Ankylus

There was a troop near us that wore the campaign hat as their official headgear. Every scout in the troop wore one.

I agree. When I see people complaining about the "Millenials", it is clear to me that they know a different segment of the generation than I do. My favorite story is when I went to pick up one of my sons from swim camp along with a friend of his. They were 14 then, but had already been in scouting for years. I walked into their dorm room, looked at them, and asked, "Are you guys packed and ready to go?" Both of them said, "Yes, sir." So I said, "Grab your gear and lets go." Both of them walked right over to their bags, picked them up, and we left right then. And I was the only parent walking o

Our troop has a scholarship fund set aside for scouts with financial hardship. We don't advertise it, but if someone asks for help we consider their case and grant the request or not. However, we do not pay the full price for anything. The scout or his family must still pay half of whatever they are receiving assistance with. As for uniforms and MB books, we have a uniform exchange and a troop library. There are many ways to skin this cat. It just takes a bit of effort.

It's very rare to see one worn. The only time I have ever seen one worn was at the National Jamboree and the only person I have ever seen wear one was actually the Regional Director, or whatever you call the top professional in the region. But some of them look pretty cool. I would imagine you could wear one on a patch vest or whatever without any difficulty.

I was there 2 weeks ago, although I don't know much about the practicalities of hiking the AT. There were fresh signs announcing shelter closures for bear activity and noting that reservations had to be made for backcountry shelters. You're not supposed to just walk up to them and use them, which is how I thought it was done. Anyway, seems to me that topping off on information might be as important as topping off on water.

Seems to me that part of the problem here started way back some months ago--you got yourself an SPL who is not interested in the job and happy to let the adults take over. The problem here lies in the selection process for SPL. You say he only took the job because he felt obligated in light of his nomination. So who nominated him? If he nominated himself, then that's a problem. But I am willing to bet an adult nominated him. One way to address this is to let the scouts self-nominate. If a scout wants a high level job, let him throw his own hat in the ring. Make him put together a "sco

You do have to make compromises from time to time. In our troop, the scouts choose their tent mates at the beginning of the season and we issue the two of them a tent. When they both go camping, no problem. When only one of them goes, they have "joint custody" of the tent and are supposed to make sure that the one who is going has the tent. When we assemble for a campout, we go through the tenting arrangements to make sure everyone has a tent and a tent mate. That is the preferable place to make these kinds of concerns work for specific campouts. Sometimes, to make it work, we wind up with sco

Ooohhh, I see Godwin's Law on the horizon.

I have a pair of buck naked...best underwear I have ever owned. And yes, they are pricy. But I make it a point to wear them when camping.

Actually, national program calls for BSA to be religion-independent so that scouts of all faiths feel welcome. But I agree that you can go to far.

Well, if none of your scouts have bad parenting issues, then you're way ahead of my troop. Plus, in a troop of 125 plus, you are statistically guaranteed of several scouts with bad parenting issues. To each his own. At least our disagreement is "in the strongest terms possible."

Late to the party, but we don't reserve this for Memorial Day at our house. I lost a friend in the service, and my children are well aware. And their ancestry is full of such sacrifice and they know the stories. They have visited their great-grandfather (and great-grandmother) at Arlington National Cemetery and they know his story, too. On Memorial Day itself, we don't do so much although they have seen me pray for Chris. But it's no stranger to our house. Our scout units participate in the parades, but we try to make it more personal. My oldest son's troop had a veteran of Patton's Third

I couldn't agree more. Our Committee Chair, however, is a big fan. Fine. He can do it to his heart's content. But I agree that it emphasizes metrics over reality. The older I get, the more I realize that scouting from the professional's perspective is like any other bureaucracy...it's not about the people it ostensibly serves, it is about the bureaucracy's own best interests.

