scoutldr

I am having the same frustrating problems, although so far, it doesn't make me type in a fake Brooklyn accent. The magic words "OWA TAGU SIAM" work, too. (the faster you say it, the better)

"It was easy to be a kid 20 years ago." This same thing was said in the 60's when I was growing up. And I'll bet the same thing was said in the 30's when my parents were growing up. "Urban Scouting"? Here we go again (remember 1974?). "We have more kids going to camp every summer than ever before." Not in my council.

Welcome back, Mate! Good to hear from Down Under again. Here in the US, November 11 is Veterans' Day (formerly Armistice Day) and the Last Monday in May is Memorial Day. December 7th is Pearl Harbor Day, but not a national holiday. For those of us in Virginia, we have Lee-Jackson Day in January (from the War of Northern Aggression). For a while, it was Lee-Jackson-King day, but that didn't last long. Dr. King now has a separate holiday. My dad served in US Submarines in the Pacific Fleet during WWII, operating out of Pearl. From December 10th 1941 to August 6th of 1945, the US Navy's Submarine force, in the words Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, "held the lines against the enemy while our fleets replaced losses and repaired wounds." During WWII, the US Submarine Service accounted for approximately 55% of total Japanese ships sunk during the war. That this was accomplished by a branch of the Navy that accounted for only 1.6% of the Navy's wartime personnel compliment is a testament to their dedication and ferocity. Yet a large percentage of them paid the ultimate price in defense of the United States, with total losses of 52 submarines and over 3,500 men. The Japanese lost 1,178 Merchant Ships sunk for a tonnage total of 5,053,491 tons. The Naval losses were 214 ships and submarines totaling 577,626 tons. A staggering five million, six hundred thirty one thousand, one hundred seventeen tons, (5,631,117 tons), 1,392 ships. Japan ended the war with a bare 12% of her merchant fleet intact but not fuel at hand to run more than a few of them.

A good analogy might be a ship. Every crew member has a job to do, but when a fire breaks out that threatens the survival of the ship, everyone drops what they are doing and helps put out the fire. As a District Committee member, I am expected to not only chair my own function, but to chip in and help put out the fires. The latest expectation was that everyone would take a stack of about 100 FOS forms and call each one asking for a donation. (They gave last year, but we had nothing on them for this year). I politely declined. I signed up to be the Camping chairman, not Finance. Unfortunately, that means we will pay the DE to do it himself. I also have done emergency Eagle Boards, which I find less distasteful, but it's not my primary job. Bottom line is that everyone has a role to play. If we don't stop the hemorrhage of membership and donations, there won't be a BSA program. I, too, hate focusing on the "numbers". But as our SE said it, "it doesn't matter how nice a camp you have...no one is coming to it!" If we don't have the "numbers" there's no need for a "program".

In this area of the country, daily afternoon "pop-up" thunderstorms are the norm. Occasionally, they go on into the early morning hours. If the end result of this case is a new rule that says "Do not be outside during thunderstorms", I honestly don't see how to comply with that, other than to stay home. As a safety professional, I can say that the hazard is great, but the risk is low. Statistically, scouts are more at risk in the car riding to and from camp.

I have a similar situation...17 year old turning 18 in July. Has Eagle project and 3 Eagle required MB to go. Currently elected SPL. Has a job at a local movie house, so has missed probably 10 of the last 15 meetings, the camporee, etc. The only time I see him is when he wants coaching on his project. This is where I think that objective performance criteria would be of help. Too many scouts (and leaders) think that the POR requirement is met as long as the patch is on the sleeve. Another suggestion might be to schedule a BOR ... they can be held at any time, not just for rank advancement. Have the committee discuss their views on Leadership and set out some expectations for this Eagle candidate.

Click where it says "Ads by Google". That explains it. Google tries to match the ads based on what we are discussing...if we discuss gays, we get ads about gays.

"About 7 p.m., lightning struck a tent pole near the picnic table where Tresca was sitting under a tarp. He went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead within 90 minutes." Well, if I were on that jury, it would be a non-starter. So what if a thunderstorm comes up at 2 am (as they frequently do at our camp along the river), are we supposed to get everybody up and make a mad dash for the safety of the dining hall? The past couple of evenings, we have had thunderstorms all night long...should we keep them in the dining hall all night? I'm truly sorry that a Scout died. But it was clearly an "act of God". The only way to mitigate that risk is to keep your kid home. Sheesh.

Show up at your next District Committee meeting (should be on your council calendar). The person running the meeting should be the District Chairman. His/her job includes: chairing the District committee meetings Serving as 1/3 of the District "Key 3" (along with the DC and DE) With the Key 3, recruit other District Committee members Make committee chair assignments (Training, Finance, Camping, Program, Membership, etc) Monitor committee performance - goal is to make Quality District Keep close contact with all CORs and encourage them to attend District Committee meetings to exercise their unit's vote Serve and vote on the Council Executive Board (ex officio)

I find it really hard to believe that there are almost as many LFL members as there are CS and BS combined! I don't know a single LFL member in my council and at district meetings, it's never mentioned. If I were looking for "paper members", this would be the first place I would check. Over the past year or so, I have percieved a general "decline" in all areas of scouting...camporee attendance, RT attendance, etc. As of this date, we only have about 20 CS registered for our district CS Day camp. That's an average of about one scout per Pack. BS Summer camp numbers are abysmal. Camp is filled to about one-third capacity and most of those are out-of-council. (all I hear is "get rid of the heat, humidity, mosquitoes and ticks and we'll come back", but it's no worse now than it was in the 60's) What's going on?

