Jameson76

I too wondered. Run a quick word search on the book...change He to They and let's move on. That being said, maybe there are more tweaks to put in so as to embrace the new "Family" emphasis. I can see the shocked faces, but maybe our CSE and crowd have not fully disclosed all the coming changes

Vice President for Family Scouting - Those oranges are not slicing themselves and the participation ranks will not award themselves...somebody has to take the lead The emphasis on "Family" which appears to be the new buzzword for success (articles in Scouting magazine and Boys Life) is what will no doubt cause much confusion and derision in the next 24 months. There is no real definition on what it means and if you question what it means one may be accused of not living up to the Scout Oath and Law

Family Pack Model??? Oh BOY. I cannot wait for the rollout of the Family Troop Model...

Hard to tell, angle is not good. Also blinded by glare from the rows and rows of knots he is wearing, the Silver Beaver award and the Woodbadge beads

We have used a couple, typically have a few around. We are 100 +/- so there is the bench strength. Got some active scouts, they may be responsible and good leaders but did not want to be SPL, we put them in the JASM position to sort of be a backstop to the SPL. Good to have extra set of eyes and assist the SPL and various PL's. Sometimes if leaders see something, working through a JASM to the SPL is more subtle.

Don't worry...the new families coming into scouting will LOVE the Sustainability MB. Really dovetails into so many agendas Side note, under the Stuff section, they mention a DVD, wonder how many scouts will need to have a history lesson in what exactly a DVD is

We have several park units along a river in our area, the coyotes seem to really like the environment. Little coyote condos abound. I see them occasionally wandering about just out being coyotes. You can sometimes hear them howl (yapping??) in the woods. These are not the thin western coyotes, these guys seem to be the large cat fed ones. I see the "missing" Fluffy posters and sadly realize that the cat out and about who is missing, likely not coming back. Several of our guys have written about coyotes for Mammal study MB.

I have many friends in scouting that have definitely "drunk the kool aid" of WB. To them, God Bless them, it is the end all be all for scout leaders. Critters, totems, walking sticks, coffee mugs, council strips etc etc. Never mind your years of actual experience working in a unit, to really be a Scout leader need to be WB trained and then do district and council stuff, the troop work is soooo last year. If I run in to them with my troop I always take the time to have some of my scouts come over, I introduce them to some actual scouts, remind them that at the end of the day, this is why we are involved as adult leaders...an actual scout at an actual outdoor function, doing actual scouting stuff. Often sarcasm and cutting edge humor is lost on the WB nation. Could be my cracks about the pink hankies and kilts.....

Still occurring in the 2004 and 2005. Especially with units designed to served underprivileged youth. From a 2005 article on the FBI investigations - "In Dallas, former council employees say the Scout count was inflated 20 to 30 percent. In Birmingham, some believe the numbers were hyped 30 to 40 percent. In Atlanta, a local civil rights leader accuses the Boy Scouts of inflating their inner city membership by thousands"

That is a way, maybe the COR went full Chicago and is registering scouts with names from the local graveyard (if that reference is lost try to research BSA membership scandals during the Boy Power era of the 70's). If that has been ongoing then maybe Cubber has more issues to review. This seems like a CO and a COR sort of hanging on to a unit "hoping" it will start up again. It is hard work to keep a unit active, keep the scouts engaged, keep the troop viable. Every troop has scouts leaving for a variety of reasons; friends have left, girlfriends, sports, academics, cars, etc etc. As we tell our youth leadership, every outing and meeting is recruiting. You have to keep the new scouts (and really all scouts) engaged and active, otherwise there is not next group of scouts for the troop.

They can be registered in more than one UNIT, like a Boy Scout can be also registered as a Venture and or Explorer, and vice versa. Not multiple troops. I think a youth can (could) be registered in multiple explorer posts, especially with the career interest ones. Back in the day I had a youth that was in my troop, then in my High Adventure post, and also he was active with the local police explorer post. One fee I believe.

