qwazse

An Eagle palm application? Where is that in the requirements? Did the scout ask for a BoR? Have the BoR ASAP after the scout requests it. How is this complicated? It's not mom's business. Ask the Eagle Scout what he thinks is fair.

Based on the things that actually show up in public health statistics, our suburbs are no less risky than the city with one exception ... gun violence. One of our local TV personalities was fired for editorializing this issue with racial overtones on social media. Lot's of back-and-forth on the fairness of her dismissal.

out of the mouths of babes! The positive: you've made "the adults" a synonym for "anything I don't like happening." The "sorting hat" approach is likely to catch a boy off guard, but so is anything a boy relegates to his buddies. The truth is any team that makes adjustments is an easy target for pessimists.

Oh, that's funny! Your best bet, after reading the manual cover-to-cover ... and about your adventure specifically, is to call the captain of the base. The lighting during the summer is really good, so you should do well with fully charged batteries. Consider getting a back-up charging system. Solar works. The real challenge is keeping things dry and salt-free for a week.

I love helping at projects, so I don't mind being the adult on record if needed. But, the projects we dealt with growing up were loosely supervised at best. For example SM introduced me to the COR who gave me the catalogue to order specialty parts from. I gave him he order with my address as the recipient. Then it was up to me and my buddies to get the work done. Which we did without any adult having to be pulled away from their businesses (or whatever the retired guys were doing to occupy their time). It was basically a patrol activity. I didn't pick that up from strangers. The other projects I worked on had the same limited supervision, unless the beneficiary requested otherwise.

So, what if the project is framed asa) an independent patrol activity? b) a religious activity (e.g.restoring a shrine) where the unit leaders' presence might be a desecration? Thoughts?

So, in the next ten months?

I didn't do any pranking of my own. So, I decided to nudge Stosh's along for the remainder of the day! It was a tough call: "build" or "bust" on it? Figured I'd leave one small crumb in case someone more responsible than the lot of us was in a funk of excessive soul-searching.

At the HQ, where you are provisioned and assigned your guide, there will be dozens of other units coming and going. So there's a chance to make an exchange with someone from other parts.If your stopping along the way, say Miami Beach, learning a little Spanish goes a long way. I know of one crew who kayaked to the island. Once there, all cell phones and watches (except one) were stored in a dry bag. From that point forward, everyone operated on "Seabase time." If you were tired, it was nap time. Hungry? Supper time. Curious? exploring time. The better your boys are at teamwork and making decisions together quickly, the more fun they'll have.

Common kids, the sun'll come out tomorrow?

Well, if the grand arc of Church history is any indication, whatever date you choose will be imbued with Christian meaning. As far as getting paid goes, if there's money to be made, but an unwilling work force, there will be overtime to pay. I'm certainly not grudging Joe athiest or Jane gotta-get-away-from-the-in-laws Christian for taking advantage of that. I consider it part of our secular Christmas dividend.

Trying to think of an OMG emoticon that wouldn't offend. ... NVM. I&P topics usually boil down to someone wants things one way, can't understand why they aren't that way, so someone tries to explain with limited success, some folks get defensive. Learning that a country is bigger than whatever bubble we normally float in isn't the worst lesson, but it can be a hard one. I think you all haven't used the tools at your disposal. Even if not a moderator. I've -1'd posts that undermined what I'd expect from civil discourse. I've also personally messaged some of you who persisted in doing something inappropriate for a forum. The behavior changed. End of discussion. I've stopped replying to a topic - without fanfare - because I realized I was sucking up all of the air in the room. At times I'd apologize for a harsh generalization. At other times, I'd reply publicly about why I did not think a statement of mine deserved some cliche`d label that a forum member gave it. We don't have to throw a public gauntlet down at every offense. We can arrange a private one-on-one conversation. "Leave your gift at the alter and reconcile with your brother." We can ask our spouse/significant other to review what we wrote, and apologize publicly if he/she says we went too far.

Heritage Reservation was at capacity with 5000 for Mountainfest weekend. I'd hate to see it pressed upon for an entire week with 6-10 times the numbers. For those flying in, it might as well be Beckly.

Here's one more thing, it is okay for scouts to see adults respectfully disagree. Sometimes there is a little push-pull between SMs and CCs. And, between guys in general, we can disagree hotly but in a pinch we have each other's back and the coffee's on first thing in the morning. So take all the drama with a grain of salt. Lost slides? Teach the friendship knot. Good enough until the boy can get a hold of some chord and tie a turkshead. As far as scout spirit, I'm usually not asking a boy about anything that transpires during a meeting. But are they a scout when nobody's watching and the uniform's off? That question has to be asked carefully, because boys are their worst critics and tears can flow.

Once again, we often flood the pool with too many amateurs teaching the badge. Have the boy talk to his gym instructor, athletic trainer, or sports medicine doctor/nurse/physical therapist or aid, or sports store owner and come back with a better answer. @@chrisking0997, if you are any of the above, pardon the presumption. But, you get the idea. Part of the MBC role is to share your passion with the scouts and give them go-to people who can help you with that.

