO and the leaders like it better anyways. " A few minutes later : " With Outdoor Leader training, even the Tiger den leader can take just his den camping and doesn't have to involve the whole pack to do it. " I kid you not! So, I kinda break into her presentation and ( in a very nice way - mind you) explain that she is completely wrong. We discuss how what she said is completely oposite of what the real rules are and she explains that this was what she was taught at the BALOO class that she and 5 of her leaders took at the next council over. She then brought out the literature from THAT class that the class instructor printed up and showed us. I told her that the literature was wrong. At this point, the council com told her she was wrong. About that time, the DE walked into the room after doing whatever he was doing with the boy scout side. We went back over it again and he also agreed with what I said. Now, the woman wasn't arguing with us. She was shocked, and understandibly so. I whipped out my Cub Scout Leaders handbook and showed her wher it was written about everything we discussed. Told her I wasn't trying to upstage her or anything, but that a bunch of wrong info was about to be spread farther. So, has something like this ever happened at your RT? From going out of council to take a class? A well meaning individual spread the wrong info due to themselves being trained wronmg? One more thing...my DE said that I am now on his next BALOO training staff. Should I feel complimented, or be kicking myself, or both? Edited because I did knot spell very well.(This message has been edited by scoutfish)

Baden, I neither support or nor am I against AHG. I do not have a daughter and an AHg would not affect my son's experience in his troop. Having said that, do you not allow for the possibility that it was just a simple mistake? Look at BSA's websites. You ever see the Tiger Cub in Tiger Cub uniform that had ALL the ranks sewn to his shirt...... in the uniform guideline section of the website? How about an inconsistancy in the G2SS? What is written in the printed paper edition isn't always the same as what is online. Why? Simple mistakes. The person who sets up the website is not the sameperson who sets up copy for the books. You know that Maccuza himself doesn't print or type online either. It coms down to an employee at a print shop or a tech guy typing on his desktop or laptop computer. Somebody who probably isn't in, necver was in nor has any children in scouting. Again, not defending AHG because I support ity, just saying the change may not have anything to do with "being caught" doing something cultish..it could be there was just a genuine simple mistake that was caught, and they have since fixed that mistake. Hell.....if it was up to the membvers of this site to print policy - you know how many mistakes, mistatements and rules that would be wrong? It wouldn't mea that was how BSA felt, it would just mean that somebody misunderstod, misinterpreted a rule or was flat out just wrong in their understanding.

When we went to the district camporee ( as Webelos) , the adults could not keep 300 feet away. It was more like 50' due to space constraints and following a good LNT ethic. Add in that 700 people were at a camp designed for around 450, and you ened up with a scout occasionally bumping elbows with a leader. For dinner, scouts ate fried bologna sandwhiches, hot dogs, cheeseburgers and such. The adults ate beef stroganogh and baked fish fillets with slad and yeast rolls. Some scouts had watering mouths. Some turned their noses at anything that wasn't in the cheesburger/hot dog food group. Nobody rubbed it in, nobody pointed it out, nobody purpoely rubbed it in or even thought about it. Sometimes it just happens. Could be that younger scout who suddenly remembered that he wanted to get a book signed or to let a leader know that he was going to do "X" later on. One scout came over to ask dad for a few dollars to go to the trading post. But it was never thrown in their faces. I have an interesting side notes here: My father loved hot dogs. He was also a big fan of bologna and salami. His favorite food waqs fish, but he liked his deli mests. Given a choice of a t-bone or ribeye steak versus a hotdog with spicy mustard...it wasn't even close...he'd eat the hot dog. It's all a matter of opinion and what you like too.

Would you fellas believe that I am the ONLY First Aid MB counselor in my district?

" When my husband called the leader to ask questions, he immediately handed the phone to my son. We did not want to talk to my son, we wanted to talk to the leader about what was going on. They will be gone for 3 more days and are 4 hours away." Okay, I'm gonna skip anything about rule violations because in a few days, you will have several pages of replies that will tell you basically the same thing. This "leader" changes plans, changes activities, does not give you clar info, intentionally decieves you, and then ignores you when you ask what's goin on whiule four hours away? If this was my child's crew, this man would find himself out of a job.....fast!