FScouter

Step one to recruiting (after identifying a prospect) is to introduce. It would be interesting to see how many boys that are introduced to Scouting through the new requirement end up joining. I think that we sometimes look for the easiest solution to a problem rather that the best solution. If patrol numbers are down, troop membership is down. Juggling the mix doesnt add to troop membership. Breaking up a patrol means the troop lost a patrol. Thats not a good thing! Maybe take a look at why boys left the troop and work on that angle.

Me too. Considering the length of time it takes to navigate to the forum with the yellow lightbulb, click, wait awhile, click again, wait some more, scroll down to the latest message, hoping for a new perspective, it's discouraging to just see Joeposter say "me too" to 50,000,000 other members.

"...(and so far, we've only seen informal 'unofficial' sources on this)..." Insignia Guide #33066, page 4 Special Regulations: Members may wear only temporary patches (no badges of rank) on the back of the merit badge sash. The Venture letter or Varsity letter my be worn on the "bottom front of the merit badge sash." This is referenced on 3 different pages in the Insignia Guide.

as emb021 pointed out earlier, the official insignia guide is the BSA "Insignia Guide", available at the Scout Shop or through the catalog. Everything else is either personal opinion, hearsay, history, or has been quoted from the Insignia Guide.

Sew it on well so it doesn't become "loose" and you "lose" it.

After a year or so a New Scout Patrol is not new anymore. They should have advanced in rank, some to 1st Class, and have morphed into a regular patrol. There really is little point in breaking up that patrol and moving them into other patrols. I think the motivation for doing this lies more in building sagging numbers in the other patrols. If other patrols have less than 6 members, they ought to be recruiting their friends to join Scouting rather than waiting for the Scoutmaster to break up the NSP.

Theres lots of persuasive arguments either way. Older boys can teach skills regardless of what patrol they are in. The SPL, assistant SPL, troop guides, instructors all work outside the boundaries of patrols. Most important I feel is that the boys will be happiest as members of the patrol they want to be in. Will a 17 year old be happy if he is assigned against his wishes to be part of a patrol dominated by 11 and 12 year olds? Will an 11 year old fit in well with a patrol of 16 and 17 year olds? Maybe, but only if he wants to be there and the other members want him there too. Boys want to be with their friends, and well-meaning adults ought not to be deciding who a boys friends will be.

The BSA policy is strictly against them. There is no such policy in any of the BSA literature. Unless you can cite a publication number your comment is non sequitur.

A "counselor" that is not registered is not a merit badge counselor. Only registered merit badge counselors may sign off completion of merit badges.

Thanks to the others who have clarified that its the mere planning that is required for the award. The top of the award application states very clearly Cub Scout pack ... has qualified for this award by conducting a pack activity in the summer months of [June, July, and August]. The words plan or planning dont appear anywhere on the application. Mere planning doesnt meet any requirement. Should a Scout earn an award simply because he planned to do it?

The intent of the Summertime Pack award is for packs to remain ACTIVE during the summer months of June, July, and August. The pack leadership interprets whether the requirements have been met. Just be honest with yourself. Does planning count as an activity? Or maybe doing is more appropriate? Is 1 or 2 boys going to day camp a pack activity? Is doing an event in June, skipping July, and doing 2 events in August being active during the 3 summer months? If only 1 or 2 boys show up for an event, was the pack active? If an event is cancelled, was the pack active? The requirements give wide latitude for interpretation, but ACTIVE during the 3 summer months of June, July, and August is key. See the application form: http://www.scouting.org/forms/33748.pdf

MaScout is correct. Scotteng is correct. And of course the Boy Scout Handbook is always correct. A candidate must earn 12 Eagle required merit badges. There are 15 on the list. They are listed on page 446, A through L. For G he has two choices, Emergency Preparedness OR Lifesaving. Its OK if he earns both, but he MUST earn at least one of them. For J he has three choices. If he earned both Cycling and Swimming, thats great. He only needs one of the three and there is no need to also earn Hiking unless he wants to. Next, he must have earned a total of at least 21 merit badges, including the 12 Eagle required badges. He can earn any merit badge at any time during his time as a Scout including merit badges from the Eagle list. Next, he must have successfully and correctly earned the ranks of Star and Life. For Star he must earn 6 merit badges including at least 4 from the Eagle required list. ANY 4 on the list of 15 are OK. (Read the footnote at the bottom of page 444.) Its OK to earn more than 4. These merit badges can be earned at any time while a Scout, Tenderfoot, 2nd Class, or 1st Class. But before he can earn the Star rank he must have completed at least 6 including ANY 4 from the Eagle list of 15. For the Life rank, he must have 5 more including at least 3 more from the Eagle list of 15. ANY 3 are OK. (Read the same footnote at the bottom of page 445.) It doe not matter when he earned the 3 more. Conceivably he could have earned 7 Eagle required badges by the time he earned Star. At the footnotes say, the categories mean nothing at the Star and Life ranks.

