Tron

I've volunteered with troops running all sorts of patrol structures and I least like the fully mixed age patrols at this point. They always seem to devolve into a process where the patrol leaders and troop leadership regardless of ability or likeability become the troop elected leadership and the younger scouts become second class citizens who have to ride the back bench and do their time regardless of capability.

Exactly. The pattern of change has been basically a decision has been made, we'll pilot it, and then we go into it. My gut tells me that the pilot is just something to assuage concerns that people who refuse to look at the exploring/venturing track record (venturings history was pilot enough IMHO). I guess the next question becomes what happens to certain (poorly ran but pulling scouts due to coed nature) troops who got to market with a linked troop and now co-ed troop over the next 5 years? There are 2 troops in my council pulling a lot of scouts due to them getting to coed status first but they are mediocre troops at best. Will families having more choice slowly kill down those mediocre troops? Will the leadership be smart and agile enough to course correct before it's too late and we start seeing complaints of "the new program" killing our once 100 scout troop?

When California passed AB218 with it's special 2020-2022 window to unofficially target scouting we knew there were going to be more entities sued. Back in February and May this was being discussed but it's hitting the news cycle again. Schools are now being targeted. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/08/17/wave-of-sexual-assault-claims-is-latest-financial-crisis-for-public-schools-local-agencies/

This right here. This is what is going on across the whole doggone country. Then when people get sick of "commuting" to scouting after a handful of years the whole family quits. Full co-ed is going to be the long term answer. I see them providing chartering options; however, once coed is an option it will quickly become the dominant troop charter type just how family packs (which took only 3 years to become so). In 5 years we will have a couple boy only or "linked" only troops functioning out there because of some oddball leadership; however, those units will eventually die off just like the boy only pack holdouts have.

That deed restriction has made this an interesting one to watch. Did you notice how the council rep seemed dead determined to find a way to sell?

Less infrastructure is the best answer. BSA has another cost because of weather. Is this article evidence that even Philmont will suffer the same fate as overbuilt council camps?

There are references to patrol activities in modern documentation but it is very limited. The focus on leadership over being able to do things for oneself is what is really killing the patrol method. The original purpose state of which BSA is chartered by congress provides no mention of "leadership" training. The program is so overfocused on leadership training, positions of responsibility, and the eagle project that any notion of self-reliance is gone; scoutcraft is the next thing "leadership" will kill. The purpose statement of the BSA from the national charter: The purposes of the corporation are to promote, through organization, and cooperation with other agencies, the ability of boys to do things for themselves and others, to train them in scoutcraft, and to teach them patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred virtues, using the methods that were in common use by boy scouts on June 15, 1916.

So October is another change right? In that NAM video don't they say December is the new decision point?

This is a good example of how councils need to craft their annual plan and market their annual plan to the units in their area right? If they have a lot of large independent troops they don't need a council even every other month; on the other hand if the council is mostly troops of 1 patrol then they need a council event every other month. It's clear that we have the infrastructure (councils and properties) for a much larger organization; however, I wonder, what was really in place in those first 10-20 years of scouting in America? Were troops just camping on their own every month? Without resident camps were long term camps the product of strong well run troops and more wilderness and self reliance based?

Support from the council is one of those weird things. The council is the volunteers; there is no one to help if no one is staffing those district and council committees. If your time at the troop is sunsetting, and if the troop is folding, it might be time to consider a district role.

The other way around is much easier (doesn't have the MBC clause about being able to not accept prior completed work). The rank advancements just say do/say/particpate/etc ... and do not say in front of or with the SM.

If their endowment is draining/drained they might not have a choice. If their camp is their only remaining asset and they don't have the funds to maintain they really don't have much of a choice but to bow before the kings down in Texas. How does the old saying on wealth go? Fortunes rarely see the 4th generation.

But getting that form signed and transferring ownership formally will protect the unit from legal action. I don't know about this unit, but some units have thousands of dollars worth of equipment and cash on hand.

Participate is participate. Conduct is conduct. Being at and actually participating (vs in back of the crowd playing around) is all a scout needs to do to complete the participation requirements. For the merit badge it depends on the MBC. As the unit leader you can accept the MBC's approval at any time, the MBC has the discretion to ask the scout to reperform the act before signing off for the merit badge.

Yeah I have nearby scoop on Greenwich, they use to have a lot of money but their endowment is almost drained now. I get how when they were getting pounded with donations in the millions of dollars how national just turned a blind eye to a council with like 1 troop and 1 pack. But now? They might be on the horizon for being absorbed; they're running without a CE.

If you go this route, full merger, there is a form you need to get your charter org to sign to allow you to give your items to the other pack/charter org.

Word on the internet is that Bucktail just had their charter revoked and they are being absorbed by Laurel Highlands. When I looked this one up I was confused as to how a council the size of a district (in my council) even existed in the first place.

You're going to need a handful of things. First you will need council permission to hold joint unit events (joint den meetings count as joint event). Both units will need to provide 2 registered leaders per event. So assuming you are holding joint den meetings you will need 4 leaders, 2 from each unit.

That's not what that article you posted says at all. You're just making stuff up at this point. The non-settling insurers are not an asset of the BSA, not an asset of the trust, and they are not a party to the trust. They are literally a completely different legal entity that has opening and legally refused to settle or contribute to the trust. Nothing you have linked out to or provided citation for states anything otherwise. You're just making stuff up.

The skinny guys unable to carry the weight is an indicator of not enough conditioning. Bigger guys can fake the funk as treks can cause them to shed fat weight and over the course of a week or two they get through on stored calories compensating for lack of conditioning. Really skinny people get butchered on treks if they are not conditioned; there's isn't much extra on their frames for their bodies to consume to make up for the exertion, at the same time their are stimulating muscle growth through the exertion. It becomes a downward spiral of worsening performance and lesser and lesser recovery from overnight rest.

We all knew this was coming right? The Church, then BSA, now the next biggest target? These vulture lawyers have a business model, they will continue to hop from target to target like locusts consuming as much as possible.

So that's not a lawsuit, that's not BSA, and that's not how the insurance industry works at all. An insurance company can be billed any amount for any reason, and it can be denied, approved, sent for review, sent for arbitration, etc ... The article you posted does not say what you said before and it doesn't mean anything.

Neutral on the article; a bleeding together of BSA modernizing and Trump derangement syndrome. The sort of article that makes the vastly neutral and large middle ground of America turn away from anything progressive. The minority leadership thing is simply not a big issue. The reality of America when you dig into the real census numbers is that America is roughly 65% white (mostly protestant but increasingly becoming Catholic), 20% white/mixed, and the rest not white. The population is 51% female. The organization roughly represents America quite well considering that female Eagle Scouts are a relatively new thing. In 40 years I expect more females but not now.

What was the cub scout pack doing there? I thought the new range and target activities policies that went live last year only permitted cubs to do range activities at district and council events?

What do these people do at work when they need to train someone? Do they just go "hey Jimmy, find someone around here to teach you!" or do they pair Jimmy directly with a mentor, or themselves as a mentor.