perdidochas

Well, I learn something new every week. I had been on six or seven EBORs and had never heard of a parent filling out a reference form before. I think we have new office staff, so they have started sending those out to parents.

She didn't write anything either. That and the EBORs I've been to (back when I was AC), nobody had parent references. I have to admit, I would have felt kind of awkward writing it.

Is this a new thing? I just don't remember being sent a reference form, and my oldest son had his EBOR about a year ago. Our council sends out reference letters to the references.

We've got an EBOR today. (as ASM I'm not involved). The SM told me that the Eagle candidate has a reference that was written by the Eagle candidates father. Is this normal? Is this acceptable?

I agree with Allan, at least for the lower ranks. Maybe a Star or Life needs more than 15 mins, but for the lower ranks, 15 mins is usually adequate. That is the only part of being an AC that I miss--BORs. I'm an ASM now.

Just out of curiosity, what did you do differently than what the SM told them to do?

Well, you have to teach and guide the boys to learn your advancement system. I think you should have had your SPL or older Scouts explain to the younger Scouts the whole get your book signed. You probably should have asked them. To some degree, Webelos should have started them on this path. Webelos is the only part of Cub Scouts where the parents aren't supposed to sign off advancement.

Fred, there is nothing per BSA that says Webelos crossover must happen in February. I've seen it happen in January, February, March and April. In terms of crossover, it should be a TROOP thing. It is a TROOP ceremony in which the TROOP welcomes the new Boy Scouts. Arrow of Light is a PACK thing. It is a PACK ceremony in which the Pack honors the Webelos who have completed the Arrow of Light.

I'm a former Cub Den leader (all dens but Wolf), and I am also confused. Then again, I've been out of Cubs for almost 4 years.

Well, the free teamsnap doesn't have what you need. To do online paying with teamsnap, it's $7.99 a month, which is $95.88 a year, about the same as Troopwebhost ($99), but you'd have to configure it more to work with scouts.

First, have these Webelos scouts met with the Troop? Maybe if they see the Troop in uniform, they will get the hint, especially if the SM praises some of the Boy Scouts for the uniform. I think the Den Chief should tell the boys the expectations of the troop. Unless the boys are 11 or have finished the 4th grade, they can't cross over to Boy Scouts. They need to get AOL first, and the first requriement for AOL is the Webelos badge. There is no such thing as waiving AOL requirements, unless the boys have disabilities, and in that case it's replacement of, not waiving of requirements. Are you sure you want these Webelos in your troop? They sound pretty bad. If they get waived in to AOL, then they will be expecting to be given all ranks. The Troop leadership is going to have a rough year or two with them.

I'm with Stosh. The boys should go to the troop they like. Ideally, it would be the one with the same CO as their pack. My bet is, most of the time it is.

I think I'm with most of the other replies. I do agree that the SM is not following the program put out by BSA, and is arbitrarily deciding a lot of things that aren't in his responsibilities. Advancement in Boy Scouts should be individual, not group. That said, I think scouts need to camp at least 5-6 times a year (troop should be camping 10-12 times per year). Scouts should go on at least two summer camps. I believe scouting and love of outdoors should be pretty much synonymous.

At our summer camp, we had 11 yr old boys wandering all over the place as buddies. We told them when they needed to be at our campsite, but other than that, it was up to them. I think it's a matter of knowing the boys. We have one fairly inactive ASM. He shows up maybe once a month, and I can only recall him going on one campout since he's been with the troop. However, he has been to at least two training sessions at Philmont and has some good ideas, so the SM allows him to continue with us. If it were up to me, I'd tell him thank you,but the troop doesn't need you, but it's not up to me. Our scouts often play some kind of field game for about 30 minutes towards the end of our meeting. Normally, the ASMs stay in the Scout hut, and work with advancement for those who need it. On one of these occasions last year, this ASM told me that we need to be supervising the scouts outside while they are doing this. At the time, I went along with him, but in thinking about it, I realized that he didn't trust the boys. The thing is, there is nothing we could do as leaders watching them, that they weren't already doing. The older boys had set up the rules and the boundaries. I knew that if someone got hurt, the older boys would 1) take care of them and 2) get adults for backup. I trust the boys. I know what they can do, and I think they are pretty capable. He didn't, but that was because he didn't see the boys enough.

I like the Centennial uniform. It's comfortable enough to wear outside of ceremonial occasions. I especially like the zip-offs.

Troopwebhost does most of what soarol does, and also replaces troopmaster.

Try troopwebhost, but it's about $100 a year. You can set it up to allow payment by paypal. That said, it can also do advancement, etc.

Not really, G2SS doesn't say that. Now, you need to do the swim test, but other than that, cub packs can do things with water. The link below says nothing about any limitations on swimming. If the whole area is 2-3 feet, then consider it a non-swimmer area, and anybody can go to it. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34416_Insert_Web.pdf

Depends on local conditions.

The military has replaced the SSN with another number for most uses (except of course related to pay).

That's the main reason I vote--either I complain and say "well I voted for the other guy...." or "he broke his campaign promise to me."

From what I read, the AHG troop lost it's charter, not because of the local church, but because National AHG didn't like the local church.