Armymutt

I think Lion parents fall into two categories and this can cause some stress. The first group is the single or first child in Scouting. This group can probably do with one meeting or outing a month, especially if the kid is getting plenty of socialization in school or the neighborhood. The second group is the family with older youth in Scouting and the Lion is next in line. They are already attending weekly meetings, so not having a Lion meeting is more of a stressor. For me, I love Scouting, so it's a refresher rather than a stressor, for the most part. I think the Lion program provides a good intro into activities away from home and it gives the little ones a sense of belonging, especially to people they don't see everyday.

Why would they be learning the skills with younger Scouts? That sounds like a new scout patrol. My troop had two patrols, mostly because we had two lines of tables in the chapel hall. As new Scouts came into the troop they could pick which side of the room to sit on, and that was their patrol. We had everything from Life Scouts to new Scouts in the same patrol. It was the job of the older Scouts to teach the younger ones in the patrol. We operated similarly to the description in the 5th edition of the Scoutmasters Handbook, though with less formality, as it was the early 90s. The PLs evaluated the skills of their patrol and focused on ensuring everyone was up-to-snuff.

I entered Wood Badge mostly out of curiosity. I've read lots of posts on here and most caused me some concern. I'm not an outgoing person when it comes to singing and being silly. I can perform a decent skit, but that's about the limit. I get turned off rapidly by preaching and inspirational slogans. Without going into a full recap, I can say that it is worthwhile training whether you have had hours of training in leadership techniques, group dynamics, etc, or have zero experience. I just finished an MPH with a concentration in leadership, and this was still useful. One of the biggest benefits was being able to talk to people well outside my district about problems in my unit and bouncing ideas off each other. I'm looking forward to weekend two. My only major criticism is the state of the camp. For a council with so much money and an SE making $500k a year, the place is a dump. The tent platforms are worn and falling apart. The campsites are crowded. There are inadequate toilet and shower facilities. I want to take pictures of my home council's camp and show the people in the course. Maybe they will demand more money going into the program and less into executive pockets. One can dream, right?

I think an MBC should have the pamphlets for the MBs he or she covers. This is especially true for technical subjects. I'm an MBC for Veterinary Medicine, Animal Science, Pets, and Public Health. The two-word subjects are far more complicated than Pets. The requirements appear to be pretty clear, the level of detail my brain has vastly differs from the level that a Scout would need or be ready for. Using the pamphlet, I can get the class to the appropriate level.

In WWII, a German bomber dropped 2 bombs on Gilwell Park. Over the years, the craters filled with water, eroded, probably got dug out a bit, etc. They are used for canoeing now.

When I realized that my second council's Wood Badge course this year was taking places on weekends I wasn't scheduled to go home, I contacted the course director to find out if there were open slots. He said he had a wait list 13 deep and had gone through 8 or so. The chances were highly unlikely. Well, around 10:30 on Wednesday, I got an email offering me a slot. Got a green light from my wife and my boss for the Friday, so I'm off to Gilwell - well, sort of. I suspect I will have some personal issues with referring to anyplace outside of the lovely hilly green area with "Hitler's only gift to Scouting" in the Epping Forest that still holds my Victorinox Swiss Army Ranger knife as "Gilwell", but I'll manage.

Tell that to all the Scouts who have claims for male-on-male abuse. There are far fewer Scouts who are willing todo that to a male Scout than a female Scout. Not worth the risk in my book. National and councils aren't going to pay out again. The next round will be on the adult leaders who failed to prevent abuse, even if you were sleeping through the night when it occurred.

We run our pack with coed dens, but pre-pubescent kids are totally different than those on the other side. I wouldn't want to be a leader of a coed troop. Imagine the law suits you'd face because a girl got pregnant at camp. Are leaders supposed to stay awake all night to prevent Scouts from heading over to another tent or wandering off into the night for sex? Our leaders as a kid couldn't keep us from running around in our underwear, playing capture the flag with other units' flags. We got in trouble the next day and had to return the flags and apologize (after getting dressed). Pretty easy fix. Trying to fix a night of sexual indiscretion is quite a bit harder. It's like we have learned anything from these suits. Scout on Scout sexual assault is a big factor in them. I think that adding a bigger fuel load to the environment is a bad idea.

