InquisitiveScouter
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Posts posted by InquisitiveScouter
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27 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:
had to teach herself
These are the people worth holding on to!!!
27 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:When I went thru PDL-1, everyone was suppose to go through either the Exploring Leader Basic Training or the Exploring Leader Basic Training Self Study. I think I was the only one who actually did the training because the instructor said "as long as you read the info, your good, we don't need to go over it."
SMH
27 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:On the local level, I wore a Sea Scout uniform to an event, and the SE wanted to know what I was wearing.
SMH x 2
22 minutes ago, Cburkhardt said:They really thought the BSA could impact the outlook of young adults.
They could, but there is an ENORMOUS disconnect between the local professional side of the house and the volunteer side of the house. A connection from National to local volunteers is non-existent, but that is, I believe, as it should be.
I know we volunteers are valued at the grass roots hometown level (the youth and parents we serve). And I know that we are not valued by my current local council. The ONLY impact you are going to have, on a large scale, with ANY youth, is THROUGH THE ADULT VOLUNTEERS.
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@Spatulate, welcome!
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We could start by enforcing the laws we have on the books...across the board, or get rid of them!
Then, reinvigorate our system of mental health hospitals. https://www.nri-inc.org/our-work/nri-reports/tracking-the-history-of-state-psychiatric-hospital-closures/
Then, we need velocity in justice. Justice delayed is justice denied. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_delayed_is_justice_denied#
I, for one, have lost a great deal of faith in our justice system.
I have lost faith in our Congress. Are your Representative and Senators really "representative"?? Are they working to make our country better?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_members_of_the_United_States_Congress_by_wealth
I have lost faith in our Executive Branch... selective enforcement of laws erodes public trust.
If we, the people, cannot trust the basic institutions we have put in place to secure our rights, then...
"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute
DespotismOligarchy, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."https://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/is-america-an-oligarchy
Before this happens, expect unrest and violence to increase.
Now add economic hardship as gasoline on the fire...
I spent 26 years under an Oath to defend the Constitution. Wanna know why veteran suicide is at astronomical rates? Many feel their service and sacrifice is wasted, seeing at how we act as a nation.
Think about that this Memorial Day.
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5 hours ago, fred8033 said:
It's not BSA. It's the legal environment in this country.
?? Would you elaborate, please?
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13 hours ago, Cburkhardt said:
I agree that the corps of adults in these specialized programs really believe in the programs and bring their professional expertise to them. They are typically active or retired military or law enforcement people who are encouraged by their professions to be involved. This has not really changed -- the Skippers of the Sea Scout Ship of my youth were WWII combat vets from the Navy and Coast Guard who belonged to our local Coast Guard Auxiliary and veterans organizations. Now that Sea Scouts is the official youth program of the Coast Guard Auxiliary (which so far operates 27 Ships) I can see that potentially taking off in a big way. Law enforcement and the military are in tight cooperation with these specialized programs for very good reasons. They provide very stable COs. The current day "stand alone" version of Venturing does not have these factors going for it. If our counsel asked me to go form ten 'stand alone" Venturing crews, it would be a really tough job.
This is where the BSA is missing out. There is a corps of military veterans out there who would love to serve as Scout leaders. BSA should be actively recruiting them.
Totally understand that Scouting is not military training! That message must always come through loud and clear.
But, every skill I ever learned in Scouting made me a better leader, officer, pilot, or whatever job I happened to be doing at the time.
IMHO, these should also be the primary leaders in the corporate structure of BSA.
Remember where BP got his ideas for the program. And I heard a great quote the other day from another Scouter...
"If it wasn't for the Siege of Mafeking, I'd have a lot of extra time on my hands." 😜
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5 hours ago, Cburkhardt said:
My personal leaning is that Venturing can best be positioned as a “Patrol” attached to a Scouts BSA Troop.
Yeah, your number three option seems the best...
Separate male and female patrols until they reach a certain age and rank (my gut says 14 and First Class, kind of like the requirement for Scouts to join and continue working on advancement.) Then combine into Venturing Patrol (name isn't important, but could be kept for legacy...)
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5 hours ago, Cburkhardt said:
What Keeps Sea Scouts and Law Enforcement Exploring Running So Well? COVID, the bankruptcy, and other operational and program deformations have severely impacted Venturing, but Sea Scouts and Law Enforcement Exploring seem to just continue on with sufficient numbers of young adult and adult members. There is not much in the way of needed BSA professional time or financial investment. What are the factors about these teen-focused programs that have quietly kept them operating for decades?
Adult volunteers who know what they are doing, and have a passion for the specific program.
Think about who would be the majority of adult volunteers for these programs... What type of person or background comes to mind??
