krikkitbot

Stosh, Do you let the scouts make up their own minds about OA in your troop without inserting your own bias? Do you schedule elections? I'm just wondering because I often see troops not holding elections because the scoutmaster had a poor experience as a youth in the OA, doesn't know what the OA is, or is afraid the OA will "take" his/her best scouts. In my lodge, the youth run everything. Some years they are great, some others not so great but it's because of the youth leadership that gets elected each year. Advisers sit back and let the youth thrive or fail.

I look forward to integrating girls into the program. There are some venturing girls who are exceptional scouts and they deserve th honor.

That's so "Betsy Ross!"

How far is swamp base? Might that be an option?

How many patrols/scouts does your troop have?

I am wondering when and how often your PLC meets. Our troop's meets once a month an hour before the troop meeting starts. I am thinking of suggesting to the scouts to meet every week for 15 minutes before the meeting. I think that this would give them a better opportunity to tighten up plans for the next meeting and discuss thorns and roses of the previous meeting. I think after the meeting would be best but usually people are trying to get home to do homework or dinner, or there are parents lingering waiting to talk to the SM, CC, etc. and their scouts are socializing.

Congratulations!

I did some genealogy and I could only trace my Texan roots to about 1835... now, I wonder why I can't find records prior to that OP, I feel your pain. I think the best advice that you are going to get out of this is what SSScout said. take his input as him being helpful, modify as needed, and scout on.

It sure would be nice to have more visibility into who sits in the National Executive Board. I googled one of the names and that person is no longer on the board.

All of our ceremonialists wear shirts. I don't see a problem. Also, per national, they all must wear pants under breech cloths. I heard something about an blanket incident at NOAC in the 80's that prompted that change.

The ones who annoy the daylight out of me are the ones who, when I ask the scout what he needs for his next rank, jump in and start answering before the scout has a chance to even open his mouth. 9 times out of 10, the scout doesn't even know the answer because he doesn't need to worry about it as long as mom/dad know.

Why would you presume that the pack is not? There are always two sides to a story. Unfortunately with this type of case you can only get one side. Maybe there were other behavioral issues. Maybe there had been safety issues. Maybe it has nothing to do with the questions but the timing creates a good narrative. My point is we don't know the pack's side of the story.

These are my thoughts exactly. I'm willing to bet that there was a lot more to this but we are only getting the mother's side of the story.

Poaching OUR women. Wow. How about the women leaders go wherever they want or are needed? I didn't realize women had no choice.

I'd strongly encourage the SM to go through wood badge training. Have the unit sponsor him. I would also recommend the ASMs doing the same.

We are going to need more than a one line answer to this. There's a story there and I'm sure we all want to read it.

The trained patch goes on the hem of the sleeve. The POR goes right above that. The CSP needs to go all the way up to the shoulder seam. The numbers maybe about a quarter to a half inch below the CSP. There should be enough room for everything.

I like the idea of troops hosting a few staff members for each meal. After all, a scout is courteous, kind, and friendly. At NYLT, NAYLE, and Wood Badge, the troops host guests so it's not that strange a concept. If some don't like to eat with the scouts, then they can bring their own food.

I've heard grumblings that this might happen with public ceremonies from people in the National Committee but nothing official has come our way. So, like others have said, hold off on the bonfire and even if it comes to pass, the items are better off in a museum than in a pile of ashes.

They are no longer tied together. Everything else, you just kinda described the Wilderness Survival merit badge. I guess we should drop that badge. I don't know what you mean by standing in formation multiple times. Do you mean walking somewhere single file? That's hazing? Just wait until they see the paddles! I'm kidding! There are no paddles.

You might want to do actual geocaches. You can go to www.geocaching.com and use their caches. Chances are that there are already a ton near you. Some of them hold trinkets. Others are just logs to sign. Some of them can be as small as the tip of your pinky and yet others are as large as an ammo can. There is one somewhere in the US that is a 55 gallon barrell in some woods. I'd love to find that sometime. The app is pricey but it works great. You don't need to use their app if you have a GPS or a smartphone.

I must have missed that post. I thought he posted somewhere that he was the SPL for his troop. Maybe he meant a long time ago.

I have not had any luck contacting individual units. Do you think it would be ok to send donations to Sam Houston headquarters? Our troop donated some items and gift cards that I would like to send out.

I've got to say, folks, I am very impressed with @@ItsBrian 's maturity and well thought out comments. I assume he is under 18 and he is giving us some great food for thought. Brian, thank you for your input, not just in this thread but in just about every one of your responses. Your unit is lucky to have you and I'm sure your parents are proud of you.