perdidochas

I'm Advancement chair of our troop. The above is why I tell the boys to come to me, and I will record their progress in Troopmaster. Things happen to books. My son washed his. Thankfully it was right after a rank advancement, and he had everything important recorded in Troopmaster. IMHO, if the Scoutmaster approved of the BOR, I would presume that the Scout is ready. In our troop, the Scoutmaster won't approve the SMC unless he has seen the rest of the advancement.

However, I don't think it's a good idea for a Webelos Den Leader to crossover and become an ASM. I think they need to learn a bit of detachment, otherwise it's too easy to make the New Scout Patrol into Webelos III. I'm glad that I was asked to do Advancement. It kept me around, but a little detached from the boys. Even at that,there were a few times that I have almost jumped up and gone into WDL mode on the scouts. Thankfully, the advancement laptop has slowed me down.

Jay, They allow Webelos Den Leaders to quit? My sons' SM told me I had to be a committee member :-) For about a year I was Troop Advancement Chair (older son) and Webelos Den Leader (younger son)

drmbear, I don't think there's a problem with gay scouts being allowed to join BSA. The only objection to gay people in Scouts is for leaders. To some degree, it would be hard to sell a program where gay men are bringing male youths out to the wilderness. I, however, can see this changing. In terms of atheists, there is no way that an honest atheist can join BSA as either a youth or leader. The Boy Scout Oath is pretty clear on that.

I think it's mainly a matter of longevity. Most Cub Scout leaders (yes, there are exceptions) are only Cub Scout leaders for as long as they have boys in the program. That's 4 1/2 yrs. I've noticed that more Boy Scout leaders stay on after their boys age out, and the ones in it just with their own sons, have almost 7 yrs. Personally, I feel that many of the professional Scouters (and the higher up, the more they have this attitude) treat most volunteer leaders poorly, the exception being the district level scouters (i.e. the lowest rank, most of whom in my area are fresh out of college). We have one of the higher ups locally that is extremely rude to the volunteers. If I weren't so dedicated to my sons and the other boys, I would have told him to shove it, and quit. There is no reason for that, and it makes me hesitant to want to help out beyond the unit level.

Not sure what the letter of the law is on this one, but the spirit of the law would tell you that you need at least one adult who has knowledge of camping and the specific activities planned to go on the camping trip. I'm a committee member (specifically advancement chair), but I took IOLS for this reason. So that if I could round up one other adult, my sons and their friends would always be able to go on a campout.

The real problem was that the group should never have left the portage until the whole group was accounted for. IMHO, the missing boys handled it well-- "At about 1 a.m., the crew of a helicopter from the Illinois Department of Transportation located a campfire in the woods along the river, a couple miles north of the Wisconsin-Illinois border." They stopped, hunkered down, and were rescued.

Finish his AOL ASAP, and then join scouts. If it's not easily possible to finish AOL in a month, go ahead and put him in scouts. Also, he cannot be a Webelos Scout past the 5th grade unless he is under 11. I'd get him in Boy Scouts ASAP, so that he can join a troop and go to Summer camp with them.

"I enjoy the boys, I have watched many of them grow from 1st grade thru now middle school. I enjoy the share experiences and success's and laugh at the failures....... Council and district does not care about you or your boys.......So stop whining about it. Run you unit level programs and succeed with out them. " Exactly. We don't volunteer as a way to give money to BSA. We volunteer to turn boys into good men while having fun in the process.

Disable your javascript, and you don't get the junk. However, some other websites won't work right. My guess is that Scouter.com is hacked.

You mean Enable phase. :-)

Noname, That wasn't my point. My point was that while they count for one of the twenty nights, simply 20 nights of camping isn't sufficient for the Camping merit badge. You need the two outings that include some adventure (well, a little anyway). I'm trying to piece together the story. Who is it that is discouraging camping in the troop? Is it the SM, the outgoing (or gone) SPL, or the current SPL? From talking to your son, what do the boys think about this? My "ground" truthing of the state of the Troop is talking to my sons about it, as well as the scouts. Also, are you a Committee member? If so, have you asked the boys about it at BORs?

Well, for part of the camping merit badge. hard to see how your program will ever meet b of the following: Show experience in camping by doing the following: a. Camp a total of at least 20 days and 20 nights. Sleep each night under the sky or in a tent you have pitched. The 20 days and 20 nights must be at a designated Scouting activity or event. You may use a week of long-term camp toward this requirement. If the camp provides a tent that has already been pitched, you need not pitch your own tent. b. On any of these camping experiences, you must do TWO of the following, only with proper preparation and under qualified supervision: 1. Hike up a mountain, gaining at least 1,000 vertical feet. 2. Backpack, snowshoe, or cross-country ski for at least 4 miles. 3. Take a bike trip of at least 15 miles or at least four hours. 4. Take a nonmotorized trip on the water of at least four hours or 5 miles. 5. Plan and carry out an overnight snow camping experience. 6. Rappel down a rappel route of 30 feet or more. c. Perform a conservation project approved by the landowner or land managing agency.

Our boys seem to like the scout pants just fine. In fact, most would prefer the Scout Pants (or shorts) with a Troop t-shirt to the uniform shirt with jeans. I like the Scout pants, if they were priced a bit lower or were American made, I'd have no problems with them.

Basement, I was thinking the same thing. Different official scout sources seem to be wording things just a bit different. Which is "most" official?

Moosetracker, The Constitution only makes the separation of church and state one way. The Constitution was designed to limit the government, not limit the people (which includes churches). Read the First Amendment: Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. There is no restriction there of religion, only of the government. The government cannot establish a religion, nor can it prohibit the free exercise of religion.

Only one tent campout in a year? How does the Scoutmaster ever expect a boy to have the opportunity to get the Eagle required camping merit badge (which requires 20 nights, only 7 of which can be summer camp). At 2 nights camping a year, it would take 6 1/2 yrs to get the other 13 nights.

The real problem is the increased intrusiveness of government. Why should the federal government have the power to tell an employer the exact requirements of the insurance they provide? Also, the arbitrariness of contraception provided with no deductible. Insulin and high blood pressure medicine require a deductible. Why should contraception be different?

Reread the above. A 9 yr old who has finished 5th grade can join Boy Scouts. My mistake.

A 9 yr old with AOL cannot join Boy Scouts. The following is the first requirement for joining Boy Scouts: 1. Meet the age requirements. Be a boy who is 11 years old, or one who has completed the fifth grade or earned the Arrow of Light Award and is at least 10 years old, but is not yet 18 years old.

noname, Is it the kids or the adults who are intimidated by your camping schedule?

We count Troop service projects, and Eagle Service projects in our activity list for 2/1.

In the past 12 months, my boys' troop has camped in tents on 10 different outings. Didn't do a campout in June (did a hike) or December (also did a hike). Our troop culture isn't for sleeping anywhere but tents.

While I can see how you could argue that homosexuals can truly agree to the Scout Oath, I don't see how an atheist can. Scouts can be gay. Scouters can't be.

Is there a real problem out there, or is this just a theoretical one? I know my Troop, although sponsored by a Catholic Church, has a wide variety of religious beliefs among boys and leaders.