SMEagle819

This is what's on the December 2007 revision, 2008 printing of the BSA Local Tour Permit (trips under 500 miles): 18. If more than one vehicle is used to transport our group, we will establish rendezvous points at the start of each day and not attempt to have drivers closely follow the group vehicle in front of them. I'm not going to fall into the trap of how to interpret "closely follow...." I will say this: I have started giving out maps and directions to the drivers for trips we take. Also, on a longer drive, I list a "break" point on the way to, and on the way home. I do agr

I would like to see more discussion time devoted to some of the issues that other posters put down, such as camping trips, cooking, program ideas, advancement, etc. What our RT lacks is the two sided discussions. Usually, it is either the DC or a UC giving a presentation about a merit badge, or inviting someone in to talk about opportunities in school. This is all well and good, but the two way discussion part seems to be missing. Having a separate room for an actual "roundtable" would be a benefit to the new leaders, and some of us old guys as well.

SM/ASM indoor and outdoor training 1999(This message has been edited by SMEagle819)

BW wrote: "The easiest way to measue this activity in Boy Scouting is by the use of the Troop Leadership training program. Each scout recieves a job description card during the training,. By the end of the training he has had a personal conference with either the adult or an older scout who will be his coach and mentor. Together they determine 3 goals that the scout will accomplish while in office, and they document them on the back of the job description card. The Scout now has a written plan for completing this requirement and specific measuarable goals to meet to show that he has served a

Yes, I had a corner or two taken off mine back in the '80s, both by the SPL. I don't remember what the infraction was, but it made the impression on me. I use it today in the troop. I do like the idea of annual retraining on both the Totin Chip and Fireman Chit. May have to float that one out there to the PLC...

Bob White wrote: You wrote " well it is a lot like what the BSA resources tell us about the UC/unit relationship - looks great on paper, often does not happen that way in reality." Just what paper would that have been??? I believe that paper is "The Annual Charter Agreement" form. Link provided: http://cubmaster.org/charterpartneragreement.pdf You can read it at your leisure. Briefly, it states what the CO agrees to do and what the Council agrees to do. I am speaking from experience here: It is then signed at the bottom by a representative of the COR (usually, although the signatur

Thanks, OGE, I needed that splash of "Scout Humor"...

From the "Random House Unabridged Dictionary:" adviser-noun 1. one who gives advice. 2. Education. a teacher responsible for advising students on academic matters. 3. a fortuneteller. Also, advisor. [Origin: 1605-15; advise + -er]

Yes, the one about knives has been around for as long as I can remember. To take it a step further, I think I remember someone one time saying no knives with a blade over 6 inches. Here is what the G2SS says about knives: "A sharp pocketknife with a can opener on it is an invaluable backcountry tool. Keep it clean, sharp, and handy. Avoid large sheath knives. They are heavy and awkward to carry, and unnecessary for most camp chores except for cleaning fish. Since its inception, Boy Scouting has relied heavily on an outdoor program to achieve its objectives. This program meets more of the

Well said, BrotherhoodWWW.

I'm glad to hear that Cooking MB is being considered to added to the list of Eagle required merit badges. It is a MB that teaches a life skill. I would like to see Pioneering added to the list. This MB teaches scouts about construction, team work, and engineering.

Well, Bob, I am citing other examples in the BSA literature that show the Scout badge as a rank. I am getting the feeling that anyone else who does their research, and disputes what you have said is unequivocally wrong. I take it that you have not gone and looked at the places I cited as showing the Scout badge as a rank. I did go and look at the places you cited showing it not to be a rank. In doing so, I have found a few more references for you: On the Individual Scout Record form (#34518B), Boy Scout is listed under ranks. However, it says Boy Scout, whereas, starting with Tenderfoot

Many of the BSA policies and regulations are open to interpretation, as have been said many times before, by many different people on this message board. The design of the patch, the way the "requirements" are listed for the badge, where it is worn on the uniform, the way the patch is listed in the BSA Official catalog (http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/default.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&C2=UNIFORMS&C3=INSIGNIA&C4=&LV=3), and the fact that the internet advancement program would have been written to a protocol provided by the BSA. After doing this research, and going bac

I took the dreaded test, and scored an 87%. One of the ones I missed was "What is the first rank in Scouts?" Of course, I answered Scout. According to the proctor of the test, Tenderfoot is the correct answer. I went back to my "Boy Scout Requirements 2008" handbook, and Scout is listed under Boy Scout Joining Requirements. OK, I think to myself, I was wrong. However, I just finished updating the troop's advancement records using the new online advancement tool on the BSA website, and I added a couple of new scouts data in the Scout "patch" field. When I printed my report to turn into council,

I agree with most of what has been said here. I was one of those young adults who stuck around after turning 18. I stayed with my troop until I went to college, where I joined another troop as an ASM. That lasted my 4 years at college. When I returned home after college, I rejoined my old troop as ASM, and became Scoutmaster when I was 26. I'm still the scoutmaster after 12 years, and have enjoyed every minute of it. I'm married with 2 children (no boys). You shouldn't have any problem joining as a young adult, as volunteers are always welcome, especially those with experience...

