Eagle94-A1

Looks like we will need to do something when one pack's Webelos Cross Over. Had a brief conversation on summer camp, and several of the parents want to tag along, not a scouters but as parents. One dad commented how his son isn't ready for summer camp by himself, and one mom stated that since they joined Cubs as Tigers, the family has done all of the camp outs. Another family went to a Webelos weekend in a camper. They made the comment that another troop has no problem with parents, including moms, camping with them. Had to comment that the hardest part is moving from being a Cub Scout leader to a Boy Scouter because you need to learn to step back and let the youth run things and make mistakes. Heck my wife, who should know better, is complaining because the Scout working with her den is having communications challenges. Me thinks it will get interesting

Only CO that I know about that doesn't allow camping at the Cub Scout level is the LDS church. In my neck of the woods, I actually lost a Cub and his family my first year as a DL because "you don't camp enough." And my pack was one of the most active ones with 3 pack camp outs per year. I admit, I initially was concerned about the new program. It was radically different and I knew it would take heavy pre-planning in order to execute it. BUT after hearing what my sons are goign through, I do like it, and think the 2015 program is better, just needed time to for leaders to readjust. You can not implement a radical change in a program in 1 year. Heck you need about 3 years: one to implement the new program, one to tweak it and work out the challenges, and one year to perfect it. IMHO national is reacting too soon. At my RTs when it was being unveiled, I not only emphasized the changes, but constantly emphasized planning, planning, planning. I knew from reading the changes that planning would be the key. IT IS PLANNING INTENSIVE (emphasis). The pack I'm associated with, and my wife is the WDL for, is essentially ignoring the new 11/30/16 changes and following the 6/1/15 program because A) those requirements are in their books and it will cause confusion and B) they already made plans for the year and do not want to redo any planning already done. Heck the majority of the Webelos IIs finished the last activity badge's requirement for AOL, and will be crossing over on January 2nd. The pack my troop is associated with is essentially doing the same thing. The Webelos IIs are almost done with the AOL and ready to Cross Over. Their WDL is not changing anything. From the quick chat I had last nite, most of the DLs didn't know a thing abut the changes, and the CM isn't promoting the changes. He's continueing with the plans they made last summer.

"AWESOME! TOTALLY AWESOME!"

If the pack I'm with thinks about it in time, we make our own. Most of the plaques are outrageously priced. When I found out how much the pack was spending per plaque, I almost had a heart attack. That's when I suggested we make our own. For about $80, we can buy the supplies to make 8 - 10 plaques ourselves. The time consuming part is making the arrows. For 2 years, we made our own. Last year it was not thought about until the last minute, and they had to rush to get plaques. GREAT SCOTT! 6 plaques was over $400 when everything was put together. One OA chapter I was in decided to make the plaques and arrows as a fundraiser fro the chapter. When we got it started, we didn't have many takers. But I'm told the OA plaques became quite popular.

We currently have one of those. Older Scouts do not like him at all, and I and a few others have been asked by the Scouts to keep him away from them. The one time I wasn't able to do that, the Scouts acted properly, but didn't talk at all the entire hike and essentially ran through the trail with their gear. They did a 5 mile hike with gear in under 90 minutes. I don't know if they did that to finish the hike as soon as possible, or try to walk him into the ground. But he is a tri-athlete and kept up. I can relate to them and their feelings as I always hated when we got new Scouts from a pack: their leaders and parents followed them and would interfere with us until the SM or CC took them away from us.

The big question in my EBOR was "What would you say if we didn't approve you being an Eagle Scout?" Talk about being surprised and angry! Long story short I calmly, to the best of my ability at the time, explained to them that it was approved and completed. If they did not like it was too late and that I would find out how to appeal any negative decision. I did receive my Eagle without having to appeal.

Actually the new handbooks and leader guides came out between May 2015 and August 2015. Because we lost out local distributor and have to drive 45 to 60 minutes to get Scout merchandise, my pack buys a bunch and sells it. Thankfully we didn't have too much of the 2009 stuff when the change came about last year. But I think we have a bunch of new stuff since it just came out. Talk about a mess.

Folks, New requirements for the various Cub Scout Adventures and ranks have been implemented as of November 30th, 2016. Here is the Blog post http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2016/11/30/cub-scout-modifications/#comment-168431 Here is the 56 page documents with the changes. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/cubscouts/pdf/CubScout_Advancement_Modifications.pdf

I can relate to being confused with a student. Happened to me during student teaching too, especially since I accidentally dressed according to the school's dress code. At least I didn't get a detention for not having a name tag. Didn't wear khaki pants and white dress shirt again. As for being called MISTER being the most awkward for you, I wish. Try having your cousin (who doesn't know you are related to her) and her friends in the class you are teaching and trying flirt with you Thankfully my girlfriend at the time, who was an alumna, decided on the spur of the moment to visit some of her old teachers and just happened to see me during lunch on my second day of teaching. That stopped the flirting.

