mikeb

I was hoping to call scoutstuff by now but it hasn't happened yet so I'm looking at next week now. The belt is for my son, maybe I should see if he notices before going any further. Heck, he might dig on the upside down thing!

I received a box of World Jamboree goodies ordered from Scoutstuff yesterday and when I put the Jambo buckle on the Jambo leather belt I found that the buckle was made incorrectly, the logo is upside down! The only other option is to run the belt around the waist the opposite way, but then the lettering on the belt would be upside down. Anyone else have one of these? Is yours the same? I will be calling them next week to see what they say about this.

Update: New scout and dad attended our troop meeting this week, so with an ASM we pulled them aside for a friendly chat about the peanut allergy. It seems that dad and mom are recently separated/divorced and dad isn't very clear on the extent of the allergy! He was generally unable to answer questions on the boy's reaction level to peanut vapor/contact/ingestion, although he did say he has been involved in 3 incidents that required a trip to the hospital. The most recent involved eating chocolate chip cookies made in a factory that also handles peanuts. The boy on the other hand was able to answer all of our questions and it sounds like there is serious trouble only when peanuts are ingested. We told the dad we need a full medical report with painful detail of the peanut allergy. As a side comment I mentioned to the dad that we have a couple of other boys with tree nut allergies and he said his son does too! I told dad that he would likely have to come to all campouts with his son and keep a close eye on him. Dad said he likes to camp and that won't be a problem. I told the boy he would probably have to cook his food separate from his patrol on his own personal gear. He seemed ok with that. One other thing I almost forgot, I asked if the boy carries Epipens. The answer, "all of the time!" So I asked to see them, "Oh we forgot to bring them tonight." I asked that they remember in the future. I can't say I'm feeling a lot better about this. We'll see what the doctors report says and go from there.

Thanks everyone for all of the great advice and info thus far, you have given me so much more than I expected. Interestingly enough I did a site search for peanut allergy before I started this thread and I found very little on the topic, although from this thread it seems like it is something that a lot of folks are dealing with. Anyway, from the advice given I think my first step should be finding out the reaction level this boy has. How we go forward is certainly dependant on that.

I have to believe this is a common thing, my troop is getting a new scout with peanut allergies. I don't think he's so bad that the smell will do him in, but injestion is bad bad bad. This is a new one for us, so I'd like to hear from others with this situation how they are handling it. My initial thought is that I really don't like the idea of a peanut ban. Peanut butter, trail mix, energy bars, etc., all staples of scouting. How do we balance keeping our staples while keeping him healthy?

*sigh* I suppose I'm the guy with the "tone." Truthfully I am as big a softy as anyone else here. I have taken my fair share of scouts on trips when I knew they really shouldn't go. The difference though is when I make those choices it's only when I am certain it won't negatively impact the other scouts experience. Generally this involves having the backup of extra leaders who can attend to the issue or the ability to call the parents to come and help. I would never allow an unprepared scout on this type of trip. And so we have this outing. These scouts have worked hard to be ready for this special trip and to take an absolute newbie remains in my mind an unacceptable risk. A badly sliced finger while learning the skill of pocketknife use, a boiling pot knocked over on himself or another scout while learning to use his new backpacking stove, having to be carried out because of dehydration or any other new guy medical issue, wandering away and getting lost or hurt, etc., etc., etc. These are things not exclusive to younger scouts, these are things that new scouts do. Any of these things could end the trip immediately. These and so many more. Let the boy join and enjoy the regular trips, don't chance ruining the special trip.

I have to disagree with the thought that this young man can engage in some sort of get-ready-quick-program that would make him unquestionably ready for a trip of this magnitude. There are aspects of hiking, camping, and working together as a group that nothing but lots of experience can teach you. The safety aspect alone would be enough to scare me away from bringing him. Telling this young man that the group has worked very hard to make sure they are prepared for this special trip and that he is welcome to join and work hard to be prepared for the next one is the right thing to do both for him and the group.

I think you're asking the wrong question. Who cares about the insurance? That's a petty non-issue. The questions you should be asking are: What will I do when this new scout gets a half mile down the trail and decides he wants to go home? (For any of a multitude of reasons.) What will I do when this new scout of unknown ability is crippled with blisters (or some such thing)? What will I do when we discover this new scout doesn't get along with others or doesn't bring the right gear or brings something he shouldn't or wanders from the group or etc., etc., etc. Maybe I'm being too dramatic but here's what I see: On one hand you have a group that is ready for this trip and it will be a great trip with them. On the other hand you have this new person of unknown ability who thinks he would like to go. Yes he's older but he's still just a new scout. Would you take a brand new scout on this type of trip? The big question is: Should you take a chance on wrecking this trip for the group by including him? I say no. Tell him he can join and earn his way into being included in these types of things because that's the way it's done. If it's too late because of his age that's a shame, but it's the right thing to do for the group.

Our commissioner originally told us the 100% segments were for the scouts who completed all of the other segments. Then a few days ago we got an email from him saying they were for the adult leaders. By the time he sent out his email it was already pretty apparent from other sources that was the case. Now I see there's a possibility you are supposed to sew three on in a circle around your Jamboree patch, which to me borders on the ridiculous. Who knows what the real deal is?

Hey, menu guys, feel free to move your menu discussion to a new thread... Back to the program award segment, in addition to Mantooth's observation that 3 of the 100% segments look good around the Jambo patch now I see an auction on eBay where someone is selling 3 of them together with the assertion the official story is to sew them all on. I suppose that would explain why we were given 12 of them, but why 3 segments that are all the same instead of a single ring or 3 segments with different designs and maybe different requirements to wear? Again I sure would like to see something in writing from National to make this official. Has anyone seen any official info on this?

Well I certainly did my part in giving the segments out quite freely and it irks me to think that now I have to recollect the 100% rockers so I can redistribute them to my fellow adult leaders. Unfortunately my commissioner was very convincing, he told me the decision to give out only a dozen of the 100% rockers per troop was based on the experience of few youth earning them in past years. It didn't sound like something he made up on his walk to my campsite, but I know there is an overabundance of people out there who boldly present whatever they think up as fact. I can't believe that national BSA put nothing in writing for us to reference, that is as they say "dropping the ball."

TwoCub, can you please provide a little more info to support that? Bold statements are nice but it was a bold statement maker that first said they were for the scouts.

We had 13 troops attending. I've only spoken with 2 other SM's though but they received the same info I did. Maybe it was the commissioners goof if it was in fact a goof, but I'm thinking with the number of patches they gave us the goof came from higher up.

Well that would certainly solve the riddle of why it fits the adult patch, but it's odd that they would give us a dozen of them for just 4 leaders. It was our commissioner who gave us the patches and the explanation, but I can see where this could easily get confused somewhere down the line. I looked on the BSA Jambo site but didn't find anything about it there. They do have a small article about the other six segments.

Has anyone else noticed that the 100% Program Award segment is sized to fit the adult Jamboree patch? I put it up against the youth patch on my sons uniform and discovered it is too wide of an arc to fit correctly. So I put it up to mine and it fits perfectly. What gives? We were told it is for scouts who completed all 6 of the activity segments and we were given a dozen of them so they surely weren't meant for the adults. Is this simply a mistake in design?