Twocubdad

I certainly don't want to disagree with Blackeagle, but is there any citation for this policy? There is no mention of this in the Insignia Guide.

Flag ettiquette and the BSA Handbook (pg. 44) say that when a flag is hung against a wall (or an arm, in this case), the union is to the observer's left. I would guess that in the military, someone figured out that displaying the flag this way indicates that the wearer is going backwards -- not something the military generally wants to do.

IMHO, the BSA is properly applying the rule, since the flag is being displayed statically, not flying in the breeze.

(All previous disclaimers as to personal opinion, political correctness, and due respect to the military are hereby acknowledged.)

I'm not really following this. See if I've got it. Boy A was forced to drop out because he didn't meet the 1st Class requirement by the proscribed date. His dad also dropped out since his son couldn't go. Boy B signed on, but it was later found he didn't meet the requirements either, but has a plan to meet the requirement before leaving, but beyond the cutoff date given Boy A. Boy A now says he too can meet the requirement if given the same time extension Boy B has. Right?

If I'm working the math right, their should be an empty slot on the 12-man crew formerly occupied by Boy A's dad. I would certainly offer that slot to Boy A.

Boy A's dad is getting the shaft, but that's the lesser evil of dropping one of the Scouts.

While I'll hold off calling anyone a nit wit -- at least for now -- I think Eamonn does have a point. I'm not so concerned about the amount of busy work my DE has, but I am concerned about how much he tries to push down to me. Here's an example:

I'm the new camp director for our district cub day camp. As such I was "invited" to make a presentation at our Council's camp promotion dinner. Having been in the marketing and promotions business at one time (and having been wised-up by the out-going camp director), I asked how many Cub Scouts from my district will be attending the dinner? None. How many of their parents had registered? None. Pack camp coordinators? None. Cubmasters? None. So, I ask, to whom are we promoting summer camp? Answer: the members of the council and districts camping committees. Since I don't anticipate any of these folks will likely register for day camp, I politely declined the invitation.

That's when the full court press began. I got a call from our DE. I got a call from the Field Director. I got another call from the DE whinning that the Field Director (his boss) was going to have to do the presentation for our district since I wouldn't be there. I got a call from our district camping chairman. I got a call from a friend of mine on the district committee. Finally, I got the "we need team players" call from the district commissioner. I finally said uncle despite the fact that not one of these people could adequately answer the question, how does this benefit the boys?

The dinner was just as I expected. (Did I mention it was a three-hour round trip drive on a week night?) Very nice dinner, well done presentations, all of absolutely no benefit to the program or boys.

Through it all, I had the strong suspicion that the reason for all this was that it was simply a box on someone's check list -- probably the Field Director. Or as you guys have now labeled for me, one of his critical achievements.

One of the things we learned at camp school was to evaluate all our camp programs according to how they related to the core values of Cub Scouting. If a program element doesn't advance a core value, we need to modify or drop it.

All I ask is that a similar cost/benefit analysis be applied to the tasks the higher ups -- both professional and volunteer -- send my way.

For a little more advanced stove and project, look at http://wings.interfree.it/

I don't remember if this precise page was posted here or if I found it following another link. Eitherway, the Pepsi can stove is really cool. I made one this weekend just to test it out. It works great -- boils a cup of water in a couple minutes -- but may be a little difficult for a Webelos Craftsman project. I will definitely plan on having a few extra dads to help if we do this as a den project. It's definitely beyond the motor skills of a Cub.

Eamonn, can you please explain what the Critical Achievements are?

I've heard mention that there is a new Youth Protection video either out or on the way. Does anyone know for sure? Maybe the rumor of a new tape was just a misunderstanding in anticipation of the online version? Who knows.

Either way, I need to get a copy to train day camp staffers and want to make sure I'm getting the latest version.

Question 2 -- it has been an article of faith around here that Youth Protection certification is good for only two years, after which you have to re-take the training. I can't find any written reference to this. Do others require bi-annual retraining? Can anyone find a written policy related to this?

OGE is right. But while the COR or Institutional Head has the responsibility and authority to remove a unit leader, I would at least give a "heads up" to my District Executive or Scout Executive. If it hits the fan, you will want their support. Also, if the person has committed some offense for which his/her BSA membership should be revoked, only the Scout Executive can do that.

