gwd-scouter

LCScouter - I thought the custom made option was only in sizing. I didn't think you could ask them to leave off pockets, etc.

Hey Pack, being in the South, don't you know that you'll all is redundant. When will you be in Greenwood? I'm not going on the trip - maybe we could grab a cup of coffee?

Thanks for the info everyone. We are leaving early this Saturday for our trip. Guys decided to do the 6 hour cave crawl along with the overnight. Because of the success of our recent yard sale, we are going to the aquarium and the IMAX theater, too. We are such a small troop and take a big hit during the summer, usually having meetings with only three or four Scouts. It was great this past Monday to have all our Scouts back and that all but one are going on the trip. Fun times ahead!

The Webelos Badge and AOL may have the same requirements as the Scout Badge, except for requirement #9 - completing the pamphlet exercises. Which brings me to a question - are the pamphlet exercises the same in Boy Scout and Cub Scout Handbooks?

FireKat - that comment you overheard doesn't surprise me a bit. Every year I watch a bunch of Scouts and Scouters from my district get called out for OA and go through the ordeal at summer camp. They get their flap and sash and only a very few of them ever do anything more with the OA after that. Very disappointing. Our District's fall camporee is coming up and the organizers have asked our OA Chapter to help with activities, campfire, etc. Last night older son (Chapter Advisor) spoke at roundtable to the SMs present about getting their OA guys to chapter meetings. OA Representatives? Yeah, I've seen some of those POR patches but those guys never go to any meetings. Sigh...

Just heard this one: Boy Scouts cannot carry and use zippo lighters.

I saw the new uniform at Roundtable last night. I like it a lot, especially the fabric and style of the new pants. Husband and I have both lost a lot of weight this year and need new better fitting uniforms and have been waiting until the new uniforms were available. Will have to try it on - still a bit leary about how the bellows pockets on the shirt will look on a female. I am more thrifty than my husband and rarely buy anything unless it's 50% off or more, but in this case I think I'll buy the new uniform for us both.

Our Troop just had its first yard sale. The boys learned a lot about organization and salesmanship. All seem eager to do it again next year. The end result, the total raised - $607. Not bad for our first time, especially since we didn't have many large items to sell so most of the money raised was from selling a bunch of $1 items.

scoutldr, I wasn't referring to the words "sheath knife," but rather the statement no fixed blade knives. In this case you are most correct that a butter knife is not a sheath knife, but it is a fixed blade knife, which is what my sons and I found humorous. Then again, I suppose if one had only the knife portion of the pouched eating utensil combo of knife, fork and spoon, one could call the knife a sheath knife. :-)

LisaBob - pet peeve of mine as well and it has come my way many times. A lot of long-term Scouters in my District pass along misinformation. When I have made comments that the BSA rules are such and such or better yet that there is no BSA that states XYA, I have been met with rude looks and outright "how would you know" comments.

Bob White's urban legend listing reminded me of a conversation I had with my sons. They had come home last weekend from summer camp and younger son had a new knife. Very nice Boy Scout knife, but quite a bit larger than his usual knife. Older son was admiring it and said, well at least it's not a fixed blade knife, you can't have those. I asked him why? He said, "it's a BSA rule." I asked him where he read that. He, of course, couldn't say, merely that is what he had been taught all the years he was a Boy Scout. I told him it was another of those urban myths like many of the others he was taught as a Scout. We got to laughing when younger son said, "well I guess the knives we use for cooking on campouts are fixed blade, for that matter so is a butter knife." At least in our area, since our council summer camp prohibits the use of fixed blade knives, everyone assumes that it is a BSA rule. Older son is 21, an ASM in our Troop and has been to training. Yet, during his training sessions, that "rule" and others were floating around. Heck, even our District Training Chairman is known to pass along some of those legends as rules and most folks just follow along.

Hello Moderators!!! Think some post deletion is needed in this thread.

Thanks folks. We did Lost Sea last year as our first ever cave trip and the guys loved it but thought it was too short. So this year they decided on Raccoon Mountain which looks like a bit more adventure. Guys also saw that Raccoon Mountain offers a handful of merit badges and I think they are leaning towards geology. Website states they have an on-site geologist to teach it. Packsaddle, since you are in my neck of the woods, can you give me any advice on rest stops or picnic areas along the way while we're driving. Trying to keep costs down and rather than eat in a restaurant during the trip up and back we're going to bring food and stop at a rest stop for a picnic lunch.

Walmart gas down to 3.55 yesterday. Saw a news report that Hummers are not going to be manufacturer anymore, no resale value. What I thought was interesting is that the report stated that Hummers get about the same mileage as one of the Toyota SUVs (don't remember the name, but it wasn't a huge SUV). Yet, the Toyota is still selling. Guess it's an image thing. I'm still driving a 1998 Explorer. Got the thing because of Scouts. Hated it when we got it, hate it now (hate SUVs in general). Guess since it's paid for and still running well there's no reason to trade it in, but I sure take a deep breath when I put gas in it. Started turning it off at long lights and drive-up bank window, try not to let the tach go over 2, correct tire pressure, etc. It is helping. I have listened to both sides of the arguments over off shore drilling, renewable energy sources, tax credits for hybrids, and so forth on CSPAN, Fox, and CNN, Obama and McCain. So I think I've heard both sides fairly well. I'm really confused and sit somewhere in the middle of the arguments. It is upsetting to hear about Exxon's 11 billion in profits. But I read that as a percentage, Microsoft made double that in the same time period and I don't hear anyone screaming about that. Exxon and others have a product American's want and while we may complain about the price, we keep on buying it. On the other hand, if we buy the argument that we can drill out way out of this, it will be hard to ever look seriously at alternatives as long as the oil holds out. If we have so much untapped oil in this Country that we could do away with the need for foreign oil, why haven't we been doing anything about it before now? I remember in the late 70s and early 80s when I was living in Maryland. In the new housing market, the big thing was solar panels or a passive solar set up. I remember everyone buying small cars - Datsuns and Toyotas were everywhere. Highway speeds were reduced. Right turn on red was created. I remember seeing some homeowners using the old manual wheel type lawnmowers instead of their gas mowers. Then the gas lines went away and prices came down and the SUV was born. Bigger was better and they kept getting bigger. Solar was unheard of and people were removing the panels from their homes. Single family homes were growing out of proportion (McMansions) causing larger heating and cooling requirements. Wonder where we would be today if we continued on the track that started back then AND drilled for oil in those areas I keep hearing about that are leased but unused? Well, at least we can still turn right on red.