Where did you find this regulation? For at least 30 years, I've seen the sash worn with a t-shirt at OA events. People don't normally work in the hot sun while wearing their uniform shirt. “The Order of the Arrow sash is worn with the official Scout field uniform or Scouting’s official adult professional dress wear (a blue blazer and gray slacks). The sash also may be worn by Elangomats who are not in uniform at an Ordeal, youth wearing ceremonial attire, and in such other instances as approved by the Scout executive.”

If you are looking for a weeklong merit badge factory, then a council camp is your best bet. If you're looking for adventure, it can best be accomplished elsewhere, and usually for much less.

I haven't been to a council camp since my first experience. I was stuck in the "First Year Camper Program" which meant no merit badges and really, not much fun. I left it and Scouting shortly after I got home. A couple of years later, my parents dragged me into a new troop. That troop owned its own camp in southern Missouri. It was fantastic. The camp itself was small - maybe 17 acres. It served as a home base with a flag pole, cannon, rec hall, shower house, fire ring, etc. Around it was Clearwater Lake, the Current River, and several state parks. As a general rule, everyone earned Pioneering, Motorboating, and Water Skiing merit badges. If you didn't have some of the others, like swimming or first aid, those would get completed too. We did the Mile Swim, played games, and had a blast. I then moved to England. The first troop didn't do a week long trip that I can remember. The second troop did Philmont the first year I was with them and Kanderstag in Switzerland the second. I didn't know TAC had a camp until recently. No merit badges were earned at either camp. Very few of our Scouts had enough merit badges to get palms. I can see the value in getting exposure to other troops and the value in having special programs focused on getting merit badges. However, I wouldn't trade the experiences we had 30 years ago. Having a council camp is convenient, but I think work required to have great adventures is well worth it.

A group of 11 Scouts is not too bad. My troop had like 7 kids in '90. It was great. We were small enough that everyone fit in a Ram 3500 van with our gear in an open cargo trailer for summer camp. We could transport the whole troop on outings. We had a blast. When the Scouts have a blast every time, they tell other kids. My buddy and I went back to our old grade school and recruited after high school. Only 5 kids in the 5th grade class - 3 joined us and we took them to summer camp, showed them the ropes, etc. They stayed and perpetuated the cycle.

I attended my district round table remotely last night. Toward the end of the Cub Scout breakout, the Council Commissioner came over and told us that a policy is in the wings that required any adult on a campout to be a registered adult. That raised a whole lot of questions, mainly from the cost standpoint. If we have 20 kids go camping and each one has mom or dad or both, that's a bunch of extra adults we have to register and pay for. We ask - edging toward require - all adults on overnight activities to take YPT. I understand the position BSA is in. There are reports of Scouts being abused by the parents of other Scouts. I just don't see the extra $45/year for the parents to participate (mandatory for most of the Cub Scouts) as a good selling point for the program. There needs to be some sort of middle ground.

That happens. I got left behind at a gas station in rural southern MO. This was well before cell phones were much beyond movie props. everyone thought I was hiding in the back of the van under some tarps. Luckily, this was when pay phones still existed and I was able to make a collect call home - also the days when we remembered phone numbers. They eventually came back for me before I got off the phone with my parents, but I was one scared 12 y/o.

I saw Elangomats having conversations with Candidates while walking to a work site, like they were just on an outing. I remember having to mime a saw or shovel in order to communicate what tool we needed.

What's this "new Scout Patrol"? My troops just had patrols growing up. Size was determined by different things. In my first troop, it was friends - three of us were one patrol and the other 5 were another. My first troop in England was just one patrol of 6 kids. The second was 2 patrols of about 10 with assignment being based on when you arrived. Balancing the room was the primary goal. The younger Scouts were trained by the older. My handbook has my SPL's signature in my requirements for the various skill awards. I liked this method because the older Scouts built leadership skills and there's no better way to solidify what you have learned than to teach it.