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4 hours ago, elitts said:
I found a 40s or 50s BSA published book of "Games to play" that included things like "Chicken Fights", and the game where you try and slap your opponent's hand before they can pull it away. I bet the BSA would disavow those too if ever asked about them.
Huh. I wonder if Red Rover is still kosher? I loved that game as a kid.
Or British Bulldog!!
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43 minutes ago, ThenNow said:
Anyone else having trouble getting on the Zoom hearing? It's never happened to me before this.
They are on to you!!👀
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4 minutes ago, ramanous said:
There's an argument to be made that any troop is better than no troop.
No. No, there isn't. 😛
A poorly run Troop is the worst advertisement for Scouting. It undermines everything we are about.
And yes, there are lots of them.
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54 minutes ago, elitts said:
It's amazing what billion or trillion dollar endowment funds will do for you when it comes to self-insuring.
At $691B in endowments total across US, that's a heck of a lot of moolah.
And at $41B endowment, Harvard is richer than about 66 countries in the world...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_wealth
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6 minutes ago, DuctTape said:
In which case the answer to the parents is, "I suppose Scouting is not the activity you are looking for. Good luck with finding an activity which fits your needs."
I ask parents:
"How many times have you cut yourself?"
"How many times have you gotten splinters?"
"How many times have you gotten stung by a wasp?"
"How many times have you gotten a sunburn?"
"How many times have you gotten into an argument?"
"How many times have you had to deal with someone who is acting like a jerk?"
etc, etc, etc, They begin to get the right idea that they cannot (and should not) protect or shield their kid from all of life's risks.
"Well, it's going to happen here, and probably a little more. But, we watch them closely until they can learn to take care of themselves and work well in a group. We teach them how to avoid injuries and treat them. And, we provide a leadership and learning laboratory [camping] where the relationship consequences aren't that serious now, so they'll learn to work through issues with their peers for the future. Sometimes, it takes time to get to that point."
And if they cannot learn to behave themselves, they will not be welcome here. We have dismissed Scouts from the Troop in the past for inability to control their behavior.
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10 minutes ago, PACAN said:
I knew it! It's that pesky Beaver Patrol!
I used to be an Eagle, and a good ol' Eagle, too!
(But, as an honorary Beaver, I did some dodging of inflated rubber spherical objects!)
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10 minutes ago, PACAN said:
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9 minutes ago, elitts said:
The problem with "Calling National" is that they are only giving you the answer from the perspective of the "official" Youth Protection Violation report policy. So from that perspective they gave you a technically correct answer, but still didn't actually address your issue. Your CC isn't trying to conduct an official "Youth Protection Violation Investigation", they are doing a concurrent examination of the situation to see if immediate troop level action is required.
National has only one button to push when it comes to Troop level leadership; they can pull a Scouter's membership. National doesn't have the ability to remove him as Scoutmaster while leaving him as a registered Scouter, or limit his behavior or tell him he can't make decisions about Class B uniforms. They can only decide if his behavior warrants kicking him out of the program.
By contrast, your Troop committee DOES have the ability to do all of those other things, which is likely why they wanted to meet to discuss the issue. And there is NOTHING about the the Youth Protection report you filed that says a troop can't also independently review an adult's actions and respond in addition to whatever the local council decides to do.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!!
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1 minute ago, Cecille25 said:
she was told
I find people often use the passive voice to hide...
I always then ask the direct question, "Who told you?" If they can't give me name or point of contact, I ignore them. If they give me a name, I call the source (eliminate the middleman) and get the story straight. Nine times out of ten, what person A said and what person B heard are two entirely different things.
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11 minutes ago, ThenNow said:
I know zip-a-dee-doo-dah about the STEM program. Please suffer me one question and one thought. Once the latter is out there I will be at my quota for the day.
1. Is there anything offered in the schools or elsewhere that's attached to an outdoor and character building organization like Scouts?
2. For an entire segment of the population STEM and bookish things are what they do, at least in part. I raised 2 boys and 2 girls. One of each would do traditional Scouting, though they didn't for obvious reasons. The other two can and did "light" outdoor adventures but an all OUTING scenario was daunting and pretty much undoable. My youngest son has since become and enthusiast, but was a bookish boy (excessively), loved Legos, solo sports like Fencing, Archery and Wrestling and did a lot of deep thinking. One of the twins has CMT Disorder, which stands for Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disorder. She was supposed to be in a wheelchair by the time she was a teenager. She has beaten all the odds and has and continues to travel the world. From my limited understanding, something like STEM could be the honey that draws them in, opens them to a world of the outdoors and slides in character building, traditions, camaraderie, tinfoil dinners, Dutch oven cobbler, knife skills, lashing, reflector oven biscuits and dodgeball. Oops. I said that which is verboten. Please don't ban me...
I would like to know more about STEM, but do understand the point you're making.
