Bob White

Then what do you gain by not transfering to the other unit now? There is no such thing as merging the units. You stop being the member of one unit and you join the other. There is no benefit to waiting until recharter time. Rather than look for an odd way to alter the uniform why not just join the other unit?

Mr. Brigs???? Why would they call Jim Phelps, Mr Brigs? You were probably thinking of Mr. Briggs,(Dan Briggs) played by Steven Hill head of the IMF before Peter Graves joined the cast.

I would bet that a lot of folks don't look at the BSA jac-shirt as anything more than an official uniform jacket. I know I never really thought of it as a conversation piece. When you look at all the possible combinations of authorized patches that can go on the official uniform jac-shirt or windbreaker it seems clear that there are several different looks it can have and still be within the uniform allowances set by the BSA. I am relieved rrclark1 that your intention was not to insult anyone. Because when you said that everyone in yourexperience fell into one of two camps, those wh

Eagle92, You have fallen victim to an urban legend. Just because you have seen scouters in the past cover their BSA jac-shirts with patches you have assumed that the uniform regulations allowed it. Please find any evidence, other than the fact that some scouters wore the jacket incorrectly, to show that it was ever an allowed uniforming practice. Besides what "used to be" is past. Today is when rrclark1 is wearing the uniform and today he feels that leaders who set a good example by wearing their uniform correctly are Nazi's. rrclark needs his uniform to be unique for some reason an

Just so you understand unless you are the institutional head of one of the chartering organizations you have no authority to merge the troops. The Charter that allows the unit to exist is between the BSA and the chartering organization and not between the BSA and the Scoutmaster. The assets such as money, equipment etc, belong to the chartering organization and not the troop. While you may want to go to another troop that does not mean that you can take the monney and equiupment with you or that the CO must give up their charter. They are free to find new leadership and new scouts

If by unique you mean how do I tell my jacket from another, I have never had difficulty with taht have you? Usually I know mine because I am the one wearing it. But If I were take it off and place it with other jackets and someone used exactly the same optional patches I used then I have put my name inside the jacket on the name tag that comes already sewn in the jacket. I am curious...Since when does abiding by a program rule make a person a Nazi? Why does your jacket have to be "unique" from all other uniform jackets? Are you special in some way from all other scouters?

John, all the items you list are ways councils obtain the references and all are specifically allowed by the BSA Advancement Policies and Procedures. They are not interpretations, they are stated options from which National gives the council the choice to select from. That was not the topic of the thread. Our discussion was on the use of youth as references, not on the method of collecting the references. (This message has been edited by Bob White)

No district or council person is required to be on the review committee for eoither the Gold or the Silver Award in Venturing. The Crew President and Crew Advisor are instructed to selct a review committee of four to six persons including Ventureres and adults to review the written application and interviwew the Scout. The application is then approved by the crew Advisor and the crew committee chairman and sent to the council office to be recorded. This information is available in the Venturing Leader Handbook and Ventruring Leader Specific Training.

According to the National Scout office once they recieve the application fromm the council is takes an average of 4 to 6 weeks to process the paperwork and return the kit to the Council office. Congratulations to your son.

More importantly, National makes no restriction and the council has no authority to alter that since it is a national policy. What the BSA does recommend is that a counselor stay within a single area of expertise such as a registered nurce could councel any of the healt and medical related merit badges, or teacher could do the scholastic topics, and a lawyer could do the civics related topics, etc. I would expect many councils adopted thes types of local rules because of local abuses, like a scoutmaster who tries to register for all the Eagle Required bages so that he can do them al

Half the group group should quit the unit they are in and transfer to the other unit so that you are one unit and can follow the program as it is designed. All the problems you are trying to solve by doing things incorrectlty would disappear. No new flags, no special patches, just a normal Scout Troop.

Since neither the Council or District is charged with "interoreting" the National advancement requirements and polices but rather for following and enforcing them I would see not reason to seek a verdict on this. Rather, I would follow the request for two additional references, and since it does not state that they miust be from an adult over the age of (fill in the blank), then I would not worry about it. What I would do is counsel the scout how how the right kind of references can enhance an application be it an Eagle Scout application or a job application. The key is to have peop

The pack paid for them. But if your pack doesn't raise enough money then they have to cut something out of the budget. How much do they spend on belt loops a year? What would you prefer they cut from the budget instead? One way to remedy this is in how you fulfill your buidget. How many belt loops on average does a scout earn a year and how many additional boxes of popcorn would each Cub have to sell to afford it. Let's say if on average each cub earned 6 belt loops a year, thats $9.54 per scout or less than the commission from just 2 15-pack boxes of microwave popcorn. Wo

