Stosh

No experience for one thing. No proven track record. I was self-employed in the beginning with shoveling, mowing, raking, etc. I was "always at the library" studying and so I got to know the librarians who needed help. I signed on as a paper boy, no experience necessary. By the time I got to my first "real" job, I had it covered. Of course the only experience one has going into McDonalds is ordering off the menu, then it's going to be a challenge. Transportation? That's what a bike is for. I didn't buy a car until I was in my second year of college. My dad did offer to take me around on my paper route any time it went below zero. Unfortunately the car never would start when it got that cold. Just once was it -54 degrees that the wheels on my bike wouldn't turn so I had to walk the route pulling the papers on a sled. It was a morning route so no one was open to get in where it's warm except for a couple of places. Most youth today would never put up with what we did, nor would their parents allow it.

I don't like the idea of units paying for scouter training. That's not their job and the money should be going towards the boys. National upped the fees for scouts, maybe some of that fee money should go towards training instead of more staff. Volunteers are capable of doing a lot of the work the staff are being paid to do.

Since Cub Scouts, I have always held a part-time job except for the first semester of college and last semester of seminary. I shoveled snow, raked lawns, etc., then got a paper-route, then worked for the local library before finding a consistent job working in a grocery store until HS graduation. It's how I paid for my scouting career and saved for college. It didn't get in the way of me having fun, but in 1968 when I graduated, I had $7,000 in the bank. That's $48,000 in today's money. I grew up in a family of 4 and if I wanted to do something I pretty much had to pay my own way. Summer camp at that time was $29/week.

A registered Lone Scout anywhere in the world (including the USA) qualifies for all requirements and has nothing to do with any unit participation. That's why they call it Lone Scout. Ms. Ireland was not a Lone Scout, didn't qualify for it, but if she now registers as a Lone Scout, she should be able to get eagle.

Red Cross offers all courses on-line and in-class. Both are free to volunteers. Every boy deserves a well trained adult leader. That mantra only goes so far on the BSA follow-through. ARC puts it's volunteers in some pretty difficult situations dealing with people in the worst time in their lives for many. It's not that they think the client deserves a well trained worker, they require it. I have worked 6 disaster relief operations, gotten exemplary evaluations by supervisors, and am just now getting off the bottom rung of being "qualified". Training is necessary to start, rolling up one's sleeves and gaining experience is another. The first part highly affects the quality of the second. Poor training on the front end will never be made up in experience down the road.

Quality units with full committees and leadership staffing is not the goal. Getting girls to register, i.e. pay money, and get eagle is.

I thought the Rockwell portion of the museum in Irving the best part. Nice history as to each of the pictures. No need for the docent in that the write-ups were really well done.

By hook or by crook they will make it work regardless of any rules or regulations that have existed in the past or exist now. They make up the rules as they go all the time, why would this be different. After all it's a whole new world out there and all BSA has to do is insinuate that the BSA4G Eagle is the same as the BSA Eagle. After all the requirements for BSA4G can be set up any way they wish, there is nothing on paper now and it only has to appear to be the same as the BSHB as it reads now. Male Lone Scouts couldn't grandfather in previous experiences, but nothing says, BSA4 G can't, it's a whole new program and with getting eagle the only goal, what difference does it make what the rules are. I'm thinking that at least on paper there's going to be Cub Scouts (co-ed), Boy Scouts (male), BSA4G (female), and Venturing (co-ed) on paper and then turn a blind eye to what the units actually do.

For over 20 years now, BSA has not asked me to teach anything for the program. I used to teach Fundamentals, both Cub and SM, I used to teach Webelos outdoors, I used to teach at University of Scouting, I am registered but never called for MB counseling, etc. I musta fell out of the Good Ol' Boys' good graces. I have been with the Red Cross for less than 2 years, I am an instructor for Mass Care/Disaster Cycle Services side of the Red Cross, Not the CPR/FA/AED or BioMedial sides, and I am on the schedule to teach Sheltering Fundamentals and Simulation (2 sessions), and Disaster Action Team Fundamentals and Simulation (1 session), over the next 2 months. The teacher's manual for the Sheltering course alone is a ream of paper thick in my 2" loose-leaf binder. Oh, by the way, if one thinks a day at Fundamentals is a pain in the butt. I drive the Emergency Relief Vehicles for the Red Cross. I needed 1) Disaster Cycle Services: An Overview 2) Shelter Fundamentals 3) Basic Food Safety 4) Psychological First Aid 5) Mass Care: An Overview 6) Feeding Fundamentals 7) Bulk Distribution Fundamentals Just to be a Mass Care Volunteer, and then: 1) CPR/FA/AED certification, 2) ERV: Ready, Set, Roll, course (classroom 8 hours), 3) Defensive Driving Course offered by the State, 4) Basic Food Handling, 5) On the road test. Then one needs to be vetted by one's supervisor to be able to drive. The whole process is free. Rationale? You are a volunteer doing very important for people experiencing desperate times in their lives, By the way, I am one of thousands of people who have gone through this process. How serious is BSA with their training when they are sitting there worried about whether or not $5 ought to be charged for lunches or materials? If one wanted CPR/FA/AED training and WFA training (Both ARC classes) as a scout it will cost one $100+, as an ARC volunteer? $0 It's not just ARC, FEMA does the same thing, all their training is free and on-line, I've taken that too.

