Second Class

1 yes

2 no

We and many other troops use the camps during the off season. As we attend summer camp, the cost is zero dollars. If we didn't attend a council camp, there is a modest cost, about what we would pay at a state park.

Ive heard of weddings at camps, and some ROTC units renting the camps, but that is rare.

While it may be perfunctory, it is not useless.

Me signing the blue cards allows me to know who is working on what badge.

It gives me a chance to tell the scout my expectations; don't waste the MBC's time coming with one requirement completed.

For older scouts, especially;

Don't do a half hearted attempt, and put the MBC in the position of "if I don't pass him, he might not make Eagle".

That is neither fair to the MBC or to himself.

Your merit badge Councilor's need retraining.

I wonder if both have older scouts that don't need these badges. I've seen a few times the "trail blazers"

for their son become roadblocks for others. Sad.

Nexus, have you been to weekend one of Wood Badge yet?

If not, I suggest you are premature in planning your ticket. You will learn a lot in the first weekend, and you may find your vision and goals change. Go in without any preconceived ideas!

Good luck!

Thanks for posting that OGE.

I've got no room in my troop for any of this. No pranks, no hazing. Boys will find good fun and play if you direct them in the right direction.

The Golden Rule. The Scout Law.

I wonder what those 30 scouts that were "run off" have to say about the BSA now? Are their sons and daughters in the program?

Pretty standard:

Opening/Pledge/Oath and Law

Welcome visitors

Agenda is announced

Review of previous event

Patrol,corners

Skills instruction

Interpatrolmactivity

Awards

SM minute

We do not define or require a minimum participation level. We have been blessed that our youth leaders remove themselves from the ballot if they know they can not commit to the time to be a leader.

Our expectations for the POR's is the they DO SOMETHING. Our parents guide says just wearing the patch will not prepare a scout for advancement. They must DO SOMETHING in order to claim the time served.

I have much better things to do than calculating attendance percentages for a slate of patrol leaders.

I find that the spiral book has a very short life span. I recommend the standard bound book, the nylon cover and a gallon zip loc bag.

Out FOS council strip a few years ago had some of that picture on it.

I had a scout get to first. In 11 months. I thought that was good. Then a new scout of last year did it in 8 months. We camp every month. We have a lot of service projects. He didn't miss one event in that time frame. That said, 14 months is about average for us.

I had a scout get to first. In 11 months. I thought that was good. Then a new scout of last year did it in 8 months. We camp every month. We have a lot of service projects. He didn't miss one event in that time frame. That said, 14 months is about average for us.

Yes yes and yes.

The boys pick their patrol name. My troop has one legacy patrol name, and the boys are proud of that fact, too.

Each NSP (new scout patrol) chooses their name, and they keep it. They can change it, but rarely do. If they can keep their patrol numbers up, they'll keep their patrol name. If not, they're absorbed into older patrols.

Shared responsibility in the unit is a major matter.

When the unit leader ceases to get the support from ASM's, CM's and parents, and assumes the SM will be on every event; that is a train wreck waiting to happen.

Expecting the SM to pick up any slack the CM's fail to do.

ASM's that take a pass on 7/10ths of the camping trips.

Program planning shared among the PLC/SM/ASM's.

A committee that DOES their job. Outdoor activities CM that does his job. Treasurer that does his job.

If you want the boy to stay in scouts, you'd better let him pick the troop. We had a big class of Qebelos commit to us one year , 22 of them. Would have been great. A competing troop held a bonus event for them, and 12 changed their minds.

Fast forward one year. All 10 that joined us are still with us. All 12 which joined the other troop have quit.

The troop was picked by the dad, where his friends were, not where the boy wanted to go. Such a shame, that was a great group of boys, excited for scouting.

Each troop has a personality, you have to let the boy find the one for him.

The Eureka Timberline 2 or 4 man tent is a good solid scout tent.

Eureka makes a more modern design with twin shock corded poles, that is very similar in size and weight to the Timberline.

This may be the model we get next. Most of our boys use their own tents; our 5 troop tents generally go unused.

IMHO is is the responsibility of the Committee Chairman, with slight assistance of the Cubmaster or Scoutmaster, to track knots. Individuals should track their own progress, and CC's should encourage them to meet the requirements and turn in for them.

It is a joint process, in my mind.

Awarding knots for tenure, as stated here, is curious. What point of the Scout law does this reflect? Make it known what the "NEW" requirements are, encourage leaders to meet those requirements, and follow through.

Wood Badge can be a cult, and it should not be. Those inbred councils that make a scouter "request an invitation" are sorely mistaken. They lose young scouters who are just starting their journey in scout leadership training.

WB saved my troop 5 years ago. It gave me the skill set and a deep resource of fellow scouters who knew me, as a person, and who were invested in my unit's success.

I don't need personal nights camping. I don't need to hone my scout craft skills so I can "play scout".

I get plenty of both camping with my troop. My focus is on the development of honorable young men, who want to lead the way to the future.

Wood Badge has helped me do that. To learn a skill, one must teach the skill to truly learn the skill.

