Eagle92

In regards to scouting and shooting sports, the following is a story a DE told me that he heard on NPR. Whether it's true or not, I don't know. A Marine general in charge of Camp Lejeune was being interviewed about the bases support of Boy Scouts. The topic of BB Guns and day camp came up, and the female interviewer expressed concerns. General goes on about safety, training, BSA rules, etc. Interviewer then makes a comment about teaching shooting sports being irresponsible since that is equipping the scouts to become murderers. The general's response was "well, you're equipped to be a prostitute, but you're not."

While my troop never did it, I know of troops that went to one put on by several troops. From conversations with them, here are the basics. 1. Three troops sponsored the independent camp, and all units attending had to provide x number of MBCs based upon your unit's attendance. 2. They had firm deadlines and maximum number allowed to attend. 3. While some MBs and activities were standard, every year the list of MBC offered varied based upon the MBCs available. 4. Some standard activities could not be offered, i.e. shooting sports. 5. Cheaper than council camps, but no frills, just the basics.

BSA allows patrols to create their own name, and therefor their own patrol medallion. BSA sells blanks which I've seen people draw the design in permanent ink and take to emboridery shops. Also national will do custom patrol medallions with a minimum order of 12. Coolest patrol medallion I personally had in my hand was the White Tiger Patrol. Since they had a connection with the local zoo which had a white tiger, they went with that, Look really good.

I admit I do not NSPs as I had a bad expereince being a PL, or what would now be called a Troop Guide, for one. Long story short too many to teach by one person, even with help. Also if most go to the same school, could cause attendance issues, i.e. only 1 person from the patrol able to make an event due to a school activity. Also I saw the "Charlie Foxtrot," that a NSP was when my oldest visited a troop campout: late for events, no teamwork, parents having to get involved in the cooking and cleaning process, etc. My troop mostly did the buddy system, i.e. pairing up "older" and "younger scout." Started with Webelos visiting the troop at the meeting and on their camp out with us. By the time they joined us, they went with their "older Scout buddy" on their own.

#1 MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL! #2 Former pro here. Long hours, low pay, and sometimes the money and membership goals are unrealistic. Had a "discussion" with my boss about a previous DE and his recruiting methods. Also kinda ticked me off that I was expected to start Exploring, and later Venturing units, but the Exploring/Venturing exec was going to get the credit. Long hours is an understatement. Gone on most nites and several weekends a month. I got calls at all times. Best wedding gift was that the volunteers were not going to call me from 9:30PM to 7:00AM for the first year of marriage. But the job was so much of a pain, wife gave me an ultimatum after 2 months of marriage: her or the job. As for pay, I had friends who when they left doubled, and in one case tripled, their pay. I know of several ex-DEs who had been recruited by key folks in their districts to work for them, including the DE we lost last Friday. Don't know if he went to work for a volunteer, or if they resigned him to another district (the word has not gone out officially that the council had a district merger, and when I asked about it on a message board, the message was deleted by I moderator I presume).

WasE, FYI, it's not the schools that want to mainstream kids, its federal law via the DoEd. Been a while since I took my education courses, but mainstreaming came about in the 1980s or therabouts via federal law because groups of parents demanded that their kids be mainstreamed. Don't remember the details as it's been almost 20 years since I took those courses, but I do know it has caused issues, i.e. more staff needed, discipline problems and interruptions, etc. And not all parents wanted their kids mainstreamed. Some did want their kids separated, but the schools cannot do that due to federal law. Also if memory serves, additional federal monies go to schools based upon the number of kids mainstreamed.

Quaz, Do not bring breakfast in bed, trust me on that one . While not in that exact situation, had two young, married summer camp staffers sharing a tent. Ranger was going to see one of them for something, and ended up turning around. Thankfully they were in a tent away from the main area and had some degree of privacy. As to who do you put for a 18-20 year old Venturer without parents, I'd put whoever they want contacted in an emergency.

to quote Spicolli, " AWESOME, TOTALLY AWESOME!'

