Jameson76

Curious what you are throwing the tomahawks into? We have some, and have not found anything (other than large end cut logs) to throw into. Sort of tough to tote about. We have not found a good portable target. We have a knife throwing target, a good piece of basic 1/2" plywood on a frame works well. Easy to setup and move, load into the trailer. Rope of an area off and have at it. The light weight throw knifes are inexpensive and only need a tune-up on a grinder occasionally.

I'll take the under on that bet / expectation. Rather than 10 years, there will be "survey" and "groundswell of support" sometime in 2020 / 21 and we will be coed. The challenge will be ramping up any actual functioning girl troops or enough "linked" (wink wink) troops. BSA will need to decide how to effectively provide a good program and opportunity for the the girls coming out of cubs. Honestly it takes a minute to stand up a troop and get the institutional knowledge to have a well functioning troop. There may be some Girl troops and they will be new, then they will look ove

Wow..I read the web page on Scouting.org. Looks a good deal like some cobbled together Lean presentation. Wonder what BSA has paid for this expertise. Not sure why it starts with Roundtables (FB) and ends up talking about employees (Scouting.org) First the FB announcement was 5 paragraphs and literally said nothing The link to Scouting.org So..we have the mission statement The Polaris Method Making the BSA more Effective, Efficient, and Empowered Then we define the group(s) / key terms Stakeholder: the end user; the one who needs or

Yep - Had a parent e-mail about some items, several e-mails. We copied them but directed the inquiry back to the Scout. Parent was main one asking again, sent a note just to parent reminding them that the advancement is owned by the Scout, they need to drive it. We want them to copy the parents, but we want to enable the scout to handle his needs. They backed off and the Scout is doing it now.

Sometimes you have to let the process work. We are in the southeast and going on an outing. Saturday looks good for weather, a little windy, but good. Conditions will deteriorate (maybe) early Sunday morning. Adults were communicating back and forth about options We had a group text with our SPL and ASPL for the weekend to consider options. Honestly they came up with different options than we had bandied about. Our thought was a day trip to do the activities (kayaking), then head back to the ranch. They determined to go and then make the decision about staying when we clear the riv

When I started working with my current troop (now on 10+ years ago) the go to attitude was can't go down and interfere with the Scouts, they have to figure it out. I had (on my first campout) a good discussion with active troop leaders, explained sure you can. We are to observe and mentor. They explained the long time SM (who did not attend outings regularly) direct that. I knew him and felt it was a misinterpretation. Guess what, it was. They took "don't do things for a scout he can do for himself" as Hands Off. Take for example setting up a tarp. If they have never really set one

Don't know much about the GS groups. There are some that meet at / are attached to the CO. We see them at Scout Sunday. It's hard to figure out who is a Girl Scout, then they put on the sash (maybe vest) and bam...Girl Scout.

So being British and all, maybe have them be sort of magical and then they are broken up into houses and have them hang out in a castle. That may have been done before...you should check

We do our best. The PLC (or Greenbar) meets monthly to plan the meetings, they cycle through activities by patrol at the meetings. For campouts the patrols cook and work together. They setup patrol areas (tarp / table / cooking) and all the Scouts meals are together. The leaders camp hopefully out of sight, but sometimes that is not possible. At worst well away. On campouts they do tent with friends or hammock in groups, not necessarily patrols. At summer camp they function in patrols for waiter duty, campsite duties, etc. The Scouts plan the outings and determine at the

Patrol Advisor should be doing just that, advising. We put the crossovers in a new patrol for the spring, but come fall they roll up into the existing patrols. The older scouts are more than happy to pass on the meal planning and cooking

Shockingly National BSA may not in fact know what is best

Possibly, and most likely if the leaders at the BOR let it develop. The scout may be nervous for many reasons. Sitting in an unfamiliar area and talking with adults they are not really familiar with may be well out of their comfort zone. Good probability they will have similar instances occurring in their life as they grow older. Having the Scout confront that, deal with it, be successful in their BOR will be some personal growth. It does become a balance. I have been on some with really nervous scouts. With one as we asked some basic questions, he got flustered, stumbled through, s

That would lead to a somewhat interesting EBOR. I guess the discussion would be "why?". Not sure as a member of the EBOR that would preclude passing them on the EBOR. I guess if the Scout chose to refuse to say the pledge, one or more of the EBOR members could at that point decline to continue to participate in the board if they so chose. One form of protest is as good as another. At that point the district could determine if there were enough members to continue, give the unit an opportunity to source more members, or reschedule.

