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You can't imagine how much I wish I could tell you I had no experience in this sort of thing ... But I can assure you that what you've done is plenty. Let your older scouts know your plan. Maybe your SPL could be the master of ceremonies and introduce everyone. Matt is right about the maintenance. But maybe what you could do is encourage the boys with a scoutmaster minute. The tree will grow, and likewise they should let the memory of their lost friends grow. They should also be quick to love the grieving parents. Stay in touch. Keep an eye on the tree. If the plaque needs repair let you know so together you can make a plan to fix it. And just like the tree you expect them to grow, and when they're grown come together underneath this tree, take a picture of yourselves, and give it to the parents.

I think I we call that a camporee ...

@@Zaphod, I'm sorry to hear about your son, but hopefully he is finding other things that motivate him. "Boy-led" is significant in as much as patrols are guided toward independence. It seems that a lot of the "chaos" means little if it is not mitigated by boys spending real time in small groups whose vested interest is having each member well advanced.

Let's see, three espressos on three walks to the library to get at those back-issues or an online subscription? Time to get the walking shoes on.

Because of the fine print! Under "powers" the charter allows BSA to - do any other act necessary to carry out this chapter and promote the purpose of the corporation. Under "Restrictions" there is no statement as to limitation of membership.

Regarding Canoe orienteering ... one year it felt like that Mile Swim on the lake took everyone an awful long time. So, I grabbed my compass and took bearings from shore landmarks (including controls set by Green Bar Bill when he set up a land-nav course on the reservation) to the lap buoys. Then went back to the topo map of the reservation and triangulated their position on the lake. Multiplied distance between buoys by the # of laps everyone had to swim, and told the aquatics director that he should either fashion mile-and-a-half patches or reduce the number of laps for the remaining sessions of the summer! River/lake navigation is a really important skill. So, I have two words for your contest: Laminate maps!

I'm just not seeing the demand. I had girls who hung out with boys in our troop about as much as anyone could stand. Not one asked to earn even one MB. Same talking to the vast majority of female venturers (with one or two exceptions). At this age, there is so much more value in professional certifications. About the only time I can think of where it might have been worth it to a girl to have earned a MB was at a council camporee when one of my female venturers wanted to take a scout sailing and the aquatics supervisor (female, BTW) insisted that the girl had to have small boat sailing MB. I happened to be canoeing by (dropping off the scout who wanted to sail with her) and intervened explaining the catch 22, and that that particular young lady had three summers of sailing school. (I have no I idea if there were any other such qualified young women from other crews who were turned away.) And frankly, as a crew advisor, I find Eagle rank advancement to be a bit of a distraction. I offer it to the boys, and I'm kinda glad none have taken me up on it. But, as a result I'm dealing with fellows whose time is split between two units. That's not all bad. There's a decent exchange of good ideas when it's working at its best. And everyone seems happy with the awards they can get outside of Venturing. So, any evidence that I have suggests that enabling the trail to Eagle for the few female venturers who ever might consider it would cater to the 1% of the 1%.

Supporting the notion of single sex education having value, here's some fodder from the DC-area public school district about their new all-male prep school: http://dcps.dc.gov/page/empowering-males-high-school This is hitting the news wires this week. In one radio interview (http://www.npr.org/2016/08/24/491170171/new-all-boys-school-opens-in-washington-d-c) the superintendent being interviewed noted that the district has had a girls' school for quite some time and it never received the coverage that the soon-to-be-opened boys' school is having. A good reminder that, as we may discuss this from our own personal perspectives, there are special interests that would push the conversation in a particular direction.

Catapults that launch marshmallows. (Although you may want to use ping-pong balls ... less sticky.) Ask your boys what their favorite indoor activity was.

You might want to try a middle ground with the rafts. Last summer our boys lashed together the ribs and keel of the craft and wrapped a tarp around it for the hull. Just enough duct tape to pull the folds tight over the keel (and put the name on the hull). It won the camp "anything that floats" competition that week.

It must have been a hot week for the boys to think of air conditioning! Interesting no mention of radios or electronic devices ... so there probably wasn't a major sports event that anybody missed watching ... or a major release of a movie. Doesn't sound like the troop had much home-sickness (no mention of "free" telephone calls)!

So it looks like our crew is down to One female adult participant, One make adult participant, One female youth, One male youth, Two adult males Two adult females (one more available, one less, neither wed to the males). Now there's a whole lot of glass half empty/full going on that I won't bore you with. Let's just say the above want to at least try venturing, so I'll give them the time to do just that. Typically this lot is interested in backpacking, at least all of them say they like the concept. For today's question: if one of each of the above comes on a trip, how would you arrange shelter? My answer (I think) would be "what shelter?" That is, individual minimum impact hammocks or tarps with a unisex digger hanging from a tree. Longer term, maybe rig a shower bag behind a wall tarp. But it might help me have a right attitude if I hear other suggestions.

I meant to thumbs-up @@Sentinel947, but slipped. However, there is also FedEx. (Yes, we did that with one boy.) Although, if it were one of my vacations, that wouldn't work either. Call the SM and see if that is at all possible. Maybe have him Skype in on the conference with the ASM.

