Dan Williamson

Bob White, Thanks. We have a good feeder Pack...same number in fact and same charter organization. This past year we strenghtened relationships with the pack so all is good. I had skulled through a lot of what you recommended but had not thought of the Parent guide part. Good idea. Thanks again.

Bob White, What is your recommended method for handling the Scout Badge requirements for a cohort of Webelos coming to the troop? If they had a good Webelos II den and a quality experience to earn Arrow of Light they should have accomplished most of the requirements for the Scout Badge. Do you do a "check ride" and present them with their Scout Badge the first night they arrive? I can see advantages in that. Or is there another better way. It certainly doesn't need to be strung out but I want to get it right.

kwc57, Nothing personal with Dutch and I apoligize for sounding like I was attacking him personally. I do not like the notion of quitting if all is not square or advising someone to do so. I tend to meet issues head on and upfront. If I was snubbed I would have been 'in-your-face" obnoxious about being heard. I will not tolerate being ignored. When I see something that I know is not right I tend to confront the person doing the wrong and put them on notice. So in his case I would have put the SM and Advancement chair on notice to fix the problem, given them a reasonable time to fix it, then

Yea Dutch do what you want. But I'll stick to my guns too. Go find a troop that doesn't require anything from you personally. Don't volunteer to be the next Scoutmaster and fix the problems and don't volunteer to be the advancement chair on the committee. Lots of work there. Lots of troops out there that meet your criteria. Let me describe "Generic Troop" and it's leaders. They don't really want your help or ideas because they have been doing things the same way since Napolean was a road guard and don't want you mucking around in their empire and upsetting their delicate ego balance. So you ha

kwc57, We are very much boy led. But Boy Led doesn't mean no guidance, no help, no suggestions, no goals. Our schedule is fungible and very much influenced by the boys. In fact if we were just pushing one could make Eagle even faster than we lay out. I guess it depends on one's view point. We have some kids that really advance quickly at a pace they set for themselves. We have some that don't advance rapidly at all because they are not consistent participants. But the average kid who attends meetings, camp, outings, etc. can make Eagle. Most of our boys LIKE to succeed, advance, learn and ge

Dutch, Another viewpoint if I may....Some of what you say sounds like what goes on in our council/district but with huge exceptions. The biggest being standards. We insure that all boys actually do the work and we keep track of the paperwork. We have a merit badge coordinator in the troop to whom the boys go if they want to complete a merit badge. They get a blue card, a workbook and a counselor assigned...and we try to keep them buddied up so we don't get into any one-on-one counseling. Recors are kept with a file for each boy. I don't see anything wrong with this. When we go to "merit badg

Buffalo2, You are lucky. In 1985 at the Staff College and 1993 at the War College we had to do this the old fashioned way. In fact, some of these books about B-P I have only been able to find in these very extensive military libraries....but go to pinetreeweb.com and you can read most of them on-line. Some are by B-P himself and others, The Great Boer War by Arthur Conan Doyle (famous as the creator of Sherlock Holmes) and the short piece in Great Contemporaries by Winston Churchill are pretty good as starters. He was a man of the Victorian Era, very popular in England during his lifetime an

Old Grey Eagle, Since I am a retired Army officer, Command and General Staff College graduate, War College graduate and closet military historian I have been forced, forced mind you, to read and study Baden-Powell's exploits in South Africa...before he invented Boy Scouts (actually I picked him as a subject for further research). They are a great example of the innovative use of all available assets to accomplish a task. He was ahead of his time and a master in his use of deception, camoflage and down right sneaky tricks to keep his enemy guessing and off balance while surviving a seige agai

The subject of military equipment...not BDUs...I am insisting that the parents in our troop go to the local Army/Navy and check out military surplus pistol belts, canteens, covers and harnesses, mosquito nets, etc. for our Scouts for summer camp. The equipment is far superior to the junk they typically buy at the Scout Store or Wally World and will not self destruct after one day of "boy testing". Since women have been around the military for quite a while you can get sizes that fit an 11-15 year old boy. I insist in the summer, since I am responsible for them, that boys ALWAYS carry water wh

LauraT7, There are plenty of positions that count for leadership time that have not been mentioned here. Troop Guide is an honored position in our troop, third in line of succession and only appointed by the Scoutmaster from among the best. OA Representative is a good one. You can have as many Instructors as you want...an example of how to use them is to make them an expert in one task like knots or compass or fire starting and use them to impart knowledge. Librarian, scribe, historian and quartermaster are useful if you use them correctly, give them specific duties and projects and check th

I'm with ASM7. This is all sickening. Most of the posters are relativists. Meaning....truth is left up to an individuals interpretation. Being gay may be a choice but it is the wrong choice. Nature says so...the Bible says so and no sugar coating or relativism will make the truth of that go away. I have a word for Mr. TJ...QUIT! When and if the BSA allows gays I will stand up and do the right thing...I'll QUIT!