Hear's the deal. Boys are smart. If they feel people are manipulating them via advancement, they'll stop advancing. If on the other hand, they actually believe they can be better scouts by wearing their uniform, they will. So have more carrots. Greet scouts. In a friendly manner ask them what happened to their pants/shirt/necker. This is especially true of boards of review. Ask the boy how he can fix it. (Maybe that's what your CC meant by sitting in on BoR's.) Any SM/ASM who shows up out of uniform, when he/she greets scouts apologize to the boys for whatever is missing. If only one or two scouts are at an activity in uniform, award them a patch from your bloated collection. Scouts in uniform are first in line for snacks. Only scouts in uniform may be color guard. We've had SPL's borrow a scout shirt from he closet to lead a ceremony. The SPL should hold uniform inspection routinely. Patrols with the highest average score get a totem on their flag (e.g. an arrowhead with binoculars could be a Look Sharp award.) Eventually boys will determine their own sticks.

Attempted to be proselytizerd ... No different than any other expense of precious resources on the spiritually indolent.

I'm afraid that will continue to be hotly contested from national. If you want an organization that will let boys be athiests, consider http://www.traillifeusa.com/generalfaqs Are non-Christian youth permitted to join a Trail Life USA Troop? Our Member policy allows for boys of any faith (or no faith at all) to participate in the program of Trail Life USA. Local Charter Organizations satisfy the specific ministry goals of their church or organization. In some cases, that may be as an outreach ministry to boys in the community. In other cases, that may be as an in-reach ministry specifically to minister to the families or members of the local church or organization. Therefore, individual Charter Organizations may have more specific membership requirements that limit Troop membership to boys of a certain faith or membership in a certain organization.

ussscouts has a politics free policy. As do other intensely moderated sites. This forum could follow suit. But then maybe the fact that it doesn't is what makes it special? Honestly, I've used what I've read from you all to help polarized boys empathize with their diametric opposites. If a topic devolves to cussing, I stop replying. Otherwise, I try to tie my fingers before anyone really gets put out. Price of admission, I figure. Besides, it's more fun to irritate by being nice ... Guess I'd rather grow the thick skin than stop hiking rough terrain.

My boys may owe you guys. On my walk to the coffee shop (btw @@Stosh $1.80 for espresso the taste of which is still lingering at lunch), I thought that part of this problem is troops often grab anyone with a pulse to be counselors for required badges. No disrespect to Suzy homemaker, but the best counselors are often the folks who have the topic as a profession. Then I thought of the scouts who I've seen at this shop. So I asked the owner if he'd be willing to sign on as an MBC. He said he'd be glad to. I warned him about the paperwork to get started. Having been a lawyer, he wasn't phased. He does the same for his employees anyway. Moreover, the notion of having boys food-safety trained before they started the job was very appealing. If they could come to the shop, he'd gladly counsel the badge.

@@Stosh, just because you can understand where a kid's coming from, that's no reason to let him stay there. Here's a reason nobody mentioned: world travel. I know a kid who wound up working at a popular restaurant in Dubai. Think laterally ... Being the deciding factor in war. Infantrymen move on their stomach. Understanding cultures distant in space and time. Being part of history by planning months (now years) of meals for astronauts. Operating a delicatessen or winery. Getting out of the grind of estate law and creating a welcome place for folks in the community to grab a coffee before the morning rush. Which reminds me, gotta go meet my barista.

Here's my take. A scout will likely not be interested in any given career. But, if he can think about why he might be interested, he might gain a little empathy for why someone would really be glad to have that job. That way, when he has a buddy come to him asking about how to plan for the future, he might be prepared with useful career ideas for his buddy. This reminds me of a conversation I had with Lebanese boys decades ago. They were talking about what they'd do when their civil war would end. The one boy (a Maronite Christian) said he was saving money for a garbage truck. His buddies were dumbfounded. He said, "Don't you know the one thing that everyone will want when the fighting stops? They piles of trash to be removed! And they will pay any price for it!"

That post was a train-wreck waiting to happen. No offense to the OP. The cautionary tale here, nation-wide we are bringing back scouters who have been on the adversarial side of policies. (The jury is still out on if that number will ever offset scouters lost due to the tables turning.) High minded talk can amount to rubbing salt in the wound. So this isn't just about the barriers of face to face ... If it happened on a forum, it can happen at your district round-table or camporee. Wise up here, and we might just better serve the boots on the ground at our real campfires.

I sought advice from Council HQ because of several internationals interested in Venturing. Having grown up with the occasional exchange student in our troop, I knew there was a way to make this work. Bottom Line: The host family serves as guardian for the duration of the student's stay. So it is on them to sign paperwork and communicate to parents. It sounds like you have concerns that these particular guardians wont have the student's best interest at heart. In that case, there is nothing wrong with asking the student to fax back-and-forth the parent's signature as well. I'd even go so far as to skype with the parents and let them know what's on your program. They may want to arrange the scout's return trip so as to not miss a summer camp or high adventure. My exchange-Venturers wound up not participating much because they didn't grasp the how and when of our schedule.

If I recall the saga of this troop correctly, the "toxic pairings" were all about the same age, so they needed their space. The previous configuration was micromanaged by adults. This upcoming configuration was micromanaged by PL's using a stochastic process with Baysian priors weighted by utility (a sorting hat). For most troops, that's about as good as it gets. Once in a while, you get a few boys who say "Hey, we think we can make a great patrol, how about it?" In the best of all worlds, IMHO, they recruit boys from their non-scout friends to come give it a go.