Jameson76

The district / council approval person likely has a copy.  Contact them for a "refresh"

I have not heard of the post project + pre BOR meeting.   Our troop has 8 - 10 Eagles annually.  The final check is performed during the SM conference.  If the Scout wants a review then the Life to Eagle coordinator sets up a quick meeting.

40 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

Are the boys in these troops truly for it, or is it adults saying OK with being linked?

 

I ask because in my neck of the woods, the majority of the boys are against being linked troops. But the majority of  adults seem to have no problems. In the troop I just left, the majority of adults were fine with being a "linked troop." The adults stated it would be coed in all but name. However when they asked the boys, they were overwhelmingly against becoming a linked troop. Enough stated they would leave over being "linked" that the CO and adults backed off on it.

I would go it alone if it would hurt existing Scouts.

Our unit had the same feedback from the Boy Scouts and actually our leaders feel the same about linked troops.  If some group wants to start a troop for girls (as it is Wednesday not 100% sure what the correct term currently is) at the church we wish them well.  We would be glad to speak with them and offer advice, but we are not looking at a linked model.  The CO has 2 packs and our troop.  Roughly 300 Cubs and Boy Scouts, but no groundswell for a troop for girls.

If a unit and the current BOY SCOUTS (to be called Scouts 2/19) in the unit are supportive of a linked troop model, that would be an easier road to travel.  If not supported by the youth, could get rocky

Not the project paperwork, that goes back to the troop and Eagle

As others have noted we sign 2 copies of the Eagle application, one for the troop and one the district retains.  Also the district keeps a record of who was on the EBOR, there seems to be a form.  For our district the troop is responsible to file the completed one at the council office.

41 minutes ago, dkurtenbach said:

The stated reasons for this change now are demand by families for a single organization for their boys and girls, and demand by girls to fully participate in these BSA programs.  

I think the "Family" aspect (however you may define that) is the largest unknown coming around the bend for the Boy Scouts (soon to be Scouts BSA).  Not sure how all these new families that are flooding in will react when the kiddos can't be in the same troop, all the younger siblings aren't tagging along, and (if used) the linked troops do different activities.  Also the way troops camp is vastly different from Cubs.  Same for meetings, planning, advancement.

These will be good times as it gets hashed out.

Incorrect signatures are sometimes an issue.  On the report more photos is better than less, especially those that show what you were doing and what the end product or outcome may have been.  Easier for the BOR group to visualize the accomplishment

Remember that it is NOT a job interview, it is a review.  This should be a conversation about your journey through Scouting, what you have gained, what you have given back, and (hopefully) how you may be of service to Scouting going forward.  

We had a quick Eagle award last night.  After as we were getting ready to leave the Eagle made the comment "I am glad I got my Eagle before the name change". 

Interesting thought.  Not so much for right now, because we are heading down the road and already have made a change decision.  Question is how will these young men feel in 10 -15 years about the Boy Scouts of America (or whatever it may be called) and what effect will that have.  Will they believe it is the same organization that they were in?   Are the folks in Dallas selling the future for a hopefully quick win in the current times?  The analogy of the YMCA is spot on.  People were members of the YMCA and they have most certainly changed and updated their focus, but they are still called the YMCA.

We are the Boy Scouts of America.  There is a tremendous amount of name recognition and good will from that name.  Let's not muck it up.

49 minutes ago, 69RoadRunner said:

I do see Girl Scouts can go to Summit.  

The way that place is hemorrhaging cash, they would gladly take any and all groups to fill slots

3 hours ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

I wonder if the fathers will continue to be treated as second class leaders like they are today? I've heard the stories of how friends with daughters have been treated by GSUSA, and do not like it one bit. If ladies in the BSA were treated like my friends were, there would be lawsuits.

I'm gonna bet nope

One of our ASM's had a daughter in GS.  She was about 12 or 13 at the time, he was getting her at an event and to say he was not welcomed would be an understatement.  Now he is an Eagle Scout from back in the day, long term leader, nicest guy, just there to get his kid and say hey.  Other leaders / dads with daughters have also said they were not welcome at all at GSUSA functions.  God forbid they try to camp with them

2 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

MIkeS72 points out Indian Lore has uses for those items,

I wonder when the MB will be changed to Indigenous Peoples Lore, also that headress on the MB may be an issue

2 hours ago, MikeS72 said:

Interesting appendix.  Our council summer camp has a Native American program,  Both Atl Atl and blowguns are used as a part of that program.

