Basementdweller

Lisa.....I wasn't speaking about my ticket when I said I felt cheated........I put a ton of work into my ticket. I felt cheated by my woodbadge experience.........

Wow that was anti climactic..... He kinda leafed thru my books I spent hours making... Talked a little bit about each item.... He asked "Do you think you finished your ticket?" Yep. I signed a paper he signed the same thing.....Asked who I the beads should be sent toooo......I know the SM wants to give them to me so I had them sent to him..... No apology, No explanation Took 10 minutes tops..... So why was it so hard? Heck he arrive after I ordered my sandwich and left before it was delivered to the table.......Never even took his coat off. So how do I feel about woodbadge after completing my ticket? Ambivalent at best, cheated at worst. For those who have completed woodbadge what was supposed to happen?????? owns.......completing the process in no way changes my experience.(This message has been edited by Basementdweller)

The scout asks the CC for a BOR and the CC gives him a date and time generally the next week half an hour before or after the troop meeting.. Don't make it harder than it needs to be......I know some troops that only do them once a month and then they only have limited time slots every month.....just flat silly.....Just like adding a requirement the rank.

Oh the ticket items are very well documented so no worries there. The SM is like an older brother and he does have my best interest in mind..........I have a lot of respect for him.

Beading ceremony...... I think your putting the cart before the horse here......I haven't met with the ticket councilor......he could say my ticket is a POS and I need to work on it some more........In which case it is definitely over..... But thank you for the good thoughts...... Far as staffing goes, HECK NO. I tasted the Flavor aid and it was bad. I will continue to staff the IOLS course because I enjoy the other staff members. Rewarding, not so much.....

Well it is a Saturday and then a Saturday sunday...... So with your premeeting I bet the courses are similar.......ours is the complete package attend all the sessions and you will be fully trained. YPT and THis is scouting is also offered on the first saturday morning..... There is an interim Patrol meeting between session 1 and 2.

Fair enough Short........ That furthers the argument........Do we need permanent scout camps?????? The week long cub day camp netted $3000 and has zero maintenance cost......It was pure profit. So what if a council rented an entire state park for a week?????? Zero maintenance cost. how much money could be made????

So the fiasco ends, I have a meeting with my TG and Ticket councilor tomorrow night. SM and I were drinking some coffee after last nights meeting in the lounge and chatting........He asked me about my beads.......I laughed and told him it was dead and over, I had less than a month before my 18 months were up. I didn't care about it any more. He got a frustrated look on his face and didn't say anything. I received a call from the TG just a bit ago. It seems my SM called the new District Chair who musta dealt with it in a serious way. So I am obligated to meet with the TG because of the actions of my pal the SM. Life is funny that way.........

Eagle......don't know about your area.... But this year the attendee's complained about the amount of time to complete the course..... Ours is Two weekends...... I know for a fact that having the patrols meet before hand would meet with significant resistance in my neck of the woods.

I asked very specifically last year if any of the FOS money goes to camperships and the answer was NO in our council. The council finances are very tightly guarded and there is a silence a stone wall. Complete lack of transparency so the donors can see what is going on...... I send two boys beyond my own scout to summer camp every year.....My experience has been bad with cubs, Zero of the boy that I have paid for cub resident camp became boy scouts......All of the boy scouts I have paid for are still active. short.....My day camp was run by unpaid volunteers......Netted the council $3,000 and put me in the debt of a lot of people....Three years later I am still have people cashing in those IOU's.... (This message has been edited by Basementdweller)

Ah the clarity of the BSA..... http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/HealthandSafety/GSS/gss06.aspx#c Prohibited chemical-fueled equipmentEquipment that is handcrafted, homemade, modified, or installed beyond the manufacturers stated design limitations or use. Examples include alcohol-burning can stoves, smudge pots, improperly installed heaters, and propane burners with their regulators removed. Chemical fuels not recommendedUnleaded gasoline; liquid alcohol fuels, including isopropyl alcohol, denatured ethyl alcohol, and ethanol; and other flammable chemicals that are not in accordance with the manufacturers instructions for chemical-fueled equipment. So the white box stove is manufactured and sold by a company.....It comes with manufactures instructions as to how to use it. So it is not homemade and comes with instructions.....While the fuel is not recommended it is not forbidden...... My scouts use canister stoves...... Just discussing is all........ What about esbit, Never seen one come with directions?????? While white gas stoves are hard to beat in cold weather, they are messy, stinky and loud. When the family goes we take three popcan stoves I built....

