FScouter

I would think that the persons most in need of BALOO training would be the leaders taking the pack camping. Normally that would be the Den Leaders and assistants, and the Cubmaster and assistants. If the outing leader is a committee member or a parent, that person should have the training. BALOO isn't for non-leaders only. Rather, non-leaders are encouraged to take the training as well. The overview in BALOO syllabus says "The target participant is a new Cub Scout leader who has minimal camping experience but wants to plan and carry out an entry-level outdoor experience for the pack." It goes on to say adults not already part of the pack leadership team would be ideal participants.

What is a "non-leader".

"We screwed this up all by ourselves ... we did a good enough job making ourselves look bad without their help." I read again your entire post, telling of how those in need were cared for and assistance given. You said you yourself assisted in the treatment of Scouts affected by heat exhaustion. Sounds great! What was it that we did to make ourselves look bad??

ALL members of the district committee may wear the "District Committee" position patch.

A 15 minute pre-opening should solve the problem of late arrivals. The pre-opening is one of the 7 parts of a troop meeting. It is an activity designed so that boys can join in as they arrive for the meeting. Those that arrive early have an activity to keep them busy while the rest of the boys arrive. For example, the meeting starts at 6:45 PM with a 15 minute pre-opening. The formal opening ceremony starts at 7 PM. Boys have a 15 minute window to arrive without disrupting the meeting in progress. The Scoutmaster Handbook discusses the meeting plan format.

Please respond to the duplicate thread in the "Program" forum.

Foto, sounds like your were/are at the Jamboree. Wish I could be there too. "... they found it unbelievable that the series of events leading up to the tragic accident could have happened at all!" What were the events leading up to the accident? "Scouting should have very publicly fired the Health and Safety Officer over this one." What did the Health and Safety Officer do or not do that should/should not have been done?

That quote is in the youth protection barriers to child abuse section of the G2SS. The stated purpose of the rule is for the protection of youth members and to protect adult leaders from false accusations. It refers to trips and outing in which adults are present. In the Leadership Requirements for Trips and Outings section it says "There are a few instances, such as patrol activities, when no adult leadership is required." The Scoutmaster may choose withhold permission for patrol campouts but a blanket ban seems a bit harsh. The Scoutmaster Handbook says the SM should allow a patrol campout only when "the Scoutmaster is satisfied that the activity is well within the patrol members' levels of training and responsibility." Train them, trust them, let them lead.

"First, the long-term vested interest in APH is showing now showing the risk side of the situation...an entrenched plan is rather inflexible if a change is required. When BSA embarked on the 'private club' strategy, there must have been people who considered this risk. If they did not prepare for it at the time then that's tough. They should have remembered the motto." Sometimes I'm dense. Could someone please elaborate and explain a bit? What risk does Fort A.P. Hill have that is unique? What is an entrenched plan? What is inflexible? What is the private club strategy? Who did not prepare for what? And who forgot the motto?

"The ranger said that in her judgment, the group did the right thing." Bears repeating.

It is sickening to hear all the scout-haters clucking their tongues. A professional tent rental company used poor judgement resulting in the deaths of four Scout leaders. The Secret Service forces boys to pour out their water bottles, then wait in the sun for 3 hours for a president that never shows up. But listen to these scout-haters and you'd think BSA was full of bumbling idiots endangering the lives of our boys. It's disgusting.

Charge double for posting to the I&P forum.

Yes, the Insignia Guide does say "primary registration".

did you see how many of the adults were passing out from the heat, many of them grossly overweight. Is that a fact or a supposition? How many of those that suffered dehydration and/or heat exhaustion (passed out?) were adults, and what were their weights? How many were overweight (grossly)? there are no excuses for the lack of leadership and guidance at this jamboree. What lack of leadership and guidance? When things start to go wrong the management,the BSA needs to do some serious quality control and quickly before another problem pops up. What things are going wrong?? Are you referring to the tent pole incident? Dehydration? What exactly would you suggest the management do?

Maybe the boys could read the book to their parents. There are also ESL classes that can be completed in less time that it takes to order a special language handbook. Just an idea.

The Court of Honor is the formal recognition a boy receives after he has completed the final requirement for rank advancement - completion of the board of review.

Misleading exaggerations from the press is bad enough without our own ranks adding to it. It's incorrect to say that BSA did not think to provide water for 40,000 participants. Drinking water is everywhere and the place is crawling with water buffalos. You can't fault BSA if 300 boys and adults didn't drink enough. You can fill a boy's water bottle but you can't make him drink.

While removing one's hat during the raising of colors may show respect, wearing the Scout uniform with the Scout hat does not show any disrespect at all.

You may wear either a 10 year pin with a blue background, or a 3 year pin with a gold background and a 7 year pin with a green background. Then, when you finish a full year as an adult you may add a 1 year pin with a blue background. OR, you may add up all your service in total and wear a 10 year pin with a blue background. From the Insignia Guide: "The stars are worn with the appropriate color background for the phase of Scouting in which the service was rendered. If an individual's primary registration is in one phase of Scouting and later in another, separate stars with the appropriate background and numerals may be worn simultaneously. Or, leaders may combine youth and adult tenure into one or two stars with blue background." You may wear them anytime you want. As a practical matter its kind of a pain to remove and replace them every time the shirt is washed.

In the olden days fees were set to cover the direct costs of the event. These days, our council looks to all events as revenue events. All event budgets including training must generate a 15% surplus. The problem is that neither the SE nor the top council volunteers will openly explain the purpose of the mandated surplus. Explanations like "insurance" or "overhead" or "contingency" don't fool anybody. Volunteers are not stupid, and those kind of explanations generate suspicion and distrust. There would be much less resistance to increased fees if the leadership would simply say that additional revenues are needed, and that event fees must be increased to make up revenue shortfalls in other areas such as FOS and United Way. Honest, forthright, and believable explanations would get better response.

I'd suggest collecting money from sales on a weekly basis rather than waiting until the sales event is over.

I believe I've recently seen both on the shelf at the Scout Shop. The Scoutstuff website has never had a complete listing of current items. It has always seemed hit or miss.

The commissioner barged into a Court of Honor, took over, lined up the boys, and conducted an inspection? or The Scoutmaster invited him to come and take part in program, which included a uniform inspection?

Boys' Life and Scouter magazines have pictures of boys in real units, with whatever uniforming anomalies they may have.

The rumored rule appararently has nothing to do with safety since it was said to be OK to put the driver's son in the front seat, but not other kids.