Twocubdad

Richard B -- Being in the risk management business, maybe you can put this baby to bed by sharing some of the findings of BSA's risk analysis of squirt guns? How many injuries and deaths occurring annually are attributed to squirt gun use during Scout activities? What is the cost to the BSA of these deaths and injuries? What are the most common injuries caused by squirt gun use? I'm also curious about this flaming marshmallow idea. How do you get a burning marshmallow through a PVC tube? How many instances of flaming marshmallow guns has been reported to BSA? I'll assume the most common injuries are burst eardrums trying to blow a hot, stick hunk of marshmallow through a PVC pipe. Here's my guess (and no, I'm not expecting a reply): The H&S guys at national think this is just as goofy as the rest of us do. The policy, which Click23 posts, doesn't say jack about squirt guns. It mentions "simulated firearm" then further refines that as paintball or laser tag -- not squirt guns. A ban on squirt guns is just another product of the fertile minds of Scouting bureacrats all over the country, like the bans on sheath knives and open-toed shoes. The BSA policy guys aren't going to get involved in settling this because, 1) the don't have the time, 2) there may be instances where local councils need the flexibility to ban certain things and don't want overly detailed policy to get in the way, and, 3) they assume -- perhaps incorrectly -- the rest of us have IQs above 25.

This isn't security, it's security theater. While TSA is still sniffing grannie's sneakers, a high school JrROTC student breaches security and manages to stowaway in the wheel well of a jet. An airport employee uses his work credentials from one airport to waltz through security and stowaway on a plane at another airport. The terrorist -- and hopefully TSA -- are already working three generations ahead of anything you or I see at the airport. Pack -- Tell your students to forget the special effects, just go ahead and wet themselves. But let me know if you're flying through Columbia. Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -- Poor Richard

Are you saying the Scout still has the work and can show it to the new counselor? If so, then I see no problem with the new counselor. If not, and he's just going on the Scout's word that he completed the requirments, then I'd say no. It doesn't bother me that the Scout did the work prior to the new counselor registering. That's not the Scout's fault. And especially so since he was working with a counselor. Had the Scout NOT been working with the old counselor, I'm less excited about it, but I would say it's the new counselor's call. We generally try to discourage Scouts from starting a badge before meeting with the counselor. One purpose of the counselor is to work with the Scout to teach him the topic. It's not much of a learning experience if the Scout completes all the work, then just dumps a lot of paperwork on the counseor and says, here, sign this. Even if the badge is something simple, like a crafts badge, a counselor should be bringing something to the table.

BP- Didn't we agree on something else in the last week or two? Gee, one of us must be getting soft-headed. This is square on the SM. Just say no. Don't sign the dang blue card. I catch crap annually from parents (rarely Scouts) because I refuse to allow our Scouts to earn required MBs at camp, save Swimming, Camping and EnviroSci. So be it. The next troop down the road hands these out like halloween candy. I'll be glad to help with your transfer application. Still, MB classes at our council camp run until 4:00 every afternoon, leaving only one hour for "free" time -- it's not really free, you still have to sign up for the few available slots. Run from the last MB class, run back to your campsite to change into uniform, run to dinner. Too much like work. And doesn't leave room for the laid-back, "hey, let's go swimming" freedom summer camp ought to be all about. Our camp director tries to be accommodating, but the bottom line is that all the camp facilities are tied up with classes until 4:00. We can conduct our on troop activities if we hold our Scouts out of afternoon classes, but #1) swimming, shooting, climbing, etc. are out and, #2) why are we paying for camp if we're running our own activities? Unfortunately, the angry mob of Scoutmasters is clammoring for more and more merit badges, not less. Three years ago MB classes were in the mornings only -- all afternoon was open time to explore different program areas as kids saw fit (or not). The council camp a couple over, which offered wall-to-wall MBs was eating our lunch. Since our camp has given the Scouts the opportunity to earn 6 or 7 MBs, attendance has picked up considerably. Parents see a half-dozen MBs as "getting their money's worth"; Scoutmasters just don't want to have to be responsible for program. Oh well. Which leaves us curmudgeons standing the wall. It takes some effort, but we put on a good troop program for our boys. And it works -- very low drop off in camp attendance among our older Scouts. This week out Philmont crew gets home about midnight Saturday. Six of the eight guys are turning around and going to summer camp with the troop at noon Sunday. They really want to go to camp! As I type this, I have a pile of carving tools next to me waiting to be sharpened before camp next week. More than half the guys in the troop will work on a carving project during camp (although few will earn the MB). I have a notebook with all the Whittlin' Jim projects for inspiration. Another ASM is all over leatherwork and hauls several thousand dollars of troop-owned leather work tools to camp for the same purpose. Our hang out and play cards day and night (some stupid game called "kemp" and another called "BS"). Most nights someone will throw on a cobbler or slice a couple cold melons. over the years we've spent considerable time and money working on our regular campsite to make it comfortable and conducive to spending time with your buddies. That's real summer camp. Just hanging out with your mates.

