JosephMD

Scouts, no matter how much trouble I got in to in school or wherever else, it is the one thing my mother would never punish me from.

I predict that your council will merge with another and a camp will be sold after they tell you that they won't sell any camps.

My wife is the Committee Chair of our Church's pack and has seen the pack shrink of the last few years as recruiting has not been very successful.

An idea was floated to invite all children from the church to the pinewood derby.  It seems like it would make a great recruiting event.  Obviously, since you would need to get them a car & provide them with some instructions & rules, you'd need sign ups ahead of time, which would be good for getting contact info for later follow up.

What do you think the pros and cons would be?  Any cub scouters with experience doing this very thing?

Thanks,
Joe

So, two years from now, the 14-17 year old females who might join my crew could join your troop. (Spare me the "separate program" flim-flam. ) If your CO and parents and maybe yourself are going to be "welcoming girls" into the Boy Scout, what will you have to say about venturing?

 

Will it be necessary? Superfluous?

if they continue with (what is in my opinion) the mistake of the separate but equal program for boys and girls age 11-17 the answer is no, in fact, I think you might see a growth in venturing for both genders as the boys and girls would still be able to earn Eagle in the crews and won't have to deal with the weirdness of separate programs.

If down the road there can be co-ed troops.  I think that those troops with a strong program will have scouts that don't see much of a need for venturing and we may see something develop more like the Venture program I remember from the 1980's. 

Our new chapter chief loves to have activities at chapter meetings.  While our ability to get some of the business done that needs to be done, attendance is up, and that is winning in my book. 

This month the carved pumpkins and had a bit of a bragging rights contest.  It was kind of crazy (especially since we had a smaller room than normal and it was kind of packed).  After the carving they had pumpkin pie!

I think though we will have to hold a few more chapter officers' meetings to get some of the work done that needs to be done!

Since next year packs will be able to have both boy and girl dens, but not mixed gender.  I'm wondering what kind of pressure that will put on the volunteers.

If this goes as intended, it should double the number of dens in each pack - siblings will likely dominate, and their active volunteer parents are already doing it.  Expanding to non legacy scouts with no boys in the family isn't likely to yield additional den leaders for some time.

I'm afraid it will be hard to implement.

I have become the Trail Boss for our local WOR. Each year we give out a new patch for the event. The patch design is the result of a contest with designs submitted by the Web Dens. The problem is I have now inherited a box of old patches from past years. I would hate to throw them away. Is there any value th these as trading stock. Any suggestions on how to get rid of them.

My son had a large stack of patches that were made for a district webelos camp out that he was running before a district merger.  The camp out still happened but since they had the old district name the district chair did not want them distributed.  He gave sets to his staff (there was a regular patch, staff patch, and a ghosted award patch) and the rest have gone into various patch auctions trading post dollar bins, etc.  I think some of the collectability was that they were the last patch made with that district name, at least that's what he'd put in the description for patch auctions to drum up interest.

The sad part was that there were not funds available to order a replacement patch for the participants. 

I had some folks look at me crazy last night when I was discussing sheath knives at a upcoming camporee. I actually had a parent pull up state law and attempted to say that sheath knives were illegal. I told him the key words to the law is "illegal to carry concealed."

The old sheath knife debate. 

...concealed... like, in a backpack?

another useless law

Wow thanks for the speedy replies. Much appreciated. Yeah i understand why adults place some restrictions due to weight and height. However, I think every scout should be given a shot at trying shotgun if they want to. Isn't that what scouts is about? Giving them experiences and memories that they wouldn't get without scouts. Some memories will be good some not so good. If it hurt his shoulder then he would know not to ask again? I'm thankful for the merit badge counselor at camp telling me to let him shoot. My son is on the smaller side. He qualified for shotgun faster than anyone at camp. He hasn't stopped talking about trap shooting. We've taken him trap and skeet shooting every weekend since he's been home from camp. He is so excited about this new sport. He wouldn't have that without scouts. 

​My son was 12 when he earned the shotgun shooting merit badge at camp.  I think that camp restricted first years and required either the rifle shooting MB or hunter safety, this ensures that the class doesn't have any scouts who have never handled a firearm before.  Also, rifle shooting takes a lot less staff than shotgun shooting, so there may be a method there to keep classes from being overloaded. 

It will come down to what the shooting sports director is comfortable with on the grounds of safety, but there is also an element of not setting scouts up to fail.  Some camps restrict the water sports merit badge to older scouts, based mainly on success rate, small scouts with no water skiing experience rarely complete the badge, and don't have access to boats or lakes to finish it at home.  The same could be said for shotgun shooting.  I've seen 10 year olds that do quite well in my son's youth trap shooting league, but these are the exceptions, not the rule. 

