my_three_sons

Our Troop picks up the Eagle Kit, the 1st year to NESA, and a Eagle Scout bolo. We also pay for a 1/2 sheet cake.

Perfect timing we are hitting the road to Philmont on Tuesday and we also have itinerary 28. I will definitely print out your post and bring it with me on the trail.

The Troop pays for the standard Eagle Award Kit and the first year of the Eagle's Call Magazine. We also pay of a 1/2 flat cake(or the equivalent price towards food). We also have a large certificate printed and framed with room for all of the meritbadges the scout has earned. The chartering organization pays for his name to be added to a plaque they have hanging up and the lettering to add his name and year he became an Eagle to our trailer and bus.

Sorry for waiting so long to post an update. I met with the District Executive while rechartering my Cub Scout pack. When I told him of my plan to leave he was shocked and started to work on a plan to get more scouts to the pack. The Troop is going to host an open house in mid April for the 5th grade Webelos who haven't crossed over to another troop yet. There are 43 scouts who are going to be invited but I am not sure how many will show up. But if I can get 3-4 scouts out of it I would be pleased. I have 7 4th grade Webelos scouts who have been with the pack for over 2 years and I think most of them plan on crossing over. I mapped out what packs generally go to what troops and the numbers are very lopsided. The two largest troops pull from a base of 4 and 5 times the cub scouts as we do. I have met with some of the Cubmasters that I know best to invite their 4th grade Webelos to some Troop events. I am sure that I won't be making any new friends at the next Roundtable meeting. A few of the Cubmasters were excited about sending boys to us since there have been camp outs where scouts were left out since there wasn't room on the bus. Both of my son's both want to work though this rough patch with the troop so I told my wife that I was going to give it another year and if things don't improve drastically I am done.

We got a nice diesel bus a few years ago and in our state any vehicle what carries over 16 people is special class of the CDL license. I am still conflicted on what I am going to do. If I can't convince boys to join the troop from my own pack I am not sure if I can convince them from other packs. I know that the parents of the troop want it to go on but once they all get through their eagle projects I think I will never see them again. We are charted through a Moose Lodge so while they enjoy having us there most of the members are grandparents. We tried to have an event to get members boys join the troop and not a single boy showed up.

Thanks everyone for advice it really helped me not feel guilty for leaving. I have to meeting with the district executive on Tuesday to recharter the Pack. I am going to let him know on my plans to leave for the other troop. The other troop and ours have shared a bus before to save on gas expenses so all of the boys might be interested in joining together.

I keep going on back and forth on if I should leave a Troop which will more or less kill it or stick it out. I am an ASM with a Troop with 8 scouts. We have 5 juniors, 1 sophomore, 1 7th grader, and we only have one Webelos who is crossing over. We have lost 4 scouts in the last year all of them being our younger scouts. I had 6 Webelos II coming into the year so I thought we would be good. One is crossing over, one is becoming a Catholic Squire, two are joining other troops because we have no one close to their son’s age, and two are done with scouts. We only get boys from one Pack which is part of the problem. I have tried to reach out to other packs but there two large packs (50 and 45 scouts) that have a strangle hold on the district. I think the district executive is afraid to help out the smaller troops since both of them have a large list of alumni that they are afraid to set loose on him. He is a younger guy who I think is intimidated by the old scoutmasters. I have spoken with him about this and he said he would support me with whatever I decide. At our latest committee meeting I got the impression that once the parents scouts finish up their Eagle projects they are done with scouting. In a year we are going to be left with no committee members with positions or a bus driver. I have a health condition that they could fail me on the CDL physical so that’s not an option. They are pressuring me to become the scoutmaster but I really don’t want to since I am also the Cubmaster of the pack the troop gets scouts from. This year I am also the Webelos I den leader since the last years moved away and I have a 4th grade son. We have a great charter organization with 25 years of Eagles so I am conflicted with dissolving this troop but other than my oldest being in this troop for 6 years I don't have any long term bonds with it. I took the Pack from 8 scouts to 48 in 4 years but brining a Troop back is going to be a bigger challenge. The sophomore and 7th grader are my son’s and I don’t know if they really enjoy scouts anymore. We skipped the last 3 camporees since most of the older scouts are either working, in sports or just plain don’t want to go. I got into scouting for my son’s but now I fear they are in it for me. We have another troop that I am close with the Scoutmaster that would love to take us. They have 15 scouts total with a few in both of my son’s grade. The problem is if I leave for my boys how do I still send Webelos to a troop that my own son’s left. If I go this troop is going to be done within a year. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. I change my mind on this many times a day and am starting to have trouble sleeping because of it.