SteveMM

I received the email on Monday, which had a link to follow for the form. Here it is: https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/se-packet/2019-09-30/Additional-Disclosures-And-Background-Check-Authorization-NOT-CALIFORNIA.pdf

Ditto to everything said already. Our troop did Country Meats as a fundraiser for Philmont. In many cases, the Scouts didn't have to look far for a buyer, since their fathers just kept buying them at Scout meetings!

My son's ECoH was on Friday, and he's now officially an Eagle! I understand that he officially became an Eagle the minute national rubber-stamped his forms, but it doesn't seem real until the patch is on the uniform. He said it seemed rather surreal standing up there having the kerchief put around his neck and the medal pinned on, but pretty quickly it just seemed normal. We're incredibly proud of him, needless to say. I attached a picture below that I just love. We had a slideshow running the entire time, which featured my son's moments in Scouting. Our friend caught a picture of him st

True that.

I was looking through my father's old Boy Scouts "Handbook for Boys" the other day. It's from the 1949 printing, and I figure he got the book not long after that, as he turned 10 in 1950. I was very surprised to see that there were advertisements in it! I saw ads from Goodyear, more than one shoe/boot manufacturer, a knife company, Coca-Cola, and others. I've attached a few pics. I personally wouldn't mind seeing ads in the modern Scout book, as long as they were relevant to the outdoors or the program and not for video games. Thoughts?

It did, actually. Attending the meeting was on the list of pre-requisites, and my son did it before camp. However, while going through the merit badge class, the instructor just showed the video and counted that as fulfilling the requirement. It was hard to believe, but giving Scouts shortcuts happens far too often.

My son took Citizenship in the Community at summer camp, and ... sadly ... they "fulfilled" this requirement by showing the boys a video of a town hall meeting. One of the prerequisites was to do the public meeting visit in advance, so before camp my son and I attended a county school board meeting with him in full Class A uniform. A lot of the boys in the merit badge class at summer camp didn't do that pre-req, but were signed off after watching the video. I was pretty irritated about it. Watching a video is NOT the same as taking the time to go to the meeting and sit through all of the d

I doubt many people will agree with me, but if this is an isolated incident I think you award the merit badge to the Scout. This sort of thing happened to my son with the cooking merit badge at summer camp. The counselor was very slack about requirements, and it was clear that he and another Scout from our troop only sort of completed some of the requirements. Our advancement chair considered it, and said that since he had a signed blue card (i.e. not a partial) there was no reason for my son to re-take the merit badge. Over time, he's completed the missing requirements over and over, so I

I have a son who is about to have his Eagle CoH and a 17-year-old daughter who is trying to squeeze in her Gold Award before she ages out of GSA. I'm a committee member in my son's troop and my wife is a troop leader in the Girl Scouts troop. When the Boy Scouts announced they were letting girls join, my son and I kind of rolled our eyes a bit, but shrugged it off. My daughter and wife, meanwhile, were furious. I mentioned that some girls want to do "Boy Scouts stuff" like camping and backpacking. My wife said that Girl Scouts can do that too. While that's absolutely true, I think my dau

This is a very interesting topic, because I can see in the original post a little bit of what might be happening in our troop. It started this year. The older boys, the SM, and both ASMs went to Philmont, while the remaining Scouts went to a standard summer camp with a very dedicated committee member. I looked at it as a special circumstance because obviously Philmont is a fantastic experience for the boys who get to go. However, at the very next meeting after camp and the trek, a suggestion for doing a high adventure camp at Summit Bechtel next summer was brought up by the SM's son and an

You're right. I'm actually remembering now that my son THOUGHT they'd split the tent parts up, but they actually did what you said -- one would carry the tent while the other carried the food.

Ahhh ... I see. That makes sense, then. I know one of the things my son learned from his Philmont experience this summer was splitting one tent between two hikers is lighter than each carrying a one man tent. And, as you said, it reduces impact to the campsite.

I've seen that done on just about every "permanent" Eagle Project I've ever seen. It's not unusual. What it comes down to is whether YOU want it. You're still the leader of the project, and if you don't want it, then it shouldn't happen.

Interesting. Is that for Youth Protection?

This would not shock me. My son has said several times to me that he's "done" with our SM for a number of reasons, including what I mentioned in the original post. He still enjoys Scouting, thankfully, or receiving his Eagle might seem like a convenient way out. Our ASMs are good and reasonable people, which helps.

How appropriate is it for the higher-ups in a troop (in our case, the SM) to pressure Scouts to get their Brotherhood? At our regular troop meetings, I've heard things like, "We don't want any sash and dash OA members, so if you don't plan be involved, don't do it." Now, I guess this doesn't sound all that bad, as he's looking for Scouts who will be active OA members. However, my son and others who are OA members but haven't yet gotten Brotherhood are regularly harassed as well. At the latest meeting, our troop's OA representative reminded OA members that there was a ordeal weekend coming

Our troop didn't run into that suggestion as far as I know. My son's trek had eight youth and four adults. The four adults each bunked with their sons. The four remaining youth split into pairs and bunked together.

True ... yes. Also, if an adult is on the trek who doesn't have a child also on the trek, then the adult must tent alone, of course. My son's trek had an even number of boys, so he just left his one-man tent at home. He reported back that the Philmont tents were no problem at all.

My son has a brand new (read: no food ever inside it) solo tent that the'd planned to take to Philmont, but he was told that they only want participants to use two-person ones because it reduces the amount of space in camps taken up by tents. Bears think hammocks are tacos.

We picked up a pair of Oboz boots for my son. They were remarkably light, and he said he was very comfortable other than a couple of minor blisters while his feet got used to the trail. I think the boots vs trail runners debate is one of personal preference. I didn't make the trip with the troop, but if I did I probably would have worn trail runners. I use them for my everyday shoes anyhow.

Yes. You can bring your own tent, but they insist that you certify that no food has ever been inside the tent. Because ... you know ... bears and mountain lions. They also discourage one-man tents. If you choose not to bring your own tent, they will provide them for you.

There were patches of snow on Baldy this year while my son was there. I'm not sure what day they made the trip up the mountain, but their trek started on July 4. We had a couple of leaders on that trek go with trail running shoes. They said since the trails are all very well defined, they didn't feel the need to have boots. The trail runners aren't waterproof, but they dry quickly. They said it was a strategy that worked well for them. I suggested it to my son, but he's a traditionalist and wanted boots for the ankle support.

My son went with his troop in early July. He had a sleeping bag that supposedly had a 20-degree rating, but in my research I saw several comments that it was really a 30-degree bag that would keep you alive at 20 degrees. It was perfect for him. He said he was never cold. Speaking of cold -- be sure to bring little things like a stocking cap and light gloves. My son moaned when I suggested he take them, but they don't weigh anything and he ended up wearing them a lot in the morning.

Our SM has tried to do this, even going so far as to have a sign-in sheet so he can tally how often Scouts come to meetings. Frankly, I bristle at this. Scouts who don't show up won't get elected to leadership positions, nor will they complete requirements for rank. That should be enough to encourage them to come to meetings.

Our troop has its Greenbar next week, so we'll have the troop schedule for the rest of the year. We plan to schedule about six weeks from that point, which will be about 7.5 weeks after the EBoR. That puts us into the first week of October. I hope that will be enough time.