This is the driving force behind my offer. My pack hasn't had a unit commissioner in the 2 years I've been there. The district commissioner said she's our commissioner, but I've never seen her outside of round table. I'm told that we aren't a priority because we have a strong, growing pack. Frankly, I think our pack meetings suck compared to the things I read about. It's unlikely to change because I'm not particularly good at being a showman, and neither is the guy replacing me as Cubmaster. I'm basically a one-man show for them, so they will remain the same until someone else steps up. Sorry for the tangent, but those are my plans that you mentioned. Lots of observing, assessing, learning about the community, charter org, etc.

Had a meeting on Saturday with a guy that I believe is an ADC. Things are kind of confusing here. Anyway, after 2 hours over lunch, I think we reached a conclusion. Now to figure out the details - been radio silence since then. I'm excited to be able to serve the Scouts while I'm away from home. Some people think I'm crazy for doing the CC job for my pack remotely while also doing the commissioner job. I don't have anything else to do in the evenings, beyond saying good night to my family over the phone. Might as well get involved. Any tips? I've asked for a strong unit and a weak unit so that I can see what works around here and what doesn't.

I think a balance is needed. I live in a military community and there are all sorts of combinations of personalities and uniforms. I've seen adults with just the knots from youth and I've seen adults with huge patches covering almost the entire right side of their shirt. For me, I look at what will inspire the Scouts and other leaders. I wear my Eagle and AOL knots, as well as training knots. The training knots are intended to inspire other leaders to get involved in all Scouting has to offer, enabling them to better serve. I wear my lodge flap because it is a sign of brotherhood. I wear my Philmont arrowhead because it is the third most dear emblem I have earned, the others being my Eagle Scout medal and my Combat Infantry Badge. I want my uniform to inspire adults to contribute more and, more importantly, remind older Scouts that they need to come back into the program once they have their lives established and share their knowledge and experience with the next generation.

Right, but I wouldn't consider members of the military to be a "local tribe" in England any more than I would consider the Mohawk to be a local tribe because some of their chiefs visited London.

I'm not sure how this will work for Scouts in TAC and FEC.

A friend of mine picked up a kid's Cub Scout memory book as part of a junk sale. I'm trying to help her find the owner. The kid's name is Jonathan Teller. He earned his Wolf in 1958. She found it in Dutchess County, NY. There is a news article that mentions Good Shepherd (there are both Lutheran and Catholic churches by that name there). It also references Pack 98 and Troop 98. It says he was born 7-29-49. I know we have some folks dating back to that era here. Any ideas?

We're having our rank advancement ceremony this weekend. I couldn't find anything that worked with our setting, so I wrote this. If anyone wants to use it, feel free. Webelos The Webelos rank represents the final Cub Scout rank on the trail to the Arrow of Light. When you became a member of the Webelos Den, you traded your Cub Scout blue uniform for the tan uniform of the Scout. To this uniform, you added the Webelos colors – red, green, and yellow. These colors represent your past and future. The yellow stands for the Cub Scout program. As a Cub Scout, you have learned many things, duty to God, duty to your community, and the outdoors. The red and the green represent your future – Scouts BSA and Venturing. On these colors you pinned reminders of the Webelos Adventures you have had. You will notice the Webelos badge is made up of part of the badge of the Scout rank and a blue W. The Webelos badge represents the transition to being a Scout. You are now beginning the journey to the Arrow of Light. You will continue to learn more about the things you did as a Cub Scout. In addition, you will begin the transition to being a member of a Scout troop. Take these final months of your Cub Scout life to learn as much as you can about being a Scout. By doing so, you will begin to live up to the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared. (Present badges)

I'm telling my parents to not buy the Cub Scout handbooks. At $25 a year, it's another expense that really isn't needed. Scoutbook has all the requirements and a little Google time will clarify any questions. My kids haven't opened theirs on their own at all. The Boy Scout handbook is probably more useful as it isn't a one year and done thing.

I did this for my COR. Apparently our council hasn't updated anything. She has a Silver Beaver along with a bunch of other knots. Nada in the awards section.