If the SM has designated parents to sign books, he does not understand the methods of Scouting. You might suggest to the committee that they purchase a Scoutmaster Handbook for him, and send him to the next Scoutmaster Specific training event. If he already has the book he either hasn't read it, or has chosen to ignore the principles. If he has already been to training or declines to go, then it's time to question the charterered organization rep as to whether the right candidate was selected to be the SM.

Refer to the Boy Scout Handbook pages 444, 445 (see the asterisk at the bottom), and 446.

The rate of sinking has nothing to do with it. FScouter got the answer but I don't quite follow his last statement about rate. You asked for replies without an explanation that would give away the answer. It depends on the density of the brick, and a solid gold brick should sink faster than a plastic brick or a hollow brick. The density of the brick affects the amount of water displaced. A heavy object in the boat will cause the boat to displace more water. When the heavy object is tossed overboard, the boat rises in the lake and the lake level drops. The drop is partially offset by the volume of the brick that causes the water level to rise when tossed over. A very dense brick, imagine a solid gold brick, carried in the boat will cause a lot of water displacement because the boat drops deep into the water. (Im guessing that the weight of the object carried in the boat would be equal to the weight of the water displaced by the boat.) A much less dense brick, imagine a plastic brick or a hollow brick, will not cause the boat to ride low in the water and wont result in nearly as much rise in the lake level. Either brick however, when tossed overboard will displace exactly the same amount of water. If the brick was a plastic bag filled with water, (ignoring the weight of the bag), was tossed overboard, there should be no rise or fall at all. The boat would rise in the water lowering the lake level, and the lake level would rise by the same amount from the volume of the water brick tossed overboard. Similarly, if a bucket of water carried on the boat was poured into the lake, the level would remain the same, because the density of the water in the bucket is the same as the water in the lake. If the brick floats, someone else will have to explain but Id guess there would be no change in level.

I agree, there are so many people out there that are ready to pounce if you don't get the information correct word for word form some source of information. Then they quote the reference. That would be me! Lots of new Scouters come here looking for ideas, opinions, and practices in other troops. Some come here to wanting to know BSA policies, procedures and rules, in addition to troop practices. Lots of posts get pounced upon because the statements are factually wrong, promote practices that are unsafe, or conflict with BSA policy. For example, troops can make blue jeans part of the uniform, sod surfing is OK if you dont get a tour permit, and boards of review should test the boy on all 10 official Scout knots is going to get pounced big time. I think it is part of our duty as members of this organization to promote BSA policies and to discourage those that want to redefine Scouts in their own image.

I must be a misfit. I don't find any of those pranks funny in the slightest, except for Eammon's Mexican act. But that's an act and not a prank.

It depends on the brick. If the brick sinks, the lake level will drop. The faster the brick sinks, the more the lake level will drop.

OGE, it seemed like a good idea. I wonder if anyone these days has guts enough to try it. It takes a real Scout to be kind, helpful, courteous; a friend. No guts required to run shorts up a flagpole.

A "gray area" is something you know in your heart is wrong (black) but you want to do it anyway so you call it gray instead of black, and hope you have a white conscience.

Born in 52, I do remember the Alan Shepard flight, which was a milestone at the time though not even a complete orbit, but when John Glenn did THREE COMPLETE ORBITS, that was really big stuff. At school, we watched the blast-offs (thats what they called a launch back then) of all the Gemini launches. I had several notebooks full of NASA Facts, plus X-15 and X-B70 stuff. My mom threw it all out along with my baseball card collection including Ernie Banks, rookie of the year.

Tryin' to make 'em do it your way will never be successful, and won't teach your son the values of respect and kindness that I'm sure you want him to learn. If you don't trust the volunteers in your son's program, or if they don't share your values, then you need to find a different troop or youth program. It isnt your values or the volunteers values. The only values that matter are Scouting values. There is no value in respect for Joe Volunteer that insists on trumping the BSA Aims and Mission with his own personal view of Scouting. In Scouting, the Mission rules all else. If the volunteers are misguided and have a different mission, the right thing to do is to work to get them on the Scouting track, and failing that, to oust them. Quitting just leaves those misguided volunteers to mess up Scouting for the next boy.

Our SM will give a valid reason for a "no" on an MB usually only if not enough Eagle Required have been done or started for their next Rank Advancement. It is up to the boy to choose which merit badge he wants to work on. The Scoutmaster can remind the boy that the Eagle rank requires certain specific merit badges and suggest that one of them might make a good choice. But remember that our mission is to help boys make CHOICES. When we say NO, the boy has no choice.

The UP is shorthand for Uniform Police--ie, the segment of the "rules book quoters" who are sticklers for exact and proper uniforming no matter what. I disagree. UP is a derogatory and disrespectful term used by those that dont like being reminded that the BSA uniform is defined and controlled by BSA and that modifications, substitution, customization, and redefinition by individuals and units is contrary to the purposes of the uniform method and is not permitted.

The Scoutmaster is the adult in charge of administering the Scout program. The Scout has no "right" to select his MB counselor except from choices offered by the SM. The committee ought not to be micromanaging the SM. If they don't like the way he administers the Scout program, they can work with him to achieve consensus, or select another SM.