I used to work for an attorney who used to say, "Look, you can call a brown-spotted a dog a fire hydrant, but that doesn't make it a fire hydrant. It's still a dog." I consequently agree with Perdidochas and EagleDad...I look at whether the shoes are open-toe or closed-toe. So do the rest of our adult leaders in our troop, although (unlike CalicoPenn's troop), we do allow Crocs. We have found that scouts generally only do that once. I didn't have any luck with your first link. The shoes at your second link work just fine as they are closed-toe. I find that the open sides are not practical

This is a pet peeve of mine. While the adult advisor for the chaplain does not report to me, I work very hard at making sure that the religious aspect of our program is very deistic without specific religious references such as "savior" and "Christ". I know we still have some difficult with monotheistic references because Hinduism is not monotheistic. But it's very difficult to get the scouts from monotheistic religions to remember that when they are nervous with the public speaking to begin with. And, of course, Taosim and Buddhism are, as I understand it, not really theistic. There'

We traditionally camp at summer camps with a setup like you describe. One of our ASMs has a PVC-based design for a mosquito-net frame that attaches to the cot that is very, very easy DIY. I will see him Tuesday night and ask if I can share his design with the forum.

If she has the legal right to do it, then she must be permitted to do it. The organization handled it correctly, the SM not so much. But nobody handled it well. I agree with the SM that the boy scout meeting is not an appropriate place to be breastfeeding. The fact that she was sufficiently discreet that nobody noticed that particular time is good. But the second a 12 yo boy finds out there's a bare breast in the back, there's going to be pandemonium. I'm not talking about boys getting up to go gawk, but they're not going to be paying a whole lot of attention to the program because they ar

qwazse,First, you need to decide if you are really going to fix this problem, because to fix this problem you are going to have to go scorched earth. By that, the SM and his family need to be removed and booted. But you need to buy time until recharter probably. (We recharter in December.) Remember, though, if you fail this is the guy who signs off on your son's advancement. He's clearly not talking to the COR or anyone else at the CO. This is your golden opportunity, and he's a fool for this because it is providing you a chance to get the CO on your side, and the CO will always have t

We have had a number of Muslims in our troop over the years. Nobody ever even really noticed it. Same with the Jews, the Hindus, the Taoists, and Buddhists.

I also agree with KenD500. This is a matter of "scout spirit" to be formally addressed at the next SM conference. I believe it should also be addressed informally right away. It is the role of the SMs to deal directly with the scouts. That having been said, in particularly egregious disciplinary situations we will institute a special group of both committee and SMs, including the Committee Chairman and the SM. But this doesn't even come close to that level.

I have seen this also. One of our guys at district has 4 rows of knots. I actually have to uniform shirts-one I wear for everyday meetings and activities and one I wear on "formal occasions". Formal occasions are pretty much limited to courts of honor, as a general rule. The former has nothing but required troop and unit patches. The other I refer to as my "Russian general" uniform shirt. I have also worn the Russian general shirt in situations where I want to bolster credibility, like at disciplinary hearings.

We have maybe 5 or 6 nationalities in our troops. Interestingly enough, those scouts typically don't cuss at all. I have never encountered a scout cussing in a foreign language. Everybody seems to be content to cuss in American English.

No. And swearing AT a scout should provoke a review of the leader's suitability for the position.

Thank you Stosh. I agree that BSA has gone overboard on the safety stuff in an effort to avoid lawsuits. There's also some political correctness going on. As an example, Webelos are no longer permitted to participate in archery and are limited to BB guns. Really? I live in Texas, and most of our scouts have been handling and shooting firearms since grade school. So they go to scout camp and what do they get to shoot? Single shot, bolt action .22s and single shot shotguns. The Webelos don't even get that. While they Ok-enjoy shooting even on that limited basis, it's pretty much "meh" comp

I am with Stosh. I don't think the behavior is egregious enough to warrant expulsion or suspension from the troop. And if he were just a scout acting up, it would be less of a deal. But he is the top youth leader. A part of the leadership is leadership by example. At a minimum he needs to understand that this is serious misconduct and that he could lose his position over it. I am OK with him losing his POR, so long as he has an opportunity to redeem himself and run again in the future. I am also OK with him keeping his position as long as the message is sternly delivered. At a minimum, he need