Eagle92

August 1984 was when teh CS Sports Program was unveiled. It was timed for the 75th Anniversary of Scouting in 1985. A few years later the Academics program came out. Then they were merged.

My $.02 worth. 1) The Scout was wearing a Life Patch on his uniform in the video I saw, not Eagle. 2) When I was teaching lifeguarding, it was SOP to get any victims to the hospital after rescue. There have been cases where drowning occurred hours after rescue. I want to say this is called a laryngeal drowning, but it's been years. Anyway b/c in the article I read stated he did go under a few times while making the rescue, EMS may have carried him along for him to be checked out as well. 3) It is my UNDERSTANDING, caps for emphasis, that EMS charges are based by the mile. So a 1 mile trip would be, say $190 and a 10 mile trip $1900. Where's SCTDAD when we need him, he's EMS. (This message has been edited by Eagle92)

Me personally I prefer the SA program in which a scout could focus on one entire set of skills, get recognized, and then move to the next set. In regards to FCFY, if memory serves they used stats to show that a scout who gets FC wiht in a year remains in the program longer. Problem is they didn't look at one essential element of advancement, a unit's program. As BP said, "advancement should occur as naturally as a suntan, something that just happens in the out doors." So I would say it was a scientific study with a serious flaw

Now will national be updating the IG online? They still have the pre-Cenntennial Uniform IG posted.

ED, Unfortunately it's not my troop yet, as oldest still has 16 months before Crossover. But the troop does have a place in my heart as I was the one who trained the old SM, I've worked with some of the, now older, scouts as an MBS, sat on a BOR or two, etc. And since the troop is my CO's troop, and at the moment is still ahead of most of the troops in youth leadership, it will probably be the one oldest joins.

Yes an adult problem. And I must admit adult problems are hitting kinda home at the moment. Long story short, one of the most youth led unit in the district had 2 things happen this year. #1 the founding SM stepped down and #2 a bunch of CS leaders crossed over. The new SM, while a very good guy, is not really someone I would have picked. He was a Cub leader, but with his job, he on call almost all of the time, he doesn't really have the time to commit IMHO. It appears from what I am hearing from the Scouts and reading that the real leadership has devolved to the troop committee, which is the former Cub leaders and parents. And it seems that everything is turning into Webelos III. By that I mean instead of the youth organizing and running the meetings, the parents are arranging for MBs to be done. 4 MBs in a 6 month period to be exact. Also from what I'm reading, the camp outs are focused on working on advancement, not to have fun. Yes I know camping is where advancement should be done, but appears that A) that is the sole purpose of the camping, and B) it looks like "One and Done." B. comes from a conversation I had with one FC Scout who couldn't tie a bowline until I reminded him of it. Then he got it, and was able to help teach my Bears.

OK, Gotcha. The links provided help, but national use to have a flyer that listed all the required training, ( for lack of a better term Main" supplemental training, and advanced training. Supplemental training included SSD, SSA, Trainer's EDGE, etc. Pluse there were some online supplemental training too. University of Scouting offers some great classes. Advanced training is WB, Seabadge and the like. I must have "cheated" getting my Scouter's Training Award; NCS COPE Director training counted for me.

Can you be a little more specific about which training award as there are several.

ACCO, I just now saw your post and will explain why I put the caps in my first post. I had an SM, in fact it was the same one who rigged an election under the old rules, curse me out and say I know nothing about the OA, when the election team and I would not remove a candidate's name from the elected list, despite the SM approving the list. SM said he didn't think the troop would elect the scout and thought it would be safe to leave him on the ballot. Then raises a very big scene when he wants the scout off.

Hmm, interesting concept. Don't know if it's a good one or not as my feeling is that the CS leaders will get into the habit of running something at the troop meeting, then when the Cubs do cross over, keep it up when they need to let go. Now I am a fan of packs visiting units and doing a camp out or two with them. See my other posts on a similar topic about how we divided up the Webelos visiting us at meetings and camp out, pairing them up with an older scout to work with them.

Srisom, Actually it's been some time that troops could elect more than one adult. I know when I was a chapter adviser 5-8 years ago, one adult per 50 registered youth, could be nominated. And I admit that surprised me when I read it as I was on the elections team as a youth. Also what surprised me was that ASMs 18-20 are counted in the totals, i.e. total registered with the troop, can vote, and can have their names placed on the ballot. Again don't know if that was a new thing or something overlooked when I was a yute.

Jeff Not necesarily. Although the new requirements now list 3 years, if someone earned the CM Award with 2, they would still be eligible to wear the Key award and knot with devices since it replaces the older award. It would be like those scouters who earned the Exploring Silver or Ranger Award back in the day who wear the Exploring G.O.L.D. / Young American Award knot or a Silver Fawn recipient wearing a Silver Beaver knot.

If I could afford a Bemidji Woolen Mills wool one, I'd do it. But I can do a lot with $170. http://www.bemidjiwoolenmills.com/exlarge/bm07_97/bm07_100.jpg I got my old one off of ebay. Yep I gotta hand wash it in wool lite, but I love it.

There was a plan to replace the red ones, and in fact they were discontinued. HOWEVER, they had a bunch in inventory so they were still selling them. BUT, there was such a demand for the red ones, that they now make new red ones similar to the green ones now. Both are washable, and the red has elbow patches. Still no hand pockets though. Need to get one vial Bemiji Mills for that.

jpstodwftexas, Must respectfully disagree with this part of your statement "Eagles should be...Teaching Merit Badges...." Unfortunately national says only Adults 18+ can sign off on MBs. So a under 18 Eagle cannot be a MBC. BUT they can teach the skills needed to show their MBCs to earn the MB I remember the older scouts teaching me canoeing skills way back when, and prior to doing my canoe trip in Canada, helping the others in the troop work on and improve their canoeing skills. And I wouldn't limit it to just Eagles. Anyone with the KSAs to teach a skill should be doing it. I was Life when I worked with others on canoeing.

