T2Eagle

My advice, 1. Do not store firearms at an unattended, remote site. Pry bars, chain saws, winch on an ATV all make break-in easy. 2. Store in a real gun safe, bolted to concrete floor, with dehumidifier. A good one (e.g. Fort Knox) will cost about twice the cost of those rifles stolen, that sheet metal Sentry safe used probably cost 1/10. 3. Alarm system with battery backup and cameras. 4. Store ammunition separate from firearms. 5. Off-season store securely off-site - local gun shop, police department. What are the requirements for firearm storage at summer camps? My $0.02 Your

I think this is a pretty big point. Most of the discussion here relies on the idea that the LDS Church is being dishonest in the reasons they're giving for ending their involvement in this part of the program. If we take them at their word the changes they're making are not related to the recent membership standards changes, and frankly that makes a lot of sense --- a Church outsourcing their youth program for half the members to an outside source might have made sense when LDS was a new, American only, fairly fringe and out of the mainstream new religion 100 years ago. But today it is the

There are some topics that should work well with internet based learning. Certainly Troop Committee Challenge is straight forward enough to be covered that way. I am skeptical that SM specific training can be done suffciently well as a passive lecture format. On the other hand, at least that avoids the passing on of the many scouting urban legends. Two of my ASMs came back from their training complete with the "You have to be in uniform to be covered by insurance" nonsense

We've had a physician associated with the troop, a pulmonologist, help with physicals with the boys for years, he also does not check the genitalia. No one at summer camp check-in has ever questioned this. My own experience with my sons is that a really thorough physical exam by their pediatrician does involve a physical check of the genitalia but not every time. There's some medical value to it, but it doesn't seem critical to summer camp

I was looking at the my.scouting.org Training Manager, and it is telling me that several of my committee members are untrained. When I looked to see what training was missing I got this long list: SCO_400 Scouting Organization for Boy Scouting SCO_401 Role of the Unit Key 3 for Boy Scouting SCO_402 Aims and Methods of Boy Scouting SCO_403 Ideals and Beliefs of Boy Scouting SCO_404 Scoutmaster and Patrol Leaders for Boy Scouting SCO_405 Patrol Method for Boy Scouting SCO_406 Outdoor Programs for Boy Scouting SCO_407 Advancement for Boy Scouting SCO_408 Uniforms for Boy Scouting SCO_409 Leader

I try hard to keep up with the resources available, but I have never seen or heard of this site, http://troopleader.org/, that the good Colonel links to here. Who's responsibility do you think it is to get this into the hands of leaders like me?

We have used scoutmaster for well over a decade. When BSA bought Scoutbook I took a hard look at it but it didn't seem to rise to TM's then offering. We're currently on a 30 day trial of TM Web, looking at Scoutbook again also, but TM seems to still offer more. For instance, TM comes with a turnkey web page offering similar to SOAR, Scoubook doesn't offer anything like that, and TM allows more customization, as an example you can customize your permission slip with TM, Scoutbook only provides the BSA default.

In answer to your question, I don't think requiring something like that would make much difference. The biggest challenges facing council camps is declining membership combined with the increasing cost of maintaining a camp, especially maintaining it to 21st century building and land use specs --- and 21st century user expectations. There are two defining issues that cannot be avoided when thinking about camp finances: 1) Membership is the biggest issue, and whatever else may be true we know those numbers are not what they were, and there's no expectation that they will rise precipitously

I'm curious, do you think you catch every scout who's guilty, or is getting caught the real transgression?

Welcome to the forum. First of all, the best figures I can find are that roughly 25% of 10th graders and 35% of 12th graders reported using Marijuana in 2016; 38% of 10th graders and 56% of 12th graders used alcohol, so probably every scouter on this forum with a significant number of high schoolers in their unit has a scout that has or does smoke pot --- you just have one that got caught. I agree with everyone that says focus on what is good for this scout and your other scouts. The one thing you want to be sure of is that his poor behavioral choice does not happen during scout fu

That's silly. I guess it's Hypothetically possible that you could run afoul of copyright or trademark rules if you use those owned by BSA, but a) it's unlikely, and b) BSA would have to see your material, run it by their lawyers, and then notify you that they believe you're in violation. This would take you way past recruitment. Outside of trademark/copyright no rules exist that would keep you from making your own flyers. I've done it, and continue to do it, because I can use pictures, images, and messages specific to my units and my CO. When someone tells you something like this th