Not in my pack anymore, but we had a few dads carry at events, either open or concealed. BUT they were in law enforcement. We had one guy not only carrying, but show up to training with his crime scene van. He was on call that weekend, and luckily was not called out for the class he was teaching. Also does anyone remember the Bob Gates story about him and the father-son camp out while was director of the CIA? Not only was he carrying, but he had a small platoon of security folks with submachineguns. Don't think any troops wanted to try and capture that unit's flag. Finally, and this is a story I was told. One long time scouter was a police adviser in Vietnam, and one of the things he did was Scouting over there. Some how or another there was a truce between the VC and provincial police in regards to the scout camp outs he carried just in case, but the VC didn't bother the scouts.

Talk to the Powers that be. Charters can be shorter or longer than 12 months, up to 18 months if memory serves.

I know it's been a few years, at least 5, since national started requiring the use of council numbers instead of lodge numbers. But at the time, lodge numbers were still usable on a local, and I believe sectional, level. I know for NOAC and what not, had to use council number. I was told that the reason for it was because the folks at national were getting confused with the different sets of numbers. And because lodges are part of a council, the council number was chosen. Didn't matter that some Lodges are older than the councils they serve.

Thanks for all the input. To be honest, the writing was on the wall, I had been thinking for a while that this would happen. Program wise our attendance is low AND on the CS side, council makes $0 as all the CS events have local sponsors who have been doing the same activities for years. Plus we only have 1 activity for Boy Scouts. Membership is down. We had some traditional units through a grant, as well as LFL groups. When the grant went away, as well as the key volunteer behind the program, we lost those units. Financially the district has had it's ups and downs, mostly downs though. FOS tends to do OK, but popcorn not so good. And this year we didn't meet either goals. I doubt that they will move the other district will move the RTs as 3 districts will be merged into 1, and they are the mostly central location, both geographically and Scout population wise. That district has the most units, is the most active, and is in between the two districts that are merging into it. I have a feeling a lot of people will be ticked. We still have folks ticked off from when the council moved from this town to its current location. And that was 30+ years ago. And yes some people will probably bow out. I admit I'm thinking about it as I am doing too much. My pack has just had a change in leadership, and we still haven't fully completed the switch over. The old leaders are waiting to get the final OK form the CO, which has a general hands off approach BUT does their job in vetting the top leaders as they are the only ones who get the keys to the church. Plus the folks taking over do not know all the ins and outs yet. Basically they are getting on the job training, and I need to help out in addition to the DL duties. @ Abel, No I didn't get your message.

OK folks, I found out a week ago my council will be realigning districts in the very near future. Economy is hurting, and they are letting go 2 DEs. My district is one of those on the chopping block. My questiona for those who have been through the process are the following: 1) How long did it take to implement it? 2) How did it affect programming, i.e. the folding district's events that have been planned and are on the calendar? 3) What were the results. I admit I've only dealt with one merger; the district I was in absorbed part of another. So the merger didn't affect me and my district except to A) move the location of meetings about 15 minutes further out to make it more accommodating and B) one of the folks in for the D.A.M. was replaced by one of the folks from the merged district. I'm curious because we have events scheduled and being planned, but with merger, have no idea what to expect.

Tokala, Respectfully disagree with ya. For some lodges, that lodge number means a lot. I know the youth in my lodge still refer to lodge number number and not the council number. In fact the lodge number is still on the current lodge flap that has come out since the use of council numbers at regional and national events became mandatory.

Going to ask the 2 docs in my den what they think. I think it's ridiculous. And they still have taken care of the EMTALA issue I have.

Question I have to ask is this: What do the Scout want to do? ( bold emphasis not shouting) To WasE61, Have you ever asked why that policy exists? After the incident I described above, the scouts were furious. And that is putting it lightly. A year of planning and prep ruined because untrained adults insisted on bringing siblings, and then interfering with the scouts program. It took about 5 years and a handful still active in the troop who remembered the incident, before the troop did another family camp out. And recently I saw an untrained adult, and one who wasn't even camping overnight, freak out over a limb falling from a tree and starting a panic. So there may be a very good reason why they only want trained leaders. Deaf, You need to be careful with what you are doing. See my example above. Also if the siblings are doing the activities that the scouts are doing A) you ARE burdening the scouts and the parent who should be doing leader things and B) the siblings will get bored with the program when they move into it. When I went to Canada, one of the leaders brought their younger son who was a Webelos. Luckily he he did a good bit of the work, but we did have to help him some. When he finally became a Boy Scout, he got bored and quit. Unfortunately I am seeing a little of this with my Tiger. He's been doing things with his older brother and he is bored at times.

