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As an ASM, easily 40 hours/month. But ... to keep up Guard Certification and Wilderness First Aid (I've fallen behind on both) that averages another 4 hours a month over their cycles. Further, to stay sharp orienteering, and be fit for World Jamboree, I participate in as many Orienteering Club events as possible ... another 4 hours/month. Then, YPT which is effectively an annual exercise in our council ... let's say 10 minutes a month that I'm not getting back. And talking with you all so that I have my scouter hat on straight when facing parents ... I don't even want to know what that amounts to.

@Podscouter, welcome to the forums. You are describing the Laurel Highland's Council, and it sounds like you are in one of the former Penn's Woods Council. I'm from the western side of "The Bridge Over Westmoreland County." I'm not calling you out for anything personal. It's just that in recent years this council has been put forward as a case study. So, calling a spade a spade will give people a chance to talk about their opinions. Your part of the state has so much to offer, so camp closures their would indeed be a real disappointment. And the people who live in these districts are top-notch. Ignoring them would be the true tragedy in all of this.

Moderators, please delete @shortridge's insulting reduction of the unisex argument to mere anatomy. It is demeaning and disrespectful of Americans (Mormons, Muslims, and other sects) who think highly of different gender roles.

@RennyTompson welcome to the forums! Every troop has different rules. Patrols within a troop have different rules sometimes. So a talk with your PL/SM will probably resolve this. What I would do: in my field notes (one that wasn't ruined in the wash), I would make a list of each thing I bought, how much, and the cost. If I can't remember the cost of each thing, I would just note the total at the bottom. I could always go back to the store and get the price. Then I sign my name and date. My buddies usually accept scouts' honor as they happily consume the shrimp scampi and fettuccini Alfredo that I've prepared for them.

Scramble like heck. Call your caouncil venturing committee. Let your DE know. Community college APO, church youth leaders. And ... GS/USA commissioners. You might get your leader, you might not. But you'll feel better trying.

Have you seen boys at camp? Ever? It is theirs, for a week, payed for with their own fundraising. Their own family's investment. Conversely, this is "your girl's" program for but one week of the summer at one location. Are you so deluded that you think we can force 10 troops who've demanded a certain unisex comraderie for their boys from their council? How would you block access to their purchasing power? Unlike racial segregation which reinforced financial disparity and access to quality education, unisex eduction opportunities seem to have produced none of those ills. Thanks to the charity of my Venturers, I've visited GS/USA camps, and those kids were having a snot load of fun. Are you really afraid that your daughter's and the boys' troops who willingly share camp with her will not have as spirited a week as those troops who choose a B-O or G-O week? If that's true, then you're making the unisex folk's case.

The story is pretty close to home. I'm pretty sure the next round of false accusers won't think twice about how other false accusers were punished. What I would like is these young people to reconcile and make restitution. Then I would like one of them to study law and exercise it so well that she could be nominated to the Supreme Court.

Woah, Short, don't drink the bath water! The message that it sends is that if you come to camp, we'll do our best to make sure you're with guys who are okay with you being in their 'hood.

A little of the rails, Perdi. But since you put it out there ... @ItsBrian, take that as a rhetorical question. Answering to strangers on the Internet is likely to get your dander up. Hashing it out with whoever you'd trust as a reference is likely to get you somewhere.

I'm saying many theists don't believe other theists have a lock on morality and its origin. It's a divided house.

Well this is a demand planning challenge. My troop, for example, would be happy to share camp with BSA4G units. Our week is our week -- down to the trees we hang clotheslines from. What other troops come and go in other camps is immaterial at this point. If we can put up with boys from MD, we can put up with girls from anywhere else. So, a council doesn't just have to think about the number of BSA4G units that are out there, but the number of troops who would only come to camp if no BSA4G units are there. @shortridge's council is betting that they can fill their weeks if 25% are B-O camps. Other camps will make different bets. Some might have some BSA4G units who ask for G-O weeks. It's not a new concept. SBR effectively did this back when they hosted the GS/USA jamboree. So, I can foresee camps in really diverse councils making 3 types of weeks available -- possibly 4 as GS/USA has shed a lot of properties and many of those girls are still asking for a summer camp.

I think this is an over-generalization. Knowing the mind of God as it pertains to the matters of men is not uniform among theists. Even in this camp, we have those who think God's hand rests with the mighty.

I don't see a problem with this. If a soon-to-be-young-adult wants to put their shoulder to the wheel at this window of opportunity, no problem, I'll gladly support them. If another S2BYA's timing precludes it, no problem, I can point them to other summits and if they help me lead my unit I most definitely will support them.

God rest him, and bless his family.

