Gossmaaf

So this situation is now even more complex. The Unit Commissioner, COR, and Cubmaster are all wanting to dissolve and merge into our Pack. The smaller unit’s biggest problems are scouts barely engaged and adult leadership other than CM is nonexistent. District went crazy on this though and being concerned about losing a unit but the Unit Comm is concerned that if a merger doesn’t happen quickly then the scouts that are left will just quit. I met with my wood badge mentor who has consulted with others (and I agree) that it’s better to keep scouting for these 6-12 scouts rather than worry about a unit being saved. The district comm is wanting to turn some of our events into recruiting events and he wants to meet with the other packs parents at one of the events and explain if they don’t step up the unit will dissolve. The problem is the parents are there already and don’t need to be reminded. I’m ok with expanding our event but only if the current scouts care. I believe my prime responsibility is to the existing scouts and the program more than recruiting, let growth happen because we are having fun not because of forced growth. The question is do I try and do what District Leadership is wanting or we do what the Unit Leadership wants? There’s a conflict of choices for the same goal.

On my right pocket I wear more excess than I would prefer but the council I'm in tends to drown out those that don't wear Coup Beads (Mic O Say and Order of the Arrow). I used to wear my dongle with Vigil pin but I had way too many people see my uniform and ask why I wasn't in OA (i had a lodge flap as well as the dongle) So I started wearing the mini-sash and that got at least a few realizing I'm a fellow member. I still get some that dont see Coup Beads and think I'm not in but at least some see the "mini-sash" and now recognize I'm a member. I would prefer to wear just my original "dongle" and pin though. I started wearing my Firecrafter Patch as around here any adult leaders not in Mic-O-Say are treated (not always purposely) as somewhat Junior and not as "in". I was the first in about 50 years out of the defunct Wabash Valley Council to earn and join Firecrafter and in reflection have grown to appreciate its place in the Crossroads of America Council so I wear it with some pride now, but also to feel like I'm not as much a "Junior" around here with my 20 years in Scouting but minus any Coups. I've had a few now recognize that I have a Vigil mini-sash "but where are your Coups" and will be resigning to the fact that I will need to build my Coup Cords when I go to Webelos Camp this summer, but I will switch back to my OA Dongle at that point to bring some conformance back to the Uniform Guide.

We as adult leaders should maintain the "neat and tidy" approach to our uniforms but should wear them in full. We have awards as youth, awards as adults, and awards from external parties (like the Community Service Award). Personal memory, and reflecting from my current scouts: Cub Scouts don't really care about what adults have on the adult uniform until closer to AOL. When they understand that what they are about to earn will be on their uniform even as adults they get kind of excited. Older Scouts care a lot about what adults have on their uniform. I remember seeing those "Old Scouters" and how many knots they had, and also how much knowledge they had. We owe it to them and ourselves to wear what we have earned. If a scouter is qualified to wear the interpreter strip, they should wear it, it may mean a lot to a potential scout that doesn't speak the native language of the prospective unit (a scout is helpful and friendly). We should wear the knots we earn, and should wear medals at appropriate times. I haven't worn any of my medals since I became an adult leader but that's also because Cub Scouts don't get as excited until they start to get more "bling" on their own uniform. For Older Scouts, we set a bar and a goal for them to go further and do more than we ever did. People see my Medal of Merit knot and don't recognize it, but they do know the medal when they see it. I brought it to the last District Awards Dinner (didn't' wear it though, probably should have). If we hold the Silver Beaver, Lifesaving Medals, and Eagle in such high regard, we should show equal awe to a new Parent who willingly stepped into their Pack to become an Awarded Den Leader. That one knot means a lot to the growth of our organization, a Scouter has done something that many other parents don't even try to do.

@HashTagScoutsYou aren't by chance from the old Wabash Valley Council are you? You mention the council and lodge mergers and I just remember that being a mess for WVC when the council got split across the Lincoln Trails Council and Crossroads of America Council and Kickapoo merged with Woapink lodge and Jaccos Town Lodge. I was on the Kickapoo officer team at the time and was also in Blackhawk district that split from the other two districts in WVC during the mergers.

