FScouter

I don't know about any formal guides available on-line. I'd suggest you start with the "Fast Start" video, which you can borrow from the local Scout office. Then, buy the Scoutmaster Handbook and read it cover to cover. That will give you a good start for whatever area you want to get involved in. Welcome to Scouting!

We have one Arrow of Light boy that is very proud of the fact the he didn't have to wait until age 11 to join the troop. If we let some other kid come in early because he is "bored", our AoL kid would squeal like a stuck pig. Challenge the boy and his parents to get involved in the cub pack, and make it more exciting. Get the kid moving on his Arrow of Light award, and then he can join early.

The committee is an important entity, and committee members must complete a formal application and pay the $7 to be listed on the charter. Certainly parents or any interested adults should be welcome to attend the meetings of the committee. But to preserve a bit of decorum, I would suggest the committee chair open each meeting by noting for the record which committee members are present, and then to welcome everyone else to join in the discussion. If an important vote on a controversial subject comes up, that would not be the best time to explain to hangers-on that they won't be able to vote.

It is my feeling that the Scoutmaster should submit ALL expenses incurred in operating the troop. This would include propane cylinders, campground fees, gasoline to haul the boys to events, lashing ropes, water filter cartridges, topo maps, merit badge books, trainings, patches, and BSA publications. When the money in the bank account runs out, it's time to do fundraising. The adult leaders give their "one hour a week" and should not also have to pay Scout related costs out of their own pocket.

Somewhere along the line, we did something to give a bad impression of Scouting to City Councilman Toni Atkins, who apparently wants the Scouts out. A good impression is something to strive for everytime we present our Scouts and our programs to the public.

I've found the icon method to be unreliable. For example, today there are new messages under "Issues & Politics", yet the light bulb is not lit.

Do you know of some brand of soap that is unscented?

There's a difference between Mommy coming on a campout with her little Billy, and a registered, trained adult leader being female. I can see why the boys don't want Mommy there. But a trained female adult leader is not "Mommy" even if her kid is in the troop. We need all the qualifed, trained leaders we can get. Some are going to be female.

Everyone in Scouting knows we are not "paramilitary", and we're not teaching our boys how to be soldiers. But what does John Q. Public think when he sees a group of boys and adults stomping through the forest wearing military camouflage clothing? Does he think "OHMYGOD, a paramilitary right wing extremist hate group" or does he think "Hmmm . . . hunters", or does he think "How nice, a group of fine upstanding Boy Scouts" ? Well, who's to say for sure what impression is given, but certainly there will be members of the public that will associate camouflage clothing with a dangerous paranoid paramilitary hate group. I'm not sure the benefits to Scouting from wearing camo outweigh the detrimental effects. Just a thought.

Hmmmm . . . I would question the worthiness of any eagle candidate attempting to squeak by on a technicality such as challenging the definition of "active in the troop". Everyone ought to know what "active" means, and we don't need numbers from National to tell us. Get real.

I too learned a lesson awhile back regarding an incident. I interviewed 5 boys (eyewitnesses) about an incident and got 5 different stories. Each of them omitted parts of the story that implicated them. They all put a spin that put themselves in a better light. That makes is very difficult to weigh which kid was most at fault. You could interview and investigate until the cows come home, but would that gain benefit? All your boys were wrong to some degree; the two that did the dumping, and the rest that either encouraged it, or did nothing to stop it. Consider that your troop is not a collection of individuals, but a team. The team did something wrong, and the team needs to learn from this. The "good" kids have some degree of responsibility to control the "bad" kids. They must learn that to stand idly by and watch is not the right thing to do. Your talk about honesty and integrity and the Scout Oath and Law is the way to go. Some of those boys will remember the incident, and your speech about their character for a long time. They'll forget about the KP by the time they get back from the campout. Your committee, and the boys, is lucky to have such a scoutmaster.

At the risk of going off topic, does anyone know why BSA changed the Lone Scout patch and neckerchief? The old design depicted an Indian looking skyward with an outstretched arm. The new one shows a Boy Scout giving the Scout sign. I think the old one was cool, and the new one is "Ho Hum".

For a generally negative discussion about camouflage clothing for Boy Scouts, see this link: http://www.mninter.net/~blkeagle/camo.htm#Pagetop

You mentioned tying the square knot. That reminds me once when I was showing a kid how to tie a bowline. He was having trouble getting the hang of it. When I finished the knot, another kid that was watching informed me that I had made the knot wrong. It was actually correctly tied, but I used a method that was not illustrated in the official Boy Scout Handbook. It suddenly hit me as to why the first kid was having trouble. I was confusing him by showing him a method that was different that what he had been practicing from the Handbook. And so it is with this conumdrum with the flag, uniform, Pledge of Allegiance, and U.S. flag code. Page 43 of the Handbook says "Give the Scout salute when you recite the Pledge of Allegiance, too." The flag code notwithstanding, it would be confusing to the boys to teach them to NOT salute, while the Handbook says otherwise. I may not agree with the method the Handbook teaches for tying the bowline, but as a Scout leader, I feel obligated to teach the Boy Scout method.

