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Scouts in the Laurel Highlands Council area may want to invite http://www.themilktruck.org/milkmap/to their next CoH ... Or maybe family night?

Imagine a 17 year old with all Eagle requirements but Camping MB with a creep total 19 camping nights and his birthday is on Sunday the CO's sabbath restriction suddenly becomes a barrier to advancement ... Duty to God: through his appointees in whom your parents entrusted you, He commands you to not count any service for several months during your 13th or 14th year of life toward advancement. Duty to Country: this nation needing competent workers, it is your duty to adhere to an academic regimen approved of by your parents. This regimen may require periods where certain extracurricular activities are suspended .., the suspension of which may delay your advancement. Put that against "Hey kid, Michael DeLoVecchio says it's cool. grab your shovel." How the boys feel? Inconvenienced, I suppose. Some may feel demoralized. But, boys come to me constantly feeling that way. I don't go marching into their lives all mother-bear at whatever institution is putting them to task. Plan A has a roadblock? Okay find a plan B! Apply the 8th point of the Scout Law and move forward.

Presbyterians (the COs with whom I have most experience) interpret "religious affiliation" quite broadly. So this has not been an issue that I've observed. However, I have heard this brought up and roundtable re: EBoRs. So there must be some troops that reckon this way. No idea if the practice came from the CO or committee. My church (through its youth ministry) actively seeks out unaffiliated youth. (Those of Christian upbringing make the worst converts!) This may be one of the reasons they are hesitant to sponsor a pack or troop. The membership policy strikes them as a veneer of religiousess. The BSA is rife with precisely the duplicity similar to that which has made them recently change denominations. Therefore, I'm inclined to prefer youth who do not profess membership in a religion. (Although I try not to find fault with those who do.)

There's password encryption. Which if a fella isn't using in this day and age, he's got bigger problems. As far as physical security. Leaving it in a locked car is a possibility -- although that doesn't eliminate smash 'n grab. That's what I did. It added 1/2 mile walk to my day, but was pretty much worth it. A cable lock around a tree is a possibility ... If you weren't surrounded by boys with saws and axes!

It seemed clear from the outset that his CO's policy applied across the board. It's quite simple to me. Does duty to God trump your troop's implementation of any of the methods of scouting? I would answer in the affirmative. Can a CO lay out what the duty is? There are plenty of instances where it has. (Not camping on Sabbath or Sunday, keeping kosher, etc ...) Can it apply that broadly? It can and it has. (E.g., a Jewish buddy sat with his grandson on the steps of a church while the troop attended the mass his troop was required to do if they were traveling on a Sunday.) Does academic work trump scouting activities? As a duty to country, it can and it has. (Educators have come on this forum and asked as much regarding troubled youth.) Rank advancement is not the be-all and end-all that we sometimes make it out to be. And, frankly, any scout who hasn't knocked off the requisite service hours before the middle of 8th grade can wait a few months. Now, if the CO as zealously treated a 17 year old life scout who transferred in never confirmed, we might have something to write about!

The same happened with my troop. SM was a tough act to follow. It's much easier to start a new troop with a different CO. I've since met some "next generation" scouts from my home town, and they are coming up strong and good. So, it kind of balances out in the long run.

Unlike @@Beavah, I'll play "saint's advocate" and step into the parsing regs to see if, in rules as written, a CO has latitude in terms of scheduling service projects: I could envision a Christian CO determining that a boy is on "the wrong track" if he has not fulfilled his religious duty. That they may want to see a boy's demonstration of service that carries no awards, is not logged in troop-master, or some national database for someone's bragging rights. That service to the LORD in concert with other young people doing the same for a proscribed period trumps service to any other beneficiary. That a boy to proceeding on an Eagle project without the explicit blessing of the CO is intrinsically a "negative experience." Therefore; to ensure that "Test #5" is met for all of its youth, the CO might impose scheduling constraints. In their mind, it would be fulfilling, rather than adding to, the requirements. No sixth test needed. Now, against all protests that the language of that test was only intended to reflect upon the execution of the project, we also have that 12th point of the Scout Law, and someone who holds a faith that is explicitly or implicitly catholic (i.e. universal) would necessarily make scouting fit into their religious framework, not the other way around.

Ouch! This is where a detailed conversation with your doctor (i.e. the orthopedist, not your family doctor) is important. No bone bruise is the same. And timing is everything. Your husband needs to precisely describe the camp situation with the doctor. In general, staffers do whatever they can to make injured scouts enjoy their time. Your son will probably get dibs on the bench at the trading post, etc ... Also, patrols will do whatever it takes to help their buddy. That might include carrying a folding chair and footrest for him. Setting up a hammock for him. Getting ice. Etc ... If this is the first injury he's had to recover from, one of the ASM's might have to keep an eye on him to make sure he's not pushing himself. Usually after a day, a boy will get an idea of how much shenanigans is/is not permitted. If your son is the generally compliant sort, this wont be an issue. Generally speaking, most high-school boys find camp to be more restful than home. All the best to your son!