Not knowing young women who want BSA4G, let alone Eagle rank, I guess I don't have a dog in this fight. I guess if there are some 17 year old boys who regret passing on scouts, this might be recruiting opportunity. However, having concluded that BSA's membership decline was preceded by National's imposition of the ageist policy on rank advancement, I must say this does not encourage long term membership or direct requirements to be more fieldwork and less bookwork. The age deadline should be removed. Any man or woman of integrity willing to serve as a direct contact leader for a year or so should be permitted to persue rank advancement. The era of "hurry-up" rank advancement should come to an abrupt end.

Welcome to the forums @SarahPeas! Too soon to tell. Ask me in another 20 years. My daughter is taking the long road to fame and fortune ...

I forgot about some of the goofy replies that I posted on Bryan, that upon reflection make good sense, like why I always mix up "chip" and "chit". I can see how, for cubs, all of that can be an abstraction.

@Eagle94-A1, do you have a reference? I've never dealt with Whittling Chip ... never had one as a bear while whittling my PWD block ... don't think my sons had one. So I never gave much thought as to how it would be used.

At the end of the CoH, our TC's Eagle advisor was invited to speak, gave an excellent description of how he counseled scouts with their projects. It was excellent, but I fear that I would misquote him if I tried to list his all of key points, but I really liked one bit of advice to the boys (which, indirectly was a hint to parents): pick a beneficiary who excites you and a project that you'd be proud of. @robert12, don't lose the forest for the trees. Visit roundtables and encourage your leaders to think out of the checkbox and on the above terms. At a local park, I made an orienteering course whose controls were former Eagle projects of the troop, some more than two decades ago. I sent the map to former SMs to double-check my way-points and make sure I didn't leave out any scouts or mistake their projects for someone else's. They were thrilled to see how their troop literally dotted that park! So challenge scouts: years from now ... whose map will your project be on? P.S. - On my "to do" list is a map covering our community and the many projects by scouts at large.

Facts not in evidence: what laws the Chin made fell along racial lines https://www.zum.de/whkmla/sp/0910/hersheys/hersheys5.html#ii To Merlyn's main objection ... Jesus did address slavery, but not in a way that we would at all find comfortable. The theme of "ultimate toppling" was at the forefront of Jesus' teaching. (E.g., Make peace with your enemy while he is far off ... Lazarus the leper and the master who wouldn't employ him.) That is, if you sought to be a master with select servants -- effectively casting others out and subjecting them to disease and decay -- you could expect to rot eternally while those outcasts would hold sway in the "bosom of Abraham." He later began to model Biblical servitude, which his disciples didn't like at all ... to the point of insurrection on the part of one. Subsequent ancient Christians took this quite seriously and pagan sources are on record mocking believers lack of finery.

For a while Son #1's pack did do a dad-only class of cars. I thoroughly enjoyed it. But, it does add a lot of time to a long day. So they eventually dropped it.

Really? It's that hard to believe? Let me think of some possible point-by-points that may not make your parents happy, but should help you set a desirable tone. Dads build the cars, it's not fair. Correction: some dads build the cars. I hear from strangers on the internet that some moms do too. Well, is it fair that Johnny loses a finger because his hand-eye is not quite there yet? Thank God they do! Otherwise some of these boys would win too easily. Mr. Smith clearly built his son's winning car, you should not allow that. Facts not in evidence. Talk to Mr. Smith, and ask if he can help you and your son build a car like that. I let my son build his car last year and he came in last, so this year I'm not letting that happen. By all means let your son team up with you or your spouse, if she is the better fine woodworker (yes, in my household that would be Mrs. Q). Also, while you're at it, can you team up with any boys whose dad's are out of the picture? Better yet (show scoutstuff site), here's where you can order blocks for your den, and maybe they can build prototypes before we roll out the pack kits! Awesome! Here's what you do: buy your son five kits. Have him build a car a month until derby day! Let's have all the kids build the cars at a Den meeting and hand them in, so we know scouts made all the cars. And steal a good Saturday away from a father and is son? And what about the boys who want to spend more than an hour sanding out their car? We have an event for that. It's called the rain-gutter regatta. Scouts should make their cars 100% themselves, parents should only watch. Some old fart on the internet told me that they don't realize it, but parents have precious little time left to spend with their kids before they conspire to gather their siblings spouses and girlfriends for a weekend backpack in a wilderness recreation area without you. (Not that he's jealous or anything ... ) Or you could send them to Bryan

I salute with whatever unit I'm serving. But here's a lot of discussion on the topic: https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2017/01/23/which-scout-sign-and-salute-do-i-use/

Love the story. Don't be discouraged by the competition hassles. It's part of the character building process. Regarding your difficult scout, refer to my recent post in Scoutmaster Minutes. (Which by the way, I shared with the troop last Monday. I think they took it in the positive light that it was intended. At least I hope no mischievous 1st year is having bad dreams about looking up from the bottom of Mr. Q's latrine.)

Welcome to the forums, Pete! I save poles from spent dining flys and cut and mangle them to size. A pipe cutter, hammer, and vice is usually all that I need.