Jump to content

Tampa Turtle

Members
  • Content Count

    3623
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    41

Posts posted by Tampa Turtle

  1. 22 minutes ago, Hawkwin said:

    OK, but do you acknowledge that not all COs will charter a girls troop? It is entirely possible that Will's CO will decide to not pursue a girls troop and if they make that decision, then there will be no linked troop.

    Look at our situation. The current adult leadership does not want a linked  girls troop. We have parents saying they want girls in. We mention the "Linked Troops" option and they are shocked and basically say it is discrimination (the words were "Second Class Scout Troop") and inferring complaints will be made. Our CO leader is very proud of our Troop and (as father of daughters) has pretty much said he does not want to tell us what to do but we better figure something out. If you cannot find enough new leaders let the girls join you". Many of our Troop leaders, who are worked to death already, are taking that in terms of getting extra work, doing extra training, and dealing with new 'girl' issues (I think that is mostly a straw man) for a change they did not ask for. Therefore many key people are quietly leaving "stage left" as the main Scout year ends. No commitments past the summer camps and hikes, no "who will do what next year", few training renewals, etc.

    Some of the organizational and logistical fears are a result IMHO of National dragging its feet on pushing out practical details for the older program. Ignorance breeds fear. They should have cribbed some of the Canada and UK mixed gender training early--local folks want details. 

  2. “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

    Keep on Scouting (whatever they call it)

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1
  3. 1 hour ago, qwazse said:

    Those things are important at face value, so it is a little tough to report on why. But, since my family had us doc at a marina with wifi, I've made my coffee and the sun is rising on the first clear day of our tropical vacation, I simply say this:

    Down to the semi-retired cab driver who took us from the airport to help us provision, then to our slip (and did not charge us for a full hour fare), to the businessman in a fishing charter opposite ours... Everone I talked to is convinced that scouting does something very good for a youth. What could it be? Lots of folks take their kids on adventures. Bears don't care about what uniform a hiker wears. But duty to God and country, helping others at all times and keeping fit to do so ... plus a short list of traits needed to fulfill that duty ... set the bar for a young man to achieve greatness.

    Vows are like loadstone, they set a needle to align north-south once that needle floats freely. We scouters recognize it, and a lot of other people were scouts or have met scouts recognize it too.

    I think by the hundredth time you say it, parts start to embed in the back of the brain. When I start to do something like open my mouth to say something snarky (shock I know) my conscience nudges me "A Scout is Kind" and I keep my mouth shut. If my married eyes start to give some comely lass "a second glance" I hear "A Scout is Clean" and I am reminded to look away. The older I get the more I appreciate those Laws and Oath. Some will stick with you more than others. YMMV

  4. I will miss @The Latin Scot he had a sense of humor, loved scouting, and was a voice of common sense.

    You could see this coming a looong way off still a bit of a shock. I can understand their dilemma. I am active in an international religious organization and the very conservative (and growing) members in Africa, South East Asia, and South America are much opposed to  the social policies proposed to appeal to North Americans. You go where the growth is.

    But I too am sad that a story rich in Scout history is ending.😢

     

    • Upvote 2
  5. In our Troop the leaders have touted the official line. Any negative responses has been from boys and parents. They tell us, don't ask. I asked a few who stopped showing up and I heard from three parents (who did not want to say so publicly) they just didn't like the direction Boy Scouts was going or that it is not what they thought they were getting into. I was surprised I could not predict by apparent 'politics'. 

    I think the uncertainty from National after the announcement did not help with the older boys who had an issue with how it would affect THEIR Troop now. So it acted as a stimulant for some guys to hurry up. 

    I would say the majority of the boys are not thrilled but don't care that much. 'Scouts BSA' hurt us leaders since we read statements that "Boy Scouts of America" was to stay the name. They do not buy the name gymnastics out of Irving.

    However we just got a new crop of 15 newbies and another set of 10 coming in so I guess those folks don't care. I am not sure who will be the leaders as most other adults are moving on.

  6. 2 minutes ago, FireStone said:

    We don't care, and I doubt many girls will either. But for sure there will be some extremely "motivated" parents out there gunning for their daughter to be the first ever Eagle Scout. 

     

    Some folks are gonna be under some extreme pressure on that one. I still think someone will try to beat the official date and sue.

    • Upvote 1
  7. 37 minutes ago, Cambridgeskip said:

    I am not making a direct comparison with what was an outrageous piece of sexism and the argument that teenage boys and girls are different because there is no comparison. My point is that arguments about things being done a certain way in the early days so should continue to be done that way don't hold water because the world has moved on, massively.

    There is a nuance to the discussion that is unfortunately been entirely missed and would have been very worthwhile. I wish we would have had time to discuss it but that is not the way the organization made the decision. At this point as the decision has been made (and rather poorly rolled out) all we can do is decide what we as individual and units are going to do. 

    • Upvote 1
  8. 12 minutes ago, David CO said:

    Statistics are a tricky thing. It might appear that the incidence of insect borne disease is increasing, but it may simply be that more people are seeking medical help. There are many possible explanations for the changing numbers.

    It could be that more people have insurance. It could also be that fewer people know how to self-treat minor medical problems, and consequently see the doctors more often. 

    I understand why Puerto Rico has been seeing an upswing (hurricane), but I'm not quite sure why my home state of Illinois is in the top 20%.