Don'tcha just love these great dramas brought on by the adults? I often wonder whether these people are in such positions just to make it difficult for the boys in the program. It would seem so. Didn't show leadership. Now there's a subjective requirement that can do it's fair share of keeping the "Eagle Award" pure and pristine.

And the deception continues.... OH, BUT when we had a Venture Crew and Troop in the same CO with the same adults running things. I.e, we were bending the rules far enough to actually have a co-ed group in reality and everything looked good on paper. They couldn't figure out what to do with the 11-13 year olds, but now that we have the ability to register gals, we can just do the same thing and fully co-ed the group while maintaining 2 units on paper. The acceptable amount of dishonesty allowed by BSA seems to have risen quite almost imperceptibly for quite some time how. BSA's half-measures now should allow for acceptance of such deception on a wider scale.

They can do so as a Lone Scout. Who's to say they aren't a Lone Scout living abroad, or in a rural area, or homeschooled, or a number of other situations prescribed by the program. All these "exceptions being mentioned were extended to males, not females. Exceptions mentioned for males will NOW be available to females, but nothing says they will be grandfathered in. Males could not grandfather in Cub Scouts if they joined at 10 even if they had a book showing progress he had done independently on his own while homeschooling. However it would seem that there are those that wish Ms. Ireland an exception to the exception that was not given to males previously.

If BSA were to ever get it's act together they could produce a number of training sessions by using videos. The boring classroom parts could all be one for free over the internet and maybe the hands-on parts could meet for half the time at less expense. Participant booklets and reference guides could be printed off over the internet for those that want them People would be more apt to take the training if they could do it for free at a time most convenient to their schedules. That ain't happening now and then there's all the wailing and gnashing of teeth that goes into why people aren't trained. Other organizations are doing this, why is BSA such a Johnny-come-lately? Answer that question and you'll get better results with training of the volunteers.

Kinda, but I get a 15% discount on my insurance for having taken the course. What surprises me is that after all the years in scouting I have never even heard of this information. No training I have taken from Cub Basics through Venturing Basics, all the way to WB and ne'er a word. The defensive driving course spends it's time focused on actual driving, not just the rules of the road that the scout information focuses on. Instead they talk about speed limits, stopping distances, etc. just as if one were taking the driver's ed program. I guess I would describe it more like taking a class instead of getting a rules manual from the DMV.

I have already put my prediction out there on the forum, even got sent to my room for trying to explain it so I'm going to just leave it at that.

They were the only ones there, it was a patrol. The rest of the troop was off at a different camp or was at a different site, didn't ask. Considering most of the boys were over 18, there weren't any adults. The few 17 year olds were being "supervised" by the other 18 year olds I'm sure with them all being Eagle scouts, the camp really didn't have much to offer that they handn't already have. I didn't want to interfere too much so I didn't get much detail on how that was all working, but they were pleased with what was happening and they didn't bother anyone else, so no harm, no foul.

Since the program ceased to exist in 1994, the only Civil Defense poster you're going to find is on EBay.

After all is said and done, what about all the hundreds of gals out there that didn't have deep pocket dad's resources to put into one's scouting career, didn't find a rogue pack/troop to smooth her way, that didt follow the rules and will miss out on Eagle? So lets look at what's different, wealthy background, rogue pack, rogue troop, a few bent rules, and maybe an extension of time, all those things that will allow Ms. Ireland beat out all the other competition that didn't exist because they chose do it in an honest way. We'll see how truly gracious Ms. Ireland is in her own words, that aren't paraphrased by her father.

That was 2 bombs, how many are out there now? any one of them mega times stronger. 70+ years of perfecting the most devastating weapon in the world? This is why my generation pretty much unanimously decided not to build the shelters. We really didnn't want to survive, I still don't. If Gore is right, Global Warming could be corrected with Nuclear Winter in a matter of seconds.

He just might be the catalyst to make it happen for the older scouts to stay interested. Just make sure he has the opportunity to be a strong enough leader to retain the boys around him.

Just one missile? Heck, we were worried about Russia emptying their arsenal. As 21st Century update: There are no safe places. We figured that out 50 years ago, you musta missed the memo.

Welcome to the forum @Dixit

Nope, I had a scout that was 34 years old, Life Scout still working on his Eagle. BSA can write any rules it wants. As I said before Mrs. Ireland will be the first female eagle scout by hook or by crook.