Jameson76

Correct. The most often confused statement in YPT and the one so many Scouters feel they know, but it's not what they think From the BSA - FAQ on YPT - https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/email/campaign/Youth-Protection-FAQ_03-07-2018.pdf Effective June 1, 2018, adults accompanying a Scouting unit who are present at the activity for 72 total hours or more must be registered as a leader, including completion of a criminal background check and Youth Protection Training. The 72 hours need not be consecutive Note that they are referring to THE activity, not ALL activities. If they come to summer camp driving up Sunday, leaving Tuesday morning (48 hours), then come up Thursday night and plan to stay until Saturday for the drive home, the 72 hours would apply. Now - don't get me started on how Scouters may not understand the difference between 2 Deep Leadership and No One on One contact.

I am in a large council and there are several "marketing" folks, a Deputy SE, etc etc. As with you I am amazed at the lack of ACTUAL communications as opposed to the FLUFF and or FEEL GOOD communications. Sure they send out MB colleges, Scout days at the sports, etc etc, but real news, you might need.... nope. Over the last several months I have asked questions of our council about various things and actions taken by National that I have seen on other sources (that interwebs is amazing, no real secrets), and then I get confirmation or there is a message to Scouters. Many times I get the feeling that the attitude is "We will tell you what we feel you need to know when we feel you need to know...if you in fact are deemed worthy to know". Now that may have worked 20 years ago, but now you need to be out in front of issues and communications. Trying to control the narrative of your small fiefdom that is part of the much larger empire does not work.

I would have possibly thought the same thing, what possibly could the issue be?? That is until I had a conversation with some of our council professionals about the leader requirement for girl troops, had to have a female. I felt that was gender biased as no requirement for a male leader for boy troops. Why can't two dads of girls BSA members be the leaders? So the professionals go into a dissertation about statistics, and adult male incidents with females, etc etc. My initial feedback was "well they should be following YPT so what would the issue be?". Then some doublespeak on optics and stats, and historical cases studies yada yada. Then I said so "Basically you (The BSA) do not trust male leaders", more double speak, etc. Not saying I agree or disagree with what they said / believe - but after that exchange...not sure what to think but would err on the side of caution.

The 2 man tent weighs in at 2 lbs, wonder if you can use any trekking poles or do you have to use the ones with the fancy handles?

That's pretty harsh. There are a myriad of reasons you may only work within your unit. Scheduling of time, ease of communications, streamlined follow-up just to name a few. I might work with some other Scouts, but it does not always work to the schedule. I did get contacted by a Scout from another unit, told him we could meet on Monday night prior to my units meeting at our CO. Due to traffic etc he could not. He could meet me on the weekend, but then, as I did not know him and the time was offset, there is the 2 deep leader and YPT issue, plus I had things other than Scouting to do, so I had to decline. Am I a "dirtbag" because of that?

Thanks - With month to month the real indicator will be January 2019 numbers (after recharters) versus January 2020 numbers (after recharter, registration increase, press on abuse claims, and LDS departure)

Is there a secondary market like Stub Hub that I can profit from? I will sign up for ALL the adventures, then dole them out at higher fees...all the money will be MINE!!!

Signed on about 11:00 am (EST) and it was no errors or waiting. Guess the tide (Seabase joke there) of inquiries had passed. We signed up for 2 Out Island crews in late May, that has worked for us over the last 12 - 14 years. New for this year was the deposit right now, past years I recall we have 30 days or so to send in money. They did take CC, so not an issue Got a prompt e-mail confirmation, now to sign up Scouts for the adventure

Was there ever a citation of where these numbers came from and what period of time they were calculated against?

Well.. you would need to actually see the first 4 on the list. That is not likely in the real world, you know...on a camping trip, where there are actual youth. The wood badgers are harmless and humorous; just let them wear their kilts, beads, pink hankies, carry walking stick with 30 lbs of trinkets, etc and they are easy to spot and avoid. There are many who like to wear the 7 rows of knots, medals, ribbons, and cords; gives them a South American dictator look. One of my Scouts asked me what all of that stuff was on one Scouters pockets, told him I had no idea. He asked what mine were; told him Arrow of Light, Eagle, Training award, that's all you may need.

