Scoutfish

Basement, I've been still thinking about your post ever since I read it, even though I have already responded to it. And it reminded me of a part of growing up. My family wasn't poor by the standards of our community. But we were far from rich. My dad retrired from the US Coast Guard and during the last 7 years of being in the serviuce, he spent 90% of his vacation time building the house we lived in after he retired. He made sure it had comfortable size rooms and a huge kitchhen abd living room. Said he spent enough time in cramped houses during his enlistment. So the house was a big 3 bedroom ( single bath though) brick house on 2 acres of land in a town that had Hud housing and people who grew up in and lived in 650 sq foots houses on a yard that was hardly bigger than the housre. By todays standards, that house is on the small side. So anyways, people thought we were rich. But truth was, it was two adults and 3 kids living off retirement and his commercial fishing income. There were times my dad couldn't rub two nickles together. But we never went hungry or naked. Meanwhile, alot of my friends at school were rolling in teir parents money. They always had the best and nicest clothes and toys. I have a used bicycle That I save up for. Their mom and dads bought them brand new motored dirt bikes and go carts every year. I spent years saving up and bought a Yamaha dirt bike and fixed it up because it didn't run. Their parentys went out and bought those brand new 4 wheeler ATV things that just came out. When I was 14, I started saving up for my first ride. Just before I was 16, I got bit by the self importnat and arrogance casrrying bug and thought that my dad was gonna buy me a truck for my 16 birthday. Boy was I ever dissapointed! I acted like a big ass over it and got mad and jumped onm the self pity train. WEll, my dad tells me a few days later that he couldn't afford to buy me aused vehicle, much lass a new one. Then he said something I have never forgotten to this day : "SOn, even if I could afford to buy you a brand new truck, I wouldn't do it. You'd never appreciate it and you wouldn't learn anything." So....many, many years later, I watched as all my high falootin friends parentys passed away. Turns out my rriends had no concept of what to do. They didn't know how to work because they never had to,. They didn't understand how to make money to pay their bills becvause they never had to. They didn't understand anything except " No worry, mom and dad will take care of it" So now here I am..40 years old, with a wife, son, 2 psychotic dogs, 3 vehicles , two homes, and an awesome wwod working shop, and two boats. My truck is a 1995 Ford F-150 that I will keep until it cannot take any more band-aids on it. One house is brick and the other is a single wide trailer. All of them are paid off. My son has more than what I had, but he appreciates it too. At ten years old, he prefers going outside and getting extreamly dirty over tv or video games. He ,loves to camp, and althought he's rather just do what he wants to do ( like any kid) he does do chores ands already knows the value of saving maoney for stuff he wants. Unlike his cousins and friends, he will be self sufficient when he grows up. I have no doubt your son will too. LIfe isn't always fun and games. Our boys know that now, the rest will figure it out later on. So, I think you have the right plan going on. Your son dos kore than the others, but you also cut him slack too. Sounds like you have a good balance going on. Whew! My fingers are tired!

"Should more councils close their camps and encourage Scouts to attend camps for neighboring councils? " Bad idea for two reasons: 1) THis may entail a very long drive that parents and/or scouts may not feel is worth the camp experience. ( my drive is 2 hours for our council camp) 2) The council will lose control over any and all PD "Perhaps councils could pay neighboring councils a subsidy to take boys from their council. Nah, council will lose money...and they do make money even if the do not spend any of it or put it back into the camp., You can bet the SE and a few others get their money wether anybody or anything else does or not. "Mighn't this allow camps to be used more intensively, reducing costs per person or allowing a better program?" Yeah, but depends on what you mean by intenmse? CRamming twice as many boys into the 2 or 3 weeks of camp, while stil relying on the same amount of staff available or the same amount of volunteers? Or maybe haolding twice as many camp sessions with the same amount of staff and the same amount of volunteers. - - remember some of these people will be driving twice as far from outside the council that the camp is in. Costs? They will probably go up as the camp may have to upgrade a bunch of facilities to accomidate higher amount of traffic and endure more use. In theory, supplies and meals should be able to be bought at a higher bulk discount, but you will also see more wear and tear of facilities and equipment, maint and such. Now, I know I don't know what you council's schedule is like, but my council prtetty much has the calendar full from April to August, and all the rest of the months are pretty busy with maybe the xception of Feb which only sees the OA fellowship weekends. The rest of the year, there are always things going on. Now add anoter council to that and the camp will just about be a 7/24/356 camp. In theory , that too should be good, but then you are talking about hiring a full time staff all year long...which means you are also talking about things like benefits, retirement, competative wages to kep the staff on board, insurance, etc.... Now, since most cub scout camps rely on volunteers, the costs would be way lower, but you have no garantee that you will have enough staff any any given event. You would be holding your fiungers crossed alot.

