CA_Scouter

Yea, my neighbor gave me some duck, and 'gamey' would have tasted better than the stuff I got. I have a solution though. Cow hunting. No issues with Bambi lovers, no problems with the National Elk refuge, no special permits, no complaints that its not sporting - heck, they are bred for consumption anyway! And on top of all that, the meat tastes good! I don't know why anyone hasn't thought of this before! Cool. A new Skillbase! I'll contact National... :-)

gwd_scouter, I am there too! I finally got the scouts to plan this next COH after nearly a year of trying. Previous administration usually did it all... but HOO BOY! its taken lots of patience and gentle prodding to get 'er done... and the SPL is my son! I'm trying not to badger him too much at home... The PLC has come up with some novel ideas, one of which is to tape an envelopes under the chairs for each rank advancement, and whomever is sitting there reads out the names... then the SPL and ASPL will present the awards and say a little something. They also are doing something of which they won't tell me, so I'm curious to see what that's all about ( luckily, I don't have to worry about unscoutlike stuff with these guys ) . We are also doing our annual flag retirement after the COH and a 'chocolate potluck', per order of the PLC. Should be fun!

One full day? Are you serious? You think that a scout can spend a single day with a troop then go away for a week? ;-) We had a scout transfer in the MONDAY before summer camp. He spent 90 minutes with us, signed up for summer camp, and we took him with us for a week. He actually did a good job, got along with everyone and is still with us and both he and his parents are very active members. Of course, it probably helped that he was a transfer, and not a brand new scout, but its a heckuva story, ain't it?

FScouter, I respectfully disagree. I'll 'Ed' you on this one: As has been stated many times in these forums, the uniform is not required. A uniform doesn't build character either, I've seen scouts in uniform that are significantly lacking in that area. I'm afraid that you might think I don't support wearing of the uniform. I do, I just don't consider it as important as the other methods. And that's my opinion.

Oh yea, forgot to mention... My wife thinks I look 'hot' in my uniform. How could you not love a woman like that!

SeattlePioneer makes some interesting observations. "While some writers have been critical of the Scout for lying about his motivation for not wanting to wear the uniform, I'm inclined to wonder why he felt he couldn't raise the issue honestly and get a fair hearing. " Could it be because the adults are 'uniform police' types? Kid probably knew he would get a lot of flak from the adults. "I don't think it's appropriate for the adults or the Troop Committee to impose a uniforming rule on the Scouts. I suggest that's something the Scouts should decide through their PLC. " BINGO! You've got to give the PLC some lattitude and let them make some decisions. Many years ago, our PLC decided that the troop rule was 'uniform from the waist up'. This seems to work well for us and nobody complains all that much. Let's face facts here folks, though I love my uniform and proudly wear it, most teenage boys think its dorky and not 'cool'. And you know that should a Scout be 'found out' at school, that you'll have every idiotkid poking fun or making derogatory comments. Don't argue with me on this point, I LIVED it when I was a Scout in the early 70's. (oops, dated myself again) If we give the scouts some flexibility with the uniform, especially coming from the PLC, it empowers them and gives them some satisfaction in that they feel they have a say in troop policy. IMHO, the Uniform Method is the least important of the methods and the one that generates the most debate. I am much more inclined to work on leadership and character than I am on making them look good.

25 years last March! My bride has been an ardent supporter of my and my son's scouting activities over the past 3 years. She loves how Scouts emphasizes character and leadership development, and has even counseled my daughter that she 'must marry an Eagle Scout.' My son had no interest in Cubs, but when he told me he wanted to try Scouts, I was very pleased. As I'm sure is true with most of us, I was standing too close to the whirlpool and got sucked in... first as a committee member, then ASM, now SM, and I should say, I was GLADLY sucked in. I come from an active scouting family - Dad (God rest his soul ) was Cubmaster, Committee Chair, ASM, SM, etc.. Mom was a Den Leader in Cubs and always a great supporter. Both Brother and I made Eagle and have our kid(s) now in Scouts. The only problem now, is that I find myself day dreaming about being able to make a living doing this full-time..... :-)

