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Eagle94-A1

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Everything posted by Eagle94-A1

  1. Your son has to make a choice: Stay with his friends and earn AOL or Move up to Boy Scouts. He cannot do both. I do not know how your pack handled the transition to the new requirements. Nor do I know how your pack handles its program. It may be that he has a month or two left, or he has 7 months minimum ahead. He has to think about it and make the decision. My son figured out last year that if he wanted to, he could skip Webelos badge since it is not longer required, and start work immediately on AOL so that he could cross over at 10.5 and go to summer camp. He eventually decided to
  2. I've been waiting for that to occur for 18 years now, ever since the then SCOUTNET 2000 Director told a bunched brand new DEs that that would be happening.
  3. Yep we got a Moriarty in the troop
  4. Yes, I gotta learn to live with what irks me, and the "negative waves" of some folks. I gotta remember to not let the "negative waves" bring me down.
  5. I was in the same situation: needing TCDL knots. What I was told to do is buy the DL knot and add the Tiger device to it. That is what recipients of the TCDL were told to do when the knot was abolished, and TDLs do now. Ebay is another option, but be prepared to pay for it. One is for sale at $40 or thereabouts, and another has a current bid of $11. Another option can be thrift stores. Back in the day, I was able to find all kinds of patches I needed, and traded, on used uniforms. Unfortunately that is not an option for me locally as our SCOUTREACH director has a standing order with a
  6. Currently we have 2 Scouts that are year round; one is homeschooled so summer activities are not a problem as the family can work around them. However the other is in a private, year round school, and it does indeed affect him. This past summer, the troop had a narrow window of weeks he could attend summer camp. He was unable to do trip he wanted to go on, the AT trek, due to being back in school. Further on some late meeting nights, he had to cut it short due to homework and school. It's bad enough that his mother requires him to leave 30 minutes early whenever school is in session, but
  7. Two things I forgot to mention above. Regarding youth signing off on advancement there were two reasons given, both by two adults affected by this apparently.: PLs signing off their buddies for the heck of it and PLs "punishing" Scouts they do not like. From what I am being told, the Scouts in the troop back in the day signed off on their buddies even if they had not mastered the skill and Pls woudl refuse to sign folks off who had mastered the skill. Also the youth on BORs, this was in the 1972 - 1989 time frame when youth were allowed on BORs, would fail those Scouts who they thought were n
  8. Update. The adults, minus the CC/COR and the IH, met. Definite changes are headed our way, as well as some of the same. Changes I like include PLC meeting monthly for a "long" meeting and 15 minutes before each meeting. Scouts run the meetings and doing more instructing. Also Interpatrol Activities will be incorporated. Adults quit reforming the troop and keeping the current patrols, with adding new members to existing patrols; no more NSPs. PLC members responsible for meeting the Scouts' advancement. BORs scheduled for every month AND no more multiple Scouts havi
  9. My district is in the same shape, only a handful of MBCs will work with anyone. It has caused me to do something I not only dislike, but discourage: "officially" sign off on my son's MBs. I'm an MBC for several MBs, including two my son got partials in at summer camp. Looking at the MBC list, I'm the only MBC who will work with anyone, everyone else will only work with folks in their troop. Way I handle it is to get him to do the work with one of the ASMs, and when they say he's done it, then sign off. In the 24 years as an MBC, I've had 4 people contact me, either by phone or in person
  10. Try these: http://inquiry.net/outdoor/games/seton/indoor/index.htm http://inquiry.net/outdoor/games/seton/council/index.htm http://inquiry.net/outdoor/games/b-p/indoor.htm http://inquiry.net/outdoor/games/ripley/1_indoor.htm And if needed http://inquiry.net/outdoor/games/disabled/index.htm
  11. Well, here are the events that the group that stepped down came up with, and the Scouts I talked to like. Canoe Orienteering, yep an orienteering course that incorporates canoes and land Scout Transport Pioneering Kim's Game Fire String Burning ( no takes on the boiling water, cooking a noodle, and tieing a square knot) First Aid scenario using real life scenarios, and possible Webelos as victims Tomahawk Throwing Dutch Oven cook off Skits Uniform Inspection Camp Inspection And there is one more I cannot think of. Regarding the cardboard boats, w
  12. Anecdotally I was told, and I think some on this website mentioned it a few years ago too, that in the 1970s there was talk about the BSA either merging with GSUSA or going coed. Girl Scouts nixed that one. As for facing the wrath of the GSUSA, national encountered that in the late 1980s, early 1990s. National supply wanted to come out with a Boy Scout Energy Bar that could be sold in Scout shops. GSUSA got a wind of it, and unleashed their lawyers on the BSA to stop it as the energy bar was too close to their cookies. I got a case of those Boy Scout energy bars when the scout shop moved
  13. I've seen mergers, and I've seen splits. With one merger, youth took it well, but we still had some issues due to geography. Because of the Mississippi River and its bridges, at one point folks had to go out of the council's boundaries to get to the meeting place. Adults did have some issues, especially when it came time to nominating folks for the District Award of Merit and other local awards. With a second district merger, contrary to the way things are suppose to be, the two OA chapters did NOT (emphasis) merge. Yes, one district had 2 OA chapters. Eventually the district split in
  14. 'Skip, BRAVO ZULU! that is awesome. I didn't know Mythbusters did a ducttape canoe, but I saw a duct tape kayak, and made one out of pvcpipe, ductape, and plastic sheeting.
