C-BOLT

Your ceremony sounds different from ours. Alot of the scouts sit in the audience. The rest are either part of the ceremony, meaning guys who light the candles, flag ceremony, etc etc.

Our leaders regulate or cooking so much that we never have any problems with things going wrong. However, our troop has a very bad habit of over purchasing and we ALWAYS end up with extra stuff that we just end up giving out.

Maybe not something the BSA can "regulate" but I think Troops should be more boy led.

They are indoors, either too scared to go outside because of fear of predators, or they are playing video games, watching TV, etc. I do a bit of all of that, well except the band, I don't think you'd want me in any band after me attempting to bugle one summercamp.

Our terms are for six months, the required amount to fulfill the leadership requirment for Eagle. We do Troop elections for all of the "lesser" positions like scribe, quartermaster, etc etc. The scouts are elected by their peers. For the SPL position, our SM will nominate 2-3 (usually 3) scouts who he believes are best qualified to run for the position, and its usually the life scouts who are on their way to Eagle. In the past, the troop has voted for the SPL, and the SPL then got to choose his ASPL personally. The chosen ASPL was almost always the person who was also running for SPL.

The adults in my troop carry a Totin Chit. As for knife legnth, like others have stated, it varies and alot of times debated. As a scout whose owned more than enough that were not "scout legal" I just made sure that none of the staffers/leaders saw me with said knives. I think that the counselor cutting of the corner for that is a little harsh, but I guess you can't get rid of every rat.

Well, I don't know about the first question, there are probably a thousand legal reasons. As for leaving early, why don't you just ask the scout at the next meeting why they left. Sure, its not courteous to just take off, but maybe they had homework to finish, things of that nature. For one reason or another, cars have never really been a problem in our troop.

Well in our Troop, behavior usually isn't a problem. If it is, the Scouts usually get a talking to, which can range from a "hey, just don't do it again" to a "one more time and I'll send you home" (although the leader who said that wouldn't have the gana to do it). As for punishment, its usually in good fun. A scoutmaster will make a scout pick up trash, collect firewood, clean, etc. The real problem is, some scouts not listening to certain leaders in our troop.

After the BOR. The public can careless about who signs what papers.

In all honesty, our Jamboree Troop was made up of "troublemakers." What do I mean by that? Our head scoutmaster was also SM of his home troop. Our District (or council) sent 4 troops to the Jamboree. Well our SM took alot of the more "active" scouts from his hometroop and put them in his jambo troop. I found that interesting, because it was the exact opposite of what the SM of my home troop did. He took all of his "golden boys" and put them in his troop. Sure, it could have been a coincidence too, but I doubt that. And as a leader, I understand what you say. I know that you

How did our unit get like this? Overprotective parents. At parent meetings (i dont know why i was in there to begin with) a leader brought up a camping trip. The first things that were asked were IS IT GOING TO BE COLD, things to that extent. The parents want the leaders to do everything for their kids, well the majority for that matter. And at first, I just thought I was getting paranoid, etc, singled out. But I began to ask other scouts, and they seemed to agree that some of the leaders were a bit too aggresive. I realize now, that its not so much that they yell, but like you said

I couldnt for the life of me figure out how to edit posts. I read some guys post about a cubscout seeing a troop wearing jeans etc. Its not so much the fact that I don't like wearing the uniform (at scout outings), its the fact that our leaders have a cow if one little thing is wrong. And there is a difference between letting scouts have fun, and letting scouts swear at eachother. You don't always have to be a rah rah type leader. Although this board, and scouts for that matter don't seem to be big sports fans, look at the Colts, more importantly their coach Tony Dungy.

Look I know that you think I'm coming off as a complainer, but our troop is too strict. And its not just me, I go to summer camp every year and see other troops having fun, I talk to scouts of those troops and compare leaders, and we always have the strictest ones. Is it nice being a "disciplined" troop, sure, but at some point you just have to let your scouts have fun. I get yelled at enough at football and basketball practices, I don't need it at Boy Scouts.

I read the article. I was surprised that it was objective. I expected to read another "Video Games are the Devil" type thing.

Well, I see your point. I just get sick of people always trying to blame video games (not talkinb about people on this forum). But why did you guys allow them to bring them? Of course there are going to be a few who would still bring them, but if they are so bad, talk to the SM about this.