Thomas54

We have 26 in three patrols. Half are in high school.

We are looking at Loveland or Winter Park but are open to others. The issue is we aren't finding economical bunkhouse stays. We will be flying in and Denver is our first choice but we could consider other destinations such as Salt Lake City or Vegas. Anyone got some recommendations for a ski resort, bunkhouse or a other place for a group of scouts to stay and ski over winter break?

I recently attended a Marine funeral with an Honor guard and my son and I are pretty sure that the Marine on the bugle was not playing. It was pre-recorded. The Marine Bugler's face and chest muscles never moved. And we could see the insert and we watched him turn it off when the ceremony was over. Here is one; its a little pricey if it were half the $175 asking price we may consider it for Troop purposes. http://www.ceremonialbugle.com/works.htm

My 15 year old Life scout son hooked up with a local State park that needs some trail bridges replaced. He goes down the list and finds the biggest one and says "that's the one I want to do". We have done two visits out there as well as spoken to the ranger. The ranger has been very good always speaking directly to my son. As an engineer I have dropped hints that what he has is a small civil engineering project. The "bridge" actually spans two flood spills one spanning 48' and the other 17'. The old bridge will need to be taken down and hauled away. I told my son that if he wa

I bet those cops who shot people with cell phones at sometime in their childhood used a squirt gun.

----UPDATE------UPDATE------UPDATE----- The scouts could use squirt guns. I just talk to my Boy Scout. The scouts were given squirt guns provided by the camp. The scouts could shoot only into a bucket held by another scout.

Bev What Donor loves the scouts enough to give lots of money but is overly concerned about guns?

My Boy Scout who is a volunteer at a Cub Scout day camp grabbed his old water gun and headed out this morning to lead his cubbies in summer camp. Since he was a cub every Friday at summer camp has been water pistol day. Yes the guns get pointed at scouts and water is discharged from the barrel. When he enters camp he is told by an adult that rules have changed and water guns are no longer allowed in scouting. No form of weapon can be pointed at people and especially cub scouts. He returns his water gun to the car and goes on into camp. A quick read of G2SS does not look any dif

Sorry about your son. We let women camp with us. However, the advice was sound that you not go camping on his first boy scout outing. Unless you plan to spend a week at summer camp with him, his emotional development needs time to acclimate on these smaller campout to sleep away from mom. As far a the fight is concerned. There is always more than one view of what occurred. After years of being a scoutmaster older scout don't normally pounce on younger scouts just to get their kicks. There is usually a point of interest that provokes the fight. It could be a disagreement at sch

"BTW anyone know where I can get replacement buttons at for the red jac shirt?" At Joe's button factory. But Joe is usually very busy.

You are being overly sensitive. If the SM is an oldie and a goodie then losing a few webelos to the next troop is not going to rock his world. And if this family is disruptive by nature, looks to be a social climber then all they better that they go to the other troop. Visit the the two troops. Or invite both SM's to visit your dens.

We volunteer at two cubscout camporees a year plus hold our own webelos/troop campout. Occasionally we have a family campout near a beach and we will invite and have had cub participation. We have had CO meetings and so forth. Each year I send over our calendar and ask for theirs. It is not as though we have not reached out. Your baseball parable is the wrong one. It is a fact that the webelos, at least the ones form our brother pack are very advancement oriented. Cool campouts and out of state summer camps are not luring these cubbers. However, these things are attractive to t

Our salesmanship is certainly inferior to the other troop's.

John-in-KC Den chiefs are a wonderful POR for a middle school scout without much homework. A high school freshman or sophomore in band or on sports will not have time to be at troop meetings plus den and pack meetings. Also we are so busy with our own troop activities such as camping, service projects, fund raising and assisting on Eagle projects that I have not pushed for den chiefs. I have offered these POR's and the two previous years we had some den chiefs but not this year. I am not sure den chiefs would even help as we have been complimented by the pack parents at how pleasan

