scoutldr

Sounds like a SM Minute to me. Your point is well taken, and I think is lost on today's generation of Scouts and parents, who view it as a resume bullet for college. The goal is not advancement. The goal is not to get all the merit badges. The goal is to develop character, and you can't do that with 12 year old Eagles. As a semi-retired Scouter, I still sit and smile when I read on Facebook what my "former" scouts are doing with their lives. Two brothers are serving in the Army and Air Force. One is a senior at the Naval Academy and his brother is in the Va Tech Corps of Cadets. One became a welding foreman at the shipyard and just announced his intent to join the Navy. Another is in NYC trying to break into a Broadway career. My own sons have made me proud and just let me know that Grandchild 3# is in the oven. #2 should be born tomorrow. It is a fortunate man indeed who can look back on his 60 years on the planet and know he can go to his grave (hopefully not too soon!) having made a positive difference in the lives he has touched. I do realize that it wasn't all because of me, but I was part of the "village"...a life well-lived. To my fellow Scouters...don't give up. You ARE making a difference and the rewards will be great.

Which is alarming, since I use this screen name and password for other things.

Actually, I just checked again, and it appears that OUR accounts are being hijacked to post spam. The latest two are allegedly from "koolaidman", who is a legitimate member, I think.

Perhaps it's time to reiterate the IRS and BSA policies on Scout Accounts, which is "NO".

Sometimes you just need to have a discussion with the scouts and their parents and remind them what Scouting is. It's like gun-haters joining the NRA. Why would you do that?

Spam, spam, spam, spam. Actually, what I had assumed (yes, I know what that means), that there was some sort of vetting process for new members. I don't think you can post spam (or anything else), if you are not granted an account by someone, right? I mean, if they can drop a few buzzwords, like WEBELOS, or WOOD BADGE, or the council they are registered in, that would be good enough. I mean, we even let Merlin in. I have no objection to China...if they are Scouters.

What can we do about the proliferation of spam on the forum? Is there some sort of screening of new accounts?

I long for the good old days when all we had to worry about was heterosexual noncustodial parents with restraining orders.

Scouter.com also has a Facebook page by which you can get a message to the admins.

Camping involves heat, sweat, bugs and dirt. Not many of today's youth nor their parents are interested in being uncomfortable. And I would remind LeCastor's troop that Merit Badges are supposed to be an individual effort (with a buddy), not spoon fed at troop meetings by the parents..

It's always been my understanding that a DE's job is 3-fold. More money, more youth and more units. In that order. Everything else program-related is supposed to be done by volunteers. Unfortunately, many District volunteer positions go vacant or are filled with "good old boys" with WB beads who like to attend events with a coffee mug hanging from their belt. We always had a "District Chairman" to run the district meetings, but the DE would hand him his agenda as he walked in the door, and not much happened between meetings.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/20/us/girl-scouts-debate-their-place-in-a-changing-world.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpHeadline&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Has everyone been "Trained" ?

The problem with threads like this is that everyone thinks they MUST mean someone else. Time for me to take a break. Not sure if I'll be back. Happy (insert politically ccorect greeting of your choice here). And good Scouting to all.

My 6th grade picture would have been 1965. I missed the shift to the ODL uniform and dorky red berets (sorry, OGE). By 8th grade and on,(circa 1968-72) I had migrated to an Explorer Post, and we routinely showed up in uniform with our ambulance and moulage kit to give first aid demonstrations to the PE classes. We were cool and served as "staff" at most council/district events. Growing up in a military family in a military town, the anti-military sentiment didn't really affect us. EVERYONE's dad was in the military, or as mine was, recently retired. My perception is that Scouting was "cool" during WWI and WWII, since they were viewed as "junior CD wardens", helping to keep the home fires burning while the men were off to war and the moms manned the factories. I don't think the "nerdiness" started until the mid-late 60's.

Check with your scouts...SOMEONE probably has a new Smartphone with GPS capability...might be too pricey for us, but not for Billy's mom who thinks uniforms are too expensive. (sorry...was that bad decorum?)

Custom leather cell phone belt pouch with Scout logo!!!!! Cooolll. In elementary school, I wore a leather/laced pencil pouch on my belt that I made in Cub Scouts and in which I carried my official cub scout pen and pencil set. We too, wore our uniforms to school on "Den Meeting day", since we would ride a different bus directly to the Den Mother's house after school...then we would either walk home or Mom would pick us up. I have a class picture from as late as 6th grade with 3-4 of us sitting in class in our green BS uniforms. Today, my scouts come to the meeting with their shirts balled up in their backpacks, which they put on for the meeting, and immediately take it back off after the closing. Wish they had bugle ring tones...now that would ROCK!

I noticed on Scoutstuff.org, one can now buy "centennial formal attire" such as bow ties and cummerbunds for those gala Centennial Balls that some councils may be planning (haven't heard of anything here). It occured to me that perhaps it would be appropriate for the Eagle Scout Award (medal) and other top scouting awards to be produced in miniature form, appropriate for formal attire (not unlike military decorations which can also be worn on civilian formal wear). Any interest? I think these would also be appropriate for Eagle Scouts who attend ECOH in civilian attire.

There should be enough GPS's in the group that caravaning should be unnecessary.

If there is a GW problem, I am not hopeful that humans will actually care enough to alter their pathetic narcissistic lives one iota. I can't even get the others who live under my roof to recycle or use CFL light bulbs. Every day, I come home from work and pull all the plastic water bottles and soda cans out of the garbage and go around and turn all the lights off in the middle of the day.

I agree with LeVoyageur...time for a thinning of the herd, like we do for deer (it's for their own good, you know). It's just a natural cycle of populations. Besides, on December 21, 2012, it will all be moot anyway.

We wouldn't have to do anything...for reasons pointed out above, the organization would cease to exist without the financial support of the major religious benefactors, such as LDS. It would take many years for the UW to kick back in and build the support back up. In the meantime, pros would be let go and council camps would be sold...at a much more rapid rate than is happening now.

"The Scout Camp in Chesapeake, VA had to be shut down for three years because of a gay ranger sexually harassing older scouts." This is my Council and has been for 40 years. This never happened. I'd appreciate it if people would quit spreading lies.

I have a co-worker who is a perfectionist. She has her college son e-mail drafts of his papers to her, which she diligently corrects and rewrites and e-mails back to him. Same son is an Eagle, dad was SM, mom was CC, and I have to wonder how much of it he actually did. (of course, as soon as he had his ECOH, they all dropped Scouting like a hot potato) In my day, we called that "cheating". But we are surrounded by people who just don't see anything wrong with it, and the epidemic is growing.

Not sure what we're disagreeing about, except the statement that some scouts' time is more limited than others. We all get 24 hours per day. It's how we choose to use them...one of my biggest beefs with adults who sit on their cans watching football while I'm out in the cold, wet woods trying to instill skills and character into THEIR sons. That future major league pitcher just successfully completed his EBOR, by the way.