Thomas54

I am looking for the on line training for Venture crew adult leader youth Protection. I am told that there is an online YPT for ventures but I can find only the Boy Scout one and the cub Scout one. Here is where my search ends. http://www.scouting.org/Training/YouthProtection/Venturing.aspx But if you go to the Boy Scout section it has"Take Training on line" in a link.

My family is Co-ed and we go camping.

This is turning into a little more drama then I care to deal with. Give me the benefit of the doubt that as a seasoned SM I am doing what I can to develop the scout and allow the scout to lead his project. I drew up the plans and sat down with the scout and discussed it with him and and his mom. I had a slight warning tone in my voice so if this boy looked at this and freaked out at the magnitude of the project I could pick up on it. He did not. He and his mom were resolute that this was the project he wanted to do. I learned today that the old pavilion was 8'x16' the new

On Saturday morning I got a call from the Institutional Head of our Charter, an American Legion Post. He says he wants to meet with me as soon as possible. Says he needs to get a handle on things at the Post. I tell him I will call my committee chair and a couple of my assistant scoutmasters and we can meet later that afternoon. Background: The IH is new to the post and became commander just recently. At 67 he is the youngster of the post. Locally he has run for public office before but has never been elected. Since his last election defeat he has jumped into three separate commun

I am the scoutmaster. The eagle candidate is not my son, just a boy in the troop. Packsaddle wins the cigar. He is pissed-off. I will post the other 1 hour discussion we had with IH in another post. I did not go to there to discuss this project with IH. The scout is paying for the materials through fundraising. I did design the Pavilion and am serving as the coach for this scout.

One of our scouts approached our charter some time ago about doing his Eagle project at the Charter. They had a pavilion over a fire pit that had a very low flat roof with wood rafters and a tin roof. Consequently the rafters often caught fire. The structure had caught fire so many times that it became an unusable eyesore. The charter agreed, signed off on the project and the project was approved by council. As written the scouts project was to replace the roof and leave the posts. In the process of the demolition the posts were pushed over; they were not cemented and had been in pl

I agree with the Basement troll er dweller. BS was founded for boys. ATV is what young boys want to do. Great! Let's create a program that teaches how to safely use this equipment and the proper outdoor use for the hobby. Downhill skiing can't be done without the wholesale reconditioning of the mountain. From grooming to lifts to snow machines and water collection ponds the mountain is changed. Most ATV trails are in designated areas of national and state forests. The forest service roads are typically placed there for commercial logging. ATV's will have minimal impact.

You asked what do other troops do. We do separate the tents by patrols and adults. This is done mainly to keep from hearing the scouts talk all night. Or to keep the snorers away from everyone else. Unless we keep an eye on the patrols they will camp too close together. That way they can cross tent talk until 1:00 - 2:00 AM. The late night talking usually only occurs the first night. By the second night they are going to bed before the adults. But to your question, there is no yellow tape or mine field between us and the scouts. For Meals we eat as a troop. One patrol will tak

Your attributes and qualifications sound better than most of the committee chair's we have had. Stop dwelling on your imperfections. Set-up monthly meetings send out the emails and do the best you can.

{0riginal Poster} Here is what occurred Nine people went out for six days over 54 miles on the AT we had: One person with a First Needs XL water purifier One person with a MSR Mini Works ceramic filter Two people with SteriPens Two people with Coghlans Two Step Drinking Water Treatment Tablets Thats six individuals with a water treatment system and three without any. Of the people without treatment and the people with the pills they preferred to barrow the First Needs XL. It was fastest and easiest to use. Each of us was using around 10-12 liters of water per day. By

If the idea of only one summer camp being a qualification for the camping MB because the BSA wants a more varied camping experience for the scout; Then, why not limit the number of MB's that can be acquired at a long term camp our limit the number of MB's that can be acquired through a council or district sponsored events? All in all its a good policy. A troop could get into a situation where the only camping chosen / offered by the scouts is the week long summer camps. It is easier for the adults not to pan monthly outings.