" If your lads are coming home and only remembering the merit badges they earned, and the classes they had to sit in on, then, in my opinion, the camp is doing it wrong. " ( bold is mine for emphasis) You know, I think that just says it best. Doesn't matter if you are talking about Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts or any other BSA group - or even Girl Scouts. In the past, I have mentioned to some of my leaders and our pack committee members that our Pack campouts were too structured. No, not saying you should go out in the woods without a plan, but we had a CC actually break the entire day down into segments starting from 6 am to 11 pm. And I do mean TOO STRUCTURED. For example, he had started the itinerary like this: 6:00 am. Wake up and get dressed 6:15 am assemeble around campfire 6:30 am colors 6:45 am breakfast 7:30 am , head to group activities. 7:15 Activities start And the day ended like this ( I am not kidding!) : 9:30 pm Retire to tents 9:35 Family time and discussions 9:45 lights out 10:15 everybody should be in bed 11:00 everybody asleep Yeah, that's how it was. I told him with a big ole "eat me grin" that I would follow his schedule as best I could. Again, not saying you shouldn't have plans and even schedules, but seriously, you cannot schedule every freaking minute of the day. The next campout, I told every den leader to come up with one activity in the morning, and one in the afternoon. The morning activity would not start til 9 am and the afternoon activity wouldn't start till 2 pm they could take 1 hour, 2 hours or 3 hours...but no more than that. In the times before and after, scouts, parents and leaders could just chill out, stare at the sky, throw the Nerf football, frisbe or baseballs we had or go hiking, walking, fishing, or just run around and get rediculously dirty. I got a huge amount of feedback from everybody! They loved it! Parents had more time to see their scouts be scouts instead of acting like drones. The parents themselves were not acting like personal servants on a tight schedule. The leaders had more times to enjoy the camping too instead of just being workers and teachers. And the scouts had a lot of fun and plenty of time to burn off energy and just enjoy camping for the sake of camping. Remember why you go camping? The trees, woods, lakes, sounds of crickets and maybe an owl announcing his territory? Sitting around a crackling fire. WE had a screech owl, so you know we had something to talk about in the morning over coffee. NO, I am not saying that you should be slack or abandon any advancement, but if camping is only about advancement, you can do that at the CO and save a bunch of time of unpacking and packing gear back up. " If your lads are coming home and only remembering the merit badges they earned, and the classes they had to sit in on, then, in my opinion, the camp is doing it wrong." I completely agree. If they don't remember the camping...you wasted alot of time and effort for naught! (This message has been edited by scoutfish)

Maybe a revolutionary war stled version of capture the flag. Cool game involving physical activity and execise, but also alot of planning, thinking, and reasoning. Let the revolutionary war set the pace from America's begining by exploring people who fought for country and freedom to the modern day Vet and active soldier.

I'll take another angle and say this: Maybe the scout in question started over when he left. Maybe he turned his attitude around and gave himself a clean slate or second chance. Without anybody lookinhg at him and saying or thinking : "Oh, that's the boy who msaid the "X" word." Too many times, we talk about people changing their ways, or having to re-earn our trrust or respect, but all along the way of them trying, we ourselves snatch away anything tha should allow them our respect or truct againm. WE spout off about second chances, forgivenes and what not, and talk up and down about scout spirit, but then we forget it goes both ways. It applies to us too. And the sad, dissapointing truth I see all around me is that most children learn from their parents, teachers and people around them. Nobody is born using those worthless hatefull words. They learn them. Now, wether ort not the scout truely earned Eagle is totally beyond me. Maybe he is a better person now, or maybe he's worse. Maybe he is in a troop that tosses those words out all day long without a second thought..but I will say this about the boy..if he is copying the model that his leaders give him, ands what his parents tend to think...then as far as he is aware..he is respectful. No, he isn't right in what he does, but he doesn't know that. It is a shame. But aside from using predjudicail words, he might be Eagle all the way. As far as tarnish goes,. he isn't tarnishing anything so much as thoise responcible for his guidance and up bringing. That's what really tarnishes any group.

