barrythebluebear

The only failure I see is by the troop advancement chair. Failure to present the award in a timely fashion (like, by the next troop meeting.) Since he is penalizing a youth for an adult's failure, it may be time for this particular adult to be assigned a different job they could do well.

Hi all, Constant budget contraints, we all must deal with them. So we set priorities. I've always promoted the view that advancement not only comes with badges earned as recognition, but also with increased maturity and better behavior (I hope) recognized in every possible way imaginable. So, changing den flags from the Tiger Cub, to the Cub Scout to the Webelos Scout is a subtle recognition. (One pole, three "official" [uniform] flags, three numeral sets; cost spread out over five years, shared by several youth; cheap! [Even if the flags get lost and can't be recycled.]) As far as shirts go, in our Pack, the boys start to grow out of their blue shirts when they reach ten anyway. Our policy is to (please) have a tan shirt by the W2 year (and buy large, lots more growth soon). It can be the Boy Scout shirt, soon.

Yeah, can't type worth beans. On the other hand, what do we get a camp in the way of comp? Choatic set-up, wound-up boys, lost badge sites, missing first-year tenderfeet, camp food (that same old menu), meal shows that can inspire or expire, wandering families on parents night, repeating ceremonies, and... the boys who look back and say it was the best thing that happened all year!

Greeneagle5 posted a serious BoR policy question on an advancement thread on 11/20/04. As an aside, he mentioned a dilemma that BSA guidelines do not address. I'm sure many troops go every year to their council camp for summer camp. The council wants high attendance, SM and parents usually find it more convenient (besides other factors), and the boys feel like it's their camp. ...and yes, no two camps are alike and some camps have serious problems, so for reasons of interest, safety, or tradition, some troops don't attend summer camp at their council camp. Either way, who should decide? When should the decision/plan be made? I know we all have some opinion about this as "purists", but I would particularly like to hear from troops that changed something and had a significant improvement in retention as a result (anybody qualify?). Thank you for your insights in advance. Yours in Scouting, Barry

As a new Advancement Chair in our troop, I noticed our SM had WAAYYY too much control over who sat on Board of Reviews. Sometimes he would (bad, very bad). I started asking troop committee (TC) members to sit. Though they were untrained, I would start each BoR with the "reminder" that the BoR was to help evaluate the troop program, as well. It was the only time we could hear how a boy felt about his patrol, the troop, and the program adults (SM, SA). We started asking the boys about the "best" parts and the "not-so-good" parts, and what he thought could improve the troop. This started several interesting discussions with the SM. The committee realized some changes would be easy IF the committee stayed on task. The SM was more than willing to do some changes, and either gave lip-service or outright refusal about others. The TC could insist, but it would probably result in recruiting a new SM. The TC is not going to go there (today). Upshot, the troop has improved, other improvments have at least been talked about, the TC members now want to be trained, and the boys are getting a little more excited. So I advise small steps till you are ready to take a big leap. Yours in Scouting, Barry P.S. I'm going to start a seperate thread about who, when, and where to select summer camp.

As CM of a new pack, I assigned dens numbers and used the official flags with the iron-on numbers. The boys in each den created den cheers around their den number and kept that identity throughout their Pack experience. I'ld be sure to use the same number on their Tiger, Cub, and Webelos Den flag. I discouraged any "mascot" use while in the Pack; I didn't want to steal the Troop thunder. (This did irritate some dads who wanted their seven-year-olds to start learning Boy Scout stuff. Oh well.) When our Webelos 2 would start hanging with the Troop, then they could experiment with patrol critters and become a patrol (with Troop approval), but they couldn't use it in the pack --- 'cuz it was kind of a "Boy Scout secret." They loved that. Each year, the new W2 would start wearing their own patrol patch, but wouldn't tell the younger boys what it was about. "Wait till you older," they'ld say. (LOL) Now we have flags from Den 1 through 10 and the Pack just recycles them.