HelpfulTracks

I think it depends heavily on the individual and how they approach it. Out of the last 30 years, I would guess almost half my time has been spent in work from home setup. In my current job, prior to Covid, I would go into the office no more than a couple days a week. And that was only to maintain visibility with other teams. My team is spread across 3 continents (and several states here in the US), but I only have one team member here locally (an we have have the single largest campus in the organization). So the vast majority of my work was virtual even when I went to camp

Sad, but true.

Oh crap! Serious typo. Fixed, thank you! I truly hate auto-correct.

On a personal note, I am very bummed out. This was likely the last major event that my whole family could do together (with my children as youths). My son heads off to college in a few weeks and my daughter is upper classman in high school. We were all going to serve on staff. NOAC may still be an option, depending on how things shake out.

Not really. The bulk of registrations come in the Spring after registration opens (in the Fall). All of the recruiting is done during Spring and Summer events; Camporees, Summer Camp etc. I am the Jambo Chair for my Council and I have talked to many families that were either waiting to see how Covid-19 shook out or were concerned about the financial impact (current and potential future) of Covid and had not yet registered. The Spring is also when we had planned to do several fundraising events for the Scouts to participate. Obviously, that did not happen. With Jambo costing between $1,500

Awesome - you Lodge had an age limit. Almost no one else did. You think we should "bring back" the age limit. I disagree - can we move on.

I have never head of an age limit from National. I just checked our records and we have several that were 13 when they went through Ordeal from 1954 to 1981. One was actually 12 (Ordeal 1966). They are from at least 6 different councils. The only limitation on the number of Scouts elected, that I am aware of, was the percentage rule which was done away with in the late 1990s. And it was not a strict number that could be elected, rather a restriction that a Scout could vote for no more than HALF of the Scouts on the ballot.

When I first heard "Sacred Cows" Philmont ran through my mind. It usually generates a good deal of revenue, but two of the last three Summers have been decimated by fire and Coivd. Though I think the outcry and rage would be so significant that the loss of support would outweigh any value gained. My second thought was the Scouting Museum, particularly the Norman Rockwell Collection. There is a huge monetary value there and I would be far from shocked to see it end up in Sotheby's. It would be extremely sad to see it go but I doubt the rank and file would exit in protest in large numbers.

Curious debate on the role of leadership and character in Scouting. As for the beginnings of Scouting, it was very organic. When B-P returned to England in early 1900's he found that his military tome, Aids to Scouting for NCO's, was very popular among boys and many groups were using it in their programs. (Indecently Aids to Scouting was heavily influenced by American scout Frederick Russell Burnham). B-P joined the Boys Brigade to implement his ideas there, but it did not have the impact he envisioned due to political infighting within the Brigade. But the Boys Brigade found encour

@TAHAWK, just curious - has your council seen a greater decline in Scouting than the National Average? He sounds 180 degrees from my SE and we have seen slight growth.

I agree that RECORDING training is a national objective, and that some of the training serves little purpose in the field. But I think training is critical. When I served as Training Chair I always made sure that we covered the required check boxes, but went beyond and in more detail so our classes were really making an effort to teach the this skills needed. For example in IOLS we would have EMT/WFA instructors teach First Aid. We spent a lot of time understanding Orienteering (the skill we found most Scouters had difficulty with). We also instructed Scouters on how to teach

So my question is was your SE not trained or was he just poorly trained?

Indeed. Sad, but not unexpected.

This one of those post that makes me shake my head in bewilderment. 1. How does it equate to endorsement because National took a photo of youth wearing neckerchiefs using friendship knots? 2. I’ve know Crews that used them well before world Jambo, as was suggested (I think with tongue firmly in cheek). In fact, I my NSJ necker is laid together with world contingent necker and tied in friendship knot (it also has a unique slide in one side that was gifted to me). 3. Some youth prefer knots, some prefer slides, let them choose. (Although I can see a unit asking them to choose one or t

I’m going to disagree with Fred and Eagle 94. It depends on the Scout and the adult leaders. My project, way back in the day, was not high tech, but had a lot of very specialized craftsmen. I did a lot of planning, site drawings and sat down with the craftsman multiple times to go over options. When the project began my Scoutmaster made sure they knew that I needed to be the leader. I directed and lead them. When we hit a snag, they would come to me and we discussed options, but I made the decisions. My son did a digital video with high end video, audio and editing equipmen