SSScout

GSUSA depends more on the leader's desire than the BSA does. BSA has specific training to LEAD the leader into the outdoors, so to speak. Not so in GSUSA to my ken. If the GSUSA leader doesn't want to camp/hiked/etc., it can't happen. Gurlz who want to CHE, (especially etc.) need to join Venture Scouts!

Incorrigible: Welcome to the forums. A lot of us are retired and come on now and then. Some of us work early, write late, I used to work early and write even earlier.. The YP is online, as a Scout Leader one has to sign on to MyScouting.org, and start off. Lots of the required training is now on line. Have fun as you let your Venturers have fun....

Home School Aviation Venture Crew! Why didn't I think of that! As you may have noticed, there are few parents as dedicated to their kids success (and independence) as home schoolers. I would definitely promote your crew thru that avenue, but make it a publicly aware thing too. A thirty seat plane is the "smallest" you have access to? Wow. What is that, a DC3 or a DASH8 ? Ditto the comments about training. And YOU need to insist on the YP training. That Council wonk needs to have his ears pinned back by the SE, or somebody, as that lack or forging can come back to bite you. Good Scouting to you and your Venturers.

This discussion is not so much about "what the boy(s) need or want" as it is about what the adult wants. Here, the adult seems to want a Boy Scout Troop. If he (or she?) has a big Troop, with boys moving into it, he feels successful. If there is a Cub Pack that is "his", then that moving in, that joining is almost automatic and guaranteed. Where is the effort? Where is the proof that the Troop is a good one, boy led, full of the adventure and safe opportunity that we here are always talking about? "If you build it, they will join" but only if THEY know about "it". Recruiting involves more than protecting Cub Pack "turf". You need a program that the boys have ownership in, that they would want to tell their buds about and invite them to join. The community needs to know about it, thru posters and signs and media stories and service projects.

Mention "Cub Scouts" and you get amazing responses. We always schedule "Specials" . These have included (in past years): the State Police Rescue Helicopter, lots of fire trucks and F&R personnel in turn out gear, Hawks and Eagles from rescue places, RC model aircraft (including jets!), homing pigeons, hot air balloons, big trucks from construction sites, cranes, professional archers, parrot circus,the Army Corps of Engineers (big trucks and a building stuff class!. We had to do NOTHING!), Embassies have sent exhibits and crafts, NASA sends astronauts to talk about space exploration, model rocketry, astronomy/telescope club (in the middle of the day? Yep), Star Wars club in costume, model T club builds a car in 15 minutes, farm equipment, fishing gear, Scales and Tails (state parks), Civil War re-enactors, and more, but I can't remember them all. Someone has to think and ask.... They will come!

Thomas Crapper: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Crapper Swearing( to tell the truth): Mathew 5:34 Tinker's dam(n): https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tinker's_damn Other dam(n): to condemn, make worthless, destroy in hell... Bodily functions of various types, used as nouns, verbs , adjectives, adverbs..... All (and others) can be replaced with better choices as means to express frustration, unexpected pain, disgust, anger, and other emotions. Used as descriptive adjectives for no good real purpose or to only lend emphasis to what is otherwise a poor argument , they can likewise be replaced with a little thought with better choices. Encourage those choices....

Think of the great "camplantern" (no fires allowed on the WH lawn!) the POTUS can tell! "It was a dark and stormy committee meeting...."

""It Depends"" In our District, we have the good fortune to have a number of really dedicated-to-Scouting folks. They love doing the camp thing, and , if it is a lot of time and effort, it can be seen as a labor of love. Somebody will know who stores "that" piece of equipment or supplies . Our Cub CD this year is also our District Camp Chair. She worked out a deal with a resident school for "at risk " youth (they teach carpentry and other building skills) to use a portion of their 50 plus acres for Day camp. We have cut down trees, cleared ground, planted grass, killed PI, set up piles of straw bales for archery backstops and generally made an old tree farm into a campground that will be used for CSDC, Webelos Weekend, maybe IOLS, close in Troop campsite... Our extra large, economy size Council has a very nice overnight CSCamp, but it is more than an hour drive from our District area (one of 26 in our Council). It is on a 400 acre property that is also used for Woodbadge, OA ordeals, public school events, MB days , COPE course, Range officer training, and lots of other things. It was purpose built for Cub stuff, with a stockade, a pirate ship, and lots of woodsy trails and fields for Frisbee and such. It has been equipped with barracks, tent platforms, a formal lodge for meetings. Folks coming to the Nat Jam and touring our NatCap are often overnighted there. CWBSnyder: http://www.ncacbsa.org/members/group.aspx?id=118926 and https://www.facebook.com/CampWBSnyder So, "it depends" . I think it is very neat that someone came up with the idea of a day camp for Cubs. It is fun, serves a purpose, they actually learn something at it (I would hope!), and a lot of the Cubs are encouraged (if it's done right) to go on in Scouting. Like much in Scouting, "the work is done by whoever shows up". If you have the fortune to have folks that love the idea of Scouting, stuff gets done. "It Depends".... Again, we have the opportunity to give our kids an opportunity they would not get anywhere else, from anyone else....

Girl Scouts Camp on White House Lawn, first ever? http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/girl-scouts-camp-white-house-lawn/story?id=32141434 http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/01/politics/girl-scouts-obama-white-house-evacuated-storm-dc/ Never heard of any Scout campouts like that. You?

Scouter dot com use to have a news search section. It automatically sought and listed "Scout" items in the news. I guess that was a "luxury " item when the site was rebuilt. Thanks to all for posting Scouty things for us to read.

