JosephMD

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

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Technically you could earn Scout on your first day while you run your laps for tenderfoot the same day. + 30 days to complete requirement Tenderfoot requirement 6c, + 28 days to complete 2nd class requirement 7a + 28 days to complete FC requirement 8a. Now, hopefully I'm not reading the requirements wrong - here is what I have for FC requirement 1a Since joining, participate in 10 separate troop/patrol activities, six of which include overnight camping. These 10 activities do not include troop or patrol meetings. On at least five of the six campouts, spend the night in a tent that you pitch or other structure that you help erect (such as a lean-to, snow cave, or tepee). It is my understanding that that includes the activities that you have done in tenderfoot requirement 1b and 2nd class requirement 1a. so, a total of 6 camp outs for FC. I take the words "since joining" as the guide there. Really, the # of days thing is more trivia than anything else though, since in reality, it wouldn't work.

Well, the government didn't shut down and that was an awesome ordeal! The best part is that I almost have the budget closed out as well! 74 new arrowmen + 15 brotherhood, 134 total participants! There are a lot of great folks that made this Ordeal happen, youth + adult.

The new requirements have taken me longer to master than I expected. When I was a scout, you had to be a scout for 1 month, to earn tenderfoot, then tenderfoot for 2 months to earn 2nd class, then 2nd class for 3 months to earn 1st class. I had my board of reviews almost exactly on this schedule too. I think part of it was that I started in June of 89 and the book was changing in January of 91. At least a month of that six was working on first aid all the time. Now, you would have to have a pretty super troop to make it in 86 days. The 10 troop activities in about 12 weeks, including six camp outs would probably be the main hold up. We have actually found that scout is taking really long for most of the boys. Requirement 4 is really slowing them down: As an individual or with your patrol, use the EDGE method and mini lessons to teach Internet safety rules, behavior, and "netiquette" to your troop or another patrol

Just letting off a little steam, not in a bad way, just, brain going a mile a minute and felt like typing. 102 candidates were elected or nominated by troops in our district. about 65 attended the call out, a little less than I would have liked but still pretty good for a stand alone event that didn't have a camporee attached we have 76 candidates registered for the ordeal, that is more than I can remember from the last couple of years. my estimate was only for 75, so, I'm short a lodge flap and handbook. Fortunately, I have a couple of leftover sashes. 133 total registrations when you add the cook crew, ceremonies team, brotherhood candidates, Elangomats, and general staff The stress is really coming from the government as the ordeal is at a national park and the rangers would have to remove us Saturday morning if the government shuts down. But the news of the hour makes that seem a little less likely. With so many candidates, the ceremonies will have to be done multiple times. I know it is what we advisers do, but putting teenagers in charge of a $7500 budget is still hard to wrap my head around. It's going to be great!