We had an incident last year with a group of teenagers. It was April, and raining heavily, so we were the only two groups in the campground, though we were separated by about 5 campsites. Apparantly, they had been drinking most of the evening, so they decided it would be a good idea to run through our camp shirtless and scream and yell. Well, my ASM was the first out of bed and he marched down to their campsite to get them to quiet down, and he came back and told me that there were not only teenagers down there drinking, but ADULTS drinking with the teenagers. And to top it off, not all the shirtless teenagers were males! We were in a spot without cell phone reception, but we told them should they wander through our campsite again, we would get up and drive out to a spot where we could call the sheriff. They quieted down after that and a few even packed up and took off. This was our webelos campout, complete with all the webelos parents, so they had quite an invigorating first experience with the troop!

As is typical with most large organizations, wording can be misleading, and in some cases, downright conspiratorial! ( is that a word? ) Nobody to this point has noted that a 'hamburger' is not made from ham, in fact, its not even made from pork! How does the BSA address this very important and disturbing issue? :-)

Yea, wassup? Or did I pick the wrong day to change my prescription? :-)

I'm with Packsaddle. This is exactly why I asked my 'Agnostic Scout' thread to be closed, because I knew once these two started going at it, it would be a flame war. Now sadly, OGE is part of this too. This is not Scout like behavior. Get a room, get on AOL, mud pies at 20 paces or a rubber band war, but do your personal arguing elsewhere PLEASE!!!!

MODERATORS: I see signs that this thread is shortly going to become a war of words between some parties, which will take it completely off course of the original post. My intent was to solicit responses regarding advancment, not to open ( or should I say 're-open' ) a dialog on religious preferences, school sponsership of BSA, sexual orientation, UFO's, 'innies' or 'outies', which way to hang the toilet paper roll, or anything else!! :-) I respectfully request that you close this thread to preserve the valuable and insightful feedback on the original post. Thanks Much, CA_Scouter

Last few projects: Help the Knights of Columbus with annual charity drive. Clean up a local pioneer cemetary. Help restore a handicapped access boardwalk overblown by sand on a campout we had near Bodega Bay ( California - The Birds! EEk! )

We just used our GPS receivers for a geochache hunt. For those of you not familiar with geocaching, that's when someone hides a sealable container somewhere, posts the coordinates on the internet, then you try to locate it. The container usually contains a logbook, some trinkets to trade with, etc. When you find the cache, you note your entry, take/leave a trinket, then post your experience when you return. We did this on our last outing, and managed to make it a 7.5 mile hike. We then hid our own cache, and posted it. Just yesterday, I saw that someone had found our cache and posted a response. ( we also worked in some compass exercises ). Pretty interesting stuff, and you could really get into it if the game appealed to you. We also use ours primarily as a pedometer, mostly because we adults haven't figured out all the intricacies of the units just yet. Working on that though... http://www.geocaching.com

Semper, please don't do that again. :-)

Ever since Katrina, my ASM's and I have been pushing to get the scouts to create their home emergency kits, come up with a family escape plan, meeting place, etc. Its been really slow going, however, so I pushed the PLC to reinvigorate the troops. We are going to have weekly updates on the progress of all the scouts. Your simulated emergency seems like a neat idea. I think you'll be lucky to have anyone get to Sunday though.. :-) FYI - There is an excellent site on preparing yourself and your family that has been heavily promoted in the San Francisco Bay Area. http://www.72hours.org/ Lots of great information. As we are approaching the winter months now, we are also emphasizing 'being prepared' in your automobile should you encounter emergencies, bad weather, snow, etc., carrying rain gear, gloves, flashlight, firstaid kit, etc. So much to teach eh? ( I learned it all when I was a Scout ).

FIND ANOTHER PACK! I wouldn't step into this xxxx with hip waders!

Well folks, I'm with Semper on this one. This is a learning opportunity, not a situation where some hard and fast rule has to be applied. I would rather discuss/teach/educate/learn than toss him aside. WWJD?

