vumbi

Try it, you'll be glad you did. Seriously, Issues and Politics forum is the source of something almost 'evil' in these forums. I cannot fathom what possessed (and that term might be appropriate) someone to create Issues and Politics in the first place. But if anyone can show me one thread in that cesspool that has provided real benefit or enlightenment to scouters and scouts, I'll reconsider.

I guess if my name is causing problems, maybe I should change to something easier?

I just thought a while about my offer and I retract it. Someone will have to show me a lot more than one thread that provided benefit or enlightenment to scouters and scouts before I'll reconsider my condemnation of that forum.

I will offer this piece of friendly advice to Cyclops, actually to anyone who would like to be Scouters rather than some kind of gladiatorial spectacle: Do not go to or even read Issues and Politics forum. It is a cesspool of everything that is bad and it taints the rest of the forums by its mere existence.

Cyclops, try this experiment: go through the OTHER forums without considering Issues and Politics. I know you've already been affected by the vile effluent contained in that forum but try to put that out of your mind. See if, by ignoring that forum entirely, you still have the same feelings that you just expressed. And if you notice even a small difference, just imagine how much better all this would have been if that forum didn't exist at all and the biggest issue we discussed was whether or not someone could wear a pin on their uniform or, dare I say it, the occasional rolling doughnut.

By the way, that was a great adaptation of the song, wish I'd thought of that too!

David, that is wonderful. Middle school, to me, must be about the hardest task any teacher could take on. I sure know I'm not up to it. I'm glad you're doing this and hope you don't burn out.

 slipshod partial uniforms and "class-B" t-shirts

Getting back to topic, this one was a hoot.

Yes, yes, this is definitely the slippery slope for sure. Let one pin on a collar pass and next thing you know we have hordes of hooligans dressed in who-knows-what baggy gansta shorts giving the finger to the flag. Yep, we need to clamp down HARD on that pin, less than that will be the end of scouting, possibly the beginning of the end of society as we know it.

If it works fine for just about every other scout organization in the world, including the one founded by Robert Baden Powell himself, and our closest neighbors in Canada, it pretty much makes any arguments that it would not work in the USA kinda silly to me. 

I think it's a great idea to go coed. Your reasoning is excellent.

Teacher.

Nice, what grades, subjects?

I am involved in the service sector. Some public, some private.

I keep a tab of black tape over the camera on my computer and I disabled the microphone a long time ago.

LOL, Wish I'd thought of that one! Thanks.

I am very patient and I repeat the requirements as many times as necessary for the boys to understand them. I want to make sure that when they DO whatever the requirement 'requires', they do it right so they don't have to do it again.

@ya lazima vumbi

 

Well @@Krampus might have the correct BSA uniform and socks, but does he have official BSA underwear?  Did anyone bother to check that?  

Ha, ha, I wonder if there is even an official 'wedgie' specified in the guidelines?

Only the rolling doughnut knows.......

Little Tommy Tucker, a wolf cub, says to Billy Jacobs, another wolf cub, "Oooooohhh, look at that. Mr. Addinsell is wearing a pin on his collar. I distinctly remember reading in the Insignia Guide that THAT is a violation of the uniform code. No need to pay attention to him anymore, he has no regard for the law."

To which Billy replies, "Yes, and look, he's not even wearing the proper socks with the uniform either, O M G!"

Later some parents, horrified over these outrageous violations, vote to join the unit Krampus is in. After all if one of the leaders is wearing a pin on his collar, they need to get their sons away from that bad example right away.

To me, there is a whole lot more to 'setting an example' than being a stickler for the uniform. To me, getting every little thing right in 'form' is no substitute for the 'substance'.

I'm organizing the random agents of entropy (called 'cub scouts') and getting the den leaders to get their dens to sit for a minute so we can start the pack meeting and one of the wolf cubs comes up to me. He has visited a vacation place with his family and wants to give me the little souvenir pin from that vacation place. He's just full of enthusiasm and wants me to know I should go there too and have as good a time as he did (I've been there many times) and I listen attentively and say, yes, I'd really like to do that and he's bubbling with pride as he gives me the pin and I don't even hesitate when I pin it on my uniform right above one of my knots. During the meeting our eyes meet many times and I can see the pride in his eyes as he spots that pin on my uniform. At the end his parents thank me and he gives me a hug.

There's no way I will NOT wear that pin on my uniform and the guidelines and you sticklers for 'form' can take a flying jump at a rolling doughnut if you don't like it.

