SR540Beaver

Merit Badges are part of the Boy Scout program and not Venturing....unless a boy who has attained 1st Class as a scout joins a Venturing Crew and continues working on his Scout advancement. Girls can not join Boy Scouts. They can buy a merit badge book and learn the information in it just like any other book from any other book store. Other than personal enrichment, it does not count for anything in the Venturing program for a girl or a guy who didn't earn 1st Class as a Boy Scout.

Just a week ago I sent out a reminder email to the new scout patrol I''m ASM for concerning snacks. We had a couple of boys who joined late in the year who brought vast amounts of snacks with them on our last outing. Now, our last outing was a state Centennial event with 5,000 scouts camping Jamboree style in a huge city park. Also, most of Oklahoma isn''t bear country. However, the eastern edge of Oklahoma is bear country and so is Arkansas and we have been known to camp there before. We have troop tents and food is forbidden in them. A bear''s sense of smell is 7 times greater than a bloodhound and they have been known to walk in a straight line upwind for 3 miles to get to food they have smelled. A piece of chocolate or granola bar ground into the tent floor today could prove deadly next year. Besides, even if you don''t live in bear country, those pesky racoons, skunks and other critters will rip and tear tents to get to a tasty treat. Even though the news article didn''t say, I''m willing to bet the boy had food in his tent at the time, has had food in his tent before, had spilled food on his clothing or had carried food in his gear. All deadly things to do in bear country.

Pack212, Let me throw out a possibility to ease your overcrowding. Back when my son was in Cubs, our CO only gave us X number of rooms to use. There was no way that the entire pack could meet at the same time. We let each den and its leaders determine which night was the best meeting night for them. We had some dens that met on Monday, some on Tuesday and some on Thursday. We even had one that met on Friday nights....but it started losing members for obvious reasons. Now, you may be limited by your CO to only one night a week for your meeting rooms, but if not, spread them out and your physical space problem goes away. Trained leadership is another story.

Eamonn, I am so sorry for your loss and you and your family will be in my thoughts. I lost Jake on July 17th this year. He was a 150 lbs great dane, bull mastiff mix. He was a kind and gentle soul and loved by everyone. He was the best and smartest dog I ever had. He obeyed commands without ever being taught. He was however the biggest baby you''ve ever seen if it rained. He would set at the back door and cry to be let in. I took him in as a stray and the vet guessed him at about a year old. Large breeds have a life expectancy of about 10 years and he made it close to 12. The vet had told me that he would be healthy one day and go down hill fast when it happened. That is exactly the way it happened. We took him to the vet because he had lost a lot of weight and was lethargic. I dropped by after work to check on him and they told me they wanted to keep him overnight. They had him laying on the floor of the lab because he was too big to man-handle in and out of a cage. I sat down with him and loved on him. His breathing got shallower and shallower. He tried lifting his head to look at me as I loved on him and talked to him and then simply stopped breathing. I''m sure it was a sight to behold to see a 275 lbs grown man holding a 150 lbs dog on the floor and sobbing. I''ve always buried my pets in the backyard near favorite resting places of theirs. Jake was human size and that wasn''t an option. We had a private cremation and brought him home. Not a day goes by that I don''t think about him. Everytime it rains I worry about getting home to let him in. He was a one of a kind dog. I miss him. I feel you pain and know what you are going thru. You are in my thoughts.

A check will be sent to the treasurer of a unit if a boy transfers and the treasurer writes our unit a letter requesting the monies. If a boy ages out without having used the money in his account, it goes into the "general fund" of the troop.

Yes Pack, it is real. Just like political talk radio is real. Honest!

First, you did the right thing in telling them that they made their bed and have to lay in it. I''m willing to bet that the boys who voted him into office will put much more thought into who they elect next and think hard about how they will lead if they run. Second, mentor the SPL and teach him the leadership skills he needs to be an effective leader and get back in the good graces of his peers.

I did my Ordeal last fall. I simply explained to the folks when I checked in that I was an insulin dependent diabetic and I would have to carry food with me in case my blood sugar got low. I also explained that I would adjust my pump delivery down and not eat the food unless it was absolutely necessary. Not a problem. In fact, the Elongomat would check with me periodically to see if I was OK by giving me the OK hand signal with a raised eyebrow. Towards the end of the Ordeal, I was starting to get low and did eat enough of a snack to bring my blood sugar back to normal. No problem getting them to understand and agree to what I needed to do.

