Second Class

" In my book, you can never have too many ASMs. "

Amen!

ASM's free up the SM's time so he can focus on the boys. Interview the guy, let him know that he needs to do X Y and Z to earn the ASM patch. You decide what that could be.

I would expect that those things could be the training necessary to not bring down your JTE score; camping with the troop as a parent for 5 events (to learn his demeanor); AND get the Scoutmaster's concurrence, since he will be working with him the closest.

If the CC and SM don't share the same vision and goals for the troop, it can be rocky, or at best, less productive than it should be.

Wow. That's a great group of leaders. A great way to exemplify the Oath and Law.

Welcome!

You'll learn a lot here, and get challenged on some stuff, too. A good way to stretch, sort of an Internet cracker barrel.

Work that ticket. Best thing a guy can do is the full immersion treatment.

Sounds like a solution in search of a problem

Need to squash this in the bud.

Each program is unique; What's the crying need for One Oath?

What's with the implication that Boy Scout's don't carry the oath to life? That's rather insulting.(This message has been edited by Second class)

Our leader knots are given out at the annual district banquet. Our yearly service pins are awarded at out summer COH. (Troop)

1. Visiting unit meetings - some have said they like to see DEs there, others have said they show up invited and unwelcome...any thoughts?

NO. NO. NO. You have enough meetings during the week. This would be a big mistake IMHO. Just attending Eagle COH's will be a time bender. Limit those, too.

2. FOS - we all know it has to be done, what would a volunteer recommend to make it less stressful? Are there ways to make it better (easier for families?)

Not many. It's a [tough] job that has to be done. Understand and pass along any information your Council has for "matching funds" from businesses. This is a good way to get smaller donations from a troop's families.

3. District officers - apaprently some interaction between the DE and district officers seems "stormy", how would a volunteer approach creating the "perfect" district committee? What about improving commissioners?

This is all situational. If you've got some blow hards on the committee that will make trouble if they don't get their way, well, not much you can do about that. Best try to surround yourself with people that are in it for the boys, and a strong program, than a bunch out [silver] beaver hunting.

4. Fundraisers - without changing the products, like popcorn, how to get people excited and involved...what would you recommend?

Like SP, I don't see what the problem is with popcorn. A troop or pack can fully fund their year by using popcorn sales. Find a troop that does this, and get them on the Popcorn committee, and speak to Roundtable and other scoutmasters. This is simple in my mind. (as an aside, what gets me it the council keeps pushing other sales stuff, which gets me. We do popcorn, only popcorn, for 3 months. That's ALL we do).

"Highest respect to whoever does the work. Polite nods to whoever talks about it." Your personal prime directive may be a little different. But consider yourself in a fishbowl, and you're son will want to hear about it one day. "

Good advice! I guess each troop has workers, talkers, and tripping stones.

I really don't like the Scoutmaster Award of Merit being dropped, and homoginized with the Cub Scout and Venturing Programs. Truly a mistake of epic proportions. We can hope the NESA will re-institute their Scoutmaster Award.

And blah on those Mickey mouse devices.

One Scoutmaster opine.

A people person.

Accessible.

Able to teach volunteers what their jobs are, and what his ISN'T.

Balanced; home life, work, church, etc.

Patient.

Tireless.

Fun.

And since the perfect DE doesn't walk the earth, be glad for the one you have, and try not to undermine him. With one exception, all the DE's I have ever known were and are the hardest working, less appreciated job classification I know. It pains me to read about SP's troubles. It really does.

Being a discontinued council, they can't be worn, so the value is only for a collection. "

I bet they will be worn for years, if for nothing but a silent protest!

Go for it. Help the 3 or 4find a new troop or help them get done and gone quick. If they know the CO has your back, they will leave or toe the line. Probably better that they leave.

Get camping, quick. Start on real advancement. Get the boy leaders trained up.

See if the CC is going to support you and if not, ask the COR to replace or demote him.

Stand firm; know your job, your boundaries, and execute the program. The other good parents will force the change you seek.

It sounds better than you first portrayed! Ask for help, other SM 's will be glad to offer you good advise. And maybe some gear.

The Scoutmaster should be a coach and guide for the SPL, not a puppet master. Of course there should be pre meeting coordination and conversation.

I think it starts before the PLC, with coaching and mentoring. The PLC determines the program with the input of the SM. The SPL and his patrol leaders execute the program, with the SM. and ASM's helping where needed.

The style needed is different for each boy leader and where they are in their development as a leader. Some require more hands on, directive guiding, others may only need a "have you considered this?" type of guidance.