Our troop just went to Gettysburg in May, and we also stayed at McMillan Woods. McMillan Woods is a nice camping area. There are port-a-johns available, a dumpster to dump your trash, and also a water source. Please be advised there is limited parking for vehicles. Also, they now have a "camp host" staying on site now due to some prior incidents. Since any youth group can use this camp ground, I would like to think it wasn't scouts that were the bad apples... Road access to McMillan Woods is via the park road (Confederate Avenue), which runs one way (roughly South). This is slightly incon

Thanks for the correct listing for the backing colors, GW. I have been trying to find out what the proper colrs are for a while now. We just started this with the boys. They like having something else to put on the uniform.

Many moons ago, when I earned my Eagle, a telephone call by the Eagle candidate to a district advancement person usually covered the part of having the project approved by the district. About 5 years ago, the district began a process of approving Eagle projects at the District Roundtable. A "breakout" session would convene after the announcements, and the prospective Eagles would go in and face members of the advancement committee to get the necessary approval. We were notified that this change would be taking place that telephone calls to a district advancement committee member would no longe

We buy the new Eagle a NESA neckerchief. Our quondam scoutmaster makes each Eagle a neckerchief slide out of walnut in the shape of a square knot to replace the one earned by the scout when he became tenderfoot (same slide, but made of pine). We do have an Eagle plaque, now on its second board, that the Eagle's name goes on.

I agree with what thebigguy put in his post. I have seen quite a few scouts earn Eagle at 13-14, and really just quit scouting. On the other hand, I have had a couple that stayed active, earned a few palms, and helped the younger scouts along. I do have something I can share from an Eagle ceremony we had this past Saturday. We had a Distinguished Eagle Scout attend, and he was asked to come forward and say a few words. He happened to be a friend of the family of the newly minted Eagle. He challenged the new Eagle to stay involved (new Eagle is 16), earn some palms, help the younger scouts, hel

I, too, am quite disturbed by entire threads being deleted. Like what BrotherhoodWWW wrote, if I post to a thread, and the entire thread is deleted, what is the ultimate purpose of making a reply? The "Rogue Unit" thread was one that I responded to, and "self-moderated" my reply so as not to offend or give any "Top Secret" details away about myself or CO or anyone else. I think this thread had a good opportunity to get some feedback from more members, but it was cut off before that could happen. I didn't see what the offense was, because it was deleted about 2 posts after my response. I think

You can consider my unit a rogue unit (many in our district do, I know that for a fact). We have been called anything from a "high adventure unit" (goes camping once a month, year round, follows the old scout ideals of "Keep the Outing in Scouting"), to "you guys don't support council" (sold popcorn for the past 6 years, did not do this past year; however, we attend summer camp at the council's camp every year). We have begun attending district and council camporees again; the info is presented to the PLC, who then decides if they would like to attend. Our district only has one camporee per ye

We have a checklist that is given to the Scout before he comes to the SM conference. It lists items such as "All requirements signed and dated," "Leadership role" (for Star & Life), etc. This checklist is then forwarded to the BOR. There is a place for the SM to put notes for the BOR on the sheet as well. One other item we like to have for Star and LIfe is a brief write up of the service hours they performed for the rank (who, what, when, where, why). Usually this is only a page. We see it as getting the Scout ready for Eagle. We have a separate checklist for Eagle, which lists many more s

I do agree that trained leaders are a good thing. The biggest problem facing my troop in getting leaders trained is knowing when and where the training will take place. Right now, I have 2 leaders chomping at the bit to be trained. However, the district/council is not posting when training will be. I even asked the DC about it, and he suggested to look at other districts nearby. Same story: no schedule! Most of the time when the training is scheduled, we get 2 maybe 3 weeks notice. I would suggest to any DCs out there to get a training schedule out so the leaders that wish to go can make plans

I have seen this used by some parents in my unit. It has worked for their scout, but I do agree that it should not be used as a motivator to earn Eagle. The last parents in my troop that did this really did not need to because the scout was already motivated to earn Eagle. It was just a carrot dangled out there so he could get it by 16. When I was in scouts as a youth, I never heard my buddies saying they had this "motivation."