Eagle92

Gary, I hope the tenure = ten years goal works out, esp. in my neck of the woods. I know several of us on the district committee would like to see the LDS units more. But as mentioned elsewhere, their leadership changes yearly, if not sooner.

Somewhere on the old 'puter, I got a pic of CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow in a Sea Scout uniform yep borrowed part of sis-in-law's costume and wore it to conclave one year as that was the theme. We did pirates last year for CSDC, and my wife the storyteller borrowed the costume. It was a huge hit, and hope to have her borrow the armour for Knights next year. Too bad sis-in-law couldn't make it. Last time I was with her in the costume, the police stopped her in the mall, gave her a field sobriety test, and told her to stop acting drunk.

Gary, From what I read on some LDS and Scouting blogs, there are many folks who feel obligated to say yeas when called to be a scout leader. They are not enthusiastic, are not interested, and are marking time until someone else gets called.

Just curious, why is BnG such a big deal for advancement? Growing up, we got advancement every month in that pack, and last year advancement was given every month with my son's pack. So what's up?

Sounds silly, but I fill one out every time I do something.

Trainer, One of the things we did with new leaders who came into the store was show them the old Program Helps that the new book replaced and all the other resources. I would tell them that, the BSA doesn't say 'Thank you very much for being a DL, you're on your own now.' Instead we say 'Thank you for being a DL and here a bunch of resources to help you, Program Helps, Leaders' Handbook, and How To Book among the others. #1 book I recommend is the Program Helps as it is the lesson plans for all of your meetings; everything is laid out for you Program Helps were such a big hit, I had GSUSA leaders come in and buy them for their troops. Also I hope you stockpile advancement in January, may want to get the order in Dec, that way you may get them in time.

The only "theme" camping I've heard of is council activities, i.e. Spook-a-ree, Webelos Woods, and the various day camps. Also some council's have a Cub World, with fixed themes: Native American, Wild West, Pirates, etc.

'Fish I remember security being tight for several weeks afterwards. I went to an officer recruiter about 2-4 weeks later, and the base had the barricades in a zigzag pattern, armed guards patrolling the perimeter and the entrance, etc.

I know I should know this, but I don't as it's been a while, but 12% TAY keeps popping into my head. Don't remember if that was my overall goal or if that as the actual population we were serving. To be honest I just parroted the line because I was more concerned about other challenges than TAY: creating a district committee, commissioner corps, etc.

I was in my living room watching TV and getting ready for work. Drove the 45 minutes glued to the radio, and the scout shop was very quiet that day. Visited my mom at lunch to find out that my sister was working in NYC on an assignment,and she was worried b/c she wasn't able to get in touch with her. A few days later I found out that my sister was one of the folks doing triage on the ferry dock directly across the river. She heard and felt the first plane from her hotel, and saw the second plane crash. Casulties started coming across, and she went to the docks to help. All the leaders in the troop I had just left the month before were either active duty or contractors at the local space center, and the center went on lockdown. The troop met on Tuesdays, but not that one. That Saturday was a powwow that several OA members went to. We remembered those that died, and danced that weekend for them. It was the first time I saw unsheathed weapons in the dance circle, and we had many angry dancers in reference to the attacks. In reference to what my pack is doing, nothing as we are still in the restarting stages of the new school year. The troop and crew are doign a memorial service in the local mall.

Bac, Having to deal with this personally, as well as seeing a freind enoucnter the same problem, here is what we did. We used copies of the troop's advancement reports to get the correct dates and resubmitted them to council. In my case, some of the forms were missing form the troop records, so they used a photocopy my BSHB which had the MBC's signature as well as the BORs signatrures in the advancemetn section. My troop didn't use blue cards, so the MBC signed in the book.

Normally I would say Moose is wrong as it's 'your advancement, your responsibility," but as I have found if the council is involved, scouts mostly get ignored.

I agree with ACCO, emphasis on Scout, not adults. Now I want to throuw a little Coleman fuel on this fire: is there an appropriate time for a registered member or leader to NOT wear the uniform at an ECOH? I know the answer, but wanted to start a nice, long campfire to cook some Jiffypop. To bad Trail's End deosn't make it as it is great stuff for a campfire.

I admit I was one of the sensitive ones about age, not b/c people thought I was a scout and not an adult, I actually laughed at those situations, but by the lack of courtesy from some adults. When I became a DE at the ripe old age of 23, I refused to mention my age when asked, only saying "To old to be a Scout, to young to retire." Best age confusion and uniform story. I am at the council banquet as OA chapter adviser. I'm in uniform with silver loops, no unit numbers, and wearing my Eagle, and Scouter's Training Award medals. Council secretary thinks I am part of the Eagle class and tries to direct me to those tables.

Jeff, But some of us old fogeys hadn't had a chance to got to Philmont, so we are looking forward to going with our sons Seriously though if finances are a problem for a a family, then the kids should go without the old fogey. Ok gotta put some change in the Philmont jar.