What issues do you have with the method of coaching? I would hope you could have an open and honest conversation about it. It could be as simple as the SM or ASM being asked to be less hands on.

In my mind, it should be the goal of a SM to never get at the podium at a meeting, except for the Scoutmaster's minute.

Is the CO a church?

I'd think that would be a non starter for many. It cuts down on the number of meetings per year, too. I'd expect that you don't meet on weekend you camp.

My troop has agreed to not buy any more of the. 4 man Eureka's for the same problems. They stay up all night, they disturb everyone around them. They can't help it. They can't NOT do it. They are boys.

So we stay with 2 man tents. We use Eureka's. They are packable, last a long time, and are dry when it rains. Most scouts buy their own after one year, anyway.

Yes, a broken troop. Is your son there? How old? Other troops in town?

No dues? Foul language? Parents that don't believe the Oath and Law?

How did you get roped into such an arrangement? You have already taken the job, so you have given away your chips for negotiation on job assignments.

If you choose to stay, give the CC the job requirements of the Scoutmaster, Chairman, etc., and tell him to stay out of your job, and you'll stay out of his. No fundraising, no problem. Cash money UP FRONT before a scout attends a function. Let him worry about fundraising, and paying for recharter.

It sounds like it's close to cratering.

Agreed, the scout oath and law are all that are needed. What you might be looking for is an incremental approach to dealing with a troubled scout. Send me a PM and I'll send you some information. I also have an anti bullying program that we run once a year.

I've found that it is almost always the second year scouts who are the culprits in bullying.

When you have a set standard, and the scouts know you stand by it, they will toe the line. That's been my experience.

It might not be a bad idea for the board members to have a mock BOR, without the scout. They can recruit new board members, get the, trained up to understand what the purpose of a BOR is, as stated is to gauge the effectiveness of the troop leadership, from the Sm to the lowest APL.

I can't tell you how many troops I know of that have rope and compasses in the BOR room.

If anything, the allotted time is a tad on the short side. We went long on just about every module. But then, everyone was well prepared, and we had some good back and forth, too.

We used the rain shortened outside time to get back on schedule.

The overwhelming majority of our scouts asked to have it broken down into two days. There were a lot of sore bottoms end of Saturday!

I thought about We were Soldiers, but that one is too graphic in word and visuals for me to show to an 11-13 year old. Same for BOB. I have them both, and agree, they are good. The first episode might be ok.

Lots of good "bad" leadership in that one.

GClose, this is a totally new syllabus; they mercifully retained nothing from the old.

(This message has been edited by Second class)

We're they on a true trek or there for PLC or other training program, with a day on the trail?

5the weight limits are in place because extraction is harder or impossible at the higher weight limits.

But can you think of a better place to croak?

Most older scouts are going to want to buy their own tent.

Having troop tents is a good way to get a scout/family into the program without having to pony up $800.00 for gear.

We don't have a place to hang dry tents. We had a tent come back three years after the scout aged out.

Placing the QM in charge of another scouts mess is not right.

I don't have all the answers, but I sure have a lot of the same problems!

The big thing we did was have the older scouts in leadership positions teach some of the modules. They did great.

One of our adults did the module on leadership. The BE KNOW DO theme is lifted almost verbatim from US ARMY officer training manuals. FM 200, IIRC. We are lucky to have a retired officer and strong Christian leader who did that module. I'd recommend getting that field manual. Leadership is leadership, be it the battlefield, boardroom or campsite.

We had two brand new scouts with us. I was so impressed that they hung with this training all weekend.

We also had adults do all the cooking so the scouts could focus on the leadership training. We will do this again, RHIR, RHIP. This retreat was the privilege.

I'd be interested in other appropriate movies, too. I'll keep looking.

We were at one of our Council camps. We had use of the air conditioned lounge,(thank you very much)

and we watched !aster and Commander and Remember the Titans. Both good movies about leadership and team building. Class room work intermixed with outside game time kept things mixed up and mostly awake!

Next time we'll split it up into two days, and do the annual program plan another weekend.

We ran ILST this weekend. Kudo's to National for fixing a seriously broken training module.

This syllabus is well done, and has what you need to deliver a good weekend of training.

We added a couple of movies, popcorn, and made it fun.

What are some of the tools in the shed for helping prevent/delay/stop burnout?

We've tried job swapping, (but no one wants mine); swapping seems to help a bit, for a year or two. For the SM, what tricks are there? (or am I grasping at straws?)