"Do you provide den chiefs? " Not currently. There are no brothers in the troop and Den and the we are in a suburban sprawl area where distances and subdivisions are far apart. "Do you have any adults who offer to work with the pack on outdoor activities?" -Yes, In additional to the annual Webelos - troop campout which we visit the pack a few times to expalin. We have offered our trailer and held rocket days with the pack. "Do you strong (or really, any) relationships with pack leadership, den leaders in particular?" A relationship with the cubmaster. I can call and

Over the last four years we have had one den cross into our unit and that was not from our CO pack. We have sustained membership through transfers and friends of scouts. The non webelos scouts have been some of my best scouts. They are usually older and in the 6-7th grade. Their parents seem to hover less and they scouts and their parents are less worried about advancement. We have had den after den come look at us and turn away, our camping is too ambitious, our trips are too far, our boys are too old. The one that I got this year is that our meetings are not structured enough and t

My guess the SM does not like to camp. Wearing the uniform and playing boss-man suits him just fine. Missing his bed is too much for him to handle. My suggestion. Find support in another parent and see if you and a few scouts can spend the night at the council sponsored Klondike. Call it training. If the excuse is given that the whole troop needs to camp because of liability, tour permit, youth protection, etc, suggest buddy camp training with another troop. There isn't a SM around that I know that would turn away another troop to camp with them providing they have their own foo

How horrible! Getting sacked for that? Not getting a chance to defend the policies and merits of the program you are running. Although you don't seem the angry type, I would be hard pressed to cooperate much beyond the minimal in the transition.

Most of the MB's are signed by mom and dad. Dad writes the eagle workbook. Mom tracks all the work days and the hours people were in attendance. Mom makes all the calls and organizes the project for her scout. Scout has a couple of play dates at the benefiting organization. In the end the boy skates away with an eagle.

If you are renting a pontoon boat I will recommend Crystal Lodge Dive center over Crystal River Divers at Plantation. Both are good but the Lodge Dive center is more scout friendly, its cheaper and its a shorter drive to main manatee center. You are getting wetsuits? Rainbow river is near by and is a good day trip.

I have read many of Kudos posts. I will agree that we have a weak (as compared to what I want) patrol association. I see the folly of a new scout patrol requiring adult help. That scares me. I also see kids the same age flocking together. The one thing from all of Bob White's posts that still rings in my head is, "patrols are supposed to be cliquish". With a same age patrol I won't have to work as hard on developing patrol bonds, that will be there naturally. They won't want to sleep in other patrols. They will naturally be us vs them. I will only need to build upon

Well we have done it both ways aged base patrols and mixed aged patrols. We are now mixed aged patrols with a group of Webelos about to transfer in. There numbers could be as high as 6-7 scouts. The PLC wants to back-fill the three existing patrols with the new scouts. I have reservation and am considering a new scout patrol. My change came from numerous events but in particular at a recent campout. On that campout the high schooler's hung and bunked with the other high schoolers and middle schoolers hung with other middle schoolers. They got permission form their PL's to bunk

If BSA is a franchise then the franchiser will have a lot of say on how his product is to be handled. If it just a license agreement like a song or software than their will be a lot more freedom by license holder to do as he wishes. Which is it? The point overlooked is that the District has done nothing to guide or support these charters. Evidence suggest that the partnership of married COR and Unit leaders has created a bubble of bad units. Change is required at these units if the CO intends to keep the program. Maybe the CO's does not want a BSA program anymore or having a

Not much of a check and Balance when the COR and the unit leader are a married couple. One can see where the COR could interpret his or her role as the final arbitrator for all things program and Committee. Better to have an absentee COR who only gets called upon during dire circumstances than an over empowered married couple running everything. If these are churches suggest a COR the pastor can trust. Someone without a son in the unit to occasionally guide and steer the unit at various times. Explain the role of the COR.

Who causes the most trouble in our unit? Me! I keep wanting to take the scouts places they have never been before. I push for the scouts to do things they have never done before. I keep wanting the scouts to do things away from their parents. I keep asking scouts to do more and lead more than they have in the past. I keep asking the parents to do more MB counselling beside their sons. For the parents bring us ideas and places we have never gone. Although thrifty I spend money too. All this stuff disrupts the apple cart. As the Scoutmaster, I am by far the biggest trouble