@@Hedgehog, that was just by way of example. What you want to make clear to the boy is that there is no boiler-plate way to get this done. Thus, giving him a POR patch will not help him have reasonable goals. But devising a project with measurable goals will. Obviously, the more that those goals are self-designed, the more likely they are to be implemented.

@@Hedgehog, the more I hear about your situation, the more I think "service project." Your boys have shunned the system where a TG would share direct contact with the first-years. You want the PL/APL to care, but they have a bunch of other tasks that they find more engaging. You have a boy who you are trying to fit into a position, to whom you could just as easily fit a project. A TG pulling the first-years aside from each patrol, might disrupt the PL's agenda. (The PL might not describe it as such. He might not even be bothered by it. But that's immaterial.) But, patrols being challenged to benchmark skills acquisition of T2FC boys might help them perform to your satisfaction. So, maybe here is how the project plays out: Tell him the troop could use a 2016 trail to 1st class poster ... basically some large-rule graph paper grids.You may have to explain that, once upon a time, spreadsheets in the cloud were hard to come by. He makes a quadrant for each patrol. One row per scout (even the ones in upper ranks), one column per requirement. He finds a central location to post it. Cells get colored in as often as a scout is seen demonstrating a skill this year. (PL's responsibility to report what was done ... honor system.) He might want to use colored tacs to represent if a scout demonstrated it on one, two, or three separate occasions. A rank advancement might get a string of cells blocked in a special base color (e.g. a strip of felt or colored tape), Patrols get points based on color-weight of the cells. The SPL may receive a report on current standings. Maybe, he could take a picture of it every whip-stitch, and that becomes your troop website's home page. Maybe there's another scout who could cobble together weekly pictures of the poster to make a time-lapse of the movie of the poster amassing color! With things like these, I feel the only award needed is bragging rights. But, I think if you would like to bring the point home, a patch from your collection to the PL with the best colored grid might be in order. This keeps your scout, with the help of the SPL, putting the heat on the PL/APL and getting younger scouts to notice how what they do might fit into some bigger plan. It might motivate other scouts to demonstrate those skills just for the silly of it: "Mr. H, I did a 20 miler last weekend, can I stack 4 pins on my 2nd Class 5 mile hike?" "Did you navigate?" "No, the map was too heavy. I let Johnny carry it." "Well, grab those four pins. AND PUT 'EM ON JOHNNY's SQUARE!" For the scout in question, this gives him measurable goals in developing and implementing a chart. It allows him to interface with other leaders, and provides a concrete service to the troop. Finally, it is amenable to after-action review, which he could do with the PLC or the troop as a whole depending on his maturity. All of those are very useful activities that will prepare him for a future PoR.

DT - if a PL puts 5 miles of hiking and 10 miles of cycling on their agenda for the year, then that's two boys a year who can master those skills. Add to that most boys in our community being involved in such diverse activities that it's very easy for a number of them to miss out on the one patrol event (and related meetings) that helps them advance. Compound that by the boy falling into the troop that spun off from ours because adults didn't like how we organized boy-led, then two years later spun off from that troop for who-knows-what beef with the selected SM, then after a change in guard, re-merges with our boys ... We routinely get boys who take 4 years to advance to 1st class. We don't consider it to be a problem. That is, our old troop doesn't, but the troop that we merged back with goes to a camp that strongly encourages scouts to advance a rank a year, and holds a special ceremony for scouters who meet that target with every returning camper ... the new SM wants to make that happen (yes, I tease him mercilessly about it), this boy wants to make it happen, his PL should make it happen, and given a year probably would. We have a week, no troop guide, no JASM, ... So, at the request of the SM, I had a conversation that sounded more like a hiking MB counselor type of discussion. The boy has four days to present a plan, which even if his PL or TG had stepped up, he'd have to do anyway. But, here's this (for anyone who expects their patrol schema to facilitate advancement): at what point is a 16 year-old the responsibility of a TG or PL? The boy can read his book. He can say, "Hey guys, let's take a hike?"

There's no doubt in my mind that in mixed patrols, advancement can take a back seat. They need to work on skills acquisition. What you need to prepare your patrol for the next adventure may not mesh with what a boy needs to do for his next rank. Our troop has not had as many land navigation opportunities as I would like, so I have a 16 year old (3rd year) who is has that requirement for 2nd class and orienteering for 1st. SM would like him to complete one rank before camp next week, and I think the boy really wants to move along. So, I instructed him on a plan to find a buddy and come to me with a plan and a map and I would add some landmarks that he would reach some day this week. I could just as easily see this being handed off to a troop guide. The standing order: find the lowest rank or slowest advancing boy in each patrol, and help them plan their next move.

