CHLees3rd

BadenP, I think you hit the nail on the head; the BSA did get it wrong when it renamed the award. It should have been renamed the Boy Scouter Award. That would make it much like the Cub Scouter Award which Pack Committee Members can pursue and earn. Then there would be no confusion about which volunteers could get it. I'll send off an email suggestion to National. YiS, Chazz Lees

BadenP, When I was awarded the award back in 1992, it was called the Scouter's Training Award and not the current Boy Scout Leader's Training Award. Back then Committee Members earned it too. I have been told that long ago before the six current Cub Scouting knot awards, all Scouters, even Cub Scouters, used to get the Scouter's Training award and the Scouter's Key. I am pretty sure the Scouters who told me this also mentioned it was before my time as I do not remember it. I do not think the BSA changed the name to exclude Committee Members so much as to specify to all that the award

Absolutely! The Tenure for Committee Members is the same as it is for Scoutmasters- two years. The Performance options are the same-do five of them. The difference is the Training section. Since there is no course named "Troop Committee Specific Training" for Committee Members to take, my unit has them take the Troop Committee Challenge which describes how a Troop Committee works to support a troop. We consider it a suitable substitute. Scoutmasters must take Scoutmaster Leader Specific Training and Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills. All take the online This is Scouting for the reti

I remember earning the World Crest with the rest of my troop after a trip to Canada. Our troop was the only one in town with all members wearing the World Crest. About a year later the BSA announced that all registered members would start wearing it. Annoyed the heck out of everyone in the troop. The World Crest went from being an excited Big Deal to whatever big deal. Chazz Lees

CHOMP! CHOMP! TIMBERRRRR! Chazz Lees I used to be a Beaver...twice NE-I-158 & NE-I-258

TDK, You may want to check out geocaching.com. Also, check out the Boy Scout Geocaching merit badge book as it is full of information needed for Boy Scouts to complete the merit badge. Chazz Lees

So the dad resigned from the unit. Curious, did he pull the boys out too? Chazz Lees

Basementdweller, I have no idea if he will buy himself a Silver Beaver. Hopefully his council won't allow it to happen. Of course, in these time, every little bit counts! Anyway, my point was that the BSA came up with a way to reward financial donors without having to use the District Award of Merit or Silver Beaver. I remember hearing grumblings 20-25 years ago about people given the District Award of Merit because they consistently donated huge amounts of money to the council. Never understood why the council just didn't get a nice plaque for the donor. I do not think it is rid

"The J.E.West Knot is one of those that can be abused. I've seen it where one person bought one for his entire family: Wolf Cub, Explorer daughter, wife, and himself." E92, I do not see this as abuse. Abuse would be if the Vigil-wannabe wears the knot even though his check bounced and he hasn't yet made good on the transaction. I say let him buy all the the West knots he wants to buy. I do not see his actions hurting anyone except himself, but he will never notice because he will be too busy telling to look at his knot. In fact, Scouts are benefiting from his extremely huge ego.

Scoutfish, I was in the Marine Reserves as a young ASM. My Scoutmaster told me that if I ever got deployed, my duties would just go to another ASM. With deployments of both active and reserve forces more common than back then, you really need to develop a succession plan for all your adult volunteers so that transitions are relatively smooth when someone is not available for whatever amount of time. Be sure you do it for all leaders and not just the ones in the military. Corporate America sends its employees off to jobs elsewhere with little notice too. Heck, even those leaders who d

Stosh, Something about an earlier post of yours did not sound right so I checked it out. Scoutmaster-assigned leadership projects can only be used in place of a POR for the Star and Life ranks, not Eagle. I have a copy of the new 12th edition on my desk with Star requirements on p. 438, Life on p.439, and Eagle pg.440-1. Eagle candidates have to do hold a specific position. Chazz Lees

No reason why a Webelos can not contact his leader during the summer and ask to meet one evening to go over and sign off requirements. If the WDL is available and willing, why not? Stops calls of favoritism. However, if the WDL said no to a Scout who calls for a meeting and then his/her son completes a ton of activity pins during the summer, then there is a problem. Flames the fire of favoritism! Chazz Lees

My wife and I are both leaders in my daughter's Girl Scout troop. My wife is the leader and I am one of three assistant leaders. When they were Daisy Girl Scouts (Grades K and 1) we had no problems with any of the Scouts earning their petals. Now our first graders have bridged to Brownies where Scouts can work individually on Try-It badges. (Try-Its are similar to merit badges except Scouts only need to do any four of the requirements to earn them and the awards are age-appropiate for second and third-graders.) Going forward we, the leaders, decided that each Brownie should keep a l

