FScouter

There's a ton of real BSA awards Cub Scouts can earn, and the patchs, pins, and certificates are available at the Scout Shop. Try the World Conservation Award, or LNT Awareness, or Cub Scout Outdoor Activity Award, or Emergency Preparedness, or a whole variety of different awards in the Academics & Sports Program Guide.

I would really discourage the idea of a training presenter collecting a fee from participants. The training committee should be setting and collecting the fee, providing the materials, and reimbursing expenses. When I served as the district training chair, I bought all the materials available for both SSD and SA. There is a video tape ($15), SSD handout (25 cents) SA handout (15 cents) and a completion card for each (5 cents). The costs were paid through the district training budget. No training presenter was expected to pay for materials; they were asked to submit receipts and were then reimbursed. Some didn't bother to turn in receipts. The costs for SSD and SA are so minimal it never made sense to bother collecting a fee. Never was a trainer permitted to collect money direct from participants.

Perhaps there is a discussion about the requirements and how to complete them in the Cub Scout book.

The BSA form is #33690, available at the Scout Shop. It lists the requirements, and the patch and ribbon item numbers. It has a chart to list the qualifying campouts and the names of the participating boys and adults. The form is a 17x22 sheet of paper printed both sides and folded. Someone made a PDF of part of the form. The PDF chopped off part of the form, it may be found here: http://www.tac-bsa.org/national_camping_award.pdf As OakTree noted, the other website reference is somebodys personal vision of the award which is not supported by the BSA requirements. The individual award may count days retroactive to 1-1-1991, including family camping and camping with groups other than Boy Scouts.

The DE is ultimately responsible for ensuring that FOS is handled, just the same as he is responsible for ensuring that the camporee is held, and unit leaders are trained. It is not his task to personally visit each unit in the district, make the FOS presentations, and collect contributions and pledge cards. These tasks are completed by volunteers through the volunteer district committee. Similarly, the DE does not run the camporee and does not run training events. Volunteers carry out those tasks. The DEs responsibility is to ensure that the tasks of the district are being handled, not to personally do them solo. If the DE fails to get the district committee properly staffed and functioning, then there is a good chance the district goals will not be met and the DE may be replaced.

The GRC version is a little better than the GCC version in that in addition to presenting the PowerPoint it adds the NLE video supplement as well. Still missing though is all the rest of the content that is found in the 90 minute live training.

Think 24 hours.

New Leader Essentials training is not a BSA on-line course. The NLE found on the gccbsa website is essentially copied from the BSA PowerPoint supplement for the BSA NLE training. The PowerPoint presentation covers the highlights of the training, but it is not a substitute for the complete course. All online BSA trainings may be found on the BSA training website at www.olc.scouting.org .

FOS is handled by the volunteer district finance committee. The Finance chair is responsible to staff the committee and carry out the FOS program. The volunteer district committee chair is responsible for appointing chairs for the volunteer program committee, volunteer membership committee, as well as the chair of the volunteer finance committee. The district executive is responsible for coordinating the efforts of the volunteer district committee. The DE is no more responsible for FOS than for the district camporee. However, when the volunteer nominating committee and the volunteer district chairman fail to fill the volunteer district committee positions, the DE is still responsible to see that the functions of the unfilled volunteer positions are still carried out. Doing the work himself doesn't really cut it.

A den chief is not a den leader.

I would not subject a Den Chief to a den of 17 Cubs for the same reason we don't have patrols of 17 in a troop. It is too big of a group for a boy to manage. The program is designed for a den of 6-8 Cubs and adding multiple den chiefs doesn't fix the underlying problem of operating a "den" of 17 boys. The solution may be found in a den leader, assistant den leader, and a den chief serving a den of 8 Cubs.

The gospel for BSA training awards may be found in the Leadership Training Committee Guide #34169A (latest version 2006). The tenure requirement for the Training Award (Boy Scout, Varsity, Sea Scouting, Venturing, and Roundtable Staff) is 2 years. The tenure requirement for the Key Awards is three years for any of the keys: Scoutmasters Key, Varsity Scout Coach Key, Skippers Key, Venturing Advisors Key, Commissioners Key, and District Committee Key. Except for the Scoutmasters Key, all key requirements state the tenure for one award may not be used for other training awards. Only for the Scoutmasters Key may the tenure include the tenure for the Scouters Training Award. The reason for this exception is that Scoutmasters Key has an additional requirement to earn the Scouters Training Award. Requiring separate tenure would result in 5 years tenure for the Scoutmasters Key vs. 3 years for all the other keys. None of the other keys require earning the Scouters Training Award. The unofficial Sea Scout web site is in error. It lists incorrect requirements for both awards, both of which conflict with the gospel. New Leader Essentials training is not a requirement for either award. Approval for all the training awards is through the district training chairman, not the commissioner. From the current Leadership Training Committee Guide: Sea Scouting Leaders Training Award: Complete Venturing Leader Specific Training Complete Sea Scouting leaders specialized training. Complete a boating safety course offered by the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, U.S. Power Squadron, or similar organization. Complete two years tenure in any adult capacity in the Venturing program. Perform your assigned leadership responsibilities to the satisfaction of the Skipper. Skippers Key: Complete Venturing Leader Specific Training Complete Sea Scouting leaders specialized training. Complete a boating safety course offered by the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, U.S. Power Squadron, or similar organization. Complete three years of registered tenure as a Skipper within a five-year period. At least twice during the three-year period serve as the Skipper of a ship earning the National Quality Unit Award or its equivalent.