I have parents who would be drooling for their Scout to go. Have at it. Hope your new Scoutmaster will sign the blue cards.

For who? The kids? Then no, I don't think most Scouts see much of the additional requirements. For the adults? Yes. Seems like the bar keeps getting higher and higher. We've had an ASM who has been trying to get the proper certification as a climbing instructor to be able to take the troop climbing. Seems now (and I say "seems" because it's hard to get a straight answer) all his efforts will only allow us to use the climbing wall at camp. We have an annual canoe trip that's big hit with the Scouts. Seems now (again "seems") we're going to have to send someone to aquatics school to continue the trips. I think we're becoming more and more like the Girl Scouts in this respect. Before the boys can use a pocket knife, the leaders will have to take pocket knife training. Before they can build a fire, someone will have to have campfire training. Eventually that's going to trickle down to the boys. "Sorry guys, my Dutch oven certificate has expired. Ya like PopTarts dontcha?"

I don't know how you play this "game" without taking posts at face value. If we only respond to posts where all sides of an issue are fairly aired, it's going to get really quiet. It's exceedingly rare that we ever have two sides to the same story. Seems like back in the fall someone wrote in complaining about something with their district or council and someone else involved in the story recognized to story and wrote in. As I recall, that got fairly hairy. This ain't The Peoples' Court. We don't get to question both sides. If someone wants to spin or fudge the story in their own interest, we have no idea. Of course if you are sincerely interested in getting good advice, twisting the story won't help. Beavah is usually pretty good about reminding us we should give the Scouters on the other side of the story the benefit of the doubt that they are also trying to do what is best for the Scouts. That's valuable. Of course everyone plays hypotheticals all over the place. While it may not be The Peoples' Court, it is sorta like Dr. Phil. It's not so much about solving individual problems, as it is the educational value of exploring and discussing a particular issue. Keep in mind that while there are only a few dozen regular posters here, there are usually +/- a thousand active users reading along. In the parent thread, if Calvin is a troll I really don't care. Honestly, I can't imagine how anyone would get a kick out of making up Board of Review problems and waiting for a reply. Maybe in the politics fourm.... Still, I don't care. I would rather take his post at face value and spend the time trying to help a Scout than not. If you don't think something is legit, ignore it. (By the way, I'm really a 26-year-old hair stylist. Single, no kids, Cub Scouts or otherwise. I've been maintaining the ruse of being a Scout leader with two sons for 10 years now. Boy are you guys chumps.) (No, no wait. Actually my real name is Bob Mazucca and boy are some of you in trouble. You should be looking for a certified letter regarding your membership status any day now.)

