Jameson76

11 minutes ago, Back Pack said:

In every South Park episode there are great lessons to be learned

6 minutes ago, Tampa Turtle said:

But no one says a thing when girls don't want boys in their club house. Then it is a safe space and empowering. 

Careful there...you will be pegged as one who is not inclusive supportive and liberating of these efforts.  Just get in line citizen, it is a big and colorful tent but no room for dissent 

9 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said:

Colorized? What next Casablanca?

I know, really.  It is a bit of a sacrilege.

2 minutes ago, Back Pack said:

It does when the boys didn’t want girls in their club house. 

Well done

Unfortunately my dad passed away (He was an Eagle) before he could see his grandsons (Nephew and my son) earn the Eagle award.  He was able to hand both my brother and me our award back in the day

29 minutes ago, an_old_DC said:

What is the “$12 insurance fee”? Insurance is already in the fees National charges (and is why annual dues went up yet again). Is this a Council insurance policy, and if so, what does it cover?

Insurance that Summit Bechtel will keep getting all the money it needs....

27 minutes ago, 5thGenTexan said:

What about yellow and green?

 

 

That is a wicked Trucker hat (#2).  The Visored Cap.  Wants me one of those.  And only $5.50...what a deal

27 minutes ago, Tampa Turtle said:

I meant some of the older guys who were bust and stayed engaged we would work hard to work with them vs. the casual drop outs and ins...those were welcome but I am not staying up all night waiting on a death bed Eagle signoff requirement for them.

That said I am a softie...

I have had heartburn with a few over the years.  Typically I will advise SM, advancement and CC, do what they feel is right, I will be taking a break on whomever it may be.  Will support the process but I am not going to be involved in the race to the finish, the EBOR, etc.

That being said we have had some that were very active as older scouts and for whatever reason (teens being teens I guess) that end up at the last days needing this or that signed off.  With those we will do what we can to support.

33 minutes ago, TAHAWK said:

Your first sentence seems inconsistent with you nest sentence.  To me, "build" is consistent with "restore."  But that is me.

The first quote is speaking to an initial effort, at the beginning, in that if one is transparent, then that builds trust.  The second is addressing that if there is already mistrust, just being transparent in and of itself, will not restore that trust.  Once an organization reaches that point of lack of trust, transparency is about managing that mistrust. 

Basically if BSA National, from the Get Go, back in the day had been open and honest with the member base about many things, then trust in BSA National would have been there.  They were not as has been demonstrated.  Probably not entirely deceptive but certainly directing facts to push an agenda (agendas) that was not supported by the majority of the membership.

Now at this point in time, a good portion of the member base does not have inherent trust in BSA National.  If they suddenly decided to become transparent / open and honest, many would not believe them.  So if they were to try to become more transparent (open and honest) they are coming at this from a harder position, nobody believes what they say.

8 minutes ago, Tampa Turtle said:

we can drive ourselves crazy reading BSA tea leaves but the problem is when they lack trust and transparency this is a direct result; folks start arguing hypothetical because they want to get their position on the table since some folks at BSA seem to lurk the boards.

The single most important ingredient in the recipe for success is transparency because transparency builds trust.

Transparency is not about restoring trust in institutions. Transparency is the politics of managing mistrust

We believe that transparency creates trust

1 hour ago, EmberMike said:

Who is the source of that quote?

6 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said:

Whenever my Council starts assessing anything, whether it is merging with another council, selling a camp, minimum FOS contributions,... I worry and act.

Remember when scouting was fun?  We camped in shelter halves, rode in the back of open pick ups, burned our trash, trenched tents, pit latrines on all outings, canoed with the life jackets sort of in the canoe...fun times

1 minute ago, NJCubScouter said:

I think you left out "human sacrifice!"  

We try to keep the human sacrifice on the DL

We had 13 camping / events (last 12 months) - 

- Private campground group area (2) - Fees per scouts

- Council camps short term (4) - One was out of council so fee per scout, in council no charge

- Council camps long term (2) - obviously week long camps so fees

- State parks (3) - Fee for group area

- County parks (1) - Fee for the group area

- CO Church (1) - Lock in no charge

For 2018 pretty similar outlook would assume, though we have not had the Greenbar planning yet, they will meet in May to determine August 18 - July 19

54 minutes ago, gblotter said:

"Lord of the Flies" is an apt description of how their campouts operate. 

