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There is no doubt that it would be a formidable thing if one could go through their life as a scouter without crossing scouters who take advantage of the system dishonorably. At the opening of our University of Scouting weekends, our council president would start by thanking us and reminding us that we, not someone at national, are the "gatekeepers" of scouting. Far too few CORs attend those events. So, it comes as no surprise when they set the stage for a hot mess, and when outsiders who are called in to look at it decide the cake can't be unbaked and walk away. At the end of the day, a scouter needs to look at the facts on the ground and decide: "Am I reaping enough in boy's smiles to stay, or can I fulfill my calling to a greater degree elsewhere?" So, you left the BSA and evidently the one CO. Have you considered how what you've learned as a scouter will enable you to continue to do right by the youth of this world?

Getting them trained and signing them on as reserve (http://www.scouting.org/Home/Commissioners/newsletter/bsa_news/04_2013_scoutparents.aspx) sounds like the way to go. It's always good to build a depth chart. You could also ask a troop if they have any assistant scoutmasters who could fill in; however, cubs often respond better to trustworthy parents.

@@Respectful, welcome to the forums! Do you know if the article is recent? It doesn't have a date, and he material referenced is 6 years old. I wonder if anything has changed in response to it.

From the day my shirt with it's awesome lodge flap "disappeared" from my tent at National Jamboree, I knew not to expect that sort of thing from any group of more than a dozen. From similar happenings in secular clubs and religious groups, that opinion has only been enforced. BSA has no incentive to disbar scouters who haven't been charged with anything. Nor does any society run mainly by volunteers. Boot the volunteers, and it's even-odds they'll haul the organization to court to retain their right to stay and defend their good name. No matter who wins, everyone except the lawyers lose. So, either you convince the boots on the ground to take things seriously and assume responsibility for their property in a court of law or via bonding, let things go and work for the smiles on kids faces, or quit.

File under context is everything ... Depends on the wall. One of my childhood SPL's took on the project of beginning restoration of the steam locomotive at the historical society. The walls of the cab were painted with 1/8" tar pitch. The only way to lift it was with propane torches and putty knifes ... grueling work in pretty close quarters dodging hot, sticky goo. (Talk about being tarred for serving your community. ) There was no way, even given thousands of man-hours, we could have gotten that monstrosity to the painting stage. But, it was safe to say that without a handful of scouts who were willing to set an example of cheerful service (and bragging rights to crawling around and in a 100 year old fire box), the inspiration to continue restoration over the necessary years would have never been there. And when that whistle finally did blow, and the thing rolled down the track, you betcha mom was sending the newspaper clippings to wherever her son was getting his advanced degree at the time.

There is nothing ignoble about vultures. Lacking them, eagles will scavenge the carrion. (Hunting is typically the second option for golden eagles.)

Once without right angles, it'll be all wrong.

CO electing paper reps getting trained

@@CalicoPenn is over-thinking this. Props to the Cambridge hawks! That's about it. Think fondue concentrated, and you've tapped into the typical Yank's dessert palate. Our pastor offered to judge a contest for the best salad and best dessert at our church picnic. My daughter, age 9 at the time, decided to cover both bases with dark-chocolate-covered baby tomatoes and carrots. She won the dessert category hands down. Next week, in front of the congregation, she was awarded the biggest bar of baker's chocolate she had ever seen.

Technically, the project need itself not be complete. Circumstances may have impeded success, but if, in spite of that, the scout showed leadership an EBoR could approve it. These would be extremely rare circumstances. For example a boy gets the materials for a bridge over a stream, lines up workers, then an earthquake triggers a landslide redirecting the stream and burying materials; however, in the process the boy directs some rescue effort or redirects traffic -- forestalling death. The SM might ask to convene a board, who would still review the project with the boy to help reflect on what he learned. So, if incomplete projects -- in extenuating circumstances -- could warrant board approval, certainly projects that set the stage for future work could ... and probably should. This is one reason boys should try to make rank as soon as possible. The Eagle project might just be step 1 in his high school career. The subsequent projects for his Hornaday award might be steps 2-5.

Welcome @@TRON1160! As Stosh points out, most organizational charts are best read upside down. (E.g., the committee supports the SM, who supports the SPL, who supports the PLs, who support the boys, who pursue that pinnacle scouting experience of hiking and camping independently with your mates.) I always try to encourage SPLs to sit in on committee meetings. You want to be polite (speak when spoken to, talk to the committee chairperson and SM afterword if there was something that bothered you, etc ...) but firm (share the boys' vision when asked for your opinion, respectfully disagree with what someone said if you have to). But you should be a welcome presence. I'm not sure what BSA literature says about this, but this is certainly the case in venturing. And I will not allow my crew committee to meet in the absence of the crew president and his designee.

