Eagle92

Sounds like my cousin. He too was just shy of 13. I do hope the following that A) he wasn't forced to get Eagle. Cousin got an extreme amount of pressure from my uncle. B) he stays in and has some fun, i.e. HA, OA, etc. My cousin dropped out of scouting once he got Eagle and really missed out. He was amazed at some of the things I did as a Scout.

Actually we did it very similar to Fred's troop. FYI that process was in the old BROWNSEA course and probably the old WB course. Can relate to the commentor about different schedules, my PLC had over 12 different schedules to deal with. Pretty much they followed the same pattern every year as we discovered, and so our weekends were pretty much identical every year. Just different places. Only scheduling curve balls was Mardi Gras and Easter,

Just noticed that in the point system, a Boatswains mate and crew VP are worth 2 points, but ASPL is only worht 1 point. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I have no problem with a 13 or 14 year old Eagle Scout as long as they know the basic T-2-1 skills and can teach them to the younger guys. heck I don't have any problem with any Eagle Scout who can do the basic T-2-1 Skills. It's when you see a specific unit brag about the number of Eagles they have per year, but few to none of those Eagles A) have the basic T-2-1 outdoor skills and B) stick around after Eagle that the concept of "Eagle Mill" comes about. I know of one unit, and even had a youth from it about it being an "Eagle Mill." Luckily he had an extensive camping background with his family. EDITED: OK I will cut a little slack for some "old Fogeys" who are gettign back involved in Scouting whoeither A) Need to practice their skills or B) Need to learn the updated ones. Mea Culpa, while I will bet a Dutch oven pizza that I can use a current TOPO map with UTM, I am still a little confused with the UTM system and will not teach it at this time. Maybe after the class in a month or so (This message has been edited by eagle92)

My $.02 worth. #1 Buy the TC Leader knot now, do not wait. #2 Do not give them the knot UNTIL they actually earn it though. I admit I do not like how national has stated that the cut off for the old requirements for TCDL, is December 31st, 2012, and after that date, paperwork with the new requirements must be used. I think just like Boy Scout Rank requirements, if the requirements change while you are actively working on the requirements you should continue using the original requirements. ALSO they are not doing away with the award, just the knot itself. They will be able to us the current CSDL knot, and put on a TC device whenever they create one. Me personally, I hate the devices with a passion. They are literally a pain in the chest at times, hard to keep on, and, for my Sea Scout device, restricted by national for whatever reason.

Thanks for the responses everyone. Someone commented on "Collapse Syndrome." I can tell ya from first hand exp. that it totally and completely sucks. We didn't have a CS RT for over 3 years. When I went to RTs the first 2.5 years as a Cub leader, with the exception of when day camp was the topic, I attended BSRT to find out what was happening, policy changes, and of course, socialize. The is only one thing worse than Collapse Syndrome, but that is another story for another time. And it was the reason why I broke down and took the RT commish job after declining for 2 years to focus on Day camp.

Base, In regards to Cub Advancement, council are not getting caring b/c ti counts towards Journey to Excellence. Every time I'm at a commissioners' meeting and Cub advancement comes up, I constantly tell how inaccurate those stats are with my tale of buying the awards in one council and turning in the paperwork there, only to have my council send me the items I had already purchased, BUT has not been recorded in SCOUTNET. Kinda shuts them up.

DANG, gotta attend 3 courses to qualify. PLUS the cost of the induction kit. Don't see many folks going for it.

John, With no dispect intended, I know when I reviewed CSRT RT fast start at http://www.scouting.org/Training/Adult/Supplemental/Roundtable.aspx no mention of not having any other jobs was mentioned. Also the training syllabus doesn't include the prohibition either. Also on this website http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Commissioners.aspx again no mention of one job for commissioners in the position summaries. One more thing I just realized using your links, are you using the Feb. 2012 version of the Commissioner Fieldbook or an older version? I ask b/c when I did a quick review of it just now, I couldn't fin the prohibition. If you are , could you give me a page number? And yes BSA does have a problem, IMHO a MAJOR (emphasis)problem with contradictory information in its literature.

John, If National really wanted to enforce the rule, there are some very simple things they could do to enforce it and prevent it from happening. 1) Have SCOUTNET block the registration from even occurring. I know that in the five positions I am registered in, TC parent, CSDL (should be TCDL but the council hasn't changed it yet), district committee member, MBC, and RT Commish, all have the same membership ID number. I'm willing that a programmer could fix SCOUTNET easily. And if they couldn't the registrar could, eventually 2) Inform the DEs when they go to PDL-1 and cover staffing the district. I know the age limit is discussed, UCs and District Committee members, except de facto ones i.e. OA Chapter Chief and District Venturing President, must be 21+. So instead of "Using your resources and using folks who can do the job," they need to inform that Commissioners must only have 1 job. 3) Put that fact in all the commissioner specific trainings. I know that it wasn't covered in the CSRT training I went through, and read the syllabus for. 4) Put that fact in the online Staffing the District training. I admit I would love to step away from being a CSRT commish, and focus on my TC den. But after 3+ years without a CSRT commissioner, and know that the person wanting the job is A) really doing too much (UC, Dist. CS Program chair,Day Camp Director, and ACM) and B) already had the job once and drove people away, I couldn't say no a 3rd. time.

