FScouter

I really doubt a consequence, unintended or otherwise, of FCFY is lame "First Class" Scouts. If a troop is failing in the advancement program, the solution is not to dump the FCFY program.

Ed, Ed, Ed, You have complete control over how Merlyn, or anyone else, reacts to what you post. Don't expect the moderator team to protect you from yourself.

Clarifying what OGE hinted at, pushing boys through rank requirements with a minimum of skill development or learning is NOT the BSA First Class, First Year program. Rushing, pushing, and presenting a badge is NOT FCFY. Lets not sully the name of FCFY with examples of troop practices which have nothing to do with the BSA advancement program.

That depends on how paranoid you are. The only thing that is going to "get ya" is your conscience.

I've never understood what is meant by the oft repeated phrase or variations thereof "we are there for the Scouts", "remember, its for the boys", etc. What is it and where is there? The mission is to prepare young people to make ethical choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law. Do we work the program for the boys, Is our purpose to simply build an Eagle such that he can personally excel over the general population? or for the benefit of the world at large that will ultimately benefit from what we do to raise boys into ethical adults? Do adults think much about what it is they hope to accomplish by serving as an adult Scout leader? What is it they want to accomplish? Do many adult leaders think much about the Mission?

Must have been a slow day for news. Every year we get at least one of these "news" articles, lamenting the passing of holiday recognition for the sake of something described by the meaningless term "ever-increasing PC world".

I don't think the objection to the terms "class A" or "class B" has anything to do with a military connotation. It's because there is no standard definition; every troop has its own peculiar definition of "class A/B". One cannot look in the Handbook to find out what is meant by those terms.

As the district training chair, we would recommend a dozen or so adults in our district every year. The course recommendation(s) was specific to the individual's position or area of interest. Anyone that wanted to go was also put on the list if they were not already on it. The SE always signed the entire list, which was then forwarded to Philmont, and the formal invitations were sent out. Informally, it was expected that the skills the person brought back would be shared with the rest of the district. That meant I would hit them up to take a segment or two of a training event.

There are a ton of USFS campgrounds in Sequoia National Forest and they are close to Bakersfield. Go east on 155 or 178 out of Bakersfield to the Kern River area and north. Buy the forest service map which has all the dirt roads, trails, and campgrounds plotted. http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/sequoia/recreation/ A little further north is a Boy Scout camp (Wolverton, WLACC council) located in the middle of Sequoia National Park. It's a small camp used primarily as a base for backpacking trips into the mountains, or for tourist spots within the park.

I must agree with the Tyler quote TheScout posted. This country has peaked and is irreversibly going down. Our citizenry is selfish, greedy, and complacent. Great nations do not sustain themselves with that kind of character. We continute to believe we're the greatest nation on earth, yet we don't do great things. I'd give us 60-80 years until we are completely enveloped in anarchy.

If the requirements are all done, what would be the problem turning in the app? It only takes 5 minutes to fill it out.

There is no income tax on people that quit their job.

"FScouter, I'm always disappointed at the quick denigration of other volunteers." Perhaps I could have worded my comment differently. I tend not to apologize for volunteers that don't have the time to do their job. Actually instead of "don't have time", I should say "choose to spend their time in other ways". If the committee member chooses to work with soccer instead of Scouting, one might reevaluate why the person was selected to serve on the committee. Is that really denigrating a volunteer?

Our troop schedules boards of review at a time and place convenient for those involved. It is never during a troop meeting because we feel it is not fair to pull a boy out of a meeting. Sometimes they are done in the hour before the meeting starts. If members of the committee find it difficult to "show up" for their job, one might question why they were selected for the job.

So what do any of these various other events have to do with cancelling out in the parking lot of the departure point? "A Scout is Courteous" doesn't apply if the parents have a court-ordered visitation schedule, or Grammy is coming in from Italy? It is a rude, self-centered and discourteous CHOICE if a Scout waits until the last minute to declare he's backing out.

The reason why a boy cancels is irrelavent. The result is the same: wasted food, wasted cabin rent, wasted drivers, disappointed patrol mates. Who are we to judge whether a family event or a boob tube extravaganza is a "valid excuse"? Boys (or parents) make the choice to attend, or not. They also make the choice to properly notify (or not) others in the troop that are affected.

Everything is a choice. One may CHOOSE to do a wedding or funeral instead of a campout. Go for it. When one says "I can't", or "I have no choice", what that really means is "I would have to give up a lot to do the campout instead of the other thing, so I CHOOSE the other thing". Stuff like weddings, court-ordered visitation, and trips to the Bahamas don't come up at the last minute, "forcing" a boy to cancel out of a campout. If boys are making choices that adversly affect others, perhaps they are not making the "ethical choices over their lifetimes" we are working to instill. So the question is, will cancellation rules fix that?

"...all families receive a copy of our yearly calendar and know well in advance the dates of all our campouts and activities." Exactly. The question to ask yourself is WHY did the boy make a choice to do a different activity? WHY did a boy choose to do a "family obligation" for 5 consecutive campouts? WHY did the boy and his mother choose "Mom's weekend" instead of a campout? If a boy chooses a different activity, it is because the Scout activity isn't a strong enough attraction.

If a boy was really excited about going, he would not change his mind and choose another activity, or "forget".

bump

Eamonn, Sounds like some folks look at it kinda like those little starfish. It's hopeless to try to save them all so why bother. Or, Just saved another one!

Ed, knock it off.

The $370 checks is what is known. Without an accounting who knows what else may be discovered?

"I don't know about that FScouter. One of the reasons for the Sedition Act of 1798 was of all the "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" the newspapers were printing." "FS, sensational journalism is by no means a recent phenomenon. Google "yellow journalism". " You're both right of course. Proof again that the olden days were not always better. Sadly, one must stil be picky about discerning when the "news" is honest and when it's not.

I'm only challenging the argument that data should be withheld from a YP policy committee simply because the unseen data may not be useful. A good argument might be crafted to withhold data for other good reasons, but "maybe it won't be useful" is not a good reason.