Good for you for jumping in to help with the den. If half the people who complained about things tried to help solve the problem, there wouldn't be anything to complain about.

I wouldn't do a thing to discourage your son's enthusiasm. What's the down side? Other people think he's an overachiever? So what?

Make sure he's really completing all the requirements and having fun. The only reason I'd worry about pacing him is if you feel like he's running out of something to do. Many of the belt loops are pretty easy to complete. Encourage him to work on the accompanying pins which are much more involved.

The World Conservation Badge is a great thing to go for. Do the conservation project and as many of the electives as appropriate as a den. That way everyone who has the interest to complete the other electives have the opportunity to earn the badge too.

Sounds like you're doing a good job as den leader-to-be by keeping the parents updated with their boy's progress.

Does anyone have an idea/plan for a metalworking project for Webelos Craftsman activity pin? We've done wood, plastic and fabric already.

Perhaps I should have begun my comments with "In my immediate area..."

As a kid, one of the bigger and better troops in my hometown was sponsored by a Baptist church, so I didn't intend my remarks as a blanket statement.

Our CO is both very, very supportive and not terribly active -- best of both worlds, I think. All the ministers at the church are either Eagle Scouts or GS Gold Award. I think their attitude is that as long as the program is running smoothly, they don't need to be involved. Our pack is also fortunate to be in a position that we, too, make a contribution to the church, ususally when we do our charter presentation.

KWC -- having worked with new unit recruitment at the district level, I can tell you your observations are correct. While Baptists churches aren't "anti-Scouting" many feel Scouting will detract from their Ambassador program, or at least duplicate it. We have a number of large Baptist churches we've been trying to crack. Our "nose in the tent flap" is the number of Baptists boys who are already Scouts. We're making some progress, but new unit building can be a long-term process.

Generally, for to teach most courses you must have taken the course you want to teach and have taken the Trainer Development Course, sometimes called Train the Trainer, but that's the older version.

This isn't a difficult course, basically going over in details the elements of a safe swim, qualified supervision, buddy system, skills testing, etc. Someone in your council should be able to offer the class.

According to the book, it can be anyone designated by the local council. Presumably any member of the council training team. SSD teaches swimming safety policy -- no swimming or lifesaving skills are involved.

Assembling care packages for sailors and soldiers was an annual holiday service project for our pack until the military suspended it after 9/11 due to security concerns.

It's a little more work, but we've been able to continue the project the last two Christmases by making contact with units ourselves. A year ago, we worked with the mother of a local guy who had been deployed to Afghanistan. We collected all the stuff and she helped arrange shipping. We just shipped everything to this one guy who got to distribute it to his unit.

This year I made contact with a reserve Col. who put us in touch with an active-duty chaplain. The chaplain then got us the FPO addresses of several units. Unfortunately, both the chaplain and the reserve Col. have been deployed, so I no longer have those contacts.

Right now, it may be tough making those connections, but I think either of those two route will get you there.

asm238, regarding the skits on the web site you reference:

Grey areas? Of the first five skits, one call the "victim" a jerk, one deals with suicide, one with diarrhea, and another includes torturing insects.

And the cup of water is offensive?

NJ -- the requirements for AOL are much more stringent that those for Scout. If the new troop is on the ball, you boys should be able to receive their Scout badge at their first troop meeting. That would make wearing the Webelos badge moot.

Applying the concept of rigid flexibility, I'd cut the guys some slack on getting the insignia updated. Our boys literally crossover on a Monday night then show up for their first troop meeting on Tuesday. Not too many families are going to stay up late Monday night swapping Scout badges. Now if a boy is still wearing his Webelos insignia after six months, it's ask about it. But in that case, what I'd ask is "Why haven't you made Scout, Tenderfoot or Second Class by now?"

Our pack has two rules for skits and jokes: no dead bodies and no bathroom jokes. You will be amazed how much material that eliminates.

I'm not sure where this skit falls. Since it's not actually a "bathroom" joke, they may have us on a technicality. I'd probably let it in.

We have a bunch of skits where the fall guy ends up wearing the punchline. There's the "Worlds Greatest Baseball Pitcher" where the last pitch is a spitball. An my personal favorite, "Waiter, There's a Fly In My Soup" where the Cubmaster is down on all fours, pretending to be a table. The waiter puts a bowl of soup on the "table" and the customer refuses to eat it. Both stomp off in a huff, leaving our CM trying to figure out how to move the bowl without getting doused. We have a cold weather version where the bowl is full of rocks and he only thinks he's going to get wet.

