Twocubdad

Just read the Eagle project workbook and, if you really have time to kill, the Guide to Advancement. The only hard part is knowing what parts to ignore.

We're gaining Scouts coming in from units which are folding, but non of that. (Yeah, my first thought was "Cooking is that big a deal") If we did I'd probably find my Scoutmaster conference schedule fill through the end of the year.

Point taken. But cooking over an open fire without pots or utensils is one for the cooler aspects of wilderness survival and one which the boys enjoy. To your point, boiling water in a found plastic bottle is a pretty cool and more practical survival skill. And truth be told, unless you're doing some really remote back country trips, the most practical skill is to make yourself visible to the SAR folks who will be on scene tomorrow morning. But signaling isn't nearly as much fun as building stuff and cooking a burger on a hot rock.

SIMILAR to what the could find.... Yes, there are lean meat, tubers and wild carrots where we camp. Just have to know what to look for. But as a survival exercise, the area isn't enough to support wild food for 25 boys and heaven only knows the paperwork we'd be hit with for offing a bunny.

One we had a dad who flies helicopters for the Marine Reserve teach how to extract a downed pilot. Used a pickup truck for the rescue chopper. That was cool. Our guys mostly like building and staying in the shelters. We often cook by the troop providing the food with the scouts having to improvise cooking gear. We usually give them small sirloin steaks, potatoes, carrots -- things similar to what they could find in the wild.

First principle of LNT is plan ahead. Plan the campout where building shelters is an appropriate use. Not everyplace is a pristine meadow. We have a local farm we camp from time to time where the property owner is fine with us building shelters or just about anything else, short of burning the place down. The part of the farm where we camp has been cut over several times, and part of it has been used as a dump for decades. It's grown over with scrub pine with a lot of invasive shrubs. It's difficult to leave a trace with much short of a D9 Catepillar. I make it sound much worse than it

Renax -- so how much longer are you under contract to the pack? Are the penalties for cancelling the contract early steep? Are there performance clauses? Unless you are Cubmaster, committee chairman or maybe pack outings or camping chairman, you have no obligation to take on all this. Just say no and let the chips fall where they may. Apparently there are 149 other parents who are already doing just that. Read your OP to the Cubmaster and Committee chair. Explain to them that you will be responsible only for your Webelos den. Or better yet, that your den will be going on Webelos de

I like to think the whole program is one big life skills badge. And yeah, ever couple years we have a mom come in a teach how to sew on a patch and hem pants.

And that's a big part of the weekend. The Scout patrols put on some really cool Scout skill demonstrations designed to hook the Webelos (this year one of the patrols is showing how to treat zombie bites -- hint: it's the same as severe bleeding, compound fracture and rabid animal.) Meanwhile, I and the parents stand back and watch Youth Leadership in action. In the afternoon, we send the Scouts and Webelos off on a hike and the ASMs and I conduct a parent orientation with. You know, I suppose I need to count my blessings. While this isn't the example or precedent we want set, one of th

The troop is hosting the Webelos on a campout this weekend at our council camp. This is a big deal for the troop and we go to a lot of trouble to plan a big weekend for both the Webelos and their parents. We make a point that the Webelos camp under Cub Scout camping guidelines which mean they have a parent or guardian with them who is responsible for them. (I know they could also camp as a Webelos den and be supervised by their den leaders, but that's not how we've organized the weekend.) So I find out that several of the Webelos parents have independently contacted the camp and reserve

Absolutely. The quality of the course depends greatly on both the staff and participants. You need enthusiasm and participation from both. A couple of sticks in the mud on either side of the table can really bring a program down. I would go so far as to say that if for some unforeseeable reason I moved to another council, I would retake the course just for the opportunity to meet other Scouters and get the feel for the culture of the new council. Two long weekends at camp with your fellow Scouters. Who wouldn't?

