FScouter

Replacement of perfectly functional uniform insignia is a waste of resources and is detrimental to the economy. A Scout is thrifty.

The term "give back" has been used several times recently in various topics and has been mentioned periodically over the months and years. Those that use the term must have some kind of understanding of what it means. I hear it at Eagle boards of review too. "How will you give back to Scouting". Scouts work and complete requirements and earn ranks. They work and earn merit badges. They work and complete service projects. They plan and carryout an Eagle leadership service project. They serve in positions of responsiblity. They plan events and lead meetings. I hear in "give back" an implication that the Scout has taken something that must be returned. What is it that a boy has taken or been given that must be given back? Can someone explain in different words what "give back" means and exactly what is it that the boy is expected to do to meet the expectation?

Let's get some Boy Scouts to join those corporations. You know, "make ethical choices throughout their lives ..."

If you join the Army is it important to know how to shoot a rifle or march or clean the latrine before joining? There are no prerequisites to joining a troop. No skills are required. If an unprepared Webelos Scout joins a troop, how is he hindered in any way? If a green kid with no Cub background joins what disadvantage does he have that can't be remedied in 30 days and 1 campout?

"If we have so much untapped oil in this Country that we could do away with the need for foreign oil, why haven't we been doing anything about it before now?" We have some oil wells around here that were drilled in the early part of the century. The flow of oil has pretty much run out and most or all of wells were shutdown in the 60s or before. In the 70s the price of crude rose to a point where the old wells were given another look. A guy got the brilliant idea that he could make steam and inject it down the well and force up more oil. This he did. The oil recovered was expensive, but he could sell it at the new higher market rate and recover his high costs. All the easy oil is long gone. Gone are the days when Uncle Jed might run into a pool of bubbling crude while shootin at some food. Offshore drilling is incredibly expensive. Oil from shale is even more expensive. Steam injection into dead wells is incredibly expensive. Politicians and oil companies would have the public believe otherwise, but more offshore drilling is not going to produce cheap oil. The easy offshore oil has already been tapped. New drilling is more complicated and more expensive. It is not going to cut the world market price, and is NOT going to lower the price of gasoline in the U.S.

I never thought there was much importance in making sure a Webelos Scout was "prepared" before joining a troop. Prepared or not, AOL or not, all new members start at the bottom. The troop does all the training necessary. A troop is fully capable of welcoming a completely green 11 year old with no Cub Scout background and never camped a day in his life. Its what we do. We have a troop guide, instructors, assistant Scoutmasters. No boy is going to feel intimidated.

Other than nuclear, it's all energy from the sun.

What a spoilsport! It is so much more fun to bellyache about it. Wouldn't be more efficient to take the daily bombarment from the sun and use it directly? Skip the plant growth and decomposition part and the eons of processing time. I suppose we'll figure that out after the decomposed plants are used up.

Every time I look up an unfamiliar word in the dictionary, I always see 2 or 3 others that are interesting and so I learn more than I originally set out to look up. I see one purpose of the quiz to be in getting the wheels turning and the gray matter pulsing and a chance to take a look in the resources and get a fresh point of view, not just on a particular point, but whatever else catches the eye at the same time.

Well said Neil. I could not more heartily agree.

This is getting out of hand. The adults attending Scouting events should be only the ones needed to carry out the Scout event. Do a "family" camp once or twice a year. The rest of the time limit participation to Scouts, and 2 or 3 adults. Or better yet, how about sending each patrol off by themselves with NO adults.

There's an easy out here. Go ahead and forge signatures if needed to play along with the paperwork game being imposed by the evil system. It's a minor detail between you, the forgee, and your Maker. Define terms to suit the needs of the situation if that helps.