5 hours ago, Sablanck said:

We have archery, tomahawk and atl atl at our camporee.  Getting to shoot things and throw sharp blades at items probably keeps the youth happy.

After reviewing the guide we cover the list they have.

We setup knife throwing as an event at a winter camporee, the district leaderships head(s) spun and they wanted to be sure we had the appropriate pages of the GTSS on-site and ready for review.  Honestly the GTSS is a but vague.  But, we blew them up to poster size just for fun.  

The patrols loved the event so in our mind, it was a success

46 minutes ago, 69RoadRunner said:

Our troop is smaller, but we have the same response from our scouts.  Our District has a Camporee in October and a Klondike Derby in January.  They ask us to do at least 1, so we do Klondike.  The Klondike seems to be more fun.  October is prime camping weather and the scouts would rather do one of our troop activities. 

I wish I could suggest something that they could do to make them more enjoyable for the scouts.  For us adults, the Camporee was the only activity I did because I had to, not because I wanted to for reasons I mentioned earlier.  Our other adults feel the same way.

Camporees while put on with good intentions seem to end up being some groups version of what they seem to feel an ideal Scout campout should be.  As we can see as demonstrated by this forum, what is perceived as ideal is open to interpretation. 

One group mentioned a movie at one, others speak of different activities, and some camporees aim to ONLY have skills for lower rank requirements.  One we went to the guys came back to the site and said they worked on lashing for about 30 minutes then some old guy told them how wrong they had done it for another 30 minutes.  Not really firing them up to come back to another one.

Some troops like them and feel it adds to their program, others do not.  The district used ask us (we are the largest unit in the district) about attending, they have sort of stopped and view us as "that" troop.  We're OK with that.

48 minutes ago, Sablanck said:

Ok so what is wrong with Camporees?  

These were the lowest attended events for the troop.  We asked the scouts why nobody wanted to go, they said they really were not much fun and that our troop outings were better.  We are a larger troop so we typically have 35 - 40 on outings, plus leaders.  For camporees and district events we would get less than half of that attendance

Discussion was should we maybe (God help us) get involved with the planning of these.  Both are run and organized by the OA mafia in the district and they really do not have a welcoming vibe to them.  So we took the path of least resistance about 8 to 10 years ago and went our own way.

6 minutes ago, ParkMan said:

My read is that it would be a question of whether it's enclosed or not.  A station in plain view with others around you'd be fine.  An enclosed structure where two male adults are alone with female youth would be a potential concern.  That's my read on why we have the female over 21 rule in the first place.

I do not agree with this rule - but it's how I'd read it.  I'd be happy to be told I'm wrong.

One more reason not to go to camporees.....

24 minutes ago, ParkMan said:

You should also make sure that you're staffed in a way that two-deep adult leadership scenarios include one female leader over 21 - i.e., having two male adult camporee staff alone with a patrol of female scouts from a troop is something to avoid.

So if you are a troop and you are manning a station or activity at a camporee and you only have male leaders, and a girl patrol saunters up to participate you are saying the troop should have a female leader at the station??

We have 2 slots for June 2020

For High Adventure 2019 we have

• 2 crews to Seabase in May and 1 crew in June (18 Scouts and 6 leaders) 
• 1 crew to Philmont in June (6 Scouts and 3 leaders)
• Also our regular week long camp in June and another in July

A busy summer

16 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

Apparently they have concerns about possible first aid situations

That's a straw man argument for sure.  Yes there are Scouts running around the woods, but seriously?  We have an average of 30 - 35 + Scouts on 13 outings annually.  Honestly we can go through many weekends with the worst thing maybe being a band-aid.  We have maybe 1 time per year that requires an after camp out medical visit.  Very rare.

If the troop has a work around for that, the issues will become how food is prepared, security concerns, or some other "issue" that requires the parents to be there.  The play seems to have many many acts

32 minutes ago, Scoutmaster Teddy said:

This isn't the first time he was busted though. He's been in legal trouble before and we had a situation with him a few years ago when he verbally abused an ASM. He left he troop for a year but never seemed to learn the lesson.

 

Well - that paints a different light on the issue.  From your input we seem to have a youth that is in fact not learning from mistakes and may have some issues.  Agree that he may in fact not be an Eagle candidate.  Tough tough call and not a pleasant road to travel down.