Oh, I want to be a member of this Troop. Patrol leaders and SPLs are superfluous, great, simplifies the chain of command so things get done quicker. Lots of parents on the camping trips. Very good, they can carry in the gear for the Scouts and set up the camp kitchen and sanitary facilities so they're "done right". Saves wear and tear on the poor Scouts. Cooking for the Scouts might be a good thing, too. Give mom a sense of purpose, and the boys a chance for better meals. No need to learn about how to boil water if dad is there to do it. Cocoa tastes the same, no matter who pours the cup, or does it? Parents doing everything? Very nice. More time for Scouts to play "I Doubt It" and text their friends at home to complain about the dirt and bugs. "My little darling" is close to hand for picture taking in his "so cute" Scout Tshirt and shorts. Cursing? Well, obviously the lack of a large descriptive vocabulary is a disability owing to the poor education in the person's past, and so must be "understood" and "allowed for". Then too, if one's masculinity or self-esteem is in question, naturally one must defend it with appropriately strong language. Helps to build esprit de corps, being part of the team, groupthink, etc. No mamby pambies in MY Troop. No boy ever wants the challenge of being away from home. By himself. Alone. Or with some buds, having fun without M & D to protect him. It's scary out there, in the woods (world). M&D certainly didn't plan on using that bedroom for anything else, right? Yep, a good Troop for a boy to join and have fun in. Who was this English fellow and what was he mumbling about, anyway?

AHA!

Oh , the history. I was the dad with the pick up truck for my daughter's class... They entered a "Ecology" contest and we collected aluminum cans for about a month, crushed, filled up the back of the P/U. It had a "cap" on it, as I remember, we won with about a ton (!) of AL.

Canadian friend says you.re welcome, as do I...

My Canadian friend says he remembers the arrow one as a British Scout patch, but he does not remember of what it signifies.

As a member of the Friends Committee on Scouting, the liaison of the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) to the BSA (among other orgs), to answer some of the above, I will say : 1) In general, the religious awards are designed, administered and awarded by the faith, thru whatever organization they have. In our case, we decided that any youth of Scout age may earn the Friend awards thru their local Friends' Meeting or Church. "Your (faith) mileage may vary". 2) The awards are worn on the BScout/GScoutUSA/Campfire etc. uniform as that organization allows. Or not. 3) We also work with other Scout/Guide orgs to help understand their rank faith requirements as they apply to us Quakers (ask me about the new Cub and Webelos requirements another time). 4) If a non-Scout earns any of the Friend awards (and there have been some), they can wear it where/how they think best. It is viewed as a form of religious education. Hang it on your wall next to the HS diploma....Or Elementary school diploma.... 5) If it is an award you are proud of, wear it appropriately, with pride. But with humility. 6) As to the Congressional Award, I see no reason to object if a Scout wishes to display his accomplishment on his Scout uniform. It was, after all, earned from a Congressional-BSA partnership. Said so right up there... Good Scouting to you!

TOSRV?

The necker reads "1968" and has the wreath of the Commissioner Corps. And it's a green background. I will venture a guess that it was a souvenir of a Commissioner training, Pretty. I am forwarding this to my Canadian connection.... I also think the arrow patch may be a Canadian badge, but they don't have OA.

Reference to my other thread about Scout reticence to use the (tele)phone. If there is a question about the Scout's having fulfilled a requirement, or passed a MB, make the phone call. If there is a problem, mature adults can work it out. We are all Scouts, brothers (and sisters?) in arms, and (to borrow a phrase) "it's for the kids", yes? The Scout's home Troop is where his records are kept, and where he is ultimately judged, I would say. Home Troop SMConference, home Troop BoR, home Troop CoH, unless otherwise arranged because of extenuating circumstances. Had a Scout from Georgia arrive at a private, boarding school in the neighborhood. His mother called our Council, who called our DE, who called me (UC) who contacted the Scout , who called the SM of my home Troop, who arranged for him to attend meetings and camp with the Troop while he was at school. SM called SM in Georgia, requirements passed were emailed back to home Troop. He only stayed two years (family troubles), but his Scout record was kept straight and (so I heard) he was on his way to Eagle. He was never dual registered, just camping out up here....

Always relate it to the Scout Promise and Law. And while you're at it, the Golden Rule..... Then go back to the BSA guidelines and policy.

Not to demean the travails of Texas and the other parts of the Midwest, but we had more than an inch of rain in less than an hour last night at our house.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IObCcAHKjSg

Gives new meaning to "Boy Led".

When will I hear of a Council's professionals doing what the volunteers do? ""...and develop programming that we never thought possible to get our Scouts excited and learning.†?Learning? What happened to adventure (safe) and outdoor skills and confidence in those skills? Oh, where are you , Kudu?

Works for me. Our summer camp last year organized a carpool to a local historic site so Scouts could complete their American Heritage MB, and Cit in the Nation.... It was just that, a group of Scouter vans ("we need some drivers on Wednesday, if you can drive, contact the director...") from camp, not a camp bus.

Not WB, but the indoor part of the Scoutmaster Specific course, now called "Scoutmaster Position-Specific Training". I tend to think BSA, in their wisdom(!), is trying to divide up the training, such that the Committee Member stuff (policy, money, CO relationship, etc. ??) is given to THEM, and not to the program folks, the SMs, ASMs, . I don't like it, I tend to think everyone should know/be aware of everything. My District Training Vice Chair (not "Vice Training", enough of that joke) and I, when we have led the SM training, have noted that certain things have been "left out" from the new course. It does shorten it by at least 3 hours, but hey, it makes it more palatable to the newby SM, yes? Training guide here: http://www.scouting.org/filestore/training/pdf/511-213_WB.pdf