WAKWIB

This is what our council is doing. https://www.hoac-bsa.org/scouts-bsa-all-girl-camping-session-at-bartle-2018-10-05 For context, this will take place for 1 session out of the 5 we have on the reservation. The camp used is 1 of 3 camps on the reservation. They are in relative close proximity to each other. They will share some program areas such as lakefront, shotgun range, climbing tower and COPE course...and probably a couple that aren't coming to mind. So, it's separated, but not so much....

How about a vintage, retro, classic, original red beret! Ugh....

Love how you use the word Mizzou, BTW. Are you a native of my fine state? Scouting flashbacks are the best!

@John-in-KCWell, since our collective wisdom on this forum is having difficulty deciphering what Polaris really is, I would not expect any better from the folks in my group. It's just a worm-can full of wiggly speculation at this point and the admin team is loathe to open up stuff like that. It would be interesting to see the folks at 103rd and Holmes post the Polaris thing to to the official page.....but my guess is that those folks got blindsided by this and are scratching their heads about it and would rather not post something without some understanding and context. As you accurately pointed out, for many folks it's just a page full of buzzwords.

I think you got the gist of the plan. The "three flavors" thing will happen very soon. I have talked with many long-time Scouter friends(a few of them on our Council executive committee) and that is the conclusion they have come to and are preparing for.

Based on reading the Polaris site, https://www.scouting.org/polarismethod/, the focus of this initiative seems to be more toward the offices and employees of BSA. I have a lot of experience with Lean Manufacturing principles as it relates to an actual manufacturing (high-volume printing) environment. When it is properly engaged, it will yield a lot of positive results. However, for every success story, there are many stories of where it didn't work. It's not because the methods are flawed, it's because of the effort it takes. Unless there is real interest and momentum, it never gets beyond the baby-step stage and dies. In the company where I saw it deployed it took close to 5 years to really see the fruit of the effort: A lot of training, a lot of coordinated events, a lot of observation and documentation....etc. I think you get the picture. It requires a complete change in culture and ingrained habits. I could write a small book about how it all works in a physical workflow, where you are moving product from one step to another. But, I really haven't read or heard about how it might work in an office/field service environment. I can certainly see where many of the principles could be applied. One thing for sure, it is NOT a quick process. It will take a lot of time and commitment. So the real question would be, does BSA think this is a quick-fix? Do they have the attention span and patience to see it through and follow all the steps? Believe it on not, Lean Manufacturing is really just glorified. and structured common sense. Can we assume that BSA is truly willing to re-discover common sense?

I took it a couple days ago. Aside from the general clunkiness of myscouting dot org, it was a very good course. It reminded me somewhat of the video we had to watch for training about 15 years ago (YPT was done in a group at district roundtable). Overall, a big improvement over the previous online versions.

My guess is that it's shorthand for Church of Latter Day Saints. Maybe....

This was standard breakfast fare for our adult patrol as well back when I was out with the troop often. I'm sure they are still doing it. Most of the time we cooked it up in a dutch oven. The bonus with that was that you could take the lid off the dutch and put it handle side down on a few coals and it would make a nice griddle to warm your tortilla before loading it. It didn't take long for the more observant scouts to see that our breakfast burritos looked more exciting than cold cereal or pancakes. It became a favorite item for them to make as well.

Obviously, the closing of Philmont for the summer left them with a warehouse full of trail food. Here is the info for those interested in stocking up a bit for personal or troop/crew use. http://www.toothoftimetraders.com/2018-Trail-Meals/2021/Dept

@ItsBrian Congrats on the staff position! The six summers I spent on camp staff (many years ago!) were the best. Give it your best effort, make good friends, and have a great time.

In short, the fire is 25% contained and has affected 36,664 acres. Rains on Sunday slowed it down a bit and gave the firefighters an advantage. However, "fire-weather" is back in play and may cause this thing to continue for a while. People have returned to Cimarron and Philmont, so that is an encouraging sign.

Well, we Scouters have a quaint habit of making complex the simple....and to our credit, can do the reverse. There is a certain class of folks that have been aptly named over the course of time, "Uniform Police." I suggest trying to avoid that lot! 😆

Knowing the BSA, there will probably be a new iteration of the uniforms every three or four years. I suppose if we don't like what's "new," we can just wear the old stuff we got. Maybe the next one will be better.

