scoutldr

http://www.mninter.net/~blkeagle/recogn.htm Sounds like maybe you were wearing the wrong knot anyway. The "Merit Medal" has a blue/gold knot on khaki. The "Heroism Award" (previously "Certificate of Heroism") is red on white. The "Honor Medal" is red on khaki. There's no mention of a "Certificate of Merit" at Mike Walton's website above.

This star thing is giving me a complex. How come Wheeler gets the same amount of stars as some of us veterans, if no one thinks his posts are valuable? And how can one go from 2 1/2 stars to 5 overnight, like some seem to do? Do I need to double my FOS donation, or what?

Volunteers are a precious commodity everywhere, but many Councils are doing just that. You get trained by the time recharter time rolls around or you're out of the program. Period.

If you want to read the official Supreme Court decision, instead of 50 different interpretations of it, see http://laws.findlaw.com/us/000/99-699.html By the way, although it was a "majority" decision, it was 5-4, so be sure to read the dissenting opinions as well. To see the other side of the fence, see www.scoutingforall.com Perhaps you will get some more ideas there.

A good reference is "The American Boy's Handybook" by Dan Beard. It was recently reprinted and used ones are available on eBay or Half.com.

Congratulations to General KoreaScouter for reaching 5 star rank already! I can only dream .... As a Safety and Health Professional, we believe there are no such thing as "accidents". There are only "unsafe acts" or "unsafe conditions". There is also no such thing as "safe". There are only varying degrees of "unsafe". As Scouters, our duty is to ensure planning is in place to anticipate, identify and take steps to minimize risk. The military calls this "Operational Risk Management" (ORM). It is a well known fact that more soldiers, sailors and airmen fall victim to what we call "DNBI" or "disease and non-battle injuries", than they do to actual combat injuries. Prevention of DNBI through proper planning and training is a "force multiplier". We in scouting can think of this as a "fun multiplier".

Those pubs you list could all be put in .pdf format (not editable), on a single CD and reproduced locally for about 50 cents a copy, and mailed to each unit for another 50 cents. It's no more difficult to ensure you have the latest edition of an electronic version than it is hard copy.

You're not going to win this one. Blisters can be a powerful teaching tool.

Nope, not a commemorative, just the latest in a series. The council has issued 5 design changes in the CSP since the R/W strips went out in the 70's. In this latest change, the design remained the same, just a new color scheme. An improvement, in my opinion. We also have commemoratives over the years, such as for 9/11, Camp fundraising, "Silver Beaver Association", etc. We've never had an Eagle CSP, but I'm working on that.

"Our practice is to give the cloth badges to the Scout the night they earn them. For Scout, that is the night that they tell me they have comleted the Youth Protection requirement. For all other ranks (except Eagle), it's the night of the BOR. We give cards & parent's pins at the COH. " Many Councils (mine, for one) will not sell rank badges without a signed advancement report being turned in. Therefore, "instant recognition" is difficult, if not impossible. The excuse given is that too many Units were stockpiling badges, and the paperwork never got turned in, resulting in many disappointed would-be Eagles.

Camp Chickahominy...Colonial Virginia Council, Newport News, VA I know it's been sold to developers, but can't verify why.

My council just issued a new CSP. It has nothing on the back. Retail is 5 bucks. I have no idea what their source is, or what the cost is to the council.

FOG, some of those you mentioned are hats of the past. My understanding is that you can wear older uniforms, if serviceable, but cannot mix and match parts.

To be absolutely correct, one can wear the cub scout pin device on the religious square knot. If you then earn the BS version, you add the boy scout pin device to the knot. As an adult, I wear 4 service stars, yellow, green, red and blue. You were given wrong advice. As I recall, the only things that are troop option are neckerchiefs. (Used to be also choice of cap, but I don't think there are different official options any more.) If the troop has "elected" to not require scout pants, that's wrong, too.(This message has been edited by scoutldr)

All people are "created equal". Where you go from there is up to you. In our city, we have "magnet" schools and kids who are labeled "gifted". They know who they are and refer to themselves as gifted, and the other kids also have figured out that they are "not gifted", since they don't get on a bus at noon and go across town to the special programs at the magnet school. I find this fundamentally offensive, especially in a public school system. I believe that all public schools should provide the same opportunities to all students. If the parents want additional special programs for their "gifted" progeny, they should foot the bill. When they get to the "real world", they will have to interact with people of all types and abilities, not just their own, elite gifted peers. Their success in the world will be based on what they produce, and the value that society has placed on that product. It will not be based on their self esteem, labels, or IQ.

They can do whatever they will be allowed to get away with. According to dsteele, Councils are "autonomous" and if the Executive Boards want to do it, they can. Of course, if the volunteer leaders, trainers and Chartered Organizations disagree, it's a free country and they can vote with their feet. It will be very interesting, indeed. What infuriated me was that the decision was made without even talking to the Council Training Chairman or his committee (the district trainers who have to make it happen.) Not a good way to get buy-in from the stakeholders. I still think it's quite a coincidence that so many councils have decided that this a good idea all at the same time, and National claims they know nothing about it.

