Stosh

How can one lead for good unless they roll up their sleeves and go find the not so good to lead?

Our church ladies love us! We're a new troop and when the Norwegian Supper rolled around we volunteered to help out wherever we could. We showed up and asked what we could do. The one lady suggested busing tables. Not a problem. By the end of the evening we were also doing the dishes and hung around to make sure everything got cleaned up. The church's youth group came down for one hour and worked as did the men's group. Our boys were there from beginning to end, just like the church ladies. We are now golden! If the Church Council ever tried to revoke the charter, they would have to take on the Ladies first.

Shouldn't one be "dumping" everything on the older boys to run?.... and maybe one would be surprised they would do a good job on the other things too. Never do for a boy what he can do for himself.

The requirements have changed many times since then. One could not get into Boy Scouts with AOL unless they were 10 1/2 years old. Now that's dropped to 10 years old. That would easily compensate for the program of 1993-5 I had because my boys were all true Web II boys when they went into Boy Scouts. I took over the boys in Feb of 1993 and went to a weekly, year around program. They earned Webelos by the end of summer and AOL when Feb of 1994 rolled around. That left them a year to go for Boy Scouts. We went out and just did a ton of fun stuff. Some of the boys that missed some of the pins the first time around got a second chance on any of them and we went camping either as a den or with the Boy Scouts fairly regularly. They did go to camporee that second year and did a major 3 day weekend canoe campout that they planned, and executed totally on their own. They did ask me to do the steaks on the campfire because they didn't want them ruined. Steak, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, on a deserted island..... Great event.

This was in 1995 when I was working on my 1993 WB ticket. I went back as ASM and took on WDL and brought the Web I boys through to AOL and into Boy Scouts and followed them through to Eagle. Scout was not a rank, just an award. The only skill the boys did not MASTER for TF was the 30 day wait for the physical fitness part of TF. Basically all the SM did was waive the 30 days because the Web II boys had shown the SM many times prior to the cross-over they knew their stuff. When they crossed-over, they received their Scout Handbook, a necker and slide, the Scout award and TF badge. From December through June, the boys had basically been on enough Boy Scout activities that they were already operating as a patrol instead of a den. The "cross-over" was more of a COH than a traditional cross-over. They came in as a NSP and hung together until they aged out. One boy moved out of the area, but Eagled on his own (Field Director's son). Still keep in touch with those boys I worked with 25 years ago. The two years with them were the best part of my WB ticket.

Never, ever, ever, mess with the church ladies.......

Hmmm... not all canoes are alike, nor are all rowboats alike. There are fishing canoes that can be easily stood up in and in non-American countries that use canoes they don't paddle them, they stand up and use a pole. I've done both. Going down stream the paddle works just fine, but so does the pole. Going upstream.... definitely the pole. Rowboat in the rapids? I don't think so.... On the other hand, Small Boat Sailing MB in the rapids can be quite exciting.

Obviously there is no quality control in any of the BSA program, from training to running units....... It's unfortunate because if run properly it's a pretty good youth leadership program.......

That's the #1 reason I went in and offered up the boys AOL and did it on my own as a SM. This is where I picked up 6 of my 8 new boys. The parents were so appreciative that they filled out my committee and I picked up 2 new ASM's besides. They fired up the fund raising efforts and got everyone to summer camp for $50 each. It's not that the parents weren't supportive, it's just not everyone is into being trained and doing the program.

They pack met twice a month. One meeting was a pack meeting/potluck the other was an activity, such as pack outing of some sort. No DL's or den meetings.

No, but it pays the bills.

And this is why I get in trouble on the forum for pointing out the obvious.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/11/pokemon-go-is-a-hacker-s-dream.html

The reference we went by with my boys was noted in the Webelos handbook.

The boys I have who just crossed over this spring did not all earn Webelos. They all earned AOL. Some of the boys put in 4 years of Cubbing and got NO Tiger, Wolf or Bear. My program offered only the AOL to those who's Cub leaders weren't doing the program.

It was cleared by the Scout Executive of our council. One of the boys was son to the Council Field Director who made the suggestion in the first place. Everyone of the boys that came in under those circumstances Eagled. Now it's an issue for NESA to deal with. The Whittlin' Chit is earned as a Bear and reviewed under AOL requirements. It is again revisited when the boy is to explain the safety issues of a pocket knife under the Scout requirements (#5). The Totin' Chit is earned as a TenderFoot.(#3d).

City scouts ride the mass transit like I rode a bike. People adapt to their environment. Scouting is NOT the normal environment of many people, thus the adventure. The YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, etc. provide urban and even sometimes natural programming. Church youth groups go to summer camp some place that is "outside the city limits." The whole idea of outing is to get out of one's natural habitat, be it the sofa or city park down the street.

Naturalist, Readyman, Swimmer, Athlete, pins all had their counter parts in Tenderfoot. In 1995 when my Webelos boys crossed over into Boy Scouts, they came over and were immediately given their Scout award and TF rank. It was a SM option allowable at that time.

My Great-great Grandfather was a member of Company C, 8th Wisconsin Infantry during the Civil War. Their mascot was Old Abe, the War Eagle. The reeacting group that portrays the 8th has a mounted Bald Eagle. The hoops they had to jump through to keep possession of the bird when the law changed was pretty heavy duty. I also have friends who are full blooded Indigenous also have and continue to make full traditional clothing with the Federal Government's blessing. I do know that if one is to find a carcass of a Bald Eagle, one must not touch it, but report it immediately to the DNR or other agency to deal with it. I don't know what it specifically says about rescuing a live bird, but I'm thinking it may have a bit of slack for good intentions built in. https://www.fws.gov/eaglerepository/factsheets/PossessionOfEagleFeathersFactSheet.pdf

Okay, boys, we're going to do the 10 animals requirements today. Every one have their money for the zoo? Great. Save a little of that money boys, we're going to do the 10 plants tomorrow at the arboretum. Right, got it covered..... So if I wear my most tattered clothes, lie on a park bench covered with newspapers, I can feed the pigeons raw peanuts and fit in with the LNT guidelines? Sounds great, I'll have to try that some day.......... NOT!

4 out of 7 are DNS? What are the odds of that happening? No amount of justification is going to cover that big of a issue here.

Urban exploration? What 10 animals and plants does one hope to identify there? Where do people come up with these ideas? A uniform is not required but a smartphone is?

Although the Bald Eagle is no longer on the endangered species listing, it is by Federal law protected as our national symbol. Unless one has written permission, even possessing so much as a single Eagle feather is a federal crime. Having a whole bird is totally illegal. The only people who are allowed possession of anything Eagle are indigenous natives for religious and ceremonial reasons and those with permits. Now, that being said, the two could have been been arrested on federal charges, which in federal law, considering the circumstances would have been overlooked in that the intent was not to possess the bird or to harm it, but to rescue it. Even CNN would have had a hay day with that one.

It is the trade of lawyers to question everything, yield nothing, and to talk by the hour. -- Thomas Jefferson A lawyer is a person who writes a 10,000-word document and calls it a "brief." -- Franz Kafka and of course my favorite: Lawyers are like beavers: They get in the mainstream and damn it up. -- John Naisbitt, in Megatrends

I'm planning on being available to the boys at the summer camp first year program and witness and test out the boys on-the-spot. It helps that the majority of the boys are new scouts.