I'm with those who say look forward not backward. There is nothing here that you or anyone else can "fix". Money was spent on a scouting activity by someone who apparently had the authority to spend it. Maybe they shouldn't have spent it that way, maybe the authority wasn't so much authority as lack of any oversight that would have curtailed that authority. Whatever the case, the pack is not going to get that money back. No one is going to be able to rewrite what happened. Your Pack has the money it has in the account today. Set up a good structure for both accountability and transparen

Like almost anything else, blanket rules probably aren't the smart way to go. If kids are using them as just another toy to play with ask them to put them away. For kids (and some adults) with ADHD or anxiety, they're going to be unconsciously doing something with their hands, whether it's tapping, or biting their nails, or running outside for a smoke anyway. For them it's not going to be a toy or something they're using to interract with other folks, it's going to be all inwardly focused. You can ask them to put them away at critical times, like when saying the Pledge, Oath, or Law, and

Our policy mirrors Richard B's. Cell phones are a tool, you can use it properly or improperly, and like Richard said we try to model good cell phone behavior. I have not seen any more misuse of cell phones than I have of any other object. The scouts police themselves in terms of not sitting around playing games or otherwise using them when they probably shouldn't be. The summer before last my troop sent a crew to Philmont. They had initially been training with and were going to go with a gentleman who is one of the council old salts who essentially goes to Philmont every year. He h

I disagree, when confronted with a variety of hashes I like to have tags so I know whether I am choosing the corned beef, ham, or vegetarian. This is especially important if I am going for seconds and want to narrow my selections.

Our district does it like Cherokee's with the exception that the reference forms are snail mailed to the District Eagle person.

Just because beating dead horses isn't of interest to you doesn't mean the rest of us don't find some pleasure or at least relief in it. As I tell my wife after having given the same set of instructions/guidance/advice to my teen age son for the umpteenth time, "well, at least I feel better because I said it."

Chisos is correct; there are two clauses, not three. The minimum age is 10, and then in addition the boy must have completed fifth grade or earned AOL. Commas, or the lack thereof, matter.

Keep in mind the badge has to be earned before he turns 18, when it is recorded is (mostly) irrelevant to his receiving Eagle.

Emphasize good rain coats and good foot gear. Bring extra of both. Dress warmer than usual, extra layers, heavier jackets --- most people do not realize what it means to be outside for an extended period without the ability to go somewhere warm. I'm a little concerned by what you mean when you "stay away air mats," everybody MUST have a pad between the ground and their sleeping bag, air mattresses work fine for this, if you try to sleep directly on the ground you will be cold.

We've had at least one of these in our troop. The planning, development, and leadership are about both the logistics of the event and the persuading of people to show up. The scout obviously isn't going to be drawing blood, but that and the paperwork that goes with t are the only things he wouldn't be doing. I suppose it depends on how turn key the operation is from the point of view of the red Cross. I occasionally helped plan these for an employer, there was a fair amount of effort, planning, and leadership on our part before the red cross actually pulls up.

I'm not sure what you mean. Every Scouter must be currently YPT trained. I'm not sure what position specific training there is for College Reserve, I couldn't find any. I think there is something available for MB counselors. But there is no universal requirement for adults to receive training beyond YPT; there are, or at least were, some councils which had tried a pilot program where every scouter did have to be position trained. I'm not sure if any councils are still doing that, but it is not universal.

Thanks TAHAWK, I give a similar answer to folks who gripe about and criticize scouts not getting the final requirements of Eagle done until near their 18th birthday: If you file your taxes on April 15th is that late or is that getting them done on time?

College Scouter Reserve sounds like the most appropriate registration code for what you have in mind. Just for clarification, 18 -- 20 year olds can also be ASMs if registered with a troop, and of course Venturers. It doesn't really matter what the registration code is, it matters what you intend to have them do to help the program. If I was trying this, one area I would consider that's a little outside the box would be as Instructors for youth leadership training programs, especially if that could get you some good training outside rather than in a classroom. I would probably also try

In my experience the largest number of partial MBs come out of summer camp. Thankfully we don't have MB days, universities, etc. around here and so I don't have to deal with that. If scouts are signing up to retake the class it is possible that they don't understand that they could try to complete the badge on their own. A troop should at least make sure that their scouts understand that possibility Having said that, for some of those badges the easiest way to complete it is probably to try to finish the requirements at camp the next year whether that's by signing up for the badge a