SM214

This thread is one that my son will definitely have to read. He is an Eagle Scout and registered ASM with my Troop, his current plan, after he completes Air Force basic and school, is to volunteer with a Troop near his duty station. He enjoyed his 7 years as a Boy Scout immensely and wants to give back as much as possible.

I currently have 3 ASM's who just last year were Scouts in the Troop, They are probably my greatest asset, especially since getting parents to register as leaders is hard to do. (I'm down to two, with one getting ready to "retire" after 30 years in Scouting.)

Like my son the other two "young" ASMs also plan on helping with local Troops when they go of to college/military. And if the leaders of the Troops they contact want references, I will give them a glowing one, either over the phone, by email, or even snail mail.

Maybe if the leaders of these troops that are nervous about a college-age Eagle wanting to volunteer gave a call to the Eagles former Troop it might dispell some of those issues. Leaders talk frankly with one another in private, we don't mince words, if there was an issue I definitely let you know if you asked.

We teach these young men to be leaders, and as Eagles they are held to a higher standard. Giving back to a Troop when they are away from home gives them an opportunity to hone those skills in a new, yet familiar, setting. I personally would welcome them and be glad to assist them in continueing in Scouting.

we are a Traditional unit, not Scoutreach, The only thing I can think of is the limited time they would have in W2 who are scheduled to croass over in March. other than that I have no clue in the DE's decision.

As Scoutmaster I was asked to attend the recent Cub Scout recruiting night, no big deal, thought I'd be asked to talk about the Boy Scout program compared to Cubs. NOPE...I ended up with 5 boys in 5th grade all 10yrs old(Web2 group) This was on the order of the DE. Put them in Boy Scouts instead of 6months of Web2 before cross over. Personally, my mantra is "play with the hand you are dealt" I've got 5 boys who know nothing, so the SPL, ASPL, TG, JASM, ASM and myself have all set a date to hold a Tenderfoot Campout and start getting the boys up to speed ( none have had any Cub Scouting at all)

Now, the W2 Den Leader, my Committee Chair and a Committee Member (who has 2 son in scouts, one a W2, the other a Life Scout) are not happy in the least bit. They feel the boys would be better served being in the W2 program even if only for 6months, and its not fair to the W2s who have worked hard on AOL, resident camps and the like to have boys in their class just join and be Boy Scouts with no prior knowledge what so ever of the Program, and they lack the maturity level to be in the Bigs ( so to speak)

Or will it be more unfair to these new scouts to be sent to W2 after being on one outing and attending the Districts Fall Camporee (by the time the wheels get turning on possibly moving them down to W2) where they will be for 5-6 months and then back up to Boy Scouts?

I again state for the record, I don't care either way, I work with what I've got. So please turn the flamethrowers on our DE, it was his decision. But how in Hades do I deal with this wonderful turn of events?

I see and agree with both views, Keep 'em or Send 'em, if we send them we could lose them. and the 2 dads who applied to be new ASMs( i know i'd be PO'd) keep 'em and we have our work cut out for us, and hard feelings from various groups in the Troop.

Since this thread has been resurrected, I'll feel free to comment. I am a new SM, went from MB counselor to SM in 4 months, so I had a lot to learn in a short period of time. In doing so I noticed deficiencies that were not addressed by the outgoing SM (no PLC, ad hoc patrols, little structure in how meetings were run by SPL) and I have decided to try and change the course. With the election of a new SPL, I reintroduced the PLC, & I have him and the ASPL starting to attend roundtables ( an informed scout is a smart scout!)

I also looked at the JASM position. I am facing a shortage of ASMs, one had his son make Eagle and he faded from view, the other, his son is starting to lose interest so I don't know how long he will last. I do have a committee member with 2 sons in the troop, but as an Eagle Scout himself, he is essential to our BORs especially for the higher ranks.( he does every thing that a ASM does but wears the CM tag.) Next best thing...JASM! I offered it to our latest Eagle Scout, and he jumped at the chance. And I got an ASM back. I explained the duties of a JASM and what I expected from him. He has proven his mettle in just 2 meetings so far. This has the added benefit of reviving interest with the other ASMs son, He sees that opportunity to do more in the troop past Eagle does exist, and has given him motivation to forge ahead.

The JASM position will not be an "out to pasture" POR in my troop, In talking to the troop I explained the importance of the position, and why I asked this Scout to be a JASM. and I also told them, even if you make Eagle, doesn't mean you will become a JASM. That position will only be offered to those who have shown a commitment to the troop ( ok,long story short, basically the characteristics they look for in OA) and will be asked to accept the postition after discussions between myself the ASMs and current JASMs as to who would be a good candidate for consideration. This works for us, might not for you. I have bunkergear, so flame on!!!! LOL

And ReneScout, good for you, Scouts like you make me proud to be a Scouter!!

My wife has decided to join Troop Committee, and has tried to take the online training. but now we can't access the MyScouting website, it keeps giving us a http 403 error code saying that it has declined to show this webpage. lowering my firewall/cookies program doesn't help, anybody else have this same problem, if so how did you fix it (if you did) Personally I think it has something to do with the new Internet Explorer, but I've even tried compatibility view...same result.