Most of our Scouts end up doing both lifesaving and emergency prep. If they only do one then lifesaving is usually it. Both are offered at our Council summer camp and, at least according to my sons (who have done both), lifesaving is a much more fun and interesting way to spend the week than emergency prep. I like the idea of adding the Cooking merit badge back. I also like NJCubs idea of an advanced skills badge with options such as wilderness survival, pioneering, etc. To reduce the number of Eagle required badges, the three citizenship badges could be combined into one. If I could do away with a badge I'd get rid of family life.

Anyone on the forum been to Raccoon Mountain for their overnight cave expeditions? We are going in a few weeks and was wondering if anyone had any tips.

For those of you that have mixed age patrols, are the patrol leaders elected to those patrols usually an older Scout? If a younger Scout is elected, how does it work out with the older Scouts in his patrol?

Our young troop has produced only eight Eagles, the most recent just a couple of weeks ago. Before my tenure as SM, our four Eagles were about 14-15 years old. The four Eagles since my tenure began have all been a week or two before their 18th Bday. So, I wonder about Gern's question. Young Eagles before, older Eagles now. Change in program? Good or bad?

Gern and BW - I see your points. Maybe hubby and I are walking a tight rope and some day some one will question our judgment. Most of the time we have a third adult along anyway, but not because it is a requirement, or because anyone has some weird feelings about the two of us being related. As far as canceling and outing: at least in our troop, I think the other families would think it very strange indeed if we said we were canceling a trip because my husband and I were the only adults going. But, ASM59 asked if there was a rule against husband and wife 2-deep leadership and there isn't.

BW: Why is it not recommended and what checks and balances are missing in this scenario? I'm also curious about the statement that many COs don't allow it. In our District we have two troops that many times only have a husband and wife as two deep leadership on an outing: mine is one (I am SM, husband is ASM) and another in which the husband is SM and his wife is the CC. ASM59: There is nothing in the G2SS about the relationship of the leaders providing the two deep leadership. As BW states, two deep leadership requires one leader to be registered and the other, if not a registered Scouter, to be over 21 and the parent of a Scout. SM husband and wife (as long as she is over 21 and her son is present on the outing) as the two leaders is not just technically meeting the requirement, it is meeting the requirement.

The Post Office has flat rate priority mail boxes that can be used to ship items anywhere for a fixed price depending on the size of the box. We used them when we made care packages for soldiers in Afghanistan. The larger of the two is about 14" x 12" x 4" and if I remember correctly costs $11 to ship no matter the weight. BobWhite makes a good point about checking out the costs before you begin a project. That is one of the first things we did when our care package project was planned. Good thing too, because we shipped about 25 of those boxes mentioned above.

Well, McCain has done his share of flip flops too. Pretty nimble for an old guy! I find it interesting that one side can view new evidence or circumstances and revise their policy because of that (and that's OK), but when the other side does it it's flip flopping. Goes both ways. What an entertaining political year.

We have very few Den Chiefs in our District. Those Scouts that do serve more often than not are older brothers of Scouts still in the Pack whose parent is a den leader, cubmaster, scoutmaster etc. Both of my sons served as Den Chiefs and both would tell you it was the most fun POR they had. Sadly, we have Scoutmasters that rather than encourage Scouts to work as Den Chiefs actually seem to discourage it. To help in your Troop, why not check around with the Packs in your area and see if they'd like some help with a specific event like Pinewood Derby. Or maybe a Den Leader would like some help teaching knots to his/her Scouts. An older Scout could certainly help with those one-time events. Then, once a couple of your Scouts have seen the fun they can have with the little guys they may be more likely to step up and ask to be a Den Chief. Nothing raises a Boy Scout's spirits more than a little guy dressed in blue saying, "I want to be a Boy Scout just like you."

Our camp staff is Venturing Crew #1. Most, if not all, of the male staffers are from our Council. They do have a staff get together in the winter for anyone who ever worked on staff, but I don't know of anything else they do together as a Crew. They keep in touch during the year through their staff facebook page and through their personal pages. Most of them go to college together, too.

OK, maybe I should clarify a bit. Our Troop Committee is involved in the Court of Honor in as much as Advancement Chair makes sure advancement report is turned in to Council and awards are purchased, Treasurer writes the check, another Committee member takes care of planning for refreshments and working with the families to coordinate who is bringing what. But, as far as the ceremony itself, that's all the boys. Jimster - since you asked the question, how do you do it in your troop?