clemlaw

Yes, that's what I was getting at. I'm just not sure that "strong" is the best word to describe it. The actual distance for the qualification is somewhat arbitrary. If a Scout passes the test, it should be obvious that he could keep swimming another hundred yards if he wanted. If there is any doubt about that, then he probably didn't pass. That's the way I interpret the word "strong", but I'm still not sure it's the right word.

Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough. I agree, I would have failed someone who did all or part with the dog paddle. I read "strong" to mean that it needs to be one of the "official" strokes the whole way, and done correctly the whole way. I was just saying that he doesn't need to going full strength the entire distance. Swimming slowly, as long as he's doing it right, is still "strong" as far as I'm concerned. It's ambiguous to me, because one way of being "strong" while swimming would be to swim fast. But IMHO, a kid shouldn't have to swim "fast" to pass the test. But he

Well, I can only speak of my own experience 30+ years ago. And I am definitely not "typical". I'm not a typical adult, and I wasn't a typical Scout. Frankly, I'm a little bit weird, but I offer this as one data point. I was there partly because my parents thought it was a good idea. They just kind of pointed me that direction by signing me up for Cub Scouts, and I never really had any good reason to resist. And the other part of the reason was that I enjoyed most of it, and generally had fun doing stuff. Now, those are the typical reasons. In my case, which might be unique

>>>>Remember the wording in the test says "in a strong manner.

Well, I agree with you that it doesn't pass the smell test. I'm sure there are other rules that would be violated, but the first one I can think of is that the BSA uniform is not to be worn while selling any commercial product. So at the very minimum, if he wants to make this presentation at a meeting, he'll need to wear civilian clothes that night. I'm guessing that he'll argue that he's a world class expert on the subject, which may or may not be true, and that he simply wants to share his knowledge, and not sell his products. If that's the case, then he won't have any objection

I could be mistaken, but I don't think the U.S. Flag Code says one way or another. The Flag Code does specify where the Union should be when a _flag_ is displayed on a wall, in a window, or hanging over a street. It does not specify the orientation of a flag patch, and a shirt is neither a wall, a window, nor a street.

Apparently, the Army has a regulation which specifies that the blue field is oriented toward the front of the shirt. Thus, on the right sleeve, the flag should be "backwards". http://www.usflag.org/flagpatch.html The Flag Code states merely that "a flag patch may be affixed to the unfiorm of ... members of patriotic organizations", and makes no reference to where or in what orientation. The Army regulation does not apply, because Boy Scouts are not part of the Army.(This message has been edited by clemlaw)

Actually, when I wrote my post above, I hadn't read the question very well, and I thought you meant passing the BSA test to be signed off as a swimmer, for purposes of going into the deep end at a BSA event. I realize the test is the same, but if they're doing it _only_ to pass the requirement for the pin, I guess I would show a little bit of leaway. If the parents said that Junior had swum a hundred yards, then I guess I would take their word for it. On the other hand, if they said merely that Junior was _able_ to swim a hundred yards, then that doesn't meet the requirement. He ha

I don't think the requirement is asking for _the_ three ways in which the eyes work together. It is asking for three of the many ways in which they work together. So a good #3 would be that the eyes track together while following an object. To demonstrate this, you can move a finger back and forth in front of the subject's eyes, and everyone (other than the subject) will observe that the two eyes travel in unison.

>>>>"My boy is a good swimmer." ""I could pass that test easily."

>>>Would you care to come to my District and find the volunteers to handle a test out?

