blazer63

I have looked through the forums and have not seen a topic that refers to this issue so I decided to create a new one. I am the Scoutmaster of a troop that had 16 boys in it when i took over 3 years ago. Last year we grew to 22 boys and this year jumped up to 35 boys. I have been contacted by various Webelo Den leaders in the area who are suggesting to me that their boys want to join the troop when crossover time comes in Feb(which I realize is a few months away and boys do change their mind). At last count there were 18 boys interested in joining the troop at that time, plus we picked up

Thank you all for the words of wisdom and encouragement. I did not mention that while i was speaking with the owners i did ask if it were possible to have the boys do a service project as a way to start to compensate them for this issue The owners refused saying that they could be liable if one of the boys were hurt. I tried to explain to them that BSA has insurance to cover this and also that I thought this would be an excellent way to get the boys to begin taking responsibility for what had occured. Unfortunately, they were so upset and disgusted by what had happened that they just want

I will try to keep this as brief as possible. The Troop which I am Scoutmaster of went on a camping trip this weekend to an area with several historic sites. We stayed at a private campground. The campground was still closed for the season(it opens next week) and we were the only folks there. The owners went out of their way to not only get the bathrooms open and water running but also clean up their miniature golf course AND kept an employee working to keep the game room open for us. The troop spent the day touring some of the local sites and we had an outstanding day. Once we were d

First some short background: In this area there are 4 troops up and running. We all draw from a relatively small pool of potential new Scouts. Over the past 2 or 3 years most of these potential Scouts have joined one particular Troop, I will call them Troop A. I would understand if Troop A was outstanding and far above the other 3 troops. However I do not believe this to be the case as I have been involved at the district level and have seen some of the things that go on in this troop first hand and really do not feel that their program far outpaces any of the other 3 troops. Now to t

Does anyone know if there is a resource where our troop could go to find all the past Eagle Scouts. The Troop was chartered in Jan. 1918 and we have been able to go thru Council records as far back as 1938. The PLC would like to put a plaque together with the names of all the Troop eagle scouts which will hang on the wall of our charter organizations assembly room. The troop has been chartered by the same church from the beginning and is the oldest continuinously chartered troop in the area. We want to start tracing and promoting our history more. WE are also looking for a list of past Sco

Just thought I would post an update on how my Troop is handling this issue since I posted a month or so ago. First, we took the advise that many posted here to try and encourage the boys to wear the uniform vs demanding it. I started a weekly lottery where each boy that was in full uniform (to include socks, belt etc) received an entry into a monthly drawing for a prize. The first week we had 4 boys in full uniform (mostly the members of the PLC). The next week we had 8, the following week 13 and then 18. At our last meeting (Our Court of Honor) I had the SPL do the drawing for a Head Lam

Patches don't make the Scout.

Being the son of a now reired professional scouter who spent every summer from the age of 1 at various summer camps I have been incredibly fortunate to have fond memories of many summer camps. A few of these would include: Camp Pomperaug, Union, CT Camp Toquam, Goshen, CT Camp Workcoeman, New Hartford, CT Camp Mattatuck, Plymouth, CT Camp Carpenter, Manchester, NH Camp Wakpominee, Glens Falls, NY Lake of Isles, Prston, CT Camp Tamaracouta, Quebec, CAnada Philmont Scout Ranch Camp Tadma, Bozrah, CT Camp Delmont, Pennsylvania I have special memories of all of these

Eamonn: Touche' and thank you

My Troop is working on hosting a Boy Scout Round up event next month. As we start to set up the program for the day, we are looking for ideas to make this activity a fun and exciting day for the perspective new members who attend. Does anyone have any ideas for specific activities we could have available for boys coming to investigate Scouting. Anyone have stories of past Round Up Success stories? I have had 1 father tell me that the best we can expect is to gain "maybe" 1 or 2 boys at the most. While that would be fine I would really like to give this event as much of a chance at success

I appreciate the responses. I will definetly institute some of the motivations mentioned and work with the boys of my PLC to help set the tone for the rest of the troop. Getting off the topic a bit here it has been my experience in Scouting, and in other organizations, that a lot of people will tell me what I CANNOT do but it is seldom told to me what I CAN do. Is there a rule set forth by BSA that a troop CANNOT require uniforms or is it just not stated that a troop CAN require the boys to wear uniforms? I know of at least 2 troops in my district that do require their boys to be in full u

I recently became Scoutmaster of a troop(was the ASM for 2 years b4) and have had numerous talks with my PLC regarding uniform wear. The boys want all the boys to be required to wear full uniforms to the meetings. I have made this point clear at the parent meeting we had at the beginning of the year and faced numerous complaints by parents that it was not "practical" to require all the boys to be in full uniform at Troop meetings. I recruited a parent to assist our quartermaster in setting up a uniform exchange program, however that is more of a longterm solution. My question is, how can w