Ankylus

We actually had this happen to us two years ago. They came to us and one other troop at the last minute and asked us to plan it, and so we did. (To Krampus’ point, there is no substitute for planning, especially long term planning.) Then the second troop pulled out at the last minute and left us holding the bag. So this year we just told them we would organize the whole thing, and we are doing so. This is fortunate that nobody else wants to do it…that way when District tries to micromanage we can just tell them “our way or the highwayâ€â€”meaning we leave. The Camporee is in March, t

Don't apologize for differing. I rather like the way you went about it. Anyways, what would be the fun if we all agreed all the time? I think you misunderstand what I write to some degree. I do not deny that there are some girls that would enjoy the BSA program as much as any boy would. My point is that the numbers of those girls wont' even begin to approach that of the boys. So when BSA starts running through their metrics, they'll look at those numbers and think, "Holy Smokes! We have to get more girls in here!" (Or, if you are more cynical, "We could really boost our membership numbers

You might also take a look at this thread over in "Council Relations": http://scouter.com/index.php/topic/27944-tag-youre-it-running-a-camporee-your-way/

The big hits at our camporee are rifle shooting, shotgun shooting, archery, and rock wall climbing. Others that seem popular include fire building (timed effort to build a fire to "cut" a string above it) and a timed running event. However, the chess and checkers competitions seem well attended also. Big favorite--chili cookoff and ice cream social. Every troop cooks up a bunch of chili, then takes there chili and ice cream to the social. Each troop has a table, and everyone is free to make the rounds sampling all the chili and ice cream. I can see a Dutch over desert as a successful vari

Let's start from this premise, which I think is undeniable: boys and girls are different, and they are interested in different things. A sweeping generalization to be sure. We all know that there are girls who are very much like boys and like the same things as boys. When I was growing up we called them "tomboys", I term I don't hear much anymore. Conversely, there are boys who are very much like girls and like the same things as girls. But on the whole, they are different, behave differently, and react differently to the same stimuli. If you can't admit that there are basic physiological and

Well, if you see how slow the traffic is in the "Camping and High Adventure" forum, I would think another forum with a narrower topic might not be so useful after all.

OK, so reading your further postings, I have more to add. You definitely are reacting emotionally. I understand that. It is reasonable. But it is not helping you or the other people of the pack any. And getting offended by what strangers on Internet whom you have never met have to say isn't helpful. You still haven't decided how badly you want this pack number and this CO. Some good suggestions have been raised, and you seem to be dismissing all of them as "that won't work" or some variant. If that is true, then find a new CO and found a new pack. (Look at it this way...you can get two

In our District, the DEs are under a lot of pressure to start new units. They would be thrilled to see such an easy opportunity to score an easy tally for their metrics.

I heard this weekend from one of our leaders who spoke to a council rep at Roundtable that SHAC is selling not only the old Strake but also El Rancho Cima. It seems that they underestimated the cost of the new Strake and needed more money. So they are selling Cima to help pay for the new Strake. That's some seriously bad financial planning if they underestimated development costs for new Strake that badly. Not surprised, though.

I don't recall your earlier post and I cannot find it through your profile, so I have not idea if I have contributed previously. (Or, for that matter, did not contribute at all.) I just want to add one note. Scouts is not necessarily about advancement. We had a scout who spent 4 or 5 years at second class and never got higher than First Class before he turned 18. He just wasn't interested in advancement. But he loved the rest of the program. He was happy, and that is what counted. As long as he was around, he could still absorb most of the lessons of scouting. I don't know how old your

OK, my $.02. First, I may be wrong, but I infer that you are acting pretty emotionally here, and that is not unreasonable. But, if so, just stop it. It won't help you and it will get in the way of a good resolution. Second, the pack is not the pack number. Nor is it the CO. It is the people who lead it, who support it, and who are members of it. Don't get so attached to the pack number that it clouds everything else. The boys surely won't care what their pack number is, they just want to have fun with their friends. Third, have you talked to the other parents in the pack? How do th

Our troop pays for adults' registration fees and summer camp costs. If we go to a state park and there are parking fees, the troop picks those up as well. Everything else the adults pay...grubmaster for campouts, high adventure, the lot of it. On the registration fees, however, we do require that before they can register that they acquire all the training they need for their "trained" patch before they can register. That way they have some skin in the game.

