curious_scouter

Late to the party but plaques and gifts for AOLs in my unit was always covered by the parents. Some parent groups wanted to drop hundreds on mega trophies, my group bought arrows and learned how to crest arrows so we could keep cost down and give something hand-made. For "decorations" our crossovers are always outdoors and if there's any "decorating" it's done by the Troop and usually is some form of lashed together furniture/bridges from our already-owned ropes and poles inventory. Not much to spend on for decorating and doing it outside with a campfire makes it night IMO. Our Pack us

What's your takes on MB counselors? My understanding is G2SS does not say the registered adult leaders have to be leaders in your unit. So for example, a Den Leader from the Pack or a MB Counselor are both registered leaders with BSA. As long as they were YPT and did not present a concern to me about having enough qualified supervision - I would be able to leverage either should I ever need to fill 2-up for our Troop. FWIW, I am generally happy to allow any interested adult to come camping. Camping is fun, they should get to enjoy it - with the adult Patrol. My ask as SM is that any

In our Troop there is always a succession plan. If you're a Scout, and there are other adult leaders, I'd start by asking them if they know of his succession plan.

awesome stuff.

congrats!

Thanks all, good ideas and options to consider. We're looking mainly at 55gallon plastic drums and 5 gallon buckets as options. Concern on the drums is safety. Even if "emptied" ... they can't be dried like a bucket, we worry what would "cook" in them between use. And it's hard to get inside them to REALLY clean them if something happens. As shower water or source for KP water - maybe. I think we're leaning towards 5 gallon buckets. I think we can probably reach out to some food places (firehouse?) locally and score a deal on the quantity we need. Google seems to say they

We have a largeish troop and are in a hot area. This adds up to needing quite a bit of water on outings. I don't know a good "formula" but I think the conventional wisdom is 2 gallons per scout per outing for drinking and I would venture 5 gallons per patrol for cleanup. Give or take. We do like to go some places without a water supply. So this means carting in water. For a large outing we'll have 30-40 souls in 3-5 patrols. Which by my previous math means we need to cart in over 100 gallons of water OR be prepared to filter. Or a little of each. One approach we've used for a

Thanks for all the info!

I have 4 ASMs who are showing as "not trained". They all took IOLS at an out of council summer camp, I have scans of their signed training cards. Assuming that'll clear that up. But they all show as needing S24, but every one of them has completed the online SM/ASM position specific training. Should I just not worry about what the report is saying? Or should I try to get it updated?

Is the online position-specific training for ASM/SM not sufficient for the "trained" designation? online reports seem to imply "S24" is required and that maps to position specific training in the current training codes doc (https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/training/pdf/currentandpasttrainingcodes.pdf ) which just says position specific training but then the actual Trained Leader Status report seems to indicate classroom training is mandatory for this vs. the online?

I think we'll see about 10% drop after recharter in our Troop. Just a guess based on what "I've heard" but I would put money on it. The cub bump is great to see. I do hope that in the years to come that means the "feeder" of Cubs --> Troop will be revived. 2 years ago, our Troop saw 20 new Scouts come in from Cubs. Last year 12. This year we expect 3. Behind that tiny batch is 6, so I hope we might see it climb back up to around 10 a year which would be a sustainable number but in the next 2 years we'll see a smaller Troop than we've had for 10 years due to the Covid impact and t

Are these national numbers @malraux?

Sometimes when you do what you enjoy for a job, it does not hit right. Sounds cool, but now it's a job and not elective and you must deal with every aspect, good bad or indifferent. Heck, as I step into the SM role - I feel this. There's more than I understood, and not all of it's fun. And that's just "one hour a week" Imagine 40.

