T2Eagle

I have no idea what the mark-up is on BSA uniform items, but it's certainly apples and oranges to compare that to CampMor. Campmor is a good retailer and I always check their site when I'm in the market for outdoors stuff, but they are a discounter that sells odd lots, clearance items, discontinued products etc. Those pants and shirts may be there today, but that doesn't mean they'll be available tomorrow, they also might not have now or ever the most common sizes, colors, etc. If you want a better comparison you have to compare paying full retail price for comparable items at Cabelas,

As Cubmaster I got the Pack to start using a debit card. I found it very convenient. I like that you can see where everything went and probably could go back and get copies of receipts if necessary. The troop hasn't gone to a debit card and as a result I finance a lot of outings and purchases on my credit card and then get reimbursed. It's inconvenient but I guess I get more frequent flyer points.

Not that facts usually matter much this far into a discussion, but lets try to use some before we condemn these poor guys. Theres nothing in the reports that say they stopped and waited for rescue as soon as they realized they we lost. It says they called the other part of the group and told them they had gotten off the trail and were lost. What should they have done instead? Not Called? And just let everyone believe everything was going exactly as planned? We dont know what else they said in that call. We dont even know what is meant here by lost. Folks on the forum seem to a

My interpretation is the same as those above: two women is fine for leading an all male scout unit on a trip. It passed muster for our Cub Pack this past summer when the Webelos II female den leader and the mother of one of the other Webelos took their den to our council summer camp for a three day Webelos II camp.

I tried to spin this to a new thread but kept getting error messages. If some one else can spin it I would appreciate it. Anyway here's my question: How Can BSA Help Us Learn From each Other's Mistakes? So what happens next with the story of those lost scouts and leader? How should the BSA take this and help the rest of us learn from it? Gary said its a good what would you do scenario, but we dont have enough information to really develop a good answer for that. Shouldnt there be an after action type report made of the incident? One that does have all the facts: why did

Basement asked what lessons my scouts and I learned when we got "misplaced" on a hike. We learned to invest in better maps. We were using a map issued by the State Park service and it did not have any topographic features. Somewhere along we missed a trail junction and ended up down in a valley rather than up on the ridge where we should have been. We were still well inside civilization and so it was no big deal except we wanted the more strenuous route rather than ending up on a canal tow path. But we learned a lesson and haven't left home without a good topo map since. This got me

Wow, so many pure enough to cast the first stone, especially with such a dearth of real information. I re-read the article, here are the actual details that were reported or could be found independently. They got lost, and knew it, in mountainous terrain. They reported themselves lost to their fellow scouts. Less than two hours later the sun had set. In two hours of searching ground teams hadnt been able to find them. After two more hours of search by ground and helicopter they were found. After they were found they hiked the last hour out. They themselves were not the ones who call

I usually can't stand the stuff, but the scouts love it, and there are some times when the well water we're drinking can stand some improvement, so we buy bottles of a liguid concentrate from a restaurant supply company called Gordon Food Service (GFS). I think the concentrate is used in "juice" machines in cafeterias and the buffet and cafeteria style family restaurants. If you can't find that particular company in your area I would think other restaurant suppliers would have similar fare.

Think they'll sell the camp with the oil well?

I tried to resurrect the original thread about this but could not find it. I am curious if anyone knows anything new about the plan to consolidate all the Michigan Councils into one mega-council.

No matter how much free time my scouts gave themselves I don't think they'd ever just break out in a game of cricket.

It looks like a great place to take a unit JoeBob, but I don't see the bait. I see dormitory type sleeping quarters and our organization has rules that govern how that needs to be set up. The rules that another organization says are sufficient for their needs don't mean they're OK for us. As I said in my post this isn't uncommon, lots of cabins out there where youth and adults share one big room, but we separate those areas: scouts over here, adults over there, with screening in between for changing and sleeping.

