qwazse

So, if we send National the receipt for our ink, will they reimburse our recharging fee?

Sounds good, @chief027. The traditional physical distance is 300', assuming you have open field and can see everyone. You still need to talk to your unruly scout and let him know that your expecting him to do better (I.e., be more helpful) at every campout, just like he promised he would when he said the scout oath. Let him know that you believe in him and think he can do it.

The abused deserve restoration. Can that be achieved by winning damages?

How Trail Life USA is growing: BSA SMs who are failing -- nay, refusing -- to deliver on the promise of scouting. It's a tragedy for the leader as well. Scouting works on us. But we have to let it. That means telling your employer that you are responsible for scouts and need a weekend off. It could mean not making the $ you think you need, and other sacrifices to reap smiles. @sst3rd, if you've met these two girls and they and their parents are gun ho, move heaven and earth to make it happen for them. I can think of no better reward for you than their "thank-you" years from now.

Cabins are the best. Some wood stoves are also designed for cooking as well. You need to talk to your ranger about which set-up is preferred for a given cabin. The down side: clean-up is tougher. Barns are fun too, if anybody has a farmer in the family. We have converted a picnic shelter into four walls using tarps. Lots of knots and rope work. Hay bales were brought in to buffer the concrete floor. I'm not a personal fan. Always went out and set up a tent or tossed my bag and tarp on a picnic table when they did that. Growing up, my troop had a 24 man tent (we called it a circus tent) donated to them from the local armory. But that comes with its own set of problems. The most comfortable, honestly, was wilderness shelters in a pine forest. They take all morning to build, but are well worth the effort. Regardless, the cold is rough on small bodies, so training in cold weather preparedness and first aid is essential.

My wife's grandmother gave me a fridge magnet that said "No man was ever shot while doing the dishes." :P Any of the above are worth trying. So is a more firm approach. A scout is helpful. A boy who is not helpful, therefore, is not a scout and will not be welcome on campsites. So, if he is to prepare for the next campout, he is to wash his family's dishes and tidy the kitchen at least once a week. Make it clear to him that you will check in with his mom, and as long as he is practicing at home, he can come to the next campout to show off his skills there.

Our troop uses that often. Maybe a little too much ... Scout (approaching me on a trail at camp): Mr. Q, I just thought of something. Me: Yes, Scout? Scout: Mr. C (our oldest ASM) might be the great master of all scouts. Me (knowing the scout is Catholic): Well, Scout, his initials are "J.C." Scout (stopped in his tracks): Woah! Son #1 has since told me that that one circulated for years well beyond that scout's tenure.

To the OP, this isn't a beginning. This is "here we go again." In related news: down in FL for the week. My young relatives are having a great time in TL/USA. Their switch had nothing to do with any G's. It had to do with their various BSA SMs being unwilling to deliver on the promise of scouting. My mother-in-law seems more discouraged about this than I do. The kids are growing up strong and good. I like that. Mrs. Q and I were very intentional about limiting our children's time around Christians. Maybe that's part of taking the "Go ye into all the world ..." directive quite literally.

No plaques please! The best gift is one you cannot give: A young man who returns from overseas and stops by and catches the scouter up on all he's been doing and his plans for the future, and then they can talk about a few shared memories. Had one of those last night. Short of that, a neckerchief signed by all of the scouts is a good start.

I think a shared committee would only make sense if the TC of a boys' troop was "launching" the girls' troop. They would have already had a hand in picking the leaders, and the there would be extensive overlap. E.g., on paper, the SM for the boys was an ASM for the girls and the SM for the girls was an ASM for the boys. The success of such an endeavor would really depend on a unique set of personalities. If the girls' troop was looking to take up residence at one of four possible CO's, that sounds to me like separate committees are in order. In the girls' troop, at best only 1/4 of the parents might have worked with the linked troops' committee before. But the boys' troop might loose a few good MC's that way. Volunteers can only spread their time across so many meetings. When I ran my crew, we had separate committees with the smaller crew committee having about 20% overlap with the troop committee. The crew committee demanded far less time from members, so doing both wasn't much of an extension.

Our PLC doesn't vote so much as come to consensus. How much a girls patrol leader needs to attend depends on how many decisions they need to make in concert with the boys. If you are doing the same campouts having the same activities at troop meetings you want to sync up with the other patrols in the troop.

? Really ? Haven't you read the annual report (especially the footnotes at the bottom of the financial statements)?

Unlike others so far, I've been favorably impressed by scouts who've come up in a fully co-Ed association -- including those with co-Ed patrols, and one that made no bones about shared sleeping quarters. So a closely linked troop doesn't worry me. I do think, however, that in such a closely linked small troop, the girls and boys might realize that their patrols would run more smoothly if they weren't determined by sex. (E.g., a couple of girls might have personalities that suit one of the the boys' patrol and vice-versa.) That could lead to a little resentment. Do any of the troops have boys who are already acquainted with the girls? Especially siblings? A selling point of this excersize was to reduce the disjointed schedules of post-modern nomadic families.

And Pakistan. Why does everyone forget one of the larger and faster growing scout associations?

You might want to run that kind of domain naming by your council since GS/USA is making a legal stink about brand infringement. In general, you might want to find out how other linked troops in your area are setting up their web presence. It might help parents and scouts navigate if troops were consistent.

