FScouter

Fred has provided the new position description. Previously, the job included "Training each new leader and pack committee member for his or her specific position". Essentially, this meant the pack trainer had to be a part of the district training team. The new position description should be a great improvement.

You should be so lucky that the CO cares enough about its pack as to actually select the leaders. Too many chartered orgs will take any old tom, dick, or harry. The adult that was not approved may well be a fine person. But the CO must consider whether the leaders it selects will also further the goals of the CO. If not, another person may be a better selection. That may be the case here.

Yes, it's the "interpatrol competition" that is the highlight of our meeting as well. Sadly, the boys don't know any games at all, other than the ones we've done before. I like team vs. team games rather than every-man-for-himself games because they can work together as patrols. I've run out of new game ideas. At the PLC meeting, they always want to plan British Bulldog. I worry about broken bones and torn ligaments, but so far we've been lucky.

Corporal punishment, hazing, whatever. I'm always a bit wary of simple punishments such as pushups, and the value they are supposed to have in guiding boys. If this is so effective, I'd expect "pushup punishments" to be a part of the program. Maybe Scouting is not so easy as we'd like it to be.

During the 4 years I served as our district training chairman, there were a number of people that inquired about becoming pack trainer. One man had taken most, or all, of the Cub Leader Specific sessions. I sent him to the council trainer development course and he became a pack trainer. He is very good. Others have wanted to become a pack trainer too. The motivations of most were simple. The pack wanted their leaders to be trained, earn knots, and earn quality unit, but the leaders couldnt find the time to attend training. They wanted to do it in-house. Their idea of training was a brief overview at a pack committee meeting that wouldnt do justice to Fast Start training. Yes, quality control was part of our training clique.

My son has been on an OA trail crew each of the last 3 summers. As far as he is concerned, OATC is the pinnacle of Scouting. They spend a week building trail. This is not a little repair work with a shovel. They carve new trail out of the side of the mountain, fell trees, build bridges, switchbacks, water bars, French drains, etc. It is strenuous, heavy-duty manual labor, all day. The second week, they do their own custom trek. Last year his crew ended their trek with what they call the Super Black Death, climbing 7 peaks on the last day. Up at dawn, they came off the Tooth after dark. Heres a link to the OATC site. See the flash presentation. Look at the pictures and youll get an idea how exciting this is. http://adventure.oa-bsa.org/index.php?p=trailcrew

I believe that refers to Scouts assisting on an Eagle project, which must be approved in advance.

Since our mission is all about teaching boys to make choices, it only seems natural that the boy ought to have some input into what he considers active. Does he choose to join in troop and patrol activities, or choose something else? The quote acco40 pulled from the boy's handbook is perfect, "you need to be present when things are happening." Boys need to learn to think. Setting an arbitary standard means the boy doesn't need to figure out for himself whether is is active or not. And it's one less vehicle for a boy to learn about life. We adults would do well too to figure out for ourselves what is "active" rather than hoping someone else will dictate a definition.

Thanks for the info about the new adult leader application. It is so new that our council doesnt yet have any. It can be viewed on the national web site at http://www.scouting.org/forms/28-501D.pdf Interesting that it does indicate the YP is part of being trained, but the very next sentence says Cub Scout leaders are considered trained when they have completed New Leader Essentials and the Cub Scout Leader Specific Training for their position. It then says pack committee members are trained simply by taking New Leader Essentials. That is surely an error in editing. I doubt that the Leader Specific Training for Pack Committee Members is being abandoned. The application form is frequently updated and the language will surely be clarified in future revisions. When policies do change it takes time before all relevant publications reflect the changes. Many pubs are revised only every year or 2 or 3.

Uhhh... "national" hasn't said anything. Interesting, but still... This is info from an internet bulletin board, from a council meeting somewhere, from a guy that went to a Philmont training, who heard "tidbits" while there. While possibly plausible, until it's printed in a BSA publication, it's still just talk.

"How did you prevent the re-emergence of age-based patrols if there was no mandate to include some of each rank?" Why would one want to prevent an age-based patrol? Personally, I like the term "buddy-based patrols".

I bought one at the Scout Shop in 1999. I wear it for courts of Honor, the district recognition dinner, and such.

An NSP can be permanent. After the boys have been in the NSP for a few months and have advanced 2 or 3 ranks, the patrol is no longer new. Now they are a regular patrol. Tip: no one likes to be told who their friends will be. Let the boys decide which patrol they want to be a part of.

Youth Protection training is NOT a requirement to be considered a trained Cub Scout leader. Quoting from the Leadership Training Committee Guide #34169A: Cub Scout leaders must complete Fast Start and Basic Leader Training for their position to be eligible to wear the Trained leader emblem. Basic Leader Training has two components: New Leader Essentials, (and) Leader Specific Training designed to train the new leader in the specific responsibilities of his or her position." YPT is required for some other things, such as tour permit requirements, pack overnighter, adult leader training awards, etc.

2-deep leadership is not required for den meetings. You're probably thinking of the "no 1 on 1 contact" rule.

There is a very good resource on the BSA web site: http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/supplemental/18-625/index.html

1st Class requirement 4e, "serve as your patrol's cook", includes "supervise your assistants". That involves a certain amount of leadership. Your question isn't clear.

A pack campout is not a troop activity. Neither is a boy a "Den Chief" by virtue of attending his little brother's campout. Den Chief is not a 1-day position.

A good resource to look at is the Scoutmaster Handbook, chapter 19 "Community Service".

The purpose of the board of review is to determine if all the requirements have been met, and if the candidate has the character and Scout spirit to carry on in his life as an Eagle. The chairman is essentially holding a 1-man BOR, with no discussion with the candidate, and determining the candidate is not worthy based on only one piece of evidence. A better approach would be to hold the board of review with a group and through in-depth discussion determine if the candidate completed the requirements and is worthy of the rank. The review should certainly include discussion about why the candidate failed to follow the established procedure, along with discussion of all other topics a board needs to make a proper evaluation.

Hmmm ... It sounds like a poor choice was made in selecting a person to serve as Cubmaster. If the committee sees "nothing wrong with this", it sounds too like poor choices were made in selecting adults to serve on the committee.

What's a wedgie?

If no one else has anything positive to say, then let's consider this thread closed.

Why is the treasurer accepting money from various boys instead of the patrol scribe? It makes it difficult to mentor the scribe if the treasurer allows others boys to bypass him.

The BSA dues envelopes work well in our troop as well. The troop scribe collects the dues from the patrol leaders every meeting and check off the envelopes. He turns them over to the troop treasurer.