CalicoPenn

In all the discussion about the sports/marching band/military analogies, something always seems to be conveniently ignored - just one word - perhaps because it just upsets our sense of righteousness, or maybe if we just gloss over it, it will go away. That word is REQUIRED. If you going to take the field as part of a sports team or a marching band, your uniform is a REQUIRED part of the activity. If you're in the military and on duty, the uniform is a REQUIRED part of your duties. What makes the BSA different? The BSA uses uniform wear as a method of Scouting - but they also make i

You can argue that all you want - there has never been any facts to back that up. But we're in a new era - facts really don't matter anymore.

It's usually the simplest things that cause the most arguments. Here's what the BSA says about Service Stars: Who Can Earn This Award? Any adult or youth member who have at least one year of tenure in Scouting. That's pretty much it. Simple, right? Of course not, this is Scouting - and never underestimate Scouter's (collectively) ability to complicate something that seems simple. Yes, many times the BSA's wording of things leaves a lot to be desired, and a lot to interpretation, but sometimes, I think we Scouters like to interpret simple sentences like the above just because we

My local McDonalds flies a US Flag. So does my local Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell and Wendy's. Am I supposed to believe that these national and multi-national chain restaurants are more patriotic than the local custard stand that gave free custard cones to veterans on Veterans Day just because the custard stand doesn't fly a US flag? Perhaps I'm to believe that Dave and Busters is even more patriotic because they're flying a massively sized US flag. The real patriots must be the local auto dealers - boy oh boy, they don't fly just one flag - they fly dozens, sometimes hundreds. On the F

I would have some objections as well - and not because it's Chic-fil-A. Objection 1: I do not believe that Scouts should get service hours for flag ceremonies held for the public. Ever. The BSA is partly a patriotic organization - Scouts should be performing flag ceremonies because it honors our country - not because it's one more hour towards rank. Objection 2: I do not believe that Scouts should be doing flag ceremonies for businesses - any business - unless it's perhaps part of an annual employee retreat or annual stockholder meetings - then I'm fine with it because it's a priva

I can give you an answer - you aren't going to like it - you'll think it's ridiculous - and you'll think it is so because you wlil be looking at the activity through the lens of your personal experience with your Troop and Pack, especially since you've got the safety requirements down and the trained people to be able to do it right. The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of Packs do not have the training, and the trained people, to run a Cub Scout BB/Archery Range - they just don't. Couple that with Cub Scout Packs having the greatest leadership turnover on a year to year basis

That may differ from state to state - in Illinois, EMTs are licensed - there is a state-specific exam in Illinois to be licensed and you have to be licensed by the state in order to be paid for being an EMT. Though the state does not require EMTs to pass the National Registry exam to become a registered EMT, the vast majority of EMTs in the state are also registered EMTs because its pretty universal in the state that the courses use the National Registry exams as the course final exam. It is possible that you can become a licensed EMT in Illinois without taking the National Registry exam sin

Not to mention ego. Back in the 1970's, when paramedic services were just getting started, it was very common for MD's who might not have done a trauma rotation in years to push aside paramedics in the field - It wasn't easy to get MD's to accept EMT's - it took a lot of work (a bit of trivia - remember the show Emergency back in the 1970's about a squad of Paramedic Rescuers in LA - the show's technical advisor, the LA Fire Department's Battalion Chief in charge of the department's fledgling EMS services saw it as a platform to get both the medical profession and the public to accept t

David, Yep - that does sometimes happen - but it's rare enough to be newsworthy - that says far more about the lifeguards lack of common decency than anything else.

Yeah, I know that it makes sense that an licensed EMS person would have a legal obligation to act even if off the clock but that runs up against an even more important principle - that a government - at any level - can force you to do something for free that you would normally be paid for, not even as a requirement of licensing. Barbers and Cosmetologists are licensed by most states - but the state cannot force them to give people free haircuts. A state can require someone to disclose if they are licensed in some instances (for example, I am required to provide written notification when I si

When I was an EMT, I always had my wallet card in my possession. If someone of authority (such as a police officer) were to request it, I would show it. Would I show it to a 15-year old Boy Scout? Maybe - but I'd put the odds at 90/10 against. Unless the patient was stabilized, I doubt I would take the time to ask for the ID of anyone coming up with an offer to help. Interesting question on Duty to Help - and the answer is a bit complicated. When it comes to EMS personnel, in general, there is no Duty to Rescue/Help/Respond beyond some state's statutory duty of it's citizens duty t

I like the idea of taking the pulse live at a Pack meeting. I can see taking a few minutes right before the opening ceremony to do it. Rather than do it by Den, I'd mix up the families that were there into groups - and have one person lead the discussion - asking the Boys for their opinions first, then asking the parents. I would also get together as a group any families that did not make the camping trip and ask them questions about what prevented them from attending (scheduling? family emergencies? Never camped before? Unsure of the activities?) and what could the Pack do to help them att

Let's not forget that until it became the "honor society of the BSA" it was the "honor society of campers" and one of the OA's biggest responsibilities within a Council is (was?) to promote camping to the units, including (and perhaps especially) to the Council's short-term and long-term camps. In that role, it makes sense that the OA would do their Ordeal/Brotherhood ceremonies, along with the attendant service, at Council camps. Saying that, Stosh raises a good point about the OA not doing much service beyond the boundaries of service work for the Council. Back in 2008, OA National put