There is a commercial manufacture of these stoves Whitebox stoves are a commercial supplier of soda can stoves.......Also Varga makes a titanium version, I am told that it takes too long to fill. So if you had to have a compliant stove you could buy a white box stove.

Short......So tell me where it says FOS dollars are used for camperships????? Transparency in council finances........ FOS dollars go to pay our SE $150K a year and his DE's $60k. so how many families donating $50 each does it take to pay that SE salary??????

Except people like Basement......What the heck does that mean???????

I am going to say No as well. Our troop goes to resident camp and that is all. Our Pack attends the day events on occasion and our cub day camp is done in a local park. The FOS presentation and the complain about summer camps rubber stamping merit badges got me thinking............ Our troop utilizes our local state parks, national forest and regional park system. It is much more affordable than our local scout camps.

Our camporee's are expected to net 60%. I was at the meeting when that was discussed. Our camporee activity fee is $15.....that is for camping at a State park, which is free, and a patch. So I am guessing they are making at least 50% on that one if not more.

What is the definition of a council owned camp???? A camp with a dining hall, heated cabins with complete kitchens, swimming pool, high and low cope course, climbing walls or towers, lake with boats, rifle and archery ranges and amphitheater. A camp with a dining hall, swimming pool and flush toilets? A piece of property with water and a pit toilet or Just a piece of property? When you utilize the Council owned Camp what are your expectations?????

OGE....He is probably talking out his

Not sure what this years cost is, but I think I paid $275 for my course. The 60% came from our DE that said an event would not be approved that did not make 60%.

wow, there is no free staff events at our council.......Even university of scouting staff were charged $10 for lunch..... I don't have a problem with paying for my own meals, Like KD I can see arguments both ways. Moose far as kickbacks go........your staff meals must be much better than ours, we have cold cuts, pancakes and spagetti......No steak or shrimp here. Eamon, COH and B&G's are different in my book an you are an invited guest.....If I invited you to attend, I would pay for your meal out of courtesy. I believe we are talking about working for the district and council where they are making a profit and still having to pay for meals. edit to respond to eamon(This message has been edited by Basementdweller)

The old Fund Our Salary campaign is well underway and has me fuming about it.......... The presenter at roundtable said the money is used to train your leaders and support the local camp. Well the leaders all pay for training, well that is a flat lie. So it got me thinking........ What if the council did not own any camps??????? Many complain they are money pits and support weak troops. The FOS guy used it to ask for money....... Just lookin for some adult discussion

OGE.....so wasn't there another thread about feeding volunteers on an Eagle project....How it was expected. Several comments along the line of if you don't feed me I won't be back. So what makes Volunteering to staff a training course any different?????? If it is different please enlighten me as to how, my little pea brain just can't get around it. Especially when councils charge big money for some of the training. I pay for my food at the IOLS course, which I might add is more than the cost of the course for the participants.(This message has been edited by Basementdweller)

Nice story..... But Gotta say the saving the life part is pretty thin and overly dramatic......

Have you seen the price of paper lately???? Wow. That is why you need to pay to be on staff...

I think Calico is correct..... How many times during the summer to you make dinner in the oven in the summer while running the air conditioning..... How many times is the TV left on while no one is in the room? How long are your showers?????? How much laundry detergent do you use? Hand wash your dishes or machine????? How far do you commute to work? How many refrigerators do you have in your house or garage? Do you have a stand alone freezer?? Is it efficient, when was the last time was it defrosted? How many TV's? Cable boxes??? do you unplug them when they are not in use???? how much of a vampire load, transformers, are left plugged in all the time????? I have my entire TV entertainment system on an outlet strip which gets turned off 20 hours a day. Computer is on an outlet strip which gets switched off. On and On. The list goes on and on?