InquisitiveScouter

14 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

You do realize that Webelos can Cross Over as early as  December? That would be a problem in our area.

When they complete their AOL, many come to our Troop because they want to do winter camping.

3 hours ago, 5thGenTexan said:

But so in my 5 years, Scouts has not really been "fun" for me.  I do get the boring work done that allows others to have fun though.

I dunno... I think I saw someone flying a kite back in May, and he looked like he was having a tiny bit of fun  

3 minutes ago, fred8033 said:

LOL.  One.  Never been thrown out.     

I've seen a fair number of people red-listed by scouting professionals.  It's usually because of conflict or personality issues.  I try not to ask too much because even from the outside it's usually fairly obvious.  

On the other hand, volunteer recruitment has always happened by volunteers (committee chairs, membership committees, etc)  ... by the volunteers.   ... It's pretty consistent with what I said.  BSA is a volunteer organization mostly run by volunteers.  Yes, professionals can uninvite you to the party, but it's the volunteers that recruit and manage the other volunteers.  

I have seen some thrown out as well... many for good cause.

It's the internal power politics I think @Eagle94-A1 refers to.  Stuff that the guidebooks don't talk about, but that is there plain as day.

Never been thrown out, either, but have seen a fair share of unethical behavior from volunteers and professionals.  You can paint folks from both groups with that brush...

17 minutes ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

Still no movement on HR 4777

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/4777/text

https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/bills?bid=hr4777-117&id=D000022208&year=2021

1 minute ago, fred8033 said:

There's being a kool-aid drinker, but there is also being a conspiracy theorist believing in sinister forces around every corner.  The world is never that clear cut.  

In reality, it is far closer to the guidebooks than not.  

How many councils have you served in to make this assessment??

Still no movement on HR 4777

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/4777/text

13 minutes ago, MattR said:

I've decided that adult uniforms are really just a test of other adult's patience. Some people like opulence and others minimalism. If it encourages them to keep volunteering then why not? Unfortunately, uniforms are a great trap for people to judge others that are different. "You have to wear your POR patch. How else will anyone know you're the SM?" Honestly, if that's a problem then there are bigger issues, but I digress. People vary, so there will be lots of opinions, all valid to each.

A scout uniform is like a book cover, best not to judge it. Think about it, how uniform is our uniform if there are arguments about what to put on it?

As long as it is within the G2AI framework, I am fine with it.

Outside that, you are setting a poor example.  This is the key.  Example.

Using the uniform to make a social or political statement is the worst... 

2 minutes ago, ThenNow said:

How did we get here from "Why hasn't the plan been approved yet?"

🤔

Comments I heard from staff this past week:

"I know what the Scout Handbook says, but we don't do it that way here, so we don't teach it that way."  Reference to knife sharpening...

"If your compass has a bubble in it, it won't point the right way." https://www.advnture.com/features/compass-bubbles

"Scouts who are not swimmers can go in a canoe with a buddy if that Scout is a swimmer." 

"We play To The Colors first, then Retreat while lowering the flag because is is a slower tune.  And that is what we have always done..." 

"We gathered the whole staff to go out and try to scare the bear off of camp property." 

"I don't really know how to define a mammal."  Mammal Study MB Instructor at beginning of class.

"I don't see a problem with a Troop performing 'Amish Paradise' for the campfire."

Profanity, profanity, profanity...

etc. etc. etc.

1 minute ago, 69RoadRunner said:

The kids had a great time. The cost just keeps skyrocketing. Their web site says over $500 for next year for the merit badge camp.

Gotta pay the fees into the Victim's Compensation Fund!

Attend some of their meetings and observe.  Ask questions.  Don't offer an assessment until you have attended several unit functions.

Walk a mile in the unit's shoes.  Go camping with them.

Be a white hat, not a black hat.

Find out if they filed a JTE last year.  See if you can get their history for the past few years.  Ask if they use JTE as a measurement tool.

I do not even know who our Unit Commissioner is (this week).  Don't be that guy.

8 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

I even met a one legged SM who had camp brands all over his wooden camping leg.

Love it!

11 minutes ago, 69RoadRunner said:

Philmont and Summit are both experiencing staffing shortages and adult leaders are having to make up for it. I genuinely sympathize with them. It's a problem everywhere and I know it's got to be driving people who have to deal with it crazy.

Our troop did merit badge camp at Summit last week. Summit had 50 people sign contracts to work and not show up. One of our adults had to teach Brownsea Island for the week. Two others had to run fishing.