Wood Badgers should seek to staff a course, as a means of personal development.

Yes, pass the Kool-Aid.

Eagle, if you are truly reformed, then let your son decide and don't give it another thought. Boy led, right?

I've got some that refuse to give up the red epaulets, it's their prerogative.

What will "they" do if he goes green? LOL.

Everyone should lean to overlook the little stuff. Shirt? Pants? Shoes, not sandals? (right),

Good to go.

I get cracked on because one knot is backwards. Give it a rest! Go do some EDGE on s'mores, it'll all be good.

Sorry, don't have time to read four pages of responses. Here's what I do: The program is planned to provide advancement activities regardless of the venue.

If the scout wants to advance, the opportunity is there. If there are conflicting needs, of two or more scouts, the scout closest to rank gets it. Some might say this is wrong, but I find the ones that want to advance are the ones working on it (duh), and are motivated to ask for the job, be it cooking, grubmaster, etc.

I had one boy make First Class in 8 months, and did it well. Never missed an outing or a meeting. Others take 2 years.

Provide opportunity. Push, don't pull.

I guess we've all seen the bad. I've seen one really good one, at MTSU in Tennessee.

They do one badge in a 6 hour period. They have qualified instructors. Most are university professors.

They run Red Cross FA and some adult training modules. Very well done.

I've seen some, just as rough on the edges as have been described here. I had a parent pull his son out of this class, and take him to another the same day, so son could get two badges. I explained that the instruction was so much better, that son would really benefit from the class. No matter. Numbers.

I find it incongrous that a Scoutmaster would run such a loosely goosey merit badge fair, when it is usually Scoutmaster's that get their dander up when short cuts are made.

Another underlying issue is the parent. The parent here is enabling this type of behavior. I call it trail blazing. They are loud, disagreeable, and generally make life so difficult that the leaders involved just let it go. It's either that, or have a monster blow up. Which most adults try to avoid, being, well, adults.

The door keeper is the Merit Badge Councilor. We need MBC's that require the scouts DO the requirements, not sit through a class not listening, then getting a badge.

Who here remembers when Citizenship in the Nation was as hard as Personal Fitness?

The only item a troop has to do with the merit badge process is the Scoutmaster signing the card, then reporting the results.

As many troops have in house merit badge councilors, some blurr the lines of "who does what".

Merit badges are the purview of the District. Once a merit badge is signed by a registered merit badge councilor, it is a done deal. We all know of troops that won't "allow" some merit badges to be taken at summer camp or MB fairs, but they are outside of the correct process.

My questions are 1) did the Scoutmaster sign the card to begin with?

2) has he called the councilor and verified he is a properly registered Mbc?

As a Scoutmaster, I have a pretty good handle on who is working what merit badge.

One of my pet peeves is what I call "trail blazing"? I'll spin that one off.

I'll tell you one where I didn't award a merit badge; when the scout announced in front of everyone that he didn't do any of the work for the badge! I asked him if it was proper then to accept the badge. I never did find out how the card got signed....summer camp badges!

The Troop began with 95% home schooled boys, most with larger than average number of siblings. Because of this, the former SM and CC never looked at any event or location outside of the county. Times have moved on, and we have a diverse group of scouts, both in age, ranks, family economics, and school type.

So the question is, do you deprive the scouts with means, of the High Adventure Base/OA/Jambo, because not every scout in the

troop has that opportunity?

How has your troop handled similar type matters?

You are correct, Oak. We had a situation like this happen in my troop; we meet every week, 4 weeks is a month, right? The calendar said 31 days, he had 28, and the council had to over ride the software to accept it. We had review and approval of 3 layers of advancement eyeballs on it, and it went through OK.

Yes, yes and yes.

Scouting for food serves the community.

Helping your charter partner builds bonds with the organization, and does not directly serve internal scouting functions.

Eagle projects, by definition, may not support scouting camps or functions, therefore are community projects.

I, too, don't allow "double dipping" on service hours. Credit may be used only once.(This message has been edited by Second class)

I know of an instance where the scout missed the 6 month requirement by a few days, and the paperwork reflected that. When he submitted his Eagle application, it was rejected for that "time in grade" requirement. There was no time to correctthis, as he had aged out in the process. There was a half hearted appeal, and the letter from national said it plainly that awarding Eagle in this case would dilute the rank that other boys had earned, with meeting those requirements.

It does boil down to it is the scouts responsibility. That said I feel his adult mentors in the troop should be guiding him to the right resolution. Push, but don't pull. If the scout does not take the advice of his unit leaders, parents, and the calendar, it is on him.

We had a similar issue, except the dad was using scouts as the club against the ex. She wanted him in scouts, he want to get back at her.

We ended up losing him, and the bio dad, well, he may be father, but he's sure no dad.

We had another one, where the boy was a great scout, but the dad was "to busy" to get him to meetings. We thought we'd lost him, but with a few more phone calls and e-mails, got scouts back on the parents priority list. Neither parent will ever go on a campout, but we have the boy in the woods!

Keep trying. That's all you can do. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.