Scouter99

Are you serious right now?

Everything does not have to be strictly a Scout Sponsored Event. However You Must apply BSA Rules They Obtain a Tour Permit prior to Coming They Observe BSA Guidelines I didn't think it was so weird until yesterday

Everything does not have to be strictly a Scout Sponsored Event. However You Must apply BSA Rules They Obtain a Tour Permit prior to Coming They Observe BSA Guidelines Of course, it is "under the auspices" because the unit has made it an event.

We did it 20 yrs ago, but now its hit-or-miss. We used Sterimine tablets when I was a kid ("KILLS HIV!"), when they do a 3rd pan now, it's usually just bleach water.

Actually, an active, involved scout in a decent troop can easily earn the Camping badge in less than 2 years of membership. Our troop camps 2 nights/month most months, an active boy could easily get his 24 nights in 18 months. The biggest speed bump anyone in our troop encounters is the requirement to earn First Class; we don't ramrod them through First Class, so most of them actually have over 30 nights before I introduce the award to them in their second year. I generally introduce it to the scout as soon as he has 24 nights, because at that point the award's requirements are a good roadmap to what MBs to earn (if he's interested in the different badges) just at the point he's going to start earning MBs. The award also has plenty of "built-in shortcuts"--http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/Youth/Awards/NOA.aspx The adventure badge allows for 1 event to be counted multiple times "A single activity that satisfies multiple items in 3a-g may be counted as separate activities at the discretion of the unit leader. Similarly, a single activity that doubles an item in 3a-d may be counted as two activities at the discretion of the unit leader." So, take backpacking: "A backpacking trip lasting three or more days and covering more than 20 miles without food resupply" A single backpacking trip of 6 days covering 40 miles w/o resupply would count as 2 adventure credits. But, I would not call the various other means of multiple credit "shortcuts" they're the requirements as written and badge is still difficult to earn and prestigious. Still, the amount of allowances written into the awards make charmoc's "fudging" ludicrous. blw, your "example" is a non sequitur for this specific award, which clearly states in foolproof language that the activity must be done as part of the scouting program, "under the auspices of the BSA." Then again, as charmoc is demonstrating, nothing is foolproof to the sufficiently talented fool. Charmoc, you are wrong, you are wrong, you are wrong. While spouting about "opinions on this forum" and citing the GtA, you continue to post your own incorrect, ignorant opinion which is in direct contradiction to the BSA Advancement Team's official answer to this question. You are a jester. Chris Hunt of the BSA Advancement Team has answered this question in the plainest language for Scouting Magazine: http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/201...omment-page-1/ "At a Scouting event" and "under the auspices of the BSA" mean the same thing. If you think that going to the swimming pool is "under the auspices of the BSA" then the next time your kid is there by himself, break his arm and file a BSA insurance request if you're so confident you're right. Hiking MB has no language restricting miles hiked to Scouting activities. NOA and Camping MB do. There's no comparison between Hiking MB's requirements. 5. Take five hikes, each on a different day, and each of 10 continuous miles. You may stop for as many short rest periods as needed, as well as one meal, during each hike, but not for an extended period (example: overnight). Prepare a hike plan for each hike.* 6. Take a hike of 20 continuous miles in one day following a hike plan you have prepared. You may stop for as many short rest periods as needed, as well as one meal, but not for an extended period (example: overnight).

Roger that.

I don't mind Camping being less difficult because it whets the appetite and supports all the others. If they get out camping then they're going to earn hiking miles, aquatics hours, riding miles, etc. and that pentagonal patch looks lonely with just one badge on one side, so they're motivated to get going on the others.

