Eman

The Lost Sea in Sweetwater, TN has an overnight cave trip.

Wow, I'm not the only person that sees this happening! When I joined scouting I was dumb enough to think Boy Scouts was actually about the boys. I was also dumb enough to believe that the paid people were there to work for the leaders and the boys. I actually thought that council execs were hired by national to run the councils. Boy have I learned a lot in the last 8 years. When I learned that council execs were hired by the council board(read major donators) I learned a lot about how a council operates.

Robin, I was told that all the patrols were named after birds, is that true? What are the progression of ranks from joining? Do you have Cubs? Ours is called BSA, what is your organization called? How is the paid section organized? Do you have Woodbadge as it was or has it changed to weekends and what is the program? Do you have any organization within Scouts like we have Order of the Arrow?

Three months between outings is too long. Unfortunately confusion does reign supreme on an outing because even if it's boy run it takes the parents responsibility to get there.(This message has been edited by Eman)

I think the strength of the program changes greatly from council to council. I am truly envious of the troops and councils that I read about on this board. In the area I am in Scouting is not very strong and has very little organization from the council level on down. Someone mentioned being surprised at losing 20 scouts. This happens around here every time ball season changes. We have some parents that come to meetings yet their boys are at ball. Many of the one man show scoutmasters come into being just so their is some type of troop for his boy.

I'm looking for somewhere I can find a roster of the original troop. I have a relative that believes their father was a part of it.

Wow! Thanks for the in depth reply, don't worry about the format. It seems you are familiar with the way we do it here in the U.S. Seeing how it is a coed program do you have coed leaders at all levels?

The cool left scouting about 30 yrs. ago when all the WW II vets kids grew up and it was no longer cool to play army. OGE's son's comments seem right on the money.

Okay, let's start with what handbook you use? What ranks do you have in your program? Is it anything like BSA? What age groups do you allow in the program and is it coed? What does your uniform look like? Is your organization all volunteer or are their paid personnel? Just relate all you can about your program if you would.

I've not had the opportunity to attend an world jamboree but the way scouts are organized around the world interests me. I have been lucky enough to meet a man that was a second gen. scoutmaster in England. He is a Queens Scout which is the equivelant of our Eagle. He attended one of our weekly meetings and told the troop stories of scouting in England. Is there anyone out there involved in or that knows about other scout programs beside BSA?

Had to think long and hard about this. The most important thing I learned in Woodbadge was what it's like to be a kid in a troop. As adults we tend to forget what it is like. We tend to expect them to do things with little or no info and then we don't understand why they failed. Woodbadge let's you look at the situation from the other side, or at least it did. I'm not familiar with the new course yet. Second best thing I learned was the importance of ceremony. Anyone that had the Woodbadge experience knows what I mean. The closing ceremony brings out great feelings among patrol members. I'll always be an Owl!

Many times when I deal with scouts I try to put myself in their situation. If being a scout meant going to a class for 6 hours on a Sat. I believe you could count me out. That is just one of the problems I see with MBUs. Summer camp has also turned into a classroom when they offer many of these merit badges. I heard they were offering citizenship badges at camp this year. I know if I was 14 I'd really get excited about that.

Here's something to think about. Our council holds work weekends at the camp and it is counted by many as "community service" towards star and life rank.

Best method we have used is leading by example. We had a few scouters that owned full uniforms but seemed embarrased to wear them. They didn't grasp much of the other methods of scouting either. As their boys got older they faded away and the troop has improved. The scouters and the SPL make a point of wearing full uniforms and neckerchief. You can really see the difference and now someone without their neckerchief sticks out. The last SPL instituted a points system by patrol with each person present was worth 1 point, if they were fully uniformed they were worth 2 points. The patrols had to list whether members were uniformed or not when they took attendance. The results were posted on our bulletin board. Now the new SPL is looking to build on this with a possible award to the highest scoring patrol. I have always taken it upon myself to find used uniforms which I sell to the boys with a money back guarantee. If they return the uniform to me when they are done with it I will give them their money back.

You talk about merit badge instruction. Merit badge counselors are supposed to be just that not instructors. Merit badges were designed for the boy to somewhat do on his own and use the counselor when he ran in to a problem or when he finished his requirements and the counselor review them. Many troops "teach" merit badges at the meetings and I've seen boys get the badge just by being there. I've seen some boys get the badge without even being at all the meetings covering the badge. Many of these are the hard ones meaning Eagle required like citizenship, personal management and family life. Generally there is no problem when merit badges are done according to the book as you state using the blue card and a qualified counselor. But I see very few merit badges being done this way and more being done through MBU and camp. If not for Eagle Bound programs at camp I believe more boys would stall at 2nd. class instead of Life. When they get that Life rank their parents just assume they will get Eagle. I have had one mother say to me if her boy doesn't get his Eagle he wasted all those years in Scouts! Much of this mentality and the push for MBU's and merit and rank advancement at camp comes from council and districts "counting Eagles".