In my neck of the woods, OA chapter chief is a member of the district committee. They can wear silver loops and either a reproduction of the unofficial Chapter chief patch, or district committee member patch. Lodge chief is on council board, and wears silver loops and exec board patch. Haven't seen one of the Lodge chief patches on one in a very long time. I personally think it was a mistake to not have chapter chief and lodge chief patches, especially now that Venturing officers on the district and council levels do have them. Wish national would reissue those two patches. And I am glad that I gave the word to my old lodge to buy them all up because they may be recalled when I worked for national

Fred, If your question was to my post, the way they did it was this. The Venturing Crew was essentially the venture crew/patrol that acted like the old Leadership Corps, with all under 21 ASMs added. Had to be registered in the Troop to be in the Crew. Crew's by-laws stressed that they were to help the troop out, and provide an avenue for them to do their own activities away form the troop. Also it provided continued challenges in the form of Ranger, Bronze, Gold, and Silver Awards.

N, The crew my old troop started specifically wrote no girls into their by-laws. Crews can be coed, all male, or all female. Haven't seen it in the US, but one Scout Association troop in the UK was all female.

I think I ran into that crew once, and yes the officers voted for it IF it is the same crew.

While the key movers and shakers were there, yes. Long story short, or at least I'll try My troops Leadership Corps turned into a venture crew once we ran out of the round Leadership Corps patches. But the crew still ran like the LC, i.e. did lots of teaching and working with the troop, but occasionally doing their own thing. When Venturing split from Exploring in 1998, and venture crews became venture patrols because Venturing used the term Crews for their units, there was some confusion among some of the Scouts and young ASMs. It wasn't until one of them actually sat down with a DE to find out why he couldn't earn a Bronze Award was the differences between venture crew/patrol and a Venturing Crew were explained. So they went about creating a Venturing Crew, but used it the old Leadership Corps still, i.e. doing things with the troop, but doing some occasional stuff on their own. It worked well for a while.

Not only will I say "No," but I will say HECK NO! I had a very, VERY negative experience with family camping at the Boy Scout level. My troop wanted to do some trails at Shiloh, which was a 7+ hour long trip one way. We planned it a year in advance, did the prep work, etc. For some reason it got turned into a family camp out and was a "Charley Foxtrot." Scouts were prepared for the cold, wet weather, but b/c the siblings were not, we were not allowed to hike by the moms present. Something about it not being fair to the younger ones. So 14+ hours round trip and a year of planning and prep wasted. To make matters worse, one of the siblings left a faucet upstairs from where we were staying on, and it flooded. Not a very good way to make friends.

Why air to ground signals needs to be back in the BSHB.

While there WILL be a shortage of physicians in the near future, after hearing about the stuff they have to deal with currently, I would not recommend it. Not being paid to treat a patient with the most up to date procedure recommended by your specialty association based upon current research b/c medicare/aid states you need to do an older procedure because they have not updated their guidelines, That's a problem. When you are getting sued by one of your deceased father's patients because you are a "Jr.," the malpractice insurance you paid thousands for won't cover your expenses b/c the person suing you was never a patient of yours, and you have to pay out of your own pocket, and take time away from your patients b/c the plaintiff's lawyer refuses to acknowledge they are suing the wrong person after several months of trying to get that point across, only to have the case thrown out with in a few minutes of wasting a judge's time, that's a problem.

Pamlico Sea Base in NC is a good place for jet skis, sailing, and canoeing. My first HA trip was a 64 mile canoe trip in LaDomaine, Quebec, Canada. Would love to go back as it is a great place for canoeing. Took a cruise in the Gulf of Mexico with my Sea Scout ship. That was fun. Not with scouts but with a company I worked for, Suwanne river down in GA/FL. Troops locally do segments of the AT.