There is a lot going on here. The interrogation alone in the tent, if just a Scout and the leader could be another whole issue. Obviously there were some bad decisions made by the Scouts. That in and of itself is not shocking. Key is your son needs to take responsibility for his actions. Whether he learns and grows from this is purely on him, sounds like he does understand their actions were not correct. Key is to make sure he is truly sorry and willing to make amends, not just sorry for being caught Separate issue 1, and this in no way excuses what happened, is the concern over

Well...technically we don't either, I was being kind. Honestly that was our lowest attended events. We dropped the Spring camporee about 8 years ago, during planning the Scouts asked if they had to go, we said it's up to you guys. The district has a winter event we would do, but honestly has not changed, or been revised, since it started. Has a really cool 20 page guide. The update seems to be changing the date on the cover. During planning last year they asked if we had to attend that, we again said nope, so we went backpacking. Bottom line Scouts were not interested Chang

That is the truth. We had one leader who had the beading ceremony, took an excruciating 45 minutes. Go get trained, enjoy, but WB is not in fact why we (leaders) are around. But so many adults are involved doing purely adult things and consider that Scouting. Which it is in some cases. Some non unit facing work is needed, like District EBOR, recharter, training, large fundraising, etc. There is however a good deal of adult involvement that merely begets more adult involvement. The rocket thing is a great example of adults who simply do not get it. They are not really there for developm

Well...they tend to weigh down my speedo...but I'll give it a try

Is that like the Pantomime horse from Monty Python? Literally everything I know about the British I learned from Monty Python episodes.

Interesting you add Oath and Law at BOR and EBOR as an added requirement. We always have the Scouts start the BOR (and EBOR) with the Oath and Law, not as a pass/fail but as a way to set the tone. Same for uniform, not required but encouraged. Same for the handbook, though while not specifically required at the BOR it is needed. Never a test, but they should be prepared to discuss their accomplishment and what they have gained from the advancment

Many topics on 72 hour rule, recent additions of Scouting magazine, etc etc. Real question is what are units doing this fall that is first and foremost FUN and selected and planned by the Scouts in the unit? Most important thing is keeping the OUTING in Scouting For our unit this fall: Outing at the lake with boats, tubing, canoes, swimming Kayaking trek, working with local outfitter Biking on a rails to trails converted train path (25 - 50 miles depending on your stamina) Canyoneering through a State Park gorge, maybe take in a drive-in movie on the Saturday nig

Seems if the "activity" was supposed to be interpreted as the whole year (whatever that may be, calendar, school, program, Martian) they should have actually Said that clearly in the G2SS (what's another page when you already have 100+) Defined a year They appear to be making up stuff as they go along

The six months is the minimum time he needs to be a Life Scout. The requirements are that while a Life Scout, plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious institution, any school, or your community. Also the scout needs a position of responsibility, all the required and number of merit badges to complete the rank. Does your unit have a Life to Eagle coordinator that can assist or give guidance? Also all work MUST be completed prior to his 18th birthday

So - in 10 years with my current troop and and 375 plus meetings I have seem a commissioner twice. Oddly both times they rolled in for a Court of Honor. We are a good sized unit so maybe they ignore us. Always felt the commissioners look really good in theory, not so much in practice.

Sadly it comes down more often to who will step up and actually do the job needed. Many times it's not so much the choice of Mr/Mrs Right and more the case of Mr/Mrs Right Now. The DE is charged with adding more units and scouts, they need a leader and X number of adults and Y number of youth. If you sign up and pay your fees, you are the leader. The professional is not looking for the best leader, they just need A leader. In some cases the CO will be engaged, but often not so much.

Sometimes that is a necessity due to size, in some cases it is someone making their little empire.