Everything is fun and games until someone sets the island on fire.  Upside of that is the navy may come by to check on things....

4 minutes ago, Sentinel947 said:

Wow. We've had about 80 Eagles since 1993. Or 24 years. 

That is a good group

We have had 138 in 33 years.  So much depends on the group that comes in, how they get along, and whether the peer group(s) work together.  I like to think overall program is more important; are you seeing more scouts on outings, how is the High Adventure interest, what about attendance at meetings.  Eagles are important and seem to be the KPI (Key Performance Indicator) of the day.  More critical is are you bringing in new scouts, are current scouts not in 5th or 6th grade bringing in their friends.  We had 5 - 6 scouts join last 12 months that we not crossover webelos, ranging  7th to 9th grade.  They joined because their friends talked about it and said it was fun, they stay active due to program and camping.

9 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said:

Did you mean three to 6 committee members?

Sure

15 minutes ago, Tampa Turtle said:

We do use fire for staring at. 

Also it's great for napping in front of...or pondering....or just sitting and doing nothing.  Last few years the glow of the fire against the glow of phones as scores or Presidential tweets are checked has been mesmerizing.

9 minutes ago, gblotter said:

Do you conduct a BOR on the fly during a campout? Our advancement chair is bit more structured than that.

Absolutely.  If a Scout wants to advance and we have two or more committee members on the outing, we have the BOR.   The scout does need to have their handbook which should have the dates.   These are conditional as we need to verify dates, etc. for merit badges, time, to make sure the book agrees with troop records.   Many times the Scout has completed or completes on the outing all requirements for a rank, they come over to the leader area and request the SM conference, then we do the BOR.

Usually at the campfire on the outing we award the rank or at the closing as we depart.

Much higher percentage of lost badges out in the woods......

3 minutes ago, gblotter said:

I love this idea and will suggest it to our troop committee. I guess it necessitates having a surplus of rank patches that can be drawn upon before advancement paperwork is actually submitted to the council, but that should be doable. How do you manage the quick award of merit badges? Having a surplus of merit badges is not so easy.

No merit badges, only rank patches.    Merit badges would be a nightmare.  As the Scouts go through BOR we get the patches so SM can award at end of meeting.  We try to carry some of the rank patches on outings so if they complete a rank when camping we can do the recognition

They do come in waves

We had 8 one year, followed by 9 the next, then 16 the next year.  Went down some following years with  5, 7, 5, 7.  We have a large group of 8th and 9th graders so a good number of benches being built, stairways, trails cleared etc etc

5 minutes ago, gblotter said:

I know you are quoting a Den Leader Guide for Cub Scouting, but I am becoming a fan of quick recognition for Boy Scout Awards and merit badges as well. You are correct in stating that it keeps the motivation going. It is good to give the boy his badges ASAP in front of his peers and then make a second recognition in front of his parents during the next Court of Honor. Nothing wrong with being recognized twice.

This strategy requires an advancement chair who is willing to continually process a fairly constant stream of awards rather than just batch things up a few times a year before a COH.

Without parents in the loop, extra care must be taken to ensure the badges get safely home (not lost) when they are given directly to the boy. On more than one occasion, newly awarded badges have been misplaced during the first 30 minutes. *sigh*

We give out the rank badges at the end of the meetings when the scouts complete the BOR.  Scout does BOR and bam...he is recognized and goes home with the new rank patch.  Neat thing is seeing them with the new rank on their uniform at the next meeting.  At the COH they are awarded the card and small pin.

Yes, we do pick up rank patches on occasion.  One scout came up the next week and was seeing what could be done as he had lost his patch.  We asked what did he do with it last week, he said put it in his pocket, as he touched his left pocket on his shirt.  I asked if he checked both pockets, he said yes, then reached into his right pocket and like magic, there was the patch.  He shuffled off to patrol time

They are literally everywhere, if the Scouts look.  We encourage them to look at organizations they are involved with if possible so there will be a higher sense of ownership and buy in.  Also many have come from relative that are involved with shelters, schools, etc and the scouts take on those

- Schools

- Churches

- Sports groups

- Parks

The frisbee works, just gotta make sure you wipe off the dog spittle