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There are a couple of other people who should be in his picture: the committee chairman and the charter organization representative. What they think matters a good bit. If your child has a pattern of noncompliance, however, you and him need to take that into consideration. Other troops may not use demerits, but they might be slower to grant ranks or quicker to suspend.

All that I can say: it's a big country. Based on experiences in my troop growing up, and some biographies of scouts pre WW-II, committees and COs have exercised varying degrees of latitude.Now that we can talk to each other, we're beginning to realize those differences.

Schools absolutely have that authority. But zero-tolerance can undermine that. Specifically, if a school must categorically dismiss a student, that removes any further ability to discipline. Admittedly, there's a huge liability allowing superintendents to use judgement to discern between the kid who knows he/she done wrong and the one who thinks the rules just cramp his/her style. But, I've seen it go the other way. Where schools were held liable because of applying zero tolerance to a victim acting in self-defense.

Yeah, David CO, most of us don't have a stomach for zero tolerance policies. The climb from purgatory might not need as many prayers as we law-keepers would like.

I would say there are no artificial consequences for not wearing it. There are natural consequences to wearing it, and that is what the BSHB spells out. Perhaps that's where the issue about BoR's comes to the fore. You all already know the boy. And completing the review should be a function of what more you'd like to know from him. Not necessarily what you see at the moment. But, at a meeting -- which is open to the public -- people won't recognize you for being a boy in the troop without that uniform. And @@Eagledad, maybe that's where your observation of boy-run comes to the fore. Boys know who their patrol members are. They are the one's always with them when they're hiking and camping independently! The odds are against mistaking scout for non-scout, so the consequences of going without the uniform are less. It only begins to matter when it's time to line up on the parade field, and those other not-so-familiar guys may or may not be from other patrols.

I have the same expectation. And maybe committee members call me overzealous. I feel they are a bit lax ... especially now that we merged and nearly any boy that wants pants can have them. Anyway, I acquiesce to them because at this point it's more their troop than mine. Most of the time, the boys show up looking sharp when they are in public (includes most meetings) anyway. I do wish someone would have busted my sons a little bit more ... especially checking the socks. That said, I understand that many of our older scouts are on a treadmill. And, if a fellow is coming from work looking sharp in his business suit, knowing that he could have stayed on the job instead of taking an hour out to come to a review (ours aren't always on meeting nights), I'm inclined to respect that. Him dashing to the closet and toss on a uniform doesn't tell me any more about his character than I should already know.

I can reasonably see someone viewing the BoR as an audition. Or, perhaps, trying out for the next rank. The "game" could be meetings, courts of honor, parades, etc ... It seems that much of BSA literature is intended to curb overzealous scouters who may be missing the larger picture of a scout who is a paragon of virtue, albeit out of uniform.

From replies to Bryan's blog on BoRs, a classic line: ... most Scouts would NOT show up to their “sporting†event, or “marching band†event WITHOUT being in full uniform. (http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2016/11/03/the-boy-scout-board-of-review-everything-you-need-to-know/#comment-168046) Which jarred my memory (and I expound upon from what I wrote in reply in scoutingmagazine.com): Players wear the uniform during the game. But often hit the showers and come out in civilian clothes for the “press conference†review. Likewise with marching band. We dressed up for the show, but for the audition for first chair/major/etc … we are in plain clothes. Tryouts? Same thing. Conferences with the coach, film study, most rehearsals ... not in uniform. Also, every band/sports banquet that I've seen, players wore their Sunday best, not their uniforms. All looked quite spiffy. The “game day†for a troop may be meetings, courts of honor, travel to/from camp, or on the trail. If you’ve seen your scout uniformed sharply in all of those circumstances, then your board has the latitude to credit that — and his non-uniform neat appearance — during the review. In other words, for public appearances, band members, cheerleaders, and athletes are uniform ... meticulously so; but, for backstage work (80% of the job), they are not. I'm not saying that it's wrong to ask scouts, inasmuch as they are able, to wear their field uniform for the BoR. I'm just saying that the band/sports as a metaphor is justification for not wearing your uniform at every event related to your activity.

Oh, I get it. Presume guilty first. Of course we make decisions based on ideology. From time to time those are political.

Sisal is good rope for most lashings. Check your hardware store or farm-supply and see if they'll give a bulk discount for scouts. Diameter really depends on the size of the spars and what you're building. The poineering merit badge book will have suggestions. If your boys really want to learn rope making, you start with a thinner diameter and build up. The best poles are ones the boys have to harvest themselves. Rough cut timber holds pretty well. Ask your scout families if anybody has cleared some brush. You might even call state game lands and national forests. In well maintained forests, the trees are often harvested, leaving plenty of downed tops. The holy grail would be a weekend (or two) campout on some land that was recently harvested for timber and the owner needs the tree-tops cleared, someone with block and tackle to help move limbs.and willing to part with their rope in the end is a real plus, and a safe place with for a really big fire to burn the scraps.

Venturers organize and participate in some activities along the lines of Areas. But, given their small numbers, I guess that makes your point.