Exactly. We tell our Scouts (and parents) none of our outings are advancement focused. That being said, there is always an opportunity for advancement, it's just the scout must initiate that advancement. We are a large troop so there is usually enough leaders on the outings for many key items. Also we have Life scouts and above sign off on any advancements for Tenderfoot - First Class. No adult leaders sign off, we participate in some (present yourself to a leader packed etc). Yes, the young maybe 11 year old has to go and have a conversation with an older scout about what they have completed...scary thought isn't it

They had to have had some paper scouts, you need to have a minimum of five paid youth

There are often rule changes, apparently more now than ever...but I digress Big requirement changes that took affect 1/1/1974. Switched from 21 to 24 merit badges, they implemented the god awful belt loop skill awards, changed some merit badges that were required to not required and vice versa. Hard deadline for getting ranks and specifically Eagle under the "old" requirements was 12/31/1973. No exceptions, that was the deal. Either you hustled up (and many did note the major bump in Eagle awards in 73 and 74) or you achieved under the then new requirements. If National bends to this one special request (oh I do hope there is an on-line petition or maybe a twitter # tag) then what happens when there are others. Specifically what happens to a girl who may be 16 in 2019, but alas, no girl troops in her area, so she was not able to get registered in time, do we allow extended dates or compress the service requirements?

If they bend the rules for her, then why not change the whole 18 years old and out (seems arbitrary...right?). Maybe make retro Eagles for those that never attained the rank. I mean maybe the young man (or woman) could not find a troop that fit their needs. So let's make an exception. Maybe they were ADHD and could not effectively track the 12 weeks of chores so they did not complete Family Life...so let's make an exception. They were really busy and never were able to get to a city council meeting so they never got Cit in the Community back in the day, so let's make an exception. Etc Etc Etc This girl doesn't want to be a Scout, she wants to be an Eagle YEP

You are just trying to be helpful, the Great Summit Bechtel Reserve Resort and Amusement Park is not gonna pay for itself....

One can only hope. It will need to be presented and documented NO later than Fall of their Senior year of High School so it can be included on the college apps, spring of Junior year if they are applying early.

Yes... that is the new normal. Forget the aim to get Scouts to First Class, now EVERYONE will be an Eagle. There will no doubt be a really neat trophy.

National registration is $33 as of 12/1/2017 This change will affect Cub Scout packs, Boy Scout troops, Venturing crews and Sea Scout ships. However, it will not apply to LDS-sponsored units, nor to those units with council-paid memberships.

The family camping on the cover was really a not to subtle..hey look, family camping is GREAT. Agree the article was a might vague as to how this ties to scouts nor was it useful to me as a leader in a 100+ member scout troop that does 13 outdoor and overnight events a year. Show me new places to camp, new activities to have on an outing, how to handle the logistics of moving a large group, how to engage the scouts for better meals, low cost yet highly engaging fun things to do on an outing. It is fairly obvious where BSA (dare I say SA or maybe FSA) wants to move, or is in fact moving. They see not only that girls can be registered, hey let's get the whole durned family signed up. As many have noted and commented, that is not really what a lot of us signed up for nor intended to be involved with. Yes the family is great, yes there are good things that come from strong families. The same can be said of many many many activities that families and kids are involved with. Does that mean one organization should try and meet all those needs? While the Pravda comment was a harsh one, it has a strong ring of truth Propaganda is amazing. People can be led to believe anything - Alice Walker The goal of modern propaganda is no longer to transform opinion but to arouse an active and mythical belief - Jacques Ellul Propaganda invariably serves the long-term interests of some elite - John Berger

Hammock stacking is definitely a thing, especially when some do not bring a rain fly, if you stack, less rain flys.... Great place to nap during campouts, I am not a fan of all night, like to move around too much. On outings our troop is about 90% sleeping in hammocks, they pitch tents to store gear. Most like they are level, no rocks or limbs in their backs, and unlike the leaders, they don't have to get up 3 times during the night for the call of nature.

The numbers are from the Census Bureau Noted in this article - https://ifstudies.org/blog/more-than-60-of-u-s-kids-live-with-two-biological-parents/

Just a quick fact check - actually it's about 58% Each year the Census Bureau captures a snapshot of the living arrangements of U.S. children through its Current Population Survey. The 2014 results were released by the Bureau last week, and the portrait they present of the family lives of 73.7 million American kids is certainly a variegated one. Yet despite all the talk about the growing irrelevance of marriage, 43 million children, a 58-percent majority, were living with both their birth mother and biological father in a traditional married-couple family

Philmont extended the "sign-up" lottery a couple of times. Are they not filling up as in past years? Also had several communications on 2018 availability

Well...if we go by current National Policy change methodology...just sort of do what you want with the shoulder loops, if it may in their opinion increase revenue or add members, no doubt it will be quickly codified.