Here's my problem. They charged our adults over $400 each for the week. Summit expected to be paying staff to do jobs that our adults ended up volunteering to do. Why are we paying full price and then doing these jobs ? Shouldn't they pay our adults since they're not paying staff?

Our adults stepped up and made things work because it's for the kids. But you can't treat your customers like this and expect them to come back.

I told our troop last year that I'm retiring as scoutmaster this year. I'm burned out for many reasons This just adds to it. I just don't get the impression that Scouts BSA cares much about the volunteers.

I have worked on 15 Summer Camp staffs, attended National Camping School 5 times, and attended, as a unit leader, 12 Summer Camps... so I am at 27+ Summer Camp experiences.  I think I am qualified to make an assessment...

The camp we just returned from was the worst run I have ever encountered. 

Our unit leadership actually considered packing up Tuesday night and leaving. 

And the myriad of problems stemmed from one basic issue, or were exacerbated because of it:

Overbooking to try to recover lost funding from COVID years...

The council leadership put money ahead of program quality.  By far...

We had about 675 people (youth and adults) using camp facilities, campsites, and program areas built to service about 350-400.

Feedback from our Scouts was brutal, but honest.  (At the leaders' outbrief, we presented feedback from our PLC, tempered by us adults for camp leadership consumption, in the hopes of their accepting feedback.) Our PLC corporate memory will keep us from even considering this camp for the next six years, I guess...

IM me if you want the Camp name.  I'd like to save them the embarassment in a public forum, in the hope that they will learn from their error.  Please, only ask if you need to know because you are considering camps in the northeast.  

I prefer the minimalist approach as well.  It is also BSA policy.

"With the exception of the Cub Scout badges of rank, members wear only the insignia that show their present status in the movement. Members should make every effort to keep their uniforms neat and uncluttered. Previously earned badges and insignia—not representing present status—make a fine display on a BSA red patch vest, on a trophy hide or blanket, exhibited in the home of the recipient, or at functions where such a display is invited. Scouts may wear only temporary patches (no badges of rank) on the back of the merit badge sash."

Here are some personal preferences I follow (these are actually G2AI rules, too):

1.  Never wear jamboree insignia from anything other than the last jamboree.  "No more than two jamboree patches may be worn on the shirt—one current national jamboree patch above the right pocket and one current world jamboree patch on the right pocket"  (G2AI rule that others frequently blow off.)  (Not the jamboree you attended in 1985!)

2.  No more than nine knots.  "The number of knots is limited to three rows of three (a total of nine knots)." (G2AI rule that others frequently blow off.) And ditch the knots of programs you are not currently involved in.  I.E.  I am no longer involved in Cub Scouts, so I do not wear any awards earned from that program.  For the longest time, for simplicity, I wore only my Eagle Scout knot.  I often consider returning to that.

3.  No more than one temporary patch.  (G2AI rule that others frequently blow off.) I wear a NCS patch as long as my current certification lasts, then remove.  

4.  No unauthorized patches or accoutrements.  (G2AI rule that others frequently blow off.)

etc, etc, etc,

I do wish they would make a change to G2AI to allow, explicitly, the use of velcro on uniforms.  (Just publish the color code...)

59 minutes ago, fred8033 said:

District ...  The "key three" repeating pattern continues, but adds the first paid professional.  District key three are the district chair (volunteer), a district commissioner (volunteer) overseeing all the unit commissioners and a district exec (paid).  The DE is the resource under the chair and commissioner.    The DE does not do unit volunteer mgmt.  The DE NEVER does district committee volunteer mgmt.  .... The DE might suggestion, consult, recommend, but it's under volunteers at all levels.  ...  Only when it gets really ugly, then the only DE power is to recommend revoking BSA membership.

Um...errr... No

I would that this were the case.  And this is how it is supposed to be.  But it is not reality.  Not in any of the six councils I have been active in.  And it is, somewhat, a spectrum.  In those six, two have been closer to the ideal you outline above, two closer to some sort of SE dictatorship (including current council), and two in the middle.

In our council, the SE can and does red-line (or blacklist...use the color of your choice)  volunteers from District and Council volunteer positions routinely, without revoking their BSA memberships.  Here, be a kool-aid drinker, or be excluded from meaningful service in those venues.

Welcome!

Once official, always official!

5 minutes ago, SiouxRanger said:

Where is the Volunteer Outrage?