In case anyone doubts the motives of the Huffington Post, here's the link to Professor Mueller's op-ed piece in that liberal yellow rag the Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204422404576594872796327348.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

JoeBob, Maybe you should report yourself for a YPT violation, or at least pay more attention and think a little harder next time before you do violate the guidelines. The G2SS very explicitly covers exactly the situation you describe, and based on your deriding the guidelines as politically correct its easy to imagine you didnt follow them. 6. Single-room or dormitory-type accommodations for Scouting units: Adults and youths of the same gender may occupy dormitory or single-room accommodations, provided there is a minimum of two adults and four youths. A minimum of one of the ad

If you think that's inappropriate ALB don't ever sign up for Woodbadge.

I know this is a bit off topic, but does anyone know why they don't make an online version of these. I understand the desire to get a hard copy signed but surely there's an easy fix to that barrier. I electronically sign or click "I agree" all the time. I'd be willing to do the same wearing any or all my hats: applicant, unit leader, or committee chair. Think of all the time and money that could be saved by volunteers and professionals alike. Every hand written application needs to be manually typed into Scoutnet by someone being paid at the council office, plus, many if not

Learn the program Read the handbooks. Don't take things personally, put on the best program you can, people can take advantage of it or not, you can't accommodate everyone or make everyone happy.

No, I was in Bucks County PA outside Philadelphia, Camp Ockanickon.

I did Brownsea back in 75, and I thought so much of it that I convinced my troop two years ago to start sending our leaders to NYLT and pick up half the cost. I tell the scouts before they go that I learned leadership skills there that I saw again in college, had to read the academic support for in graduate school, and then saw in virtually every leadership training I ever participated in professionally. For me the theater of Woodbadge --- spending hours watching and then participating in campfires, attending faux PLCs, wearing the same uniform morning noon and night, watching the staff

I just finished my second weekend and I am still very much up in the air on its value. I was continuously told this will all make sense when youre done, but it still doesnt. Maybe someone out there can explain the parts that bothered me most. 1) For the initial meeting I had to travel an hour and a half each way for a Blue and Gold. There was, being generous, 15 minutes of substantive information provided at that meeting, most of which could have been sent in an e-mail and the remaining maybe 5 minutes of introductory training could just as easily have been given at the beginning of

The thing is I'm not allowed to collect the money up front, that's also part of the agreement I sign. And I'm not ordering popcorn to resell it. This isn't a small business my son is going into where he takes some risk and then earns some profit. My son is asking community members to order popcorn from the Boy Scouts, the profits from that transaction then go to the Boy Scouts, not me or my son. And it's not about me pocketing the money after delivering the popcorn, that would be an easy agreement to sign. This is about even if my son does nothing wrong, he's completely innocent

Eagle77, This may seem strange to but the big game I'm referring to is a college football game. I grew up in Bucks but I live in the midwest now and you would not believe how much folks here care about their teams, and they will hold out hope right up until they have to spend money.

Im curious how this works in your council. Who does, and who do you think should, bear the risk of loss if someone reneges on their popcorn sale? Last year my council started requiring that parents agree to the following in order for their scout to participate in the sale: To accept responsibility for all popcorn he receives and for popcorn money due. I also understand that, in the event that payment for his popcorn is in default, the amount due will be submitted to a collection agency and I will be held responsible for payment of all reasonable collection charges and/or attorney fe

I saw the "sing for stuff" going very wrong one summer camp and put an end to it. My biggest concern is having lost stuff not become my problem. So what we can't match up with its owner before we leave camp, if it's valuable, I have one of the scouts go show to the parents as they're hanging around the parking lot waiting for us to unload and release the scouts. That usually finds an owner and an ally in the cause of labeling everything and remembering what belongs to you. The one that amazes me is socks, inevitably we turn up 2 or 3 unmatched socks almost every trip. And yet no

I don't have a definitive answer. One consideration would be how closely scouts is tied to his school. Our Pack is made up almost entirely of boys from our parish school, so a scout is in a den with his classmates. In our case it could make sense to have the boy stay back and move to a den with his new classmates. We are a big school and also have our own baseball, basketball, football teams -- all school grade based -- and so the new classmates would also become his new teammates in any sport he was engaged in.