Thanks for the memory. When son #1's den crossed over, one of the dad's was proud to share his new "Taj Mahal" of a tent with another dad and I. Not my style, but given our general excitement and pride that our boys were all on their own, I agreed to join them. The other dad was concerned about the low temps that night, so I explained how I usually stripped down to my skivvies to warm my bag a little more quickly. The guy said he'd give it a shot. Well, between the tent owner and I, his poor fellow got the stereo effect of alternating snores! Sure the tent owner was woke up by me snoring once, and I by him a little later, but for the guy in the middle, it was near continuous. Finally, at some wee hour, he shouts "I'm sick of this {insert not fit for scouter expletive here}!" And sits up! However, forgetting he was all but naked, exposes himself to near-freezing air. In a futile huff, he slams himself back on the ground and throws the bag over his head. He somehow managed to endure the stereo barely-suppressed snickers from tent-owner and I until wake up time.

Or as we explain to such scouts, he owes the SM/ASMs a party. He better not wait until 21 to host it, because the price of fine liquor ain't getting any lower!

Sounds like lots of regional variations. The girls in our district have it tough (the reporting phase being definitely most challenging part of the Gold), but not unobtainable. Certainly our female venturers who are in the GSUSA do fine with it. Their connections to BSA are no way an impediment. In fact, those connections increase the volunteer pool for the project itself. Then again, most of our events include open invites to Girl Scouts from he boots-on-the ground. So, any such bias from a professional would get zero traction around here.

I would peg it at $500, for a boy who wants a new uniform, summer camp, ten weekends away, and literature. If you're not getting equipment donations ad $200 for everything from boots to pack. Nice round numbers. Maybe in the high side. But if scouts and donors know that going in, they can work with it instead of being blindsided at every event.

?? I'm sorry. Did I convey that I was worried? The plan is that BSA, Scouts Canada, and Scouts Mexico (A.C. in Spanish) will host it together.

As do I. Furthermore, I'd question the righteousness of anyone who is blind to a person who is indeed a practicing first class scout. There are people who are qualified to take their mates hiking and camping independently ... and people who are not. It's obviously not just skills. Track record matters. So, I have this small number of youth associates who come to me with plans for outings. I've seen them demonstrate all of the skills a citizen-camper should have, I've seen them treat their fellows with remarkable ethics and morals. The plans are good. Do I give them the go-ahead? Or, do I only do so for those moral, competent, and prepared associates who have been awarded the proper oval? If someone like me is looking for something other than that oval, what does that tell us about the value of the patch?

I couldn't agree more. So what do you do after you see a 14 year-old become all that over a period of 3 to 6 months? I say to him/her, "You've become a 1st class scout. Can't give you a patch for it. But it's right there under your skin."

@@Eagledad, I don't want to say your situation is peculiar ... But when my daughter was in OK, she had a very hard time finding women to hike and camp with her. Some places have women who are more 'kept' than others. You are the only person who I've heard say that training had to become more rudimentary upon including the gals. Now I'll admit Mrs. Q had a lot of getting used to when I planned the vacation. (But a full breakfast out of a cast iron skillet made up for a lot of that.) But 'round here we have quite a few gals with no qualms about the cold, hard ground. Our male trainees can be just as much, if not more, squeamish. I'm constantly breaking in one or two new dads. I suspect the problem is only going to get worse, unless a few of these immigrant families join up and show us how it's done. @Anklyus I agree, "because we can" can't be the motivation. But, I think there are "because we must" motivations that may come to the fore after North American scouts work together to host the world jamboree before decade's end.

Don't give up on account of us five crumudgeons! Something that doesn't make sense to us generalists might resonate with a specific audience. In fact, there may be folks who don't post about particular HA bases here because many of the replies will be way off base. I'm not sure how you can find out for sure if there's a niche among WB readers except to have your friend open he forum and see what comes of it. Best case scenario, a few new readers get drawn to your friends site, worst case: there's now a tidy bin for existing WB fans who want to talk Philmont. For my part, I find it refreshing to be able to type those initials and not be referring to Woodbadge.

Well, the answer to that is simply a belief that the CO has better things to do with those assets than you do. Just like most scouters believe the best thing we can do for kids is provide them a well rounded outdoor program, others believe quite the opposite. In this case the pastor believes that someone can produce something better with the church's resources. And/or he believes that you are not that someone. So, you have got confirmation that there will be a liquidation?

And, although 20,000 sounds like a big number, every year millions of youth-weeks are spent hiking and camping everywhere else. Tagging this and other similar topics "Philmont" should be sufficient to distinguish this location from all of the other equally astounding locations for big-ticket scouting.

Obviously "we" don't. The vast majority of scouters, such as yourself, don't. The vast majority of BSA and GS/USA parents don't. The vast majority of venturers, for varying reasons, don't. Same thing for ageist policies. The reason they were put in place was because very few people saw the value of them strictly representing accomplishment vs. deadlines. However, you mention the HONOR of a rank. Well if THERE ARE FIRST CLASS SCOUTS (concept, not patch) BEING DENIED the opportunity of being recognized as such, not merely inconvenienced, but flat-out told "no," what honor is the 1st Class Rank? There are two ways of watering awards down. The first is giving them to folks who haven't mastered the skills the award should represent. The second is by withholding them from folks who represent the award quite well. I am glad for every venturer who is able and still works toward his Eagle. However, the fact that the majority of venturers don't even care about being on the trail to Eagle or joining O/A (especially if their girl friends aren't welcome in it) or other Boy Scout "honors" speaks volumes to their value.