Oh, it's right here ... 😜

I talked with the pastor (Institution Head) of our Chartered Organization two days ago about this.  If BSA tanks, the pastor fully supports us continuing a Scouting youth group, as long as we secure our own insurance policy.

Because we need to keep the gravy train rolling!  Someone has to spend all that money coming in!  What do you want to do...give it all to lawyers? (wait...uh...nvm that) Might as well create a slew of non-value added jobs to dole that money out

And after an SE is pushed out of a council for incompetence (if only that would happen), where else will we put them to continue to collect towards their retirement?

Nope, gotta have those Regional/Service Territory jobs (what do they do again?) and positions at National to absorb them somewhere.

"Don't let it become a salaried organization: keep it a voluntary movement of patriotic service."  BP  https://www.boyscouttrail.com/library/lordbadenpowell.asp

And our council has announced its fees for next year...

Raised again;

"The Local Council Service Fee will be prorated at the 2022 level until December 31, 2022. Effective January 1, 2023, the Local Council Fee will be raised to $72 per youth for the whole year for registrations that go in 2023."

So now we are at $147 for returning Scouts... $172 for first time Scouts.

Oh, and tack on $15 for Scout Life, if you want it.

(We used to be a 100% Boy's Life Unit... used to be.)

32 minutes ago, curious_scouter said:

I feel like we might be in the same council.  Either that or this is a VERY familiar story.

Last year my scouts got ONE lunch at a Camporee free for this fee.  A single turkey and cheese sandwich and a small box of milk.  No joke.

Not the same council, because at least your Scouts got something!  

Welcome!  and Welcome Back!

2 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

Update  7/13/2022

"The future of Deer Lake in Killingworth, Connecticut, is still unclear two months after a May deadline for bids for the property."

- Connecticut Yankee Council (CYC) still in negotiation with two buyers - a developer (CYC Executive Board member) and a non-profit conservation group.

- ongoing lawsuit "whether there is a public trust in a dedicated bird sanctuary at Deer Lake"...“They were looking into the propriety of the charitable organization selling the property to a board member, an insider,” he said. “There’s a public aspect to [a charitably deductible, tax-deductible organization] operation, and private benefit to an insider is something that the [state] Attorney General’s office enforces.”

- "Connecticut AG office has an open investigation into the legality of the sale."

Source link:

https://www.wshu.org/connecticut-news/2022-07-13/months-later-deer-lake-sale-still-in-limbo

5 hours ago, HashTagScouts said:

the dirtier and grungier the sash is

LOL, how true...  I was once approached by a professional and he remarked that I should get a new sash because mine (Vigil) was looking quite used.  I said, "No , thanks.  I love my sash the way it is, and it has great sentimental value to me.  Actually, you might consider that yours is too clean."  👹

Make the private inquiries first, as you have outlined.  If they are not given to someone in need, then make them Troop "loaners".  Loan them out with the stipulation that they be returned when the youth leaves the Troop or decides not to backpack any more.

We have bicycles in our Troop that are done this way.  Good bicycles are expensive, and Scouts outgrow them.  So, parents have often donated bikes to the Troop, and we hand them back out as needed.  Keep the bike for as long as it fits you, maintain it, and give it back when you are done using it, so another Scout can use it.

And we don't keep track...leave it up to the Scout.  

Our fees for 2022 were $72 National and $66 Council, total $138.  $163 for new Scouts.

Council has not yet announced 2023 fees.

What have we seen from our fees locally?  Nothing.  Our DE (who is stretched way too thin) did not have the bandwidth to visit our IH to get our 2022 Charter Agreement.  We did the legwork for him and got all signatures, then delivered it to him.

Shouldn't be that way.

But, hey! There is a Council Golf Tournament and a Trap Shooting Fund Raiser on the Council's books! 

Why do we pay fees for things/services that are not available, or we don't use?

Meanwhile, our camp facilities are a C... maybe C+ And we have only the one camp...

I am for more council mergers, and transition to national-level IT solutions for most of the membership functions councils do...

What are the functions of council left? 

- Run a camp (volunteers plan and execute all other program... with council tacking on extra fees to help pay salaries)

- Unit service for, primarily, YPT or safety infractions.  Understand and agree on the need for this...

- Fund development needs would be greatly reduced by cutting staff positions. How many of your council employees exist primarily to support fundraising?

Our unit runs well because of dedicated volunteers, not because of any support our council provides.

We even do (out of necessity due to scarcity of opportunities in-council) most of our leader and youth training out-of-council.

Merge, baby, merge...