There're a hundred of 'em!

Did anyone rise in defense of the two ladies? If not, I think some response is merited. I wouldn't go after Archie Bunker directly, but I would have someone address the quality of the camp program specifically and the desirability of having women in the program generally.

I'd have the highest ranking volunteer I could find do it -- you know the line, keep a volunteer between you and another volunteer. Your district chairman may be a good one. I know DC's don't normally attend Roundtable, but that may even add weight to his (or her!) giving the talk.

March and April are always poorly attended for us. First of all, we've just lost 20% of the Pack to crossover. Of course you know that logically, but it still makes for a much emptier room. Spring sports take a big bite out of attendance, as does the fact that many boys have already earned their rank for the year and feel as if they can take a break. Numbers are usually up for the picnic and campout in late May.

But don't sweat the numbers, concentrate on the program. If you have a good program, they'll be back. If units, districts and councils were never allowed to know what their total numbers were, I think Scouting would be better for it.

Actually, my one indulgances in life is keeping a neat, clean car. My office on the other hand....

Started Scouts with an old, cheap briefcase to carry to meetings. I soon added a notebook for den records, then another 3-inch notebook for pack stuff. Now that's expanded to the briefcase, two notebooks, two file boxes and one shelf on the bookcase. Two more boxes for day camp stuff and a large tub of den supplies and craft materials. That's not to mention a fairly large pile in the corner which keeps teetering back and forth.

Oh, and three big plastic bins in the garage of camp equipment. And for uniform bits and pieces, three more shoebox-size bins, one for me and each of the boys.

Do I even want to know what I've spent on all this stuff?

Jim, sounds like you're advising a great crew. I don't agree, however, that we can tell the girls "life is unfair, sorry, get over it." I'll echo OGE's comment that Venturing won't be taken seriously as long as the girls, especially former Girl Scouts, are treated as second-class members.

A greater problem I see is that Venturing has just become a "get out of jail free" card in the numbers game. Way too may Crews are registered in name only, just to boost district new recruitment goals. Most of the large troops in my district have paper crews chartered along with them. Typically, the idea is for the troop's Venture Patrol to operate as a crew, but I don't know that any of them do that. The Venture Patrol continues in its former role with the troop without recruiting additional members or going after the Venture advancements. The other trick is to charter an existing group -- an ROTC unit, a church group or school organization -- which continues operating as normal, the only difference is they have a Venture Crew charter hanging on the wall.

I suspect that if the paper crews were discounted, and we could look at the crews which are really following the program (and we have at least one such crew in our area), the numbers for Venturing would not be what we think they are.

Does anyone have an e-mail or web address for the Philmont trading post? I'd like to get a replacement for the belt I got there in '73. I didn't realize leather shrinks so much.....

Back in the day, it was an adults-only evening gathering at camporees, usually with a few quick announcements, but mainly as a time for a snack and a bull session among the adults. I remember as a 16- or 17-year-old JASM, it was a BIG DEAL the first time my SM ask me to come along.

More recently I've heard the term generically used to mean "snacks" as in "which unit is responsible for the cracker barrel at Roundtable this month?"

The Cub Scout and Boy Scout WCA badges are different -- same panda, but different background and border. Cubs' badge is gold background with purple border. Boy Scout version is tan.

A boy can earn both the Cub Scout and Boy Scout award. From that perspective, they are two different awards. What you can't do is earn the award multiple time within the same program. You can't earn it as a Wolf then Bear and again as a Webelos, for example. There are different requirements for each level tied to other requirements. Most boys eventually figure that the Wolf requirements are the easiest to meet, but only after they are Bears or Webelos. I think the Bear requirements are the toughest. Actually, I think they should let the boys earn the badge each year -- what's the harm? Of course they would only wear one badge, but let them wear little Cub Scout devices, like you do when other awards are earned mutiple times.

Since there is only one set of requirements for Boy Scouts, earning the award more that once is really a moot point. As you point out, the Cub Scout badge, regardless of when it is earned, can't be worn as a Boy Scout.