I can personally attest that is in fact the case. Lasted a couple of years. Immediately went back to volunteering with units and never looked back. You become a DE and Professional Scouter to (naively thinking) work with units, camp, become the Scouting expert. In reality you are pushing paper, have key 3 meetings with volunteers, doing a lot of planning, raising money, sweating membership numbers, following up on what volunteers haven't done, etc etc. Never really see a Scout, at camporees and summer camp it's all about the problems or a volunteer bending your ear over some issue. Scouting fun is best experienced at the unit level. That's where the best times are.

Lots of posts about the number of hours that DE's work. What are they actually doing? If you say meetings etc, I can get that, but most of the volunteer district meetings are evenings. Is the DE really a second shift (3 - 11) position, or some other time shifted position? If the DE is complaining about hours worked in that "I do 9 - 5 plus evening meetings", that's possibly not a workload issue, that's a scheduling issue. Seriously, how much Scouting happens in the weekday mornings? Would a volunteer that asked a question in the morning be really all that bent if the answer came in the afternoon? A good bit of this seems to get down to management of the DE by the SE (Small council) of DFS in larger councils. Key is setting expectations early on, understanding work / life balance.

Sad part is these and the other lawyers have little or no real desire to compensate and help victims. If they did then this would handled in a different manner, with the focus on getting the proven victims assistance. This is lawyers eyeing the billion + in assets, dreaming of a new vacation home, and suing the BSA. Yeah yeah, the victims will get some crumbs....maybe

I think the valued assets on the IRS form were listed at $1.4 billion. That is listed value. Not sure how much all that might be worth if forced to liquidate. Assume some (large portion) of that is the value of the name and copyrights on writings. If the BSA liquidates, that value is sort of nil

Same for us with a troop and packs, Scouting has been these over 40 years. My church, not where my troop is, is UMC and also CO for a troop (and also pack). After LDS the Methodist church was the 2nd largest CO for Scouting. I assume they have moved into the top spot now My thoughts are that as with many things, Scouting is in fact local. The congregation will, for the most part, not magically become another group of people. If the UMC universal were to split and the local houses of worship would rename, become independent....whatever, the units would likes continue. The only issue would be if the church site actually closes due to some challenge. Then the troop may need to find a new CO If the house of worship continues then just update the charter, social media, and continue on providing a quality program to the youth of the community

To be clear, this was a proposal that was developed by a group of 16. That group has no more or no less standing within the church that any other group. The church did have a variety of plans they voted on last year, the traditional plan was in fact the one that was supported. Note this is not the same traditional plan that is being noted as breaking away in the releases. This group has a proposal, they issued press release, that got picked up by national media as the "gospel" for the UMC. The church is in fact not splitting and if you delve deep into the governance of the UMC and the connectional church that it is, a split would be a complicated endeavor. The First Methodist Church of Capital City is not a franchise or an affiliate, it is a Methodist Church. This is not like councils that can sell and buy property as they fit locally. Nor is it like the Baptist Church that may be affiliated with say the Southern Baptist Conference and then become a local community church with no specific affiliation. Splitting assets, apportionments, retirements salaries, seniority, clergy assignments, determination of seniority in the church and who can marry whom where, perform rites such as communion would all need to be worked out. The churches in the UMC are first of all, “owned in trust,” by the trustees of each local church. They have the ability to keep the church in good repair and build a new church and sell the old building upon moving from one building to another. They cannot sell the building and transfer the value to an independent church nor can they leave the UMC and make the active church an independent church. If the trustees are a part of a church that chooses to close, the property they have kept in trust is then turned over to the Conference trustee board to be kept in trust by that board. It is then used as the Conference trustee board sees fit to do. Technically all UMC property is ultimately the property “in trust” of the Annual Conference and cannot be given or sold to another church body without Conference approval. The local congregation “owns” their church building but it is a trustee type of ownership not an outright ownership. The pastor is a member of Conference not the local church. He is appointed to serve his local church as an appointee of the Bishop of the Conference [at the Bishop’s will and pleasure]. The Bishop is the primary pastor of each local church and keeps each church served by his appointed pastor… in trust… for the Conference. He, or the local pastor, does not and cannot own a church as some independent pastors do. As they say, the devil would be in the details.