Good point on the more than we bargained for and although I want to bring scouting to as many potential or current scouts as I can, my primary responsibility is to the members of my current Pack. @OaklandAndyOn the numbers, that's impressive that you got from from 6 up to 51. I hope we can all learn about how you did that. Our pack has some new leaders starting to step up that will really help us get there so I hope we continue to grow our energy for our scouts to have what we all want to see. They have (other than webelos) 1 den of 1 scout, 2 dens of 3 scouts and a decent Wolf den size. I can see where overlap helps us strengthen our smaller dens, but I agree we don't want to disrupt the energy that our Pack has been getting the past couple years . For the short-term, (discussing with him tomorrow at Roundtable) I'm going to suggest to the other Cubmaster that we just Co-Operate the two packs as a single unit. That is more reversible a decision than actually merging, although a lot of the same difficulties will exist to be fair and balanced. If we do it right it allows for more adult leader coverage and more events/opportunities for the scouts in both Packs to work together. Also, if that school ever sees a resurge of membership they can just roll back to the way they were before co-operating. This also allow us to better isolate issues that may have been causing the other unit problems to spill over to our Pack which, while not 51 scouts, is consistent in den sizes for the most part and is set for some growth in the coming years I hope.

@Eagledadthey are looking to merge as they are smaller and once their current Webelos end after next year the pack will be down to 12 scouts across the other ranks combined. We have had families in the past join our pack due to them looking for a "more active pack". Their Tiger den is their second largest group though, which overlaps well with us as that is our smallest den. Wolves and Bears would potentially be a size issue but that's up to the Den Leaders and Den Chiefs to determine if they have too much to handle. We also have very active Den Chiefs in our Pack from 4 separate Troops so each Den has at least 1 Chief and we were already looking at going to 2 per Den due to the amount of Den chief volunteers we have.

I officially had my first pack meeting as cubmaster yesterday and picked up 1 new scout at the same time, pretty good for my 40th birthday. Today our pack was approached from a neighboring school for possibly merging units with us. Does anyone have any advice, lessons learned, or anything that could help me make sure we do whatever is best for the scouts in both units? I suggested we start by just co-operating the two units as separate entities but together until the parents decide what works best for them. I see the obvious situations, such as making sure we meet at both schools equally so we don't create a "takeover" situation and provide the best access to scouts or potential scouts at both schools. The current adult leadership we would need to evaluate and overlap as well (any advice on that) so we don't have one pack feeling slighted as it comes together. I was (in the fringes) involved in a Council merger when I was an OA officer and saw some ways animosity can be created as that situation was just a lot to collect (they split our council up as part of it across several other councils). I'm going to be doing some reflection on that I'm new as Cubmaster, and I would love to hear others on lessons learned so I can avoid issues that will compromise the experience of Scouting in either Pack as well as if anyone knows where to find a How-To step by step as online searches came up pretty empty. Like pack financials, taxes, Chartering Org discussions, etc...

There is almost continual debate over how many knots someone should wear, not wear, or even at all. As a Scouter who was in as a youth, I will say that to younger scouts it matters less, but to older scouts they see those knots as something they can obtain themselves someday. It helps pull aging out scouts to become scouters to continue service to our organization. That said, I wonder if the uniform would be slightly less cluttered (for some with excessive knots) as well as ability to tailor for the needs if scouting moved back to the Ribbon Bar concept like Exploring currently does, or as Scouters did from the 20's to about the 50's. I get that having them can make the uniform more militaristic and less "scout-ish" but it is hard for those with knots as a youth that were hard earned, and knots as an adult (shows you are a resource for others with experience in specific roles) if the bars would clean up the uniform. There is the added problem as well for those that get multiple times of the same award, like Den Leader. Now that National no longer sells the knot devices for several years. I myself have 6 knots and I already see how getting anymore would add clutter, but do I take off the Den leader Award (great memories with each of my kids), do I take off the Medal of Merit/Eagle/etc... or do I have to move my World Crest up to get it to fit correctly. If i get the opportunity for a Cubmaster Key or Unit Award of Merit my 3rd row will be almost filled out already, and I'm just started in my time as an Adult Leader (only been doing that for 8 consecutive years, 4 with my own kids). Playing with the concept somewhat is some ideas i was seeing, looking to the base medals for the appearance capture. Instead of a separate Ranger Bar devices with (R, T, and Q) could be added to the Venturing Summit Bar to indicate Ranger, Quest, Truth Medals with Summit, again decluttering the uniform but still recognizing skills and honors.