DeanRx

I have a very simple solution to the AC that is getting run raggeed and getting no appreciation for it... as for not getting a thank you - let the SM know and he'll likely make it a point at the next CoH. Just because she was left off the list doesn't mean it was intentional, just overlooked - we all make mistakes. Now - for the meat and potatos of this thread.... Set a deadline and hold your ASM's and SM to it - period. We are all adults and have deadlines in every other aspect of life. If CoH is on the 15th, then ALL awards must be in to the AC NLT the 10th. You call on the 11t

Well, mine is the world of cubbing right now, but some things to consider and items our unit committee has ID'd and written into simple bylaws... most have to do with funding and decision making. 1) I would not advocate double signatures on checks. All it does is slow down reimbursement to those who have fronted their hard earned cash on behalf of the unit. Better stance is to have an independent audit of checks (once per quarter) by someone on the committee OTHER than the treasurer. If the treasurer is doing their job, this takes about 10 minutes. 2) IF you have indivdual scout a

Short answer is - Do whatever you want. Per BSa guidelines, you should not wear items you earned as a youth other than knots above the left pocket. However, you can wear a temporary patch either on or hanging from the button (or both) of the right pocket. Put your Philmont patch or religious emblem there and don't let anyone tell you you can't. REASON - I wear my old OA patch on that pocket (the unit has been merged and its an out of commission unit now anyways) - BUT, it is a GREAT conversation starter with the youth... How'd you get that one.... how old were you when you

Basement- You are way above what I could have put up with. PWD build, I would have cancelled it b/c of failure of adult supervision. Plain and simple. Let the scouts know thatyou need some moms and dads to show up and help out or you cannot have the build date. Use the children's peer pressure - either they want it and will get it out of their parents or they won't. Second - any flak I get from a DE or UC about FOS and not enough dollars or waxing and waning roster numbers would be met with a HUGE steaming cup of some not-so-scoutlike comebacks. I had a DE try to shake me down O

The ONLY kid who will fall off the dock is the one in the group who can't swim. Playing keep away with the last roll of toliet paper is only funny if you're not the one who needs to use the port-a-john. TP makes great tinder for a campfire, used TP insures you get the fire all to yourself. The only kid who will fall and gash his leg open on the hike is the one who faints at the sight of blood, you can hike the rest through shards of broken glass without a scratch. Same applies to bee stings and allergic reactions... The best way to get back at the SM that sends you out

Hopefully, I am not straying too far off topic, and I've already posted on my ideas for what to do within CS advancement, but the attrition issue stems from several colliding factors IMHO.... 1) Leader burnout by the Web II year - already been discussed and due to a multitude of reasons... 2) The view of a large number of scouts and parents that AOL is a FINISH LINE, instead of the starting place for Boy Scouting. I've even heard parents lament, "I just want to get Johnny to stick it out until AOL, then he can go do football, baseball, soccer, music, etc..." - they view it as a goal

Hopefully, Eagle92 is a pro at the council or higher level and has the ability to make these ideas known to national at some point.... silly to play "king for a day" if its just wishful thinking, but here goes.... 1) Do away with Tiger Cub Year. REASON: Go-see-its are a pain to coordinate, and we expect the newbie leader to take on this task right out of the gate - this is intimadating to the new leader (it was to me a few years ago). 2) Less paperwork / poster work and more build useful things and do things outdoors. Look at how many of the requirements state "Draw a poster that x

I use a flat oil drip pan from the local Napa store. Cost me $7, I use a charcoal chiminey starter to get the coals good and hot, then spead them out on the pan, I can cook with 2 ovens on this set-up. If it need to be off the ground, I support it with a series of 6 to 8 patio paver bricks, I've seen cinder blocks used as well. However, if its on concrete without any type of stamping or coloring in the concrete - you can place it directly on the ground. you'd have to get uber hot to damage the concrete surface.

I'm mostly with Beav and OGE on this one too - the only caveate I would add is that often LNT is not applied correctly in the correct setting. Overzealous types can (and do) attempt to apply backcountry and frontcountry guidelines to well established camping areas and that just doesn't work. Some examples I can think of: 1) do not leave firewood or an established fire ring at a backcountry campsite. For the most part the answer is YES. But, if you are, for instance, at Northern Tier - you can only camp in designated campsite areas on the topo maps within the boundry waters bi-national

Seattle - I'm well aware that there are hundreds of ehtnic groups, cultures, and languages that make up what most demogarphers would describe as 'asain'. Not trying to lump them all together, just using it as an example. As for the link between the Catholic Church and National's emphasis (not your OP's emphasis) on recruiting Hispanics, then WHY has this ONE ethnic group been singled out over all the other eithnic groups that make up the melting pot that is the USA? 1) They are one of the fastest growing minorities in the country 2) They are predominately convservative in their m

The unfortunate truth is that when you try to morph yourself to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. We have hispanic youth in our pack, we have other ethnic backgrounds as well - its a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. Trouble is - you start printing forms in Spanish, then how do you respond when a French, German, or Phillipino family shows up at the next recruitment? Opps - need more forms in more languages! Its a never ending cycle. Trouble is - I had two fairly prominent usually generous families DROP their FOS donations last year when they found out (from the cou

OK - I'll be ready for the flames on this one, but here goes... 1) I am CM for a pack in southern California 2) We have many bilingual families in our pack (not just Spanish, but French, Tagalog, and Hindu) 3) We have several parents that speak Spanish, at least one of which is in uniform and ID'd as a Spansih Translator with a BSA translator tag. Other than that - we do not go out of our way to recruit or inhibit the participation of hispanic youth - we recruit youth from 3 different grade schools in the area, plain and simple. You are a boy at one of these schools (or live in

the older scout on the BOR was usually one that was pretty familiar with the scout in question. So, they also acted to attest to the accomplishments of the scout sitting for the BOR as well as posing questions to him. Sometimes it was another scout from their patrol, sometimes not - but always one you were friends with and never your PL or the SPL. SPL might have sat in, but just as an observer.