Justadad, Welcome to the forums. For no more camping than you will do with Cubs, you might want to try a cot of some sort. It is a lot easier to transport and is sure a heck of a lot cheaper. Cabelas makes a heavyduty cot that you can purchase a thick pad for. Coleman has been making an army style cot that has a sleeve that an air matress slides into. Air mattresses don''t do as well as pads in cold weather though.....but Cubs rarely do really cold camping. Unless an absolute medical necessity, you''ll find most Boy Scout troops in your future resistant to hauling along an extra trailer and trying to get it into some of the tight spots they''ll be going. I''m a 50 year old with a 14 year old Life Scout. I appreciate what you are going thru since I have opted to quit messing with the extra weight of a cot and just tough it out on the ground with a pad every month. It gives me bragging rights.

jblake47: "Why do the adults have to cook as a patrol?" I''ll answer that. They don''t. But if they want to lead by example, they model patrol life for the boys to see. Boys do have a sense of fairness and it is difficult for them to see the equality of adults sleeping in a camper with a generator, air conditioner and soft mattress while they sleep on the ground in a leaky tent. Likewise, they don''t like eating burned hotdogs while the adults are downing steaks. Not that there is anything wrong with steaks, but somone needs to be teaching the boys how to cook something other than hotdogs. Another consideration is price. While it is easier for the adults with jobs to pay more for food, the boys can''t always do that. I''ve heard more than one boy grump about adults living like kings while they live like slaves. That isn''t ALWAYS the adults fault because sometimes the boys will choose the path of least resistance when doing work. But if we lead by example and model, we can teach them to live like kings, or at least comfortably in the woods too. That is why we cook as an adult patrol. To naswer the original question, again, we do just like the patrols. Each adult pays the same amount for food as the boys. We design a menu and someone serves as a grubmaster to go and buy the food. I''ve never had steak on a campout, but I''ve never had a bad meal or been hungry on my $10.

I have nothing against homeschooling. We have a number of homeschooled boys in our troop. Like Gern, we have kids from both camps. We have two brothers who are very accomplished students. A couple of other brothers, not so much. I look at it this way. When I need a doctor for surgery, I don''t ask my wife to start boiling her kitchen knives. When I need legal advice, I don''t act like the fools who represent themselves in a criminal case. If I want my son to get a good quality education, I send him to trained professionals just like my doctor and my lawyer. I have a lot of projects I''ve done that I''m proud of, but sometimes, you get what you pay for. My wife and I are fairly intelligent people and we are smart enough to know that we are not teachers.

My council charges $185.00 which covers the course and materials, two t-shirts I believe, a hat, neckerchief, fantastic food, etc. The usual WB course stuff. I took the course in 2003 and staffed it in 2006. Our 2007 fall course is happening as I type. It was $185 in 2003 and it still is in 2007.

LongHaul, I heard a guy make the same argument on a talk radio program today. He said, "this guy didn't do anything different than I did in college with girls at a bar." The host pointed out that that was not quite right. Asking a girl out in a bar isn't a crime. Soliciting sex in a public restroom where children can walk in is a crime. The homosexuals who cruise public resrooms for anonymous sex are not looking for someone to take home. They do it in the stall. Remember, the good Senator was concerned about missing his flight. I don't think he had time to head to a hotel and rent a room. That being said, I don't think the case will have any legs if they take it to court. No words were spoken, no money exchanged hands and no one had sex. You can't convict someone for taping their feet or running their hand under the stall wall or touching the edge of their shoe to someone else's. Pretty flimsy evidence for an "act of lewdness".

OGE, http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/supplemental/18-626/index.html "Critical to the success of your Scouting program is the selection of quality leaders who represent the values of the Boy Scouts of America and the chartered organization. The selection process begins with a meeting of your chartered organization representative, the troop committee chair, and the unit commissioner to define the characteristics they would like to have in a new Scoutmaster or Coach. Also at this meeting, they should select a steering committee from the troop committee."

Beavah said, "In the official BSA troop committee model, doin' things like "getting adult support for driving" or "working fundraisers" is NOT part of the role or responsibility of the committee." I didn't mean for it to sound like I was saying it was the responsibility of the committee. The point is this, if the program side of the house and/or the committee side of the house act in an exclusive manner, they will be hard pressed to find volunteers when they need them. You catch more flys with honey than vinegar.

I would think that the unit committee that chooses to be closed to non-committee members is the unit that will find it difficult to get adult support for driving, fund-raisers, etc. Except for very special circumstances, it would be like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Acco: Don't forget, that as in all Scouting functions - the meetings are open to all parents to observe. Correct. I think we are conveying the wrong impression here that ASM's can not attend committee meetings. In most cases, ASM's are parents and have as much right to attend the meetings as any committee member or parent. They can even speak up on an issue if they want. What they do not have is a committee position as they are on the program side.

I'll second what others have said that committees are not a voting body. They have a chair who makes assignments and builds consensus. The SM and ASM's are not "voting" members. All of that being said, I will tell you that all three units I've been associated with as an adult vote on items with SM's and ASM's voting.