Many good suggestions here. My only original contribution here would be to ask how well rounded the troop's scouts are. We have several troops whose expectations of their older scouts are so heavy that eventually the scout is faced with a choice between scouting and his extracurricular activities at school. This is particularly true of senior leadership positions. How many of their SPLs and ASPLs are involved in extracurricular activities at school? Especially the kind of activities your son may be involved in. I would like to re-emphasize CA Scout Mom's suggestion on the size of the

I am leery of REI tents these days. I bought a 1 one half-dome tent for Philmont and the first day on the trail one of the poles broke as I was setting it up. They give you that little sleeve for temporary repairs, and that got me through the rest of the two weeks. Overall, I liked the tent, though. So when I got back I went to REI and asked for a replacement pole. They told me they don't have separate poles, so they gave me a new tent. That was the good part. But after 4 years, the waterproofing started to come off the fly. I mean, just absolutely peel off in large chunks. So I went b

I am wondering what SHAC is doing with the camping program, actually. I am looking forward to the new Camp Strake, especially after they over-developed the old Camp Strake. But I am wondering...So, we have Camp Brosig, Camp Bovay, El Rancho Cima, and now Camp Strake. Now that the closed River Camp at Cima, where are they going to offload all that traffic? To Bovay? or to new Strake? I guess Brosig will take over Old Strake's role for training and such. Just curiuos.

Our troop has camped for Summer Camp at both Sid Richardson and Constantine and we enjoy them both.

Well, for those of us in Houston, those are hills!

Agreed wholeheartedly. However, I have learned over the years that sometimes what other people think of you can be useful. For example, The lady down at council thinks a lot of me, and that helps me get her assistance for my scouts when I need or want it. I don't spend a lot of time worrying about it, but its also not always inconsequential.

I have always used the phrase "Russian General shirt", but same concept. I too have a shirt that is all "generaled up", including all kinds of knots. I only wear it, though, on "formal" occasions (like Courts of Honor) or when I want to establish some degree of experience or authority. (Weird how some people mistake experience for authority, competence, knowledge and/or skill.) Most of the time, though, I wear my "simple shirt" that has the bare minimum of patches-council strip, troop number, position, World Crest, and American flag, I believe. Our local council shop is a national store.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is where I saw the signs. The bit I hiked was around Newfound Gap, but the signs were at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

Then you are doing Scouts wrong. Scouting is not a vehicle for "youth ministry" in any particular faith. I know I won't convince you, but I had just had to say it. We have five different faiths represented in our troop and I value every one of those scouts regardless of their faith. Scouting is not trying to produce good Methodists, or good Mormons, or good Muslims, or whatever. That is the the job of the clergy and the religious organization. Scouting is trying to produce good men.

We have an ASPL and a dedicated Adult Advisor for him whose sole job is recruiting. This includes the liaison responsibilities, as well as making going to Pack meetings for presentations/information sharing and for attending AOL ceremonies for Webelos crossing over to our troop.

This many times over. I always tell parents that just like every scout is different, every troop is different and it is very important to get a match between the scout and the parent. It's better if they get a friend or two to go with them. But nothing is worse for the scout or scouting to wind up in the wrong troop when a right troop is available. That's why I do not respect the idea of "feeder packs" and see no problem with "poaching." It's about the scouts, help them find the best troop for them.

The best form of recruiting that we have found is for parents of new scouts to tell the parents in their old pack how wonderful our troop is. Especially working through the "mom network". Den chiefs are a second very effective recruiting effort for us. It's a good way to showcase what kind of scouts your troop produces to the parents while giving the Webelos/Cubs the benefit of already knowing someone in your troop. Twice each year, once in the Spring and once in the Fall, we have a meeting dedicated to recruiting Webelos. We invite the Webelos of all the packs to come to our meeting.

We just changed from some kind of cotton shirt to a dry-fit shirt. Our logo is on them, and that's got three colors in it. We are charging $13/shirt. I think $20/shirt is a bit pricey, but if that's your biggest complaint about the troop you're in pretty good shape. The Committee Meeting is a good idea. For one thing, the troop might be trying to make a little money for a dedicated purpose or something. For example, our trailer and our truck are getting old and so we are trying to set some money aside here and there in a fund so that we have the money for that when we need it. The best pla