Basementdweller

Everybody wants something different in a troop. So how can I or you guide anyone else in what a quality troop is???? Some folks want Adult led.......Some want a high speed low drag program.....on and on. So first a person needs to figure out what he wants or the scout wants. Announced or unannounced shouldn't make a difference. doesn't for us.

I work with 4 Scoutmasters and 20 some eagle scouts.....of course there is 8,000 folks in my building. Earning a decent living...... Just saying... My point is Eagles are just people and as nike pointed out they merely completed a checklist

Sorry you didn't like my response.....There are hundreds of scouting volunteers all making sacrifices to put on a decent program for the boys......Canceling a family campout is small potatoes. "oh, and throwing that junk out about if I don't like something, step up and fix it. " So making phone calls and demanding a summer offering when the training staff is busy.... How is that fixing it???? I challenge you to step up and make a difference.... Take the appropriate training courses and become the Lead Trainer for your districts SUMMER Cub scout training courses.....Owl and Baloo Not much into sympathy or excuses..

I am a firm believer in the feeder pack concept..... Our program is integrated to the point that parents wonder why they need to fill out an application to join the troop.

Here is a fun statistic...... We are churning out 50,000 eagles a year so best case we have 1,000 new Eagles a year who are bad eggs.....worst case using your numbers ......2500 I personally know 4 eagles 20 somethings in da hood.......From good families.....all caught in the substance loop. They are not from da hood but from the rich burb a crossed the beltway.

Cry me a river.... There are what 50 something other weekends available to take your family camping....... We all make sacrifices for scouting........you just need to decide if it is worth it or not. I cannot tell you how much family stuff has been shuffled around for scouting....... Two dates that I will never plan scouting on is Anniversary and the wifes birthday. That is where your wrong there are no slow times, With Patrol outings, Troop outings, PLC meetings, Troop and Pack Committee meetings, Troop meetings, , merit badge outings, But that is when we have new parents all stoked up and ready to take it and locally Packs camp in October and May typically.

Ok so who else received the email from scouting and the west virginia department of heath????? "....... in the unlikely event that you become ill, please report your attendance at the Jamboree to your healthcare provider". Hmmm wonder why my lad was exposed too????? Just curious

Ok so who else received the email from scouting and the west virginia department of heath????? "....... in the unlikely event that you become ill, please report your attendance at the Jamboree to your healthcare provider". Hmmm wonder why my lad was exposed too?????

Eagle is an illusion..... Eagle is a brand..... The is absolutely zero quality control at any level......We have pot smoking, shoplifting, bullying, and fist fighting young men earning it. So what level of leadership to earn eagle???? is a figure head SPL good enough or does it need to be a PL who runs patrol hikes and Patrol only campouts and outings. I think a whole lot less of eagle now then I used too.

That is why the training team in each district need to put their heads together and try to not overlap the exact same training in the same month.... in our council we have three baloo sessions in the month of october......two on the same day. Wny not space them out one in sept one in oct one in november.

Everybody's schedule is full. I have the same issues as you do........ As a District or council trainer you can offer it and know that you will never please everyone on the date. So you don't like the way training is run or scheduled????? Like I tell my parents........ Here is the application, go take the courses that you need to be a baloo trainer and offer it when you think it needs to be offered..... You see a need, you can complain about it, whine wimper and cry to council......Why not step up and fix it. I am telling you once your scout joins the troop you will appreciate there is no down time in Boy Scouting or venturing.

That's right, basement. I don't remember the exact situations now, but there was only one or maybe two times.... and they conflicted with something big..... so no, I'm not going to have my son & I miss out on a major pack event to do something that should be offered much more often than it is. I'm not talking about a den meeting, I'm talking about a camp or a trip or something. Honestly, there should be no reason for me to even have to miss a den meeting for training. I thin it's mainly my district, but to a lessor extend the neighboring districts too..... but these things should be offered much more often..... and yes, they need to be offered over the summer when the students can actually attend. Let's turn this around.....Are you implying that if you were a trainer, you wouldn't miss out on going to jamboree to teach a class for the many Cub leaders that need to take a class over the summer?.... but if our Pack planned a trip to say, sleep on an aircraft carrier, that I should miss that trip and make my son miss out, so that I could attend Baloo? Our IOLS course is 4 weekends.....First three sessions are Saturday only...The last is a full weekend. I staffed it a couple of years and it really blew a hole in my scouting calendar.....I would need to plan for 3 complete weekends at a scout camp an hour from home.... It impacted the troop program as I was the second adult.