Last year, I took over the position of Cub Scout Camp promotions for my district. I worked it and brought numbers up ALOT - although I will not say it was all me and not other reasons also. THis year, I was asked again to be Cub Scout Camp Promotions for my district. Apparently, somebody at council thinks I am doing a great job. 4 days ago, I was asked to give a presentation at our Council Preview about cub scout camping . I was told : "Forget anything scripted and just tell us what it is you have been doing." Today, my DE asked if I wanted to run a couple sign up nights at my local schools. He said: "I can give all the,forms, materials, flyers and stuff and I can also give you a script, but doubt you'll need it." I kinda started feel pretty good too. No, not knock people over with my big "wide load" size ego good, but that I was actually doing a good job at this Cub Scouting thing. Then it hit me: And then it hit me...am I walking around "sucker" stamped on my forehead? So, should I take it as a compliment, or realize I just fell for something? Either way, I still enjoy doing it.

Basement, In my area, most packs camp a minimum of 3 or 4 times a year...and that's NOT including council camp events like parent/son , resident camp or Webelos Den camping. I'm talking about pack family camping . So it's not about incorrect info, but info that doesn't match what YOUR area tends to do.Kinda like a Cm from Maine saying packs don't camp in Jan. because it's too cold. Might be true in Maine, but not even close to accurate in other states. Back to original post: I was just asked by my DE to speak at our concil's roundup review about cub scouts camping. Since I took over as District Cub Scout Camp Promotions..attendance ( for my district)has gone way up! I'll be honest: I have no idea what it is that caused it.I agreed to take the job again this year. IT's really easy..so maybe I am doing something wrong, or just enjoy it. I can't takle all credit foir numbers rising as there are other factors such as maybe a family who likes to camp happened to join up. Maybe the economy caused the camping to take place over going to Disneyland. Maybe a new DL or New Cm got everybody excited about camping. One thing I did mention was the mentality of campers. I told the leaders at the RT that even though they may not enjoy the camping, tey needed to promote it at pack meetings because others may really want to go and enjoy it if they were aware. Also, I explained something about young boys: Take my son for example...on his 5th birthday, I bought him a roll of scotch tape, a mini stapler, a pair of (safety) scizzors for cutting paper, and flashlight. Just your ordinary dull stuff..Unless you are 5 years old. He was on top of the world! He loved it. Everything in the house was taped, stapled and there were paper clippings everywhere! And he walked aroud shining the flashlight on everything..even in broad daylight! So, it alldepends on the person. I tell people that even if I am turned off by the idea of camping, alot of my pack members might just be itching to go. Even if the camp activities look dull and boring to me ...I have to remember that I am looking at them through 40 year old eyes, not 7 to 11 year old eyes. If a leader says they are tired of "the same old thing"..I tell that I understand, but to every brand new scout, it's not the same thing,m but brand new. And some seasoned scout enjoy it even if it is the same. Nah, I didn't have any fancy pictures, slide shows or props. But I did have stories to tell. Apparently, it's enough. Good luck!

KC, I don't think anybody is so much saying it wasn't anything but an imbalance...as a wool costume in high heat isn't a good combo any way you look at it, but more pointing out that a single soda isn't what caused him to drop out. Electrolyte imbalance would be more likely than a single soda causing dehydration. Truth be told, I go with a combo of all three: 1) Way too much water taken in 2) Activity to strenuous for the heat 3) Wool in the heat

Yeah..He gets the pin, and should be proud to wear it. Have no idea about Minnesota, or what kinds of competition there is, But I live on the coast of NC. During the summer, there are beaches, waterways, communityy pools, a huge amount of private pools, pool parties, boast, boats, boats galore. The waterways are full of jet skis and wave runners and boats pulling people on tubes. With high 90's to triple digit temps and humidity of about 20,000% who wants to hike and make smores around a campfire? LOL! JUst saying, when summer comes, school and strict bedtimes are not the only thing that gets discarded.

Between being a ADL, Cm, and camp promotions chair, I guess my son gets it both ways. On one side, I have caught myself being a little harder on him and holding him to higher standards than other scouts. I hate when I do that. He also rides with me when I show up early to set up this or that for pack meetings, special eventys, and any other camping, PWD or fundraiser events. On the weekend of our last fundraiser , he was given the oppertunity to go to Myrtle Beach to a NASCAR go park park for the day. I gave him my blessing. It was the first work activity he has missed while a scout. But on the other side of the argument, he has had more oppertunities to attend camps, events outside of our pack and sometimes the advantage of knowing stuff other wouldn't know . The only real thing I had to assert with him is trhat his DL still hold the authority of signing off on any and all rank achievements and requirements. I had to tell him that even though I am CM I do not override his DL on wether he has met a rank requirement or not. So I guess at first glance, it is soooo not fair, but if you pay attention and make an effort to balance it out, he actually has an advantage. I'm just glad you are not the leader who signs off that his son has completed every beltloops, pin, and activity badge just because yoiu son was present - regardless of wether he actually did anything. I have seen that too many times. That , and scouts who thought they were above the rules because their parents were in charge.....and those same parents not saying opr doing anything to change that thinking.

