SeattlePioneer

<<I think that's a good idea.>> 

I agree!  I've never seen an OA flag.  Please post a picture of your flag after you make it.

I think that would be a great example to set and take with you when doing unit elections.

(Personally,  I think OA would be miles ahead if it would dump all the Indian stuff.)

<<No way a 14 year old freshman is going to out-sell a Tiger Cub in uniform. >> 

Maybe buyers are put off by your appearance,  judging from your picture!

Out of curiosity,  are the adult leaders you are dealing with TRAINED?  

Sorry you had this bad experience.  Are there other things you'd like to do,  such as helping to leader high adventure outings?  What is the nature of the troop's outdoor program?

<<Check with the "local"  military district.  Contact the Army Corps of Engineers.  >> 

Oooooh!  Great idea!  I'll give it a try!

<<My cert is expired and I need to go back.  I admit I never dealt with the certification aspect as PD. We got enough issues that I don't want to worry about a conditional certification and getting a waiver.>> 

You are a trooper!  I hope you will post your experiences with the training and your evaluation of how useful it is for people,  especially experienced Scouter who have taken it before,  to take it repeatedly.

<<I'm willing to do anything EXCEPT go to NCS again and take a week off.>> 

Around here, the NCS for Cub Scout Day Camp is three days.  I think that's absurd.

Last year,  neither Program Director nor the Camp Director attended the Camp School.  Guess what?  They got a waiver!

Anytime they need me,  they can get another waiver.

Personally,  I think it's a lot tougher to bring new parents up to speed with Cub Scouts than with Boy Scouts.

Cub Scouts is 'way too complicated,  and most new families have zero understanding of Cub Scouts when they enter the Pack.

By contrast,  Patrols should be helping new boys get started as a matter of routine. 

<<There is no event in the BSA worth the kind of logistical and bureaucratic troubles that day camp usually presents.   If the people and plans aren't in place, write it off, turn the page, and go do something really cool with your pack/den.

>> \

I agree that it's a big challenge.  But,  as I described earlier,  I'm helping to rebuild a day camp program that has failed or nearly failed for lack of adequate leadership repeatedly.

So far,  I've found that the key is being able to identify quality leaders who will come in and help design and build the day camp program.  For us,  that means an effective Camp Director and two effective program directors plus a shooting sports guy who has run that program off and on for years.

Those people need to design a quality program and to reach out to other Scouter, parents and volunteers to staff up the program.  Both the Program Director and I have pretty good contacts around the district for finding those volunteers.  Also,  our District Commissioner is EXCELLENT at finding volunteers and is working with us to make the Day Camp program a success.

The District Executive is doing a good job,  but we haven't really had to lean on him for help (I avoid leaning on the DE when it's possible to do so since he always has plenty of things to do.)

Our day camp last year was a success.  That means we have Day Camp Den Leaders and Day Camp activity Staffers we can recruit from to support us this year (I hope).  We will be asking Packs and Troops to consider staffing an activity at day camp.  (One of my theories is that we should ask units to take charge of activities rather than looking for people as individuals to help.)

So far,  we are having monthly meetings to consider proposals for activities and idnetify organizational issues we need to deal with.  My assignment this month is to e-mail Merit Badge Counselors in the district who do science related badges and ask them to consider working on and presenting a day camp activity.  My theory is that this will help us identify new volunteers who will help us.

Anyway,  that's how we are working to rebuild a weak/failed program. 

<<for funsies and a mess:  how much weight can a FULL soda can support.  Is it different from an empty one?

(with the bricks, not the bridge, that surely would be a large mess)

Our district day camp failed several years ago.  At the last minute, pretty much all the paid Scouting staff at the council wound up running the day camp pretty much at the last minute.

Two years ago,  the Camp Director failed to do any organizing.  I warned the District Executive and District Chair that nothing was being done.  I was ignored.

The District Executive finally wound up organizing the day camp the last two weeks before it began.  Then he invited the Camp Director to be the Camp Director the next year, too.

The next year,  AGAIN nothing was being done.  I again warned the new DE and the new District Chair and new District Commissioner that nothing was being done,  again.  We started holding organizing meetings in March and a new Camp Directror was recruitied and I and another Scouter in my pack were Camp Directors.  We did pretty well.

This year the Camp Director from last year and the Program Directors from last year have been holding monthly meetings to plan the program and organization for next summer.  We are doing very well. 

In short,  if no day camp planning is taking place,  you should inform the DE and the District Chair,  in my opinion.  They are the people who are responsible for checking up and making sure the program is being organized.

If the DE isn't taking action,  you can contact the Council Field Director,  who supervises the DEs, 

If BSA were to admit girls to Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts,  I's say that the odds are very high that GSUSA would go bust or be forced to merge with BSA within a year or two.

Imagine all the tears that would be shed over that!

Once again I am thankful that the Chief Seattle Council is well managed and well financed.  I see little waste or excess,  although the council DOES have problems administering BSA's excessively complex administrative burdens from time to time.

I'm sure I would find it immensely annoying if the council I was in was one of those that Couldn't Shoot Straight.

As a rule of thumb,  one bad Scout can drive five good Scouts out of the program.

There are good reasons for the Scout Law.  It is NECESSARY for boys (and adults)  to obey the Scout Law or you really can't have Scouting.

So I wouldn't let him back in.

A boy who wont reasonably conform to the Scout Law should be suspended  for a time and given another opportunity to change his behavior.  If that doesn't work after a time or two,  it's good bye.

Our district will be conducting a "1st Aid Oree" during a Tuesday night in April.  It will be organized by our BSA district,  but Girl Scout groups will be welcome to participate.