@Eagledad, Would you like me to invite you on our next hike into back-country? This fall we set up camp with 11-13 year olds. There were three other troops and a crew in the vicinity. No pre-fab latrines anywhere. @cocomax and @Jahaza I take issue with citing Eagle requirements as an indication of more/less outdoor activity. All of the outdoor-related Eagle requirements could be earned before a scout earns 1st class and a scout could avoid camping for decades. Moreover, a minority of scouts earn Eagle. In the past that minority was slimmer, and yet there is the impression that troops back then did more camping. My thesis is that the methods of scouting are independent; therefore, you can't bribe scouts with advancement to manipulate them to spend nights outdoors. They will do it, or they won't. Now, although they are independent, they are synergistic. Advancement helps scouts learn to do outdoors and patrols safely. (And outdoors gives opportunity to build patrols and practice skills for advancement.) What I think our girls are really after is that synergy.

Only partially true. It matters to Scouts BSA if just two men leading a troop for girls,

Any troop will become great with a man OR woman with utmost integrity -- and a willingness to enjoy the outdoors -- to take on the role of SM for these girls, and one other woman to support him/her in a direct contact role. If this transition happened in the 70s, we might have gotten by without that depth, the lawyers would still have had at it. @desertrat77, Latrine? The shovel in my pack has been used by venturers of both sexes.

I've actually wondered if Daughter would have earned Eagle given the chance to do so. She never pursued any such awards. GS ended at brownies. And her and her friends didn't feel that medals were what they wanted out of venturing. She and the boys had very little patience for leadership classes. The thing she really wanted was to go to summer camp with us. Her senior project was a weekend class on outdoor preparedness for the GS in the area. I think if she were given a tan shirt, she would have maybe earned First Class, held a PoR because it suited the work that she saw needing to get done, hiked the snot out of the countryside, and aged out happy. (She'd be a lot better with knots as well.) Her grandmother told me that this fall while helping get groceries, she stopped at a popcorn table, left a donation, and asked the boys about their ranks and the trips they were planning. Not sure where that puts her in the pantheon of scouting alumni, but it suits her. As far as what Eagle Scout represents, I know a desert storm vet who remembered being impressed at the skills they had coming into boot camp. I think Eagles are still living up to their brand in that department.

I realized that I didn't answer your question in specific regarding folks from the Arab world. There are two words for Lord. They both imply master or all powerful, but differ in intimacy. One, famously recited in the Koran, "Lord of the Worlds." Another can also be translated as sire, or even landlord. That is more intimate, and more often used among Christians, specifically in reference to "my lord, Jesus". Now, a muslim may use the exact same words, but when he or she does, everyone knows they exclude the prophets (Jesus, included). And, thanks to modern media, everyone knows that those words from a Christian necessarily include Jesus. Even though I failed to teach my kids Arabic, I have tried to teach them contextualization. That is, it's entirely possible that, with the same words, someone is thinking of something different than you. And, with different words, they might be thinking the same thing you are thinking. And in both cases they may be wishing the best for you. Our language is a glass house, let the light in and use the stones to frame a welcoming hearth.

@Treflienne that would be a very welcome grace at any BSA camp that I know of. Well, assuming that you are indeed standing beneath tall, green trees.

Excellent topic, and ideal for Cub Scouts or Open Program! A rather fresh off the plane Saudi was trying to be polite in our company and used the phrase "God Jesus" in our company. (I think he intended to say "Lord Jesus" but had not learned how to translate either upper or lower case terms, yet. Regardless, even the lowercase "lord", which is a different word in Arabic, is not used among muslims.) I made it clear that he didn't have to do that for our sake, and that Allah most certainly would rather us use terms of endearment that we are convinced are true, until such time He convinces us of the truth of other titles. Pray how you were taught. If The Spirit is convicting you that you should do something differently, talk to your clergyman and consult your scripture. You are calling upon a Higher Power. Using anything less than the terms you were taught to call upon is denying us the blessing you were taught to give.

This will depend on three things. 1) GS/USA continues to treat what I am now calling field science (a.k.a. the outdoor method) as a completely optional method in their definition of scouting, 2) This year's class of Eagles have daughters or their friends' daughters who find great appeal in the thought of hiking and camp independently with their mates, and 3) The girls who come up through the ranks are "all that" and make a solid impression in their community. Years before I was a crew advisor, I was impressed by a venturer camp staff who walked Son #1 (then a Wolf) through the camp's nature trail. I asked her how she liked Exploring, and she politely corrected me, then went through the opportunities she had. At the time, the program sold itself.

Tell him the date and time of the next meeting. Assure that the items of concern have been forwarded to the appropriate parties and will be on the next docket under old or new business as appropriate. Enjoy the holidays.

I haven't read anywhere where BSA wants to get to any particular male/female balance. They want to meet a demand. They hope that, in doing so, they will attract more boys. I don't think the name has much to do with it. If we are inclusive, we'll get all the girls we can manage. If we dig our heels in, only a few will join our ranks. Of course, I drank the espresso offered by an Italian scout with "Boy Scouts Italia" [sic] sewn on the sleeve of her uniform.