...and you may not allow smoking during a BOR, either. :-)

The answer is voting. Make your representatives understand what you expect of them if they expect to get re-elected. Then go to the polls and follow through. Unfortunately, with a 20-30% voter turnout rate, they know it's an idle threat. Most of those who do vote do so without a clue of what the candidates stand for or what the issues are. They vote on who's "cute" or who promises the biggest tax break (that they can't pay for) or "anyone running against Bush". The same thing applies to Council and District operations. If you want a say in what happens, make sure your COR attends the meetings, because they are the only ones who can exercise your unit's vote.

There is no "BSA policy" on this. It is true that all troop property, including money, belongs to the CO. Perhaps a nicely worded letter to the original unit's COR or IH would explain the situation and get a positive response. If the camp fees have been paid, it may be a simple thing, assuming you are going to the same camp, to have the registrations transferred to the new unit. If the CO agrees to this, it's done deal and the troop committee has nothing to say about it. Your DE or DC should run interference for you. Sometimes adults can ruin everything.

I believe one of the duties of a DE is to meet with every CO at least once a year to review their charter responsibilities. Sounds like that's not happening. If I were you, I'd be looking for a new CO. Ours is not much better, but at least we get a meeting place.

Perhaps this is the reason that more and more commercial campgrounds and state parks are making it hard or impossible for scout groups to camp there.

It is one of the SM's core responsibilities to conduct troop-level JLT. Is he doing that? With elections every 6 months or so, this should be a regularly scheduled thing on the troop calendar. We also ask the question, "what would you do to make the troop better?". Frequently we get "do more camping" or "play different games". Then we explain to the scout how he can make that happen...that he needs to express his ideas to the youth leadership, and it's not up to the adults to make it happen.

BOR consist of at least 3 committee members. A parent may not serve if their son is being reviewed (and preferably should not be in the room but you can't prevent them from "observing" if they insist). The BOR chair can be anyone, but most commonly it is the troop CC or advancement chair. SM and ASM may not serve.

We use the FRS radios...we always have at least one per car. If we get out of range, cell phones are a back-up.

I learned to play the organ while in Scouts. If I press down the "trumpet" button and play bugle calls, does that count? Flugelhorn vs cornet? This just goes to show we can take ANY topic and debate it until the cows come home! I love this scouting stuff! (thanks to Barry!)

A scout or scouter who is not rated as a "Swimmer" may only ride as a passenger in a canoe and only if accompanied in the canoe by a qualified Lifeguard (BSA, Red Cross, etc). ALL participants MUST wear approved PFDs at all times. Safe Swim Defense and Safety Afloat training are now available online at the BSA web site. I just ran through Safety Afloat again and it only took about 15 minutes. I recommend everyone do that as a refresher.

The way it's supposed to work is the paid Scout Executive serves at the pleasure of the Executive Board, a group of volunteers led by the Council President. Too often, however, the Board is hand picked by the SE and they don't pay any attention to what the SE and his corps of paid professionals are doing or how they are achieving the numbers...nor do they have the backbone to stand up to him and tell him how they want things run. In a non-profit corporation, it is indeed the Executive Board (volunteers) who have the fiduciary responsibility and should be answering. They allowed it to happen.(This message has been edited by scoutldr)

I'm sure OGE meant to say "may NOT be done". If a scout chooses not to do this, there's nothing you can do about it. This probably won't present a problem until someone challenges your unit's right to do this and appeals to the Advancement Committee. Then they win. Push comes to shove, your unit's charter can be revoked.

I always enjoy David's well researched posts. It's interesting to get an insight into what the Founders intended vs. what we have today. Looking forward to the book...maybe we can get autographed copies?

I was raised to eat what Mom put in front of you. You were allowed to "not like" a food, but not until you tried it first. If you didn't like what was on the table, you wait until the next meal...no special orders. I never did develop a taste for raw onions or oysters. Can't think of anything else I don't like. Meatloaf is not my favorite, but I can tolerate it. My own two sons were raised the same way...the older became a country club manager and quite the chef, but still won't eat chicken on the bone ("it's just gross"). He makes a mean honey-glazed salmon and sauteed garlic spinach. The younger still won't touch lima beans or mayonnaise. Compared to some of my scouts who live off of froot loops, peanut butter and trading post junk (which is nutritionally void but profitable) all week at camp. At dinner time, they just sit there. My only concern is dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, since we typically have temps in the 90s and dewpoints near 80. They are not required to eat balanced diets the rest of the year, so I'm not going to fight it for one week at camp.

I received the District Award of Merit in 2003...the award was a plaque accompanied by a knot. I have also received the Cubmaster Award, Cub Scouter Award, Scouter Training Award and Scouter's Key. No medals.