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Let's pull the reigns in on the runaway horse ... Woaaah, we can ill-afford to dismiss volunteers because they don't accept a cultural paradigm. What's more important? To be called gender dysphoric yet accepted, or to have PC terms used about you and treated with disdain behind your back? I'm sorry, but in my troop/crew cards get put on the table. Sometimes challenging is a form of support. Most of you all do is force scouts to face harsh realities and use that to build a youth's character. The bottom line: until you meet one of these kids, you really can only deal with it in the abstract. And frankly, in the abstract is a lousy way to try to deal with it. Because the way your boys would deal with a girl (according to chromosomes) in this situation is completely different than anything you can imagine in your head. Trying to tell somebody there's a pre-built way to handle it and they gotta step in line or step out, well, it just doesn't help.

@Hedgehog, I was dying to ask, but you just answered! Happy Father's Day. Glad to see you're enjoying a wild ride.

Do you have a location (building, park) where they adults can sit centrally, but the patrols can meet in individual rooms/pavillions.

Excerpt from a recent reminisce with my siblings: "... when I was in high school, my neighbor (the best scout I ever knew - who aged out Second class rank) overheard an argument at the local sporting goods store over the location of the Board Tree tunnel. He asked our scoutmaster, who told him to find a buddy, and he'd take us to explore each entrance. So my buddy gave me a call, and the following Saturday we went over to the SM's house, studied his USGS maps (which showed it went under the state line) and drove off southwest. We found the PA entrance, but didn't dare the tunnel, which was flooded in parts. So we followed the old telegraph lines overland, which made for a rugged but rewarding climb to the WV side. It was an astounding fall day. I vividly remember walking down the road back to the car and reaching out to see if I was merely in front of a painted canvas. (I wasn't. It was real.) Before heading back home, our SM asked if we wanted to see the comer of the state. Of course we said yes, so we pulled over by a field, traipsed across some farmland into a stand of trees (maples and sassafras, I think), and found a cornerstone in the shape of an obelisk with WV carved on two adjacent sides, WV|PA on one side, and PA|WV on the last side. There was a smaller stone some yards off, which we assumed was the previous marker, but we couldn't make out any markings, as it was badly weathered. ..."

Not speaking for @The Latin Scot, but based on my experience as a crew advisor, girls and uniforming is gonna be rough. American female cultural icons put tremendous pressure on young women to "sex everything up". I'm not referring to permissive behavior (although that sometimes applies), but to emphasizing "woman in a man's world" in every aspect of dress. They don't see it that way. And they take offense at the suggestion. But I've seen it play out with many young women -- having to convince them that yes, it is better to wear their uniform as if they are one of the boys and not some anime figure. I've also seen it play out with some young men, but not as frequently, and not for the same reasons. There's are reason why GS/USA stepped away from a head-toe uniform. @an_old_DC, I think you would be pleasantly surprised by the gun-ho attitude of girls who want the BSA program. My female venturers were my best recruiters of adult leaders. When told to do stuff, they actually listened to me ... even my own daughter. (Except the part about "venturers" instead of "venture scouts" she thought that was patently stupid, and had to hear it from somebody else.)

Depends whose doing the asking. If it's a DE or other pro, no. If it's a CO, maybe. If it's 5 girls ... I've launched a crew for as much.

Oh, sorry, took your "trying to think through" as as actually having a problem to solve ... not making up a unecessary excuse. :P I'm not seeing the demand here, either. But I'm thinking through this stuff because our CO has been open to this sort of thing, and life as a crew advisor has involved times of thinning rosters punctuated by kids walking up to my door wanting to go backpacking.

@TMSM, where is it written that you have to have two of every POR? If you get a new patrol of boys, do you all say, "Oops, time to get another SPL, QM, Scribe ..."? When a troop is down to 16 (let alone 5) boys, we make it clear they don't need an SPL/ASPL. Two PLs and their assistants can do the trick. If they plan an activity with another troop, they may choose who will serve as SPL for the event. When I was a scout, the Girl Scouts would check out gear from the QM just like our PLs would. We didn't have them appoint their own QM to get trained before they could borrow our tents. They came back no worse for the wear than if a patrol of our boys used them ('cept for the perfume smell). If you're linked, you share resources ... PoR's are a resource. Tell your boys and girls that you'll support their decisions in how to share them. Why make this hard?