Does anyone have a boiler-plate E-mail explaining registration requirements for new Venturing participants age 18-20?

When I was a young vagabond, one of the Italian grandmothers I "adopted" (excellent strategy for ensuring quality Sunday dinners, BTW) would say "America e' grande'!" (America is big ... in this context: vast). I never quite knew what that meant until I started really learning about the subtle things folks in different parts of the country did to make things work for them. The protestant reformation in a nutshell: Just replace "forced volunteerism" with "salvation" and "service hours and service projects" with "works"

Also, I suggest that you find another adult helper. Like Son #2 says, anything can be suffered if you do it with a buddy. (He was referring to a Venturing training course. But I think this applies here.)

This is exactly the stuff your SM wants to hear about, Your nephew will discover he's not alone. Scout camp is a great place for introverts. Trust me, I know, Even if you're supposed to always be with a buddy, you usually have your pick, and there's plenty of space for the two of you. I would suggest he add one more merit badge. He should consider something he would really like to try for the first time. Maybe a craft, so he could come back with a basket for his sister!

Has he asked to go? If so, that's a good sign he should go. If the troop is doing a camping weekend this month (and it's not some involved thing like 20 miles of backpacking) he should go on that to get used to these guys. You should also introduce yourself to his scoutmaster and other adult leaders. I always enjoy meeting our youths' families.

Why do you need to hand out a patch at all? Explain to the boy you have a special service project that is JASM-ish, but considering his young age, you will give him a focused mission.The "deliverables" will be those few items you fear will fall through the cracks because you're dropping TGs and are concerned that PLs aren't fully ready to take up the slack.

Some adult-led troops have an ASM dedicated to tracking boys through the early ranks. A youth who does the same thing is suddenly no longer the SM's assistant? Either you have a boy who is not a SPL or PL or Instructor who is really helping you out in a unique way to tend to these boys or you don't. If you do, pick a patch for him based on the character and maturity of the boy. If you don't, stop trying to draw lines that don't exist on your org chart!

This is where an SM earns his cup of coffee. If you have four groups of boys on varying schedules and trajectories towards 1st class on account of their different patrols or other things, maybe you do need 4 guides. If in each patrol there is a natural "guide" (may be PL or APL, or other) you might not need any TGs. If you have boys who instruct as well as guide, and maybe even do it for Star or Life scouts, maybe it's time to just pull out the JASM patches! In general, I'm a big proponent of assigning patches according to the work that's actually getting done, not to blanks being filled on organizational charts. This allows boys to do a little more accurate after action review. Based on what you've described, I'd lean toward no guides, a couple of instructors based on boys with particular scout skills, and a JASM if you really think one has the maturity to "look in" on new scouts in their respective patrols without disrupting the PL.

Thank you for your service to our boys. I feel your pain. The only solution is one with teeth. Don't accept payment (I.e., the scout's spot is not reserved) until all forms are turned in. Short of that, any scheme you try will always allow for a percentage of campers to procrastinate annoyingly.

The broader issue as far as training is concerned: who in the district has taught your leaders? Are your leaders going to roundtable? Are the boys seeing how other troops do things from time to time? This is a similar problem as the one in education where students are taught to the test. My most annoying dialogue as a parent: "But, Dad, that won't be on the test!" "But it will be in real life." Your bottom line: you want each boy trained to the pinnacle scouting experience of hiking and camping independently with his mates.

This was the "Tuesday Talkback" on Bryan on Scouting this week: http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2016/06/09/can-sign-off-boy-scout-requirements/ There, he refers to this scout-cast http://www.scouting.org/filestore/scoutcast/resources/201601_6/SC_JUNE_Who_Can_Sign_Requirements.pdf (I like transcripts, others might prefer the audio available by following the other link.) You might want to refer your committee to that link before bringing up any discussion.

Thanks for the update! The scout copy is all the boy needs. If the troop drops the ball, turn it in with the application, say "the troop has the other half, you should get it soon." But, probably, by the time the boy finishes the application and is ready for his SM's signature, the MB paperwork will make it through whatever bookkeeping system your troop has established.

Congratulations on the boom in growth. It's a good problem to have. First, do not honor any ASM signatures on scout skills. Only SPLs, Instructors, and PLs who you have personally trained in how you want those skills to be demonstrated should be signing off. Secondly, IMHO, it's the ASM job is to "assist" the SM. If he isn't teaching at the level you expect, he's not assisting. Mention this to the CC and get this guy retrained to your liking. Thirdly, on every campout, assign these boys a site that they have to hike to, that you have designated on a map. Give them tarps and rope for shelter. Cache the ingredients for cracker barrel at a heading some distance from the campsite. After dark give the boys that heading and tell them they are to navigate to that location for snack. Coordinate this with the SPL/PL's, not the adults! In other words, if they claim to have mastered a requirement, expect them to perform it. If they can't, ask to revise their books accordingly. Carry white-out.