Growing up, it was always Mr. First Name. Except 1 SM whom we called '"DOC" Last name as he was an MD. Those 18-20 year olds that stayed around, depending upon whom it was , would either go by Mr. First name too (usually the younger guys) or last name only (those they grew up with) Except one guy. He was THE FIRST NAME LAST NAME! He left the troop before his ECOH, going into the USAF. He was one of my SPLs while I was a PL, and really was a great mentor. Lots of sayings he used, I used later on when I was ASPL, and even today.He came back 4 years after earning Eagle and had his ECOH. Even though he knew only a handful of Scouts, EVERYONE knew him and his sayings. One of the new Scouts asked me if he was THE_________, and when I said yes, everyone started calling him THE ______________ and was in awe of him. A true legend in his own time.

Troop has a designated meeting nite, 4th Monday of the month. Scouts have until the 3rd Monday to notify the SM he wants a BOR.

You'd be surprised at how little awkwardness there is. Besides, what other position is there for 18-20 year olds to be in a Boy Scout troop except as a Merit Badge Counselor, a district position.

I too was an 18 y.o. ASM. I jumped through the hoops to get "trained," although like your son I could have taught the courses. Despite all the training, knowledge, skills, and abilities, it was hard for me to make the transition. Yes working with the younger Scouts helps a lot. I've found young Scouts have a puppy-like devotion to the older ones. The older ones may be a challenge as they are use to him being a peer. But for me, I had to be reminded multiple times and be mentored multiple times that I'm no longer a Scout, but a Scouter, and I need to act like a Scouter and not a Scout. Yes, I was that bad. The other issue being a "G.A.S.er" (Gray Area Scouter, i.e. 18-20) was not being taken seriously as an adult by other adults outside the troop. I got active in the OA, and in turn on the district and council levels, as a young adult. Some folks told me I don't know what I'm doing, ignored my ideas, etc. It can became frustrating at times.

Actually 2 were 16 year old juniors and one was a sophmore at an early college HS. The two 16 year olds had Civics as freshman, and they didn't know a lot of the MB material. the Sophmore will take Civics/poliSci next year.

MBs serve a variety of purposes: make sure Scouts have basic life skills, intro to hobbies and future careers, etc. Now I'm not a fan of "paper pushing" MBs, but after my experiences this weekend, I am deeply upset with the public school education system in my neck of the woods, and am glad Citizenship in the Nation is required. NONE of the 4 Scouts I was working with this weekend, 3 of whom were supposed to have taken Civics already, could not give the background on the origins of the Revolutionary War, didn't know what our grievances were, and did not know that there were 3 coequal branches of government. One Scout told me "The Judicial Branch is the most powerful since they make the laws." No concept of Checks and Balances, no idea of the actual duties of each branch ( one Scout was surprised at the actual duties of Congress. I cut him some slack since he hadn't had Civics yet). Again 3 of the 4 were supposed to have had this topic in school already! What is encouraging was my Webelos son. He's homeschooled and was invited to go on the trip to DC. He was stuck with me and the folks working on Citizenship in the Nation. He had a better understanding of some of this stuff than the HS age Scouts. His curriculum has covered some of this, but not at the level of detail as the MB.

My old DE, who is now a FD in another council made this comment about the rule change and the judge's blocking it: how many DE's have already either lost their job, or received notice that they will be losing their job, over the executive order?

True. I say the law school divorce was worst because it came completely out of the blue. The others had some inclinations as they were having problems, and in one case, the DE gave up the job to work on the marriage only to still have it fall apart. Even my wife was giving me signs of frustration with the job before the ultimatum. Long story short, I do not wish the job on my worse enemy,

Don't know if they are available over here or even in production anywhere. I asked a buddy who worked at Philmont a number of years, and he doesn't think it would be feasible there. http://www.io.tudelft.nl/onderzoek/delft-design-labs/applied-labs/ambulance-drone/

I told you the ultimatum my wife gave me. One long time pro I worked with was married to wife #3. After I quit, I found out she separated from him within a year. 2 coworkers got divorced because of the hours. One of my DEs told me the reason his wife divorced him was the job. By the time he did something about it, it was too late. Once divorced, he came back. Worst story was a DE I had who put his wife through law school. As soon as she graduated and passed the bar, he was served divorce papers. On the flip side, if you are young and SINGLE ( emphasis) it can be a great starter job. You will gain a heck of lot of experience. One friend left the profession, and doubled his salary. My coworkers are dumbfounded by some of the things I did as a DE.

