MikeS72

DE. It was not said in a 'this is what happens if you don't take girls' manner, but rather to state that if the Pack that normally host the school night at that particular school will not be taking girls, they will try to find a nearby pack that is going to have a girls program attend school night, thus giving those family an alternative. In our area, each Pack has one or more elementary schools that we draw from. Not that we are restricted to children from that school (we have children from all 4 of the schools within 5 miles of our meeting place), just that we do not actively recruit as a Pack from the other 3 schools. If a child wants to join because he has friends in our Pack, that is his choice.

Not necessarily. A CO can choose to remain an all boy pack, they may choose to sponsor an all boy pack and a separate all girl pack; or they may open the existing pack to girls, who will be in gender specific dens. In those case where a pack does not have enough girls for a grade level den, there can be a multi-age den of girls. We were told that no pack will be told they must be co-ed, but that when we have school nights those pack who choose not to accept girls will have representatives from other pack present to offer those families a place to go. I cannot imagine that if we have a family come in with both a son and daughter who want to join, they will put the son in one pack and the daughter in the one who accepts girls. Those packs who choose to remain all boy will have to understand that they may lose some boys due to the resulting family decision as to where they can enroll both children.

You are not suffering from memory loss, at least not when it comes to the older Cub uniforms. Back in the days before the strip was changed to read 'Boy Scouts of America', it did indeed say 'Cub Scouts BSA.' Those of us who are old enough (I first joined in 1961, back when you had to 8 to be a Cub) remember that uniform; along with Lion being the top rank (no Webelos back then), rather than an introductory Kindergarten program. We also remember the brief period in the 70's when the Boy Scout uniform was changed to say 'Scout BSA', rather that the previous and current 'Boy Scouts of America'.

As an Arrowman who did Ordeal, Brotherhood, and Vigil all as a youth member, I will admit it took a little while to get used to the idea of female Scoutmasters and female OA members. I do not see the potential for girls to be eligible for election to be sad, but simply a natural evolution of bringing young ladies into the broader Scouting family.

The way this was explained in one of our Commissioner meetings, is that if the activity is 72 hours or more (read: summer camp), all adults must be registered. We were told that part of the reasoning for that was the people who would attend Monday/Tuesday, skip a day and come back for Thursday/Friday to try to skirt the 72 hour rule.

I very much remember watching things unfold as NASA worked to get them home safely. Just a riveting as watching the Apollo 11 landing, although I will admit with that one I shed a few tears upon hearing the phrase the Eagle has landed.

We do not allow electronics out during the day, they can chose to bring and use them in their tent prior to lights out, as long as they are either muted or have headphones. A couple of them found out on a recent backpacking outing that the phone is useless after the first night unless they add weight carrying a battery pack.

I have seen the same thing happen with individual dens in a pack; boys who seem to 'earn' every rank with very little attendance and participation, or who 'complete' every requirement for a Webelos activity pin in 30 - 45 minutes. They then move on to the troop and flounder, unable to move past the initial Scout rank in over a year. They do not seem to understand how they were able to get credit for an award in Cubs while not completing all of the requirements, but cannot do so in a troop where Mom or Dad are not the ones who sign off on requirements. While I can understand that a Den Leader may not want a child to 'stand out' by not being called up with the rest of the boys for rank advancement, that is far better in the long run than having that Scout quit a year later because he is no longer being automatically recognized with everyone else. One of the things we now do to help alleviate the issue of 'everyone got their rank tonight except me', is to award that rank at the next Pack meeting after it is earned, rather than a mass award at the end of the year. When they are all called up at the same time, everyone notices the boy whose name is not called for advancement. When rank is awarded as soon as earned, that does not happen.

When I asked the same questions I was told they requested and were granted a waiver.

I questioned that when I first started helping out with them as Webelos, and the fact that he would only be 10 years and a couple of months old. I was told that they had requested a waiver so he could move up to Webelos with his friends (even though he was a year behind in school), and that if he completed AOL he could cross over with them last month.

We just had a fourth grader who turned ten in early December, completed his Arrow of Light requirements, and crossed over with the rest of the AOL boys last month.

Still have my garrison cap that the troop wore just before converting to the red beret. Unfortunately the beret has long since vanished.

I must have been in the minority also. The collarless shirt made wearing the neckerchief so much more comfortable, rather than tucking the collar. My current unit does not opt to wear a neckerchief though, so a moot point for me.

At the time I was elected (1969); there was a quota based on the number of registered boys in the troop, not the number eligible for election. The chart in the OA Handbook ranged from 1 elected for a troop of 5 or less, to 10 who could be elected by a troop with between 74 - 85 boys. There was also a provision for electing Eagle Scouts that were not member, that would not count against the troop quota. The one thing that kind of caught me by surprise, as I really did not remember this, was that you did not have to be First Class to be elected. A boy could be elected as long as he attained the First Class rank within 6 months, and prior to induction. (from the 1970 printing of the handbook) In looking at my 1975 60th anniversary copy, the requirement was by then that a Scout must be First Class to be eligible for election.

Something else I plan on asking about at tonight's Commissioner meeting, as we have BALOO training scheduled next month.

Technical glitches aside, this is a much better program than the original YPT, much more in depth. I did have to do it over the course of 2 days, as module 2 would not make it all the way to the end and kept throwing me back to the starting point. I would encourage people to take it sooner rather than later. As for that October date, who knows what may happen if someone puts it off and does not show complete by that time. I do know that YPT will be a big part of our Commissioner meeting tomorrow. I do intend to ask if there will be a penalty in that instance, other than not being included in recharter paperwork.