Okay, I haven't always been what you call responcible when it came to my diet. Well...I'm still not responcible, but a lot better than I ever used to be. From the time I was 16 or so years old, Mountain Dew became my vice. I drank it every day. Matter of fact, whatever the water content of Mt Dew was..was the amount of water intake I had plus what could be absorbed from other foods I ate. All my years of waorking at my company - all through the summer - I drank at least one 2 litre Mt Dew and sometimes two in a day. Nope...didn't drink water to go along with the soda. At night, I'd drink sweat tea with supper, but afterward, I drink at least 2 more glasses of Mt Dew each night. I never passed out or suffered heat stroke. WEll, about a year ago, I decided that I was going to quit drinking Mt Dew. And I did. I might have had four can Mt Dews in all that time. I now drink water and Lipton Diet Green tea ( citrus flavor of course.) during the day, and green tea or sweat tea at night.....and maybe two 24 ounce Cokes over the course of a week. I have had more heat issues since I have switched to water than when I didn't drink water. No, I know that drinkinbg Mt Dew like a fish isn't healthy, but I suppose I had conditioned my body to it for over 30 years and that all the sodium and other preservatives actually helped somehow. But now that I drink mostly water, I have had to stop and eat salty peanuts and bananas during the day due to an electrolyte imbalance. And I can tell a big difference within 5 minutes of eating that stuff. No, I am not gonna start drinking Mt Dew again becuse of this. One thing I did discover is that when I used to drink Mt Deww constantly, I would go through a bottle of Tums in a month and a bottle of Ibuprofen in 2 months. Since I quit drinking Mt Dew about a year ago..I have eaten maybe 6 Tums and taken Ibuprophen once. My point: 1) One 20 ounce soda didn't put him down. If it did, then his metabolism is so fragile, that a single candy bar, two bananas or a big glass of tea would also knock him down 2) Every individual is different and their bodies are different. My dad used to walk into the house mid day in August after spending hours in the hot sun working in his garden. He'd walk straight to the coffee pot and brew a cup of hi test coffee. As soon as it was done brewing, he'd pour a cup and stick that cup in the microwave to get it hotter. Why? He said it helped cool him off. Whatever.... I never tried it!

No, the boys won't be carrying M-16's. That would be against G2SS. They will be carrying bb guns or .22 rifles - but only if the color guard is carrying trhe flag while at a council range under the direction and supervision of a NRA certified range officer. As for the original post,. I'd say it isn't so much "tradition" as it is a case of somebody seeing somebody else doinmg it, and mimicing it thinking it is correct. Again, not so much "tradituon" in the way we think of it.

Thing is, sign a simple piece of paper, and you do not have to have a lifeguard. But if you choose to hire your own lifeguard, then you have the right to hire whoever you choose, and that's not discrimination, that's free choice. Now, if the city was to say : "NO, we will choose your lifeguard that you hire regardless and in defiance of any of your wishes" That itself would be discriminating against the renter. And since the city is doing it, that would be discrimination. And using the Muslim reference is the key right here. The city may not be allowed to go out and promote a Muslim Women Only Swim fest, but if Muslims decide to rent the pool from the vcity at a standard rental fee and want to provide their own lifeguards, they they have the right to hire only women lifeguards. It's not discriminating against anybody, it is allowing a customer to use their own rental time in their own way they enjoy. Otherwise, why would anybody do it? Why pay money if the city is the one who is going to tell you who, what, why or when it ? Would you rent it for a birthday party if the city said you had to invite 25 people of the city's choice lest you be discrimination against those the city chose? Take away the religous part of it: Suppose Merlyn and a bunch of his friends were having a swim party, event or scuba certification class. They rent the pool, hire a lifeguard they happen to know( which might ber male or female) instead of using a city lifeguard. If the lifeguard is female and the city was going tyo provide a male...isn't that considered discrimination? Or vice versa: If they have 3 male lifeguards, and no females,and the city was going to provide at least 1 female lifeguard, are they discriminating then? Where would it ever stop? What sex, race, or religious background is the person in charge of the facilitiesa? Why not a different person? ARe they discriminating aginst anybody else? What about the changing rooms/showers/bathrooms? Are the segregated by gender? Isn't that discrimination? Or is it just a case of privacy? A private party wants to rent the pool. They want it to be a private affair. That's not discrimination..that's just being private.

