Owls_are_cool

6 minutes ago, ThenNow said:

For one of them (me) it was multiple times per year. Realistically, that's the same story for most if not all of them. Now what? How do most people feel about that?

Has the person responsible been convicted of the crime and those that did nothing about it been convicted of being accessories to the crime? This lawsuit punishes scouts, not those responsible. That is how most people feel about that.

Yes it is good to get away from politics and focus on what is important. (Ignorance is truly bliss.)

While camping in the snow and cold last weekend, a group of my younger boys, who have been storming with each other for nearly 2 years, actually had a civil conversation with each other while warming up in the trailer. They were telling each other stories of an even colder campout they experienced 15 months ago. They went back to storming the next morning, but I see hope that the norming stage is coming soon.

A small troop has a bunch of administrative tasks that falls on 1-2 people. Talk to your scoutmaster and committee chair to see if they have some easy tasks that they want to unload...and get a ticket on how to learn the task and complete it once. Brainstorm on what the troop needs help with administratively. If you are not a Merit Badge Counselor, maybe taking on a required merit badge or two.

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In the outdoors, using your menu plans for this requirement, cook two of the five meals you planned using either a lightweight stove or a low-impact fire. Use a different cooking method from requirement 3 for each meal. You must also cook a third meal using either a Dutch oven OR a foil pack OR kabobs. Serve all of these meals to your patrol or a group of youth. **

This is an example requirement that cannot be completed in a morning at a MBU. There are similar requirements for back packing meals and cooking at home. These cannot all be completed in a morning at MBU either.

25 minutes ago, David CO said:

So the question isn't if they want to pay, but will they pay.  The only other choice is to quit.

My opinion is that all the media ads (TV, Radio, Internet) looking for people abused by the BSA has impacted recruitment. My district cannot advertise in public schools anymore. Typical parent will not know that the registration fee is shielded from the settlement, though I am certain of indirect costs impacting the fee (such as higher cost of liability insurance). 

COVID-19 has caused a significant number of current scouts to quit.

Those of us on the front lines that remain have already taken on a higher financial and administrative workload to keep the program going. If things do not turn around in 1-2 years, there will be a mass exodus from the program.

Nobody associated with my troop will want to pay a dime towards any settlement, because none of us participated in the abuse. We're here to invest in scouts today, not to bail out scouters who were not held accountable decades ago. Making scouts sell popcorn, etc for such bailouts to keep the program running is just wrong. 

27 minutes ago, elitts said:

So the question becomes, what level of risk is acceptable for scouts.  Clearly, the BSA thinks being in a tent during a storm is generally an acceptable risk, even if it's not the "safest possible" way to weather a storm; otherwise Philmont and Northern Tier wouldn't still be operating. 

I have no problem with risks taken for those on backpacking treks into the wilderness. Learning about how to survive the elements is part of the experience. However, participants generally sign a liability waiver for the extra risk.

So if I was given a two hour notice that a thunderstorm with heavy rain will impact my scouts' campsite, then do I tell them sheltering in tents is just fine, because the BSA is "okay" with it? (Actually the scout handbook says that scouts should look for shelter if they see lightning, hear thunder, or see dark clouds approaching. The handbook specifically says the outdoors is not safe during lightning storms...even in tents pg 287 under camping.) If I get surprised by the weather, it is usually, because I was not paying attention to the weather. 

Maybe since I am a meteorologist, I take weather way too seriously, however, weather is a big part of PAUSE. Do we as leaders teach scouts by example to react to weather as it happens or do we think about the risks beforehand, ensure we have a weather monitoring and action plans?

30 minutes ago, elitts said:

How exactly does that work?

Weather in Montana is always perfect for camping

If I expect lightning, I have vehicles 20-30 ft away from camp. Last Nov, we had to change our campout location from the mountains, because of expected poor travel conditions, but we still camped in snow and icy conditions closer to town. 

You are right that backpacking in the wilderness increases risks due to weather. No cell service, so no way to get updated forecasts. I think that is an acceptable risk and a worthy challenge as long as you are equipped. Lightning striking the highest objects in an area is typical. In a more developed campground, you do not know if pipes or wires are running under your campsite, so the highest object rule can be broken. 

If I was running a day camp, summer camp, or camporee, I would bring in enough buses for lightning protection. Might be good to have in event an evacuation is needed. 

14 minutes ago, Rock Doc said:

how far would be too far to move to sturdy structure?

If you are caught in a storm, it is a judgement call on whether to shelter in place in tents or head to a real shelter. If that happened to me, then I have failed my troop for not being prepared for the weather. If thunderstorms are mentioned in the forecast (even a 20% chance), I would be tenting closer to shelter or ensure vehicles are close to camp. Last week in the south, there was a high risk for severe weather and tornados, I would not camp on that day/night. 

It is not fun being part of an event where someone dies because of a lightning strike (personal experience).

If there is any chance of thunderstorms in the forecast, I'd be ready to head to the shower house OR have enough vehicles available for scouts/adults to shelter in. Doing anything else will put yourself and the scouts at risk. 

I would invest in a lightning detector that can wake you up with lightning is within 20 miles of your location. That will get you some time arouse your scouts (no easy task) and into shelter. Having a NOAA weather radio that will awake you when a severe thunderstorm or tornado warning is issued is a good idea also. 

