FScouter

"Flags of Our Fathers" writted by Bradley. It's about his father and the men that raised the flag over Iwo Jima, the long devastating battle, and the lives of those men in the post war years. Nathaniel Philbrik wrote "In the Heart of the Sea", an account of a whaling ship out of Nantucket and the adventures they had on planned 2 year voyage that was cut short when a whale rammed their ship and sunk it. They were 3,000 miles in the middle of the Pacific and rowed to Chile with "no" food. This is a true account of the Essex tradgey which was the inspiration for Melville's Moby Dick. "The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antartic Expedition", by C. Alexander. About Ernest Shackleton and his ill-fated attempt in 1915 to cross Anartica on foot. Their ship was stuck in the ice and crushed before they got to land. They spent nearly 2 years portaging rowboats and sailing from floe to floe before being rescued. All three books have adventures you can share with the boys.

I remember now where I heard about making choices. Its the mission of the Boys Scouts of America. Funny how we get wrapped up in the details of the program and forget the mission. The mission of BSA is to prepare boys to make good choices throughout their lives. We teach them to consider possible outcomes of alternative choices and make a decision. We give them opportunities to practice what they have learned. Sometimes they make poor choices. We teach some more and provide more opportunities. They learn. We are preparing them to make ethical choices over their lifetimes. If we feel the need to impose a list of forbidden camping items, that demonstrates that we have not taught the boys to make good choices and that we have failed our mission.

The fact is that hunters (or shooters) do pull the trigger on moving bushes. Since there is no purpose served by dressing Boy Scouts like bushes, why promote it.

Youre not going to find much in the literature about voting rights. All the pack adult leaders are part of the leadership team. Its a combined effort, with each leader being responsible for specific areas. Den leaders are not committee members, but so what? A den leader has enough to do without out taking on the additional responsibilities of the pack committee. The pack committee Outings Chair is responsible for arranging Pack outings and Pack camping. The Advancement chair is responsible for coordinating advancement for all dens. The Treasurer is responsible for pack finances. All of the adult leaders in the pack take part in the monthly pack leaders meeting. The committee chair presides over the meeting. All leaders have input. Theres not much to vote on if youre working together as a team and following the annual plan that everyone has already agreed on. Read chapter 24 as well as chapter 23. And see the org chart in chapter 7.

A little disheartening to say the least. From a practical standpoint, you're not going to be able to change their views overnight. But you have a foot in the door with your assignment to improve patrol identity. Be successful with that and you may get a little support with some of your other ideas. Here's an idea. Pick a promising patrol and work with them to earn the National Honor Patrol award (see page 23 of the Handbook). Many of the requirements for that award involve following the BSA program, including PLC meetings, patrol meetings, service projects, and using the patrol yell ("can they hear you in the next county?)". Another part of the award involves wearing the full uniform correctly. While the troop may have some kind of defacto no-uniform policy, your demo patrol can have it's own rebel policy of wearing the full uniform. You may get some arguments about this, but if you're charged with improving patrol identity, this is a good way to do it. You may find that if one patrol earns this award, another may want to do it too.

If a council designed and authorized a patch, or adopted an existing patch as being official, that would be a council decision, not a campmaster decision. And the patch must first be approved by BSA national. Personally, I think these patches conflict with another provision in the regulations that "members should make every effort to keep their uniforms neat and uncluttered."

How much energy one puts into one method relative to the other seven methods is somewhat a matter of style. But I think formalizing a "uniform optional" statement is moving backwards.

A campmaster has no more authority to designate insignia placement than a Scoutmaster, meaning none. Totin' Chip requirements are part of earning the 2nd Class rank. That badge, or higher, gives the same privledges as the Totin' Chip.

"So far, I've never have a problem getting a scout to wear the uniform when asked." Since the uniform is part of the program, would you have a problem getting them to wear it for the other 3 meetings a month? And what would you do to motivate them?

Those things have the potential to create muchas problemas. Check you troop's official list of banned items for guidance. Or the troop bylaws. Deal with this now before some kid's character is ruined.

I don't know what to make of that. The US Flag Code does not direct Scouts to not salute the flag.

"We follow along, and do not make waves." I don't think that makes waves at all. The Insignia Guide tell what to do with the hat during a flag ceremony. Following the Guide is not making waves. The waves are made by the person who attempts to have you do the wrong thing.

Hunt - Sounds like Joe has considered the angles and is able to make an informed choice.

There are several threads about trailers with a lot of good information. Click on "Search" and enter "trailer" as a keyword. Welcome to the forums!

Why do you always tell them?

Do you mean make a choice? Bring raingear or leave raingear? (Choice, choice, choice... why does that ring a bell??)

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How does a boy know whether he has exercised poor judgment or made a poor decision if it is not on the official list? All good decisions must be on the "do" list, all poor decisions must be on the "do not" list. Is not our role as Scout leaders to write up the correct lists? When these boys grow up and become men, they must have plenty of "do" and "do not" lists to guide them through life. If we don't prepare the lists now, they will be lost and without direction. Isn't that the mission of Scouting?

If we make a list of the "poor judgment" items, then the boys won't have to make a decision about whether taking their item is good judgment or poor judgment. Making decisions is too difficult for boys. A written list makes is easier for them. They can learn about making good decisions after they're adults. (There goes that nagging thought again... something about decisions?)

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I think I would have called the mom. What is the established procedure you mentioned?

Are you saying Scouts UK had a 40% drop in membeship because they failed to change their oath 20 years ago?

It is widely misquoted and altered. The last word "child" is almost always substituted for "boy". Even the essay itself is sometimes edited to remove the reference to Hitler and Stalin. Crazy, because that is the crux of whole the essay. Thank you Dr. Witcraft. http://www.scoutingmagazine.org/resources/power/index.html

It's been 35 years or so since flags were commonly burned in protests. I remind our boys that we don't "burn" the flag, but we do "retire" it. If it's made of nylon, stand upwind.

"What we should be teaching the Scouts is how to make intelligent decisions." That sounds vaguely familiar. Where have I heard that before? Something buried in a training course? Somebody help out here!