Eagle94-A1

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.

Well I'm off the hook for this weekend. Not only did only did 1, yes ONE, person sign up for Wilderness First Aid, causing us to cancel, only 4 people registered for ITOLS. So training chair talked to staff about not showing up. We had more staff than participants.

Maybe the system seems rigged because the Execs are influencing the big buck donors because the CORs are not doing their job and representing their units at the district and council level? Yes I knew an SE who got the folks he wanted on the executive committee, but there were no CORs attending those meetings. IF CORs would be active, would represent their COs and units, it can make a difference. Question for ya, if you are so anti-BSA and have another outdoor program with your CO, Why don't you tell the families they need to look elsewhere for a unit, or allow the unit to find a new home? I've seen what happens when COs do not support the program: the youth suffer in the long term.

We had one Scout attempt suicide a few years past. He was extremely active and wonderful Scout. However his personal life took a dive with his parents' divorce and mother's remarriage. Scouting was his out, his way of relieving pressure at home etc. But his grades suffered. It was when Mom took him out of Scouts because of his grades that he attempted suicide. Thankfully he failed and got help. If memory serves, his psychologist told the mom taking him out of Scouts at all was a mistake. Eventually he got back involved, and transferred to a different troop when the mom and stepdad moved.

As someone who has practically begged CORs to get active, I respectfully disagree. I think it reflects on the CORs. Especially when I had units complaining about lack of representation on the district and council level.

Know it all to well that few, if any CORs attend district and council meetings. But I do not think it is because of the deteriorating relationship. They either A) Do not know they are part of those committees, or B) Do not care. True story, when I was a DE I actually went to every single IH per the charter agreement. Not only to introduce myself, but also to inform the His that their CORs are part of the district and council committees, representing the CO and its units. No COR ever showed up. Tried to get the Pack's COR, who obviously is the problem troop above's COR, to get involved when he showed up on a troop camping trip ( this was before the change in troop leadership that lead to changes I described). He never showed up to another Scouting event ever again.

In my experience units without a UC, even a lousy one who is only seen at recharter time, do somewhat better than the "rugged individual" units. The units I've seen while appearing OK, have problems, usually major problems. I've mentioned the troop that doesn't use the patrol method, outdoor method, etc. that frustrated 3 UCs (one UC a member of the CO, one UC a den leader with the CO's pack, and one UC who was a MC of the troop prior to leaving the area to take care of a dying mother and coming back to the area) and ran off a 4th UC. Another example would be a pack that created a "Barney Den" for kindergartners that was actually doing advancement work at that level. A third example would be the pack that rushed their Cubs through the program, not following rules, and tried to get 4th grade 9 year olds their Arrow of Light so they could be Boy Scouts. A fourth example would be the troop that did a lot of HA, and was very active. From all outside appearances the troop was top notch. However, when the troop folded to join Trails' Life, issues began to emerge. Advancement was a problem. They discouraged rapid advancement, making Scouts wait to take certain MBs and have BORs. And they ignored changes in advancement requirements allowing Scouts to use old requirements and ignore new ones. While you would think this would appear at the EBORs that their Scouts had, it wasn't caught until after the folding. Several of their Scouts transferred to another troop. When one was going for his Life BOR, it was discovered that the old troop ignored some of the new Life requirements. Not only did it cause a delay in earning Life, the Scout had to appeal to National to have an EBOR since he would not have the "6 months as a Life Scout...." due to the original troop. Thankfully National granted the appeal, and the Scout stayed active a year after turning 18, when he went to college. Still, he is a "unit college scouter reserve" and helps out as he can. Regarding CORs, unless they are duel enrolled as CC/COR, they are usually on paper only and not active. Pack's COR is a challenge to find and get paperwork signed. I'm still waiting for them to sign off on my wife's paperwork, and it was submitted 2 times now! And as I mentioned, I know of only 1 COR to ever attend district/council level meetings.

Sorry you feel that way. Question I have now is, why do you use Scouting? Why not use another program or create your own?

One thing I completely forgot is COUNCIL DIVISIONS AND MERGERS (emphasis) We have in my neck of the woods several troops that have had their numbers changed over the years as the result of separating from a council and merging of councils. Oldest continually chartered troop has had 3 or 4 different numbers in it's 104 year history as a result of creating a new council and merging councils over the years. One troop locally has been in 3 councils and has had 3 different numbers as a result. BUT they have been around since WWI.

Again, I think you do not understand the concept of a Unit Commissioner. They are support personnel, not members of your unit(s). Their job is to help, coach, etc the units' leaders when they need help. They also are responsible for visiting units to make sure everything is OK, and try to forestall problems before they explode. if I remember correctly, you are a COR. You do realize that you are a member of both the district and council committees? You do realize that if you do not like the UC(s) assigned to your unitsyou can request a new one?

If it's been with the same CO since 1945, MOST DEFINATELY! (emphasis) If there has been a change in COs, MAYBE. (again emphasis) If the change in COs was approved by the first CO, i.e. filled out the paperwork relinquishing the unit number, then I'm good. My troop growing up had 4 COs in a 25 year period. In all instances, the COs filled out the paperwork relinquishing the number. So there was never a lapse in tenure. If the unit folded, then was restarted after the time limit where the unit number becomes available again, then I say no. My troop and it's associated pack is lucky. They were able to be restarted and kept the same unit number. I think the number was on the market to the next CO to start a unit when both were restarted.

Officially no you cannot Unofficially I've seen it done. Me personally I would but something on the troop neckerchief "since 1945"

Oh yes, this unit has problems. And yes, I do wish the COR would be active, but for whatever reason they are not. Maybe if the CO was removed the SM, it would improve things. Or maybe the troop would fold since no one at the CO was willing to step up in the first place? And to be honest in my 21 years serving on district committees in 6 different councils, only 1, yes ONE COR ever attended any district committee and/or council committee meetings ever. ONE! Heck I never knew a COR was on those committees until I became a DE, and I was on a district committee for 3 years prior to being a DE. And regarding your comments about UCs, well you obviously do not have a clue as to what they do and how they help units. NOT. A. CLUE. I'm sorry you feel this way. But the tone of your words, and the style of your writing not only is insulting to those volunteers who serve in the commissioner roles but also shows your very parochial and ignorant views. BTW while troop's COR is not active in the way he should, the CO is VERY active with the pack and troop, to the point that they will not allow non-members to be SM. BUT THEY STILL USE THE COMMISSIONER ASSIGNED TO THEM AND THE ROUNDTABLE COMMISSIONER ( caps for emphasis, not shouting).

Let me edit what I said. Apparently all these abbreviations are getting to me, and I used CO instead of UC Edits to clarify and change to correct terminology in red Sorry you feel that way about your UC. In my experience active UC's are worth their weight in gold. yes sometimes they are on paper only. But trust me, a good one is truly a friend, counselor, teacher and doctor. My pack has been tremendously helped by the commissioner corps. My troop has been helped also. It is the troop that has rejected the UCs assigned to them that is suffering the most.

Not a political ad, but a automotive park's ad. They used members of the owner's troop in an ad in uniform, even reciting part of the Law. Commercial aired about 2-3 weeks max before being pulled.