J I'll be honest we were not taught how to compute them as they were handed to us by the DFS and SE. The map, ok really two or three maps in my case, had all the info on them. Those were in my red book at all times once they were issued. Forgot to add that the map also had churches, civic groups, and other potential COs as well as current units color coded on it as well. I don't know if national made those for the council, or if the council created them in house, but 90% of the info we needed for various reports were on it.

CS is an interesting program isn't While Cubs automatically move up to the next level, i.e. can join Tigers, move from Tiger to Wolf, etc. on Jun 1, their is discretion at the unit level. June 1 is when they can start working on the next level, i.e. a Tiger can begin working on Wolf as of June 1st. BUT if they haven't earned Tiger yet, they have until school starts to finish it. Also a cub cannot work on two ranks simultaneously, i.e. working on Tiger and Wolf at the same time. So if he works on Tiger stuff over the summer, he cannot do wolf stuff at teh same time. Now If he earned Tiger say in June, then he can work on Wolf in July.

WHAT?!?!?!?!? Seriously, thsi was something my council harped on when I was a DE. In fact I had a map issued with all the schools, school stats, and county pop stats that I had to use.

My troop growing up was an integrated one, save the Leadership Corps which comprised of older scouts who had served as PLs and were voted in by the LC members. We did the NSP one time. it didn't work as the PLC liked, and we went back to integrated patrols. New Scouts were split up among the two or three patrols, and every 6 months when elections were held, if folks wanted to switch patrols, they could. Rarely this happened. In fact if memory serves, the only time this happened is when a new patrol needed to be formed, or we had to downsize from 3 mixed patrols to 2 mixed patrols. LC size varied from as few as 4 to as many as 10 and was never disbanded. The 2nd Class, First Class and Star Scouts worked with the younger scouts in their patrol, sometimes almost as a mentor like state. it worked very well and the troop was an active one.

Kudu, No problems, you may be surprised at how much of the details we do agree on. In ref to the adults on the trip, I know the parents were glad they were their for "supervision." ( differnt topic I know) Although I can tell you this: none of the adults interfered, even when we had to land early one day to deal with the weather and two hypothermia cases. The ASPL made the decision (we divided the 4 patrols into two groups with SPL and ASPL leading) to land early, my PL recognized that I had hypothermia,and the patrols took care of hypothermia cases. Adults didn't interfere. They did their jobs: trained us during the prep trips and let us at it. Now I do admit I like elections every 6 months for PLs and SPLs.And it's not to allow everyone a chance at advancement. I believe that once you are elected, you have every right to keep running until you no longer want the job. I don't believe in being PL for X months and giving it up. Heck it takes 6 months just for the PL to get the training and expereince to run the patrol. Rather having the elections reminds the PL or SPL that his primary responsibility it to the patrol or troop respectively, and that if he isn't doing a good job,they will not reelect him. On a more personal note, there is another reason why i like it. My troop was in a situation where we had two very capable scouts able to be SPL. Problem was that due to other commitments, both school related, half the year they could not fulfill the duties of SPL. By splitting it into two 6 month terms, one was elected SPL during a period when the other couldn't serve and vice versa. And yes others were running for the positions, so it was NOT (caps to show edit)a defacto election. The problem I've heard is that doing elections sometimes turns into popularity contests. That shouldn't be the case: the scouts need to vote for the best person. Also I don't think you should limit terms of office. Again it waters down experience. ON the other hand, i do think the PL needs to work with his patrol on scout skills and teaching skills, and work particularity with to get him to the point where he could be PL if need be. My troop's philosophy was that to truly master a scout skill, you need to be able to teach it.(This message has been edited by Eagle92)

Ask your DE as that is a figure they should know off the top of his head.

SB, What if your unit doesn't use blue cards? I never saw one in my life until I worked for supply.

I know that some COs are requiring a separate background check AND their own version of YPT. One Catholic diocese I was in was in the process of requiring this for all scout leaders to take the diocesan youth protection. When I was with the troop, scouters HAD to have BSA's YPT or the IH would not approve.That's when I found out how good the SCOUTNET records are the first go around b/c my YPT, which I took 2 or 3 months earlier was not listed. Just after I left that troop, the diocesan version was created and required in addition to BSA's YPT.

As they call it in my neck of the woods, a 'Come to Jesus" meeting is definitely in order between you, COR, and CC with Mr Johnny when he gets back. The only person he's hurting in the son. As for cooking over a wood fire, you are joking about it being too much right?!?!?! That should be a staple of Scouting, where permissible of course.(This message has been edited by Eagle92)

'Fish, Some of the folks have been in Scouting for as long as I have or longer. When you see units that deliberately break the rules, and then something happens, it does hurt the rest of us in the long term. Why do you think the G2SS came into existence? That's why some folks get really upset. I think turning it into a pack campout is the best idea. second best would be making it day activities/meetings. I wouldn't do multiple den campouts b/c A) it isn't allowed and B) don't want to burn out hte parents. yep I've seen parent's get burnt ot on camping after a few hours. Good luck.