NJ, society can do whatever they want. Were talking about Scouting and we cannot/ should not do whatever we want if it conflicts with the values we teach through Scouting. The topic started from post 1 with an unmarried couple being told they could not attend an overnight Scouting event. I was responding specifically to your comment that you don't think it's any of our business whether (or when) these people choose to get married or how they choose to spend their weekend. Anything that affects the growth of moral character and our mission to prepare kids to make ethical choices over their lifetimes, absolutely is our business. The concept of moral character is what is important and actions by adult leaders or tacit approval of actions of others that steer us away from the mission of Scouting demands our attention, concern, and action.

The rules in the Guide to Safe Scouting and youth protection are there to protect kids. They cannot be set aside because someone writes a note.

None of my comments here have anything do to with this district camp, or BSA tenting rules, or the particular mom/son/boyfriend situation being unfolded in this topic. But I must comment on the underlying issues. A man and a woman demonstrate their love and commitment to one another by sharing life vows and being married. Living together, sharing breakfast, and shacking up are simply terms to describe a situation where the pair do NOT want a commitment; they want to try it out and maybe get married later if they dont change their mind before then. Its selfish and hurtful to the boy. A marriage date some months down the line is hardly a commitment to marriage. Long engagements just show they arent sure about the other. Most important, the boy should not be made a party to the moms love life. When she invites her boyfriend to move in on some trial arrangement, where does this leave the boy? He needs a family, a mom and a dad, not a mom preoccupied with a love life. When your son becomes an adult, would you advise him to sleep around with girls until he decides he wants to become committed? Would you advise your daughter to move in with a guy for a test drive? When adults do the play house thing, non-commitment is what they teach kids. I think the practice is a clear demonstration of a persons character and as a parent I would NOT want that kind of character in Scout leader.

I do think it is very much a lot of our business if they want to carry their lifestyle into a Scouting event. An uncommitted shack-up relationship is a lousy model of the kind of moral behavior we should be demonstrating for our kids. The non-member stud with no kid in Scouting has no business at an overnight Scouting event with his honey. Stay home. And how does the kid feel about it? He has a chance to spend a weekend with his mom at a Scouting family camp and she wants to bring her boyfriend along? His life is disrupted enough with his dad not being in the family. Now he has to share his mom with another boyfriend. Sound mighty selfish to me.

The last camp we went to provided a T-2-1 card with the items checked off that the Scout learned. The testing part is left to the troop.

The ScoutParent Initiative has to do with encouraging more parents to become involved and active with Scouting. A coordinator for the effort within the unit seems appropriate.

That's been my experience as well, which is why I always take 3-4 minutes to go down the list of requirements with the boy and check them off one by one. It sets the tone and shows the boy how advancment works. Read the requirement, turn to the indicated page in the book, learn it, demonstrate and be tested on it, and get it signed off. Then have a SM conference. If the boy already learned how to tie a square knot, and knows what the two stars represent, etc. that is great; he can demonstrate and get signed off in short order. Non-AOL boys may have to practice some and demonstrate at the next meeting.

How long is the grace period in your council?

No deaths I know of, nor has the ceremony been reduced to reading names from a list.

It was more because of the deaths that were occurring from the punch-out ceremony.

Sounds like the PTA doesn't understand the agreement. Chartering orgs do not "sponsor" a unit. The org uses the BSA program for their boys. Not BSA boys, their boys. They don't "sponsor" anyone other than themselves. The charter org is not committed to BSA bylaws. They just have to agree to use the BSA program in the way it was designed. If PTA is not qualified to select unit leaders, how qualified could they be to select PTA leaders? No PTA insurance is needed. BSA provides liability insurance for the leaders selected by PTA. By the way, "Scout", "Scouts", and "Scouting" are always capitalized.

Yeah, it's one of those trivia things everybody gets mixed up. I'm hoping with the next edition of the Handbook, we can either get rid of the patch or make it a full scale rank so there's no confusion. In the meantime see page 31 of the Handbook.

A DE doesn't have have any Scouting experience. He just has to know where to get the correct answer. An internet chat forum will give you 12 opinions, 11 of which are likely to be wrong, maybe even all 12. Except of course for "my" opinion which is always right. See how easy this is. "Everybody" is right, just ask them.