FScouter

The Area IV High Adventure Team offers several trainings: Basic Backpack Advanced Backpack Winter Backpack Desert Backpack Cycling Rock Climbing Rappelling Snow Shoeing Ice Axing Nordic Skiing Land Navigation / Orienteering Astronomy Inland Waterways Trail Boss

"Another problem was on trips the older boys, generally leaders of some sort, would band together as a clique leaving the younger or lower ranking kids behind." That sounds like a BP patrol - a gang of friends. We create patrol problems when we adults force boys into patrols with other boys they would not naturally hang with. They gravitate out of the mandated patrol into their natural patrol.

Son, whether one personally feels a particular word is "bad" or not isn't the point. Within the walls of your own house you can watch any TV program you want and you may use any language you want as long as your parents are OK with it. But when you leave your house you enter into a world full of lots of different people some of whom will find that kind of language to be offensive. It's kind of like BO. If you don't wash your armpits for 3 weeks straight it may not bother you any. But the person you sit down next to may think different. A Scout is courteous and considers the feelings of those around him.

Barry makes a very good point. The often-repeated its for the boys is a trite feel-good saying that is really quite shallow and selfish when you think about it. Scouting is an adult program to prepare young people for life. Its more that that too; Scouting makes the world a better place.

I was guessing he was just trying to boost his post count, but that would be ridiculous.

When I was young, I'd have gotten my mouth washed out with Fels-Naptha for using what some people today consider to be "common slang words." A Scout is courteous. You might ask how a Scout can be courteous using language that is offensive to some people.

Challenging Oak Trees comments: It sounds more like you dont like BobWhite, rather than there being anything wrong with his list of successful characteristics. 1. Is it better for a troop to operate with untrained adults? 2. Is a uniform shirt better than a complete uniform? 4. What kinds of things should a troop NOT use the patrol method? 5. When should the Boy Scout Handbook NOT be followed? 6. If the troop committee makes decisions Scouts should be making, should that practice not be corrected? 10. A successful troop can operate without a written plan? 16. Successful troops have quality adult leaders, not any warm body. Anybody can be recruited. Quality must be selected from amongst the warm bodies, then recruited to serve. 17+18. I dont believe successful troops operate in a vacuum unto themselves.

"It's entirely possible that the SM felt that his son would be automatically passed because of his position, and wanted reviewers who would be more rigorous. " Maybe he is afraid his son will will have a tough time with the troop committee and is looking for an easy way out with strangers that don't know him. Either way, it is insulting to the troop committee to be bypassed by the Scoutmaster. If the SM has no faith that the committee can't do a proper job, perhaps the committee needs to be replaced.

"Help two patrol members advance one rank." The requirements are also listed in the Patrol Leader Handbook.

"Have eight members in the patrol or increase patrol membership over the previous three months." -- page 23, Boy Scout Handbook.

"Unit leaders, assistant unit leaders, relatives, or guardians may not serve as members of a Scout's board of review." -- Advancement Committee Policies book. Yes, if the troop committee is only 3 persons and includes a parent, that could be a problem. The committee then would need to be expanded to 4 members. The point I wanted to make was that it is not appropriate to go outside the troop committee to convene a board. If troop committee members can't commit to serving on boards of review, then the committee needs to be expanded. The [Eagle board] members do not have to be registered Scouters, but must understand the importance of the rank and the Eagle board of review. -- Troop Committee Guidebook. These [Eagle board] members do not have to be registered in Scouting, but they must have an understanding of the importance and purpose of the Eagle board of review. Advancement Committee Policies book.

"... does anyone have the appropriate words from 'Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures?'" Like a lot of things one hears about, there is no specific language to address it. So instead, turn it the other way and ask "where is the requirement written that the merit badges must be earned during a specific rank tenure?"

We had a patrol go from 4 boys to 5 and earn the award. 8 members is not required. Shuffling boys between patrols does not meet the spirit of the requirement in my opinion.

Considering that a troop must have a minimum of 3 committee members to charter, they should never not have enough for a board of review. To avoid the "appearance of impropriety", only troop committee members should serve on a board; assistant Scoutmasters are not permitted, nor are relatives, nor the Scoutmaster, nor Scouts, nor the general public.

We've had the same issue in our troop. As SM, I said OK, those that want to wait until Saturday are free to do so. The rest of us are leaving Friday after school as planned. By the time they arrive Saturday, the program is already well under way, and some boys miss out. All you need is one other adult to go with you on Friday. As far as a last minute event hijack, just do the original plan with those that want to go. The others can go to the police station.

Maybe try holding more frequent courts of honor such that boys that earn a rank don't have to wait so long for the formal recognition.

I'll bite too. What does the committee have to do in the slightest degree as to whether boys set up camp in the dark??

If you're looking for a loophole to bring girls on a Boy Scout campout, forget it. Nobody is fooled.

"Finally, if, in the moderators' view, this is simply too far afield of actual Scouting relevance, then by all means close or delete the thread. " If that was the policy, we'd free up a lot of bandwidth, but this forum would be decimated.

"My PLC was insistent on voting out the pants, regardless of my encouragement. I'm pretty confident that the vote was not about indulging my dislike of the pants, since I've continued to wear the pants." The PLC leaders, don't like pants so they "voted" them out. The Scoutmaster, instead of sitting quietly at the same table as this was going down, could have questioned the purpose of such a vote. What objective were the boy leaders trying to achieve with such a vote? Since there is no penalty for not wearing pants anyway, why vote them out? Could it be an attempt to remove a twinge of guilt from not wearing them? And, the Scoutmaster could have also pointed out that the PLC has no jurisdiction anyway as to the makeup of the Boy Scout uniform, other than neckerchief and headwear selection. Nor can they vote to admit a girl to the troop, plan a skydiving trip, or eliminate the service hours requirement from the 1st class rank. Boy leaders, and adult leaders, can think up all kinds of ideas, even take votes, but the ideas must be within the framework of Scouting. Redefining the uniform is not within the discretion of a troop.

Gee, Merlyn, are the catcalls from the hooligan in the cheap seats getting under your skin? I thought you had more dignity that to stoop to that level. Some comments aren't worth responding to, and in those cases, silence says more. We're not stupid you know.

Poorly uniformed troops are led by leaders that don't like wearing the uniform. They indulge their dislike by having a "vote" to eliminate the parts they don't like.

The district committee position patch goes in the same position as a troop position patch, directly under where the troop numbers would be on a troop shirt. A troop neckerchief would not go with a district shirt.

It seems supremely silly. Who has been damaged by printing a picture?? Who is making a big pile of money from a picture of Tommy Tenderfoot on the troop website? Who could possible afford to hire a lawyer only to told "you have absolutely no case"?

How do you feel about the council scout shop selling outdated books to scouts a year and a half after changing the requirements? Should scouts also get the Official BSA requirements each year so they can update their already out of date books? Really now, such an attitude. Pay the $2 (or maybe its 2.50 now?) once a year in January. Is that such an exorbitant expense to keep a troop current? Or download it for free at the BSA web site http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/resources/32215/index.html and print it on your own paper using your own ink, whatever is more thrifty. How about national not adding meaningless requirements which cause problems like these. Yeah, such a problem. Its stupid and meaningless. Or not. Is bringing new boys to Scouting such a dumb idea? Its been scientifically proven a thousand times over that the most effective and efficient way to bring boys to Scouting is for a Scout to bring in a friend.