Gone

Except as provided by the GTA as noted below and under Section 7.0.

Has anyone seen a list of council sizes in one location? I am surprised that MA only has a council with 13,000+ youths. Seems small for such a compact area.

Not sure what assistance the unit can provide. This is between the applicant and BSA. I'd bow out and let the applicant handle it.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2015/07/22/376023.htm

Registered MBCs in your area are supposed to support any one who asks. We have a large troop and we do support our guys when they have partials. If other troops' kids come to us we never turn them away.

Great point. The story below had a great ending. Where would that kid be today without scouting and a caring scouter? @@SSScout cared and the result was great. Had he not stepped in, would,that scout have come back? We may never know. http://scouter.com/index.php/topic/27367-scouting-would-be-so-much-better-without-the-parents/?p=420963

Thankfully our BORs take on the mantra of "You learned how to add, subtract, multiply and divide in Third Grade, and you are required to continue using those skills from that point forward. You can't 'learn and forget' how to add, so you can't 'learn and forget' your first aid from First Class to Star." This approach has ensured that our scouts ALWAYS remember their core scouting skills. Parents or scouts that don't like that approach are free to find a paper Eagle troop. We don't roll out Eagles that can't apply first aid or tie their knots upon request. Why else are they in the program?

The trail cooking requirement bothers me. Most treks these days are "boil-n-eat" affairs. Other than hygiene and bear protocol (which I don't' recall seeing the latter in the requirements) what else is there to go over cooking-wise that differes from the patrol or family-based requirements? I'd like to see more about obtaining fresh ingredients or options in meal planning for treks (I.e., how to resupply, trail angels, water purification, etc.).

ECOHs are the troop's responsibility? Your unit sounds different than many I know. Normal COHs are the troop's duty in my neck of the woods. ECOH's are the family's gig. I guess some units have other traditions. Thanks for sharing that.

Give the boys the data they need to make decisions and get out of their way. Fight the TC if they ever try to change anything reasonable the boys want. Train the boys as leaders using the old JLT tools. Make things fun! Focus on core skills of scouting. Instant recognition when badges completed.

"Most units" don't have a problem with unregistered parents? Hmmmmm. @@lepzid, In our district we've received "encouragement" that ANY parent going on ANY activity be 1) registered as a member of the troop, and 2) complete YPT. We've followed this suggestion as has nearly all of the units in our district. Why? Because you just never know who someone is, so we allow only registered adults with YPT training to attend most events other than meetings. It's good advice.

This! Let his family do the work for the ECOH. Not the unit's or units' problem.

I didn't think we could either. My first summer camp we sent 3 ASMs to circulate the classes. It was pretty clear early on which classes were fluff and which weren't. Those we couldn't get to Day 1 we got to on Day 2. Talking to the guys the night of Day 1 filled in the blanks. There has to be a level of trust for both the scouts and MBCs. Obvious MBs like Hiking, Backpacking, Cooking, etc., that cannot be done entirely at camp are easy to identify. When we get back out next meeting we discuss the MBs and classes. Our guys know that if they think their MBC shorted them on their learning, our guys come forward and we help them get the training/knowledge. Only a few over the years have accepted the sub-standard teachings and walked with the MB; most want the detailed review.

But then he says "On July 27, Boy Scouts of America's Executive Board can vote to make sure that never happens again, and help fix the Scouts' chronic shortage of good leaders at the same time." At best his writing is unclear. He's moved on from volunteer involvement, but this statement does little to convince me he won't give up until the ban is permanent across all units:

I see nothing in his statements that shows he understands that the local option allows units to continue to discriminate against gays. He seems to think the local option will end the ban. He also seems to have "moved on", so if BSA thinks opening up to gay leaders is going to start in influx of new leaders (as opposed to a outflow of leaders), they haven't won this guy over.

Go to your profile name at the top of the page. Select "Manage Ignore Pref" and enter the user name of the people you want to ignore.

We shall see. I don't see liberals stopping their haranguing of conservatives on this point until they get the entire ban lifted.

After the problem BSA had with losing over 10,000 accounts on myscouting recently, I don't think I'd give them any more data they could lose.

Sorry, the Guide to Advancement.

This guy doesn't sound like a) he's going to come back to Scouting, despite the pending policy change, b) he's willing to forgive and forget, c) he understands that the local option being considered will STILL allow CO's that elect to, to continue to discriminate regarding gay leaders, d) he's will give up pressing BSA until even the local option is taken away. If this guy is representative of the type of people that BSA is trying to ameliorate, what does the local option get them? It appears the local option is not what they want, nor is it what the conservatives want.

...as is the chant of "equality and tolerance for all" while deriding the beliefs of the religious or conservatives. Funny how that only cuts one way, isn't it?

According to my cousin, the CO does not realize (nor do they want) the unit's gear or money. The unit is taking their stuff (money, gear and all) and deciding to either join the new scouting program, do their own thing or find another CO.

Just for argument, shouldn't PORs be just as much about learning on the job as being proficient? Do you require PLs to,hold a certain number of PORs before being PL? What if the kid has amazing aptitude?

It's very hard to know who is good or bad at summer camp as an MBC. We have our adults audit the classes so we can be reasonably sure if the requirements are covered. If not, we re-teach. We tell our parents this at the beginning of the year this is what we do. We also know which badges can and can't be done in a week. We have certain badges we do in the troop and encourage guys to take them there. Most do. Those who don't are usually very disappointed.

A camp we attended a few years back the Geology MBC discussed Minecraft for four days, then signed blue cards as complete. After Day 1 one of our scouts complained they weren't learning anything so I audited the course. I sat there as he discussed Minecraft. At the break I spoke to him and reminded him of the requirements. I even went to the camp director. Moot. He still taught Minecraft the rest of the week. When we got back we pulled in one of our adults who works in petro chemicals as a geologist, held a one day session where we covered the requirements and signed off on the boys' work. The parents were grateful we cared enough not to award something unearned.