Oak Tree

how about make your own shelter using each of the lashings and knots and sleep under it for a campout? Sure, that would be fine, too. When we hand out athletic letters to Varsity basketball players, we don't hear about how the player doesn't know how to dribble, or doesn't know how to make a lay-up. If BSA had regular competitions where inspectors came around and evaluated boys' shelters, and the Scouts practiced these things as the focus of the program, then the Scouts would know their lashings, just like basketball players all know how to dribble. My point is that Scouts

"How many new Eagle scouts cannot build a fire or lash a useful camp item? Just sayin" "How can Irving change this trend? Could BSA change this trend if they wanted?" If the BSA really wanted to make sure Eagle Scouts could lash useful camp items, then there could be repeated requirements throughout the advancement process that involved doing this. The requirement could be beefed up - to do five square lashings within five minutes, and then build on it. The Star requirement could be could be to lash together a cube with eight lashings in five minutes. Etc. Right now there is no

Hasn't happened here. Our district split once in recent memory, but that's due to a real growth in membership (and population in general). The council of my youth still has the same one district that they've always had. Stability in some areas is a good thing - I like SSScout's post and his wry take on the reorganizations. I don't think we need to tell him to get over it or anything - he seems to already be over it. I try to take posts like this and be thankful that my council doesn't have every issue.

Here in the southeast, we get thunder EVERY afternoon. At some point you would think the staff would schedule it earlier in the day. We camp somewhere similar, weather-wise (and not too far geographically-speaking, either, I suspect). The camp schedules the mile swim at 11:00am on Thursdays. In addition to being in the morning, the time also gives them options for running additional chances.

Our pack camps four times a year as a pack. I've also done the Webelos three-day event at the council camp, and our Webelos dens can camp pretty frequently. We also set up a camping group that does low-key camping at the pack level. It makes for a lot of camping. I've heard some people say that we should save some of that camping for Boy Scouts, but that hasn't been a problem. Camping as Cubs seems to help, not hurt, Boy Scout retention. Things that might get people out: - Pre-designed trips. Where to camp, what a schedule would look like. - Pictures of fun things you've done as a pac

I'm saying it's both.

The reason I try to steer people towards the more outdoorsy badges is that they generally have more fun. There are only so many times most boys have the opportunity to do archery, or small-boat sailing, or orienteering. Aquatics and shooting sports are especially popular, and Scouts may get carried away with trying to line up Eagle classes but not actually enjoy camp. Nevertheless, after a few years of camp, they pretty much know what they are getting into, so I'll let them sit in class if they want to. So I wouldn't say I'm hostile to the Eagle classes, just that I think there are b

Ours is done in a lake - little chance for anyone to bend the rules and no bending that I've ever noticed. We generally have one Scout, one adult, or no one do it in a given year. The requirements for the mile swim actually have three preliminary requirements - those are pretty much ignored.

I'd add Indian Lore, Swimming Some others that could be ok, which are included at our camp, are Art, Cinematography, Photography, Plant Science, Safety, Woodwork. The ones that camp offers that seem particularly poorly suited to camp are the ones taught in a classroom just like a school class. Citizenship in the World, Nation, Communications, Computers, Personal Management, Personal Fitness. These are nevertheless popular classes with our older kids, and it's nice to have something that attracts them. There is definitely consumer demand for these classes, so while I tend to steer kid

I'd look at the Osprey Aether 85.

The Wisconsin Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod are quite conservative - the Wisconsin Synod opposes participation in Boy Scouts and you can find various statements to this effect on their web site. I can only imagine how they'd feel about OA. The Missouri Synod is much more conservative than the ELCA, but they do participate in Scouting to some extent, although they seem a little bit uneasy about the idea that you can tell people they can do their duty to God in any way other than as a Christian. "In 1944 Missouri made two decisions that proved disastrous to their relationship wit

Different kids can react differently to the various aspects of this. Some of them don't mind hanging around afterwards because they have a friend of a second leader who hangs out too. Some of them look at you like keeping them at Scouts for one more minute is going to cause them to starve to death and they will blame you for it. I try to balance it with the idea of giving some extra perks. There are certainly advantages to being the leader's son too. You can give him some extra input into things. You can take home the leftover ice cream. You can make sure his advancement doesn't get stuck

It is so easy to sit up on high and point the finger at another Eagle Mill. I think you missed the point here. An Eagle Mill troop tends to be adult led and follows those things that adults think of as important, and that very commonly includes a strong emphasis on uniforming. The poster was saying that the Eagle Mill Scout would look better - that's why he stated it as a positive for Eagle mills. Still, as to your greater point that it's easy to point fingers, yes, it is. There are all kinds of people who get Eagle - the thing they have in common is that they have persevered

