skeptic

Remaining optimistic is a real long shot from what seems to be happening with this administration. So, please do not hold your breath that he will actually agree to do it. JMHO of course, but his track record is not rosy.

The first time a coding change put me in that position I asked the registrar to help. Ours was able to simply adjust to new coding and I am again shown as trained, or over trained I suppose. Occasional review is likely good anyway, I suppose. My first training was way back in the mid seventies and has seen Woodbadge and Woodbadge staffing; at least five course at PTC, and numerous online reviews and sit ins on some just for fun.

It is and has been "sad", as the entire fiasco not only has made so many suffer, with long term emotional effects long past the itiital trauma, but it also has made it obvious to me how warped our entire society really is, and how much seems totally beyond control of logical responses, and a complete rehabilitation. We all carry our personal issues, much that few if any ever see, though may sense. So, know it is sadness about which I cringe, and sadness that the human species can be so warped and pathological, using other people's trauma for personal gain in the guise of real caring. As noted many times, I can only pray for you and others in the suvivor/victim pool find some closure, even knowing it will never be complete, at least not in our current lives.

It seems to me that while this is great to have been studied, it is certainly not new. Most of us that have spent any amount of time in the forest wit or without youth likely experienced similar benefits. Also, I can definitely suggest that a few youth with whom I interacted came back from a weekend in the forest with a more positive attitude, and if they continued in participating showed, or at least seemed to me to do so, a real change in their personality. A similar effect is likely found in simply sitting on the shore of ocean or a sea with waves, alone in the early or late quiet of nature. It reminds me of a discussion my nephew and I had on our porch in the Mojave Desert where we have a family retreat of sorts. He works with troubled kids in an Orange County school district, and as we sat there in the dark at almost midnight, the only sounds that of unseen desert denizens a peace settled in and we just sat and watched the sky with little talk. Then he mentioned that he wished he might expose some of his youth to this experience. That he suspected most had never heard the quiet, as he called it. In the city, even late at night, there is little or no real silence. Simon and Garfuncle come to mind.

Other than info, why is this again being posted. I see no changes, and most UMC groups have adjusted already. While a tough period, our Congregation, and as I am told, most others want the youth there and support them as best they can. Also, most of the units are well past fifty years in their various locations. Ours is 102 now.

If is a positive opportunity if you can get local sports groups to cooperate, rather than block the youth. We have had experiences both ways over the years. One young man with serious Scouting potential, but also a strong athlete came to me and told be he was leaving the troop because his coach told him baseball should be his only priority, and he could not play if he missed "any" of the team activities. On the other hand, we also had a local coach that leaned over backward to work with youth in Scouting to coordinate stuff. Most of us recognize that both programs, if run well, are good for our youth, and part of life is learning how to balance priorities and find common ground. It also helps when the parents are not rabid sports crazies that think their kid will be a pro. Hopefully this will play into a better National image.

I might add that our troop, being over 100 years old, has accumulated a great many older uniform parts, and we often have youth with variants of two or three, as our closet is the starting point. Most end up with a new one, but a few continue on with just what they can find to fit in the closet. Also, we have a large box of hats and service caps that get used for more formal events at times. When camp was still our thing, the hats went to camp, and flags in evening, and morning had them all wearing the hats or caps. I limited smokey hats to older scouts and adults. Even have one or two of the old green explorer caps. While we have some berets, I avoided them, as we did not have enough to go around.

Interesting discussion, and it remeinded me of how my older youth stood up for Uniform at camp one year. We had problems with some scouts getting to classes late after morning flags, so the next year, I told them that morning flags could be attended without full uniform if they had some class issues especially in time frames. I thought they would find that agreeable. But my senior scoues informed me that they would go to morning flags in proper uniform and deal with other issues later. So then, I had to scramble to personally be prepared to also be in uniform, then return later for more comfortable and flexible dress in the heat and dust. And that was the rule for the rest of the camp, and for a number later. Sadly now we have no camp, and we struggle to find options while I too have age related issues and am limited. Still, we do try to assure that the youth are neat and proper for formal appearances.

They would never ask if you bought something for someone not there. I remember when I got my black bull for the red jacket I was told the tail went over the shoulder only if you climbed the Tooth. Not an issue for me, but today, if I had not done it long ago, I would not even be allowed to do the climb. They have cracked down on older or out of shape hikers just taking off while in a training class or just passing through, or at least so I am told. I climbed the Toot on my day off from a training class in the seventies, but since did it both as part of a trek and also just for fun on another training visit. That first trek, we spent half a day working on the Tooth helping a new alignment of the trail. Hot and dusty and still had to hike into Base.

Definitely back in the day.

You can only do what you can do; by that I mean offer the options and tools and then let them use them. Eagle is, and should NOT be the goal, but rather self sufficiency and good citizenship. Having pride in themselves, whether or not the Rank is achieved. We can never win them all, but if we give up, we will lose them all. My frustrations are greater now due to my age. I can no longer just do some things and get others to join. Other than simple drive in camping, and preferably a good cot, my body rebels. And while the troop refuses to take me off officially, I am mostly a symbol or something; and I Am Able to do conferences and teach many skills still, though much more slowly. My greater frustration comes from the poor support from our council and the seeming impediments they put in place under the guise of avoiding "issues". Just CYA. And I have been labeled silently as someone to put off and ignore or keep from others, as I might infect them somehow with expectations of doing scouting in its truer sense. Yet, I will not drop out completely and hope to find a way to encourage other younger leaders to keep the good fight up and stay the course. And when obvious wins show up, it moves us forward, and it plants that seed in the youth, if we are lucky.

As noted already, it's not really new. Even in the early years, I am sure that the level of attainment varied widely from unit to unit. Our small unit struggles with the amazing loss of skill regularly with our own youth. Last week, the primary adult suggested they may want to consider a complete review of pioneering stuff. When I was still actively working with COR events, generally the compass area, I was frustrated how many patrols had no clue how to even use the compass, much less orient it with a map and so on. I had a couple of senior youth that walked about 30 percent of the patrols through the courses each year. I was always glad to see the two or three expert backpacking goups come through, as I never had to help them much. We rand a pioneering event that had them lashing the traditional travois, but then taking it apart to create a flagpolt to hoist their flag on, though a few had to borrow a cloth for that. Again, some did well, but most had little idea about raising a flagpole and the attaching guys. Round lashings were a mystery to most.

Can never remind too often. Aaron on Scouting on YP https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2025/04/14/when-it-comes-to-child-protection-we-are-all-mandatory-reporters/

Aware and taking precautions. "Be Prepared".

Simply a fabulous video about a major donation to the Museum. https://www.facebook.com/nationalscoutingmuseumbsa I likely will not have the pleasure of seeing it now, as travel is difficult, but I was fortunate to see part of this at least at the 2010 Jamboree.