Knot Head

New Committee Chair needs help (and advice). This board has so much knowledge it seemed appropriate to ask for your collective assistance. The current committee chair of our troop recently stated that he needs to resign because of work related issues. I offered to assume his role if they could not get anyone else (like you know someone with some knowledge and experience) to take over. Not surprisingly no one else has yet offered to take the job. The troop has about 50 actives on the roster with about 30 boys going to summer camp this year. The sum total of my scouting experience is about 13 months acting as a patrol advisor. If any of you can provide links to sources that you believe would be beneficial Id appreciate it. I don't mind taking on the responsibility and I really want to try and do a good job. Recently Ive been reading what I could find on the macscouter, BSA and this web site. There is a chance Ive missed a good article on one of these sites so feel free to post links to help me get up to speed. I hope there is training offered at the district level so please feel free to fill me in on that. Unfortunately I had family outing conflict with the recent wood badge training. Maybe next year. Later this week the current chair and I will be meeting and hopefully he can shed some light on district training. Thanks in advance!

Here is another reference... http://www.usflag.org/uscode36.html#173 Position & manner of display http://www.usflag.org/uscode36.html#175 (i) When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, to the observer's left. When displayed in a window, the flag should be displayed in the same way, with the union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street.

Thanks. I've got access to loads of trees and wood on the ground. Time permitting I'll see if I can find some suitable wood in the forest by summer camp. If not I'll go the lumber yard route with 2x2's for this first year and work on it going forward. Good idea on the summer camp. I'll call our council guy Monday and see if he has any idea.

I like knots. Imagine that. I guess it's from my interest in fishing, boating, etc. I made a flagpole for the troop we use on campouts from lumber yard 2x2's that the boys lash together and anchor. This gets them to do a sheer lashing and a couple of knots. The boys have really gotten into this. Subject to SM approval I'd like to add a "gate" since that could incorporate sheer, diagonal & cross lashings. This way the scouts reinforce first class lashings they have learned on every campout. I figure a gate beats lashing two poles together for no purpose which is what they do now. Also I've love to counsel pioneering. This summer I plan to observe the pioneering MB at summer camp then perhaps offer it back home. That looks like fun. So my question is.... Do you know of a good place to get somewhat "natural" looking wood for lashings as opposed to lumber yard stuff, or does it matter? Natural "looks better" and I guess the troop could collect pieces of wood and rough them down for the project. I've never done that (zero woodworking skills) but perhaps some of you have. Anyway looking for the wisdom of the board to offer up some ideas on how or where to get wood for pioneering stuff. Thanks!

Thanks again everyone for the insight and the links! EDIT -> Is the Committee Guide Policies and Procedures (No. 33088) available online or just in hardcopy? I've googled but so far can't find a pdf or online link. Thanks (This message has been edited by Knot Head)

Thanks.

Sorry for another noob question. I've read the BSA MB counselor material on the web and perhaps I missed it. In our troop the policy is that you cannot sign off on the TF to 1st class requirements for your own child. This seems like a good policy to follow. When it comes to Merit Badges, under BSA policy can a parent act as a MB counselor for his own child?

WOW. This thread is a real eye opener. 100 kids in a communications MB class!?!? My gosh. I speak alot in my job so this is right up my alley...but I was wondering how to do this effectively with the 8 boys in the Patrol I advise over the course of a few weeks. For Citizenship in the Community I passed out the worksheet and told them to read the MB badge book and to write their thoughts down. After that as they complete a section to contact me and we would "discuss" it as called for in the badge.

Thanks a ton for the quick reply with a link. Can't beat that.

Hello everyone. I've been reading the scouter.com site and recently stumbled across the forum section. I guess Ill jump right in. I am the father of a scout that just finished his first year, so Im pretty new to how things are supposed to work in scouts. Although Ive been reading a lot please dont assume I know much about how things are supposed to work, but I am eager to learn how things should work. Recently Ive been asked a few times to sit in on the BORs of lower ranked young scouts. While in the BOR Ive seen some experienced leaders ask scouts to demonstrate how to tie certain knots, how to orient a map, and proper first aid in addition to the recommended questions that can be found at macscouter. -> http://www.usscouts.org/macscouter/scoutmaster/BoR_Guide.asp#NATURE Ive not seen a total retest of all requirements, but in all second class BORs the scout has been asked to orient a map, name the hurry cases and tie tenderfoot knots. In all the first class BORs the scout was asked to orient a map and take a bearing and also tie knots. At the time this seemed like a good idea since those are good things to know. So is it appropriate to ask a scout to orient a map in the BOR as opposed to the macscouter form of the question which would be How are a map of the area and a compass useful on a campout? In one case I was in on a BOR where a scout was denied advancement because he could not tie any of the knots nor orient a map. The guy running the BOR asked how do you think you did? and the scout said not very good. The leader encouraged him by saying take some time, get with an instructor and brush up on things and come back again ready to go. The scout apparently got some help because I saw him come back the next week and heard that he passed the BOR (I was not in the room for the second attempt BOR). So was flunking a scout like this a good thing or a bad thing? Is this worth bringing up at a committee meeting, or as long as scouts have ample opportunity to return the next week to try again and the questions are not trick questions nor hard questions is this situation better off left alone. I guess I am looking for some guidance from the wisdom of the board. Thanks