Armymutt

Tell me about it. I got the 2017 Normandy version from a guy. He wanted $50 on eBay. Met him at our camp and got several more patches, including the Normandy one, for the same price. My new lodge, on the other hand, creates a special patch for everything. Their NOAC 2022 patch set is awesome.

EBay is probably your best/easiest bet, however, if your lodge is having a tradeoree, you might find someone there with a much better deal than on eBay. My original lodge was Black Eagle and they have put out a lot of neat patches this century - had the same patch for 50 years before that. I got about $100 in patches (eBay prices) for $50 at our tradeoree. Guys travel from long distances to trade. As mentioned above, wearing it on your uniform is ok if you are a dues paying member of that lodge. If not, then you need to ask yourself why you want to wear it.

With the various mergers. the chapter numbers and district numbers don't necessarily align. Our district has 3 chapters, which coincide with the three legacy districts. The OA was allowed to decide whether or not to merge.

Maybe it's normal now, but I don't remember any sex talk going on in my troop from 90-94. There literally was no discussion of girls when Scouting was going on. Seems really strange to me that this occurs now. Even when we met international units that had girls, we just did our own thing. Scouting was an escape from girls. Our parents didn't "open the hanger doors" at dining outs, and we didn't talk about girls. This might also be a new thing. Maybe it was because our troop was so small - about 20 Scouts. I shared my tent with anyone who asked. Mostly because mine was the only tent that wasn't canvas and didn't leak. I had a nice LL Bean Geodesic and it was roomy. Never thought about the age of the Scouts with me.

Two totally different situations.

I got the polio sugar cube in a British high school around 1992. I don't think any sort of record made it into my medical records. It's on my Army vax record, so they probably transcribed it from the form I filled out before entry. If it's good enough for Uncle Sam, it's good enough for BSA, from my perspective.

That's the part that I will emphasize to them. They need to make sure they can build a unit - even if it's just 5 boys. The program has to be fantastic AND visible in the community so that it motivates others to join.

I haven't had an opportunity to gather intel on the location, beyond a map recon. There are no troops in that area, but there are a few neighborhoods and a couple of schools. I have no idea what level they want to start at. From my experience, a Pack is far more labor intensive than a troop. At this point, I'm on a fact finding/fact giving mission. It will be up to them to determine the ability of their organization and the will of the community. I think our council and district have a funding stream for this sort of thing. They set up a troop in a smaller city that failed. I'm trying to get in contact with the people running that program and see what they did wrong. I'm betting they were doing more of an externally driven effort, akin to nation building, than an internally driven program with external support. My plan is the latter. I'll give them the support they need to do the job themselves, but in the end, it's their program to succeed or fail. I have my own Pack to nurture and grow. Given the lack of legacy Scouters in that community, I imagine the need for a leader mentor program. Maybe some sort of thing where the new leaders will shadow leaders in an established unit so they can understand what is involved, both at the committee level, and where the rubber meets the road. I think a small troop could be run effectively with a COR, a Committee Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, SM, and ASM. It will require especially dedicated Scouters. I need to find a budget from a troop that breaks down all of the costs. I have one for my Pack. We are coming out of popcorn season, so fund raising opportunities will be nil for a bit. Good idea about the t-shirt as a temp uniform. I think one of the things that was an issue in the other troop was accountability. The Scouts didn't have to earn their uniforms and didn't keep track of them. These are all things I will have to tell them about so that they can keep an eye out for them.

Received an interesting call today. A guy met one of our den leaders on Saturday selling popcorn. He must have been directed to our site and got my number. He is concerned about the growing violence in the city near us and wants us to come talk to his church's men's group about the benefits of Scouting and how to start a unit. This is like two classes of my MPH rolled into a single Saturday. I have been building a list of resources for the past month, detailing various social determinants of health and the affect Scouting can have in early intervention. I think I have the benefits parts cover. Who has started a troop from scratch before? I'm not looking to do a sales pitch, but rather a no kidding, this is what is involved, these are the pitfalls, these are the costs, etc.

For me, Cub Scouts is exhausting. A big portion of this is that our pack is so small, I've had to do multiple jobs to keep us afloat. We doubled our size in the past month, so we're offloading jobs. Got a new ACM, Pack Secretary, and Pack Treasurer to take to load off. I'm still CM and Lion DL because our Lion den has 2 kids, one is mine, the other our new Treasurer's. Still really intensive, especially since my kids are the ones causing the most disturbances in a pack meeting. Had a camp out with the OA a couple weeks ago. Very refreshing to be on a camp out and not have to yell at someone.

That's exactly the problem. The skill awards introduced the concepts for a large number of required merit badges. The repetitive nature helps kids to learn.

I pulled out my 9th edition of the handbook today to look up the skill award requirements. I noticed that part of the camping one was to carry your gear 2km in and 2km out. In the most up-to-date one I have, the 13th edition, there is no requirement to carry your gear for any of the first three ranks. This surprises me, given the advancements in weight saving gear over the past 35 years. Any ideas why Scouts aren't required to carry their gear?

