T2Eagle

Lower Great Lakes Region here. We do at least one Wilderness Survival campout in either January or February. The other month varies depending on the activity we're concentrating on, sometimes we do tents sometimes a cabin. It's virtually always below freezing at night, in the past few years we've had two eight inch snow storms, smaller snow showers, one below zero F event and one near zero event. It's all about proper equipment, especially sleeping bags, and proper training.

I was canoeing the Saco river in Maine/NH once and ran into a troop from Mass. that did a week in the White Mtns. every other summer in lieu of summer camp. They spent two days up and down in the Presidential range, two days on the Saco, and a couple other days in the area but I forget the full itinerary. I was very jealous, but I live in the midwest so that particular trip would be very different logistically for us. Thinking how to do something lie that I think you need to find an area with a variety of outdoor possibilities: have to spend a couple of days on the water, a couple days hiking, a couple days maybe splashing around a lake. If you narrow down your area we may be able to get more specifics.

This came across my FB feed so I clicked through. There is a series of videos and some supporting graphics talking about the current state of BSA software and a new direction they're going to take. On the good news side they are pretty open about the extent of the problems and even provide some details about how they were arrived at. The plan seems plausible. They actually have a plan for a plan to enlist volunteer help. On the downside, they dressed the Chief Scout Exec as almost a parody of a computer nerd: pocket protector full of pens and pencils, and his tie held up with a paper clip. I hate being conned, if he's ever spent a day at work dressed like that I'll double my FOS contribution. The IT guys I know don't have pocket protectors and almost don't use writing tools at all anymore. Forum members, take a look at the videos and see what you think.

Friends of Teetonkah may get the camp, but what are the odds that they'll be able to raise another million to actually keep it open? That might depend on the price of oil since there is an operating oil well on the property. In 2012 they were expecting $10,000 a month of course the price of oil was $100/barrel. It's worth noting that in Michigan (and other places) it is routine to sell, or give away, surface ownership, while retaining mineral, oil, and gas rights. http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2012/01/drilling_at_camp_teetonkah_hit.html

If you can't reach the SM to officially have him delegate to the ASM I would go ahead and have the scout meet with an ASM before Wednesday, I would also make sure your CC and maybe even your COR are aware of what's going on. This could either be a big deal or not a big deal. Someone can correct me on this, but the only time sensitive thing that needs to happen is the SMC, and I don't believe there's any rule that can't be done via Skye or even by telephone. None of the signatures are "requirements" that need to be completed before the 18th birthday.

I wouldn't be a fan of this. There are some MBs that require specialized equipment or certfication, like shooting sports, climbing, maybe even some of the boating ones, where it might make sense to line up the resources for a group of scouts to finish partials. I mention boating because a week of daily thunderstorms can play havoc with having enough time on the water, and there may not be a lot of access to small sail boats or other craft. But I don't see that kind of specialization for Eagle required badges. If a scout wants to finish the badge it's not really much of an expectation that they be able to reach out to a counselor to make those arrangements.

I'd like to be helpful, but my experience is that these things don't really work for the scouts. The trebuchet, if you can provide them with all the tools necessary might be a winner. But with most of the events I've seen like this it's not very hands on for the scouts. Let's say you have a patrol of six scouts and you need to build a small quick fire, how much can each scout really do? Shooting sports if you have ranges. Otherwise knife throwing, tomahawk throwing, maybe a timed obstacle course. The most popular non programmed activities at our summer camp are ga-ga ball and human foosball. There are plans out there for temporary or portable versions of both, but it will take some effort given your time constraints.

That's a bit of a stretch. Often enough these questions come because some other adult in the troop says "hey, we've gotten a lot of rain this week, the river is probably higher, do you think we should still go?' And it's not a question you've given any thought to so you want to do a little research before you voice your own opinion. The beauty of posting on a forum like this is you can get some ideas, good or bad, and you don't have to go back later and tell the person whether you followed their advice. Take a look at how many people post in here in winter time with concerns about cold temperatures and snow on camping trips.

