Jameson76

Use the “St. Crispin’s Day Speech” from Shakespeare’s Henry V.  In it King Henry exemplifies manliness in action as he rallies his army against the highly skilled French knights

Always a crowd pleaser...

9 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

What about 2020 or thereafter?

Well...BSA National has more to worry about than a name change by 2020 (and 2022).  Gonna need to keep existing numbers and add about 1.8 million new Scouts (any gender welcomed) and keep them for the next 4 years to cover all of this need

From the 2016 annual report:

In March 2012, the National Council issued debt to finance the development of the Summit. $175,000,000 in 10-year, tax exempt bonds was added to the existing 2010 Series A and B bonds, and the 5-year $50,000,000 line of credit was increased by $25,000,000 to $75,000,000. Bond issuance costs were $100,000. The Series A bond was paid in 2015 and the Series B bond has monthly principal and interest payment with a balloon payment of $40,363,000 due in 2020. The $175,000,000 bonds payable, requires monthly interest and principal payments with a balloon payment of $136,834,000 due in 2022. The organization’s entire bond proceeds have been used for development of the Summit.

But...on the plus side...

Management believes that cash generated from operations, together with the liquidity provided by existing cash balances, the line of credit, along with significant donor contributions, will continue to be sufficient to pay the bond payments as scheduled.

So we've got that belief going for us

2 hours ago, perdidochas said:

I've never seen a Nalgene break, 

Watched a Philmont staffer as he finished the climb up and on to the Tooth of Time set his Nalgene down, it wobbled and then rolled over the edge and took the express route towards the stockade.  He sort of reached for it, and we told him to "let it go man".  Assumption is it broke but we did not have confirmation

10 hours ago, CalicoPenn said:

That being said, I'm not going to play uniform police 

8 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said:

Further info.  For packs that have girl youth members, either the Cubmaster or Assistant Cubmaster must be female.  In addition, each girl den must have a female Den Leader or Assistant Den Leader.

Interesting.  If a pack has boys does either the Cubmaster or Assistant Cubmaster have to be male?

Guess it depends on the troop.  My son's year we had 21 cross over into the troop.  They went into the 6 existing patrols.  Over the next 7 years 13 attained Eagle.  Ones that did not pretty much dropped out within first 2 years for a variety of reasons. 

The main high school lists Eagle Scout in the graduation program.  Ours is the big troop in the area and it is nice to see all the Scouts listed each year that attend there.

1 hour ago, CalicoPenn said:

But football is still ok, right?  

Penn State...football coaches...what could possibly go wrong there

Also fraternities...not a chance any issues with those

Walking up stairs, driving to campus, intramural activities I am confident pose zero risks

No love for the Nalgene? 

Put stickers on them, clip them to your belt, pretty near indestructible.  Also you can get one that glows in the dark

28 minutes ago, Hawkwin said:

They didn't. It was a promotional photo. Read the comments on the link.

Yeah...I was being humorous, any time you see a picture of more than 1 Cub / Scout together and the uniforms are matchy matchy...it's a promo photo

Speaking of the comments, they are literally comedy gold in the article

First one right out of the gate from "Stu"

• I'm a Cubmaster for a pack. We just signed our first girl. We received approval to have a co-ed den until a few more girls join. So far, it's been great! The girl happens to be my daughter. She joined her age-appropriate den; whereas she spent the last year hanging out with my son's den (by necessity).

So...approval for a co-ed den, where did that come from you may ask

• Approval came from our regional council. We had to change our charter from "boys only" to "family.

Then somebody asks

• I've spoken with my DE who says this isn't possible. What Council are you in? I'd like to contact them for clarification. 

Stu has not responded

Whole series of comments with a myriad of opinions on who or whom has to be registered / in attendance / hanging out if you have a girls den.  People quoting page 7 of FAQ, people quoting YPT, it's a madhouse 

18 minutes ago, Tampa Turtle said:

I say, Sir, I say-you bully me Sir. You bully me with pico-aggressions. Obviously you are lookingfor more YPT training.

4 hours ago, fred johnson said:

Phone calls ... I'm surprised I did not consider the affect on phone calls.  I try to have my wife in the same room, but sometimes I field calls while driving.  I'm not sure how to work around this issue. 

Only solution is the cone of Youth Protection

28 minutes ago, Tampa Turtle said:

I have heard of 'micro-aggressions' could there be 'nano-hazings'?

No doubt.  I presume there are a series of college courses and courses of study detailing these items.  The degree would be in Nano Studies, and then you can work in the Ministry of Silly Walks

27 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said:

Materials will arrive in Scout Shops starting June 1 and girls can register in any family Pack starting June 11.  Article has some info regarding working with your COs and preparing for the change.

https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2018/04/16/heres-when-and-how-you-can-start-welcoming-girls-into-your-cub-scout-pack/

Oh, and there is this minor change.

Two Arrow of Light Adventure Trails will be renamed: Outdoorsman will become Outdoor Adventurer, and Sportsman will simply become Sports.