Yeah, that level of blatant dishonesty deserves to be kicked up a rung or two. Dismissal may be steep, but removal from PORs and an extended period of probation under which he is ineligible for advancement is certainly in order. Any SM conferences or non-advancement boards of review need to include the parents. Honestly, how we resolve things like this depends much on the parent's attitude. If we feel as the parents are supporting and working with us, we are much more likely to let them deal with the situation. If mom and dad come in with an attitude it won't go as well.

He be better of training a cat than a girlfriend.

100% of our Eagles have remained in the program ever since they joined. Most, in fact, joined as Tigers, some Wolf. At least one Webelos. Frankly this is the norm, not the exception. I suppose you could present him with a 12-year service star.

Self esteem is over rated. Real character is in the other people and values you hold in high esteem.

Yeah, the comments section there is brutal including a two-page detour into the Mountain Meadow Massacre. Wow. Makes what passes here as "Mormon bashing" seem like a picnic.

Are you currently involved in district operations? If not, I would start there. First, I believe registration for the courses will require the recommendation of your DE or SE. Secondly -- and this especially applies to the training courses -- you need to see where you fit in to the existing training program. Here, at least, serving on the training committee is incredibly political. Someone unilaterally taking national-level courses with the intent of bettering the existing training program would not be well received. Clearly, other districts/councils go begging for folks willing to serve

Now the just give you a jump drive with everything on it. The course syllabus was overhauled about two years ago and sorta shoe-horned into the new camp standards last year. Of course some of the publications which are distributed are updated that often but then some are.

We train our Scouts to deal with distractions. Rule #1: don't let handling the distraction to become a greater distraction than the distraction. We teach a number of passive approaches like "the eye" or walking over and standing next to the guy causing the problem. Other leaders (PLs, ASPLs) who notice the problem can take a more active role like whispering for the guy to knock it off. But the last step is adult involvement. My personal favorite is asking the offending Scout to please step outside, then escorting him to the door and closing it behind him. This sounds like more is

Tables -- Walmart here has folding camp tables which are (guessing) 30x60, but half that is plated steel mesh intended to hold your stove and hot pots and pans. The other half is plenty big for prep work. It's plastic and washes down nicely (but I'm just waiting for someone to put the hot skillet down on the wrong end.) The legs telescope for varying height. They were ballpark $35.

Years ago I built a chuck box for the troop adults. At the time it was supposed to be a prototype for the patrols to try out and modify before building their own. Never got that far. It is basically three vertical compartments. One compartment is the size to two plastic milk crates stacked together -- one holds staples, the other a nest of pots and pan larger utensils. The center compartment holds five plastic shoe boxes -- one is a spice box, one a tool kit, one cleaning supplies, etc.. The end compartment holds everything else -- usually odd shaped stuff like a cast iron skillet, a

So if you're not MC-MS there are Boy Scouts authorities which supersede the local CO in such matters? I don't get this. If there is a need to clarify the policy, fine. I always figure the devil will be in the details of policy shifts such as this. But issue a general policy clarification instead of carving out special territory for special interest groups. A poor method of governance and arguably how we got into this mess in the first place.

Quit worrying about the dang merit badges and go have fun! This ain't Webelos anymore. Boys don't have to get an award at the end of every activity. If a scout wants to earn the merit badge, let him worry about it. Give them the name of a counselor and let the Scout pursue the badge. The rafting trip will be a good conversation starter with the counselor. Our troop does as much or more canoeing/rafting as we do backpacking. I've yet to have a kid mention the MBs on any of the trips. Of course once they've done a couple trips, earning the MB is pretty easy. We try to have one campout pr

If you're making ANY substantive decisions about the operation of your unit base on how it impacts you JTE scores, your priorities are truly out of order.

Sounds like my experience. After spending all morning collecting food, I drove my first two Ordeal members to help the chapter sort food at the collection site. On our way home I cheerfully asked if they had met anyone. No, they said, no one really talked to them, but some idiot in a war bonnet kept yelling at them. I spent two years driving two different Troop OA reps to chapter meetings. They kept volunteering for stuff and never got called. One spoke with every vice chief and advisor trying to volunteer to help out in a support role with the ceremony team. There was always someone