torribug

Not all of the yellow ribbon magnets are purchased at Walmart, Walgreen's, etc. As a matter of fact, I purposely chose to not fall into that trap of emotional spending because it is despicable that retailers are making a profit off of young men and women's blood. Maybe I shouldn't have bought one at all, but I bought mine from a soldier in my Texas Guard unit who got them donated from a manufacturer. She sold them to individuals, with 100% of the sale price going to buy phone cards and AAFES cards for the soldiers and Marines in Iraq. So I guess even if mine gets stolen, it already served its

Will the ACLU now sue Congress? Probably.

Welcome back, BW! I don't post often, but do enjoy reading your views on things. I also like reading folks' opposing views. What I like most of all is when y'all are respectful to each other when you have those opposing views!

The Family Life merit badge is a good example of a MBC not being around for some of the activities/requirements. Pictures, reports, charts, receipts, etc. can go neatly in a notebook. The MBC needs to trust that the scout has completed some of the activities. That's 90 days worth of 5 different chores, plus two projects that benefit the household. I don't know of a single parent that would let their son fudge on THAT one! While not a necessity (for most MBs), notebooks are great things to keep whenever a scout works solo on a merit badge. Then it's really easy for the MBC to see what has

Torveaux, you were absolutely correct when you mentioned the beret covers being manufactured in China. I remember when they were issued to the Guard. They were (are) cheap little things, too! I think they sold for $3. Don't hold their form very well. That's why I wanted to make sure that the MC shirts were made in USA before I publically complained about the price vs. quality of the BSA shirts. After much googling, I actually saw a summary of the MC contract - the manufacturing company HQ is in Metairie, LA, with work to commence in Columbia, Missouri. I looked at the tag in my BS

As Bob pointed out, National has no policy against it. Some folks may feel uncomfortable because there may be a conflict of interest. But why are we so suspicious of parents? The program is to help a boy become a leader, and if the parents cheat, their own son is hurt MUCH more than the scouting program is. Why should we think that parents may not have their son's best interest at heart? A scout is trustworthy. I homeschool my son. We supplement some of our curriculum with merit badge work. I definitely prefer my son to go out and find a merit badge counselor other than me, for various r

The Marine Corps shirts are made by Rutter Rex here in the good ol' USA. So now my response to the original question is this: They don't have to be made in Bangladesh to be cheaper!!! I realize that there need to be markups associated with these kinds of things - but really, 100%? I'm using the 100% figure assuming that the $16 that I saw on the military site is at cost. Also, the fabric for the Marine Corps shirt appears to be much more durable (thicker) and the stitches are a lot more heavy-duty.

Oh, I wasn't saying that we should use the Marine Corps shirts for BSA uniform shirts - I was just showing that BSA is providing pretty much the same thing for double the cost. I still don't know if the gov't is getting the uniforms from domestic sources. If they are getting them from overseas, of course they're going to be cheaper. I'll follow up on this when I learn more. I would rather pay an extra $16 for a BSA shirt that will last for three more years if it is made in the USA vs. overseas.

I had a very interesting revelation this past week regarding BSA uniforms. My oldest son just graduated from Marine Corps boot camp. I noticed that the Boy Scout uniform, from the rear at least, looks suspiciously like my oldest son's Marine Corps class C. Tan button-down shirt and green trousers (although Marine trousers don't have extra pockets). I had him (oldest) look at the tag to see where the shirt was manufactured, but it didn't say "Manufactured in ________". All it said was DSCP, which is Division Supply Center Philadelphia. I am interested in knowing if the military (hopefully!) get

JohnD, We agree to most of this; please read my earlier posts. The reviewer was wrong. I am glad the scout stood up for himself when asked to do something that he wasn't comfortable with, and that clearly wasn't a part of the requirements. It was the WAY that he refused that I have a problem with. Walking out of the board and then quitting the troop altogether without talking it over with troop leaders - or requesting a different reviewer - is where I see poor leadership and perhaps lack of scout spirit. "If you don't like something, quit" kind of a thing, when it might have been possible t

Well, GreenEagle, that is a tough one about the patrol mates. Was the scout in question a patrol leader or assistant? Did all of the boys in the patrol cross over from the same pack? Are they close-knit? Is there somebody that can run interference, preferably NOT the SM that is "old school"? I would not want to grovel to the young man that left; it clearly was inappropriate to leave the way he did, and doing so didn't show leadership or scout spirit. However, it might be prudent to have somebody in the troop talk to the boy's parents and find out the whole scoop of what went on in the review,

t487, That is something that never occurred to me. We have several parents in our troop who are accountants. I will ask them next meeting. Although I have been told that the boys can buy gear with their scoutbucks, I don't know that any have lately, since I'm not the one that handles that. Good question, and thanks for bringing that up. I would REALLY hate to see us get into a bind over that.