We have the advantage of size on our side. We have a roster of about 63 boys. We crossover about 20 boys per year. Obviously, we have a little drop off of new boys each year. Maybe 4 or 5 boys who decide scouting isn't for them. I'm the ASM who coordinates our 1st Class, 1st Year program. I have 4 other ASM's and 4 Troop Guides who are all 14 year old Life Scouts. We usually create 2 patrols with 2 troop guides each. I've paired each troop guide with a mentor ASM and this team has a portion of the boys for teaching and sign off purposes. While the whole troop meets together for opening, announcements, game time and closing, the new scouts do a seperate skill period. They have different needs skill-wise than the boys who have been scouting for several years. On campouts, we often do a seperate program for the new scouts that is geared towards advancement requirements. They are on the same campout and doing the same things such as flag, patrol cooking, campfire, etc., they are just doing a 5 mile hike with map and compass while the older boys are on the climbing tower. None of our advancement is a gimme. If the book says show, demonstrate, do, explain, etc., that is what they have to do. We provide the opportunity. If they show up and participate, they can easily obtain 1st Class in one year. That said, we have some on again, off again boys who don't. Our COH is tomorrow. I believe we have about 15 boys who came in around the February to March time frame getting their Tenderfoot. A good portion of those have about 90% of 2nd Class complete. Most of them have about 50% of 1st Class complete. We plan on moving them out of their new scout patrols to mixed aged patrols duing the October to November time frame. I realize we are unique due to our size and being blessed with an abundance of adult and older boy leaders. Regardless, providing a program to make earning 1st Class within a year is more than possible if that is what a unit desires to do.

I wear the full BSA uniform. Beads, shirt, belt, pants and socks with a brown suede tennis shoe for meetings and while traveling to and from outings. After traveling to an outing, I wear clothing and footwear that is appropriate to the activity with a scouting t-shirt. Usually that includes the scout pants, belt and socks with hiking boots. Being hot natured, I don't wear the scout shirt unless needed for a flag ceremony or such. During events such as COH's and WB reunions or beadings, I wear my WB neckerchief, woggle and beads. In my role as Campmaster, we always wear the full uniform with a Campmaster nameplate, dark green custom should tabs with a campaign hat sewn on them and a custom Campmaster temporary patch hanging from the pocket. During down time in the Campmaster quarters, we strip off the shirt to a scout t-shirt. The only illegal item I have is our troop's custom adult patrol patch. Not all adults get to wear these. The boys determine who is "elected" to the Duds. The patch is a lit firecracker broken in half with the NO symbol over it and the words Dud Patrol. The adults in our troop believe in the uniform method and in setting the example.

We do all MB and rank advancments at the COH only. That being said, we do immediate recognition of rank thru a nameplate system at the front of the scout room. Each boy coming into the troop is given a uniform wooden blank of wood to decorate any way they choose with their name. The nameplates hang beneath a large symbol of each rank. When they finish their BOR and achieve their rank, they move their nameplate in recognition of their accomplishment. They do not receive their rank patch until the COH. If I were the SM, I would change this. I'd like to give the boy his rank patch immediately so it can be sewn on his shirt and follow it up formally with the card at the COH. This is what I'm familiar with from other troops I've been associated with. I will say that our boys only know our process and I've never heard a complaint. I just don't like the idea of a scout having to wait three months before he can wear his rank on his shirt. I am in charge of our new scout program and this year we have taken an organized approach and the boys are advancing at a good clip. It is possible that some could go from Scout to 2nd Class without ever getting to wear Tenderfoot. In fact, We have a couple who are only one or two requirements away from 1st Class. I like to give the rank immediately followed up with formal recognition at the COH with MB's at the COH.

local1400, Although most forums were blocked, my company's internet filter allowed Scouter.com for years and I usually weighed in on company time. Some time ago they decided to start blocking Scouter. I'm usually too busy in the evenings to spend much time on the internet, so it has curtailed my participation here. I do miss it.

It isn't a WB staff tradition around here.

Survivorman is a far superior show. Les Stroud is actually out on his own and carries his own video equipment to film himself. Bear in Man vs Wild has a whole crew traveling with him. That is what allows him to do truely stupid stuff without much danger. He sensationalizes survival and in the process teaches some pretty foolish stuff to do. If he were alone like Les, he would be doing a totally different show while trying to really save his patootie.

Beavah, Those verses are admonitions to love our fellow man and not condemnations of slavery. I suppose you could look at them in a backhanded way to speak to the issue. Interestingly enough, the Bible does not speak to slavery as a sin or evil like it does to murder, adultry, cheating, lying, coveting, etc. The Bible discusses how an owner should treat their slaves, but never actually speaks against it.