FWIW- I too recall having BOR's for the lower ranks (T-2-1) that consisted of 2 adluts (usually a Committee member or an ASM or both) and ONE later rank scout (Star, Life or Eagle). The BOR never had the SM or a family member (if involved w/ the troop) of the scout, but I had several BOR's with an ASM on it. I'm honestly not sure our unit would have had the volunteers to DO a good BOR if they didn't have it as part of ASM's duty. The older scout was a member of the BOR, but as I recall only asked questions and didn't really "have a vote" so to speak. It was not so much of a te

I'm with CRK on this one... Kelty, Kelty, Kelty.... good advice to go get it fitted and with weight. I got my son a Kelty Coyote 2 years ago. I like b/c its very versatile, top can be removed for use as day-pack, has water bladder compartment, has lower sleeping bag compartment, etc... MOST important feature: adjustable shoulder and hip belt to resize as he grows !!! Go try a few out at the local gear shop. If they don't have a weight, then use some gear in the shop. I had my son do 5 laps around the store with a 20 pound medicine ball from the weights department strap

Go with the CO on this one. As for the parents, behaps suggest they get together and fashion a nice big letter A the young girl could wear on her uniform for the durration of her "condition". While I understand not wanting to endorse her choice to pro-create out of wedlock, I stand firmly in the two wrongs don't make a right corner on this issue. If your CO is a religious organization - then I'd suggest a reminder about Jesus and the whole those without sin tossing the 1st stone passage. After that, let them make the decision. I guess I'm saying make your feelings known, b

A very sad stroy and prayers for all involved, especially the scout and his family... A few items have jumped out at me from reading the OP, the replies, and other "wilderness survival" literature... 1) Be Prepared is more than a motto - it should be a way of life. Be prepared for the unknown, be prepared to alter your itinirary when adverse conditions present themselves. Be prepared for ill prepared youth. KNOW ahead of time what are the absolute rules... like don't split up, don't get seperated. 2) There is a fine line between pushing youth to exceed their own limitations a

And besides - you can always use the shiny pop-tart wrapper as an emergency signal mirror.... what other food comes packaged in survival gear? Sorry for the confusion on the sheath knives - I was not putting them on the same level as alcohol or porn, just happened to mention them in the same sentence - sheesh !

And besides - you can always use the shiny pop-tart wrapper as an emergency signal mirror.... what other food comes packaged in survival gear? Sorry for the confusion on the sheath knives - I was not putting them on the same level as alcohol or porn, just happened to mention them in the same sentence - sheesh !

Just a thought - but WHY such a hatred for PopTarts? I know they are an easy, no cook meal, but if its only for ONE breakfast or a snack, I just don't see the issue. Do the units that ban PopTarts also forbid canned tuna or tuna packets? What about ANY type of freeze-dried backpacking food? One could make the same argument about these types of foods. What about cheese and crackers? When I was a scout - it was a novelty to bring canned sardines, mustard and crackers. Can they still vent a Dinty-Moore stew can and cook it directly on the coals? Not much prep / teamwork there, but

Let 'em have the sticks - just tell them the first one that hits a buddy gets his iPod, PSP, or DSi hit with the stick as well Works every time. Dean

Scoutfish- I would agree with you. Earlier this month at the range on our Pack Family Campout, the rangemaster had a good chuckle when my son and his buddy were complaining that there was a lot of "slack" in the trigger on the council owned BB-guns. This led to a discussion about trigger play, dead space, and trigger travel on the part of the boys. More advanced than I think the rangemaster expected out of a group of cubbies, but they were actually thinking about what causes them to be more or less accurate - line of sight, cheek weld, breathing, trigger squeeze vs. pull, and trigger s

Correction on my previous post- I just looked up the G2SS online... you must have 1 adult CRP cert. for Safety Afloat. While not required for safe swim defense, it is RECOMMENDED that an adult be cert. in CPR. Not sure if that is a recent change or if I thought you needed CPR for both activities b/c I took the two trainings at the same time. Anyways - not quite sure WHY BSA would require it for watercraft use, but not for supervising boys that are actually swimming in the water?

Just a couple points of clarification: First, if you are talking about the BSA swim test as part of the Aquanaut pin for Webelos, then the DL is the one that signs off on Webelos rank advancement. As the den advancement person, if the DL says they passed it, then they passed it. However, just because a parent SAYS a kid did something does not mean the DL has to take their word for it. Unlike Tiger, Wolf, Bear - the Webelos program specifically states that the DL is the sign off authority for advancement. Can the DL take the parent's word? Yes. Should they? Maybe. Second, i

Depends on the part of the country you are in, or the time of year, but one our our favorites is to take small blacklight flashlights with us. The scorpions in our area will glow in the dark under UV light!