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Eagle94-A1

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Everything posted by Eagle94-A1

  1. Krampus, Law enforcement are allowed to carry at BSA functions. The ASM in my troop works in law enforcement, and is regularly called out from meetings and camp outs as part of his duties.
  2. There are a variety of reasons why someone who is young (under 30) may e go into the commissioner corps. 1) They don't want to be committed to a single unit as a leader. That was my case once I quit being a DE. I didn't want to "show favorites" and work with one specific unit. It was interesting going from DE to UC, but very doable. 2) Have a Scouter who wants to help out, but can not commit to being a unit leader for whatever reason. A freind of mine and I just recruited someone under 30. Between his USAFR and med school commitments, he doesn't have the time for weekely meetings. Bu
  3. One of our ASMs regularly conceal carries to meetings and on a few camp outs. He's also been known to show up in the CSI van to meetings and camp outs, and leave early when the citizens of our city do not behave. On those occasions, I give him the benefit of the doubt for not wearing his Scout uniform and shows up in his work uniform.
  4. Don't go there. Hamas and ISIS have youth programs modeled off of Scouting. Also heard from a friend about one Scout getting ticked off and threatened to have his jihadi cousins blew up the CO. That threat was reported to authorities.
  5. Thread reminds me of an incident a few years back. I had to make a trip with expected bad weather and one of the interstates closed for a long section due to rock slides. I had the alternate route planned, and a back up route planned in case the snowstorm hit earlier. I got to the funeral OK, but decided to leave early to avoid the snowstorm. Well, my father, sister, and brother were freaking out because I was leaving early to take the backup route without a GPS unit. They could not understand how I could plan a way home with only a map. Now here is where it gets funny. Previously I rode
  6. What you suggest is one option. But if your council does not have the mandatory "Trained" requirement, mine is still phasing it in, then he would be good to go with just YPT. IF your council is one with the mandatory training, then get him registered as UNIT SCOUTER RESERVE (92U is the code). That position was created specifically for 18-20 year olds who want to be active, but cannot get all of the training yet, and are too young to be committee members.
  7. As someone who has been in similar shoes, i.e. young family and OA chapter advisory, training chair, etc with a young family, I can tell you it's doable, BUT you must have a VERY supportive wife. One thing that helped me out was that for the first 4 years I was a parent, I was in grad school. Since my classes were at night, I was a stay at home dad. So I was able to be with the kids for a lot of the time. Doesn't mean SWMBO and I dad I disagreements and arguments over my involvement in Scouting. Especially when the third one showed up, and I finally finished grad school and was working fu
  8. We, meaning the youth, didn't allow for switching patrols or PLs until the 6 months were up. Reason for that was to emphasize that decisions do have consequences. If you switch patrols, you need to adapt to that patrol's standards. If you elect a PL that ends up lousy, you need to live with the consequences until their term of office is over. Funny thing is that the PLs usually did outstanding jobs and had minor complaints. We had issues with a few SPLs, and teh ASPL either picked up the slack, or took over for the remaining term
  9. @@blw2 , For the most part, the only time people switched patrols were A) when we created the NSP in 1986, and I left my patrol to form a 3rd patrol and B) when someone moved up to the Leadership Corps. When we gave up on the NSP stuff, 2 friends of mine and some of the others in my patrol switch over. Otherwise i cannot remember anyone switching from one patrol to another. Part of that may have been patrol spirit and esprit de corps. The two original patrol flags, Hawks and Eagles, were still in use when I joined the troop. Every patrol ribbon the patrol ever earned were still on
  10. Stosh, The NSP. stuff was before it bbecame offiicial. Basically we were part ofthe guinea pigs. Yes, it was 100% adult instttgated as thee SM was asked to try somehing new. After a year, we went bac. As for voting in folks into the LC, very informal process. Requirements were First Class and have been a PL. After SPL election, incoming SPL would talk to LC about who wanted what positions, and who we thought should move up from the regular patrol and be given a troop level position. I guess a better choice of words would be consensus among the ccurrent LC Mmembers..Most of the time,
  11. Growing up, every 6 months we had the opportunity to switch patrol and elect new PLs. It was the Scout's choice. Exception to that was the following: 1) When we needed a third patrol and I was appointed PL. This was when we were trying the NSP thing before it become BSA policy. Didn't work and eventually two guys from other patrols migrated over and we became the 3rd mixed aged patrol 2)When someone got elected into the Leadership Corps. Again the LC members voted on who would join them. Now SPL would assign Webelos who visited to a patrol to work with for the meeting and the ca
  12. Thanks, definite birthing pains. IMHO the troop FINALLY has someone with knowledge, skills and abilities to get the job done as SPL. Not dismissing the KSA's of the previous SPLs. But the troop has had to grow their own older scouts, and they are starting to take the reins instead of the adults doing everything. As for is he helping his Scouts. YES to the best of his ability. Is he helping his PLs? Depends upon your point of view. Despite him not working with the NSPL, the SPL is relying on the TG to help the NSPL. In all honesty I don't think the troop has any expectations or goals ex
  13. One way we did it was at the Webelos troop visit, the SPL assigned the Webelos to the dens. They learned some of the skills for the Webelos Overnighter weekend at the meeting. The patrol they were assigned to was the patrol they would camp with. Within the patrol, the PL assigned one of the Scouts to work with the Webelos and be his buddy. It worked well, and when they Crossed Over, they usually went into the patrol with their buddy from the overnighter.