I am not sure how to gauge this. Three adults and six scouts are heading for week long backpacking trip. The scouts know that I have a Steripen. This is a light weight UV device that purifies a liter of water in about 60 seconds. My son does not trust this so he is packing our water filter. I just learned that a couple of scouts who own water filters have decided not to bring them. Partly because of weight and also I think they just don't want to use them. So I ask "how will you purify your water". They reply, "we have tablets." Hmmm, these are kids that won't eat anything if

We have our six day Appalachian trip coming up. How many changes of clothes do you recommend? Number of shirts? Number of shorts? Number of socks? Camp shoes are they necessary?

Our numbers have dropped some so we will be at or very close to 10 people. We will take our tents. I have never stayed in a shelter nor have I ever had the desire too. The meal plans I have some concern over. I am ok with letting scouts arrange their own menus for a 2-3 day hike. But this is six days and if they don't plan right either enough or too much they could be a drag on the group. I am considering that they submit a plan for 3000 calories a day. Thoughts? I like the idea of having a food drop at the Nantnahala Outdoor Conservatory.

We have been looking at six day five nights. That puts a few hikes below 10 miles a day and few above 10 miles a day.

We have been looking at doing a 50 miler on the Appalacian Trial in North Carolina. We prefer to stay on the North end of North Carolina and are considering hiking south from Fontana Dam to US 64 (~56 miles). Anyone familar with this section of trail that can offer guidance? Anyone wish to suggest a better 50 miler in Nouth Carolina. Our group size is 12-14 and most are older scouts 15-16 years old.

When you are the Scoutmaster and your son is elected SPL what is the best way to handle this? To what degree do you step aside none, some or a lot. I missed his first PLC and I did not get much out of him when I asked.

At this moment in time the troop appears to be destined for extinction. The Crew looks like something to grab to bring in a few more people (girls) in, take the weight off those holding on and add a new dimension for those still around. Remember there are no new scouts to teach skills to, no new scouts who to get excited about summer camp, no new scouts that need the camping merit badge. If our troop gets any older we will need a retirement plan.

Good summary of ideas JWKnoll.

Thanks We have the femake adult support on campout. Two adventurist females who good campers. The only thing with the ourings is that the same 2-3 adults on on every outing. The though is that four-five major outings a year are esier to work around schedules than 10-12 outings. Same for the youths. Marching Band and varsity sports are schedule killers. In January we would not re-charter as a boy scout troop and would recharter as a new Venturing crew.

We are a starving troop. No Webelos for three years running. Our charter's pack continues to feed the troop across town. They are now over 90 scouts we are about 20 Scouts. We now have very old and tall scouts. Nearly all our scouts are in high school. Next year all but one will be in high school. The short guys in the troop are the scoutmasters. This year the webelos parents said the age gap was too big. I am thinking "OK, well it won't get better with time." In the committee meetings and among the scoutmasters we have discussed converting the troop to a venturing crew. Some

This is a can of worms but I will wade in anyway. We had a scout that submitted an eagle project for sign -off. Myself, our Eagle coordinator and the committee thought it was a little light on leadership. We asked him to hold a work day where he could lead others and not just his mom and younger brother through a work day. We thought it was relatively a minor request. He was at this point only 13 years and 2-3 months old. Well it blew up and everybody dug in. The parents were not going to have him do another thing. The kept chanting that I cannot add or subtract from the requirement

The scoutmaster who drinks coffee is the one that sleeps in the backpacking tent. All the other habits are against the methods of the Boy Scouts so the one whose only bad habit is coffee is likely the more successful outdoor troop.

If you have different canoes and we know you have different size boys you want to consider different length paddles 5-, 52, 54." Some canoes have a lot of freeboard and sit high off the water, hence the paddler will want a longer paddle. But if you have a short kid in low riding canoe a short paddle will be required. As mentioned earlier Carlisle make a very good match for price and quality. Buy your self a nice bent shaft paddle. You will love it.

Lisa I am sorry to hear this. We too lost a scout two years from a car/ bicycle accident. The troop was numb for a few months.