<<Received an interesting email from our District Chairman. It basically said "Every Unit, no matter the size, is expected to participate in this year’s FOS campaign...". This pretty much turned off our whole TC and adult leadership, so much so we are going to forego FoS this year.>> 

This kind of approach is dumb and counter productive.

For many years,  our district leadership has been respectful of units in soliciting voluntary FOS contributions.  That approach works better than any other,  in my opinion.

Frankly,  a unit which refuses to participate in FOS should be a useful warning to district leaders that there are problems  with the unit or with the district or council than need to be identified and corrected  ---- in my opinion.  

​Using this approach,  our district has consistently met it allocated FOS goal each year except for one,  at the bottom of the recent recession.

I see that the military is now permitting women into any military specialty.

In recent military episodes,  women have suffered about 3% of the fatalities.

I presume we will now see women recruits sent into infantry, armor and artillery units just as often as men,  and we should expect women to be suffering 50% of the fatalities in the future.

In recent decades,  women have greatly benefitted  from being excluded from combat arms.  They have been assigned to military specialties that were usually far less arduous and risky than the combat specialties.

Men contemplating enlistment could expect to be among those suffering 97% of the combat deaths,  while women could expect to be assigned to specialties suffering 3% of the casualties.  I hope that kind of blatant discrimination favoring women will be a thing of the past.  But I doubt it.

Now where is the demand that stand by laws for draft registration apply only to men be amended to add women? 

Among the reasons I've heard why BSA continues to exclude girls is that it's a way of preserving and protecting the Girl Scout franchise.  IF BSA allowed girls in,  Girl Scouts would collapse.  It's a weak sister compared with BSA.

That sounds plausible as one reason. 

<<Why shouldn't we let in girls? We cannot discriminate based on any other reason. Why discriminate based on sex>> 

Remember that White woman who was "passing" for African American as an NAACP leader?  Did you notice how fast they tied a racial can to her and forced her out?  And of course our liberal friends want to engage in race based hiring for government employment,  government contracting and college admissions.

They aren't opposed to race and sex discrimination,  they just want to control the agenda of WHO is being discriminated against.

I'm helping to plan our district Cub Scout Day Camp.

Right now I'm considering activities that would involve testing materials to failure.

So far, building bridges out of 4 foot x .75" X .25" wood strips seems interesting.

Today I started investigating testing aluminum soda pop cans to destruction.  Question....

How much weight can you load on a single soda pop can before it fails?

Today I loaded on 35 pound cement block and two 6 pound bricks which worked OK.

Two cement blocks causes failure reliably.

I'm thinking about a project that would involved building a bridge out of three pieces of particle board that could be supported on aluminum cans.  How many cans are needed to support such a structure?

The best part is that the cans sound great when they fail!

This can involve a variety of things,  like using scales to measure weight and such.

Additional ideas invited.

<<Okay.  I thought I heard all the issues ... at least in our pack.  Well, the new one is the elementary school has been emphasizing how much kids should sleep and the appropriate bed time.>>

Wont be long before Child Protective Services starts investigating families that are torturing their children by sleep deprivation that contradicts what local schools recommend...

<< http://abcnews.go.com/US/girls-fight-join-local-cub-scouts-troop/story?id=35159121 >>

Just as predicted, once the homosexual angle went away,  liberals have found yet another reason to hate BSA.  

So... what does the District Commissioner have to say?  And what is he doing?

If he's doing his best to find more district leaders,  you can support him by helping him.

I got the pack recharter packet at the October Roundtable. 

The DE had taken the time to mark off each existing leader who needed to renew their YPT.  I sent out a reminder to that person a day or two later.

That was the Cubmaster.  I'm expecting to get that certificate at the Monday Den Meetings...

<<Thanks for the reply. I suspected as much. I can be honest in that, from a unit perspective, I don't see how the DE impacts me:

• FOS: Units see this as a burden and not really something that impacts us. I understand what the money is used for but it really does not impact us. It is seen as BSA asking for "yet another check". If the rate of return is so low then perpetuating this fund raising model is silly. Time and money could be better spent on a better way to raise money.
• Spring Recruitment: Affects Cubs but not Boy Scouts...at least in my area. In all my years of Cubs I never had the DE involved in any of our recruiting. Our success or failure was all our own. Same goes for other packs in our district. The DE has never been around nor provided them with any (useful) materials, strategies or insights. This usually comes from volunteers or word of mouth between units. The DE is MIA on this.
• Summer: Never seen the DE. HE's usually hob-nobbing with the guys in Irving.
• Fall Recruitment: See spring recruitment.
• December/Recharter: This is the only time I get anything from my DE. It is usually a poorly worded email sent out to all units reminding us to get our recharter and JTE paperwork in. >> 
•  
•  
• You have my condolences.

The DEs we typically have at my council do a terrific job for units,  directly and indirectly.

I would guess that the difference is good financing for the council which makes it possible to hire much better managers and leaders.   Just guess,  of course.

<<BSA is their own worst enemy in that the process is cumbersome, redundant and time-consuming.>> 

I agree completely.

BSA and councils are choking on all the paper work and requirements.  There isn't enough paid staff to administer them properly and it creates huge burdens for volunteers as well.

]\

Frankly,  I'd tear out about half of each Cub Scout den book as well.

BSA is following all the fads and fashions,  and layering them on top of the last set of fads and fashions,  and the ones before that.

<< one lasted 6 days (guess Cub-O-Ree was too much for him). >> 

Heh, heh!   I can understand that!