You guys are a bunch of jackasses. It used to be a convention of this forum that we treated posts from virtual Scouts with the same courtesy we would show an actual youth wandering up to the adult campfire. Instead we call him names, use his question to saw on our favorite logs and devolve into the usual arguments among ourselves. Do we need to remind ourselves why we're here? * * * * * * * * * * * Calvin, if you're still reading I promised you a full answer and here it is: As others have noted, there is no such policy. In fact, there is no national requirement that you even own a Scout uniform at all. [NJ -- you're asking for us to disprove a negative. Can you provide a policy which requires uniforms?] There are many economically disadvantaged Scouts and troops who operate great Scout programs without a uniform in site. Certainly there is no requirement that the badge be sewn on. Badge Magic works. You can even just iron the snot out of most badges and the plastic coating on the back works like hot-melt glue (but I don't recommend that). I've worn badges using velcro, I've even stapled some on in a pinch. Troop tradition and policy is another matter. Our troop is a full uniform troop -- hat, necker, shirt, belt, pants, socks. The expectation is guys going for a BOR arrive wearing their merit badge sash, any special awards (like medals and cords), dress shoes and make a special effort to have their uniform looking sharpe. But if they don't, they're not going to be declined. I've seen some of the older Scouts do an "intervention" on a younger guy going up for a board where they'll start grabbing hats or neckers out of lost and found, take a belt off another kid, maybe staple the right patches on a guy's uniform. It makes the point of what the troop expects, but does so in a very positive and helpful way. Personally, I think your review board was over the line. As Scoutmaster, I'd be having a discussion with the troop committee chairman and the advancement chairman about what is important. The method of afixing badges isn't. If the board of review members were being more Scout-like, they would have helped you find a needle and thread and help you sew the patch on while they proceeded with the board. That's the example of servant leadership I'd like to see from adult Scouters. Since you're asking about policy, your review board should have explained to you why you were being declined for advancement and what you needed to do to pass. They apparently did that. However, they should have also given you the procedure for appealing their decision to the next level. But that brings me back to my question to you: what do you plan to do with the information? Clearly, one route is to sew the patch on and reschedule the board -- "go along, to get along" as someone said. Honestly, that's not a bad approach in this situation. Honestly, I don't think this is a hill I'd be willing to die on. Or you could appeal the board's decision to the full troop committee or even the district, council or national advancement committee. Sooner or later you will win. SOMEONE will arrive at the correct answer which should be in your favor. But consider the costs. It takes a lot of time, effort and heartache to go through an appeal, for both you and the troop leaders. How many bridges will you burn in the process? Are these the folks you are counting on to help see you through Eagle? Are these the folks who have already devoted a great deal of time and effort to you and the troop? You can run the math and reach your own conclusion. But here's my best Scoutmasterly advice. Take the middle road. Sew the patch on and reschedule your Board of Review. Have your uniformed professionally cleaned and pressed. Polish you shoes. Study all the stuff they may ask you about. Show up for the board and rock their world. After you've earned Life and SEWN IT ON, find a quiet time to sit down with your Scoutmaster or maybe the troop committee chairman. Summer camp should be full of opportunities. Very politely and dispassionately ask him or her how this policy came about. Make your case -- it's a rather petty thing to deny someone a BOR over, it wastes a lot of folk's time, it's embarassing for a Scout to be turned down for a rank, and it is contrary to national BSA policy. Listen to what he/she says. Ask if this is something you should bring up before the PLC or maybe even the troop committee. As some point, maybe you will effect a change in the troop. Or maybe you will come to the point you need to just drop it. But in the process keep it Friendly, Courteous, Loyal and Scout-like. Good luck to you.(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

Calvin, Before anyone answers one way or the other, can I ask you a question? (And I promise you'll have your question answered fully.) How will the answer to your question affect how you conduct yourself? What are you going to do with the information.

Not with a ten-foot pole. Tent flaps stay closed, the rest is between you and your tent mate.

So when dad says no, ask mom. What could go wrong with that?

"I counseled the lad...." "I spent time with him...." What are these strange things of which you speak? Projects here are left at the entrance to the cave, pulled in by a boney hand, then spit back out some time later. No mere Scout dare approach the beast.

Since he has "verified" this with the UC, it should be easy for him to provide you with the written documents they referenced. Absent some compelling need for confidentiality os some extraordinary situation, I can't see why you would exclude an otherwise active and involved parent and leader from a committee meeting. Yes, there is some separation between the committee and scoutmaster side of the organization. ASM, for example, don't sit on boards of review. But for heaven's sake, this is a volunteer organization. Why on earth would exclude any interested volunteer from participating? Don't you want to encourage involvement?

