scoutldr

I believe the Native Americans believed that all things on the earth had "spirits" and were interconnected. What you did to one, affected all the others.

Welcome back, Mate! I think the forums are a lot friendlier than they used to be, and I really like this new software. My own "Scouts" are now 36 and 31, both married and I'm expecting my third grandchild in two weeks! Finally we got a boy, so I'm holding on to the uniform and camping equipment!

It is a core function of your District Advancement Committee to maintain a list of qualified MBCs who are "experts" in the field either by vocation or avocation. I am also of the belief that "troop only" MBC should not be allowed. One of the "methods" is Adult Association, and that means, you don't get 10 merit badges from your best friend's mom. Cold calling the MBC and setting up an appointment is part of the learning process. When parents would call me, I would say, "have the scout call me back and we'll discuss it."

There is a real active group of Cast Iron afficionados on Facebook. They say lard is the best. I have also learned about cleaning rusty CI...including how to set up an electrolysys tank (E-tank) using a car battery and a solution of "washing soda".

"He is reverent toward God." ... how does that apply to those who have no monotheistic "God" ? Wiccans and Buddhists come to mind. (forgive my ignorance)

I found some articles in old Boys' Life magazines that state Arthur attended National Jamborees and, with "Green Bar" Bill Hillcourt, would man autograph booths and provide autographs. It's possible that this is his autograph, but not necessarily made by him. Interesting item!

I did take a Leave No Trace course once put on by a traveling team from Subaru. They claimed that LNT also meant no loud colors, so all of our clothing, tents, and equipment should be in muted earth tones. I did raise an eyebrow at that.

In my area, the DE would not get involved in unit politics, either. It's really the Unit Commissioner's job...if you can find one.

The BSA strongly recommends use of the Unit Budget Plan. In my opinion, income should be just enough to cover expenses. I have heard of units with thousands of dollars in their account, but why? A contingency fund is fine, but keep in mind that if the Pack folds for any reason, all of that money belongs to the CO.

Perhaps the Blue Ridge Council can get the Va National Guard engineers to fix their dam?

Never mind. At home on my laptop, the "Change Theme" text was barely visible (white text) at the bottom. I changed it back.

LOL. Present company excepted. In this town, "better" usually involves motorcycles, beer and girls. Not necessarily in that order.

Actually, I prefer the way it was. I don't see how to change it back, however. The "change theme" button is gone.

We live in a military town, and during my years of unit scouting, had a few occasions where young men would just show up at our door on meeting night, saying they had seen the scouts in uniform outside and wanted to "become involved". Sad to say, but my YP training kicked in, and the threat alarms were going off. I mean, what 20 something young male doesn't have something better to do with his evenings and weekends. We were polite...offered him an adult app and explained that references and background would be checked thoroughly. He never came back. I did take a CPR course here at work (miltary hospital) and the young Hospital Corpsman instructor asked me why I needed the training,...I told him, "for scouts" and he divulged that he was an Eagle Scout from Arkansas, so I invited him to my troop and we had a great relationship until he got transferred. He taught all the first aid and CPR stuff, and went to summer camp with us. Even managed to find some cases of MRE's for us. Great guy. Doing my due diligence, however, I did email the SE at his home council and asked for a "reference check" just to make sure he was who he said he was. Never got a reply. SEs must be real busy.

There, but for the Grace of God... This is a popular alternative to our Council camp ... cooler temps, low humidity and fewer skeeters.

Teddy, BSA was all male until about 1970 when girls were allowed to join Explorer Posts. Exploring was spun off as a separate division, and we now have Venturing which is 14-21 year olds and co-ed. None of the other age groups is co-ed, (yet). Back in my day (early 60s) the only role women could play was Den Mother.

Gotta wonder who is pushing National with this agenda. I am with the others who are puzzled as to why this point of the Oath/Law is deserving of more attention than the others.

Forgive me, but I don't think it's required that the scouts and leaders physically move their residences to the new council. Our district and council assignment was based on the physical address of the CO (sponsor). We attracted scouts who lived in many different locations...council cashed their registration checks just fine.

Well, I'm pretty durn happy with this new software. Good Job, Terry! We appreciate all you do! I, too, remember Fortran IV...punch cards, Basic, nested do-loops ... ick. I used to be pretty adept with WordStar, Lotus 123 and Dbase III for MS-DOS. We just had some bedrooms painted and found boxes of new floppy disks that went in the trash. Now I've been told my laptop with Vista on it will soon be a doorstop and I just need to buy a new one (cheaper than upgrading to Win 7). I hate throwing things away when they still function well enough.

Well, from experience, I can tell you that many SMs would maintain a "goody box" full of excess rank badges, service stars, etc. It is so much easier to comply with the "instant recognition" policy of BSA advancement if you actually have the badge in hand to award to the scout "instantly". And following a COH, we would sometimes have unclaimed "extras" if the scout didn't come back for it. There were times when the Advancement Report failed to make it to the Council registrar, but that is the faullt of the troop Committee. NO rank badge should be awarded except following a successful BOR, and every BOR should have an Advancement Report signed by the Board members upon its completion. I am not concerned with people wearing unauthorized ranks. I am concerned about the young man who is expecting to sit for his Eagle board and there is no record that he made First Class. When we needed duplicate badges for extra uniforms, the registrar would just make you fill out an Advancement Report and write "DUPLICATE" on it. And there was the problem of awarding ranks to unregistered scouts...having an Advancement Report was the check on that.

So, at what point were striped shoulded loops part of the official BSA uniform?

I'm surrounded by college graduates who no apparent skill in any one area. I am of the old school that believed that when you release an Eagle Scout on society, there should be a core set of skills and values attached.

And also with you. From a fellow Lutheran.

It's about time they got that rank badge black market under control. Better sell my Ebay stock fast!

Your best chance is to find a new CO in the new Council and move your charter. This will take the cooperation of your current CO if you want to retain unit number, troop equipment, bank account, etc.