  15. Apparently I jumped the gun. There was a meeting in June where things were planned. However the two people involved backed out of the camporee, one for medical reasons ( for which I hope they get better), and one for other reasons. Good news is that when I chatted with some older scouts in the troop about the events, with the exception of one, orienteering, they were happy with them. They suggested replacing orienteering with geocaching.
  16. I know. I think that's one reason why the camporee chief stepped down, it was not fun. My troop looked at the events last year, and decided not to go. If I had some time to plan this, I'd go to the OA, and get them to plan it instead. Or have some meetings with SPLs to get their ideas. But I have 2 weeks to organize, come up with a guide, recruit, staff etc. Then I got about a month afterwards to get the camporee "fully armed and operational." I got 7 weeks until "SHOWTIME!" Nothing like the last minute. BTW, I am asking older two hoodlums for ideas. Plan on talking to some Scouts
  17. Ok, my district's philosophy is that the camporee should be run by adults so that the Scouts can compete. That's why adults are heavily involved in the process. My district also has the history of poor communications, and last minute planning. Hence when it came time to ask the camporee chief where the camporee book is so that Scouts can start preparing, the answer was "I told the committee last year I'm stepping down." So guess who has 1.5 weeks to come up with a camporee plan and publish it. Good news is that this is a joint district camporee, so the other district may have a lot
  18. So, oldest is trying to come up with ways to inspire the patrols to do what they are suppose to do. He came up with putting a pie in an ASM's face for the top patrol after 2 or three months. I'm game, but what are your thoughts.
  19. As others have stated, there may be something that has been told to the new IH about the leadership that you do not know about: accusations, innuendo, rumours, etc. Good news is that if it was the case, BSA wold have been told and your membership yanked, permanently. The IH may not like Scouting for whatever reason. I had a CO get e new IH who hated Scouting. After having the police called on us for trespassing because we were late getting out of an Eagle Court of Honor, we moved to a different CO. And the CO may want the unit's leadership to be a member of the CO. My current troop is
  20. Regarding older Scouts, I think it's a combination of factors, and they vary as much as each individual Scout. I think older Scouts do have an obligation to give back to the younger Scouts, just as older Scouts helped them out. But they do need to some challenging activities that the rest of the troop cannot do. The canoe trip up in Canada I did was a district event, not a troop event. But being creative in programing can help provide the opportunity for more challenging activities. I've mentioned about harder, more difficult trails my Leadership Corps did while the rest of the troop did the s
  21. This is the one I want! http://www.kabar.com/knives/detail/228
  22. @@Beavah, Actually no one has aged out. The SPL when my son visited, and made a great impression on my son I might add, is now a bored, disillisioned Scout in the venture patrol. Only joy he has had in the past 12 months is doing metal work with the blacksmith and making a bunch of stuff. SPL when my son joined, is still active, served in a variety of positions, but is discouraged because of things in the troop. Other youth leaders are still active, but are not taking ownership because of all the adult interference. We've had one older Scout leave, and that was because he felt he wasn'
  23. Yes. BUT the Scouter pushing the skills check off weekend didn't sign off on anything for the Scouts in question. And the rest of the adult faction thinks they need review. It may be that he doesn't trust the other adults to sign off. Good thing I have only signed off the BOR requirement in the 2.5 years I've been with the troop until yesterday. What I found ironic is that after so many years working with Boy Scouts and having them do stuff like sharpen axes and saws, build fires, etc for me, I needed some practice. Yes, I can teach those skills, but the Scouts can do it better than me.
  24. Video is old, and pics are a little older. Didn't realize the council used some of my photos for the promo. Yep, saw the oldest in the video twice, back when he just joined Cub Scouts EDITED: This before the OA did an Ordeal weekend that did a lot of improvements, and just after they harvested some timber. It's a lot more shady. And if your guys are interested, better reserve it ASAP. We usually do Cub Scout Day Camp there.
  25. I'm jealous with what your scouts want to do. If they want to create their own summer camp experience, like they do in the UK, there is a small local Scout camp about a 25 minute drive. from Wilson, NC railroad station. According to Mapquest, it is 15.8 miles miles away, 6:18 walking time.
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