FScouter

Those examples are ludicrous, as it appears that is what you intended. Continuing in the same vein: 4. Leave What You Find Better not get a drink of water from the creek; some fish downstream might need it. 6. Respect Wildlife Be careful you dont step swat a mosquito or mis-step on a bug. 7. Be Considerate of Other Visitors I dont like the sight of other people, better everybody else stay home. I suppose we can be reasonable, or pooh-pooh the principles of LNT. What do we teach our boys?

There are 7 principles of Leave No Trace. None of them have anything to do with any part of the Paul Bunyon Award requirements. They dont even relate to chopping down a tree, unless perhaps you choose to cut down the sole remaining tree at the top of Mt. Baden-Powell, elevation 9,399 feet, carrying the nest of a golden eagle. 1. Plan Ahead and Prepare (for hiking and camping trips) 2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces 3. Dispose of Waste Properly (Pack It In, Pack It Out) 4. Leave What You Find (pretty flowers or archaeological artifacts) 5. Minimize Campfire Impacts (site or scarce firewood) 6. Respect Wildlife 7. Be Considerate of Other Visitors http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/resources/21-105/

Why are pop-tarts banned? I expect the boys to come up with menus that meet the principals of good nutrition as outlined in their handbook. What's wrong with a pop-tart thrown into the mix?

The Paul Bunyon award has nothing to do with Leave No Trace. LNT has nothing to do with living rooms or parking lots. But its a free country anybody can hate LNT principles if they want to.

Refer to the Troop Leadership Training book # 34306A, and Chapter 7 of the Scoutmaster Handbook. TLT is done at the troop level, by the Scoutmaster with the help of previously trained youth. The week-long council level National Youth Leadership Training assumes the boy has already done the troop level training, is 13 and First Class, and is the SPL or ASPL.

I am not sure what you mean by your post. I was responding to the comment repeated by Jeffery that we can relieve ourselves and BSA of liability by simply declaring the event to not be a BSA outing and that everybody attending is personally liable for injuries that may occur. When 2 kids are playing William Tell and one kid gets a hatchet buried in his skull instead of the apple, the fact that you declared Im not responsible isnt going to fool anybody. If its your outing and you cant control dumb things because you missed required BALOO training, youre going to be liable, and BSA will NOT defend you.

What's a "lei" ?

Hmmm... Interpretation of a rule is done by the interpreter, risk assumed by same. Somehow I doubt the prosecuting attorney and the judge and jury are going to be fooled by the defense that says "THIS IS NOT A REAL SCOUTING EVENT (wink, wink) ... THEREFORE WE'RE EXEMPT FROM RULES."

"Since Bears are attending this campout, designate your campout as a 'Pack Campout' ". That's a novel approach. Can a Wolf den go camping if they call it a "pack campout", and forget to invite the rest of the pack?

"No, it isn't all about rules and authority. Yes, it is about service, and kindness, and doing the right thing." Gee I hope we're not implying that this is either/or. Rules and authority don't prevent service, kindness, and doing the right thing.

It was an interesting tidbit in one news account that the two men that simply happened upon the woman were Eagle Scouts. Another news account didnt not mention that. Maybe I drink too much Kool-Aid, so somebody please explain what liberal press has to do with not mentioning Eagle ? The Eagle angle to the story might have been more newsworthy if the men had actually rescued the woman, or used their Scouting skills to save her life. They didnt have to pull her from drowning, or split a broken leg. They didnt fabricate a litter to carry her out. They didnt build her a shelter. They werent lost so they didnt have to navigate by the stars. They did what any other person would have done, Eagle or not: give her some food and water and go for help. The fact that they were Scouts may have been lucky for the woman in that they may not have been hiking cross-country so deep in the wilderness if they had not learned the love of the outdoors through Scouting.

Maybe because earning the Eagle rank as a youth years ago has nothing to do with the story? Why did they also fail to mention the men were members of 4H years ago too?

He's half way toward earning the interpreter strip. Now he just needs to learn to read, speak, and translate a 2nd language.

Everyone has an excellent safety record, until they have an accident.

Everyone has an excellent safety record, until they have an accident.

"freakin'" What does that mean?

"Ferget all the books and district gnomes and such for a minute." It sound like that already happened. Some district or council volunteer decided he knows better and has given advice contrary to the advancement policies of BSA. The important thing to realize is that we don't achieve the BSA mission by discarding BSA methods because someone (even with good intentions) thinks he knows better.

Training and mentoring boy leaders is not so much a tweak as it is implementing the BSA program. The trick is to know when to switch leadership styles from directing to coaching and supporting. I haven't heard about any rules that go against that concept.

A patrol is a group of 6-8 boys that work together as a team. The more they work together, the more their patrol identity becomes established. As you discovered, every time you combine patrols you very effectively destroy whatever patrol identity they have built. Combined patrols means no patrols which means no patrol method. Youd be better off having one patrol if that avoids the temptation to combine. The problem of lousy attendance is never solved by combining patrols. Combining patrols does not get more boys to choose a campout versus whatever else they might choose to do that weekend. That means you must build an interesting and exciting program such that the boys will want to attend. If only 2 or 3 boys from a patrol can attend a particular event, then that patrol simply carries on with the boys they have. Our troop has had many campouts where one patrol or another only had 2 or 3 boys. Its really less work, not more, to cook for 2 versus cook for 8, clean up for 2 versus clean up for 8, etc. I wouldnt worry so much about recruitment. Boys dont join because of a strong recruitment effort. They join because your troop has an exciting program. Build a strong program and recruitment will happen on its own.

"Some troops will use a time limit as a way of encouraging boys to finish. That's a goal worth honoring." Encouraging boys to finish is certainly honorable. Writing up an (unauthorized) rule may have the unintended result of teaching boys to wait until the last minute, or quit the effort. Maybe there's a better way to teach boys to finish what they've started?

"Other people are bad (or will do bad things). They must be regulated." It's the "bad guys" that feel their style being cramped that seem to be the ones that object the loudest to any hint if rules and policies.

I'm not sure what it is that the "former professional whitewater guide" and the "AMGA certified climber and mountaineer" would be doing that would be contrary to the rules found in the Guide to Safe Scouting? They don't sound very professional if they can't follow a few simple safety rules. I'd be very wary of any person that advocates tossing out program elements, policies, and safety procedures to be replaced by the personal ideas of any one individual. How arrogant for Joe Doitmyway to think he knows better that the collective wisdom of thousands of Scouters? The best way to be helpful and to "be of service" is to provide leaders with the resources BSA provides.

A troop is not a group of boys, it is a group of patrols. Liken this to a Cub Scout pack. Is the pack fragmented by dens? A pack is nothing but a group of dens.

Recharter need only involve one person, the committee chair. Boys and adults need only let the CC know if they plan to quit. The recharter fees come out of the pack treasury. Part of the dues boys pay every week at their den meetings goes to pay their individual $10 annual recharter fee and $12 Boys' Life subscription.

From the day they are selected, every committee member including the chairman should have a copy of Highlights for the District Advancement Committee #34724. It will save them from wasting time figuring out what their job is and how to do it.