perdidochas

I'd have no problem with the above, provided that evolution of his equipment occurred over time. My first trip with my sons' troop (of which I'm now an ASM), I had a 10 lb tent, and slept on a cot. Since then I've evolved to a hammock with a tarp, but I actually think it's best for an adult leader to start with what they have, and to change based on what they see the troop doing.

Well, I have camped from one. I have a 30-L or so dry bag, and I packed my hammock, a tarp, a sheet (it was hot), and a backpacking stove with pot. Carried my food in a separate cooler. I wouldn't want to do a multi-day, but not bad for overnight.

I've tried it. It's fun, but it's a real work out. It would be hard to stow enough gear for a multi-day trip.

Paddleboarding is nothing like surfing on flat water. It's more like kayaking while standing up. The great thing about it is that it's much better for observing wildlife than a kayak, especially if the water is clear.

We have one. It's main use is to share pictures and news with the Troop families. We also get a lot of Scout alumni that visit to look at the pics, mainly. Make sure you follow BSA guidelines on Social media. Open group with at least two page administrators. http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Marketing/Resources/SocialMedia.aspx

Well, I think the argument is that they don't want to take an ineffective course more than once. I will admit, I would balk if I had to take IOLS again from my district. I learned nothing, and just got irritated with some of the stupidity that they demonstrated (for example, in the dutch oven cooking portion, they used matchlight charcoal in a charcoal chimney for the cooking. No need for the matchlight at all with the chimney. In addition, all we did in the dutch oven was heat nacho cheese, and reheat browned ground beef.) I think if the Trainer's Edge course was a valued course, people wouldn't be irritated at having to retake it every three years.

Well, we had a great trainer for face to face YPT, so it was worth going to. It was back in the days of having to do face to face Den leader training, so we did both the same day.

I think we may need to institute that for parents and drivers on outings. I just think it's safer for all.

Well, when I was getting my Tiger Cub Den leader training, they had it set up so that the morning was YPT and Safe Swim Defense, and a couple of hours after lunch for Den leader training. The YPT was instructor delivered, with a powerpoint, but not a video. (My Tiger cubs are now sophomores in high school) The YPT was the powerpoint and each powerpoint was illustrated by the instructor with a war story.

I haven't found it yet, but I am getting over a bad DE, and the new one is still wet behind the ears.

That's what our council does. They then send out forms to the references with a envelope addressed to the Scoutmaster. The Scoutmaster (or his designee) brings the references to the Eagle BOR.

Well Scoutbooks was developed by a different group of people than the current Internet Advancement and Rechartering. BSA bought the application (and I hope the developers). We don't have an option to not use Internet Advancement anymore, and haven't for about a year.

I haven't. As I said, we just finally got our records straight in Troop Webhost after migrating from Troopmaster (mainly due to the fact that only a small group of scouts have Troopmaster information, since we switched two years ago. TWH handles advancement almost as good as Troopmaster, is good for scout accounts, is good for email, and we are trying to get the boys to use it to sign up for campouts.

I think all leaders should take the face to face version of YPT in their first year of scouting (not just the video followed by questions, but an actual class taught by an instructor). I look back at it, and the war stories I heard were much more effective than the fairly mild web version of the course. I think the web version is a great refresher, though. I try to take YPT every 18 months or so, so I don't have time being untrained. That is easier said than done, though.

Not sure at the council level, but at the unit level there were paper forms that were supposed to be kept for each scout. See the individual scout records on page 123-124 www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/Forms.pdf

I assume by spreadsheet, you mean a physical piece of paper.

I'm with you. I remind and offer sunscreen to the Troop (part of the process when I'm putting my sunscreen on, a Scout is kind and courteous), but I don't make anybody wear it. I don't confront them about it. I don't have sympathy when they burn. I'm dealing with primarily 11-14 year olds in the troop. I think I would laugh at a Crew member who got sunburned after refusing sunscreen. Then again, we are in Florida, and our Troop meets less than a mile from the beach (as the crow flies). Most of them have gotten the message.

Pretty clear (from the linked document from the OP) and later on

Well, if they did it as part of the Hiking MB, I think BSA (or the MBC) would need to give credit. No language in the Hiking MB implies under the auspices of BSA. Those miles could also go into the Hiking segment of the National Outdoor award.

The MB requirements for backpacking have parts that require doing things that involve his patrol/crew, and others that don't specify. To me that indicates that a family trip (as long as the Scout is doing the planning, etc.), would count. (my paste renumbered, so the 1 should be 9, 2 should be 10, 3 should be 11). #9 (1), IMHO, requires it be a BSA event. #10 (2) could be outside of scouting, and #10 (3) could be outside of scouting. http://www.scouting.org/Home/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges/mb-BACK.aspx Hiking is similar, but, IMHO, requires no Scouting involvement. http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges/mb-HIKE.aspx

We did that in the spring with our crossovers. They crossed over two weeks before a planned backpacking trip. The older boys still did the backpacking trip, but the younger boys (and the less adventurous older boys) went to the Spring Camporee the same weekend. Seemed to work for us.

Talking to an LDS friend, the LDS church has a youth program alternative for boys already created--they use it in the rest of the world. He predicts they will drop out of BSA.

Yet Trail Life allows gay youth, just like BSA. http://www.traillifeusa.com/whoweare

While I don't agree with that assessment of homosexuality, there are religious groups and people that do. There are other things that I think are immoral that other religious groups think are perfectly fine. For example, I think it's immoral to not go to church on Sunday (it's a mortal sin in the Catholic Faith). I know there are a lot of other Christian faiths that think otherwise. That said, the resolution did not say that homosexual acts are moral. That is a conjecture by Trail Life, and I have personally found that they can't be trusted. They twist things for their own agenda. Here is a link to the resolution: http://files.ctctcdn.com/ac05d2b4101/d9c56f85-a049-41d5-9e5c-72a0c44f984f.pdf

I agree. BSA is in a no-win situation. They did a compromise that almost nobody is happy with. To me, that indicates a good compromise.