shemgren

I have had the honor of serving on my District's Eagle Board of Review several times over the years and I serve my troop as Eagle Project Advisor. The Eagle Scout Leadership project usually does not benefit Scouting in it's scope. Several such projects have been rejected by the board in my area. However, the determination if an Eagle Scout Leadership Project is proper or not, is in the hands of the District or Council Eagle Board.

The rule of thumb I use with tour permits is if you are going anywhere out of your normal meeting area (e.g. meeting room, neighborhood, for small town folks, your town), fill out the form. The exception in my Council is attending a council or district event. Then your registration is your tour permit. A common misconception is if the unit is traveling in private vehicles, then they don't need one. Most troops I know aren't blessed with a bus, so getting a caravan of mini-vans, station wagons and so on is a fact of life. So is getting the tour permit. If you have doubt about when y

A tip to sewing patches on uniforms. Use Elmer's School Glue (the kind that will wash out of clothing) to glue the patches in place. Place the uniform with the patch glued in place under several heavy books, let it set until the glue is almost dry, sew the patch in place, then wash the shirt right away. The glue washes out with no trace, and the patch is where it belongs.

My council does a mailing to boys not in Cub Scouting, inviting them to Day Camp. Once there,the staff tells them about Cub Scouting, they sign them up and foreword the info to the Cubmaster to get the new boys involved with the local unit. We hold our day camp program by sub districts, so the applications are processed into the nearby pack by the address on the application. This program has been run for several years, and my pack gain 5-10 new boys each year from the program.

There several reasons for you take training: 1)The SM and a least one ASM need to have had completed the old course "Scoutmaster's Fundmentals" or the new courses: "New Leader Essentials", "Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster Specific Leader Training" and "Introduction to Outdoor Skills" for your troop to earn Quality Unit. 2)The BSA is not static. It is always changing. In my council, at the end of training, we tell the participants they are trained for 3 years or until they change their Scouting postition, whichever happens first. The BSA changes the program minorly every 3-4 ye

I wish to extend all my fellow and lady Scouters a blessed holiday season! May 2002 find your troops growing, Scout Spirit running rampart, and the ideals strong. Scouting at it's best is for the boys.

Three cheers for the patrol method!!! The founder of this great organization, Lord Baden-Powell felt that was the only way to run a troop. He said, "The object of the patrol system is mainly to give real responsibility to as many of the boys as possible with a veiw to developing character." Having been responsible for my council's JLTC for four years, the boys in the courses learned first hand of how a patrol should be run. Patrol outings are very good at encouraging patrol spirit. Inter patrol contests and activities have their value, but if a patrol gains the experience

In the Scoutmaster's Handbook, there are instructions and talley sheet for the Baden-Powell Patrol Award, which is star patch worn around the patrol medalon and a streamer for the patrol flag. It may be earned many times. Instead of setting up a seperate "honor patrol", encourage the patrols to compete for that honor. The requirements include uniforming, patrol meetings, attendance at meetings, service projects and so on. By using this, you can create a healthly competition between the patrols, and encourage patrol spirit within your troop. The patrol method is the method Baden

BSA policy clearly prohibits any type of physical (corpal) punishment by Scouters to scouts, for that matter, scout to scout. All discipline is to be in the form of privledge removal up to and including removal from the troop for a serious enough offense. Our goal in Scouting is to help young man in the areas of: 1)Character development, 2) Citizenship Training and 3) Physical fitness. In the real world, an offense to society will cause you to lose some privledge of citzenship: money, time and ultimately your ability to be part of society (prison). The Scouting discipline syste

jmcquillian I can relate. I have been in Scouting for over 30 years, a SM for 5 of those years and I found a new lease in Scouting in the Commissioner staff. I have the role of training, Cub Scout Leaders, Boy Scout Leaders and Junior Leaders. I also serve currently as an Assistant District Commissioner. I found that I still can touch boys by helping with my orginial troop as Unit Commissioner and Eagle Scout Project Advisor. Even though I don't actively run the troop, I still have input, especially since we just got a new Scoutmaster after 10 years. There is life after Sc

As a district/council level Scouter, I am asked to attend more than a few Eagle Scout ceremonies. One tradition that was passed on to me by an older Scouter was to have the new Eagle Scout sign the program of his Court of Honor. I keep these in a scrap book, and have them all but one boy I personally helped gain his eagle, as well all the Eagles since I started doing this, which has been a while. I noted in the new editon (2002) Scout catalog, that a belt fob pre-slited and pre-punched for thongs is available in packs of 8. It has space for the BSA logo and your troop number. One in