Actually, an active, involved scout in a decent troop can easily earn the Camping badge in less than 2 years of membership. Our troop camps 2 nights/month most months, an active boy could easily get his 24 nights in 18 months. The biggest speed bump anyone in our troop encounters is the requirement to earn First Class; we don't ramrod them through First Class, so most of them actually have over 30 nights before I introduce the award to them in their second year. I generally introduce it to the scout as soon as he has 24 nights, because at that point the award's requirements are a good roadmap to what MBs to earn (if he's interested in the different badges) just at the point he's going to start earning MBs. The award also has plenty of "built-in shortcuts"--http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/Youth/Awards/NOA.aspx The adventure badge allows for 1 event to be counted multiple times "A single activity that satisfies multiple items in 3a-g may be counted as separate activities at the discretion of the unit leader. Similarly, a single activity that doubles an item in 3a-d may be counted as two activities at the discretion of the unit leader." So, take backpacking: "A backpacking trip lasting three or more days and covering more than 20 miles without food resupply" A single backpacking trip of 6 days covering 40 miles w/o resupply would count as 2 adventure credits. But, I would not call the various other means of multiple credit "shortcuts" they're the requirements as written and badge is still difficult to earn and prestigious. Still, the amount of allowances written into the awards make charmoc's "fudging" ludicrous. blw, your "example" is a non sequitur for this specific award, which clearly states in foolproof language that the activity must be done as part of the scouting program, "under the auspices of the BSA." Then again, as charmoc is demonstrating, nothing is foolproof to the sufficiently talented fool. Charmoc, you are wrong, you are wrong, you are wrong. While spouting about "opinions on this forum" and citing the GtA, you continue to post your own incorrect, ignorant opinion which is in direct contradiction to the BSA Advancement Team's official answer to this question. You are a jester. Chris Hunt of the BSA Advancement Team has answered this question in the plainest language for Scouting Magazine: http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/201...omment-page-1/ "At a Scouting event" and "under the auspices of the BSA" mean the same thing. If you think that going to the swimming pool is "under the auspices of the BSA" then the next time your kid is there by himself, break his arm and file a BSA insurance request if you're so confident you're right. The answer makes clear that the Camping MB's verbiage "at designated Scouting activities or events." means "under the auspices of the BSA." The two phrases are synonymous. Where NOA says "under the auspices and approval" it might well say ""at designated Scouting activities"; and vice versa. Again, this is very plain. If you think that a boy who happens to be a scout walks somewhere with boots on makes him "hiking under the auspices of BSA", then go ahead and send your boy down the road to the store and sprain his ankle on the way and see how far your BSA insurance claim gets.

Actually, an active, involved scout in a decent troop can easily earn the Camping badge in less than 2 years of membership. Our troop camps 2 nights/month most months, an active boy could easily get his 24 nights in 18 months. The biggest speed bump anyone in our troop encounters is the requirement to earn First Class; we don't ramrod them through First Class, so most of them actually have over 30 nights before I introduce the award to them in their second year. I generally introduce it to the scout as soon as he has 24 nights, because at that point the award's requirements are a good roadmap to what MBs to earn (if he's interested in the different badges) just at the point he's going to start earning MBs. The award also has plenty of "built-in shortcuts"--http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/Youth/Awards/NOA.aspx The adventure badge allows for 1 event to be counted multiple times "A single activity that satisfies multiple items in 3a-g may be counted as separate activities at the discretion of the unit leader. Similarly, a single activity that doubles an item in 3a-d may be counted as two activities at the discretion of the unit leader." So, take backpacking: "A backpacking trip lasting three or more days and covering more than 20 miles without food resupply" A single backpacking trip of 6 days covering 40 miles w/o resupply would count as 2 adventure credits. But, I would not call the various other means of multiple credit "shortcuts" they're the requirements as written and badge is still difficult to earn and prestigious. Still, the amount of allowances written into the awards make charmoc's "fudging" ludicrous. blw, your "example" is a non sequitur for this specific award, which clearly states in foolproof language that the activity must be done as part of the scouting program, "under the auspices of the BSA." Then again, as charmoc is demonstrating, nothing is foolproof to the sufficiently talented fool. Charmoc, you are wrong, you are wrong, you are wrong. While spouting about "opinions on this forum" and citing the GtA, you continue to post your own incorrect, ignorant opinion which is in direct contradiction to the BSA Advancement Team's official answer to this question. You are a jester. Chris Hunt of the BSA Advancement Team has answered this question in the plainest language for Scouting Magazine: http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/201...omment-page-1/ "At a Scouting event" and "under the auspices of the BSA" mean the same thing. If you think that going to the swimming pool is "under the auspices of the BSA" then the next time your kid is there by himself, break his arm and file a BSA insurance request if you're so confident you're right.

I love a partisan--liberal or conservative--so blind that they can't see things that stare them right in the face. California, Illinois, West VA, Colorado, Kentucky, Delaware and Washington, DC have rates as high (and higher in DC and Delaware's cases) as most "Republican" states. Even the idea of "Republican" and "Democrat" states is silly; party platforms are not static, and electorates are not static. 10 years ago Virginia went Bush, now it went Obama; etc etc all over the country. Those "Republican" states that are bright red at the bottom of the map? 40 years ago they were "Democrat" states. What your map shows to anyone with an iota of objectivity is that teen pregnancy rates are not a matter of party politics; in fact, for 8 years of Bush II's presidency, federal policy was abstinence-only and rates continued to fall. What the map shows is that a wide variety of factors effect teen pregnancy rates from race to economic to culture.