I don't have the G2SS in front of me, but I seem to recall that the first requirement on the test for both levels is to "jump into water over your head". Presumably, if a Scout signs up to take the test, then he can probably at least dog paddle back to the dock, even if it turns out he's not able to pass the test. But as far as I can tell, there's no requirement for any kind of pre-screening. So it seems to me that there ought to be at least one certified lifeguard present while the test is taking place, to pull out that Scout who doesn't even know how to dog paddle. I need to

That must have varied by Council as well. My 1969 Cub Scout uniform definitely had two separate pieces of fabric. The one on top said "Minneapolis" and the one below it said "Minn". I seem to recall that even small suburbs had their own city strip. I always wondered, and never figured out for sure, whether the city name was where the scout resided, where the unit was chartered, or where it met. In most cases, those were the same city, but I never figured out what happened when a scout crossed a city boundary to go from his home to his scout meeting. Right now, my son lives in one

Now, take my advice for what it's worth. I've been away from Scouting for about 30 years, and my current involvement is as Tiger Cub Den Leader. That means either that I'm out of touch, or else it means that I'm looking at this as an impartial outsider. You have to decide which it is. But my first question is whether this troop is worth saving. I don't know what the minimum number of youth required for rechartering is, but I suspect that it's a pretty small number. And even though you're still above that number on paper, you're already below that number in reality. Back when

I think it was about 1970, plus or minus a couple of years. I'm pretty sure that when I joined Cub Scouts in 1969, it was two red strips that said "Minneapolis Minn." When I joined Boy Scouts in 1972, it was a Council patch. Or maybe it was my brother's Cub Scout uniform. He was six years older than me. But I remember we had some uniform(s) in the house with the red strips. In any event, the council patches were relatively new at that time.

>>>>>Now some will say, ABSOLUTELY very useful.

Yes, being a Cub Scout as an adult is actually more fun than it was as a kid.

Oh, maybe that explains why my Tiger Leader salary check has been so delayed!

Thanks for the link! They have a nice collection of merit badges of varying difficulty. They also have a nice selection of "trained" patches, such as "untrainable". http://www.boyscoutstore.com/spoof-custom-patches/

I assumed that the intention was that it could be used to induce a mild guilt trip if necessary. Very few parents are going to check the "no" box. Perhaps it's more than check the "I use illegal drugs" box, but still, it's probably uncommon. So when calling a new parent to help out with something, it's a good way to start the phone call: "I see you said on Junior's application that you were willing to be an active scout parent. We need some help next week with ....." If they checked the "no" box, you can still make the phone call. You just need some other opening line. They're

Shhhh. Don't tell the secret like that. When I go somewhere in a canoe, people think I'm "roughing it", but in reality I can bring along pretty much all the creature comforts I want. You're going to destroy the mystique.

Some of us protestants also have a top-down approach, which sometimes goes by the name "sola scritura". It also seems to me that it's somewhat counter-productive to send scouts to a class, unless it's one of those relatively few occasions when a classroom setting is the best way to get the material. I can really only think of two occasions when I was in Scouts when I was sent to a "class", and one of those wasn't even really part of the Scouting program. We were all strongly encouraged to take a Firearm Safety class. It wasn't run by the troop (it was sponsored by one of our char

Oh, yes, I know it's officially part of the uniform until the stroke of midnight on the Scout's 18th birthday. I'm just wondering whether it's customary for Scouts to wear it after they hit the higher ranks. It's been a long time, but I don't think we really worried about it back in the day. In general, we had fewer adornments to worry about. As far as I remember, everything you needed to know about where to put things on the uniform was contained inside the back cover of the Handbook.

Just out of curiousity, do Boy Scouts typically wear their Arrow of Light badge throughout their time in Boy Scouts? I could be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure I stopped wearing it after I outgrew my first Boy Scout shirt. I don't think I bothered putting it on (ok, ok, asking my mom to put it on) my new shirt. It seemed more like a Cub Scout thing to me. Like I think I mentioned above, I was kind of surprised to learn that there was an adult knot for it. I do wear it as a Cub Scout leader, because it shows that there's something they're working on now that they'll carry with them into

I'm impressed with surveying. It looks like there is no alternative option other than going out and doing an actual survey. And it says the scout is supposed to use modern equipment and techniques, so chances are, they're going to have to borrow those from an actual surveyor, which means that the counsellor is probably going to be an actual surveyor. For archaeology, the "mock dig" looks like it could leave a lot up to the counsellor's discretion. Presumably, he or she would decide whether the Scout is really "unable to work in the field or in a laboratory". But yes, those two are