Dedicated Dad I agree with you on your suggestion for the punch. coolscout101 I fail to understand why you are constantly running down dedicated scouters like OGE, Dedicated Dad, and others. I have seen your postings on several threads, and you seem not to grasp to purpose of this forum: to allow scouters to share ideas and help solve problems for our fellow scouters. We all serve Scouting to provide 1) Citizenship training, 2) Chartacter development and 3) Physical fitness. I have served in the BSA for over 30 years and proud of it. This thread is reguarding the traditions of Sc

Brad I got the beads at crafts stores. The bird bead is tough to find and I got four in a bead assortment I got. Dedicated Dad I was then and still am with Central Minnesota Council. While serving in the Air Force, I part of a on base troop in the Pine Burr Council, and they had a simular program. On my totem I have a bead for the fifty miler award. The Scoutmaster created his own color scheme for the beads.

I didn't think so at the time. I felt it was a nice cap to my collection of Scouting adventures. When I revived the tradition, the Scouts thought the "eagle" bead was the neatest bead of all. I had the honor presenting this bead to to a young man who went on to earn all three of his Eagle Palms, then entered the Air Force Academy. IMHO the traditions should be maintained, not lost.

Fundraising is a pack funcution, not a den funcution. The Unit Money Earning Application makes this clear, as well as the Cub Scout Leader Book. Dens are a sub-unit of the Pack, and cannot do any seperate fundraising. All den expenses should be figured into to Pack' budget, covered by dues and fundraising. Dens don't hold any money for themselves, all their funds are part of the Pack's fiances. If your Pack committee is allowing such actions, I would talk the Committee Chair and suggest training.If that don't work, contact your Unit Commissioner and/or District Executive for assist

My boyhood troop had a simluar tradition. When earned my Eagle Scout, the Scoutmaster presented me with my last bead which was bird shaped in red,white and blue. In addition, there were attendance beads that could traded up. White bead for one meeting, silver beads for 8, gold for 20 and a multicolored bead for a full year. It was the responsiblity for a boy joining the troop to create his totem. They were made of leather blanks which was stamped with the BSA logo and our troop number. He would be shown how to stamp it, poke the holes, thread the thongs and so on. There is blank av

As a Scouter who been in training for 15 years, and over 2/3 has been for Cub Scouts, I have seen many changes to the program. The New Leader Essentials and Cub Scout Leader Specific Training are bring to the fore some techniques I have been using in the trainings I have conducted over the years. I especially applaud the Power Point Presentations. While I know that not everyone will have access to the equipment to present them effectively, those of us who are computer savy appreciate the change. There is a inexpensive device that allows you put the computer display onto a TV, which you

As my troop's eagle advisor, I watch the progress of all the scouts in the troop. If I see a young man of 12 or so burning thru the ranks, I have a discussion with him about his goal and help him focus on his future after Eagle. While I have had the priviledge of knowing and work with some young Eagles, I strong disagree with paper eagles. I have encountered a few young eagles while serving on my district's Eagle Board and found that they either were very sharp or obliviously paper eagles. Each troop must maintain the standards of the BSA and as such must ensure that today's Eagle Scou

I agree with Vigil522, the solution involves training the junior leaders. The "Scoutmaster's Junior Leader Training Kit", available from national supply; has a one page job desription and a script for laying out the expections for every junior leader position in the troop. Plan on conducting this training soon as possible to give these leaders a opportunity to understand their obiligation to the troop. Also, the problem should be addressed lon before the BOR part of the advancement process. However, the BOR has the responsibility of being the final quality control of the ad

The Boy Scout program requires the sign off all requirement by the Troop leadership. Troop leadership starts at the junior leaders and contiues thru the adults. Patrol Leaders, Troop Guides and Junior Assistant Scoutmasters should be encourged to work with the new scouts in attaining Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class, including signing off on requirements completed for these ranks. Only parts that need to be signed off by adults are the Scoutmaster's Conference and the Board of Review. Star and Life with their requirements of merit badges, should be monitored by an adult. Howev

I have the oportunity to talk to a lot of Scouters in my travels. I am veteran Scouter (30+ years), and when asked about older uniform items my answer is clear: as long as the older item is servicable ( not torn, stained, etc.) it can contunied to be worn with pride. While this question is usually connected with the green uniform shirt, the principle remains the same for all older style uniform items.