I would like to see a demographical breakdown of the people who participated in this survey. I learned all of this 30yrs ago in elementary school. And I still remember it, even though half the time I can't remember what I ate for dinner the night before.

Part of the problem is we"ve changed the focus of education from learning to studying to pass the standardized achievement tests all children must take so the schools get their state and federal subsidies. My 15yr old has learned more about WWII from the History Channel than he did in school.

OK since my Blackberry was overheating with notifications of replies to my question I decided to call the CC about all of this. I did have some facts wrong ( go ahead, flame me I have bunker gear and an SCBA on already-BE PREPARED!)

The BoR is the date of his advancement, they are doing BORs on 2 different weeks because of everyone advancing at once, My son will do his on the 19th, one day after the 6month time requirement.

We do the COH on set time frames to schedule FOS and other "stuff" and we do make a big deal out of COH; pot luck, Ice Cream social, etc.

Bad info came from my son ( I'll beat him with a pillow for y'all) about the BOR being set as well.

I have been thrust into the SM position with a total of 3 months as ASM since no one would step up and take over as SM, ( was a lowly MB counselor and dad with big SUV to haul scouts before that for 3yrs) So I am learning on the fly so to speak.

Thanks for all the imput, sorry if I raised everyones hackles, ( but it did make for some lively discussion hu?)

Knowing the committe members like I do, I'm pretty sure I'm making a mountain out of a molehill to begin with. If the only issue is time, 6 days either way isn't changing a whole lot if he does his BOR on the 12th and he's Life eligible on May 18th, and the COH isn't until June 2nd, he's still done the 6th month requirement. I guess the smartest thing to do is to ask the CC on Tuesday how they handle this (actually have him ask, its his rank advancement) Doing it on the 19th will be a non-issue.

Overall the big concern was getting the rank before the summer break, he then has 2 fullyrs to complete his Eagle project before he turns 18, (he's gone almost all summer between SCA, Scout Summer Camp and Band camp, so the chance of doing anything towards his Eagle project is practically nil anyways)

OUCH, I hope I haven't set off a fire storm with my initial question.. Can I add that we're a small troop and that the boys tend to earn their advancement as a group ( its not planned, thats just the way it has gone the past 3-4 years) usually because of the time requirement.

Man I hope I haven't brought the wrath of the board down on my TC in just my 5th post....

Our COH schedule is set at the begining of the year and the boys get a copy of the schedule ( clarify- month is set, date set closer to the month, depending on what outing the Scouts have planned) and the BOR schedule does vary between 2-3 weeks prior to COH. This month we have 2 weeks set aside for BOR, last time before the COH we had no one ready for BOR.

And FireKat, I do understand your position and agree on some points, But if they knock out the BORs all at once, it keeps one from getting lost in the shuffle between here and council.( heard horror stories) And we do Eagle BORs on demand, you tell them when you're ready.

As for my son, if he doesn't get it before the summer break, it won't break his heart ( he just told me as he reads over my shoulder) he'd just like to recieve it from the current SM instead of from me in the fall. ( every one likes Tom, I have BIG shoes to fill)

FireKat, our BORs are held every 3 months 3weeks before the COH on meeting nights, this quarter we have so many eligible for rank advancement we are doing it for 2 weeks straight, we do three weeks between to get the paperwork back from Council and give us time to get the patches.

Moxieman, Believe me if he wants it, he'll ask. My wife and I are raising all 3 of our boys to be self sufficient (to varying degrees of success) and with the committee chair at every meeting getting ahold of her will not be a problem (her husband is the advancement chair)

thanks to all for the quick replies(This message has been edited by sm214)(This message has been edited by sm214)

My son has completed all the requirements for Life Scout, except for the 6 month time requirement. Our Board of Review night is being held six days before he reaches that mark, but the court of honor is held 2 weeks after. My question is can he still do the BoR and earn the rank if he falls between the 2 dates? Basically, is the time frame set in stone or is there a grey area as far as the dates go?

He really wants to reach Life prior to summer camp, and at the last COH for the outgoing Scoutmaster.

Our districts OA meetings are held at the same time and location as our RT ( different part of building) and when the OA finish their meetings ( 1 scout was there for the last...my son) they usually sit in on the RT.

I plan on it, plus my son is OA rep for the troop, and he wants to get more involved. I heard a survey is being conducted tonite, I like surveys!!!

I am the incoming new ScoutMaster for my sons troop with big shoes to fill. Luckily I have a group of boys that are 85% Life Scout or above and despite some maturity issues they know their stuff, making the transition from Meritbadge counselor to Assistant Scoutmaster to Scoutmaster in 6 months easier.

With 2 boys in the Troop and my youngest starting Tiger in the fall, I think I will be here a while! This site came highly recommended while I was doing my Scoutmaster specific training last weekend, so far I can say the wealth of information and insight contained here will do me a world of good, and I hope I can contribute the same.