CPAMom, Submitting paperwork to council does nothing more than show the Webelos has successfully earned the AOL. It does not force him out of the pack. In fact, he could choose to stay with the pack until the school year or unit charter ends if for some reason he wanted to do so. Most Webelos do not stay wanting the adventure of a troop, but the choice is his. As for no one else having earned the AOL, well look at it this way: The other Webelos could have worked towards earning by now too if they wanted. Perhaps seeing one of their own wearing it will cause them to go after it t

Regardless of when anyone in your family transfers to a Boy Scout troop, your son should get his AOL award as soon as possible. Why would you wait on this? He has earned the highest award in Cub Scouting; shouldn't he be allowed to wear it proudly while still in the pack? When I was awarded the AOL at a pack meeting, I bridged over to the troop at the same time. However, I pinned the AOL medal badge on my left pocket flap and proudly wore it for the rest of the night at that pack meeting. Chazz Lees

Qwazse Thank you for your response. Im a Unit Commissioner, and the reason why I posted was not so much for the Advisors who love getting awards but for the committee members who want to recognize their advisors for a job well done. Unfortunately, the way the requirement is worded, Venturing Crews have to figure out how to satisfy it unlike Cub/Boy/Varsity/Sea Scouting units which have advancement built into their programs. Im not trying to get around the requirement on a technicality or because of semantics. Im just trying to fit what Venturers do into the award. And while I agree t

5. Effectively use the advancement method so that at least 60 percent of the units youth have advanced at least once during the last 12 months. Since advancement is not a Venturing method, I would argue that any recognition/certification/award that Venturers work towards and earns would count as advancement in terms of personal growth. If a Crew specializes in first aid/EMT activities, their advanced first aid training should count. If a Ship loves to dive but does no sailing, their SCUBA certification should count. A Crew that specializes in culinary arts where its members won cooking

Kudu, Please do not take this as a flippant remark as I am really sincerely asking, but have you written your Congressman and/or Senators about how you feel the BSA is not living up to what is in the Congressional Charter? If so, will you share the reply or replies you have received? Any chance that Congress may revoke the charter or compel the BSA to adhere to the conditions? YiS, Chazz Lees

I've taken Wood Badge twice. First took the course in 1992 but I did not complete the ticket. Took it again on 2008 and earned my beads. Both Wood Badge courses showed up in my report. The dates listed for both were the last day of each course's last weekend. Chazz Lees

I looked at it a few days ago and the dates for the training I completed were correct. Since it was missing a ton of other training I completed, I will photocopy the cards of the missing courses and will send to my council registrar. It is a good way to see what training council is aware of you completing. Chazz Lees

SM52, You wrote, "In my opinion the uniform guidelines should be changed to allow those who have earned the rank of Eagle Scout the option to wear the oval rank patch. It still is my opinion that outsiders who see the rank understand it and do not understand the knot." That is probably true, but does it really matter? Only if the outsider sees you in uniform and asks if you are an Eagle Scout. As an Eagle Scout who had his Eagle BOR seventeen days after his eighteenth birthday, I have always worn the Eagle knot and never had a problem with it. This is how I handle the quest

I've been away for awhile and am back now. Thanks for all your posts and thoughts. Eagle92, my apologies. I meant to send you a message when I first posted this question, but forgot to do so when I got too sleepy. It's nice to see that many units do not stop Scouting when school ends. As Beavah wrote, the summer is a perfect time for Scouting because the Scouts do not have the distraction of school. Yesterday I went to the mall to buy a few things. I saw two groups of my Scouts there. I saw the first group of six middle school aged Scouts and said hi. When I asked what they were d

Moosetracker, I had a feeling that your son wrote his ticket the way he did for a reason. Too bad your husband has such a complex. He is too much of a dictator to be a mentor. Tell me, does your husband push himself to do better and do more than others in the troop, or is it just that way for your son as in "do as I say and not as I do?" I suggest your son go find another troop away from his father; otherwise, your husband will eventually suck the fun out of Scouting for your son. Chazz Lees

Eagle92 in another post made a comment with which I agree. He wrote, "On another note, what do you mean the troop is out for summer? Please tell me your troop is not a 9 month troop? Scouting is year round, and some of the best trips are over the summer." I was a Scout during the 80's and an active ASM during and after college right up until I joined the Marines. After that I moved a few states away. I did keep my registration with the troop and showed up for special events when I could travel. My troop met year round and it was a blast. The atmosphere was pretty relaxed during the s

jhankins, I agree with you about everything except the semantics part. I took Wood Badge in 1992 and again in 2008. During both courses, my ticket counselors stressed to me to be very detailed, specific, and clear about what I planned to do for each ticket item. I'm not sure why the son picked just the shed to clean and inventory, but he must have had his reason to write the ticket the way did. Perhaps he was annoyed that the Quartermaster was not doing the Quartermaster's job and decided not to do it for him. Perhaps he focused only on the shed because it had been a problem during m