Eagle94-A1

That' something from my troop growing up. Rationale behind it was the badge represents what you have mastered, so you should be able to teach it. Hence the Up to your rank. I know that back in the day, and even today when helping out, it's easier to pick who has the rank or merit badge that the skill covvers to teach it, than looking over advancement records. Although in one case, there was the Scout or Tenderfoot who was teaching intro to backpacking If I remember the G2A correctly, officially it is the decision of the SM on who gets to sign off on rank. Again my troop growing up, t

My troop did ceremonies,and the had some meaning and were special. Talking to some of the guys today parts of it are still remembered, especially our Investiture ceremony. But yes, it seems as if ceremonies are not a big deal. As for the PLCs, I'd say both. SPL realizes that he needs to do something besides texts and emails. But we only meet 2-3 times a year as a PLC, just after the election and training. That's it.

So very true. Troop that is slowly falling apart that I've mentioned in other posts had that happen. The old SM, just before stepping down, sent 2 Scouts to NYLT, to take the troop to the next level. When the new SM took over, some of the things the NLYT grads were trying to implement were overruled and ignored by the new SM. Long story short, both NYLT grads transferred to another troop in our town that had 3 folks in NYLT that year. That troop also happens to be the best run troop in the district IMHO.

Definately ask the PL or SPL. Up date on my troop's neckerchief. Locally we cannot get neckers anymore from national unless we special order them. So when we got a new Scout in December, the SM was able to obtain one of the smaller red neckers. So we now have 3 differents issued by the troop in use: an all green properly sized, green and red CS sized, and all red CS sized. The December incident gave the troop the push it needed to make a decision on the neckerchiefs. PLC after doing some research decided to go with olive drab USGI triangle bandages with an emboridered border for c

I pecked a list a while back when I was out with the shoulder I mentioned some of it, not all of it, at the PLC/ planning meeting back in December, but didn't do the entire list. Part of the challenge for me is not stepping on folk's toes. Yes, I've been with the troop 2 years, but it's been as a committee member and as I could make it. Traditions, location of equipment throughout the church faciltiy, how the weekly ops of the troop, etc I'm still learning. Plus I do not want to step on anyone's toes, especially the SM's. I've tried to talk to the SPL, and do so when I can. The probl

back. I mentioned Want to clarify why I feel like I'm on a balancing act. I want change, I want to make it more meaningful. I think having them do more would help improve. Build esprit de corps and develope a sense of spirit. I want to hand a bunch a scripts to the SPl and say pcik one. But asking my son about it, i.e. improving COHs with ceremonies he tells me "advancement isn't really important, "everyone gets it, no one fails," "it's not a big deal"." and "Earning ranks is more ha.ha fun than serious.". So he doesn't think it would matter. BUT the only ceremonies he's seen are

Good question. The SM needs to be replaced due to his health. I offered, but the COR/CC stated that they really want a church member to be SM as they view Scouting as an outreach ministry. I'm good with that. My friend is suppose to be the new SM, challenge is how to go about replacing the old SM without any drama or ill will. Let's face it, HE restarted the troop, got it up and running. I've found it's very hard to let something go after putting your heart and soul, as well as your time and treasure, into it for a number of years, and he's been involved with the troop for over 40, except whe

A few comments. 1) Thanks for putting up with my venting and giving ideas. It helps a lot. 2) I believe that multiple factors have led to the problem. While some of it is Scout related, i.e. ages, maturity, accepting responsibility, etc, the bulk of it is adult driven. A) for the longest time it was a one man show, i.e the SM doing it all. And to keep the troop going, the SM did it all. Can't be done. B) Some of the new leaders are seeing it done the wrong may and are thinking it's right. This is particularly the former Cub Leaders. C) Some leaders, who should know better, in

I am going to quote my son regarding last night's meeting, and, upon reflecting, the entire situation with the troop: "The adults are the problem, Dad." Long story short, what should have taken about 10 minutes, took 45 because adults kept interfering. The parents/adult leaders didn't trust their sons to be able to pay the camp fee to their PLs. Very frustrating. I had to tell the 2 parents to let the Scouts to handle it, and one was adamant that only he could handle it because "it's special situation." Yes, the PL was out sick and his mom gave the money to the dad. The son could have han

Best thing I did as a Scout Show was a Boatswain's Chair. Two pioneering towers, one 25'-30' high, a second at 15' to 20' high and about 50' to 100' away. String up steel rope between the two, and attach a Boatswain's chair to the steel rope, and Bob's your uncle you got a ride that anyone wants to go on. Unfortunately BSA has effectively banned them since you need a NCS C.O.P.E. director to inspect it, a safety line above the rope, harnesses and brain buckets on participants, etc. Saw the pioneering ferris wheel and would love to make one of those. Low monkey bridges are doable.

