Jameson76

Out of curiosity, Is this a coed den, or just different dens meeting at the same time and place?

There are definitely some LNT zealots out there. Can we all do a better job of lessening our impact while camping, absolutely. If you were camping in the 60' and 70's as the low impact became the thing, the thought was to not camp where others had camped as that would lessen the impact, no designated sites, it's gonna be great. Well, you ended up with impact all over an area. Now rangers and whatnot have realized that if you can direct the impact, you can in fact lessen the overall impact. Impact the crud out of this area, but it lessens the impact elsewhere The challenge is for people (normal everyday people and not those that camp for a living) to appreciate public lands, they need to have access to the public lands. These people pay the taxes that support that, eliminating ability to visit the lands (and oh no impact them) will make them less valuable and relevant. Geotag all you want. More people that are excited to visit, more potential tax money.

I would posit that they were out of touch in 73 with BOYPOWER MANPOWER and the Improved Scouting Program...so I would move that timeline out to at least 45 years. Though the uniform update in early 80's (Thanks Mr De Larenta) was a brief shining moment

More time may be spent debating what is 72 hours than just registering folks and moving on. For weekend outing, even long weekend (like MLK) 72 hours is stretch. Meet at 6:30 am on Saturday and return to CO at 5:00 pm on a Monday, that is maybe 60 hours. Most weekend trips are at best 48 hours; Friday night to Sunday afternoon. We register anyone attending or staying at summer camps, just easier that way.

The boys need minimal direction, a clear goal, and ability to have fun. Some of the best activities we have are when we can just let them have a goal, and they come up with the way to get there. The troop provided 3 boxes, a plastic painters tarp, and a roll of duct tape. Goal was to build a boat for one person to navigate to a buoy about 50' out and back. They had 1 hour The "iron chef" competitions. Give them 3 random ingredients they need to include in their patrol dinners Build some check dams for a conservation project, 5 minutes of instruction with PLC of what a check dam is and how they are built, one hour later 4 good check dams to slow down water are in place Agree on the school work merit badges. Many of the scouts have zero interest in completing them, or see them as heeewge mountain to climb. More action, let them lead, keep them between the ditches. Also give them time to socialize and enjoy the day (or evening) at campouts. Every minute does not have to be scheduled.

NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. - Authorities are investigating a deadly incident at a Boy Scout camp in Newton County. Newton County Sheriff’s Office public information officer Jeff Alexander told Channel 2 Action Newsthere was an incident at the camp that resulted in a death. We have a reporter and photographer headed to the scene to learn more information. WATCH Channel 2 Action News for LIVE updates. Radio reports indicated this happened during a storm, possibly tree down on tent

Maple Syrup, Hockey, and the liberal use of the word "eh"??

Don't forget the turkey leg eating contest...

My intended poke at the current expectations may have been missed, yes there will be impact. I hope it will it not end up a repeat of ISP in the 70's. Listening to the CSE and Reading the FAQ this is the blanket statement - Q: Will girls have to meet the same requirement to achieve Eagle Scout? Yes. Young women will have the opportunity to earn the Eagle Scout rank by meeting the same criteria and achievements as young men. To your point and to many who have made the point, I think this is a simplistic view to assume that things will not change. Who can predict what the final "product" will look like. If, for example, summer camps are not game planning 2019 and beyond they are behind the curve. Will the merit badges that fill up now be the same as what the revised population of the Boy Scouts...sorry Scouts USA wants/seeks? There will likely be some push back and adjustment on some requirements. One challenge may be some related to outdoor and camping. Will new girl troops be able to offer enough outings and secure enough female adults to have these? Our unit goes on 13 outdoor events in a year, will a new troop be able to quickly offer that depth? Not saying they will not, but that could be an issue. Even with seasoned troops that is a challenge sometimes, though more for attendance than cancelled outings. If the hope (plan??) is for these multitude of new units that could tax resources.

You need to get on-board with the expected offerings, the BSA program will not be "specifically for girls"...the BSA program will be the same for Boys and Girls and there will be NO CHANGES to the current program with the addition of girls to the program The FAQ (15+ pages I might add) on Family Scouting states that and if it says it is so...it is so

Oh where to begin: Two registered adult leaders 21 years of age or over are required at all Scouting activities, including meetings. There must be a registered female adult leader over 21 in every unit serving females. A registered female adult leader over 21 must be present for any activity involving female youth. Notwithstanding the minimum leader requirements, age- and program-appropriate supervision must always be provided.

Maybe....

We provide for the patrols cooking gear, water bladder, stove, lanterns, tarps, table, fire bag. Scouts provide everything else In the trailer we carry consumables; propane, mantles, trash bags, whatnot. Also we have dutch ovens as needed

This has been discussed within our troop. Our go forward is to be a single gender, no linked option. Only council / inter troop items we have is summer camp. Already no district or council camporees. We will take summer camps (we do 2 camps) 1 year at a time. If significant program changes occur, then we will explore other options for summer.

