jcats001

Weekender, I understand your point about the scouts voting on should we stay or not. I will be honest, after the bashing I got about the cancellation, I am afraid I was alittle gun shy to cancel again. Credibility issue, ie. on, then I cancel, then CC setup again, then convinces me to assume leadership again, then canceling after a couple of hours. I will say this. It was a Camporee and no plans in case it rained, and other troops, including some heavy duty scout camping troops were packing up & leaving while the vote was being taken. I guess maybe at that point if the vote was to stay, I'd have vetod anyways. I was worried about the other bashing adults to come looking for me & my judgement was clouded. I have overcome that now. Due to the fantastic response in answers about my situation, I feel that I will continue until Oct. and see what happens then. I will not let that 1 father get me down, nor will I allow it to damage the Troop. Say, Any of you Troops out there need a really good ASM ? Thanks again !

This reply is to Mike Long. Mike, to the best of my knowledge, there was nothing wrong with this group prior to this past Wed. As a matter of fact I'd just purchased some new equipment to go backpacking with. The main "gentleman" involved in the SM replacement activities, has similiar gear, and like all "gearheads" was drooling over the stuff I got. No angery comments, remarks, no nothing up until Thurs. afternoon when the "Let's Bash The SM session" began. Thanks, Any other suggestions or ideas ?

Bob, Our troop uses Guides in place of ASM to help the PL. If the PL has a question or problem, who better to help out then a former PL. There is 1 ASM for every 2 Guides, (we have 6 guides and countless ASM, thankfully), 4 Patrols w /one Guide per and 2 floaters. These Guides handle skills instruction for lower ranks. The ASM watches for severe behavior problems, disruptive scouts, problems a boy scout might not be able to handle on his own. Thanks for the advice.

This question is somewhat complex, and as SM I should share some of the blame for maybe being too demanding. What I would like to know after the scenio below is what should I have done differently. The troop had a campout set for this past weekend. We meet Wed. night & I, do to an immense amount of things going on never got a chance to check up on the patrols going. I got the signup sheet after most everyone else was gone. In short, there was 17 boys, including 1 SPL, no other leadership youth until 1 other later on in the evening. There was originally 5 adults, but 2 backed out & 1 is fairly new to troop camping. Also, of the 17 boys 5 were new scouts with less than 2 months withs us. 3 scouts were 2nd year scouts less than 2nd class rank, and when fooling around starts, they are right there in the middle of it. Also, the next morning upon checking the weather, the forcast was for low temps, 40's, heavy rain, and lighting. Also, we had a ziti fundraiser the previous Sat. night & the camping equipment was all but, inaccessible. I was concerned about the troop's preparadness and e-mailed all members going to have a manditory Fri. meeting, to pack up, discuss food, gear, & safety. I got several angery responses, some replying that those families had other things to do than attend a meeting that I called on a whim, and that they had lives outside of scouts. The upshot was that 1 father was coming on Fri. to help. I was rather a bit upset by the responses and the lack of concern that those families had in regards to their sons safety. I didn't feel some of the boys were at all ready for camping in an open field during a lighting storm. I cancelled the event. The outcome was that the CC convinced me to go anyways. And invites were sent out via e-mail stating where & when we were to meet. I believe this undermined my credibility and actually made some of the families angerier, because it was on, then canceled by me, then set up by the CC, who then convinced me to take over again. Upon arrival in the pouring rain & 39 degree weather with wind chill down to 30 degerees with sideways blowing rain due to the wind, we set up a large canopy. All told we were there about 2 hours before the 5 scouts took a vote to cancel, which we then did. Oh, there was 3 inches of rain water on the ground. The next day in the paper, 20 kids from local school crewing (rowing)teams were taken to local hospitals for hypothermia. Some of them had not even gone into the boats yet. This was the scenio for this weekend. This is what I thought & did. I have the thought that, driven by 1 father, a group of 4 or 5 want to have me removed as SM. I think and based on what I saw, know, I was right, 2 of the 5 were not prepared for the weather and if more had come I may have been traveling to the hospital with hypothermic instead of lighting charred scouts. As SM, what would you have done different ? Also, What would you do if these 4 or 5 "gentlemen" wanted to have you removed as SM ? I am scheduled for retirment by my choice in Oct. although no one else has yet stepped forward, (I gave notice to the troop last Oct.). Also, I use the term "gentlemen" loosely as one, when I called him to discuss his nasty e-mails, hung up the phone on me. Please, let me know what you think. It's not who was right or wrong, I guess, more to the point it was what should have been done to prevent this from happening again. Also, who should have the power to cancel an event in the case such as I did ? SM, CC, committee ? Thanks !

I am stuck and need help. I am the SM of our troop. We have 2 boys who are serving the troop as guides. In our troop each patrol gets a guide as an advisor, and also an ASM. The problem is that these 2 boys want the title, which they think is all they need for later advancement, both are currently Star, but despite repeated attempts, don't want to put forth the effort to earn the title. I would like to put them on "probation" and give them a set of guidelines to follow or they would be removed from leadership. The problem is I believe in positive, not negative reinforcement. Can somebody help me. What would you do ?