scoutingagain

Rooster, I know you asked Packsaddle for this information but I thought I'd oblige. The following are excerpts from speeches made by President Bush on the website Bushcountry.org. This is a good conservative website so I have no doubt you'll trust the source. National Press Conference, March 5, 2003 "Iraqi operatives continue to hide biological and chemical agents to avoid detection by inspectors. In some cases, these materials have been moved to different locations every 12 to 24 hours, or placed in vehicles that are in residential neighborhoods. We know from mult

All have posted good suggestions. However if what he really wants to do is hike & camp once in a while, and occaisionally mentor younger scouts, I'd suggest the MB counselor route. He could do some of the outdoor skills MBs and do those while on camping trips. SA

Great story. SA

"But that is precisely why it us used as an excuse for war - it gets the population fired up so quickly. " I kind of agree with Trevorum here. It's kind of like saying, "Hey there are terrorists in that country and they have nuclear and biological weapons. We need to get them before they get us!" As opposed to "Hey that country has a lot of oil and it would sure be neat if they had a government willing to sell it to us cheap instead of doing business with those French guys. Lets invade and take over the government." Sorry, couldn't resist. SA

I believe this discussion has been held in earlier threads. But, my 2 cents anyway. The way I read the sentence, "Adult leaders should support the attitude that young adults are better off without tobacco and may not allow the use of tobacco products at any BSA activity involving youth participants.", It is clear the BSA does not put tobacco use in the same category as alcohol. What the sentence does, is put the issue of banning the use of tobacco at scout functions in the hands of the adult leaders present. Adult leaders "may", as in "are allowed to" ban the use of tobacco, howev

Interesting idea. I'll have to say I don't have an opinion yet. I'm just wondering if any thought was given to baseball and scouting given the numbers and interest in baseball in the hispanic community and the fact that Hank Aaron is listed as an Eagle Scout. One of our scouts actually came up with a great idea for a campout I think we'll try in the spring sometime. During a BOR he mentioned there were many of the boys that like to play sports, but didn't like demands and commitment required to play in the organized youth sports leages in town and that we should have a sports campo

Very good questions Scoutldr. I certainly don't have the answer for you. Other than some national requirements for membership are apparently more important than others. It appears there is a certain degree of local option granted to some units in the case of religion. SA

Ok my 2 cents. Q 1. Sounds a little rude the way it's worded. I would re-word it to something like, "What do you think you have learned from scouting, that does not involve advancement? or "over and above earning Eagle Scout?" I regard the line of inquiry legit. Q 2. Have to agree, it does not seem appropriate as worded. There are other questions that could lead into a discussion of how the scout is reverent. Q 3. Legitimate question. SA

First I must compliment everyone for maintaining a civil tone on a subject that sometimes creates a degree of tension on the board. I agree with the definition of tolerance Trevorum posted. However, I thought it would be good to re-state the Religious Prinicples of the BSA in this thread. The following is from the BSA National website under the manual for Chaplains and Chaplain's Aids. Declaration of Religious Principle The Boy Scouts of America maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God and, therefore, recognizes t

Sounds like a neat idea. I'm curious about the shoebox thing though. Do you have to use a box from your own shoe size, or could I like find a box that was for a size 14? Or do the adults get a different arrangement altogether? I'm rather certain this would limit the participation of some of the adults in the unit I serve, which frankly wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, as long as we could come up with at least two, and I think we could. SA

SemperPar, I have no doubt that in the past, and there may be some lodges and/or individual members that currently engage in what I would consider hazing as a part of their Ordeal. I do not condone any activity intended to embarrass, injure or humiliate a fellow scout, youth or adult. Consequently, I do not like the type of skits Eamonn described earlier in this thread, although I confess to having participated in such skits many years ago as both a victim and one who knew the outcome. More often than not however, our intended "victim" was usually an adult not other youth. Not that, t

Ed, With all due respect, One set of activities involves voluntary participation in a challenge with all parameters of the activity explained to scouts in advance. The other set of activities is based upon deception and untruths and is therefore not completely voluntary. Which one do you think enhances the values of the scout law, which one doesn't? SA

Beav, I agree the Emergency Preparedness MB has value and exposes scouts to potential interesting career choices. However many of the requirements are in the mode of Discuss, Make a chart, Meet with.., Write a plan..., Tell..., Make a Checklist... . Even the requirements that require Show are not that physically challenging. Compare these to some of the Lifesaving MB requirements, Swim 400 yards, Perform a non-equipment rescue on a victim. Escape from a victims' grasp in deep water. There is no comparison in the physical challenge in the requirement. At leas

