Ankylus

Blw2, I am right there with you. Trying to weasel a way to Philmont with my son this summer. But I got a dayhike on the AT last summer and caught the fever. Trying to make it work...doing it from Texas is a bit more involved.

Our troop “travels heavyâ€. Scouts are responsible for transporting personal gear and food, but all patrol and troop gear travel in the trailer. Some of what we do is a response to outside forces. For example, we had a several year drought here in Texas that resulted in statewide burn bans. For about 4 years, we were required to cook entirely on propane gas (what with white gas being ruled out by national). So we started carrying lots of propane and we never really got out of the habit. (Although we have started making conscientious decisions to do so.) For another example, we dry camp 2

Love it, as far as trailer camping goes.

That's because they went about choosing to avoid prejudicial behavior by exercising prejudicial behavior. To quote Chief Justice Roberts, "The way to avoid racial discrimination is not to racially discriminate." This is analogous here, too. As for not winning, you can blame the political left for politicizing every aspect of society.

I started a tangentially related thread a while back in the OA forum about increasing unit participation. There were some interesting replies worth considering. Going to the OP in this case, at least in our unit I think it has. The question would then become, why? We historically would only elect maybe 2-5 scouts out of 30 or so candidates. (Although last night we blew the doors off that with 19 out of roughly 30 elected.) And half of them, sometimes all of them, wouldn't go through the ordeal. So I have given this some thought. The first reason I settled on is, as was raised above, sc

I agree with the first sentiment, but do not recall seeing anybody saying that non-OA members should stay out of this discussion. Maybe I'm wrong though. I also haven't seen any back slapping or smoke blowing over in the OA forum.

This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a while. OK. Is there something magical about COs that renders them immune to criticism?

Apologies to our international brethren for the US-centric nature of this thread. In the course of my scouting adventures, I have had the good fortune to meet several people who have earned the equivalent of Eagle scout in the scouting programs of their native lands. I have known several Canadians, a Scot, an Argentinean, and a Colombian so far as I know. Does BSA contemplate recognition of these achievements in foreign scouting programs on the adult leader uniform? Our local scout shop is a national store, and they won't sell them the Eagle scout knot. (At least, that's what one of th

As I stated above, I don't think there will be anything close to adequate records to establish what was going on. The purpose of the audit is to identify weaknesses in the financial administration of the unit. If it comes from an outside party, it will have more force. It is apparent that nobody involved in running the unit right now has any idea how the books should be set up and the accounts managed. An outside audit would help that. In response to NJCubScouter's question, no, I have not. And I, too, would get the same reaction. But then, I have never been involved in a unit whose financ

Agreed. We always emphasize to parents the "safe to fail" environment of scouting. We all learn more from our failures than our successes. And thank you, too, for sharing the article.

When we signed up to go with my son's troop in 2010, we told them that we could not attend shakedown hikes if they were held on Saturday, but would make anything they held on Sunday. He was involved at a high level in sport we thought might take him to college that demanded every Saturday morning during the shakedown period. What do you know? Almost all the scheduled shakedowns were conducted on a Saturday. He went to the few that were on Sundays, but missed all the Saturdays. And he still caught crap from the SM. But I was going to raise holy Hell with them if that was a real problem because

I really like this idea. It would be difficult to implement in our hometown, too. For example, it would take us 45 minutes just to get to the "city center" and find parking. And, like Tampa, we have all those kinds of problems as well. But perhaps there is a location closer to our meeting house that would serve as well or better. Thank you for the idea.

Do we NEED summer camp? The answer to that question depends on what kind of program you want to have. However, if you want what I think of as a traditional scouting experience and a lively, thriving program, the only answer is YES. I see several goals for summer camp: (1) scouts having fun with their friends, (2) the opportunity to earn MBs, many if they so desire, (3) facilitate progress on certain MBs that are particularly outdoor oriented, and (4) learn/emphasize scouting skills like cooking, leadership, etc. Fun, as always, is the first priority. For younger scouts, especially, I s

I think you are getting tons of good advice here and I agree with everything posted so far. I think the suggestion to not assume that illegal activity is occurring is a good one. Especially because I imagine that you won't have anything close enough to adequate records for an independent audit. Still, get one if for no other reason than you can say that you did what you could. The lawyer in me says you need to be careful so that, in the event somebody does start making accusations of financial impropriety, you are not dragged into it. Hence, the independent audit, the new checking acco

I personally don't know anything about Scoutbook. We use TroopMaster and have since before I joined this troop. It's OK, but it does have some quirks that we have to develop our process around.

1) Yes, we winter camp and we do so wherever the mood strikes. Sometimes private ranches, sometimes state parks, sometimes national forests. There is very little difference in our winter camping and in our summer camping. But then, we are in Southeast Texas, where 32F is an "extreme weather event" according to the TV News. 2) Weather varies. Since you are talking about winter camping, I assume temperature is of interest. As noted, it's warmer here. We have never canceled a campout for cold--either in Cub Scouts or in Boy Scouts--but then I have only been camping in temperatures less than 3

I can see this. I thought our district was unorganized, but we at least can do this. The unit commissioner should be able to help you find a counselor whether through district or through a nearby troop. If your district cannot furnish the information and your unit commissioner is of no help, ask a nearby unit to share counselor information. As noted above, counselors are not registered with a unit, but with a district. Any counselor in your district should be able to counsel your scouts.

As one who has passed not one but three bar exams, I wholeheartedly concur. If you expect the scouts to be the prime mover in taking on and earning the MB, you need to make the MB requirements understandable to the scouts. Since some scouts are 11 or 12, the type of language quoted in this thread is unconscionable. I also concur with the "more doing, less talking" position stated above. I, too, have never heard a scout wax fondly over any MB. It's always the camping, or something else where they are "doing" rather than "explaining". The scouts get way too much "talking", "explaining", and

I don't think the development was a part of the decision for El Rancho Cima. I think that was purely a financial decision. However, it was a factor with the old Strake. I don't think the urban surroundings were really a direct factor in the decision to close. There were three big factors. First, increasing development spawned increased regulation that made it more difficult to maintain and develop the camp. Second, as the area developed, property taxes rose quite a bit. So local governing authorities became more hostile about things like permits because they would rather have a large comme

Me too. They had already decided that they weren't going to rebuild River Camp after the floods. I have also heard rumors that they were afraid they weren't going to be able to get permits for the rebuild, but I think that's a bunch of hocum used to rationalize the decision. i am going to miss that camp. I already am.

Every time I have seen it happen the scout was off to college before it could be done and just didn't want to spend a weekend home from college to get it all done. It's kind of like a part of their life they associate with high school and, like high school, have left behind.

The Court of Honor is not a prerequisite for anything regarding Eagle. I have seen scouts forgo the COH on several occasions. One of my son's best friends earned the rank in his senior year of high school and he didn't want to go through a COH. In his troop, the troop paid for all the Eagle scout paraphernalia handed out at the COH. The SM told the scout he could not have any of those materials until he had a COH. That was the last time I looked at the question and confirmed that the COH is not needed.

No, and I did not mean to imply you were. My apologies for being inarticulate. I meant to say that the World Jamboree is not of any importance in long term program considerations for BSA and, so, I think it is irrelevant here. I should have stated this directly rather than indirectly. Again, my apologies.

I agree with your analyses, but I am not worried about whether we get to host the World Jamboree.

Why do you think this is not or cannot be achieved through the Venturing program? Do you find the Venturing program deficient?