Blancmange -- Unfortunately, most kids don't want to do that. They're afraid they're going to "risk" getting their Eagle of they rock the boat. My own son was absolutely screw on his Eagle project. I strongly encouraged him to appeal but he would not. Easier to comply and develop a second project. (For those of you who may be thinking my problem with the ESLP review process may be a personal thing because of my son's problem, that's a good questions. In fact, our Scout Exec asked me that very question when I went to talk to him about the problem. And as I told him, "You're D**N RIGHT it's personal. I take it personally when anyone does any of the boys in my troop wrong." But thanks for asking.) Even worse, appeals don't really have any long-term good. There have been appeals that this boilerplate is added requirements and National found for the Scouts. But the bull simply become "optional" and we get the speech that they "ought to" do include the junk because it's only there to make the review process easier. They fly under the radar for awhile and eventually the "optional" part fades away again. Problem is the fox is minding the henhouse. National doesn't follow through on the appeals. And no one, other than the advancement committee folks (which is generally the same guys as the project review committee), know anything about them. Everything I know is second hand. I'm not privvy to other folks appeals. I don't think these guys are as machiavellian as this makes them sound. They're mostly good guys and trying to do a job. But they've defined that job as making sure all ESLP's are equal and no one "gets away" with anything. Consequently all project in the council are reviewed by the same committee, 20 a month on average, sometimes 40 or 50. That's a huge job. So they're creating a lot of red tape trying to deal with a monster they've created. They're doing what bureaucracies do -- create more bureauracy to deal with the bureauracy.

A few questions -- Who is going to refund their money? The camp? Good luck with that. Did they get nothing else out of camp? No other value other than BSA lifeguard? they didn't hang out with their friends or any other camp stuff? How old are the boys? If they are almost 15 can they not get the certifications when they turn 15? Did they not complete Lifesaving MB?

Qwazse -- to my knowledge, our Scouts have never done advancement sign-offs since before I was SM. At one time Troop Instructors may have done some sign offs. However, when I took over, the position of Instructor was greatly abused. Half the guys in the troop were "Instructors" yet none of them ever taught anything it was just a freebie position of responsibility. After trying a number of times but failing to get our instructors to actually instruct something, I basically eliminated the position. Over the last few years, I have asked a couple leaders to re-establish the instructor corps, set up some training sessions and plans to get this up and running, but they have not followed through. Honestly, for me as SM I've had bigger fish to fry.

How does a project "fail"? If the goal is to provide a service to the community, what does failure mean? If your project was to collect 100 winter coats but you only collected 99 is that a failure? 98? If you are organizing volunteers to help work with underprivileged kids what is a failure? Part of the problem is that Eagle projects have come to be viewed the way NASA looks at a moon mission. If success/failure is a big concern, I think you need to rethink your definition of community service. But to your specifics -- if the Scout gets hit by a bus on the way to start his project, tell me who is going to pick it up and complete it for him? If that is the standard, why don't we require a complete line of succession to be listed in the proposal? Of course this is just a nonsense thing adults use to get Scouts to write these insane proposals. Does anyone write proposals this way professionally? I'm sure some professions do, but more likely proposals give general proposals and count on the competence of the folks implementing to proposal to figure out the details. And where in the overall Scouting program do we teach this level of project planning? I'm the counselor for a number of the building trades-oriented merit badges and none of them require detailed materials lists, budget or schedules. And none of them are pre=requisites for an Eagle project anyway. Actually I don't have so much of a problem with the results-oriented details you list. At some point the Scout is going to have to think through this stuff. The thing I tell my Scouts to do is to close their eyes and envision building their project step-by-step, and write out a set of "Tab A into Slot 1" instructions. I have more of a problem with a lot of the "gotcha" stuff our council wants, like how you will get help in case of emergency (duh!), where the bathrooms are located, descriptions of goals and objectives -- we're building picnic tables, what do you thing the goal is? -- and statment of leadership (I tell the boys just to spit back some EDGE boilerplate), etc. It is not uncommon for project proposals here to exceed 30 pages and require 20 or 30 hours of work to complete. One of our ASMs is a Six-Sigma blackbelt instructor. He thinks this is rediculous. I see three issues: 1. Classic bureaucracy. "Good ideas" are constantly added to the requirements but are never allowed to expire. Our council publishes a 40+ item list of "required" details. And we get about the same level of service I've come to expect from the county Building Inspections department. One of the last project proposals we submitted was rejected because the Scout failed to get the beneficiary's signature on the project workbook, despite the fact he had a signed letter from the beneficiary approving the project in the proposal, just not the same signature on the workbook. Turned down, come back next month. Oh, please. 2. A huge bias toward construction-oriented projects. The joke in these parts is that someone on the review committee is in the pressure-treated lumber business. When do boys learn to build picnic tables, gazebos and foot bridges anymore? Shop was eliminated from schools a generation ago. Kids don't know how to build stuff anymore. If you've never build a picnic table, why are you proposing to build five? Our council makes it very difficult to get a pure-service project approved without a tangible end product. 3. Because of #1 and #2, Eagle projects have become incredibly adult-driven. The whole planning process forces Scouts into projects the adults on the committee think are "Eagle Caliber." We never see projects where the boys just go off and do the project, outside of Scouting, as described in the guidelines. Everything is done through the troop with two-deep leadership every step of the way. Our Eagle project committee requires all proposals to include a statement that only adults will use power tools, despite the fact that Scouts are permitted to use power tools generally. So an adult is now in a position where all the final decisions on construction details and process go through him. Much of this is outside what the guideline call for. If councils would simply follow the rules much of this would be eliminated.