Obligatory - didn't read the whole thread but : I'd say, hold OA elections in crews - use the same first class equivalent that is used for the National Outdoor Awards. 

Maybe this SM has a lot going on and needs to manage it in a way that works for him.  Who knows, but I think using the term etiquette to title this post is incorrect.  Preference would have been the better word.

Some people prefer phone calls to texts, some snail mail to e-mail.  We all have our prefrences.

For me, it depends.  I like texts a little more than calls.  But most who call me know that if your number isn't in my phone, I don't answer, so if you want a call back you have to leave a message.  My preferred method overall is e-mail though, send me an e-mail and I'm good.

That being said, I like to use whatever the scouts are using, for the most part, but there are those who don't. 

I really have to hand it to our previous chapter chief for making this vigil happen.  There was very little time between getting notified that the scout's nominatoin was approved by national and the scout's family move of over 2000 miles.  Also, that scout was going to Philmont this summer, driving from the east coast, which made for a long trip, further cutting into the available days to actually do the vigil.

As the chapter adviser, I'm also happy that this was all able to happen with almost no guidance from me.  Between a long planned family vacation that had me away for two weeks, and jamboree staff that had me away for another two, I just wasn't available to do much advising here.  Leaving it to our youth and @@Oldscout448 to handle, working out all of the details with the lodge, and so on.

These guys are really making me look good, I keep getting asked to continue as chapter adviser!

My only argument would be that at least half are required to be delivered as a crew service activity.  Was the Jamboree staff a crew thing or an individual thing?  As the advancement and awards guy I focus on the words in the requirement, and any supporting documentation in the guide to advancement.  Nothing about the requirement limits the service from being provided to other BSA programs.

Use some judgement when guiding these youth, but it is really up to them.  Service as crew president in only title with little real responsibility, ask them, what was really done?  Service as a VOA VP of Program, putting in a lot of hours planning and running events for many crews, maybe that is a better example.  My guidance would lean toward service to other scouting activities beyond your individual crew or troop would probably count.  The jamboree would be a good example.  Without our youth staff, there would have been no jamboree.

The trainded patch isn't well defined outside of the unit level.

For example, there is no OA training for the trained patch.

At this point, you should know enough about scouting to know if you are trained or not.  Woodbadge, Trainers Edge, a couple of years of University of Scouting, a trip to Philmont Training Center for a training related conference, you decide. 

Troop Committee Advancement Chair here.

It actually sounds like you are talking about a scoutmaster conference, not a board of review.  There is a common misconception that a scoutmaster conference happens when all of the other requiremens have been completed, and right before the board of review.  This is not the case and it can happen any time since the previous rank was earned.  If this is a new scoutmaster, is he trained?  He may not know exactly what he is supposed to do but not want to admit it.  I guess in this case, did your son call for an appointment?  I know of scoutmasters that only do SM conferences on camp outs or on Sunday afternoons, which is a little weird in my book but not necessarily wrong, as long as they are getting done.

Now, if we are actually talking about a board of review here, that is something different, and something that the scoutmaster isn't involved in.  It should be arranged by the troop committee advancement chair, or if there isn't one, the committee chair or their designee.  I do this all the time.  My youngest just had his tenderfoot BoR last night, but I had to quickly train an extra parent because there were not enough committee present.  Usually, the only reason a board of review is delayed in our troop is if we don't have enough adults to hold one.

The thief probably had no idea they were stealing a bunch of single shot bolt actoin 22s!  They just aren't that valuble.

When my son took NYLT the SPL was a female.  I don't think he noticed. 

National Capital Area Council

Just curious why you did Ordeal in a national park instead of your Scout camp where you could provide service to your camp? Also, do you run into any issues with the general public interfering in your activities?

As has been mentioned, our primary council camp is about 4 hours away, very difficult to do a drop off camp out for the weekend.  We have another, smaller camp closer, but there are only so many weekends and it is often booked.  They do get in one or two chapter ordeals though.  I think we would actually have more issues with the close in scout camp's other weekend tenants than we have with the general public at the national park. 

