Krampus

A friend of mine in Texas said her Council had the first of three meetings last night on the issue. They invited unit leaders, CCs and CORs. Was attended by 200+ people she said. BSA had national and Council folks present. It was an open forum to discuss the resolution and how units/COs felt. According to her the people there were overwhelmingly against any change in policy. The Council folks revealed that much of the feedback they had received was going that direction too. They are having two more meetings this week to reach the rest of the Council. She was in the "urban" area so the suburbs

You miss my point entirely. I was address Asperbergers and folks dismissing the boys as "those kids" or even the offensive post title "not right in the head". No where did I say that volunteers getting trained will solve the problem. What I said was 1) you don't simply dismiss kids with autism, aspergers, ADD or ADHD as head cases that are always going to be problems, 2) many times dealing with such kids may take a bit of patience and understanding...just like dealing with ANY Scout can be. If you recall, my response was speficially to those folks saying it was too much effort or they were

@ScoutNut...sorry mate, but when I read "One wonders, Krampus, how you missed looking at the Insignia Guide when pondering where to where official insignia?" I read that as pendantic and condescending. If meant otherwise might I suggest checking the sarcasm when someone asks an honest question which, to that point, had not been give the complete answer you gave. You provided what I was looking for and for that I am grateful. I could have done without the sarcasm...especially since if one does search for such things you can find 2-3 documents from BSA which leave out the very important part you

Like I said, it was a "tradition" long before I got to troop, along with how it (MB sash) if the OA sash is worn with it. Seems to be regional because we are not the only troop doing it. I have been trying to gather the correct policy to change the way we do this. While it can look sharp, if it is not standard then we should not wear it. Though I profess that many of the folks who tend to think they wear the uniform properly have all sorts of unofficial, verboten stuff on their shirts as well (shotgun shell awards, Citizenship in the Universe "MB", Scoutmaster MB, etc.).

Gee ScoutNut, could be be any more pedantic? I think you will see above I was actually ASKING if anyone had seen a reference to any BSA regulations. Someone said they had but did not give a citation. Forgive me, but I have seen far too much BS spouted by Scouters over the years to take things on face value, hence my follow-up. All you needed to do is post it kindly and it would have been accepted in turn. BTW, while looking through the BSA sight I did run across one document called Guide to Awards and Insignia only to find after looking more closely at it that it was an "excerpts" doc and n

We insist that if it is worn as such (folded over belt) that it does not extend past the seam of the pocket on traditional pants. And of course these days we have to say that pants are worn around your waist and not below you butt line.

So we know that both OA and MB sashes must be worn on the right shoulder. The question is what does the "book" say about how or if you wear both. I cannot find any "book" that says wearing either sash any other way -- or saying prescriptively one way or the other -- is verboten. So what is an Arrowman to do when he wears Class A and wants to display both? If there is no written BSA policy about wearing either sash folded over the belt (as long as it does not look stupid) then the "local option" sounds the right answer.

Thanks. The big issue was that the Scout could not wear the OA sash and the MB sash at the same time, so being both official BSA gear he wanted to wear both in some fashion. As it was an OA event he wore the Vigil sash and flapped the MB sash a la the way he has done since Tenderfoot. ;-) I did not see anything wrong with it, nor did I find anything in my goggling, but wanted to see if anyone else had. I agree the MB sash should be worn for dress events. I personally don't see an issue with Arrowmen wearing thiers flapped over as long as it is done nicely (a la the old flight caps tucked in

When I joined out troop we had a "tradition" of OA guys wearing their MB sash folded over their belt over the right pants leg. At summer camp a few years back one of my Eagle Scouts was dressed down by some SM in another troop as wearing the MB sash inappropriately. Cannot find anywhere in the BSA guidelines that say this method was/wasn't legit. Anyone ever heard of this?

@rdcolv We have one Scouter who is "medicine man" on each camp out. We have a form which parents must fill out by hand noting dosage, medicine, time of day, etc. The meds, even over the counter, must be in originals containers and in a ziploc bag with the Scout's name on it. Every med must have the Scout's name on it and accompanied by the above sheet. The Medicine Man makes morning and evening rounds (or others as needed) with another Scouter. We have each boy's med and health form in a binder we take with us. Guys needing rescue inhalers or epipens are allowed to carry one with them but

Interesting article from a few years back on vBulletin. http://www.apaddedcell.com/goodbye-vbulletin-part-1-reasons-switch

PDL...does your Troop Committee not have operating rules outlining that the Scoutmaster is appointed by, and responsible to the TC? I always say I serve at the pleasure of our TC, the Chair and the CO. I know that it only takes a vote at the TC or a request from the CO that I "step down". I have great relationships with them all, but they can remove me whenever they like. You guys don't have such a process?