First to Oldscout - you have done three 50-milers on the AT - you are a section hiker - you just haven't completed all the sections yet . I through-hiked the AT back in 1981 when I was 19 - I hiked North to South - Katahdin to Springer. The first 30-days were brutal - I was a flatlander from the midwest taking on what most people consider the toughest part of the trail. Most people hike South to North and work their way from the relatively gentle mountains of the Southeast to the rocky wilderness of New England. I was ready to quit many times (and am glad I didn't). I woke up a co

I'm not so sure that it matters what you call the weekend, and indeed, I think I find calling them Ordeal Weekends more objectionable, but not because of any PC thing, but because that phrase can be self-limiting. When I was elected to the OA and joined my lodge in the 1970's, the weekends were called the Spring Work Weekend and the Fall Fellowship (and for a time, the Fall Fun-ellowship). When I was Chapter Chief and sitting on the Lodge Executive Committee (which in our Lodge was the Lodge Officers and the Chapter Chiefs), it was prposed to rename the Spring Work Weekend to the Spring O

If it helps your argument for a change, it might help if the Kitchen Crew all announce that they want to watch the ceremonies and will not cook dinner while the ceremonies are taking place.

It's not a policy - it's a guideline - while the ceremonies themselves are the ones that should be used, the timing is completely up to the individual lodges. On another note, the Adult Ceremony Advisor doesn't get a vote - he can advise, but it's up to the leadership of the Lodge to make those decisions - and the leadership of the Lodge is the Lodge Chief, Lodge Vice Chief'(s), Secretary, Treasurer and Chapter Chiefs - once they make the decision, it's done - the only person who can over-rule them is the Scout Executive (though in practice, the Lodge advisor and Lodge Professional Adviso

We've always done the banquet before the ceremony - just for that reason - the ceremony is best in the dark - and no one wants to have the banquet after the ceremonies (yes, plural - we do the Brotherhood Ceremony before the Ordeal Ceremony). Once the day of cheerful service is done, our candidates are candidates in name only at that point - the no speaking rule is rescinded during the banquet (and restored after the banquet - we've heard a lot of comments from the adults and some of the more mature youth candidates that the period of silence after the banquet is much more meaningful - folks

Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they can do this is by not voting - Franklin D. Roosevelt Mr. Rowe, Beyond our inalienable rights - the rights of all people, no matter where on this Earth we live, the rights we U.S. Americans have come From the People, By the People and For the People. Those rights include the right to vote and the right to keep and bear arms. The vast majority of U.S. Americans are not serving and have not served in the military. The vast majority of Americans have not 'borne a

First - Welcome to the Forum. You say you're fairly new to Venturing as a leader but have been a Scouter for 8 years. Have you had a chance to take any training for Venturer leaders or read any of the literature so that you know how things are somewhat different for Crew Committees and Advisors than for Troop Committees and Scoutmasters? Just to play a bit of a devil's advocate here (and not to defend rudeness) but there were a couple of things that caught my attention. One is that the Crew President apparently is saying things such as "that requirement is stupid and redundant" -

I think there is a continuum involved here and where something lands on that continuum might be the breaking point for me. At one end of the line, there are a lot of organizations that may benefit from an Eagle Scout project or two but never mention that they are open to being a beneficiary - and a lot of Scouts may not even think to approach them to ask (I think many of us are familiar with the way one Scout from a Troop "breaks in" to an opportunity with a local nature center or school and the next thing you know, 4 other troop members are doing projects for the same group instead of see

Introduction of Candidates? What Candidate? This isn't the Order of the Arrow - its a Court of Honor to formally present to an Eagle Scout the awards he's already earned - he isn't a candidate - he's an Eagle Scout. My best friend had his Eagle Scout ceremony in 1978 - his Troop put together the ceremony using the suggestions from NESA (It was scheduled a couple of months in advance so that his grandparents from England could come to the ceremony). They did an Eagle Charge and an Eagle Pledge. The ceremony took place in a church and took about an hour. At least the Troop paid for the

Seems to me it depends on whether it's a family ceremony or a Troop ceremony. In my opinion, all Eagle Scout Courts of Honors should be Troop events. We don't ask the families to put together Courts of Honor for when their sons earn Tenderfoot, or First Class or Life or any other rank - the Troops do them. Troops should have a standard Eagle Scout Court of Honor ceremony - it can be a short one that fits in with their normal Court of Honor, or they can have a separate Court of Honor with a simple sheet cake (or cobbler - yum) reception afterwards that the Troop pays for (and it shouldn't co

Actually, the product is legal in the State of Michigan (and in a number of other states) but illegal under federal law. Local governments, such as this township, base their laws and zoning policies on State Law because it is the State that governs what local governments in their state can and can't do. Federal laws do not regulate local governments. That's why the township's zoning ordinance was re-written specifically to make medical marijuana grow and distribution operations a special use permit in a specific zoned area (in this case, it would be in an area zoned I, which, BTW, doesn't a

I've read through this thread a couple of times and I still am trying to figure out what the issues really are here. I mean I think I get the gist of it - that the requirements have become really detailed and there are folks who think they've just gotten too detailed and complicated for the average Boy Scout to comprehend and we should simplify them. Then we get an example from Cooking Merit Badge - how much simpler the requirements are now than they were back in the 1910's. I guess I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what the real complaints are. Is it that the boys, or perhaps