12 minutes ago, Scoutmaster Teddy said:

I've found myself in quite a predicament. One of my Life Scouts, the CC's son no less, was busted for having an illegal substance (weed) in the High School. I have no legal experience and this was treated as a juvenile offense. Actually, I have no access to any record that shows me "proof" that an arrest actually occurred.

I'm going to stand my ground and refuse a Scoutmaster's Conference for Eagle. I may end up losing my job but that's okay.

Hope your holiday season is better than mine!

We had a scout arrested on a Friday right before an outing for trespassing into a closed factory.  Obviously he missed that outing, what with being in jail and all.

Scout was a Life Scout, this was his first offense, the legal system worked the issue.  He had been and continued to be an active scout.  The Scout did seem to gain lessons from the arrest.  During the Eagle SM conference the issue was discussed, what he had learned from the arrest, what he would have changed and what he needed to take forward from the incident.

IMHO - Key is you as the SM may need to have the conversation with the Scout.  Is he upset he got caught or he does he realize that the path he may have (is) on from a long term perspective is bad.  Kids make bad decisions.  Do they grow and learn is the take away from this.

If he is just giving lip service to change and growth, your options may be clear.  If he has matured and realized that he needs to shape up, move forward, and effect change; that is sort of what we are going for in Scouting.  Maybe don't let one issue define him.

4 minutes ago, Saltface said:

Not to brag, but in Arizona we've done all of these things -- sometimes doing winter and summer activities within weeks of each other.

Okay, maybe I am bragging.

True....but we are able to paint our houses other than varying shades of brown 😏

Also with southern weather we have sometimes done summer stuff and unplanned winter activities on the same day.  With the scouts wearing summer gear for the winter stuff, makes for a fun weekend

7. identify best type of tree to use for hammock straps. 

• BONUS QUESTION - If two trees are not close enough, theorize how long it will take to plant and grow a tree to be able to use for second point of hammocking

With these options - 

b. On any of these camping experiences, you must do TWO of the following, only with proper preparation and under qualified supervision:

1. Hike up a mountain where, at some point, you are at least 1,000 feet higher in elevation from where you started.
2. Backpack, snowshoe, or cross-country ski for at least 4 miles.
3. Take a bike trip of at least 15 miles or at least four hours.
4. Take a nonmotorized trip on the water of at least four hours or 5 miles.
5. Plan and carry out an overnight snow camping experience.
6. Rappel down a rappel route of 30 feet or more.

Seems like there are multiple opportunities to accomplish this requirement.  As we are in the deep south never had a scout do number 5, honestly we would be clueless.  Now #1 is easy, #2 we do regularly, #3 we do annually, #4 we go to the swamp every other year, and as was noted many accomplish #6 at summer camp.

17 hours ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

think it is the core leadership singling them out.

Yeah...pretty much is the case and that's OK.  These families need to understand what the Scouting program is, but more importantly what it is not.

On 11/22/2018 at 6:59 PM, Rick_in_CA said:

One that was common in my pack for a short time: "The Announcement Song", which the cubs would sing whenever the word "announcement" was spoken. I disliked it because it was an interruption, and slowed the administration stuff down so it took longer (which took time away from the fun stuff).

We had the Webelos visiting a meeting one time and our SPL asked if there were any adult announcements.  The Webelos broke into the "Announcement Song"..the Scouts put a stop to that really quick and explained that was not how we rolled

The Webelos were really good with that

So to be all technical.  A 12 day trek runs sort of like this

• You arrive at Phillmont on DAY 1 (check-in, ranger assignment, shakedown, initial food, gear, opening campfire)
• You head for the Trail DAY 2
• On Trail Days 2 - 12 Arrive back in Base Camp on Day 12 (check back in, turn in gear, shower, buy swag at Tooth of Time traders, shower again, by more stuff at TOT, closing campfire)
• Depart from Philmont on Day 13

10 nights on the trail and 2 nights in Base camp

1 hour ago, SR540Beaver said:

So you're going to use the, "if a patrol wants to go play laser tag as a bunch of friends in street clothes, then it isn't Scouts going against the G2SS" defense even when the patrol planned it at a meeting?  OA ceremonialists need to do the honorable thing and follow the national rules rather than go rogue.

Not to derail a thread, but isn't that sort of the reasoning (groups gone rogue) given as one of the reasons for the change to allow girls into the Cubs and Boy Scouts?  Also the move toward family scouting emphasis "so many were doing it anyway, may as well make it official".   That seems to be the way to effect change now, just go do it and likely rather than make waves it will be codified