Any amount BSA saves by using a less expensive source helps to offset cost increases elsewhere. If the cost savings were reflected in the sale price, some other price increase might be necessary, or a service cutback . Possiblities might be an increase in the annual registration fee, or Boys' Life subscription rate, or fewer pages in Scouter magazine, or eliminating retail the retail Scout Shops, or ???

"None of the other parents will be a den leader." Hmmm. The other den leader quit because there was no need for a 2nd DL, given that you provided the program for both dens. It's not likely anyone will volunteer to write the newsletter or update the website or serve as committee chair either, since those jobs are covered as well. I'd suggest you plan for a Bear den of 8 boys. Then advise the CC and CM they will need to select other adults to serve in the other 4 positions. BSA has a good booklet 13-500 to help you select leaders.

The useful discussion degenerated into bickering 30 posts back. When 2 or 3 members do that, the moderators may put a stop to it to spare the remaining 10,000 members from the cacophony.

Here's an idea. Try it on for size before you buy it. Or, if you buy mailorder, buy the size you think is closest to what you want and if it doesn't fit return it for a size bigger or smaller. This isn't rocket science. What pray tell is the point in trashing BSA other than to get a warm fuzzy feeling? Hey, there's always the local army surplus store or the walmart. Surely they will give you a scientific and definitive satisfying answer to sizing complaints.

Over the years our committee has kept minutes, or not, depending on if we had someone willing to do it. What would be "goofy" is if the CC proclaimed that NO, we will not keep a record. Is that what happened in your case?

How to know who might be a good candidate? Start small and see how they do. Ask a new parent to arrive 10 minutes early and help you set up the chairs. Or, next time you're in town could you pick up xxx at the Scout Shop for me. Or, would you please call and get the operating hours and ticket prices for our next pack outing. You'll know soon enough who are the good candidates.

Gee, I wonder who's gonna have the last word on this one?? Well it's not over until Ed gets in his .2cents worth. Let's get it over with today so we can start fresh tomorrow with a new argument.

Duty to God is an element of a board of review. "Religion" is not a forbidden topic, but how a boy practices religion should not be used as a criteria for whether he successfully completes the review. Rather, the discussion should be on how he fulfills his duty to God.

I'm a little dismayed at all the defenses put forth justifying the use of alcohol at a Scout campout. Boy Scouts and alcohol don't mix. How do we serve boys by justifying alcohol use??

The Cub Scout Leader book has some good ideas.

"My default answer would be yes, if the boy earns the Arrow of Light, he gets the Scout badge." If that's the case, it would be best if the den leader presented the Scout badge at a den meeting.

The Arrow of Light is a Cub Scout award. Meeting AOL requirements does not also mean an automatic check-off for the Boy Scout badge. The boys do AOL requirements to the satisfaction of their den leader. After they cross over into a troop they must complete the requirements for the Scout badge, to the satisfaction of the Scoutmaster. It may well be that the boy already knows how to tie a square knot or recite the pledge of allegience because he learned it in Cub Scouts. It should be very easy then to demostrate that again in the troop. It doesn't mean he gets to skip that part. These requirements are simple. It shows the boy right from the start that he can advance in the troop and earn a badge by completing a few basic tasks and participating in a Scoutmaster conference. Once he sees how easy it was for him to earn the Scout badge, he's off and running toward the Tenderfoot rank. The tasks are different but the process is the same and he is now familiar with it. Automatic check-off because he did it in Cub Scouts sends the wrong message.

Troops that can buy rank insignia in bulk sometimes don't bother turning in advancement reports. That creates a problem when it comes time for the boy to earn a truly restricted award like the Eagle rank. Compared to troops that withhold the rank badge until the next quarterly court of honor, a wait until the next troop meeting is considered immediate. The Scout badge has 8 or 9 requirements the boy must complete before he earns the badge. A boy should not be handed the badge simply because he crossed over. Whatever a boy did in Cub Scouts is fine and dandy, but until he gets his Boy Scout Handbook, works through all the Boy Scout requirements, and has a SM conference, he hasn't earned the Scout badge. Completing those requirements takes place after he crosses over.