One of my scouts came up to me to sign off on a first class requirement where he is supposed to lead his patrol in saying grace before a meal. He informed me that he was 'agnostic', and felt that this was forcing religion upon him. I responded by informing him that BSA membership involves a religious component, an acknowledgement of a higher power. He wanted me to waive the requirement, but I informed him that if he chose to stand by is statement of 'agnostic', that I could not sign off on the requirement. Some background, this kid is 15, is only Tenderfoot, not much involved in advancement, is 'forced' to attend by his father ( but seems to enjoy himself anyway, strangly enough ), is extremely intelligent, but moody and defensive at times. I still like him though, because I can see through most of that, and he has performed well when I've asked him to lead an activity or perform a task. Now I've got some ideas of what I want to do, but I'll keep them to myself in order to stimulate discussion from forum participants. Does BSA require that he be expelled from the organization due to his agnosticism?

I'm sure its simply for record keeping, but the possibility of abuse these days is unnerving. You'll have the scouts full given name, birthdate, SSN, and other personal information, and I don't think you would need much more for identity theft. I'm not implying that people at BSA would do such a thing, but we've all seen the reports of various banks losing their backup tapes or disks, so you know the possiblity exists that something could go wrong. I do not know if they can reject the application if the SSN is not supplied. Being a private organization, I'm thinking BSA can if it so chooses.

Ditto Semper. Lots and lots to talk about ( unless being a supportive and cooperative spouse is too nerdy for her ). Let's see, of my scouts... 1. 2nd place in the 2005 World Jet Ski championships last month, working on his Eagle project 2. Two top level snowboarders, both working on Life. 3. Starter Freshman Basketball, working on Life 4. Several football players 5. Even more baseball players, couple on All-Star Teams 6. Soccer, need I say more? in a small troup of 19 scouts Yea, bunch-a-nerds. But I say let's try to fit in anyway. This week, I'm going to recommend that the scouts all shave their heads, grow goatees, and get tatooed. :-)

In our troop, we give the scouts an option of paying all dues at the beginning of the year, or once a month at the first meeting of the month. Our old adminstration made the parents responsible, but I'm also trying to get my troop scribe and SPL to start a list, check it twice, and find out who is naughty or nice... but its a work in progress. Changing old habits will take time, so you'll need to be patient... I've been making subtle changes here and there to move to a more scout-run model, but its taking longer than I expected. Rather than get frustrated, I just roll with it, encourage and compliment. Your comment on the SM and fundraising... being SM myself, I don't feel its my duty to do fundraising, that's why we have a committee with a fundraising chair. I do feel its my duty to support fundraising, help get the scouts to participate, etc, but my job it to deliver the program, not make money. You've got to spread the work out amongst the parents, you cannot do it all yourself. Can you imagine if it actually took more than one hour a week to do this job? Sheesh! :-)

In my neck of the woods, the Forest Service has gone to great lengths to notify and educate the public to just was is permitted and what is not, now that this new rule is in effect. Unfortunately, there have been many incidents of bad behavior by off roaders in my area, much terrain damage, litter and they even had to shut down the camping around one lake due to unsafe sanitary conditions ( tp everywhere, unburied waste, etc ). Last year, they had to have a drunk-driving checkpoint out in the woods! Thought the forest is currently shut down, the El Dorado National Forest Adminstration is currently reviewing their maps so that they can designate more roads for off-road use. I think they have to have a plan in place by end of next year. I didn't follow the link to read the article, so I don't know if it mentions this or not, but the Forest Service had to write this rule due to a court order as a result of a lawsuit. The Forest Service didn't just decide to create a new rule because they had nothing to do... :-)

I would seriously doubt that an adult would be 'jealous' of a young scout, I'm sure he has some concerns on how quickly he has risen through the ranks. Your son's accomplishments are well beyond normal for most scouts his age. You mention about the SM not liking some of the answers to his questions, but you don't state what subject was addressed. Perhaps this information might shed some light on why the SM won't sign off. I would approach the SM directly and ask what specific reasons he has for not signing off on the Scoutmaster conference. Perhaps by approaching him in a constructive and postive manner, you can understand his reasoning and perhaps he can better address your concerns. However, if his reasons are soley because he is 'too young', then he has no legitimate reason to deny the young man. I am concerned, however, about an Eagle Scout candidate who is 'afraid' of his own Scoutmaster. It may be that this is one of the reasons the SM is slowing things down, waiting for the young man to work through this...(just speculation on my part).

Yup, its venting! :-)