InquisitiveScouter

Isn't "corroboration" up to the police investigators? And the decision on whether to press charges and pursue the case is on the DA? Victims or families do not get to decide whether to press charges. That is up to the DA. At least in our state. Not the job of BSA professionals to determine if there is "enough to go on"... Defamation (with libel and slander) involves making statements which are not true, or can be proven not true. "Truth is widely accepted as a complete defense to all defamation claims." https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/defamation

Choosing to be offended again?? 😛

Thanks for demonstrating my point. Be the friend at the door. As the one correcting cousin Tommy, send @Ojoman a private message.

It's a balance, and a coping skill. As a survivor, I find nothing offensive in @Ojoman's post. I find the perspective very different than mine, and much more sympathetic to BSA as an organization. I am not blind to what is offensive, because, for me at least, I look for intent. I see no intent to offend in those remarks. Hence, "...even when it isn't there." Being kind works both ways.

If you are on a continuous search to be offended, you will always find what you are looking for, even when it isn't there.

LOL, mine is "Loud Talker" (a reference to my "command voice"... military types will know what I mean...), maybe should be "Loud Writer", if there was such a thing... Now, why, on Earth, would he do such a thing? At the DE level, agreed. But I am of the opinion that an SE would be much more effective if they were a locally-connected person. Most funding for a council comes from local sources, right? As a local corporate entity, I am much more likely to give my money to someone with "skin in the game", as alluded to earlier...

And they have "skin in the game". Please continue with the long version.

Thanks, that's a great start. Do you believe the current model of moving folks around and pulling talent from outside of a community, especially for SE, is a prudent one for BSA? I am of the current opinion that it is not. Please convince me otherwise.

@Ojoman, thanks for the input. However, that isn't what I was fishing for... You gave great tips on how a DE can be successful. Instead, I was looking for better ideas for Councils and National to improve the professional corps. That is, councils and National are responsible for recruitment, training, retention, development, and promotion of their personnel. They arguably have not been successful at meeting these responsibilities. What would you do differently to ensure our organization has and keeps the DE's (and therefore the successive leadership levels) to make

So, I'd love to know, please... after being on the inside, what adjustments would you make to put the professional corps on the track you think it should be on?

Trim SE salaries to fill this gap. Will aid in retention and longer term corporate health.

- A focus on unit service. And everything viewed through that lens... - Recruit, train, and support COMMISSIONERS to implement the unit service support. This is the Unit Commissioners' purpose. But in the eight councils I have been involved with over my adult years, only one did this well, and Scouting was most successful there, of all others experienced. (But that was also in the late 80's and early 90's.) - Low cost, high impact training for unit leaders. (And encouragement/recognition for unit leaders who complete more advanced training.) I know it is hard enough to get prog

From that Atlanta article, "Eight Scout officials are believed to have participated in the false record-keeping, said Tom Gay, president of the council's board of directors." I know the articles are from 18 years ago, but in this digital age, black eyes take much longer to go away... And, you know there were more involved in both councils... just didn't get implicated in it... And other councils did the same. Think any of those folks are still left in the organization? I do. Yet another shining example for the mission of BSA, "... to prepare young people to make ethic

I know at least three Troops in our area have notified council they will not be rechartering. Do not know their membership numbers, though. My guess is that they were somewhat small.... <=10 Several Scouts who want to continue are moving over to us. And we are getting some gear to help fill in a few of our gaps. Our attrition was normal. We had 53 on the books before recharter season... have gained 5 from Troops not rechartering already (so now at 58). (Expecting a few more in the weeks to come.) We will lose 6 who have been pretty much no-shows, 1 who is moving into multipl

This is a fundamental truth that escapes much of the organization. Expand your net, please, to include National Service Territory and National volunteers, and professionals at all levels.

We invested in North Face Stormbreak II tents... Great for local camping and some shorter backpacking trips. But, has some drawbacks... - Footprints are extra cost (probably the same with most tents) - Vestibules are a bit small and make getting into the tent a bit of a yoga exercise - Scouts must be trained well on correct set up (this is an ongoing issue). However, once set up correctly, these can endure really bad weather and keep you dry. - Tent bag isn't big enough (nylon tents needn't be folded... just stuff them into the sack, as the fabric has no "memory" th

Yes. And this formula works at the unit level within councils as well...

Jobs... and feeding at the trough of donations...

Welcome! The very best starting advice is to ask your questions here, and ask for the source material for the answer. Most diligent posters will give you a link to the source in some BSA material for the answer they are giving. If it is something that is a matter of opinion (and there is much that falls into that category), then be prepared for a wide range of answers. 😜

LOL, and most bad things, too 😜

As a youth, he must be a registered member of a unit in order to keep his OA membership active. It can be any unit he chooses. If he is not going to be a member of his "old" Troop, then he could transfer and recharter with a different unit. That said, the primary duty of any Arrowman is to serve his unit, not the lodge. If he only wants to serve in the lodge, then he is kinda missing the point of the OA.

Wow, that is so wrong... and it shows a fundamental misunderstanding by the SM on how Patrols work, advancement requirements, and Troop organization If the Patrol elected him, then only the Patrol should be able to un-elect him 😜 Make sure the SM reads the requirements for rank. PL is not the only position that works. From the Star Scout requirements, positions held for four months that qualify: "Patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leader, senior patrol leader, troop guide, Order of the Arrow troop representative, den chief, scribe, librarian, historian, quartermaster, bug

In over 40+ years, I can easily count the number of times I have seen a Scout use the corkscrew... zero. Mostly I remember them asking "what is this for?" as they whip out the most unused extensions on their pocketknife, corkscrew included. And what, pray tell, have you carried with a corkscrew? LOL

Yes, I agree! It is REMARKABLE when the parents finally become great adults 😛 😜

Ask 10 different Scouters their opinion on knives/tools, and you'll get 20 different opinions 😜 I would differ from @Armymutt on the Hunter, it has the saw (see my post above), a corkscrew (which Scouts don't really need), and a "gutting blade" (again, not an activity we normally do in Scouting 😜 ) https://www.victorinox.com/us/en/Products/Swiss-Army-Knives/Large-Pocket-Knives/Hunter/p/0.8573