Since we're talking pet advancement peeves and most abused MBs for one of them would be Emergency Preparedness MB. I have no objection to this MB but to have it equate to Lifesaving MB as an Eagle requirement is, to be blunt a joke. I don't know when this change was made. But for folks that wonder why some old timers wonder about 13 year old Eagle candidates I believe this change in one reason. When Lifesaving was a required MB there would have been few 13 year olds physically capable of earning this badge. SA

Barry, I appreciate your appreciation. I tend to be a bit old school myself. Just maybe a little less ambitious in the amount of change I'm willing to try and initiate. With my son still active in the troop, that's where most of my focus has been. For the most part, I think the program as planned and intended works pretty well. I don't have an issue with some MBs earned at summer camp or at MB days or whatever you want to call them. I would like to see at least some MBs earned individually though. It seems like some adults have interpreted the G2SS requirements as meanin

Gee Beav, good question. I'll admit I don't think I have an answer, but I'll share my thoughts. I would not have a big problem with the double dipping issue. It sounds like if the scout fulfills 4d of the MB requirement, he would also complete, 9a of the 1st class requirements. If I was asked to sign off on 9a because a scout came to me and said he did this in Canoeing MB, I'd talk to him a little to confirm he was aware of the safe trip afloat precautions and sign it. I do share your concerns with Parental sign offs though. I also make a point not to sign off on my son's a

Lone guy. Ok, your list of disasters is impressive, and the point taken. Maybe this isn't the biggest disaster in the last 50 years, just one that's gotten more press. Still doesn't mean the US government shouldn't respond. As I said before, you and I don't have a line item veto on our taxes, whether it's for defense, humanitarian aid, military procurement of toilet seats, promotion of private industries, delivering the mail, AMTRAK, loans to airlines, social security, medicare, star wars missile defense systems, NASA, weapons systems the Pentagon doesn't want, absurd research projects

Yes, we count working at the Pinewood Derby as service hours. We don't do this as a troop activity. The Cubmaster usually comes to a troop meeting and asks for volunteers to help out. The scouts that do volunteer give up a Saturday to help out others, that happen to be Cub Scouts. It is not their unit, and they and the troop derive no direct benefit from their work, other than the service hours awarded and the good will they generate with the Cub Pack. SA

Just some thoughts. The situation in SE Asia right now is unprecedented in our life time. About the only other time the world has seen such suffering on such a massive scale in the last 50-60 years was probably WWII, and the US stepped up to the plate and provided massive relief to countries that had previously been our enemies. Personally, I will give this administration the benefit of the doubt. I think the initial criticism was directed at a quoted figure of aid of $15 million. I also believe this figure was determined before the full enormity of what had happened was fully unders

I'll admit I'm not familiar with the award, but if the award is given for "volunteer service by the military for service members." as NWscouter says I don't see how the change in status of DOD units would effect the award. In fact, one of the issues with the DOD acting as a charter organization was the claim that some commanding officers were ordering subordinates to support or participate in scouting activities. This would hardly be "volunteer" service in such cases. SA

Barry, Your're absolutely right, I agree with everything you've said and you've correctly described what I should do. First, since the corrupt system was so widespread, it took me a while to figure out that the District was doing things differently than other Districts. Second, right after I started to realize how messed up things were, a new District Advancement Chair had been appointed, and I had a discussion with him after one of the Eagle BORs. He recognized the problem, and indicated he would be makeing some changes. I told him if he needed help or support to give me a call. Tha

This may come as a small shock to some, but some Districts, like ours, don't use Blue Cards. Nearly all the merit badges earned by scouts in the troop I serve are earned at summer camp, Merit Badge Univerisities, or ocaisonnally offered at the Troop level or sometimes a specific camporee. None use Blue Cards. Like Eagle in KY there is no list of District MBCs for scout to go to beyond the Troop level. There is a Merit Badge Application that is filled out and turned in and signed by the MBC when the MB is complete. These, I keep with the Troop files. The only documentation that is asked for

I don't know about over bearing, but I do see they've censored the thread on censorship. I tend to agree though that a certain thread that degenerated into a debate on the pros and cons of a specific member probably was not appropriate. It was kind of like talking behind someone's back, right in front of them while everyone else listened in. (Don't know if that last sentence makes sense, but it does to me.) Instead of outright locking the thread maybe they could have issued a warning? Now it remains to be seen if they will censor this thread discussing the censorship of thread on ce

We usually do at least one serious winter camp in northern New England in Jan or Feb each year. Serious means we typically encounter sub-zero temperatures on these trips. Heck we've encountered snow on our camping trips in every month between October and May over the years so when one says winter camping to me, that means plenty of snow(> 2 ft) and cold(at least single digits). Otherwise its just regular camping. The real motivation that is needed for us, more often than not, is the parents of the younger scouts. They just don't believe their little one could survive a night ou

I will simply say a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all and thanks for a great year of scouter education. SA