Basementdweller

ya know OGE I am tired of it. My boys deserve so much better than what we have. We should be able to go to the camporee and measure themselves against the other scouts, no district camporee's. My Cubs should be able to go to a district cub event like webelos woods, we don't offer that. I don't complain at roundtable or storm around making a fuss. I had issues with the district committee but that was in a private meeting behind closed doors. I have spoken to no one about it except the SM. So I don't stand around the coffee pot at roundtable complaining. The district committee people can't look me in the eye, but that's not from me pounding my fist on the table making a fuss.

a lot of great scouters in our council were passed over going to the Jambo. I know two super scoutmasters who applied and were both were passed over of ASM positions. So being a new scouter, irregardless of your training, you were probably passed over. I don't know about your council, but there is an old Guard who takes the troops to the Jamboree, they have done it for the last 5 I am told. Far as BMI goes at the last Jambo meeting they are taking it on a case by case basis with a physicians statement.

Eagle that is all well and good but why in the world do we have to give council or district money for our own event???????

John I posted about no free events in our district anymore. Three Packs were going to get together and the DE showed up at the event and told us we had to charge a district fee for the event. Because two Packs cannot do a joint event PERIOD, more than one pack it becomes a district event. I don't believe our DE is playing with our membership numbers.....He is a straight arrow. But all about membership numbers and the money.

I have received a couple of PM's putting me on notice that if I start down this path my membership will be revoked. I have to ask if it is worth my scouts suffering to try to fix something that no one else seems to think is broken. The entire BSA organization is corrupt from what I am seeing. Well, my unit has no fluff in it, we spend 100% of our funds on scouting. Beyond that I have my doubts. I will run a Friends of Pack 123 instead of FOS, Fund our Salary

Fantastic link and great reads.

Valid points But most patrol method backpack cooking I have witnessed outside my troop involved 4 man mountain house meals and HUGE pots of water and MSR liquid stoves. While I have benefited from the Patrols leftovers, It seems excessive to me. I like our method it teaches my scouts to be self sufficient in the outdoors. We backpack three times a year, they can use patrol method when we car camp with patrol boxes.

After sleeping on it.......... No it doesn't surprise me. I have said before and will continue to say that MOST professional staff will not tell the truth regarding any issue. I no longer trust the District, Council or National organization to be looking after my Scouts best interest. I no longer believe that the District or Council can manage donated funds. I donate to the local council thru United Way and Fos a couple hundred dollars a year. It ends today. While I did not trust the district.......I believed the council was doing the right thing.....These numbers and the fact the SE made $172k last year really ticks me off. I will continue to work with my Pack, Troop and Crew. I will not support our District or Council and I will share the 990 forms with these organizations leadership. If our families are going to donate money......it should benefit our boys not pay some guy $172k salary.....Ya know I never seen the man and I am scouting 4 days a week and nearly every weekend.

no taken from a series of 990 forms over a 8 year period. One SE left numbers dropped by 13k for the new guy. which is reported numbers to the IRS....

I never said they were eagles...... I am willing to bet some of them were. But still half of did not have simple knot tying skills. Several required a brief refresher and picked them back up and three were a total loss, probably never knew them to start with. were they eagles, don't know because it was cold we all had our jackets on and I did not see their shirts, nor did I ask. Session periods were very short. I will say that it took me some time to relearn the knots as an adult leader.....but I had them down before the end of my iols course.

What nobody cares????????? Yes this is real and needs to be dealt with...... Ya I appreciate the email stating it isn't a big deal and If I am the only one who thinks it is a problem then it isn't a problem. A scout is trust worthy, Scouters are not, especially paid ones.

Well it has come to my attention that our old councils SE had probably some very fraudulent membership numbers. When he left we lost 13,000 scouts......funny in looking at the districts web pages I don't see a mass exodus from the membership numbers listed. Could they have fudged the learning for life numbers??????? Heck I don't know. so how does one find out the real numbers.