We've tried various things like this. We have generic menu planners and duty rosters, but they don't really get used and are almost always a response to what adults, including me, perceive as a lack of organization. Really, how much do you need written down, and for whom and when do you need it written down? The scout or scouts that are bringing food need to bring the food, whichever scouts they are need to go home with a menu, they can develop a shopping list for themselves from that. Come Friday evening for each patrol there need to be enough tents packed, a dining fly if you use them/need them, maybe a stove, and a chuck box or whatever you keep your kitchen stuff in --- that's four things, every thing after that is gravy. Written duty rosters are nice, but as soon as someone extra shows up or someone who is sick doesn't make it they're rearranged any way. Somebody needs to cook, somebody needs to clean up, somebody needs to get water and wood; the scouts can decide this on the fly without any real trouble. I would guess that on 75 -- 80% of our trips there is no written plan for anything after the menus get written out. That doesn't mean there isn't a plan. If you were going camping every month with six of your buddies, how much would you have written down by the third time you went? ETA: There are dozens, at least, of these types of forms available from other troops on the internet. If your scouts don't want to reinvent the wheel they can search for them and pick one for themselves, pick one one and tweak it, or pick a few and synthesize them.

Best bet is get in touch with a local outfitter that knows the river and see what they're recommending for their customers. Not sure what part of the country you're in, but we've been so dry here in Ohio that I doubt even with all the rain that the river would actual be considered anything but normal level at best.

That is an impressive picture.

Uncle P, The description you're giving of your nephew is of a child who needs professional help, as wonderful as scouting can be, what your nephew needs is even more. If you can find any way to help him get some counseling, either by intervening yourself or by working through his school please do whatever you can to get him involved with some mental health professional as soon as possible.

So the answer to your initial question is no, there is nothing you can do about this. As leaders we all serve at the pleasure of the Chartering Organizations that holds the Charter with BSA, there are no exceptions to that and no way to appeal it. Certainly you can try to find a new Chartering Org to start a new Pack with, but I would remind anyone in your position that the reason you're involved in scouting is, I assume, because you believe scouting is something important for your son the be involved in. With that in mind, you also need to remember that that doesn't mean it's important for you to be in scouting; consider taking a step back, find a Pack that's already up and running that your son and his buddies can just go be a part of. If that Pack is looking for parents to help out occasionally great, but concentrate on your son being in scouts and don't worry for a bit whether you are in scouts.

When we want to spend the least amount of time setting up and taking down camp on a two day trip we stay at other Council camps, either in a cabin or in adirondacks. On a recent trip to WVa we slept on the floor of the camp's dining hall. Both our camps are within a few miles of I-80 and I know we have troops come in and use them for this purpose. I would think that any scout facility, even if it's a bit out of the way, is going to be more cost effective than hotel rooms.

It will be interesting to see how that plays out. On the positive side, Councils seem to be chronically short of funds and so both nickel and dime many activities and also then go hat in hand with FOS requests. Scouting certainly costs more than the $24 registration fee and a more dependable and consistent revenue stream could shore up some otherwise struggling councils. On the downside that's a bigger check up front which is going to have some impact, especially at the cub level. I think a two tiered Cub/Boy Scout system might have been a better first move. My other concern is the headache at the unit level, chasing folks for payment and payment plans is a hassle and having to worry whether or not a family is or is not registered on an ongoing basis will just be a mess, again especially at the cub level. Thanks for piloting this stuff for us, I hope someone remebers that some designs are just flawed and should be allowed to crash rather than strung together with just enogh duct tape and baling wire to lurch on over to the next stop.

As someone else said, don't over think this. It can't really be true that your nephew does not know anyone. Does he go to school, is he involved any other activities, does he have relatives his age, was he in Cubs and did any of his Den mates not continue all the way to Boy Scouts? The requirement isn't that the person invited needs to go to a specific event, it's to issue an invitation. If the out reach is what's difficult for him try electronic communication (which has the added bonus of a nice digital trail): send an email or FB message. If there is a cousin who lives out of state, look up the information about a troop in his area and send an email, amybe copying that troop, that invites the relative to checkout a troop meeting. Receiving a tahnks but no thanks reply should be sufficient evidence that the invitation was sincerely made and the requirement fulfiled.

We have several retirees on staff at our camp each year. But make no mistake, this is not a relaxing gig, the days are long and hot, and it's a full five day work week.

Yeah, with only a few exceptions age 12 isn't really the age where most boys want to try to lead or direct a group, especially a group that probably includes boys older than he is, that's not to say he doesn't have ideas or independent thoughts, it's just not a time when most boys feel the compulsion to implement them as a precondition of enjoying them. What I tell my scouts is that in the first year I want them to learn to take care of themselves, it's OK if they need help with that from older scouts, as long as they're getting better at it with each trip. After the first year, I point out to them that there are now scouts newer than them and so it's time for them to really be able to just take care of themselves. It's as they're starting their third year that I tell them they should be pros at this stuff, and should be able to help the now even newer scouts who are coming up behind them; this is when they're moving from 1st Class to Star, and now it's about how they serve their patrol and troop, and now it's time for them to put their stamp on the troop and have it be what they want it to be and reflect who they are as a team. Sure, there are exceptions--- in both directions, but those are usually obvious. If a scout is enjoying what he's doing, if he signs up for every campout without hesitation, then he is right where he needs and wants to be. His fellow scouts will be the reason he starts stepping up, they'll want him to and they'll expect him to when the time is right. For the most part you can leave it up to them.