@fred johnson, how dare you suggest we trust boots-on-the-ground to do it right from the get go! FWIW - I would never think a linked troop would need double the SPL, QM, PLC etc... But, you are right. This concept, as they've penned it, sets a high bar for COs who want to involve girls.

You will have to ask the captain. His boat, his rules. Ours would have. But this was a private sail. You could call Seabase, and they may know the answer for the ship and captain you'll be sailing with.

It really depends an the boys you get to teach, your assistants, and any parents who may volunteer to help. Read up on the trail to first class requirements. That will give you some idea.

So, if you don't use standard issue sheets for uniform inspection, have you done a technically correct inspection? As for the unit numerals not being issued by the scoutshop, the IG does not specifically speak against ordering privately designed patches. It only lists the designs available through the scout shop.

Well at least we now can answer @funscout in the negative about it becoming a MB any time soon! I wonder how many of his pistol practicing scouts Eagled in spite of missing out on a pencil-whipping MB that would have speed them on their trail that summer. Ah, the joys of being out back of my Webelos DL's place learning to shoot his 38 special. It's truly a miracle any of us got our AoL.

@oldbuzzard, how many camping nights? How many boys on average participate on the average night? Also, is $400 for 2 weeks the actual fee for the summer camp? Sounds like a really sweet deal!

Maybe if you do a favor for a Massai warrior, he could you give you the hat that he made out of the first lion that he caught.

I started sleeping topside at Seabase 12 years ago, and have been tent-optional ever since! A sheet and fleece blanket, and duffel of clothes for a pillow is all you'll need. You may need to go below during rain, but your gear dries of right quick the next day. I also found rain jacket and pants come in handy for the occasional tropical storms. Hypothermia in the summer tropics is a thing! P.S. - I was in the Bahamas last month, and realized that I could have been 10x more comfortable than I was in the fore cabin had I brought my hammock to sling under the boom. (100x if I could have convinced Mrs. Q to join me!)

Also, our reservation has a Chaplain. Sometimes he's a closer reach for a 12 year old than the CD. That's especially true if the SM marched the troop to vespers.

So, what's the disincentive? Does your roundtable regularly hold uniform inspections? If so, are they using the scout shop's inspection sheet? https://mediafiles.scoutshop.org/m2pdf/50015_Leaders_Unif_InspFNL.pdf Oh, look on page 2 at the pretty partial left pocket diagram with no knots and a rank patch!

After you earn Star, you need 12 months and a whole lot of focus and dedication. Good luck and have fun!

I disagree 100% with @Chris1. In WB, you will not read the SM handbook. You need to do that ASAP. In WB, you will not go over the Guide to Safe Scouting ... also need to do that. Have you taken weather safety and all of the other available online training? Is your 1st aid training up to date. Have you attended your Boy Scout breakout sessions at roundtables? How are you with an axe? The boys will be counting on you to be a good example with sharps. No wood is harmed in WB (paper doesn't count). Get your prerequisites done. They are there for a reason. WB can wait a year (or two, or three).

@Scoutinglife, welcome to the forums! The only other suggestion is to contact your institution head and let him/her know that the leadership is not delivering on the promise of scouting.

Well, you just pulled the trip line! One of the more prominent scouting fallacies is "1st Class, 1st Year." A few scouts should be able to move along at that pace. And a troop should be able to provide a range of opportunities so it can happen, but most scouts will take two to three years to master the skills needed to advance those first three ranks. Now if a bunch of boys rank up every couple of months, then CoHs every three months would be a great idea. But if they aren't, those CoHs will become a nag.

I'm pretty sure that for a weekend camp-out in non-developed grounds, older teens can stay. Older teens who check in with the ranger and ask if there's any service project to do for a couple of hours might find a chord of cut firewood delivered to their site. Life skills: Son #2 had all manner of fine young women in our kitchen because of he could cook up any variety of breakfasts. He also got his fill of invites to hunting camps.

Hey, as long as "nearby" can be at the other end of an eight mile trail, we're in agreement.

Congratulations to your son! We recognize scouts' achievements verbally usually at the end of a meeting. We award the bling at the next CoH. As you can tell, there is no one-size-fits all. If your troop hasn't stockpiled badges, to make rapid recognition happen, someone has to volunteer to push the paperwork every week, take the trip to the scout shop, and buy the bling. With the rise of internet advancement, that process is a little smoother, but not all of the kinks have been smoothed out. As a scout, I was perfectly content waiting every three months for badges. Within your patrol, it was never a secret what rank you were. Beyond that, nobody cared.