The surprise was not so much the scouts I was referring to. You may be assuming a 100% enlightened and welcoming group of parents, not saying they may not be, but there could be some pushback in the tenting case. While we work to provide program to youth, those youth are part of a family, that does have to be considered. There are a myriad of potential items to consider so there are in fact no surprises. This is the real world, and not a sociology class.

An intriguing question. If they identify as a male, you would treat as a male, but with tenting if not all are looped in could be a surprise. Luckily there are hammocks

Definitely a teachable moment. Good effort and initiative, not so good a result. I would suggest a redo. Light overspray of the current number. then begin again As you work with them on correcting maybe some opportunity for them to develop a brief How To on tent numbering

Agree with the need to GO and see what they need, not wait at some roundtable or meeting to tell them what they need. Most leaders could care less about a listening meeting or an input meeting or a conversation and input meeting. If truly interested plan to spend some time on the road and go see the units and talk with the leaders at their meetings. Just listen. Hear what their successes are and hear what they may be struggling with. You note you are concentrating with training, advancement, camping promotions, and civic service functions. That is a target rich environment. Also go more than once. While roundtables can play a role, scouting happens at the unit where it is meeting or going camping. That is where the answers lie. Not at an adult meeting.

Agree that it is local and at more importantly at the unit level. All else is window dressing. The divide (rift??) between National/Region/Council/District and the local units seems to be a might wider at times. There is a lot of top down directives, etc. Is the Council there to support the units or does the Council seem to think they are where it's at. With our unit we seem to be fine with little interaction from the council. Close to 100 Scouts, High adventure every year, 13 outings per year, 10+ Eagles achieved each year. Our discussion has been how can we support Scouting locally outside the unit without the morass of the district and the council. We have not been able to solve the conundrum. As a note our unit does not attend the district camporees or council encampments. Past years we did, but those were the least attended events. The Scouts asked do we have to attend these? The choice was theirs and we have moved on. The Council Commissioner spoke with me on this, they asked why we did not attend such events. I explained that the program offered at these was not engaging to our troop. They wanted to know if we had tried to get involved and get it changed. We had but the folks that ran the district ones were less than eager to look at changes. So we went backpacking. Agree that the first question that should/needs to be asked at a BOR is are you having fun. The rest is bonus material

Most are good Will go with the most recent. We were at summer camp last week, had 40+ scouts attending. Thursday night after the afternoon offsite activities we cooked cobbler and the Boy Scouts organized up a cornhole tournament. The leaders provided the stuff, Boy Scouts mixed, and cooked. It was getting dusk, the cobbler was getting close to complete. I did a head count as the leaders stood off to one side. All the scouts were there, no phones, just a group of Boy Scouts, in the woods, week coming to a close, enjoying the evening.

This has been BSA's stock answer - The research found that parents not involved with Scouting showed high interest in getting their daughters signed up for programs like Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, with 90 percent expressing interest in a program like Cub Scouts and 87 percent expressing interest in a program like Boy Scouts. Now, note the subtle wording of the results "LIKE". They did not say they would join BSA, just a program LIKE the BSA. Also as we have not seen the actual questions, it is very easy to put in questions that will generate the needed results SIDENOTE - Was at our Council Camp last week, troop had a great week. Anyway, we have a leaders dinner on Thursday, literally 200 Scout leaders that are actually involved in Scouting at an actual camp event with actual Scouts. The Scout Executive...sorry CEO of the Council was there, the Council President was there, a litany of the paid executive staff was there, some key volunteers, the CEO and Prez spoke, but ZERO mention of the program changes and updates, no mention of how these will impact camp operations next year and no time for questions or input If the changes have this groundswell of support and people clamoring to join, why not own it, let us know what plans and support are in place. You had an engaged group, but they are scared to death to mention it to actual Scouters. The divide between National, Regional, council based paid staff, key volunteers AND those of us who are merely (in their view) working with units (the great unwashed) grows each day

It's amazing isn't it that someone (gotta be gender neutral here) under 18: Cannot enter into a contract, buy a drink, own a gun, rent a car, rent a hotel room, serve in the military, vote under 16: Cannot drive a car, fly unaccompanied, must attend school, be out after certain hours alone, get married (depends on state) All of this is because we as a society have concluded that at these young ages, they may not have the needed maturity and life experience to be fully responsible for these decisions...YET when it comes to gender identity, let it roll, they can decide away. If one questions this, you are are discriminatory

Our group is still leaving and returning the same flights, but now they are going to do various 2 and 3 day hikes in Colorado. Drummed up some contacts, friends, etc but they have salvaged a trip.