I think it would be awesome to have an ordeal at our council's large scout reservation, I just don't know how it would work with the logistics.  That being said, it is also great to be out doing service to the public as well.  Noted above, this was the 42nd Ordeal at this park, very roughly, around 50,000 hours of service.  Something just feels good about that!

its so much more than requirements at this point. or recreational use of pot. he made a "mistake and was caught in school with weed, he was then mentored and disciplined by the scoutmaster. did he learn from that??? No, he repeated the exact same negative behavior.  the boy is 18 in 8 months. I also have 36 other scouts and parents to worry about. an eagle scout is a elite group of the finest in scouting. Can I honestly stand infront of my troop and community and say this boy is one of the finest examples of boy scouts and deserve to be part of this elite group. or by allowing this behavior am I smacking every eagle scout in the face......

Regardless of what we think an eagle scout should or shouldn't be, the rank is earned by scouts who complete the requirements as written.  There is no arbitrary standard of what is the finest or not, there is a defined standard.  As the scoutmaster, you have outs with requirement 2 and 6, and if you think it is the right thing to do, that is your prerogative.

I've learned that there is nothing the bean counters can't mess up.

This sounded like a great opprotunity for your unit to earn some money so that the scouts can pay their own way.

That is the Troop Guide's failure, assuming of course that you had one.

I suppose you could look at it as the next troop guide's opportunity!

In my area units with more Scouts actually tend to be more rigid about camping nights and limit them to once a month. I couldn't imagine an SPL and PLC of a large unit planning more than one camp out per month. If they do, it's a good bet it is adult run...at least in my area. No kid has that much time to spend on planning unit activities.

 

Our guys take about a year under the new requirements to make FC. That's around right to make sure they actually know their skills. Of course, we are a medium-sized unit for our area...about 75 Scouts.

My thought was that they would have multiple camp outs per month because they had to break it up to fit in camp sites, fit schedules, etc.  Not that the entire troop would go each time.

Ask yourself this question:  What requirement did the scout fail to complete?

2: As a Life Scout, demonstrate Scout Spirit by living the Scout Oath and Scout Law. Tell how you have done your duty to God, how you have lived the Scout Oath and Scout Law in your everyday life, and how your understanding of the Scout Oath and Scout Law will guide your life in the future. List on your Eagle Scout Rank Application the names of individuals who know you personally and would be willing to provide a recommendation on your behalf, including parents/guardians, religious (if not affiliated with an organized religion, then the parent or guardian provides this reference), educational, employer (if employed), and two other references.

I like to look at it his way, many of the scouts we have don't live the scout oath and law 24/7/365, and neither do us adults.  The requirement doesn't say that you must never not demonstrate scout spirt by violating a point of the scout oath and scout law.

6: While a Life Scout, participate in a Scoutmaster conference.

I suppose you could just refuse to do a scoutmaster conference, if you think that is the right thing to do.  I don't think I would ever deny a scout a scoutmaster conference if I were a scoutmaster.

I always turn back to what the requirements say, not what I think.  I think drug use is a terrible decision and is very destructive to one's self and the community at large.  Now, there are those that disagree with me that a little weed or a little coke never hurt anybody, and, there might be some truth to that statement, but pretty much everyone with a drug addiction problem starts with a little of this and a little of that.

One of these days, I will be a scoutmaster, and I hope I never have to deal with this situation.

The bottom line is if you don't sign it, an appeal will most likely be accepted if he has done all of the merit badges and can show some documentation on his project.

Our troop scouters broke up the "patrol of new scouts" because they saw it as not working when most of them after a year had not made TF..... while many of their sons under the old program had made FC within that year. 

 

what happened is now we have groups of friends broken up and separated, and even a worse sense of patrol spirit or unity.

My sons' troop is small with only 15 scouts total.  Most of the newer scouts are in the same patrol, but we just let them organize themselves naturally.  The only one that doesn't really fit in with the patrol with most of the new guys when I look at it is our troop's newest Eagle scout, but he is also the troop guide, so it really works out.

The new requirements have definitely slowed things down a bit though.  My youngest son (started in February) is an exception, but that is mainly because the involved parent in me talks to him weekly about what he is doing in scouts, then I leave him alone at meetings and on camp outs.  When he joined we talked about goals, and one of them was to earn Tenderfoot by the May court of honor, and he is really close.  He hopes to have second class by the September court of honor, and First Class by January.  A lot more realistic than his first goal, FC by summer camp!  He has figured out that making a little progress each week is working out well.  The troop doesn't really revolve its program around the advancement, so, scouts have to go and get it, grab the TG, PL, SPL, ASM or whoever and say, I would like to work on this requirement. 

So let's say it is six camp outs. How can a troop that camps once a month have someone make FC in 86 days? You'd have to camp twice a month for that to happen, no?

Nope, that won't work for most troops, but I'm sure one could be found that does, some of those huge troops I hear about with over 100 scouts might offer camping twice per month.