By way of update, during Scouting for Food this weekend I happened to cross paths with the district advancement chair. Quick intro and description of situation and his feedback was "If you're the acting Unit Leader - act" He was totally understanding and fine. Good stuff, just as I hoped based on the feedback here. Appreciate the encouragement and direction. The saga of my paperwork holdup could probably be a book. It's not entirely fair for me to say or imply it's council's fault... I'm just saying it hasn't been processed yet. They work hard at council, I know it. My situation is

Yes, I plan to reach out an introduce myself and the situation tomorrow. I'm certain we'll find a satisfactory path forward and now seeing ... this should have been my first stop Need to start filling up my rolodex

Fair question. I submitted my ASM application in February, my council still has not processed it. We've been skating by because I'm still considered a "Den Leader" which does make me a registered leader over the age of 21. We've taken it up with council and the DE and three weeks ago the response I got (in person) from my DE was that council is aware of my situation bu they are doing "new paperwork first" so my "transfer" still has not been prioritized. We thought we had a better chance of the paperwork getting priority if it was done with recharter.

CC is fine with it. I'm sure the SM would be too, he just is not easily reachable although I do have an email out to him he should see eventually. I signed it today, but confirmed the Scout can easily re-print if needed. So, I think we'll "keep the paperwork moving" as suggested (prudent) and I'll double up on the advice here by reaching out to district/council. I don't know those persons yet, this is a good chance to make those intros regardless. Thanks as usual for the sage advice

"If I had more time, I would have written a shorter email requirement."

Our SM is away for an extended period (next 6 meetings we think). Like away-away, not just missing meetings. I am going to assume the SM role in the new year, and so with that in mind and the absence known I have been delegated most Unit Leader responsibilities like blue cards and SM conferences. But I am not actually the Unit Leader yet. Last meeting, I was approached to sign an Eagle application as "Unit Leader". I deferred the Scout until the SM returns. I do not see a provision in the GTA that implies this is something the SM can even delegate. It does say a BOR can't be denied

We're trying these: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Cascade-Mountain-Tech-250-Lumens-Camping-Lanterns-including-3-x-AA-batteries-per-lantern/672927847 I picked these because they have a frosted globe, which diffuses better and blinds less. Can can hang/tie them in any number of ways and they are $5 each and come with batteries lol. My personal favorite was this energizer one: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Energizer-Rechargeable-LED-Lantern-with-Micro-USB-Charging-Cable/311235219 I got one to try (on sale for $21 at Walmart right now... I do NOT get a kickback ) and kind of love

We gathered up the Scouts and adults at the last outing. We discussed lighting options. Option1: Make it a patrol issue to figure out. Option2: Provide a lantern in the patrol boxes. Scout consensus was - they wanted at least a lantern in the patrol boxes. We then asked: Propane or LED? Scouts: LED. Propane's a pain, they break easy (mantles, glass) and we think they are a little dangerous, especially for the younger scouts. They aren't as portable either if we only have the big tanks. Ok. We then broke out the box of lanterns the adults had brought from their "p

After drifting away from it, our PLC has set "Return to Patrol Method" as a goal for this year. We bought more stoves and refreshed the gear, building patrol boxes that have the same contents so every Patrol can operate distinctly and without disadvantage from another. It's a great start. And it's been working great, but ... on outings I think us adults have sidestepped a part of the Patrol Method that I think maybe the Scouts "just get". Here's the crux: A patrol "should be" 6-8 Scouts. We went with 10, to improve the odds that 4-8 would attend outings. For meetings, this has been

All the distribution posts I see go right on the 20lb tank and have 1lb ports coming off. Anyone split a 20lb tank to something that uses a "regular" (sorry I'm not an expert on propane and propane accessories) connection like a barbeque grill, a blackstone, or one of the camp chef explorer dual burner type devices AND lets you put on a distribution post that we could securely mount a coleman style (mantle burning) lantern on? I only see these kind of distribution posts / trees: https://www.amazon.com/Flame-King-FK-DP2PC-Distribution-Lanterns/dp/B099VY1GLZ/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=propane+di

I think a lot of this might be summed up as "going through the motions". I know this year in our Troop has been transformative because we've hit that generational shifting point in some leadership - both youth and adult. I think sometimes troops get into a rut. They do the same-old-same-old. Maybe the Scouts think that's what they are expected to do. One case in point, at the final PLC of last year the Scouts were planning the last meeting and it was a Court of Honor. It was also one of the first PLCs I had attended. When I said "What do you guys think about doing it at a pool or the bo

Welcome!