You can check with your coucil's registrar as to whether the contact lists are generated by Scoutnet or not. The BSA does not require a MB counselor to renew their membership annually as long as the council sends them a leter asking if they intend to continue as a councelor, and the counselr agrees. Once the lapse of the list opfr evena year then a new registration is required. BW

I am pretty sure that nowhere in the program does it say that you have to wait until the Scout asks in order to have a scoutmaster's conference with a scout. Nor does the committee have to wait for a scout to ask in ordar to have him come before a board of review. It's just that you have to be sure that he has one of each after all the other requirements for a rank are done before he can advance.

http://www.scouting.org/venturing/training/kodiak.aspx This is a link to a fact sheet regarding the KODIAK course. To lead one at the crew level requires your council's permission. They will then supply you with the training manual. BW

Something to consider is that the exercise you speak of, and the other games just like it, are not abot knowing the right answers to the list,but about the interaction of the group, and the dynamics of decision ,aking in a group. Those excercises are far more about group dynamics that the Game of Life is. Everytime you the play those scenario games with a new group you have new dynamics regardless of knowing the answer to the list. The same is true of the Game of Life. I have played this game with an airplane crash scenario, and forest fire scenario, a lost on the amazon scenario, and eve

Just so the moderators and other posters understand...The worst thing I have said about BadenP is that he "used to be a professional for a few years" a fact he has known made about himself on more than a few occassions. When applicable I have pointed out that according to the resources of the official BSA program, his information was incorrect. Neither his having been a pro, or his information conflicting with the BSA's is my fault nor is it attacking him. BadenP said"I have tried to appeal to Bob civily in the past only to be insulted by him at every turn Well let's review som

Eagle 92 I agree that some scouts might be angry but they are going to be angry at the person who broke the rules and made them do the improper requirements not at the person who steps in to help them. They more likely will be relieved and quite pleased. What do you think would happen if you gave each scout his choice? Tell them they can each choose to either keep doing the extra work or just do the BSA requirements. Which do you suppose they would pick? Doing the wrong thing longer is never a good idea.

First, I don't think ANYBODY on this forum myself included is an expert on the BSA. I maintain the BSA is the expert on the BSA. Second, I am all for sharing ideas unless the idea is to tell people incorrect information about the policies, program, or procedures of the Boy Scouts of America and its programs. Third, You have discounted my experience a number of times, including saying that I have never been a unit leader, which is really kinda whacky considering that you haven't the slightest idea what my scouting background is. Fourth, All I know of your scouting experience is

Printman, Your office person unfortunately is incorrect and is likely going by beliefs built by years of urban legends. While on a national training staff this summer I brought in as a guest presenters Phillip Moore, the Assistant Director of of BSA Insurance and Risk Management, and Richard Bourlon, the Director of BSA Health and Safety Division. We asked them this specific question. Their explanation was that the Local Tour Permit is in no way related to BSA accident insurance coverage. The Local Tour Permiot is a planning tool to help units take appropriate safety planning steps in

"Follow up Bob - does any District or Council folks actually check the names of people that are signing these blue cards as counselors?" That's hard to say. With over 300 councils who can tell for sure what the record keeping process is in each. I can tell you that many councils do not even see the blue cards. They are recording the advancement off of an advancement record done either on-line or as a hard copy. It is only in the case of problem that the blue cards would be asked for and reviewed. Chances are in the case of a scout having a card from a counselor that was approved by

"(If I may suggest, I think what BobWhite misses is that there are two components of law/rules...statute, and precedent. In quotin' statute, he's doin' only da easier half of good jurisprudence. The harder and often more important bit is understandin' precedent, which interprets da laws for particular circumstances. Only taken together are they a system of rules for "program.") " I gotta tell ya Beavah that seems like lot of words just to make more excuses for not having to following the rules

See the problem here isn't about the Method of Advancement it is about improperly changing the requirements for advancement so that the scouts in this troop are forced to do requirements that are different than what the BSA has designed the advancement requirements to be. Beavah suggests changing slowly, so that scouts advancing now have to do the all wrong elemements, and ones who advance, let's say, in 3 months have to do most of the wrong requirements, and scouts who advance in 6 months only have to do half of the wrong requirements, and scouts who adavence in a year only have to do a

You know OGE much of the 'emotion' or 'attitude' read into my posts comes from attitude of the reader. You and I used to exchange some very friendly and supportinve posts when I started. Then posters were allowed to argue their points not based on the elements of the topic but on their personal opinion of me, or FScouter, or Docrwm. And you turned to the darkside. You have been convinced that giving the wrong information with a Boston accent or a questionable but 'professional" background is better than giving the facts from the offical BSA program training and resources. Posters were the