Probably too late to reply to this thread but I've been busy. There's a war on you know. AND I admit to not reading every response in detail....but here's my two cents. I played lots of sports in school year round, had homework, but NEVER missed a Scout meeting because of sports and NEVER missed a Scout outing and NEVER came to Scouts without my uniform, sometimes changing at the Scout Hut, because I understood that the standard was to be in uniform. What's different now??...not much. Except when you peel the onion back on the sports stuff the kids are not on a school team but in some sort of

OOps...My last was for Bob White...Thanks for yesterday's 2:50 PM advice. Dan Williamson

Thanks for the advice in your posting of 2:50 pm yesterday. But a piece of it points to my frustration. I didn't even know that there was such a thing as a Patrol Leader and Senior Patrol Leader Handbook and that they were good resources until AFTER my training when I stumbled onto them.

I'm with you. The kids who seem to do the best have parents who "get it"...meaning involved with their kid. Sadly there are some good boys who get no attention at home. Dad seems to ignore them...would rather play golf. Mom has to get her aerobic workout in. (Have a high handicap, stay fat and raise your kid is my motto) They never come to any Scout stuff. My concern is that we will lose these guys when they get older unless we have a program that is so "cool" they can't refuse it. I am bound and determined to have such a program. Bob White tells me there isn't much in the BSA Rules/bylaws

Sctmom, Glad you asked.....I just outlined my situation on the Woodbadge thread so I won't repeat it all but as a new Scoutmaster I have to tell you that some people are "winging it" because, in my opinion, the basic training (scout leader specific training) doesn't cover many of the (what I call) practical aspects of the program. Lots of philosophy, game playing, team building (not all bad) but short on other things...like problems with parents, junior leader training techniques(found the books on my own later), retention issues, the rules you are talking about and a host of other issues th

Bob White, I fully understand your position and if it weren't for this website and many of your postings I would be further behind than I am. But I have to tell you that from my, admittedly, inexperienced seat most of what you post as answers cover the ideal situations. Sometimes guys like me need to hear some "this works or this doesn't work" type answers and not just the philosophy. Discipline, for example, seems to be a sticking point between us. You suggest that I give up scouting over my desire to discipline other people's children. Not going to happen. I don't have that desire. All I d

At the risk of stirring some pots.....BSLBT was woefully inadequate on how to run the admin part of a Scout troop, spent scant seconds on planning, and didn't touch discipline, causing my (mentioned elsewhere) "voyage of discovery". Please don't come back with "it's a boy run troop", "parents or the Committee are in charge of discipline" and "just follow the scout law". I've heard all that....got it. I'm usually real interested in reality and many here seem to water down the reality of the Scoutmaster's role. Since I never complain without offering my services I have volunteered to help with t

ASM 1 Ref: BSA Rules and Bylaws...I also did a search on the national site with no results. I was told in a side bar that I had to get them from my District Executive. She is ordering me a set. Kinda makes you wonder what's going on when something as basic as rules and bylaws are not easily obtainable by the volunteers.

Well I have solved my own problem. There in fact are BSA rules and regulations...publication no. 57-492 and BSA charter and bylaws...publication no. 57-491. One has to special order them...an important clue...from where we know not yet but I'll figure that out too.

I have in fact thought of pulling up stakes and leaving this mess behind and starting another troop with the American Legion. They want to start one here and we speak the same language. (26 years-Army....and contrary to your SM we are not all bad...not all close minded....in fact we invented "out of the box", and the internet [not Al Gore], and lots of other useful stuff). Starting our own troop would be great. We'll meet every Thursday at 1900 somewhere between Tidewater, VA and Baltimore.

Ok. Not sure my question was answered. Where is it written.....If there are no written bylaws/directives/rules from the National HQ then ok, that alone explains a lot of what I am seeing in Scouting today....if there are, tell me how to get them...website or address or phone number. I also fully understand the Scout Law and Oath business but the reality is that sometimes, for the good of the boys who want to be Scouts and the Troop as a whole, certain boys need to be sent home FOREVER. We just had this exact situation. A boy did not respond to any leadership technique, appeal, request or discu

My opinion....Hat for summer wear should be ventilated with wide brim all around to keep the sun off. We wear a green Army style bush hat (boonie hat) that is popular with the boys and from my position as the responsible and accountable adult, the only hat I will allow. It is a key to preventing heat injuries in our climate. Baseball caps are inadequate, berets are impractical and no hat is not an option. I refuse to be responsible for sun burn or heat injuries if the boys are not properly attired. Hat for winter should be augmented with a wool watch cap. Shirt...it's fine for formations...g

At the risk of throwing rocks at the education I received at BSLBT (and this is just one in a string of issues that were not discussed there) and my own district therefore....where do we go to find the written policy statement, bylaw, dictum, or whatever it is called that says that only charter organizations can remove a boy from scouting....I have seen lots of traffic on this net covering a wide range of subjects that gets to some of the discipline issues. I have read of suspensions, removal from troops for disciplinary problems, "three strikes you're out policies", letting the Troop Committe

For Bob White's opinion....this requires some "peeling of the onion"...Are you saying that only the COR can remove someone from a troop? In this case it appears to be a whole family but are you saying that the troop committee, for example, has no ability to remove even a boy for disciplinary reasons?