Eagle94-A1

You never know. We had a Scout growing up switch troops and 2 years later came back to us. Challenge was that the rest of the patrol was suffering, and suffering miserably, because of these two.They would not listen to their PLs or their TGs, only to adults. Now grant you, we had one TG who became a challenge himself, and my son whose philosophy was to let them learn the hard way. But the adults, one in particular, would either come to their rescue or start yelling at his son. Funny thing is son does better when dad is not around. Originally the plan was to place them with one

Yep that's the typical DE. And yes, if you don't make your goals, you won't last long at all. MONEY, MEMBERSHIP, MANPOWER was the mantra.

Not saying it can't be done. I too have seen this done. What I am saying is that part of the issues with the NSP was preparedness for Scouting. The three packs had different ways of doing things, and that has affected the dynamics of the patrol. 1 pack starts the transition process in May of the 3rd grade year, essentially when pack moves up a level. They are active in the summer, and they are acting like and treated like Boy Scouts. 1 pack starts the process essentially between October and January of 4th grade. Both of those packs generally move the Scouts up in December of 5t

YOUR SON (emphasis) has to do what he has to do. You just need to let him make the decision since it is his scouting career. A little background, my son visited a troop very familiar to yours. He wasn't too thrilled and looked around. Troop he wanted to join went Trails Life, so we are on choice #2. Things started out OK if challenging, troop was restarting and not enough adult support. In 2 years, troop has tripled in size, but with the tripleing came issues, specifically the new NSP came from 3 different packs and 5 different dens. And they were at various levels of preparedness for Scou

Seen the retaliation against whistleblowers up close: one long term scouter and one professional. Long term Scouter had his membership permanently revoked, do not know all the details on that but have ideas. Professional caught fraud issues and was "rewarded" with a promotion to a SE position for a council that was smaller than the service area one of the FDs he supervised had. Yep, went from a DFS of a metro council to SE of one of the smallest councils in the nation.

Sorry I'm late to the party. As some know I'm dealing with similar issues, but with adults. However I came over here because of a conversation I had with son this weekend, and the way one Scout is acting in his patrol. @@Beavah made the comment "you can't save the child from his parents," and from what son is telling me, This Scout is starting to mirror his dad in attitude and in doing things. Hoping to get some ideas. My thoughts. 1. Each situation is different as each Scout is different. There really is no one size fits all. 2. From my experiences growing up, and my conversations

My troop growing up essentially had the same SM for 25 years. There was a 2 year stint where he was officially an ASM because he was OA Lodge Adviser. But the SM who took over didn't do the job and he resigned as OA LA to get the troop back on track. That was just before my time with the troop, and I found out about the situation talking to the past Lodge chief who was on camp staff with me. As you know, we have a SM who has been it for 30+ years, and an ASM for 20+ years before that. He needs to step down, but no one has the cajones to talk him into resigning, including me. I think I got

I've met some good Eagles, and I've met some "need some work" Eagles. With the "need some work" group, just because they are Eagle doesn't mean you can't mentor and work with them still. And notice I didn't say "young" or "old."

Well we've had yet ANOTHER plumbing problem last nite. Thankfully plumber came out htis morning and fixed it. HOPEFULLY that will solve all the plumbing problems now. Looks like he's stuck with ALICE a little longer, and my dividend is going down the drain, literally.

If memory serves, the letter you received does give you instructions to appeal the decision. But that is a long tedious process

Getting back on track. I'm a REI member, and their sale start tomorrow. Since the Oldest, who is 12 and still growing like a weed I might add, I'm thinking about getting this pack for him: https://www.rei.com/product/895597/osprey-volt-75-pack What do you guys think? I like the weight, and really like how the torso fit goes up to 23". And yes, he's at 17" already!

So how is anyone supposed to get through the Tenderfoot requirements without a patrol flag? It must mean it just gets pencil whipped? The first step in patrol method is patrol identity. Regardless of the patrol makeup, it needs a patrol identity to even get started. They make a "patrol flag" with the First Year Camper program, and it gets signed off at summer camp. I don't like that, but apparently the SM takes it for what it's worth. And I agree the patrol needs an Identity before getting started. Then they need to build Spirit. That is something the troop does indeed need to work on.