In regards to CITs teaching MBs all I will say is this: if they have the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) to teach a MB, I have no problem with it. BUT they cannot sign off on it. Best example is a 14 y.o. CIT who was teaching Indian Lore MB this summer I know of. I'd say that not only does he have the KSAs to teach the MB, I'm willing to be a Dutch oven pizza that he is as good or better than 95% of the Indian Lore MBCs I've met over the years. It is my understanding that the actual registered MBC that was working camp and was suppose to be teaching Indian Lore, ended up being the director of the area. That MBC knows the CIT very well, and had no problems handing off the hard stuff to him to do. As for me, I actually encouraged one Scout to at least start the MB, if not finish it, with the CIT. This was finding out via the dad that the son wanted to work with me with Indian Lore when the scout was at camp. Told dad if possible, let the son take it with the CIT, but when the son calls I'll set things up. And I knew the CIT can do the job since he was my den chief for a spell. Both the MBC staffer and the CIT went to NOAC this summer and placed in AIA events. Yep my lodge is Croatan Lodge and we're #1... in Northern Singing

"We are asked to minimize our footprints, we aren't allowed to post anything about the progress of the troop in the church. The list goes on -- we are beginning not to feel welcome at the church." To quote the 9th Doctor: "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" What you are describing is not a good sign at all. My old troop went was on it's 3rd CO when I left. The first CO started did what you described, asked us not to post stuff as well. Plus after 15+ years of having the same rooms on the schedule we started being asked to move to different, smaller rooms away from our supply closets at the last minute, i.e. we show up for our meeting and are told we need to move tonite. Then the vandalism occurred. Our supplu closet was broken into, supplies stolen and strewn all over the place. CO wouldn't let us fix the problem, so we got an outdoor, fiberglass, storage shed. Within a few weeks of us having it, the shed was used as a dartboard for the church fair, and several thousand dollars worth of gear and supplies destroyed. Second CO's IH was a scout and loved getting an established troop at his church. But when he left, the new IH had an anti-BSA bias, and actually called the police on us for trespassing when we were late cleaning up after an Eagle COH. Luckily the IH didn't specify who was trespassing, and when the policeman showed up, it was one of our ASMs who asked us if we saw anyone messing around since he got a trespassing call. We found a new CO shortly after that before anything else happened.

I will say it depends. The two schools I had LFL in were all the classes in one grade and I sent them all the info and literature they were suppose to use. I'll be honest I don't know if they actually used ti or not as I only met with them 2-3 times, andit was in a short period of time since I wasn't a pro for long. BUT, one active Scouter in my district did create active, viable LFL groups with the local housing authority, and they were active. So active that the Cub Scouts borrowed the LFL program's PWD track for practice runs. The challenge was that they were grant dependent, and when the grants went away, so did the groups.

21, It is my understanding, stress UNDERSTANDING, that the rules for the red jacket are in effect for the green one. Don't have a new IG what would cover it though.

21, WELCOME TO DA FORUMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The way to develop consistency is to A) have the Scouts develop customs and traditions, B) be boy led, and C) have the older scouts work with and mentor the younger scouts. As for me I do believe in elections, as well as the ability for scouts to switch patrols, every six months. With the exception of the band folks, others in extracurriculars in HS tend be have seasons shorter than six months, so it does give opportunities and allows folks to vacate a position do to school. band folks tend to be year round. As for term limits, my belief is more of an age limit: 18 If the ASPL wants to remain in that POR when asked to for 4.5 years, that's his call. If the SPL wants to keep running for reelection, that's his call. Although I admit I would encourage a Eagle to be an JASM instead.

I will continue to follow BSA policy. Scouts will MASTER (emphasis from previous editions of BSHB) the skills before I sign them off because "the badge represents what the Scout can do, not what he has done," or whatever the exact quote from the current GTA is.

RS, link is working, Info, Thanks for the heads up. (This message has been edited by Eagle92)

If you have been gifted something, then it's OK to wear it. When I sponsored someone for Vigil, I passed down my sash which had my sponsor's name on it as well. Hopefully he will be passing it on to my "grandsponsoree"

While the red vest was originally for Boy Scouts, it's been preempted by Cubs. Only alternative is a patch blanket.

As stated on the blog, I'd love to see the stats on Sea Scout Quartermaster from back then and today, as well as the Exploring Ranger Award, which phased out in '49, and Exploring Silver, going into effect in 1949, and today's Venturing Silver. Back then Sea Scouts and Explorers were more popular than today, and folks could move on to those challenges.

Oh heck yeah. I've known too many folks getting divorces and the reason was Scouting. Heck my wife threatened to divorce after 2 months of marriage b/c of my job as a pro.

I know in my neck of the woods I wish we had enough warm bodies, but we don't. Both myself and the BSRT commish are unit leaders. One of the UCs is an ACM, and as someone else stated it's not a good idea for a UC to administer their own unit. The ACM's unit basically does their own thing and do not participate in any district or council events except those the UC/ACM is in charge of. Oh an the individual is also sits on the dist. committee for CS programs.

While there is nothing prohibiting it,in practice it's not a good thing. Not b/c conflicts could arise or the appearance of partiality, but because you will work your butt off. BSA recommends, stress recommends, one job per person, except the IH who can also be the COR and CC, and the COR who can also be the CC. But in practice, many folks hold multiple positions. I know I currently hold 3 main ones: CSDL, RT Commish, and Dist. Comm. Member, and one minor one: MBC.

In addition to the previous posts, the Charter Organization Representative can only be overruled by the Institution Head. So if you are the COR of a unit chartered by a church, only the pastor can overrule you. Further, Charter Org. Reps sit on both the district committee and the council executive board with full voting rights.