    NPR had a segment with an epidemiologist that the biggest vector for tick born diseases seem to be not species like Dear (who are good for supporting populations) but urban "survivor" species such as Racoons and Rats and they are making inroads into urban areas as forest fragmentation and loss continue. 

    A EMT at summer camp in 2010 told me IF a tick bites you or your scout to save the (live) tick in a container for a week or so in case you get symptoms. He said it would be a good help down the road if they could test the tick to narrow down exactly what you may have...could save a lot of time. I did so, put that sucker in a zip lock bag, forgot about it and unpacked 2 months later and that sucker was still alive.

  9. 14 hours ago, clemlaw said:

    Our local GSUSA council just sent out a broadcast e-mail, which is also on their website:

    https://www.girlscoutsrv.org/en/about-girl-scouts/news/2018/girls_center.html

    Among the allegations:

    I suspect that #1, if it happened, was the result of the school employee misunderstanding some correct information that was provided.  Rumor #3 doesn't make any sense, since there's no mechanism for a local council of the GSUSA to "merge" with the BSA.

    And I suspect that #2 is absolutely true.  Some BSA volunteer asked some GSUSA volunteer to help create a good youth program.  Last year, I (a BSA volunteer) was asked to help a GSUSA volunteer create programming.  Not only was I asked, but I was happy to do so, and I did.  If I do say so myself, it was very good programming, and I think the girls enjoyed it.   The GSUSA did absolutely nothing wrong in asking me to do this.  And the BSA did absolutely nothing wrong if some volunteer made a similar friendly request.

     

    I have also cooperated with a local GSUSA leader on a shared activity...and then she got in trouble.

  10. 12 minutes ago, Jameson76 said:
    Actually got some feedback from some of our Boy Scouts yesterday.  They were not enthusiastic about the name change.  They also felt the "new motto" (their words not mine) was meh, very cubby oriented
     
    What I found interesting is that 
    1) they were aware of it
    2) they took the time to give some feedback
     
    This is from the core group of actual participants

    Yes I found the older boys were quite aware of the social media but quite muddied by the official communications. Even among the ones who agree with the changes there was some resentment that existing Scouts are not being asked just future scouts. 

    • Upvote 2
  11. 15 hours ago, ham_solo said:

    > "new, separate girl's program" that was initially promised is frankly an affront

    Or it could actually be that national has actually heard from all those people who were actually planning on doing the girls program which kept saying, that

    a) they will never find enough leaders to staff an entire other girls troop,

    b) most of us forming it will be leaders from the boys troop anyway with a few additional female leaders added

    and c) it will just be a separate troop only on paper to begin with because we can't be in two places at once


    So slowly national will probably have to admit that it is going to be really one program, with separate patrols about as far as it will most likely go, pretty much like the cubs.  It was pretty obvious the original separate program scheme national had was sorta half-baked, especially when they came out with that whole 'linked-committees' stuff.

     

    Man, my wife said this was EXACTLY what was going to happen when I first mentioned it. She is right again.

    I hate that.

    She also said BSA was stupid to think any name change is not going to result in some sort of retaliation from GSUSA since we are definitely on their turf. 

    • Upvote 2
  12. 7 minutes ago, cocomax said:

    girl Scouts BSA     and     Girl Scouts GSUSA

              are both things now. . .

    The public will not be confused at all.  (NOT!)

    I hope BSA comes out with a line of cookies to sell as a fund raiser for the new girls.

    We could have flavors like    Scout Thick Mints,  Scout Island Caramels,  Scout Scottish Short Bread 

    That would be swell!

     

    Scout-scout Sandies

    Genderless Ginger deLites

    Skort-si-dos

    Caramel Fiji's

    Scouter Frowns

    Linked Troop Trefoils*

    *Actually an empty box

    • Haha 2
    • Upvote 2
  13. "Scout Me In"?.... maybe the videos will sound better. I am a little underwhelmed. In Tampa we have had a number of these awkwardly worded noun/verb confusion slogans: (for Tampa visitors) "Tampa with me" and the hapless NFL Tampa Buccaneers "Siege the Day". Maybe we need @Cambridgeskip to teach us Continentals how to form proper simple sentences. I hear they got smart parents in his Troop.

    A really good slogan is hard to come by, (I know we got a few marketing types on here who probably know more.) My dad worked for National Airlines in the day and they had one of the most successful (and sexist now LOL) campaigns with the "Fly me" campaign ("I'm Cindy...Fly Me"). It was a huge win for a small airline...And of course the clean up campaign "Don't Mess with Texas" and "I (heart) NY". BSA consistently underwhelms. ("Be.Prepared.For Life")

    I think "Scouts BSA" is either transitional to 'Scouts USA' or National really believes those 3 magic letters are what people are nostalgic about. While I am a traditionalist it seems awkward and a clean break would have been better. I know they have to be careful about GSUSA and want to hang on to BSA for trademark purposes.

    I think the muddledness of the language comes from either a muddledness of thought OR the fact that existing BSA members are divided on the issue and they have to keep straddling the fence.

     

    • Upvote 2
  14. Just now, Cambridgeskip said:

    I'll have a £5 bet on the announcement being;

    1. The name of the organisation will change from Boy Scouts of American to either BSA or Scouts or America

    2. The 11-17 program will change its name from Boy Scouts to Scouts.

    Simples!

    There you go again with that Cambridge logic. Maybe it will be the "NRA Scouts". That will confuse things. :) 

    Anyway I got a COH and a ECOH to work on.

    • Haha 1
×
×
  • Create New...