Jameson76

To be clear, the GTSS (bow your heads) merely states Wheel cart (1-, 2-, or 4-wheeled) to be used by Youth 14 years and Older. Using my on-line law degree I note that cart, wagon, non powered conveyance is not specifically mentioned as forbidden. That which is not included is assumed to be excluded. If the wise ones from on high that handed down the tome that is the sacred GTSS had intended for wagons to be part of the decree, they would have stated thus. For examples the age group 14 and older are the ones that can use a pickaxe and a mattock, which seem to be the same (see below) but are in fact listed seperately PICKAXE MATTOCK

Got a nice note after camp a couple of weeks ago for our camp SPL thanking me for helping him with leadership lessons at camp. Also his mom wrote a note and thanked me for still being involved and being a leader even though my son aged out a few years ago We get the handshakes and thank yous in the parking lot, but the actual note or e-mail means a great deal

It is interesting to observe how mom and dads interact differently, and by extension how female leaders and male leaders interact differently. Full disclosure we do not have any program facing female leaders with our unit. Many support with committee roles, but we have not had a female camp with us for over 10 years. Note that we are a troop of about 100 scouts. When we get back from outings the moms almost instinctively pick up the scouts gear at unload while they are running around being boys. Many time we remind them that the scout needs to do that, they always seem to respond..oh right, sorry. Same for advancement and other inquiries, we gently remind them that the boy scout needs to drive their advancement. It does take both a mom and a dad (and sometime a village) to raise kids, and a mom is always a mom. God Bless them

Agree - there are maybe better venues for some of the non-outdoor merit badges.

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.