Re: the original post, many thanks to @The Latin Scot for your informative posts.This was something that needed to happen for the Mormons. They have a large community and a perceived mission to the world that BSA could no longer be a part of. I'm one of those Christians who thinks the LDS is more than a bit heretical, but I applaud their stand on things I have in common with them, and their desire to put their mission first. I do think that many Mormon youth and adults will continue to participate and support Scouting and I'm glad to share that trail with them. BSA will pay a price, but I suspect the notion is that since the organization is pretty much free and clear of most every taint of discrimination, that corporate and individual donors will make up the difference.

The separated troop thing will eventually be just an option. That was the intent from the start. It was just some thing National wanted to kick this off with to make it palatable. Probably within a year or two, it will be announced that you can have single gender or mixed troops. Why they just didn't put that out from the start is just puzzling to me.

That's some good news. One day I hope to visit that sacred ground.

My take on a lot of things pertaining to Scouting is that National can roll out chicken poop, and the volunteers make a delightful chicken salad! I'm actually a bit excited and intrigued as to what the future will bring. I'm blessed to be in a Council with some very talented and dedicated Scouters; many of them I have known since we were kids 40 years ago. If big changes are happening, in my opinion and in my area, this is the best time.

I think a good deal of the reaction is the general public is driven a bit by how the media presented the story. A lot of the headlines came across to me as being hyped. Of course, that is not unusual and Wednesday was sort of a slow news day, so this was a hot topic starting very early in the morning. Perhaps the general public is just not as immune to this subject as me and were shocked. The topic of coed Scouting has been in play since I first started Scouts 47 years ago. When Exploring went coed there was a lot of speculation that Boy Scouts would soon follow. There were Explorer girls working staff or trekking all over the place at Philmont when I went in 1977. We had a coed Troop from Germany stay a session at the camp I worked at every summer. It's been cussed and discussed amongst Scouters on the Internet since the Internet arrived. Honestly, it is very old news to me and many of my peers in my Council. I'm not saying we all embrace the notion, but nothing that happens going forward will be a surprise. Most of us are curious as to how it will play out, and will participate with the goal of helping boys and girls on the Scouting Trail. Many non-scouts and folks who were in it years ago and didn't keep in touch are going to be surprised and that group will be the real active commenters on social media. My thoughts of late have been along the lines of, "What if Scouts would have gone full coed back in the 70's?" I even find myself thinking it would have worked out just fine. It would have just happened without all the social media blather. I think the membership numbers by 2018, would be pretty close to what the membership numbers of 2018 are anyway. Sure, there would be a reactionary backlash , but over time things would have recovered.

https://www.scoutingnewsroom.org/press-releases/scout-me-in/ New branding and stuff and we seem to be in cahoots with some big PR firms. It appears that National ain't messing around.

I know it has to be depressing to see a old familiar camp fade into history, but I don't see it as a tragic thing. The Greater St. Louis Area Council has 7 other camp properties to serve the youth in their area.

I totally agree with @Tampa Turtle. It will be relatively simple to incorporate young ladies into the Order. Most likely every Lodge has adult female Brotherhood and Virgil members who can provide oversight. There is nothing really daunting about the Ordeal that a girl can't handle. If she has met the requirement to be elected, she has all the skills and experience to go through the same Ordeal as the boys. The integration of girls into the ceremonies and functions of the Order of the Arrow, Mic-O-Say, or any other Scouting auxiliary thing is just a case of a few adjustments, logistic considerations, and the direct involvement of adult female leaders keeping an eye on things. Since, for the most part, the operations of these types of things rest in the hands of gifted youth and adult volunteers, I anticipate fine results.

Just follow "the books" and what 100+ years of common Scouting knowledge suggests. In-person training is great but sometimes there is "that one guy" who goes off script with their own theory, or is reading from a defective script.

Maybe the Eagle Scouts in Trump's administration should take him camping. Get the President out in the woods, away from the TV and Twitter. Have a nice campfire with lots of coffee and dutch oven munchies. Around a campfire you can give each other crap and laugh about it. You can also have some really deep conversations that may transform you into being person with empathy and humility. And, if the President causes too much trouble out in the woods, they could always take him on a nice snipe hunt.

By Jove, I think he's got it!