We had an interesting talk last year from one of the Exec Board members who talked about pretty solid research they had about parents and how they view decisions about where and whether to sign their sons up for scouting. It matters a lot to parents who it is that's heading up the program and how comfortable they, the parents, will be in putting their son into those folks' hands. For that reason we're putting together a handout that includes the bios of both the CC and SM, maybe one or two ASMs, and as I'm writing this I think we should also include the SPL. Keep in mind that it doesn't matter whether WE think this information is important, it matters that THE PARENTS, who are the ultimate decision makers here, think that this information is important.

Yeah that's me, Erie Shores, we were in Area 2?? that was all to be combined into Greater Michigan, we opted out, despite a lot of pressure from above, and are now part of Area 3.

Any official sources for this? Heart of Ohio, which really is a strange name given their locale, is next to us. We opted out of the big Michigan merger and have done well financially and membership wise since. I do not think we would subsume ourselves into another council without a very large gun to our heads, but I suppose it's possible to imagine us taking on a district from a neighboring council if necessary. In general, I think council mergers need to be looked at individually, there is no doubt that we're in a more competitive environment than we were previously, and as a result some Councils are just going to be struggling financially despite the best efforts and intentions of both volunteers and professionals. Further, every organization of every type is becoming more efficient and streamlined, or at least could be/should be, no reason to believe BSA councils would be exempt from that.

Absolutely. There are lots of reasons that an ECOH might be aways off and yet a scout would want to have his uniform up to date. The most recent for us was a scout who completed his work in the spring, had ECOH scheduled for after school got out, and then he got an offer to staff summer camp and off he went, proudly wearing the new patch. As long as you get the official word from National you're good to go.

What part do you disagree with? Webster's online defines subset as "a part of a larger group of related things." And Pope Francis refers to non Catholic Christians as "Christians of other churches" “As bishop of Rome and pastor of the Catholic Church, I want to beg for mercy and forgiveness for un-Gospel-like behaviour on the part of Catholics against Christians of other churches,†the Pope said on Monday at a prayer service concluding the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. “At the same time, I ask all my Catholic brothers and sisters to forgive if, today or in the past, they were hurt by other Christians,†he said. “We cannot erase what happened, but we do not want to allow the burden of past faults to continue to poison our relationships.†I can't imagine you dispute that we Catholics are Christians, and if the Pope recognizes that there are Christians in other churches ipso facto Catholics are a subset of Christians.

I don't see any conflict between earning merit badges and working on ST21 advancement. Coin Collecting and Dog Care have been mentioned as first merit badges that posters here earned. How could either of those interests have interfered with other requirements? I'm guessing they were interests that predated starting Boy Scouts. Scouting isn't school where you have some fixed amount of time in a day where you learn a discreet number of subjects. Generally the trail to first class, and the skills necessary for it are learned by camping with your troop and patrol. Learning and demonstrating new skills for merit badges can also be accomplished then, or can be accomplished during non camping time. YMMV, but I actually don't encourage our newest scouts to spend their summer camp at the T21 areas, I really feel that those skills are best learned over time as part of the camping experience rather than in a classroom type setting.

Given what we've been told I agree with those that say apply for the EBOR under disputed circumstances. Don't involve a new troop in this, take care of the problem where the problem is. The other thing I would say is that you and or your husband should first also ask to sit down with the SM and get straight from the horse's mouth exactly what he is saying and why. Adult association is a Method used to achieve scouting's Aims, that doesn't imply that a scout is the only person who associates with the adults who are scouters. Scouters and parents are partners, or at least teammates, in trying to develop the character of the young men entrusted to our charge. Good communication, thorough communication, and transparency are always vital amongst teammates who are working towards the same goal. This meeting/cup of coffee, doesn't need to be, and shouldn't be, confrontational; this should be approached as informational, if the reports you're getting from your son are accurately reflected by what the SM has to say then there is no need for you to try to change his mind or argue your son's case. Just get as many specifics as you can, thank him for his time, and tell him you're going to think things over. This stuff is all supposed to be fun for everyone involved, the scout, the unit scouters, and you. You want to wrap up what's going on so that your son can move forward and get back to what scouts is supposed to be about --- playing a purposeful game with his friends while developing his character and citizenship along the way.