Tampa Turtle

@Col. Flagg How would they 'fold' Venturing? Allow Scouts to go past 18?

I use to run a non-profit (don't ask) and it is true...if someone believes in the mission you can some great folks...for a while. But eventually realities like spouses, kids, retirement make them start looking however reluctantly. Occasionally you can luck put and get someone who doesn't need the money as much. I always found it cheaper to give a couple nice benefits (as well as freedom) than straight salary. Even a minimal pension can seem pretty attractive these days. Regardless as folks said earlier I will not be surprised if in a few years we will start reading about BSA's 'looming fi

If he is a corporate lawyer I think he is quite aware of what he says and how he says it.

...but philosophically I am with Flagg. Sadly I suspect if her she did not look like an all-american girl than this would not even got this far. It helps her case that she is photogenic.

I think DE's are like many church Youth Ministers; a very important job that is chronically underpaid so that even the most dedicated will tend to be driven from it out of necessity.

I think She has been courteous and respectful the dad less so. At least that is what it reads like.

We had a very active Patrol frustrated by the lack of backpacking plan a 3-day trip on their own (a good sign). They were actively discouraged by a worried CC who said it looked like they were being 'exclusionary'. So they didn't go on their backpacking trip and the Troop didn't either. That was last year. This year I would just scrounge up the two adults, fire up the minivan and go.

We had an engineer whose all 3 boys had the same exact refined car design, year after year. He was WAY too much invested in it. I once had to bounce his his kids car because of aftermarket axles and tires. I loved the year a Tiger came in 3rd out of 100+ cars in our Pack and all he did was push in the nails with the tires and crayoned the heck out of it. (it was a nice ending because mom called me the night before with him crying in the background because divorced dad blew off the last minute work session.) He would won 2nd place too if a wheel hadn't flown off. But yeah the parents ruined the

@Col. Flagg Exactly. I say that and folks look like I am crazy. I stopped attending the Committees due to a work conflict and missed 2 PLC's and 'WHAM". I am still hanging out enough to help out a few of 'my' older scouts but I think I will just adopt a policy of avoiding events that will just irritate me. That includes a lot of the neighboring Council Boy Scout events that sure feel like cub-scouting. I think that may be because if you have a Council event and a lot of people show up then it is a success regardless if it really reinforces the principles of the traditional Boy Scout program (

I think we get a bit cynical between the Talmudic reasoning on requirements on this forum and our experience with parental lawyering on advancement on the local level.

Our unit has, suddenly...really like in 3 months, de-evolved into Family Camping with lots of mom's and dad's coming to events, talking down more strenuous events, talking up other that are easy, etc...influencing the PLC on where they will spend their dollars. The mood seems to be "females are welcome so we girls can go camping". The boys do their meal planning and patrol box thing and a bunch of well meaning moms -and they are real nice God bless'em- talk about "getting enough (donuts, pizza, etc) for the whole Troop--don't worry we will pay for it". Some of the hard core boys are having not

Indeed the focus on the project should be what you actually are going to do and how to do it NOT the awkward BSA PDF. (I have had some success with boys writing it all out brainstorm style on a white board and taking pictures of it). A recurring issue with the PDF seems to be the fact that you need actual, not digital, signatures while working and reworking in a (buggy) digital document. Sometimes our District contact has wanted the digital package emailed to him for approval (or other times physical notebook) which requires scanning the physical pages and then splicing and combining into

I'm half out already...I seem to be on another cultural planet then so many of the parents 40 and under...and the boys are changing as well. Still trying to find a productive role...maybe just another Troop.

Stosh since we are part of the same online scouting family can you take me to Jambo?

How can BSA decide on what is a "family" if the society is conflicted over defining "gender".

Ever had smoked trashcan Ewok at a campout? Better than dutch oven womprat chowder.

Wasn't there somebody who earned Eagle Scout as a boy and NOW had trans-gendered to a female? Wouldn't she be the first Eagle Scout? Just sayin'.

I will concede Star Wars is more Space Opera than Science Fiction but one can still enjoy chocolate ice cream as well as vanilla.

The original Star Trek pilot has 'number one' the exec to be played by a woman. In 1966. And Star Trek has always had a racially diverse cast...I think Science Fiction frequently has done these things (a female President, a black President, etc) to show that the time portrayed is not of our time...so I do not think anything like this is new. Star Wars started out pretty white and male because I suspect that was the world George Lucas was familiar with. There is an article out there that discusses parallels with the original Star Wars with the Vietnam war. If one is nostalgic for the

I lean toward letting her do it. I get that youth-led is not a suicide pact BUT over-riding the PLC will be an enormous withdrawal in trust for you in not walking the talk. If she starts to falter it should be up to the PLC to provide proper supports. If she is not grossly unqualified than the only issue is safety and their must be some back up system to alleviate your worry. I wonder if the scouts know how much we can agonize over these things!

Institutional proof, once again, that National's focus is on image over substance. I suppose it is a sign of the times but one hopes for the best and prepares for the worst. I had similar issues with a mainstream church I belonged to. In their quest to become more efficient with resources they enlisted many skilled business types on their committees. Eventually they mostly talked about the best way to deliver the 'product' (sermons, worship) to the 'customers' (parishioners) and used the 'metrics' of attendance and collections per person. Eventually the focus shifted from the core missio

Can we do this in time for World Jambo! I think this would be Arrow of Light or whatever terrible name for Webelos II there is now.

I feel a "Skort Patrol" somewhere in '19.

Too Snaps UP!

My mom rocked that Den Mother's dress back in '72. Very formal looking.