One more reference from Bryan's blog: http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2014/11/17/youth-adults-wear-eagle-scout-medal/ The comments show that you are not the first one to bring up wearing the medal at B&Gs.

Sure. The boys would love it. Mike Walton gives some details on this http://www.scoutinsignia.com/eagmedal.htm And B&G is as formal as it gets in the Cub world. Although, I never did. Figured my shirt with the knot for Eagle and AoL was plenty.

I'm sorry, but by not having a trained trusted and dedicated COR, the old charter gave up its birthright for whatever bowl of soup they were being fed. I am in a similar position of dealing with my CO who fielded nominal CORs for consecutive years. One self-interested scouter could have had them move their troop unit number to a CO just down the road where our boys merged with another troop. If it weren't for the boys voting down the idea, it could have been done without argument. And a CO that doesn't have the time in their agenda to spare one of its three services for scout Sunday recognition would have gotten a number with a reputation it had zero effort in building. Unless someone in the original CO fields a rep willing to stand up for it, they will lose their scouting program.

If the boys say "we'd like to stay Merry Archers" ... sounds like they came up with their patrol name. It could just as easily go the other way "We're fed up with archery, can we be siege engineers?" Still made up a name. Regardless, the challenge is having the boys settle on what they want -- not just what they think will make us happy ... that they've listened to each other, and if one one boy really wants something a little different, that they figure out how to make him feel like he's contributed ... and convincing them that we scouters are proud of them for their hard work.

Best committee training was through 75 yards of laurel thicket suggested as a shortcut by the SM! His GPS really paid for itself that day. But on the plus side, the smaller the boy, the faster he could get through that stuff. So it wound up that the were necessarily the ones figuring out the next move with the skills that they had.

Shift, It is a shame this has happened. But BSA is quite intentional about staying out of organizations' property squabbles. If a CO backs down from their right to source a scouting program, it's on them. If they want to clear old debts without regard to who was actually responsible, it's on them. If another CO wants to give these scouters a second chance, it's on them. If the old CO (either actively or passively) opts to absorb liability and transfer assets, it's on them. The scouters are free to join any CO that will have them. The CO will only get a call from National HQ if they were charged with a crime. And even then, depending on the offense, the CO has the option to conclude that they'll still will accept the scouters to lead a unit under their sponsorship. One thing that BSA pro's will not do, is block scouts' membership in a unit over shenanigans like these. If your Scout Executive doesn't see the need to insist on revoking a charter, all parties are stuck with whatever hot potatoes they're holding. Does it make BSA unappealing? I guess so. Last year, I had a risk-averse CO turn down a Pack because of concerns over being saddled with burdens like these.

The scouters involved created a hot mess. The CO should have stuck to its guns over the assets. The new CO should have been informed that the scouters were brokering in bad faith. Should BSA be involved? Well, unless criminal charges were filed, how would they know to suspend these scouters' memberships?

Latin Scot, that was supposed to be a thumbs up.

Senator Ryan must have been reading these blogs, thus his desire to lower corporate income tax. The booster club illustration is out of context ... The fundraising for one member was on the scale of $10,000+ annually -- required for membership. Thus the IRS declared that to be an individual benefit. So, it would be disingenuous to rule one youth organization's fees as an individual benefit and another a corporate benefit. Scale matters. It matters a lot.

it's like some in my committee have evil twins. My replies: I've eaten plenty of burnt toast, you can too. Soap washes young hands faster than old. This is a youth lead movement, it ought to taste that way. I have not dealt with the parking lot excuse. I guess I just kept walking.

Maybe you could start with a map book: http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/OutdoorProgram/Properties/Region%20and%20Area%20Maps.aspx Let the boys figure out the patch for each council.

Get your PLC to reflect on e last CoH. Ask what went well, what didn't go so well, and what they'd like to do differently. Sometimes boys don't want to change a thing. Other times they have real novel ideas. Just get them in the habit of reflecting, one or two tweaks will come to the fore.

Our youth love helping out the CO (a small church that none of them attend) with service projects. The CO loves letting the boys use the hall for our annual fundraiser. We use up space ... which in this day and age is as good as $. Never would we consider asking them for financial support.

Hmm, that's how I did it with my boys. Now granted, that workbook has gotten absurdly verbose. And for some scouts with learning disorders, we had to walk them through it (again, and again). But, each boy is unique, and although they all face the same deadline (a stupid one, I've come to conclude), they each have different obstacles to meeting it -- from the MBs they have yet to do to how the districts handle approvals to the hoops a beneficiary would like you to jump through. (E.g., Son #1 had to attend a town meeting to garner public support for his project.) Because there is no one-size-fits all, an Eagle advisor is probably the best resource a boy could have.