I am a scoutmaster that is pro-sports, so I work around each scout's other activities. My son now has baseball practice on troop meeting nights, so he is taking a break from scout meetings for a bit. A bunch of older scouts were gone for basketball, so younger scouts had an opportunity to be SPL for that time. 

I do think BSA needs to rethink everything, because most requirements are to much like school. Develop a scouts character in the outdoors.

27 minutes ago, CommishJulian said:

So did I gave up?  Or did I adapt? 

I try to not think about the headwinds that scouting is driving into. I have a group of boys that I am giving my all to as scoutmaster. I have 7 scouts (out of 11) working on their eagle rank. Recruiting for my troop will need to be rethought. Fewer number of webelos out there to recruit now. 

1 minute ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

When you do a Webelos recruiting day, for example, isn't that program for a separate unit if packs other than your CO's show??

This question jogged my memory. I was able to recruit a boy to my troop, because their parents were also looking for a troop for their daughter. Here is the name and phone number of the scoutmaster of the girls troop, that we do stuff together with. Sold. Troop meetings are at two different locations in town on the same night, so that is a pain for them, but when activities are at the same location...perfect. Maybe more adults in both troops should dual-register to comply with the directive you noted.

@InquisitiveScouter We plan separately our campouts, so we meet the spirit of the requirement. We have several adults duel registered. I do appreciate the heads up to keep myself out of trouble with the district and council.

My Boy's troop has partnered with a Girl's troop and go to the same campouts in the local area. Instead of two troops, it is more like two patrols. Each group camps in a different area, plans/cooks their own meals, etc. 

If the girls are working on rope lashing requirements, I may have some of my boys head over to their camp to earn some requirements and vice versa. The scoutmaster corp of both small troops can help each other out with our unique expertise. We also have two sets of parents with scouts in both troops, so they do not have to choose between far separated campgrounds or have double the weekends to camp if they want to service at the event. 

I think we over emphasize the SPL/Troop when the real scout growth happens in the small patrols.

Last week, I happened to catch Glenn Beck's radio program discussing the Boy Scouts. He said national institutions like the Boy Scouts are being viewed differently today. Instead of a scout helping an old lady across the street, we are now an organization that harbors sexual predators. Glenn seems to think we are done. 

I am just one scoutmaster trying to keep scouting alive for scouts in my troop, but all these lawsuits at the national level is making it impossible to grow. 

3 hours ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

Tracing it backwards, bad program is usually a result of poor adult volunteerism, which is usually a result of a lack of recruiting/training by professionals, who get paid by the council fees...

Shouldn't the units help identify and develop volunteers?

1 hour ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

That was my challenge to our council. "If you want our money and support, please tell us what value you give to our program." 

Nice documentation of issues in your council/district. My council/district (Montana) does much better in all these categories across the board, so when ICL does ramp up, the district representative has a much easier time asking for donations. Montana Council does not charge a recharter fee. They rely on commissions on popcorn sales and ICL. They get large donations and have an endowment fund to update facilities at camps in Montana. The shower/bathroom facilities at Melita Island and K-M Scout Ranch are awesome. The new dining hall/admin building at K-M Scout Ranch is amazing and they are looking at doing something similar at Melita Island. (Though Melita Island was closed last year and again this year to deal with a moth killing all the pine trees and COVID.)

Cub Scout Day Camp that our district puts on is really popular with cub scouts (and with Den Leaders) as it knocks off a bunch of advancement requirements. 

1 hour ago, Jameson76 said:

Restructure the Citizenship Merit Badges to include some new items. 

I would be agreeable to adding a requirement to citizenship to the community related to this. A compromise?

I do like JTE, because it identifies areas that my troop is week at. Last year, I set a goal to do 9 short term campouts. I had to push the scouts to achieve this. At the first troop meeting this year, I asked the scouts where they wanted to camp this year. They made a list of sites, so the SPL and the PLC have some camp planning to work with the next two months. Scouts do get excited about this part of the program when they get to decide on the destinations. 

How about this...

Bronze: Troop and/or patrols goes on six separate short term (1-3 nights) campouts during the year.

Silver: Achieve Bronze, Scouts select all locations for campouts, plan meals and activites for the campout, and get committee support for transportation, reservations if needed, and secure required adult safety monitoring.

Gold: 9 separate campouts, and scouts plan and execute an advacement activity at each campout.

1 hour ago, TAHAWK said:

JTE "metrics" fail to  give any points for actualluy using the Patrol Method

Current JTE is a good start, but could use refinement as others noted. What is the process to update the JTE nationally?

2 minutes ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

I do like most of the JTE metrics

Me too.

27 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

Folks that know me know that I am highly critical of the changes National has made to the program for the last couple of generations because they have only added more burden on the adults and fed a continued membership decline. These goals they are setting or a reflection of their mindless approach to changes in the program. 

This is a good point. Journey to Excellence wants a certain percentage of scouts to advance one rank to to a summer camp, etc. This measure should be revisited to measure the correct things.

Still not listed on the Merit Badge Page. Since it is not required until May 1, they will not list the requirements to this badge until closer to that date?