mrjohns2

@MaleficentStitchSounds like a council run activity to me. Even if it is "designed" for a single troop, it sounds like you are good. Now, if you rented the camp / range and provided the properly trained people, it would be a bit more on the line for me. Since they staff it, seems pretty clear you are still good.

5 hours ago, MaleficentStitch said:

From what I can tell they do follow all the appropriate rules about having trained/certified range instructors and while they go over the safety and the rules,

Is the range staffed by unit people or council / district people? 

I know. She likes to interject ALL THE TIME. Leave the scouts be. 

Awesome. I just wanted to get it out there. It feels better to be validated. 

1 hour ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

That would be three separate menus/shopping/cooking/cleanup in our unit, so three patrols.

Her argument is that is 3x the work. An ASM tried to explain to her that this is the process. This is how things get done. Cooking for 11 isn’t easy,  or how it should be done. 

One patrol has 7 and the other 9. The one with 9 are older scouts. On the campout there were 3 in the older patrol and 5 in the younger patrol and 3 adults. 

Scoutmaster attended wood badge maybe 10 years ago. 

I just want to do a quick vent. Our scoutmaster doesn't get it. She keeps wanting the scouts to cook as a giant patrol for the Scouts and the leaders. She thinks it is too much work and KP for the patrols to cook separately. Ugh.

12 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

Is Stem Scouts as a separate scouting group officially gone?

I just noticed their website stemscouts.org certificate expired on 5/23/2023.

It is my understanding that yes it is. One would think they would keep the domain and just forward it to scouting.org forever. The lab coats aren't on scoutshop.org any longer. 

After I wrote the above, I realized that it used to be on beascout.org and isn't there. I used the waybackmachine to see that sometime between April 2022 and August, the option to search for STEM Scouts was removed. 

One piece of news that may have come out at the NAM is that two NST/CST merged with 2 others taking the total down to 14. 

9 hours ago, BetterWithCheddar said:

I'm a pretty frugal guy with a regular job and $165 doesn't seem that ridiculous by today's standards.

I think the issue is that you already see the full value. For the Lion/Tiger/Wolf parent that we want to be a Den Leader, their buy in level is less. 

It sucks. I don’t mind, but I have a job where these fees aren’t hard for me to pay AND I already buy into the program. The hard part is when someone is new, when a person can’t really afford the fees, or when a unit doesn’t have the funds to pay for the adults. So, this really hinders growth since the growth comes at the margins, not from existing members. The $25 fee that is now gone, was a good example. “Let’s make it more expensive for new people, that will be a great way to get new people to sign up.” Sure. Great plan. 

2 hours ago, acco40 said:

but it was definitely NOT a Scouting outing. 

Yeah, no longer ok to just say that. That is how some units have done paintball etc. not a good idea. 

6 hours ago, skeptic said:

Interestingly, to me, is that most longer term scouters likely have qualified on their own for the West award, just by hanging around and putting in their dollars over time. 

It can’t be FOS dollars. It needs to go to the council endowment. Most (all?) gifts to the endowment are explicitly directed to go into that fund. So, likely no, most longer term scouters do not qualify for the James West Award. 

These also can bring outside funds for those without kids or kids that are grown. 

4 minutes ago, eagle90 said:

I go to camp to get away from music, cell phones, the internet, etc.  Enjoy nature and solitude

Everyone has different reasons for going to camp. 

4 hours ago, Eagledad said:

I guess. It’s a new term to me.

I first heard it when Citizenship in Society came out in draft form. I don’t feel out of touch, but at 47, it didn’t make its way into my lexicon until recently. 
 

With many feeling they don’t want to get involved or that something is none of their business, it is a useful term to name what it means to stand for what is right. 

17 hours ago, SiouxRanger said:

I'm a lawyer. 50 pounds of rules. Fine.  I can do that. Three tons of rules. No problem.

But for BSA volunteers, we need to simplify it down to something memorable.  "Catchy."

As an engineer, I like to follow rules., but they need to be clear What drives me crazy is the FAQ becomes like an amendment to the rules. 

Two deep is a good example of catchy (well, it has become catchy, but it works). 

1 hour ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

If they say "yes", then why would a Merit Badge Counselor not fit the bill??

In both cases they are saying because the COR must approve of all adults on a campout. 

17 hours ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

They hint at it in the FAQ.

Yes, I saw the hint where it says to be registered in the position you are performing in the unit. So, if a Cubmaster comes on a troop campout, they can't be a Cubmaster, but man, it is very vague. 

Well, now I am crazy, I thought I saw it in the G2SS or FAQ. But, I thought it wasn't just rumored, but rolled out. Now, I don't know. 

10 hours ago, DannyG said:

at minimum.

They are now saying you need to be registered with the unit, at a minimum, not just registered. 

For me, I was a tiger in 1982. So this would have been 1983-1986. Crossed over in 1987. 

15 hours ago, niagarafalls said:

Did you wear it next to or instead of the World Crest?

No. Most cub scouts and even scouts didn’t wear the world crest as they didn’t participate in an international activity. 

On 2/29/2024 at 5:23 PM, Eagle94-A1 said:

REI will not partner with BSA because of our shooting sports program

Well, LL Bean supports shooting sports. 🙂

On 2/29/2024 at 10:17 PM, niagarafalls said:

I was a Cub in the early 90's and many in my Pack earned it and all wore it in the Jamboree position above the right pocket.

When I was a cub, the world crest was o my for international participation. We wore the world conservation award on that side, not the Jamboree side.