I wish my patrols had flags. Out of the three old patrols, only the NSP had a flag, and that was because one of the Scouts took it upon himself to make it. I have no idea what happened to the older Scout patrol's flag, if they ever had one. My son's patrol had a pillowcase with their emblem drawn on it as a flag. But it was hastily a produced one and it was not taken care of. It got wet, put up wet, and mildewed. A PL was suppose to make a new one, but quit before he ever did. Yes, I admit I am for mixed aged patrols. BUT that is so the older Scouts can train and work with the younger one

Back. I know that. You know that. But for whatever reason some of the other leaders don't know that. That's why I don't like making an announcement that only 1/2 the troop will be able to go. High adventure is one thing, but a monthly camp out needs to be able to include everyone. And if the section of river is too challenging for the bulk of the troop, you get teh PLC to select another section, or even river. Yep, You mix and match your strongest and weakest paddlers so that you get a nice mix, and if anything does happen, the skill level is equitable in all the canoes, so you don

I don't know who first said it as I was not at the leader's meeting when it was discussed, but first person I heard that from was Gunship. Being an aquarat who has done 3 fifty milers afloat, I agree, canoeing is FUN. And yes, pairings is important. Know that first hand when my inexpereinced partner froze. more later

Agree, but I do want them prepared for backpacking before they go. I don't want them showing up with little to no instruction.I want the first time to be fun so as not to discourage them. But I also want them to learn. The backpacking group above, as well as several ASMs want the troop to do more backpacking and "primitive" camping instead of the car camping we have been doing. But two of the Scouts have already commented how they don't want to do backpacking; they want to keep doing "easy camp outs." As for canoe camping, I do not know what happened last year as I was not on the trip. Fro

The canoeing problem reared it's head at the meeting. It caused me to ask the SPL if he got the SPL binder with the monthly themes, calendar, etc. He didn't. He also asked me to help him out, which I'm goingto try and do. I mentioned the situation in a message to the ASM and SM last nite. Reason being, I wanted to send him a copy of the Troop Program Features for him to review, and give him ideas to plan his meetings. Regarding the SPL. First time SPL, has little to no confidence in his abilties. BUT HE IS FREAKING AWESOME! (emphasis, ok a little shouting 'cause he's that good.) He was the

Set back for Boy-run. Hopefully a minor one and easily corrected. Instead of following the schedule that the Scouts created back in December, One of the ASMs convinced the SM to jump 2 months and start working on canoeing to prepare as many Scouts for the August canoe trip as possible. So we are skipping over backpacking instruction, which everyone will be doing in July. Grant you the ones who went backpacking this weekend do not need training, heck they should be TEACHING backpacking, but the younger ones need help. Rationale for the jump is the following: 1) we got 3 weeks where there w

Not necessarily. They still need to earn their Bobcat rank. Plus requirement 1 is the following: "Be active in your Webelos den for at least six months since completing the fourth grade or for at least six months since becoming 10 years old" Grant you, a Cub with a late birthday, say my middle son, could skip over Webelos and start work directly on AOL so that by the end of May, he would meet the 10.5 requirement. An aside. Glad my son decided to stick with his den and cross over in December when he is 11 instead of at 10.5. With the challenges the troop is having (see the other th

Eternal rest grant unto him, oh Lord. And may perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen. Krampus, I am so sorry for your loss.

Good idea about mechanic checking out the brakes. Now I gotta find a new mechanic as mine just closed his shop and retired.

Update from tonite: WOW, you just can't please some people. Gunship was ticked off at me and the trek leader, who I named Frustrated above, because we were 1:30 late, and his stepson was too exhausted to go to school today. We told folks we would be at the church at a certain time, give or take 30 minutes. Yes, we got a late start, but that would put us in the give 30 minutes. Putting out the fire put us beyond 20 minutes that, and as you know that group leaving the fire ticked me off. But I had some car trouble, specifically brake issues, that also caused us to be late. I am not u

5 are in the same patrol, and 2 folks from them were MIA. One was sick and ticked off, the other was being scouted for a baseball scholarship, and had to be at the game. He was not happy about missing out either. Those 7 will be doing some patrol camping in the very near future. 2 are in one patrol, and they will be working with their patrol. Funny thing is, both of them do not consider themselves "experienced" scouts, and hero worship the 5 above. Hopefully between me talking to them, and them hanging with their idols this weekend, They now understand when I tell them, "you ARE experience

if you find the 2 volumes I'm talking about, DO NOT LEND THEM TO ANYBODY!!!! I made that mistake, and I haven't seen them since. And there is a really good section on starting a troop, training them using the patrol method. That section can also be used to revive the patrol method in a troop.

Wanted to give an update. Troop camp out was cancelled because only 4 Scouts would be able to make it. They had a day trip instead, but don't know how it went yet. Find out tonite. As for the group doing the AT and a few others. The trip was AWESOME! (and yes I'm screaming in joy ) The 8 scouts that went did a stellar job for being first time backpackers. They really took care of not only each other, but also us old fogeys. I think they learned a lot. And I think if these guys take charge of some of the things we talked about, the troop will rock. The only thing that ticked me of