To quote the Ninth Doctor, " RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" As a former DE, I can tell you it is extremely stressful, no matter where you go. And if you get a lousy boss amplify your worst nightmare a 100 fold. In the 22 months I was a DE, my council went through 9 DEs, a field director and finance director (both middle managers). I stayed around for 6 months before going to national supply, and they went through an additional 3 or 4 DEs. My replacement was one of those who left within 3 months. Shortest term as a DE was about 2-3 weeks. Guy was in the emergency room with the neighbor who brought him. Neighbor call the Director of Field Service ( #2 guy in council) and t the DFS what was up. The DFS told the neighbor to tell the DE to come to the staff meeting or get fired. DE quit over the phone. In my case, I was having stress related health issues. But the deciding factor was when my wife of 2 months told me I had to pick: her or the job.

One of the guys in my Sea Scout ship got sent home from jamboree for destroying about $3000 worth of gear. I knew the story, but not who it was until an incident with the Ship and his mom told me. Mom backed up the adults. Had to send another "Scout" home for assaulting a leader with a tree branch. That was touch as the adult defended himself and did make contact with the "Scout." Mom supported the "Scout," despite the fact that the "scout" assaulted the adult in front of the entire troop and other adults. Incident at a camp I worked at involved a "scout" whose parents refused to pick him up after 3 attempts by the troop's adults to get the parents to pick him up. Camp director got involved, and called the parents while they were still on vacation at Disney. When they refused, the CD gave them a deadline to pick up their son, or he was going to report either an abandoned child or Trespassing child to child protective services. The parents made it with about 30 minutes to spare. Worse case was sending home an entire troop. Adults with them couldn't control the kids, and they destroyed about $60,000 worth of property at the camp. All but 1 was sent home via the sheriff's department. That one was not a trouble maker, he actually wanted to be a Scout, and was hidden by some of the youth staffers. Long story short, 2 staffers had to drive him home, and prevent dad from putting a belt to his butt.

Agree with NJ. I've met only 1 individual who received a religious award that was not of his faith. This was a respected council level Scouter who worked to get a religious community more involved in Scouting, and help them set up a council committee for their faith. The faith community thanked him by awarding him their adult leader recognition. It was a surprise and humbling experience for him.

Don't forget James E. West Knot. ( And yes I saw a Cub Scout with one! )

Here's a little history about the Tiger Badges, and oval Webelos Badges. From August 1982 to about early1990s, Tiger Cubs as they were called were not officially part of a pack. Their uniform consisted of an orange tshirt and full tiger paw iron on decals. At the end of the school year, they received a square "Tiger Cub Graduate" patch that was worn on the right pocket, and could be worn with the "Progress Toward Ranks" totem, essentially covering it up. At some point the Tiger Paws had cut outs in them to correspond to the activity the Tiger earned. Major problems with those ( the iron on decals kept getting messed up due to the cut outs). But the patch at the end of the year went from a square patch on the pocket to a "Tiger Cubs, BSA" strip under the right pocket, so it wouldn't be covered up. Sometime in the 1995-1997 time frame when I worked for national supply, the iron on decals went away, and a belt fob with recessed diamond shape in the middle, came out. You earned beads then when you earned your Tiger Cub Rank, the new diamond shape Tiger Cub Badge was placed on the belt fob. What was cool was that the Tiger Cub Badges had a glue background that you peeled and stuck to the belt fob. At some point in the early 2000s, Tigers were fully incorporated into the Cub Scout program. The belt totem became a pocket totem, and the Tiger Cub Badge became an official patch to wear on the pocket. BUT WHERE? Someone at national decided that since most Webelos went to the tan and green uniform, go ahead and put the Tiger Cub Rank patch in the spot where the Webelos badge would go. And since Webelos are transitioning from Cub Scouts tyo Boy Scouts, create a new Oval Webelos badge. Problem was that the LDS units, and more traditional units, as well as those parents and Cub Scouts who kept the Blue uniform on wanted the traditional diamond shaped patch. So then the option of removing the Tiger Patch and replacing with Webelos patch, wearing the blue Webelos diamond by itself, or in in a tan and green uniform going with the oval caem about.

Policy has been around a very long time. Earliest I remember is 1998. And it's been in the Guide to Safe Scout, Shooting Sports manuals etc for as long as I remember. That said, on the Cub Scout level, one definition of a district/council event is 2 or more packs together doing the same activity. I know there has been talk having a Shooting Sports Day for all Cub Scouts in my district for some time. Just don't have the staff.