That sucks. I believe I'd be knocking on (or down!) someone's door. I'm an old coronet player and over the past month or so have been brushing up on bugle calls. The mind remembers but the lip is unwilling. Actually, other that taps and reveille, I never played anything else as a Scout. I was never officially a Bugler (our SM was a former Marine and it had a bad association for him -- same with campaign hats) so the only time I ever played was at the odd district camporee. The troop now has had a bugler fairly consistently for the past few years. We're between them right now. I will occasionally play To the Color for a flag raising, just to set the bar. Bigbovine, do you or your son play a brass instrument? If not, you've really set up a long putt for yourself. Bugling takes a fairly good trumpet player, usually second or third year. The range on bugle calls is between low C and high G with good control. Learning the calls without the range is going to be difficult. Public Service Announcement -- anyone with a good bugler should encourage them to register with Bugles Across America -- www.buglesacrossamerica.org . They are a non-profit organization which provides buglers to play at the funerals of U.S. veterans and other events. Once you're registered, when a request comes in, you will get an automatic email request to play. You only respond to the email if you can fill the request. That's a really great way for a Scout bugler to provide a community service.

Um, we're talking about the boy's grandfather and aunt. I'm assuming the boy is spending time with family for the summer? I don't believe youth protection requires the boy to go find a buddy every time grandpa pulls out his bugle. My nine-year-old nephew is spending the week with us. If we want to spend some time working on his Webelos stuff do I have to go find another adult to sit in? Parent or guardian is always the exception to the two-deep rule.

