George

Given that the BSA requires two registered adult leaders 21 years of age or over are at "all Scouting activities, including meetings," it seems that the old ideal of weekly Patrol meetings outside of the Troop meeting--at, for example, a Patrol member's house--is more unlikely than ever. As a result, is it time for Troops to reallocate more of their weekly meeting time and space to Patrols? @Kudu reprints some of Green Bar Bill's advice to Scoutmasters on this subject at http://inquiry.net/patrol/troop/index.htm: For those Troops who wish to be especially faithful to the Patrol m

I would also like to read the draft. Thank you!

Fair point. I'm especially interested in criteria for day hikes in the 5-10 mile range. Thanks!

As you all know, "[t]here are instances, such as patrol activities, when the presence of adult leaders is not required and adult leadership may be limited to patrol leadership training and guidance. With proper training, guidance, and approval by troop leaders, the patrol can conduct day hikes and service projects." In your units, what "training, guidance, and approval" do you require for no-adult patrol activities?

Why not just recognize the already-existing Corps of Discovery?

We have elected officers. We're hoping to have the Council VOA officers instruct ILSC (they previously did Crew Officers Orientation for us); we're just waiting for them to complete their changeover to schedule it. In the meantime, I have been introducing some of the key points at relevant moments. We're also waiting for the VOA meeting schedule to begin sending one or more crew representatives (the previous VOA officers met on the same night as our crew meeting night, so we have not previously sent representatives). Upon chartering, we elected officers, completed Crew Officers Orientat

Thanks for your comment, qwazse. I should have mentioned this in my original post, but this possible discussion with the crew president about the patrol system will be broader than just a discussion about that one system. My intent is to pose questions about organization and whether what has worked for us as a small crew will continue to work as we become a larger crew, what adaptations or adjustments need to be made, how to make sure new Venturers are able to participate in the crew's decision-making, etc. If they want examples, I was going to suggest the current Venturing structure, th

One additional data point: Melville Balsillie, Running a Senior Scout Troop: An Official Handbook for Scouters 23-24 (1964), available at http://www.thedump.scoutscan.com/runningsenior.pdf.

I'm the Advisor for a new (6 months and counting) Venturing crew with 12 Venturers. To date, we have been following the organizational structure suggested in the Handbook for Venturers and Venturing Advisor Guidebook. As we continue steadily growing, I've begun to consider discussing with the crew president whether we should look into implementing the patrol system. But the BSA's Venturing publications make no mention of patrols. I can only assume this was an intentional decision; after all, the earlier Explorer Scout Manual organized Explorer Scout posts into patrols (called "crews").