Well we don't seem to have that much diversity in our scouting programs in the city. Basically car camping, hiking, canoeing and summer camp. There is an eagle mill not to far away, they attend merit badge boot camps, summer camp and that is the extent of their outdoor activity. We differentiate ourselves by backpacking and canoeing......I would love to see the boys organize a trip to mammoth cave or Gettysburg or even the Appalachian trail for a week

Oh we have workshop nights.....first one 3 scouts show up, second one 2 scouts, then the last one 40. you now have 30 pissed off parents because you cannot help their son....... So I spent 3 hours hearing Mr. B can you help me.

Test out makes me giggle We had 15 18 year old aged out boy scouts sign up to take the test out for IOLS last fall....Lets just say many did not pass and needed to take the course. I figured these guys would be easy.....I was at the knot station and ugly was an understatement.

I am going to bet they are losing a bunch of boys during the webelos cross over and the competition for scouts between the troops is getting the blame. The competition results in stress and confusion with the Webelos and Parents, who wants that. The district really doesn't care if troop A is better than troop B. What district wants is 100% transition from Pack A to Troop A at the same CO. It removes the confusion and conflict.....probably retain more scouts too.

ahhh Eagle here is the twist...... A SM or ASM are required to draw a tour plan in our neck of the woods. To be considered fully trained and on the Charter for that position you are required to have IOLS. So in my neck of the woods, yes IOLS is indirectly required.

had an argument tonight over .01 ounces yep, 100th of an ounce......the scale flickered from 5.00 to 5.01 and back.... One dad said it was illegal.....I told him he was breathing on it to hard making it over by 100th of an ounce. I picked the car up scratched off a bit of paint on the bottom and put it back on the scale get look it is 5.00 and not changing now. I hate the pinewood derby, last year had a leader get punched by a parent.

I would recommend going to an outfitter and trying one on. Packs are like shoes, it needs to fit YOU. I have a couple of osprey packs, an aether 85 and a 48 liter one. They have many miles on them and I like them both. But they are heavy....I would like to get a ULA ohm or circuit. Quick way to shed 4 pounds or more off the base weight. I do like the osprey packs and would have no problem buying another. Excellent customer service.

We use canister stoves, we have a lot of donated gear, so we have a little bit of everything. A couple of pocket rockets, a jet boil, some coleman models, and a couple I have no idea. Esbits are a pain, leave a residue on the pots and stinks. Slow...... My only beef with the canister stoves is fuel levels in the cans, inevitably we haul much more fuel than we need for fear of running out.....The last couple of batches we have burned off the propane first or something because the end of the tanks did heat that well, there is a new stove Sato or something like that, it has a built in pressure regulator which it says will give you the same btu's from start to finish on the canister. Need to try one of those someday.

Buddy cooking benefits.....my opinion and troop experience Smaller lighter gear lower cost more nimble menu more equitable distribution of food and gear Much shorter meal prep times Less waste of food No bickering about who carries what or who is cooking and cleaning up.

It sounds like the lady is breaking the budget.......... If that's the case just tell her the facts..... Does she cook the Butts or does one of the other Families.......What happens to the leftovers?????

So is this supposed to be an outline for a class or course???????? Is this something to be handed out to the course participants????? Who is your audience? How long is your course? 45 minutes Your Dissertation is very well written and cited. I think that you have way too much material......No way you could cover it adequately in an hour. I would pick a couple of points you think are the biggest issues for scouts and cover those...... Stoves and food, sleeping bags, While I disagree with your patrol vs buddy cooking opinion it is irrelevant.

Boston butt is the Butt end of a pork shoulder. They make for easy smoking in the cooker....you can line a bunch up because they are rectangular in shape. I like cooking picnics better, I think they taste better, but you can't put as many in the cooker. Ya, mom has a problem. Boston Butts are expensive compared with what a normal scout menu consists of. The question you need to ask her or the group is, are we here to camp and have fun or cook for the weekend???? I don't camp to cook, but I have to eat at camp......Minimum time in the kitchen. Boston Butts take 4-10 hours in the smoker depending on size and shape. Nope too much fiddling around.

I understand holding classes for hard to get merit badges like Aviation, nuclear science, it is difficult to find a councilor. I don't see the need for the citizenships or even 20 to be offered together. I wonder the whys of offering such a course......Was it at the encouragement of a DE????? Improve his advancement numbers. So please explain to me why or your motivation to organize such a thing?????? How many completed merit badges are generated by this event????