Counselors that work with our troop at home generally do all the requirements as written. Counselors at camp generally do not. Some of the merit badges actually cover all the items - especially the Eagle-badges like Citizenship in the World, Communication, Citizenship in the Nation. Those are the exception, though, by far. One year we sat down with our Scouts and went through the requirements to see what they thought that they had done versus what the camp said they had done. The camp's version was a tremendous work of fiction. We did ask the camp director about it - he suggested tha

An organization that never seems all that organized goes ahead and runs a huge get together once every four years. What could possibly go wrong? I don't know what all the military did at Jamboree - their presence was everywhere and I suspect it's difficult to even categorize everything they did. I would definitely anticipate a bunch of unforeseen issues popping up, without having people in place to handle. It's easy enough to think that teams of Scouts or volunteers could handle various things, but there are a lot of situations that need some top-down decision making. Like Kahun

The question of whether it would be legal to use only female lifeguards would depend on whether the courts found the gender of the lifeguard to be a "bona fide occupational qualification". Courts have generally found that it is acceptable to allow gender discrimination when it is necessary for the privacy of a third party. It is acceptable to have women do the pat-downs of women at airports, for example. Whether the courts would find the expectation of privacy to be justified here is something I don't know. The law clearly would not allow them to request only middle-eastern lifeguards, or

Twocub, Yes, you're right - it's convenient to have a short-hand notation for the set of behaviors. It's especially convenient when discussing types of troops. As with many of these things, it's one thing when you're talking about a group, it's another thing when you are talking to a troop. And here on the internet, we're always doing both. It doesn't seem like a particularly courteous term, and I think people do use it (not all, just some) as a way to put down other troops' programs, and that doesn't seem necessary to me. As for what I would prefer, I'm not sure. For one thing,

The percentage of Scouts who earn Eagle is about 5-6% per year, (something like 50,000 out of 900,000), but since the average Scout is a member for multiple years, the actual percentage is more like 16% (out of the 300,000 or so Scouts who join each year, 50,000 will earn Eagle at some point). They used to say the percentage was 2%. Some parts of the Eagle requirements have definitely become easier over the years - for example, back in the 1940's you had to have 50 nights of camping to get the Camping merit badge, and now it's 20 nights. But there are many other changes to the culture as

The number of homosexuals who join or don't join Scouts is not the membership problem associated with the issue. The membership issue is whether people think of Scouts as an organization that is intolerant and they therefore don't even consider letting their kids sign up as Cub Scouts. Just google around and you can find lots of examples of people who won't let their kids join - here are a few I found when I skimmed the surface"I know i would never let my son be a boy scout in the USA, but here in Canada they aren't such ignorant [jerks]. (no offense to you Americans, just offense to

The AHA definitely isn't a huge fan of sugar-added sports drinks in general. At 100 calories of sugar per packet, it's not like it's a real health food. More Americans now drink sugar-sweetened sodas, sport drinks and fruit drinks daily, and this increase in consumption has led to more diabetes and heart disease over the past decade, researchers reported at the American Heart Associations 50th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.http://www.newsroom.heart.org/index.php?s=43&item=976 They recommendHydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Maintain salt-water balan

The term "Eagle Mill" does seem a bit pejorative. Why do we need to give such a label to other troops? It may indeed be the case that some troops focus more on the advancement method. Does that mean we need to insult them? It almost feels like those using the term are offended by the troops that do this. Is it because those troops make it easier for boys to get Eagle? The troop I grew up in was barely functional, very disorganized, had a few sporadic camping trips. We had fun when we did stuff, but we were in no way an Eagle mill. Some troops focus on the outdoors method, some on the unif

BadenP, thanks, I like TwoCub's post as well. Your definition is pretty good, although it's not what I would think of as a "standard". Nor is it anything like what National would try to enforce if they did try to enforce something - it's a great vision of a program. Troops that don't live up to that vision, though, aren't necessarily "abusing" the requirements. There are undoubtedly troops that do the things you say, but it's one thing to say a troop isn't creating a great Scouting experience, and something else to say that they are taking the standard of "has the boy completed the requir

BadenP, which "Standard" do you believe is not being met by many Eagles? Is there a particular requirement that is not being fulfilled?

The military heard stories about how all the troops would quit if gays were officially admitted, too. So they went to an intermediate "don't ask, don't tell" policy as the culture continued to evolve. Now they're going to lift the ban on openly gay soldiers, and it will be no big deal. I've heard that people will leave, but like Fred, I don't really believe it. Maybe they'll all go to the Royal Rangers, but I doubt it. Get Robert Gates in as the next CEO, or Bear Grylls, and let them lead a change. Or maybe Michael Barrett, current Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps. The Wall Street

My immediate reaction is that your title isn't right. Your troop is very vital. It's more alive than the great majority of troops. You do high-adventure every year. You're large. You're active in the OA. In the OP, you say you want to get to the next level. That's different from "revitalizing". But ok, I think I understand - you want the troop to be even better. What does "even better" mean to you? What does it mean to the Scoutmaster? And in particular, what would it mean to the Scouts? The one symptom that you list that everyone probably agrees with, is that half of