Those are a lot of questions but first, WELCOME to the forums. I hope you're able to sift through all the responses and get some answers for all of the questions.  You might want to repeat your questions in the Cub Scout forum because it is possible that Cub Scouters might not read this one.

Starting with the account: No, if you have a pack or troop account, BSA doesn't even know what the balance is. This unit often has well over 5-10K in theirs, just before we pay for some large expense for a big trip or something. BSA doesn't touch it.

Fundraising on the other hand: BSA has some fairly strict guidelines about what you can do and how you do it. But those are in the documentation that you can find online, although I don't know the link offhand.

Also remember that ALL assets of the pack belong to the charter organization and should remain with the existing pack and not move to the new one. You didn't give enough detail about the 'changes' that were made so I am not comfortable speculating on that topic. (there are probably plenty of others here who would be glad to speculate).

It would be fair to expect to be able to see the pack budget details so you can see what happened to pack funds prior to their leaving. As for 'assistance', unless you do find some kind of hanky panky in those records, my advice is to shrug it off and focus on the new leadership and work with your cubs. That's where you'll find real satisfaction.

I had no problems.

I now stand corrected and you have now read the Holy Writ. Feel better?

I know I sure do.

You can take my advice from line 1 of the first response and put it just above the left shirt pocket (no one has corrected me yet, not even the banana republic general, lol) or you can just put it anywhere you want and not worry about it.

OR, being as these are pins and therefore easily movable, you can relocate them on your uniform every time someone has a different suggestion. Be sure to attach photos...we await...the drama of it all.

As I understand it they go above the left pocket, not on the flap. If someone corrects me about this, read on......

The larger question is one you intimated in a couple of statements like this one, "I am not looking to decorate for the sake of decorating."

Have you already spent more than a few minutes thinking about this 'issue'? How long have I spent bothering to respond to this thread? How many others have spent time trying to figure out these things?

Now ask yourself, as you account for all of those minutes, and possibly a lot more time considering the investment by others like me - Is it possible that we could have spent our time more productively? Could that time have been better spent on some other aspect of scouting?

If the answer to either of those questions is 'yes', I suggest that we invest in a deep breath and then ignore such matters in favor of things that are actually important.

I was talking to a young woman today who also mentioned that she wished she could have joined boy scouts instead of girl scouts. Also athletic and outgoing. She would have been an exemplary scout. Our loss, I fear. I asked her if she had considered Venturing but there evidently wasn't a crew anywhere nearby for her. Another lost opportunity.

We also have a lot of HA options within a 2-3 hour drive. We've canoed out to islands for summer campouts, done multi-day backpacks, some trips to coral reefs and such, wild cave exploring, etc. I've always been partial to a winter canoe trip down a long blackwater river or maybe on the Okeefenokee or just snorkeling through a bunch of N Florida springs. But the adventure doesn't have to be in some spectacular setting: it could be discovery of all sorts of things in the local woods.

It seems like the 'high' part of adventure often translates into some kind of extra physical exertion. It doesn't have to be that way at all if the 'adventure' part of it is good enough.

We did a wonderful HA trip by just going fishing for the whole weekend and we even had the added pleasure of being able to eat our way through part of that adventure.

I agree. It was just fine the way it was.

 In fact, have you kept a diary of your last 70 nights outdoors?

In a manner of speaking I sure have. I always take photos of the places I go and people I meet. The last 70 outdoor nights? No problem.

Welcome to the forums!

LOL, Daped01, I thought that as a Cub Scout you're supposed to 'Do Your Best'...or in my best impersonation of Yoda, "Do or do not, there is no try".

yeah, that makes sense. I was a boy scout before that time and then didn't get back in as a leader until much later.

Change has occurred throughout society and throughout history. Why would anyone think BSA should be immune to this? 'Life as we know it' has changed so many times it is almost impossible to enumerate those changes (think of all the develoipments in just communications or medicine). Couple those things with a 100+ year-old organization and what do reasonable people expect to happen?

In response to the 'How To' aspect of this thread, what we've done (in addition to the usual training stuff from BSA) is to involve the new leaders in outings that have experienced leaders present. The 'mentoring' that occurs in that 'hands-on' manner is far superior to the training, in my humble opinion. I am also sympathetic to JoeBob's observation but that whole 'ole-boy' thing can be simply avoided. The problem with the approach I just described is that it depends on having those experienced leaders available.

Absent that, it would be more difficult to get them up to speed faster. But even then, hands-on experience would still be valuable.