Same here on the DE churn, we really do not get attached to them. Going back about 12 years DE left, position open for 6 months, new DE was in position about a year, got promoted, new DE was there for about a year, left, position open for 6 months, new DE was there for about a year, left, position open for 6 months, new DE was there for about a 6 months, left, position open for 6 months, new DE was there for about a year, left, position open for 6 months, new DE was there for about a 6 months, left, position open for 6 months, new DE was there for about a year, left, position open for 6 months, new DE was there for about a 6 months, left, position open for 6 months, new DE was there for about a 6 months, left, position open for 6 months, now the new DE has been moved from another district, so we'll see how long they last. The one a few back (sort of lost count) some of our Scouts on camp staff met when they came up to summer camp, we never actually met them. They were gone by November of that year.

Not sure of where you are geographically or your local school schedules, our experience has shown that due to our public school schedules (ends before Memorial Day), we have been able to get crew slots late May early June when needed. You camp so no seasickness at night. The war canoe out is not bad, same with trip back. The deep sea fishing day can be rocky and rolly, but it is only for 1 day and can be calm, depending on the wind. Shark fishing at night is cool, until you realize you are walking back in water you just fished in...gives pause. Seabase open registration is starting 1/15/2020

Lord - no wonder turnover is so high Hey...join our organization and go to training in WEST VIRGINIA!! Current slogan: Wild, Wonderful West Virginia According to its tourism website, West Virginia is a place to make childhood memories. Slightly blurry, distant memories that likely end in a trip to the ER, which turn out to be pretty great memories after all, when you're taking off your shirt and answering onlookers' questions about those wild, wonderful surgical scars criss-crossing your torso. Better slogan: Only Makes You Stronger

We do those adventures. I do not think they start every day, but I may be incorrect. I thought they started on only a couple of days during the week. There is limited space on Munson. Our guys have always enjoyed Seasbase. They can do a lot of different activities. We are in the Southeast. Our crews fly down on SAT, use a tour group for SAT night then to Seabase and start the trek on Sunday, this means the crew stays at base SUN, then on the island MON - THU, back to base on FRI night and fly back SAT

All you youngsters...really back in the day is was NEI 1 and 2. Even then you took NEI 1 after 90 - 120 days. NEI 2 was taken at least a year or so later. Mine was in Irving, big thing was to go to National Office and see the CSE office

What adventure are you looking to do at Seabase?

While I agree in part, the effectiveness of marketing is multi-layered 1) Brand Awareness in general 2) Regional general brand awareness 3) Locally focused brand awareness and acceptance. It would take a concerted effort to layer this and being about a good brand awareness for the BSA Take for example our good friends at say Mercedes Benz. For the Brand awareness in general there are the commercials for the cars, what you can get, nice looking people enjoying the car, etc For the regional for example they sponsor sports stadiums, golf tournaments, get their name mentioned not specifically in a car commercial For local the area dealership will have an ad that tells you where you can get the MB and how that will change your life, and maybe Karen who lives in local community will do a testimonial Now could BSA do something similar National develops ads that develop the brand; Fun, Outdoors, Leadership, Adventure etc etc (Scout out doing things) At the regional level you talk about specific camps and adventure opportunities in the area Locally you highlight councils and even specific units in areas and what they are doing Honestly see all the marketing folks at councils and national, I assume they are marketing to get donations so they can keep their jobs, not sure what else they may doing. Question for the professionals and volunteers is - Do we raise money to have Scouting - OR - Do we have Scouting so we can raise money?? It's all about perspective

Aside from the actual injuries that need to be attended to.... Water is the best medicine for youth, so many times they are just dehydrated Applesauce is a great treat to get things moving.....which can reduce the stomach aches Make sure the leader in camp for the unit is aware the youth has come to the health lodge, many times there may be a backstory to an "illness" No phone calls home by the Scout without consulting the leader Talk to the Scout who needs assistance as a equal, do not talk down to them and if a leader accompanies them, do not let them speak for them Many issues that popup after dark fade away with sunlight

Wow - $58MM loss for 2018 Also note the $1.4 Billion in assets, no doubt that has the variety of legal teams salivating