No, the snippet from the Boy Scout Handbook doesn't define in totality what obedience is all about, but it defines the essence. My stance is that it is not quite right to say the boy was disobedient because he didn't comply to the whims of a reviewer. What about the rules of your faith, your sports team, your clubs, etc. etc.(bold emphasis added by me). I agree that rules should be followed. But he wansn't breaking any rules. He disagreed with an adult, placed in an authoritative position, who made up arbitrary "rules" as the game went along. Disagreement is not the same as disobedience.Now be

The boy should not have walked out of his board and quit over an earring. But Semper, I have to disagree with you on the rest of your post. Per the Boy Scout Handbook, Obedient is defined as "A Scout follows the rules of his family, school, and troop. He obeys the laws of his community and country. If he thinks these rules and laws are unfair, he tries to have them changed in an orderly manner rather than disobeying them." I don't see where Obedience means that a scout should blindly follow the arbitrary orders of an adult that the child may or may not know (or trust) as a leader. To say that

Yes, and up to the point where said leader had blue hair, I had successfully reasoned with a certain young man to NOT dye his black hair flourescent orange because he was in a leadership position. I acquiesced and told him he could. As of this writing, he hasn't done it because he doesn't want to pay for the supplies. Adolescents (even grownups acting like them) need to make their individuality known. Hair will grow out, the piercing hole in the ear (or nose, or tongue, or ______) will close, and if we do our jobs as adults, they will go on to be great leaders despite the fact that they

One of our former scoutmasters, still active with the Venture Crew, wears an earring. One of the current ASMs wears an earring. Several of the boys have long hair. My question would be, "where does it say that wearing an earring disqualifies you from sitting in a board because you're 'out of uniform'?" I would REALLY hope that none of the boys in our troop would come with facial piercings. But if they did, then barring any written rules, I would let them sit for their board. I might make light of the piercings - I'm known for speaking my mind - but it isn't my place to make up rules. I am sad

Meals for weekly campouts is about the only thing a scout can't spend their Scout Bucks on. The way we handle that is that every boy going gives $10 (cash) to the grubmaster. It's up to the grubmaster to stay within budget or pay the difference.

Thanks, Eagle.One more thing: In our troop, Scout Bucks can be used to pay for more than just activities. The money can be used to pay for gear, too.

Our troop uses individual accounts. For fundraisers that require selling, the scouts get a percentage of what they sell. For the group fundraisers, the boys don't get commission (garage sale, for an example). Most, but not all, of the families in our troop can afford to send their scouts to most of the activities. Whether they can afford it or not isn't the whole picture for a boy to have an individual account. I think that your SM and ASM are missing a great opportunity to let the boys learn to "pay their own way," plus many, many other life lessons. I'll use my son as an example. Every year

Eric, I don't think you are overreacting by being annoyed. That's just something that happens - we're human and we have emotions. I would ask myself, though, if holding onto that annoyance is making a difference in the world - either to you, to John, or to anybody else. It probably isn't. What DOES make a difference in the world is that YOU live the scout law on a daily basis. You undoubtably gave John some food for thought, and although he may not have "gotten it" right then and there, hopefully he will think twice before he speaks unkind words next time. And maybe - just maybe - as he matu

Don't forget to make it a game and make it fun! My son is a den chief for Webelos, but didn't do knots. Instead, he made a game of "concentration" with pictures of the scout sign, scout salute, scout handshake, and the scout motto and slogan. He got credit for teaching AND for supplying a game (one of your requirements for Den Chief). I agree with the others that if you are weak on knots, you should teach them. We learn to do what we must teach. I would suggest learning a couple of the knots, then make a game of it to make it fun. Chances are, if you are frustrated, they will be, too, b

I read this article a few days ago when our CC sent it out. I had hoped it would end up here. Thanks Trevorum. I would honestly have a fit if some judge ordered a youth offender to "serve time" in my son's troop. BSA has tried and true methods for helping WILLING boys grow into honest, responsible young men. ORDERING a youth offender to serve time in a troop is nothing more than a social experiment that could damage the scouting program in the troop. Negative attitudes are contagious. Unless the judge himself is the SM and has court officers as his ASMs, and all of the adjudicated youth

Our troop doesn't use them, but I think awarding them would be a fun addition to our parents' night activities at the end of summer camp!

Way to go! I hope that he takes the training and becomes a great ASM. Maybe he really didn't know that he was supposed to go through certain channels, so you handled it well, likely without embarassing him or anything. Bug

The problem with having to conduct the merit badge sessions with another scout in addition to your own son is that you have to find another scout that wants to do that merit badge! For example - I personally don't want my son to earn any of the Citizenship badges at camp (or merit badge university) because I don't have faith that they are truly covering everything adequately; I don't want my son to "earn" them as "gimme" merit badges. However, a lot of the other boys DO earn their Citizenship badges at camp - they know it's easier! Another example is some of the harder non-Eagle required merit