I think it's easier to post what our adults do. On routine campouts, the adults camp and eat separately from the Scout patrols. On campouts where logistics limit facilities or gear, the adults split up and eat as guests of the patrols (the patrols do everything, the adults just show up in their patrol sites in time to eat.) The patrols are on their own otherwise. Adults will handle things like reservations for outings to commercial facilities or parks. The Scouts handle reservations at council-owned camps or places we go frequently. (The results of that are a bit fiffy, which is why adults handle reservations at places not accustomed to dealing with Scouts. I occassionally have the Camp Ranger call me asking for clarification.) Adults handle all finances, except for paying for patrol food on campouts. The patrol grub master is responsible for buying the food, figuring the per person cost and collecting the money. We have a big troop. The total troop fee for summer camp is over $11,000. The expenses for our Philmont crew (which flew out yesterday moring,) is almost $20,000. With numbers like that, we need someone who knows what they're doing keeping the books -- and it for dang sure ain't me. Adults do most all sign=offs and process all advancement. But we're nibbling away at that. There are a few Scouts who are authorized to do sign-offs, but it's an individual decision, no a blanket "everyone can sign=off on lower ranks" sort of thing. Only adults enter advancement data into TroopMaster or process adv. reports or the like. The troop scribe has access to TM for the purpose of entering attendance. That's been VERY weak and until someone steps up, I don't see adding to that responsibility changing. The youth Quartermaster is responsible for all troop gear, along with the patrol quartermasters. We also have an ASM-Quartermaster who pushes that along. Like Scribe, we have good QMs and weaker QMs. The ASM tries to work through the Scouts, but he has a breaking point and when the storeroom gets to the point he can't get in the door, he'll lower the boom and have all the youth QMs show up for a work day. One development which I'm really excited over is that out two most recent SPLs, (outgoing and immmediately past) are going to be our first functioning JASMs. They are going to take on responsibilities as mentors for the Scribe and QM -- sort of buffers between the youth and adults in those positions. These two guys both served in these positions respectively and both did a bang-up job. I'm looking forward to how that is going to work out. Other than that, the program side of things is basically youth run. The PLC decides on monthly program themes and puts the programs together. We do encourage them to involve adults with a particular expertise in the instruction part of the program, depending on subject. We recently had a month on fire safety and one of the ASPLs arranged with the local FD to do teach the program. The new scout program is run by an ASPL and the troop guides. I sit in on planning sessions where we decide what topics to cover, but then it's up to the ASPL and TGs to execute. We're trying something new and basing the instruction around upcoming activities not advancement. For example, last month we went backpacking, so all the instruction for the new scouts was built around packing and hiking stuff. In years past we just started with the first Tenderfoot requirements and worked through. Consequently, I'm a little more involved in the planning. The PLC decides where we go camping and what the major activities will be. Occasionally, if we have some special trip, the adults will get involved in the planning (usually over my objections, but you know how that goes.) Some things are on auto-pilot and don't require adult or youth decision making. We always go to week two of summer camp and so far always go in council. We try to keep monthly campouts on the first full weekend of each month, just to make planning easy. November is always the campout with the Webelos, Troop JLT is always the weekend before school starts, stuff like that. There's a balance between Scout led and Scout led off into a ditch. A Scout trying to teach fire safety would likely been boring. What expertise does and 15-year-old bring to the table? Having the local fire department involved meant we got to blow stuff up and everyone took turns at the business end of a 2-inch fire hose. If the occassional over-the-top, big-deal trip comes at the cost of having over-involved adults, that's a reasonable price to pay if it keeps the Scouts excited, interested and involved. I think we've found a good balance for our troop.

As a related topic, sometimes we all need to think of a larger impact. Thus if "I" (or other H&S volunteers) can participate here and on a couple other forums then the hope is to keep the misinfo to a minimum. Amen to that! But still, I wouldn't think 1% to 3% of membership is a particularly big number. Not if it causes problems, albeit minor, for the other 2.5 million or so members. The camp I served as director had two forms, the standard BSA medical form and an application. Over a couple years, we combined the two by adding the couple bits of additional info we needed to collect to the medical form. Basically, we did exactly what this is doing, but only for our 300 campers. Since then, we've been told we cannot make any changes to the medical form so the camp has gone back to two forms. If local/state regulations require units/camps to collect this authorized release information, let the local councils make their own modifications or better yet simply add a line "Required only in X and Y states." to the authorization. The way this is included on the forms now, it is REQUIRED to be completed (or what? If I don't include who to release him to, do you just keep him? Reminds me of the man in the song stuck on the MTA. Too bad my older son just aged out. His first college tutition payment.) Again, I believe asking for this information from all families creates an expectation (or maybe an assumption) that all units and activities are set up to control to whom Scouts are released. Something which is not addressed in the FAQ. (This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

Hi, Richard; I teach a section of Cub Scout day camp at NCS, was a day camp director for years and still do appraisal for our council, so I've been through a number of different camper security plans. If these authorizations were added to medical forms to accommodate day camps, it seems to me to be a solution in search of a problem. Day camps collect a fair amount of other info not on the medical form - t-shirt size, for example -- with no problem. Camps seem to be managing pretty well with out it. Adding stuff like this and photo releases to the medical forms has the unintended consequence of creating an expectation among parents that everyone is paying attention to this just because it's on the form. So now, while 90% of the parents in our troop have the good sense to know we're not going to check their 17-y.o. out at the end of a troop meeting the way we did when they were at day camp, there are still the few who will hold the troop's feet to the fire when their teen-aged son goes home with his girlfriend after a troop meeting. They're solving a very narrow problem with a solution with huge unintended consequences. And by the way, I would like to add my appreciation to you for your willingness to post here and participate. It's nice to know someone is listening.