Your council probably has the old VHS available for checkout.

The problem with a national campaign is that it depends on units and councils to work. If National spends $XX on TV spots in Townville, but the council isn't able, willing, or interested in facilitating a large influx of new recruits, then all National has done is waste that money and create ill will on the part of the new recruits who fall through the cracks. National has put the money in where they can best spend it, and created a complete marketing package that is available for free to any council that wants to use it: http://www.scouting.org/sitecore/con...ecruiting.aspx This could sound like excuse-making, but take a look at BeAscout.org and put in your own ZIP code. I use it routinely to try and find contact info for troops across the country, but it has almost always not been configured. Free marketing for every unit in the country, but virtually no units are taking advantage of it. Thank you for replying to your own thoughts on the matter, you are now welcome to read what I actually wrote, which did not include any praise for BeAScout.

Put in my order this afternoon, can't wait!

I know the feeling.

What are you talking about? I don't know your kid's name; you're King, that makes him Prince. If I wanted to insult him I would've called him Eugene Dong or Tiny Dong.

The problem with a national campaign is that it depends on units and councils to work. If National spends $XX on TV spots in Townville, but the council isn't able, willing, or interested in facilitating a large influx of new recruits, then all National has done is waste that money and create ill will on the part of the new recruits who fall through the cracks. National has put the money in where they can best spend it, and created a complete marketing package that is available for free to any council that wants to use it: http://www.scouting.org/sitecore/con...ecruiting.aspx This could sound like excuse-making, but take a look at BeAscout.org and put in your own ZIP code. I use it routinely to try and find contact info for troops across the country, but it has almost always not been configured. Free marketing for every unit in the country, but virtually no units are taking advantage of it.

Look, KDD, the meaning of "under the auspices of BSA" is clear: It means on an official patrol, troop, district, council, national, or OA activity. It does not mean every/any time a boy who is a scout touches a horse, bike, boot, tent, or swim trunks. If you want to be cute and count non-scout events, then you might as well count every shower or bath for the next 50 days and mark him off for 25 hours of aquatics time, and have him wear his boots to the mall and count it as hiking. Earning the medal is a great, really cool goal for Prince Ding Dong, but if you're going to fudge it, you make it worth nothing. Regardless of its impact on Prince Ding Dong's ability to earn the NOA, if your troop doesn't meet summers, get on BeAScout.org tonight and find a new troop.

Unfortunately, unlike most awards, they don't just get it when you notice they qualify; they have to fill out the application and take it to the council. So, bring it to their attention, and give them a blank application. Then once some of the other guys see it on their pocket, hopefully they'll want to "kick it up."

JP, while that's true in general, Ding Dong already made it clear that his son is interested in the award; save the speech.

Probably less expensive than earning 2 gold devices in the Adventure badge. The medal only requires Camping, the gold devices in the other badges can be in any two of the remaining 4. So if riding is too expensive, look at aquatics, adventure, or hiking.

Yeah . . . no.

When you're copy/pasting someone else's work, you should post a link.

Our troop has a lot of very special snowflakes, and their parents (for the most part) aren't interested in hearing bad news like "your son hasn't done jack squat despite repeated interventions, we're not signing him off." It's very much a class/economic thing. BD's scout parents are a lot different than my scout parents.

It's great that mom is on board; I would generally have expected her to smack the SM in the back of the head.

For me, it's 6 of one, half-dozen of the other. Ages of consent in European countries range between 13 in Spain, 14 in Germany and Italy, 15 and 16 in Norway, Belgium, Denmark, etc. The early contemporary gay rights platform included removal or lowering of ages of consent, and in Britain gay rights activists continue to push for a lowering from 16 to 14. As we've covered, it wasn't a smart political move for the US gay rights movement to push that issue, so they didn't. Once they get state-level recognition/rights, then they can contemplate a return to their more radical druthers--maybe they will, maybe they won't. The difficulty then will be the change in cultural beliefs about heterosexual young-old relationships. In the past, heterosexuals were routinely engaging in youth-adult relationships while condemning gay men for doing the same because of the perceptions--gay sex feminizes the boy. But, now heterosexual adult-youth relationships are also taboo, so there isn't a double-standard to be rectified by normalizing boy relationships.