"If the scout tells a single knock knock joke, It really should qualify..." Ooops! That should have been shouldn't Just noticed it now that it's too late to edit.

Yeah SP, I'm gonna side with Merlyn on this one: If I rent a pool for a private function, I will probably have to follow state and federal laws that are in support of safety issues and other things dealing with harm. But as a private individual, if I want to rent for my son's birthday, I should be able to say only boys , only between ages 10 and 11 and who are in his class at his school. Merlyn should, have the right to hold an athiest only party, and you could have a party only for ....whatever it is you like. Discrimination is a tricky thing. Just because I do not invite everybody, it does not mean I discriminate. It';s not about keeping others out, but amassing ( for a temporary time or specific function) a group of like minde or common connection. WE are not there to hold favor against others, but to have a favorable event amongst ourselves. There is a difference. Just like if you want to invite a friend to go jogging in the park with you - you are not going to invite everybody just because it is a public park.

I can't imagine that tehre are sspecific time standards, but a 10 second skit probably won't do. But if you ever watched Phil Hartman on SNL, you know that a 2 person SKIT could last as long as 10 minutes. Skit..play..it's a grey are if you ask me. If the scout tells a single knock knock joke, It really should qualify, but if it's a skit involving 3 or more scouts with several speaking lines...then who cares about the time frame. Ultimately, it's your decision and your call. Who cares what we think? We aren't there to see it!

I'm gonna say that my position is between Jeffry and Eagle92: If wearing an extra temp patch gets the cub scouts more interested and more likely to participate in a program, activity, or event, then I say it is far more reasonable and justified to wear a patch or two too many per uniform specs. THis isn't the military, and I am not bound to the United States Code of Military Justice, nor am I acting in a treasonous way. Matter of fcat, I were a temp camp patch on my shirt above my right pocket. It's a cool patch with a pirate ship on it. Occasionally, I also wear another temp patch hanging from the button of that pocket. It is a POW WOW patch. It's a cool looking dream catcher style feather thing with 5 more feathers hanging from it. Both catch the boys eyes and get them asking questions. About half who ask questions end up telling their parents they wat to go to camp and do other stuff. Leaders want to go to POW WOW to learn..and get a patch too. So in the end. more people get trained, and more kids participate and go to camp: By far OUTWEIGHING any disgrace I might bring to the uniform. PERIOD!!! But, as a CM who also is a MBC and a regular RT participant, I do take the extra bling off when wearing the uniform at those times. Why? Cause I am not attracting cub scouts which is the whole reason I wear exrta patches on occasion. And I bet any of you a whole box of Trail's End popcorn of your choice that if I was to ask both my DE and SE which is more important....They will tell me to wear as many patches as I want if more kids participate and get active!

I'm gonna add to what packsaddle is saying, but let me be clear: THis is based on my own personal observations from events that have happened in my own life - and I do not even try to say this applies to all , nor do I think in blanket terms. THis here will be from age 10 to around 22 years old ( before I met my then future wife) Back in the day... way, way back...when I was growing up, my neighbor across the street was my best friend. We always hung out and eventually got in some sort of trouble ( with our parents - not the law). WE built forts, cleared compounds in the woods for forts, tree houses and along the way, lost a great many of our dad's tools ( trouble starts here! ) WE "borrowed" paint from our dads to camoflage our treehouses and forts, and to hide our rocket launching pads. Rockets were botlerockets or roman candles. Now that I think about it, it's pretty AMAZING we never burnt the woods down. Basically, we were very outdoorsy, getting completely dirty boys. Who knows how many clothes we ruined with dirt ground into them. So , many times, alot of our other friends were shown our forts. WEll, this one friend of my best friend happened to be named Bo. He was kinda/slightly girlkish acting, but not that much. He wasn't quite as athletic either. Funny guy - great sense of humor and probably the smartest poerson we ever met. He'd hangg out with us, but prefered to be back at the house, inside. Preferd it, but didn't demand it. WEll, there were many times we all went swimming, to the movies, went to the local video arcade and such. We all ( about 8 of us) went to see Poison, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Guns and Roses, and a few other concerts over the years aslso. Bo acted a little bit different than us, but not too much. He wasn't as manly acting as us in a rough and tumble get dirty way, but he sure had a way with the girls. They flocked to him like he was a girl magnet. He was a sharp dresser and had style too. We used to pick on him some here and there, but honestly, we didn't know that he was gay until he told us. Now, the only thing I can say - in retrospect - is that he wasn't the outdoorsy type anywhere as much as we were. So what does this mean? Could very well mean nothing. But based on Bo, one of my cousins who is gay, and two friends who happen to be gay....my limited ( in experience) line of thinking is that MOST but not all homosexual scouts won't be into the type of activity that scouting offers. And I do not pretend to be an authority on this, nor do I think EVERY gay person does or coukld think or feel the same way. I'm just sying that it's not like all gay boys everywhere are upset about not being able to do the activities more than the principle of not being allowed to join. Personally, I do not care if they are allowed to join. If they want to be in a troop...why not? If you are scared of the sexual tones that could be tossed out, all ytou have to do is look at hetero people: Does your troo allow heterosexual people to walk around hugging and kissing all meeting long? Do your leaders sit and talk about all their straight sexual escapdes and accomplishments? So, in my own personal opinion...I have nioo issue if gays join. In my own personal experiences with gay people, most of them wouldn't join anyways. So my whole point is this: I do not see BSA losing a ton of membership due to no gays being allowed to join. But I do see BSA having trouble with the principle idea of it.

