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@@MattR, although the tension may come when you have a homosexual who you would like to register with your unit, a more likely scenario would be that your unit might be assigned an openly homosexual ranger or site-guide or Seabase captain. Even now, you could have heterosexual leaders with pictures of their out-of-wedlock children stitched into their gear. @@Southpaw, what profiteth the BSA if it saves New York, but loses Utah? To those who wish to grouse about how their fellow forum members have posted (rather than address their content) there is another topic where you may argue over style.

@@SpEdScouter, the Brits have spoken for themselves in various threads on the matter. Hopefully they won't mind repeating themselves. But for pictures and really good videos, this is one of my favorite links: http://scouts.org.uk/home/

Registration fees are a drop in the bucket. And, they are nearly offset by reduced needs for services. FOS could be a big deal if those who need program are disproportionately represented by non-LDS. What's lost? Community. As a scout I had an MBC from the LDS, his troop and ours worked on several projects together. Some folks here report that LDS units are aloof. And that's somewhat true because they spend time preparing older boys for missions. But they've joined our district in helping our crew place memorial day flags. If they are off the district roster, will they get that memo? If there is an LDS rift, will there be as many units who support permissive sexual ethics to fill it? I heard from one Mormon who would like Trail Life to extend a hand to "social trinitarians" of their sort. I don't see it happening.

Trappers and Pirates! Just need a little National Archery Association endorsement.

Those rumors are exaggerated. Based on stats never measured.

i'd say, in general no, but .... The camp director is a friend, so I wouldn't imagine not telling him. But, even with directors who I've met that week, I've found it helpful to go over any problem I've had with them. He might even put you in contact with another SM in camp who has a similar kind of scout. At the least, a camp would like to know it not was something about the program. Now, if it involved sexual assault, that's a whole different animal. Lots of folks should be informed.

So, is it every year? Or just on World Jambo years?

There is an off-season staff pool for weekends. Best deal is of you can provide volunteers who are qualified to staff. Not so sure about mid-week.

If it were whiskey SCOTUS might hear the case.

Yep, fun. What a concept. @, what paperwork did you all finally push?

Yah, and I have an Anglican friend who was the theologian in residence (or some such title) at a local synagogue. We're Americans, we like to mix things up ... a lot. I think outside forces would not touch your situation. They may asail the BSA for granting a charter to any organization who excludes adults of a particular class from leading their "ministry, but not who includes adults of a particular class. Also, I don't expect an effective assault to come through the courts, but rather through economic pressures of a plutocracy who favors a permissive sexual ethic.

http://caltopo.comis the best tool I've found for out-of-the-box (er.. printer) customization. BTW, the cost in ink is pretty steep, so make sure you fairly compesate for in-house production. If you want to learn how to do produce a map in large quantity to a high degree of accuracy, join your local orienteering club and ask them to show you the ropes.

Well, this topic is about musings ... We were musing about BSAs next move. Just 5. Years ago, it was toward a loose federation of organizations like AHG, whose administrative structure meshed with COs wanting programs that include all of their youth constituents. As other scouters including yourself at the time discussed, treating AHG was a sister org would be like pulling teeth. Well, it looks like TL has what it takes to bag that lion. I see this operating in a way we have never seen with GSUSA and BSA. Scouts would meet under the same roof on the same night. Open and close together, and in some COs have break-out sessions for the respective sexes, in others participate together for the duration. It has the potential to be extremely flexible.The CO calls the shots as to how closely the committees works together. That's how things can operate based on they way the groups are currently organized. If they pull resources and share membership registration, awards programs, etc ... they will accomplish exactly what scouters on this thread said they would never see or want to happen. Niche market? Definitely. But a big niche who has been looking for something like this for some time. The only question that will will remain is: will BSA and GSUSA follow their lead?

Thanks for the details. It's good to know more about the fella behind Jambowlree..

Real convergence of a girls' organization and boys' organization will look something like the alliance between AHG and TL http://www.americanheritagegirls.org/media/filer_public/6f/0d/6f0d726c-54e9-4287-a085-5560f3358a72/ahg-tlusa_moma.pdf Will American Trail Heritage Life be the first all-ages coed scouting option available to more than 1000 chartering organizations the US?

@@Eagledad, the topic is about the BEST weather! It's just every now and then winds kick up to make us feel that hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck feeling that you Okies seem to know so well.

Bro, winter night hikes are the best! I forgot to mention the one in 3 feet of snow because it was with my crew on a ski weekend and they were in cabins. But all the video games and pool tables and pizza and social time were getting boring, so we set out for a tour of the grounds. It's awesome when a place where you've summer camped turns into a completely different world!