@@gumbymaster, aside from your narrow characterization of partisan "get out the vote" strategies, I agree with you about the paucity of voter guides. I ultimately chose my candidates after clicking through to platforms buried deep in their campaign websites. (Really, how hard is it to just have a plain-text file with the issue in caps, carriage return, line feed, paragraph of opinion and strategy, date accepted, carriage return, line feed, next issue, etc ...?) I would also suggest that merely voting against a candidate is the rough equivalent of stealing your neighbor's vote. My general philosophy: consider the citizen (currently alive) who you admire the most, go down the long list of people running, find the person who most closely hews to that persons character, select him/her. Your neighbors candidate may win, for now. But in the long run, the minority party will begin to pay close attention to such candidates if they are chosen in large numbers. Or, resign yourself to "the way the world works", vote only to block, and be content with your perpetual dissatisfaction.

Well, clearly our readership has not expanded to the folks who let half (maybe all?) of these start: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/fires-blazing-across-the-southern-united-states

Thanks moderator. Although I disagree. Some of us are bracing for the flack (or inordinate syrupy praise) we might get if the president (this one or the next) actually takes our unit up on our invite to camp with us in an undisclosed location. Negotiating partisan parents and respecting a private party's desire for goodwill is a social, not political matter.

Pre-requisite for learning to make British sausage?

@@Stosh, BSA registration of MBC's is fairly new. So why should the past decade of counselors count when previous decades (that's a lot of stars, BTW) do not? The whole thing's a sham. That's why I never bothered to have units participate. Individuals know their own track record. They can order their own pins.

I don't know where you live, CP, but 'round here they are all at half mast when need be. I've seen the service workers, saluting as they raise/lower them. Of course, the National Flag Foundation in the same building as council HQ, prominently overlooking the city, may help.

@onetallmama,I may have come off a little shallow, in my initial reply. It is likely a testament to your troop that this girl esteems yours so highly. Either you are willing to plan activities other moms are not, or your girls are especially friendly and welcoming. Either way, that is something on which you should capitalize and grow. And, unless you really do have physical space issues, see this as an opportunity for you and your girls (and the moms who are most willing to be your sidekicks). The one thing this forum as to offer for your situation is boatloads of advice on how to make a big group validate the growth and leadership of each member via the patrol method (see the sub-forum for a plethora of topics on this). We take it seriously because our task usually starts with at least a dozen boys and very few adults. But, the concept is certainly not foreign to girl scouts. Search "girl scouts patrol system" for several pointers by GS/USA leaders on how they make it work for their troops. So, sure you could give the organization some "push back". But, you might rather consider if you and the girls will reap better rewards if you "push forward" with the hand you've been dealt.

Well, you're not gonna get much sympathy here. On average, BSA units number in the 20s and some exceed 100. There's always room for one more, limited only by the fire codes of your meeting place.

We'll I figure you have probably already done whatever a fella would need to do for Eagle anyway, so you're something more than Life in rank. There are folks who do more for scouting in unofficial capacities. (I hope so, because all of these training requirements and increased fees have led to plummeting roles.) But, they probably aren't suckers for those stars.

Wow, NJ, just wow. The OP expressly asked (baiting us a little, to be sure) if scouts may honor a national holiday on the property of a business. The OP's committee (or some adults in his/her troop) are characterized as using BSA regs as a pretense to object to what, in their region, might be politically incorrect action. The perceived "incorrect action" was not sticking around for some rally, it was showing up in uniform to raise a flag and salute some vets on private property ... property of a business owner who is clearly using patriotism to garner goodwill in the face of known detractors. He/she specifically intended to consider the event as an opportunity to acquire service hours. Thus the replies regarding it. And, frankly, not a bad aspect of this discussion, although probably not feedback the OP originally expected. Part of whats going on her are adult machinations pure and simple. Youth consensus does not seem to be in the picture. All items up for grabs. And each generates a different sentiment in different parts of this great land. It's good to hear replies from different parts.

Condolences. And prayers to his family and fellow hikers.

Lot's of answers here: http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2014/04/02/service-stars-for-scouts-and-scouters-pins-with-a-point/ But questions similar to yours (e.g. time spent in another country's scouting unit) went unanswered. The working assumption is that registration is used to count years. I suspect if you called your council HQ, and talked to more than one experienced professional scouter, you would get more than one answer. The likely answer: it's your unit's decision. But, if he gets word that you all are spending a lick of time fussing over this, I'd suspect you all will be seeing some stars! Eagles are most proud of their silver knot. Get that right for him, and you're golden. With that in mind, give him the stars for his time registered, and let him know you'll put a call in asking if you can add the years he was volunteering "off the books."

Drove by a CFA yesterday. They had a pretty impressive flag. So, if every store has one, this is part of their corporate investment in goodwill. (If anyone has stock, read the footnotes.) I don't think that changes my opinion much. We need our adults to be above board with our boys. If they don't trust the patriotism of some business or party, spell that out. Let the boys sort through the ethics of their actions. Don't fake that their reservations are about BSA regs.

Sorry. I don't mean to accuse anyone in particular of social activism. Or to minimize the cultural divides that set citizens at odds with one another. I do mean to challenge the notion that we are obliged to cow-tow to guilt by association when it comes to social issues.