  14. I've seen everything from the presentation kit only Eagle Knife to NESA lifetime memberships. One of my friends had a chartered helicopter flight for him and the other Eagles in his troop as they do only 1 ECOH per year, and they make it a doozy. In my troop, we got the presentation kit, COH, name on a plaque, and our name and year burnt onto a table decoration for future troop COHs. I remember moving around my table decoration a few times to "reserve my spot. One thing I received, and this was a gift from the SM, was an Eagle pendant. I personally have given out copies of the BSA'
  15. As far as I know Venture patrols still exist as they still sell the VENTURE strip. Way we worked it in my old troop was basically a continuation of the Leadership Corps, in fact we didn't switch the name to Venture crew until after i turned an adult, circa 1993 or thereabouts, because we had a stack LC patches and finished up our supply of them before switching. Way it worked for us was that the LC were the older Scouts who had expereince as PLs, were First Class or higher, and had troop level responsibilities. While we had designated Instructors, everyone did their share of teaching and
  16. If it seems as if I'm critical of the SPL, I'm not. Far from it as I think he is doing great job for the first time. He took initiative. He planned it. He worked his people. And like any first time leader, mistakes were made. And I am hoping everyone concerned, grows from it. Especially some of the adults. I am hoping and praying that some of the adults will back off and let them Scouts make their mistakes and learn form them. ADDED DANG just reread what I wrote and you're right, the bulk seems negative. i was trying to give a summary of the meeting, what could be improved, and what
  17. Update from the meeting this week. SPL does need to work on communication and insuring instructors know in advance what they are doing and/or giving them a chance to practice. Also needs to make sure they have supplies Instructor(s) needs to know the skills, practice before hand, and learn how to use their resources. Adults need to learn to butt out of the process, especially if they do not know the skills. What do I mean? SPL talked to most of the folks instructing at the Christmas Party, but not everyone. Didn't follow through to remind them or contact those not at the
  18. Before BSA produced a spiral bound book, a friend of mine took his to some printing shop where they cut the perfect bound book and turned it into a spiral bound book. When the first spiral bound book came out, he didn't like the quality nor the cost, and repeated the above. He said it was better quality and cheaper.
  19. As a former pro and long time volunteer, I've seen good DEs, and I have seen bad ones. I've seen some coast, and I seen some burn out with exhaustion. I've seen some that had "leverage" over the upper management and didn't have to lift a finger to succeed, and some were so hounded by the upper management, that they worked so much that their marriage, and even health failed them. And of course I've seen a bunch leave in frustration and disillusionment.
  20. My thoughts. 1) I think the parents do not understand the process and need to be registered. The MB process is a chance for the Scout to show interest without parental involvement. It is also suppose to allow him initiative. 2) Me personally, I will NOT sign off on any of my son's advancement UNLESS there is no other registered MBC in the district, and even then I will have another adult look at the stuff and verify that he is actually doing it. We had an issue a while back in my council with one grandfather, father, and mother registering to be MBCs in addition to their unit roles
  21. BLW2, The Leadership Corps was what the Venture crew (not Venturing Crew), now called a Venture patrol, was called back in my day. usually it was the older Scouts who had troop level positions: QM, Librarian, Instructor, etc. Lots of different ways to work it, but here is how it worked in my troop. If I can find the Leadership Corps book I'll post some official stuff. , 1. Had to be First Class or above, a PL for at least 6 months (most were a PL for year or longer), and be elected by existing members of the LC to be a member. 2. ASPL was the PL of the LC since he is responsibl
  22. OK I'm back 3) Since all the Varsity Teams I've seen have been LDS, yes I've heard on non-LDS teams but have not seen them, I think the reason for the switch from Leadership Corps to Venture crew, as well as the creation of the high adventure activity pins for wear on the Varsity/Venture V Award, was created based upon LDS units using Varsity Teams.
  23. The concept of the New Scout Patrol and Troop Guide position came out officially in August 1989 as part of the OPERATION FIRST CLASS Program. National did some research saying that Scouts who get First Class within a year tend to stay in Scouting longer, and looked at some things to use to retain membership. Hence Operation First Class. The New Scout patrol, Troop Guide, renaming the Leadership Corps the Venture crew, etc as well as doing away with time requirements between T-2-1 ranks were all party of that process. My thoughts; 1) While the report does show a correlation between adva
  24. My troop, stressing troop, growing up had a policy of anyone with 7 or more MBs could wear a sash. I think it came from the long sleeve shirt policy. HOWEVER none of us ever wore long sleeve shirts. Otherwise ANYONE can wear a MB sash.
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