BP, I'm about as far away from SLC as you can get, being on the East Coast. We have one LDS church in our entire district, and a handful council wide. Now when I was in Louisiana, one district I was in not only had an active LDS CO, but the bishop was the district chair. Like others have said, one difference between volunteers and being called. In fact there are blogs about how some LDS folks hate BSA and being called to serve as leaders.

I was told by an LDS scouter I met at PDL-1 that the farther away from Salt Lake City you are, the less involved the LDS units are with the rest of the district/council. I know I rarely see any LDS scouters or scouts, and when I do I am very pleasantly surprised. I know part of the issue is the stake is based out of one council, so they do more with them than us. Or so I have told. I do know that is like going on a wild goose chase trying to contact the LDS units for anything as their leadership is constantly changing. I remember trying to get a recharter packet to them, and I had to call 3 or 4 folks to finally get in touch. And don't get me started about RT, they never show up, even after calls and emails, that is if they are the right people I am calling and emailing.

They are already testing out an alternate field uniform in MD consisting of UA shorts, socks and colored t-shirt that denotes either your rank or adult leader status. Since you need a new shirt for each rank, it can get very expensive IMHO.

Gnome, The Oscar DeLaRenta shirts form the 80s and 90s are the shirt to wear. BUT the CUs and the ODLs are fully interchangeable. you can waer the new shirt and pants but keep the old socks and belt. Wear the old shirt but new pants. etc. Now when it comes to insignia there are different opinions. Some say you need all new insignia for the new shirts, i.e. tan and green numbers and green loops for Boy Scouts and their leaders, and all old insignia for the old shirts, i.e. must have the red and white numbers and red loops on the old shirts. Some say that since national stated the two uniforms are fully interchangeable, then the red and whites can stay on the new shirts when the Webelos cross over and the CS leaders become BS leaders.

Here's my $.02 worth. #1. Instill in the Scouts from a young age the sense of "giving back" and helping out the younger Scouts. This may seem counter-intuitive, i.e. let them go out on their own, but I've seen it work several times over. In my troop growing up, yes we had folks go away for a while; college, military, etc. But it seemed as if every time they had a chance to come back and visit, they did. Heck one of my best friends in Scouts was the official leader in charge of the troop at summer camp b/c he was 21 and home from college. Part of it was because from about Second Class onwards, we had them working with the younger Scouts: mentoring, teaching skills, etc. In a troop I help start, at one point there were more ASMs in the 18-20 y.o. range than Scouts, because the college students wanted to give back. as well as... #2 "Scouting is OUTING," and the program needs to be youth led and FUN! Having the youth create a program that suites their needs and wants will keep the program vibrant and alive. How do you think a troop with no feeder pack was able to survive for over 5 years, when another troop with a feeder pack, but also a very headstrong SM who ran things his way (adult led) fold once the SM left? Yes you need to cover the basics on campouts, but every opportunity for the older scouts to run things or do some things on their own, i.e. doing a more difficult trail than the rest of the troop, going a little further and having their own camp backpacking etc. you need to do it. #3 Use the Patrol Method. Now I may seem to contradict myself from other posts when I say I do not like NSPs and same age patrols, preferring mixed age patrols, But I grew up in the era of the Leadership Corps and saw it work out successfully. Yes they were the "older Scouts" for the most part, but I remember getting elected into the LC ( troop rules: LC members selected their own based upon some requirements) when some folks older than me, and PLs longer than me, were still in their patrols. The LC did a lot of work, but they also had a lot of fun too. EDITED: To clarify, by having the scouts work in patrols, they become a team, establish friendships and do things that they want to do. Up until last year, patrol scould do their own activities without adult leaders if they got approval. While sometimes adults would be there along for the ride, or in my case the adults were in the 18-20 y.o. range, the patrol could do their own thing. #4 Provide HA and other opportunities to the older guys. Even if your troop doesn't do HA on a regular basis, establish relationships within the district and council so that you know what units are doing HA and may have spots available. My troop never did a HA trip while I was a member, but we had a bunch go to Philmont, Canada, Jambo etc. #5 Did I mention HAVE FUN? (This message has been edited by Eagle92)

Here are some of the devices http://usscouts.org/awards/devices.asp and http://www.scoutinsignia.com/trdevice.htm And from Scoutstuff http://www.scoutstuff.org/catalogsearch/result/index/?p=1&q=device Currently there is no Tiger Cub Device, and I wonder what image they they are going to use.

As bnelon points out, they aren't doing it right. Youth need to come up with the ideas and activities and then the adults get involved for support. Now I do know the challenges of scheduling, but it can be done by the youth. We had to deal with 12+ school schedules, and since most things happened the same weekend year after year, the weekends were almost set once we established the pattern. Best planning session incorporated a pool party for the PLC once all the work was done. One cool idea from Scotland was a troop would have a formal dinner meeting with the old PLC and New PLC to change command and get things planned. Old hands helped the younger hands so to speak, although there was little turnover.

I've commented on other threads about the lack of visibility the GSUSA has in regards to their uniforms. I've been told the only time you can tell a group of girls are Girl Scouts is when they are selling cookies.

In response to the SPL and ASPL wearing patrol medallions, growing up the ASPL was the PL of the Leadership Corps, and wore the LC patch on his uniform. SPL didn't wear one, but did participate in some activities that the LC did on their own.

BSA24, Very true what you are saying above. If your lodge has issues, you need to provide feedback or it will only get worse. But making blanket statements about the OA like in another thread, well they just are not accurate. Every lodge is different.