Now remember, the activities do not have to be high staus or be the most impressive thing ever. The biggest and most important thing is to make sure the boys have a great fun time...after that, everything else is just extra. Hold a kickball game at the CO and bring a grill and cook hotdogs. Build a fire and cook smores. Have a waterballon fight after they eat. Doesn't have to be an epic adventure, just a fun activity to keep them going until the pack meets abck again at the end of summer. Think like a 7 to 10 year old boy, not like a grown up. What we think is fun may not necessarily be their idea of what is fun. and likewise, what we think is just dumb could be really cool to them. Go to a swimming pool and make it just for fun and not necessarily about advancement ( although the beltloops still apply). Play baseball, kickball, soccer or have a cookout/nightime hike/ smores cooking event. Spend one night catching fireflies and make firefly lanterns with jelly jars.

NO! " A pack can qualify for the National Summertime Pack Award by planning and conducting three pack activities - one each in June, July, and August." You have to do something, not just have plans to do it...and it has to happen all 3 months of summer, not just two. Doesn't matter if you have 4 activities each in June and August - you have to have at least 1 in July too.

Googling about 15 different various sites - without any garantee of accuracy - it seems that handguns are illegal in the Bahamas. According to 3rd hand ifo on traveling in your own private boat, you have to keep ALL pistols and rifles locked securely in your boat as well as have an recorded inventory of all ammo along with all guns and present it to Bahaman authorities. Also, if they decide to inspect your cache of SECURED firearms and ammo, it had better match the logged inventory exactly. Interestingly enough, it seems that shotguns are allowed. Hunting and whatever else? ?

Inm y small circle of scouting, which is 90% limited to Cuib Scouts, and the other 10% being Boy Scouts - no sea scouts or venture crews... I have seen more people leave scouting because of two reasons: 1) Turns out our pack isn't there for the benefit of their child firxt, and it doesn't revolve around their child only... 2) Because we do not do only what that oe leader wants to do all the time. Those same leaders cannot comprehend that not everybody is completely on board or agrees to thier ideas. They will bring up the same ole same oile over and over again thinking that the only reason we do not go along is because we do not understand. Once they realize we do understand - but just not agree - they leave , taking their kids ( who the program was only specifically all about) with them!

The Walther PPK also uses that round. He could be a spy. Maybe 009 or something? Explains the funding for "A troop adventure trip" - wink wink! Maybe they were holding him for espionage or some other treasonous act! Which also explains how he got past Kansas City TSA .

WOW! bet he won't forget to double check all his bags, packs, and luggage next time. It really sucks as it's obvious ( to us) that he had no foul intentions, but you have to realize that security and law enforcement don't know you and you could be a terrorists for all they know. And as mentioned above, you have to obey the rules of where you are. But it dos make for a great educational story to be told at many meetings, classrooms and campfires.

Ok, maybe I am missing something, but how about getting a screen made and using ink to put the troop logo on the tent and individual number beneath that? Can't be much different than how manufactureres stencil their logos on tents, canvas chairs, backpacks, etc.... Just go to a local t shirt shop and pay the $30 for the logo and buy some matching ink and wha lah. Might even make your troop stand out at the next camporee or Jambo event.