/s/ I.G. Nernt
So, the BSA has two or three different threads for STEM, all undergirded by the highlighting of STEM related topics throughout the Handbooks, Awards, and Advancements...
https://bsastemnova.org/#:~:text=Officially the NOVA program was,of BSA from its creation.
1. Cub Scouts, Scouts, Venturers, Sea Scouts: a series of STEM based awards called the NOVA and Supernova Awards
https://www.scouting.org/stem-nova-awards/awards/about-nova/
2. A program with separate units called STEM Scouts
https://stemscouts.scouting.org/
3. And the not-so-strong push for Explorer Units to be STEM career-based
https://www.exploring.org/activity-library-category/us-department-of-education-career-clusters/stem/
I am a NOVA and Supernova counselor...have been since inception (10 years ago??) I have had one Cub Scout come to me to earn the award. I did push it on our Webelos AOL den when my son was there... after the den had finished AOL program in late Nov, they had "nothing to do" (LOL) so I went through the program with the den.
Scouts are interested, but have little to no bandwidth for ANOTHER PROGRAM 😜
P.S. Supercool bling!!!
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1 minute ago, PaleRider said:
You a poet and didn't know it. Thank you
But his feet surely show it! They are Longfellows!
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A fed animal is a dead animal.
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41 minutes ago, T2Eagle said:
I would add some nuance to that. My troop may have higher standards than council or BSA. The CC and COR are the people who recruit, select, and are responsible for troop leadership. Something that might not be full stop grounds for ending scouting membership might still be grounds for a change or even an ending of the individual's role in the troop.
Additionally, I would really want to understand in depth any incident that was concerning enough for one of our parents to believe it worthy of reporting to council. This is the type of thing that make it really important to remember how the chartering model works and how responsible the CO is for what goes on in the unit, irrespective of the views of the umbrella organization.
Yes, the Committee may be looking into this because the Scoutmaster (who works for the Committee!) brought the incident to their attention and asked for intervention. That may be the entire reason the Committee asked to meet with parents and Scouts who were involved... as opposed to anyone "leaking" a report of a YP violation from the council.
The Committee may be approaching this as a Troop disciplinary issue, or even some sort of health and safety concern, versus viewing it through a YP lens.
Unless the OP informed the Committee (or others in the Troop) of the YP Report, the Committee may be completely in the dark about what has been filed at the council or national.
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39 minutes ago, SiouxRanger said:
I am just one simple player of tens of thousands headed to the sunset.
And in which hearts will Tradition lie?
And can "Tradition" go extinct when all the hearts which hold the Tradition die?
There are many who still carry the flame...
But, yes, when all the hearts die, the tradition dies, too...unless it is written and recorded. It can be then resurrected.
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27 minutes ago, SiouxRanger said:
Ask not for whom the bell tolls.
It tolls for thee.
We are all loyal passengers on a train ill-driven.
I have already attended that funeral twice... Camp Linwood Hayne, Georgia-Carolina Council, and Treasure Island, Cradle of Liberty.
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1 hour ago, sst3rd said:
It happened earlier this week. Our council sold its primitive camp for their contribution to the fund.
This was an established camp with many shops, other buildings, trails, and organized campsites. I was a member of the maintenance committee. Over many years, we built all of these facilities. Over 40 strong of mostly retired unit leaders that still wanted to contribute to scouting.
Over 500 acres of rolling hills and woods. Six ponds to fish out of, and frontage on a recreational lake. My troop had a favorite waterfront campsite where I could launch my boat right off the shore. All of the aquatic merit badges were taught there. This was a former farm that grew tobacco, then cows and horses. The family surprisingly donated this farm to our council after the last family member passed away a long time ago.
I'll have the memories of course, but this has affected many scouts, former scouts, leaders, and former leaders. This was a great camp at a perfect location. The fellowship was amazing. Helped me a lot during covid.
The council said that it was the only liquid asset it had to raise our contribution. We begged to differ. We even made a competitive bid, but the developer's was bigger. Bigger wins. It's over with of course. It's done. The council wanted our maintenance crew to go out and support the council's "real" camp. But it's located many miles to the west of us. For the record, they've never had a dedicated volunteer maintenance crew out there, but have three paid staff employees.
We understand the council has to make the required payment. I, of course, recognize my council had abuse problems over the many years. It's serious and complicated.
As the former maintenance committee members go our separate ways, I am reminded of these words;
"softly falls the light of day, as our campfire fades away..................................................."
Take care,
sst3rd
What camp and council?
Convert “stand alone” Venturing Crews into Scouts BSA Venturing “Patrols”?
in Venturing Program
Posted
This is a sad truth. Best of luck on your golfing endeavors! Watch out for the gophers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g79mLV9b30c&ab_channel=Michael