Since being accused earlier of playing the guilt card I've bit my lip and stayed out of this. But I can't stand it anymore. Other than just giving you your way, rraffalo, I don't know what more the CC can do. When he found out about you plan he immediately told you it may be a problem and confirmed that a week later. He has been consistent and within his authority. Now, because you won't step up and fulfill your commitment to the crew, HE has stepped up to the plate and is going on the trip. And you're worried that's going to be uncomfortable. Gosh, and your comfort is what's important, right? Instead of complying with the wishes of the head of your organization, you've spent the last month sawing on his limb, filing a "draft" tour plan with council knowing the unit wouldn't approve. Committee Chairman won't sign off on your plan it's because he's on a power trip and is just lying anyway. Now you want to get him fired and take over as CC yourself. And if that doesn't work you'll get a new COR and move the troop to another CO if need be. You seem perfectly willing to burn the troop to the ground to get your way. And make no mistake about it, that is the direction you are taking the troop. I thought a line of yours was especially telling. "In the end, I'm willing to miss this trip with my son if they keep pushing .... But, I'm going to push them to go so far as to have to remove me." In the first place, this isn't a lad-dad trip with your son. You are the advisor of a crew of six Scouts and responsible to and for all of them. And instead of doing what's best for the crew, you continue with your scorched-earth approach and will force them to go through the aggrevation of removing. Hope you enjoy the trip to Seabase, dude, because it would be the last one you take in our troop.

All the day camps with which I'm familiar work this way. Typically at the end of the day there's a line of cars with parents holding relatively unique plackards with the names of the kids they are to pick up. Usually a parent is given the plackard for their child and who they give it to from there is their business. Staff calls the names on the plackards and the boys get in the car. But who does this at the troop level. Honestly,when we break the circle at the end of the Scoutmaster's Benediction, 40 or 50 Scouts fly out three different doors into the night. I have no friggin' clue who they're going home with. If a parent is concerned that their son tries to go home with someone else, shouldn't that parent be at the meeting in time to ensure that doesn't happen? If there is a restraining order against one parent and that parent tries to remove a Scout from an event early, shouldn't the Scout be the one saying, "I'm not allowed to go home with this person?" I question why this is now a troop responsibility?

Technology is great. Over the past few years coverage has improved to the point that we have cell phone service just about everywhere at camp. So phones have become reliable for emergency communications. Our SPL can tweet or text-blast everyone in the troop so we no longer have to rely on bugle calls or the really crappy PA system the camp used to use. The I-pad star gazer app is incredible. It even shows you stars visible from the other side of the planet or those obscured by the glare of the sun, so no more laying in the wet grass with your buddies listening to some old geezer drone on and on about constellations or the mythology behind them. And let's face it -- campfire skits suck. It's the same thing over and over, most kids mumble or talk to their shoes. There's no way that can compete with a real good movie. And with BluRay.... And music? Have you listened to these kids sing? T-U-N-I-N-G!!! Why listen to the catawailing when I can listen to the music I want any time I like. I've got a great set of Bose noise-cancelling ear plugs which serve the added purpose of blocking out all these yacking kid and that love-sick whip-o-will that goes on all night. Isn't this the summer for the periodic cicadas? Lord, that will be a racket. A couple families in the troop have really nice fifth wheel campers, so we're pulling the up to camp too. AC, hot showers, memory foam mattresses, X-box, you name it. I don't care if I ever sleep in a wall tent again. * * * * * * * Look, the whole program is a contrivance. Nearly all these kids have decent, dry, warm in the winter/cool in the summer homes with indoor plumbing. There is a purpose behind taking them out of those homes, ploping them down in the woods with six or eight other guys and telling them to make due. I don't think that purpose needs to be restated here. I don't buy the argument that mobile communication has become part of these boys' culture. Air conditioning flush toilets has been a part of my culture longer than cell phones have been in theirs. And I can make a pretty good argument that AC and sanitary sewer is more of a health and safety issue than universal 911 service. If I can give hot showers, indoor plumbing and my Sealy Posturpedic for a week, kids can give up cell phones. If technology is so all-pervasive in your life, stay home!