In "my" council, all Eagle Boards are conducted by the unit committee with a District Representative present. Some councils still conduct BoRs only at the District or Council level. Your District Advancement Chairman should be able to answer your question.

"SERVICE STARS ARE WORN AT THE OPTION OF THE WEARER" What makes the stars any more optional than any other insignia? I checked the latest Uniform and Insignia Guide, and it is silent, except for a note on p. 42, which says "Service stars may be worn by all youth and adult members who have at least one year of tenure with the Boy Scouts of America...." I guess since it says "may" rather than "shall" or "must", it's "optional."

Just realized we haven't seen dsteele for a while and did a search. He signed off on Jan 14th. Somehow I missed that. Dave's honest, forthright and credible contributions to this forum have been invaluable to me, and I miss him. With the knowledge I have gained of the Pros, my own relationship with my DE has become more friendly and productive. I hope he's lurking....Dave, come back! Just an hour a week?????

"Then we have the people who KNOW that something is wrong but do it anyway. The 50 year old guys that I see wearing Tiger Cub service stars are a good example. I've asked a couple about it and they say that they know it is wrong but they want to show that they were involved with Tiger Cubs." I am willing to be proven wrong (and there is no dearth of colleagues here who are up to the challenge!), but it is my recollection that, in the early days of Tiger Cubs, both youth and adult partner were registered together as members of the Pack. Adults were then able to wear the orange service star showing their registered status for that year. The orange backgrounds have since been eliminated and all cubs wear the yellow and adult registered leaders wear the blue. I personally wear all four, yellow, green, red and blue, showing my actual tenure in the various programs. I know it is permissible for adults to combine all of their years into a single blue star, but I think that is inaccurate and misleading. Not that anyone cares. I have a bigger problem with Scouts and Scouters (the majority of them, by my observation), who don't bother to wear stars at all. That's just lazy.

According to the article, the family has requested donations to the Alex Plucknett Scholarship Fund. c/o Educational Community Credit Union 623 N Main St Jacksonville, FL 32202 Mike, if there's a Scouting related memorial fund that's different from this, please let us know.

You're overanalyzing, Fuzzy. It could be that there was a moose puppet laying around the studio from some other defunct show, and some stage hand said, "Hey, why don't you use Mr. Moose here!" Voila! A legend is born. As the good Dr. Freud once said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

I left my troop at age 14 as a Life Scout and joined an Explorer Post at the urging of my high school buddies. I made Eagle 2 years later, due in no small part to my Post Advisor's foot in my backside most of the time. I was also Chapter Vice Chief, and my Post Advisor was also Chapter Advisor. He won the Silver Beaver, Vigil Honor and OA Distinguished service award. During that time, Exploring went Co-ed. The girls who joined were also Girl Scouts. As I recall, our Post (Fire and Rescue) provided first aid/ambulance service at all OA events and the girls were right there with us, although not "members" of the OA. If it were not for that opportunity, I probably would have tired of teaching knots to 11 year olds and dropped out. My Post Advisor passed away in 1986 and was honored with a Fireman's funeral. The church was packed with uniformed firemen and Scouters and the route to the cemetery was lined with saluting police officers and fire fighters at every intersection as his flag draped casket was borne on the back of a fire engine. I was crying so hard, my wife had to drive. Next to my Dad, he was the most important man in my life. 18 years later, I am still scouting. I have a lot to repay. What does this have to do with flaps? I don't know. But anything that keeps kids (male or female) in the program is a good thing.

When you think of how quick and easy it is to lose a life, it's a wonder we manage to get our kids raised to adulthood, as I have been allowed to do. I am blessed. Why these things happen, we will never know. My intellect tells me that no loving, merciful God would allow such things to happen, especially when it punishes so many, not the least of whom are Alex's dad and brother, who tried to do the right thing. Like Job, I want to scream out and curse God. I don't understand. I want to understand. I pray to understand. Mike, please pass on our condolences. Your boys are in for a tough time. Let us know how we can help our brother scouts and Scouters.

I can sympathize with Eammon. I am getting of the age (get my AARP card this year!) where the bones ache and nature calls several times a night (compounded by too much hot coffee to stay warm!). Cold makes me just plain miserable. We rarely get snow here, and camping in cold, wet muddy conditions is about the worst I can think of. But that should not stop anyone else who enjoys it. Our "Freezoree" is in February. Just a weekend campout for anyone in the Council who wants to show up. The OA sponsors it and offers a special patch. Spring Camporee is in April, and the standing joke is that it is usually 60-70 degrees for the Freezoree and then we freeze (and get wet) in the Spring. Like someone else said...it's the Unit leadership's job to make sure their troop is trained and prepared. Present lots of cold weather topics at Roundtable. Make sure every scout knows the symptoms and treatment for hypothermia. I always make sure to have a couple of spare sleeping bags and blankets in the car. If kids get wet (or sleeping bags get wet from rain), and we can't get them dry quickly, we go home.