I think you get out of the OA what you put into it, like most things in life. If you view it as a chance to get a new patch for your uniform, then that's what it will be - a harder version of eBay. If you view it as a vehicle for networking with Scouts from other troops, you're likely to get more. If you take the time to sit down with the ceremonial texts, read them, and think about them, you'll understand that the organization is about servant leadership. As a youth, my chapter was small in number and large in geography. It wasn't super active simply because most of us didn't have transportation, and we were spread out across 4 countries. As an adult, my chapter covers about half a small city. We meet monthly. I don't know that our lodge is going about things the right way, especially when it comes to improving camping skills and whatnot. There are some things that probably need to be modified. Our Fall Fellowship was so packed with overlapping events that none were very effective. I'm relatively new to the organization, so I don't want to be the guy that walks in and starts upsetting things. I'm going to note my observations and make recommendations, and see where that goes.

This is our setup in a nutshell - no to all three. Luckily, we now have a guy in charge of the youth ministry who recognizes that we are part of his program and wants to represent us to the parish council. The very minimum goal is covering adult registration fees. The funny thing is that we have to have the Safe Environment Training, which is YPT on steroids, yet we're treated more like facility users with a blurb on the webpage. We're working on becoming more visible, but it's difficult with only 1 family that is a member of the church.

Tonight was an example of our precarious situation. An hour before the meeting, the other family texted that they had a COVID symptoms case and weren't coming until the kid got tested. They tried to cancel everyone else, but I fixed that as quick as possible for most of them. Our guy who is becoming the Webelos DL also bailed for an unknown reason. We decided to put the kids in the ga ga ball pit and made it a parents meeting. We brought a laptop and set it up with a mobile hotspot. The parents who hadn't finished youth applications submitted them. The Tiger DL designee filed his application. We then talked popcorn, and then I pulled out my Pack leader MTOE (modified table of organization and equipment - because most of us are Army). I laid it out - you got a couple of choices - get involved, or we don't have a program. People were rather shocked that two people were doing the work of 8. Signed up an outdoor activities chair - my wife's friend and their first meeting. Sent everyone a copy with a priority of fill listing and gave them 2 weeks to figure out what they can do. I think we are likely to get better results from the dads - all Soldiers - than the moms.

You're assuming there are other willing and qualified volunteers. The church barely realizes that we are part of their ministry. The diocese is slightly better. Church - can't sell popcorn at the bazar. Can't sell outside after Mass. Got the last one rectified with the new CC. No one in the parish is tripping over themselves to spend time with the scouts. Even the KofC is hurting.

It's a CO thing. Some don't allow for OA. Ours doesn't allow for unrelated adults.

It's not a question of curtailing some of the program - the entire thing will die. My family funded the entire program last year - bought the PWD cars, paid for the B&G facilities, bought all of the adventure loops and rank patches. My wife has had enough of working 50 hours a week and then doing all the CC work, plus part of the fundraiser, membership, and major events chair jobs. She's done at the end of the year if we don't get people helping out.

Bylaws state that all adults must have a child in the pack. Only exception is the COR. There's a big difference between a troop and a pack.

Let's wargame this. What opportunities are available for predation for someone taking on jobs that do not involve contact with kids? I would think there are far more opportunities for predation at a meeting than there are by driving to a Scout Shop to pick up awards, or by conducting reconnaissance to find us places to hike, or coordinating popcorn sales with parents, etc. That seems a bit of a leap to me.

What standards? We aren't bringing in people who don't have kids in the unit.

That's a slippery slope fallacy. We're more of a "get the easy job first" kind of unit. Can't have a unit if you expect 4 people to run everything. Which is worse, a parent filling a small role or not having a unit for the kids that need Scouting the most?

We have it in our by-laws, with some exceptions - spouse deployed, single parent family with no supporting adults. It's just really insulting when a stay-at-home parent tells 4 people who work full time that they don't have time, but expect a quality program, and then they sit and play on their phone during the meetings.

Not really. For the bulk of the small committee jobs, there's no need to become a registered leader. Any parent can be the popcorn person. Any parent can find places to go for outings. Any parent can go to the scout shop and buy awards. Any parent can find a place to hold the B&G and coordinate who brings what. For the positions that involve direct contact with the kids, sure, but for the bulk of what we need, not at all. At this point, the pack will fold at the end of the year if no one else starts picking up some of the load.

This past year, our pack has been operated by 4 people, with 2 doing all the heavy lifting. Those 4 are a university professor who often has evening jobs, a physical therapy assistant student who has now graduated and is working full time, a clinical pharmacist, and a veterinarian. Somehow, they have managed to find time in their schedule - one family has 2 kids under 7 and the other has 3 from 7 to 12 - to perform every single job needed to make the pack run - Cubmaster, Committee chair, treasurer, Den Leaders. For some reason, no one else is able to help out. Luckily, this past week we have recruited another family where the mom wants to be the secretary and the dad wants to be the ACM. That will help a bit, but their son is a Webelos. I'm not asking for much. Looking for someone to manage advancement - pull a report once a month and go buy the awards. Need someone to find outdoor activities and promote them. Someone else to manage membership and registration. Another to handle fundraising. We have a mom who spends all day on Facebook promoting downtown businesses, but can't find time to be the PR chair for the pack!