Wonder how the happy girls running in the photo earned 3 ranks in the last 3 months...that is some motivated cubbies.  Neat that they all matched also

17 minutes ago, Tampa Turtle said:

It is NOT a hazing thing it is a SAFETY thing...papercuts.

One of our new scouts thought KP and the 3 pot method was hazing.  The SPL looked at him and said work is not hazing, if they did decide to haze him it would involve a good bit of orientation and training his part,  you can't expect to fully appreciate hazing unless you have been properly trained.  The SPL has a future in corporate America

An interesting perspective.  Assume there is more behind the article than just a puff piece

Seems Backpacker Magazine is not in on the whole "this is the best thing ever" party train

• But six months later, as the organization draws flak from Girl Scouts, the future of young women in the BSA is still murky.
• Cub Scout packs still don’t have to let girls join
• Even in co-ed packs, all dens (the sub-units of the group that do most of their activities together) will remain single-gender.

A number for quotes from the  Family Engagement Officer for Girl Scouts of the USA, also apparently not a fan

• BSA isn’t really doing much to appeal to the interests and needs of girls, and has not demonstrated any interest in serving their specific needs
• They will be keeping the organizational name, Boy Scouts of America, and therein asking girls who join to give up part of their identity
• BSA has made no public statement that indicates that they intend to alter their programming in any way to serve girls.

https://www.backpacker.com/stories/the-trouble-with-girls-in-boy-scouts?utm_source=basecampnewsletter&utm_medium=email

21 minutes ago, Gwaihir said:

I haven't taken YPT 2 yet, but I'm hearing from council that ripping corners is now considered hazing. 

We ran into that at some meeting and definitely had a WTF moment.  The leader expressed (quite sincerely) that is was hazing and the totin chit was the scouts property and we were "stealing" it etc etc

Wisely we just let it pass and did not go into that we also take knives and other items if there is an issue.  Yep it may be their property but at the end of the day, leaders are in fact leaders

Had not heard of the lost items concern.  Seems we have jumped the proverbial shark.  That is a great part of summer camp fun, standing in front of a scout, asking if they have lost something, them saying no while you are holding the item with their name on it as you speak with them.

55 minutes ago, ItsBrian said:

The communication rule where you have 2 leaders has always been required. If it wasn’t in YPT, it was in something.

The e-mail is pretty simple, as you can add someone to an e-mail and the string continues

Texting is a challenge, we just start a new text string and add another leader.  Also we have scouts ask questions on the instagram feed, but that is public and we have multiple admins, so not a huge difference from asking something at a meeting

Luckily current generation of scouts do not realize the iphone is in fact a phone and they can have actual verbal communications with someone, so we have not had to do conference calls

9 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

One thing thing not mentioned but can be done now: 18-20 year old female ASMs. Do we treat them as adults and they do not need a female over 21 with them, or do we treat them like Venturing "adult participants" and they need over 21 registered female? Asking because we have a 18 female who wants to be an ASM with her twin brother.

2 hours ago, Tampa Turtle said:

I think the only problem will be when there really is not any "linked" troop, even a sham, and it affects some young lass going for advancement--particularly Eagle.

That will be the next battleground surely.  A young lady wants to join a troop but there is no "linked" troop at the CO she wants to join...so what to do.  There may be one nearby, but she wants to to join this organization because it meets her meeting needs, better outdoor, etc etc.

Cue the news trucks to be sitting in front of a meeting, cue the hand wringing as females are not being given the same opportunities, cue the faux outrage at the intolerant leaders who do not want to start a linked troop thereby denying the young lady equal access

It will literally be a 3 ring circus right there is the CO's parking lot

6 hours ago, desertrat77 said:

Once they cross over, put them in a regular patrol.   Yes, there will be bumps, bruises, growing pains, confusion and mistakes.  But that's how we grow.  And at the end of the day, the best memories!

 

We sort of do a hybrid approach.  After crossover they are in a NSP for the spring, working on the basic new scouts stuff.  At summer camp they are rolled into the the camp patrols for the week, also in the new scout program at camp

First meeting of the new school year they are parsed into the existing patrols.  

Scout brought a thermos with his ravioli on a backpacking outing.  He had heated it up before we left and that was his backpacking meal (lunch and dinner, he loved himself some Chef Boyardee).  This was a large thermos, accounted for 25% of his toted weight maybe.  Had him tote it in, but some of the Philmont crew that was along training toted it and many of his other items out

Canoe relay without paddles is always good

Canoe waterskiing is good times, but getting the canoe up on a good plane is a challenge, also don't try to slalom, stick with two skis

We try to rotate the members on the BOR, gives the Scouts a new face to speak with.  Also good to have the BOR members they may not know.  Additionally there are some on the committee that are more forward facing in the troop (outdoor and events) that try to limit their number of BOR's to give scouts a different experience.  We have a large troop and at times may have 2 - 3 BOR's rolling along during a meeting.

Remind your CC and AC that the BOR is just that,  a review.  The time should be a review of their time in the troop, maybe some specifics on what they did, what they got from that, but nothing added.  If it is a good BOR the CC members should get as much as the scout from the time