@Twocubdad...it's been my experience that even that output is flawed. Our troop mandates all training be done in Nov/Dec prior to our recharter (end of Jan) and we keep back up records in troop master. Why? Because every year when I run the report in myscouting barely 50% of the training that was taken online is updated in this system. If I followed their report I would show half my folks not trained when I know they are. In short, keep back up records. If you don't have troop master try a spreadsheet or Access DB. I never, ever trust council or national. They STILL don't have my records f

My District will help process the paperwork for Cub Leader knots. They are usually pretty good but if you want to walk the paperwork around to get it done faster you can do that too. Our Scout Shop usually did not require the paperwork for the Den Leader knots but did for CM knot. Now with the new knots I cannot say. The shop *is* pretty insistant on the District processing the Boy Scout knots. Brewmeister has it right...if they find it laughable they are silly. Leaders who take the knot requirements seriously are trying to develop a quality program. Of course, I *do* find in funny whe

Talked to our rep. He confirmed it is rounded up to multiples of three. So if 5 scouts you can send 2 adults + SM. If 10 scouts you can send 4 + SM.

I think this is universal. Oddly enough the dads who were Eagle -- or Scouts but never made Eagle -- are the ones NOT dragging Billy over the finish line. We continue to recommend parents let their kids do things themselves (check their email, website, pack their pack, organize,their patrols, etc) but in the end it is a parenting decision. I think parents will either get it or they won't. We try to discuss this during SMCs that the boys need to take ownership of their scouting careers. But more often than not these boys are conditioned to have mom/dad wiping them and don't want to change. So i

[snicker, COBOL layout] Sure are dating yourself. My guess is there are a few JCL programmers here who could fix BSA's problems.

Hmmm, our OA reps are telling us 1 adult for every three Scouts elected (unless one adult is the SM and he is not a member). I guess they are rounding up then if not a multiple of three?

Note: My "swearing" at you was not more than Clarke Gable said in Gone with the Wind. Hardly earth shattering or offensive.

I see no need to fence with you. I owe you nothing and need to explain nothing to you. Suffice that I am a long-time Scouter in a big troop. We likely share many of the same issues, though you seem to like to throw stuff at folks claiming they are some how "rich" or that they come from the other side of the tracks....yet I noticed that you posted once many of your scouts have iPads or smart phones, so you cannot really come from "the hood". Frankly, I don't care. You are an SM, do a good job and you like it. Great! More power to you! My reasons for helping kids like this is because I see so

With all due respect, none of your business. I happen to have several such kids and have seen what happens when someone gives a damn about them. We are all volunteers here and give hundreds of hours every year in the development of these youth. I am certain you have issues that arise in your troop where only a single scout is affected and you handle it accordingly. All I am pointing out is that no one should single ANY kid out as not being worthy of the effort of saving UNLESS they have broken the law OR they are currently seeking professional help and it does not appear to be working. In s

With all due respect, none of your business. I happen to have several such kids and have seen what happens when someone gives a damn about them. We are all volunteers here and give hundreds of hours every year in the development of these youth. I am certain you have issues that arise in your troop where only a single scout is affected and you handle it accordingly. All I am pointing out is that no one should single ANY kid out as not being worthy of the effort of saving UNLESS they have broken the law OR they are currently seeking professional help and it does not appear to be working. In s

@JoeBob: I hear ya. I am in the same boat with an 83 Scout troop. We do high adventure, camp 11-12 times a year and I have not had a summer to myself in I don't know how long. That said, I still go out and get my WFA, EDGE Trainer and all the other training BSA offers but does not require for the good of my boys. I took a special course on how to handle youth with certain mental issues. Not that hard. I don't know your personal situation so maybe this kid falls into the category where the parents don't reign him in and professional help has not helped him either. If that is the case then cu

First off, congratulations on electing six Scouts to OA that allows you to nominate two Scouters. That's a lot of Scouts to send to OA. Well done! For me OA has always been about upholding the ideals of Scouting and camping. As a Scout we used to only nominate those who were the elite campers of our troop. Back then it was a select few who got nominated. Now, like Eagle, it seems we hand this out to anyone. Personally, I would only send someone who met all the requirements (this is required by OA) AND those Scouters who demonstrated exceptional outdoorsmanship and camping. I would not sen

Disagree Dean. We cannot apply adult thought processes to 11-17 year-olds. As adults we have developed thicker skin and we get that teasing and ribbing is a form of bonding. Not all teens get that. Kids are not likely to bring it to anyone's attention either. Many times these kids internalize this stuff that on the face of it looks harmless, only to one day explode. When you think about it there is really no reason for it. Why call a kid "the brain" -- even if meant flatteringly -- when his proper name would do just fine? Case in point: I have two brothers in my troop...one taller than the