Are there any BSA guidelines as to what positions there should be in the pack committee? There is a Troop Committee Guidebook that is very good at defining what each troop committee position is and what the responsibilities are. Is there anything similar for pack committee member responsibilities?

Thanks for the comments. Part of the election question this year involves what if anything to do about about our patrols. We've got 10 boys and 3 patrols, 4, 3, and 3. Three in a patrol really doesn't work well and I want to consolidate them into two patrols. No one in the PLC wants to lose their patrol and patrol leader status. Yet over the last year, I've told them we would have to lose one patrol unless we could add some new members. Should we consolidate, or continue to work on getting new members?

In a group of uniformed scouts saluting the flag it would look strange to see some saluting, some with their hand over their heart, and others holding their hat over their heart. While any of these approaches show appropriate respect for the flag, we should all do it the same way. I have never seen any official BSA literature that states holding the hat or placing the hand over the heart is is the correct way for a uniformed scout. The BSA Insignia Guide, in the Flags section says "The hand-to-forehead salute is correct for flag ceremonies for any person wearing a uniform of the Boy Scouts of America." "The hand-over-heart salute should be used when not in uniform." Uniformity in Scouting is important.

Agreed that parent involvement needs to be encouraged and not squelched. It just needs to be channeled in the right direction. We had one campout where Dad brought his six year old son along. And a mom that refused to use a pit toilet and wanted us to go to a different campground that had flush toilets. One kid quit the troop, and I know that his Dad's constant nagging at troop meetings and campouts was a big part of the reason. Some of the parents just don't understand BSA aims and methods, and the concept of a "boy-led" troop. I've now got a new dad that wants to go on our next campout. Do other troops have any kind of guidelines or rules for moms, dads, and siblings that want to come along?

I'm not surprised no one showed up for your committee elections meeting. Some parents are reluctant to get snagged for a long term committment. I felt the same way at one time. Try asking one parent to help with one single simple thing. For example, "Could you please help me set up the chairs for the Court of Honor". It's a lot easier to say "OK" to a simple task than to agree to be the Advancement Chair. Then 2 or 3 weeks later ask the same parent to drop of the Tour Permit at the District Office, "and at the same time could you please pick up a council patch and patrol patch for the new kid?" Next thing you know they'll be calling you to see what else they can do to help.

I think the vest looks cheap, but what's a kid supposed to do? Boys want to wear their patches so they can be seen. The Insignia guide says "Members should make every effort ot keep their uniforms neat and uncluttered. Previously earned badges and insignia - not representaing present status - make a fine display on a BSA red patch vest, a trophy hide or blanket, exhibited in the home of the recipient, or at functions where such a display is invited." I never saw a kid that had a 3-ring binder, but of course that is the best way to go for long term preservation. The Scout catalog has a display case available that is a piece of uniform cloth with a shirt pocket. The patches are attached to the cloth and the whole thing is enclosed in a glass covered oak frame. It looks real cool, but for $82 though there's got to be a better way.

Our troop is going to hold elections for patrol leaders and SPL soon. We've had some leadership problems with the current elected patrol leaders. One of our adult leaders is suggesting that we establish restrictions or pre-requisites for boys to be elected. This purpose of this would be to ensure that only the more capable boys would be elected. He feels that a lower rank scout should not be a leader of higher ranked scouts. I'm thinking that the adults should stay out of it and let the boys elect who they want. If they make the "wrong" decision, they may not repeat the mistake the next time around. Does anybody have any thoughts about "guiding" the boys to elect the "right" leader?

Written expectations is a great idea, and could avoid misunderstandings later. But the lack of a written agreement does not mean the boy should advance. Lack of a formal definition of "spirit" does not mean the boy has a right to the rank. He must earn the rank, and the Scoutmaster is there to interpret (within reason) the requirements. If the SM feels that attendance is lacking, he is fully within his authority to encourage the boy to demonstrate greater participation before allowing him to advance. The boy shouldn't be held to invisible standards, but consider also that part of his learning is to "sell" himself to others. If he can't convince his Scoutmaster to pass him to the next rank, maybe he needs to prepare himself a little better.

We had a Star candidate once that sat for his Board of Review. The board didn't feel he was ready for the rank and sent him back to get better prepared. He was stunned, as were his parents, and they squawked about it. The board felt he had been doing the bare minimum to squeek by and wanted to put a stop to it. This was a wake up call to the Scoutmaster too. Part of the responsibility of the board is to ensure that the Scoutmaster has been properly working with the Scouts so they are truly ready to advance. A rubber-stamp board is a disservice to the boys. This particular Scout sat again for his Star rank, passed, and eventually earned Eagle. The point is that although the board of review is not the ideal place for the boy to find out his leadership was not adequate, what message do we send by passing on a boy who held the position but failed to demonstrate any leadership?

The easy "solution" is to abandon the leaky boat and climb aboard one of those big, powerful troops with 70-80 kids, a big bank account, and a 50 year history. The tough job is to build your troop. Life is tough, and your son will learn more from your efforts to improve the program in his small struggling troop than he will if you give up.

If the account was set up wrong, abandon it and set up a new account.