After tearing down a pack meeting I am more interested in getting home and to bed.....Up at 5:30 to get to work.

What was the game of choice???? We played Falcon 4, and the add ons.... Doom2, Diablo....

Just tell the librarian what is going on.....

That's right, basement. I don't remember the exact situations now, but there was only one or maybe two times.... and they conflicted with something big..... so no, I'm not going to have my son & I miss out on a major pack event to do something that should be offered much more often than it is. I'm not talking about a den meeting, I'm talking about a camp or a trip or something. Honestly, there should be no reason for me to even have to miss a den meeting for training. I thin it's mainly my district, but to a lessor extend the neighboring districts too..... but these things should be offered much more often..... and yes, they need to be offered over the summer when the students can actually attend. Let's turn this around.....Are you implying that if you were a trainer, you wouldn't miss out on going to jamboree to teach a class for the many Cub leaders that need to take a class over the summer?.... but if our Pack planned a trip to say, sleep on an aircraft carrier, that I should miss that trip and make my son miss out, so that I could attend Baloo? Not gonna debate this....So there was no one else in the Pack that could be responsible for your scout on the trip?????? It does not say that the parent has to attend but each boy must have an adult responsible for him. I took 4 weekends to complete an IOLS course....There are 4 offered in our council and all are 4 weekends. So did I miss events yes Woodbadge and the associated ticket items was two three day weekends and another week of training away from home....yes I missed scout events. my baloo course was scheduled the day of our Blue and gold banquet.....I went to the course and came back late to attend the banquet. I did what I needed to do.....that is the bottom line.

You have read my thoughts on about the cost of the jamboree on local programs.....so I am not gonna rehash it. But you need to remember that there is also Philmont, Northern Tier, Sea Base, MOAB and now Summit adventure base.....Most of these are two week trips....Add in a Week of summer camp, a week or two of family vacation, the 4th of july and summer is toast. I spent a month this summer away from home at scouting....Toss in my 10 day vacation....summer is over for me..... No way as a trainer or even part of a team I could have put on a decent program........It is a lot of work. So your complaining that the volunteer team that does baloo is scheduling it on days and times that are inconvenient for you..... my experience is it never is at a great time. In a nutshell if it were my responsibility I would do the course twice a year......in November for newly recruited cub leaders and February or march for those who just stepped up to prepare for spring pack camping. Ir would not schedule in the summer because my weekends are filled with troop and personal stuff. If it is scheduled multiple times a year I think that is adequate..... the team putting it on just need to make sure they have it on the district and council calendar 6-9 months before the course at least. Then if the council training team was smart they would have 4 districts do the training twice a year and not in the same month that would give you coverage for all but 4 months. December june july and august.

We had a gal who was a venturing youth in one of the WB patrols in my course. ......She was a freshman in college and left school to attend on the weekend and both weekends got lost, so she says, to turn up late friday afternoon.

I don't see anything that great. Why exactly would I want to do this on my scouting???? Why would I want to put dens and patrols in????? I can tell you that I would never ever put my parents email addresses in it. I discourage them from putting it on the application as well....As it is used for the FOS beat down that occurs every year. At least since we started putting our own advancement in it isn't all screwed up.

So you didn't answer my question. So reading into what your saying you take a large number of parents with you on your outings?????

"It helps that our CO is the Elks Lodge and we sometimes hold our Pack meetings there. Meeting over, take off uniform, go drink in bar." In my area it is rare if ever we see two parents at a scout function......So from my experience that would mean that DED would have a couple of adult beverages and then load his scout in his car for the trip home.

Kudu you need to remember that social media is moving faster than you or I can conceive. Facebook is so yesterday as my son says.....He uses twitter and instagram and pintrest for most of his stuff now. We have a Web page, facebook , instagram, twitter and pintrest account for the troop.......It is more than a full time job posting to all of them and then parent complain about duplicate information on the pages.

Depends on the quality of the den chiefs.... like you I have yet to see a decent den cheif or one I would consider a good recruiter. One could argue my spl was the den chief but it was only for the 5 day s of the resident camp.... He basically played with the boys.... He did not have to sit them down in a class room setting and try to get stuff done. Don't like the Pack meeting idea, It is tough enough for even an experienced CM to keep the attention of 40 boys. SPL wouldn't stand a chance.

Wait a minute......so you said not one that didn't conflict with a pack event.........so you couldn't miss one event to get trained?????

Well there ya go......summer is a busy time for the folks who put on training.... especially in a jambo year. The have troop outings troop summer camp and family vacations.... just because most cub scouting stop..most troops keep going.