'bout 10 inches of snow -10F no worries. We had a nearby farm we were welcome to call on if needed. Nice valley out of the wind. Perfect weekend. Tents. We did have one boy who needed "thawed out" in the SM's truck. But he perked up right quick and was good for the rest of the weekend. Lowest windchill? Don't know. The weather station on Dolly Sods broke that morning clocking 80mph as a front stalled over the Chesapeak. But that snow was being blown in our faces was probably hurtling across that plateau at 100mph. (Think sand-blasting ice-cold and you get the feeling.) Since then, my line: "Mr. SPL, what be the weather today?" "<Sun, Rain, Snow> with winds under fifty, Sir." "Aye, then it's a good day!" Helpful hint: Laurel thickets make good wind breaks. Just remember they often cluster near cliffs!

Firstly, for most boys, earning MBs is fun. So you want to always give them a chance to pick up one or two in a week. But ... after a few years they start gravitating to things they like best. I've had scouts "re-take" small boat sailing, year after year, sometimes in both afternoon and morning sessions. They might master the ropes course/climbing wall. Master shooting sports. Or, go shooting with a younger scout until he qualifies for his MB. Fish. Whitewater. Caving. Backpacking treks. Wrap a duct tape baseball, grab a stick, and convert the parade field into a field of dreams. Pilfer twine from scoutcraft and lash a giant hamster cage. Lash a lakeside bunk and sleep out under the stars multiple nights. Convert a tarp named Bruce to a boat named Kaitlyn. (Mine isn't always the classiest bunch.) Assist the medic, camp QM, or other staff. And yes, checking out canoes all day to go to an outpost is a possibility.

@@TheGreyArea, as you can see, scouters try to be flexible when it comes to sign-offs, we try to assign it to boy leaders, and sometimes use adults as a fall back, but the buck stops at: Does the boy have the skills? People don't always appreciate that with this provisional camping stuff, it takes a good deal of communication. Now, the shortest loop is with the boy and his home PL. If he comes back tying knots, inviting his buddies over to cook a meal, lashing catapults, etc ... and mom complains that his pack is now sitting at the ready at the foot of the kid's bed ... the PL will be talking about it, and the boy's permanent SM can be confident in those signatures. If the home troop is not that cohesive, the SM may have to make a few phone calls. It is necessarily a learning experience for all parties involved.

Which boys is he trying to "get to do things"? All he should be worryng about is getting the PL's to communicate their agenda and divide responsibilities. He then should publicly thank the PL's who own up their tasks. Now sometimes older boys elect a younger SPL out of "no confidence" in whoever was their age. Sometimes they do this to get out of work. Regardless, it's on them to help this kid be the most successful SPL he can be. That means modelling utmost respect to him in front of the other boys. Just a little bit of that goes a long way. Oh, take it from the tall guy. Height is no excuse for disrespect.

We have mixed race troops. But, they are still predominately white. I think this largely reflects the desgregation in our region, which is slow. The college ministry I attended effectively practiced apartheid even while Desmund Tutu was across the street petitioning for non-violent support for change in his country. That has changed, but slowly. Many blacks still struggle to feel welcome in previously white institutions. Others are diving in and contributing ... to the benefit of us all.

To address your last question, no standards. But when things get that bad, we have committee members help us evaluate the situation. They may talk to the boy. We use the camp director as a resource. Once the director helped me figure out to evaluate and handle the situation. Never had to send a boy home. But I have had a boy go home because he felt he would not handle things well after the situation.

I have mixed feelings. Technically, I always want to see a PL's signature in nearly all but the last two reqs for Tenderfoot 2nd Class and 1st Class. But then, I want that to be a PL/SPL I recognize. So I can understand why an SM might take that responsibility for a provisional camper. It sounds like you don't know this SM very well, and the boy garnered a lot of signatures. I'd either 1. Give the guy a call. 2. Ask the scout to review the skills he mastered with his PL, and get the PL's opinion.

The iNtel chip set bit our stats center. It's amazing how a 1 per million error rate can infiltrate so many analyses when they involve at least that many floating point ops for each . One of our guys in frustration put an Insel Intide sticker on our sys ops' door. Fortunately we had a legacy VAX/VMS to fall back on until new cores were sent. If your son agrees with the reasoning, that's fine. Just saying that sometimes a double-check is in order ... especially if it was only one scouter who made the comment without confirmation from the CC and SM.