A good leader does need to have some management skills in order to get things done. Part of that is using your resources, i.e. those Scouts in our case who are better at planning to do so. You can have a great leader, but if he is unorganized, waits to the last minute, has poor time mangement skills, etc, eventually frustration will ensue with the group. And a good manager knows they have to take care of his team in order to get the job done. If your team isn't happy, then the job will not get done. As others have pointed out, folks quit if they are not happy. Just don't lose you

Regarding Management vs Leadership, I'm going to quote Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez, "B-A-L-A-N-C-E balance."

One of the challenges with this troop is that we are growing our own leaders. Troop is approx. 5 years old now. Out of the initial group that restarted the troop, only 1 scout remains, the IH's son. The rest have quit, transferred, or moved. Mea Culpa on this one. Not so much the bossing around, but teaching the "management" instead of true, servant leadership. Although I've been doing my best to model servant leadership. And yes, ILST is mostly management and not leadership. Good news on that front is that the issues with ILST, has been recognized, and a plan is being develope

I'm hoping it works. Regarding a venture patrol, the hope, and I stress HOPE, is that by mixing them up into traditional or regular patrols now, we can get everyone up to speed so that when the 14-23 new Scouts come aboard in December, it will not overwhelm us. The goal is that the older guys can train the younger guys up so that the younger guys can take on the New Scouts, and the Older Scouts can form a venture patrol. Regarding our NSP, by the 1 year definition, they should be a regular patrol. With the exception on 2 who came aboard in June and 1 who came in December, everyone else has

Got me.

Saw a preview, looks good.

Interesting patrol meeting. Long story short, some of the patrol members in attendance (5 out of 8 showed up) are not happy about the split up. I jumped inon this to help explain how the decision came about and asked who made the decision. Here's the scary thing, one Scout said "the adults" and he was at the PLC meeting. (Mea Cupla, I guess I should have called it PLC+ meeting since ALL ( emphasis) officers were invited to attend and vote. Again, mea culpa). I then gave the guys the full in the patrol the full details, i.e. concern about the patrol gelling (which they admit has not happene

@@Krampus, I hear ya about the leaders needing to keep up to date on stuff. And I wholeheartedly agree that BSA needs to make a cliff notes version of changes. IMHO the BSA is changing stuff TOO rapidly. Anyone remember the change in health forms issue? national came out with 2 different versions of the health form within an 18 month period. An aside. Unfortunately the troop I'm in has just restarted andwe do not have anyone close to Eagle Projects yet. Highest ranking Scout is Star.

Sorry to see you leave. Will be missed.

@@Krampus, Gotta remember that once upon a time, the Eagle project was NOT (emphasis) a unit activity, but rather the Life Scout's activity. Troop could provide manpower and tools, but the Life Scout was in charge. Heck, adults were not even needed to be there. For my project, only my Mom was there, and she was not registered. All she did was drive me to the location and wait. The idea that a service project is a UNIT activity as opposed to an INDIVIDUAL ( again emphasis) activity is a very recent change. Kinda hard to remember the change when you have been doing something one way for

I've not waded into this discussion because of mixed feelings on it. But my $.02 worth. Growing up, my troop was a "full uniform" troop. We didn't expect folks to cough up the money right away, be we did expect the uniform. We did allow some non-BSA items in lieu of official stuff. Some examples of that would be dark socks instead of official socks IF worn with long pants, and the local surplus store had pants in the exact same shade of green except without the cargo pockets. In fact, if you looked at Gen II ODL pants and the surplus pants, only the BSA snaps are different. When we sh

I didn't come up with the idea of random chance, the PLC came up with it. Another ASM came up with an idea to refine it, specifically putting each patrol in their own cup and pulling out instead of everyone in one cup and drawing, and that is what the PLC decided. I agree with you, I would have liked to see how the Scouts themselves would come up with patrols.

Tells me more about the troop than anything. If folks are getting Eagle and leaving, there's a problem with program. I've been fortunate, most of the troops I've been with had folks staying on after getting Eagle as best as they could. College. military service, jobs, etc can put a damper on things. But ifyou have an active program, they will stay.

On a different note, when I did my project, it was one page. I needed the SM's signature, beneficiary's signature, and the DAC's signature. That was it.

@Richard_B, Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you and others (I questioned these rules to my SE and he looked in and replied to me) stated the following: 1) Some units work with other non-profits to do service projects, Habitat for Humanity was mentioned by someone, that DOES use the DOL laws in conducting service projects, that was one reason for implementing DOL rules for a VOLUNTEER ( emphasis) organization. 2) Since BSA does employ under 18 year olds at their day camps and summer camps, CONSISTANCY (emphasis) needed to be applied across the board. Personally I thin