qwazse

This "BSA approved" stuff is a joke. (No offense to Costal Carolina BSA. They are no doubt doing their level best.) There are some terrific walking paths in Western PA, none of which are recorded here. (Many of them touch upon Native American life or the Whiskey Rebellion, but some more recent ones recall the good and bad of the industrial revolution (e.g., Eliza Furnace, Rachel Carson). In all likelihood the best trail for you and your unit to set foot upon is not on any of these links. I would encourage everybody interested in this award to contact their local historical societies and ask them about good walking paths that would help their youth touch upon some great American experience. Community libraries are often rife with such references. The majority of you will probably find that the best hike for your youth will not be listed or "certified" on some national site. "All politics is local." - Tip O'Neal.

Fellowship opportunities at a bar or coffee-shop or someones back yard are often very helpful. These are really the most productive when you have one item to deal with (e.g. the next big event) and need people to relax and brainstorm a little.

Never said it would be easy. Even with our troop, which is now basically one patrol and adults. We are very challenged in this regard. Sometimes we trade off yards for # of thickets/streams/boulders or vertical separation. But some suggestions for resources that many folks neglect to ask: Farmers. Community parks. Schools (you know, those places with multiple fields and a stream on one boundary). Fair grounds. Conservancies. Wilderness areas (as opposed to pioneer campgrounds). Have your scouts ask their parents, aunts, uncles, cousins if anyone has a big field or woods they'd let a group of boys who want to practice minimum impact camping stay on.

During meetings, you may want to use a minute to discuss the work of famous patrols. From BP's to seal team 6. You can also go over federal regulations for most back-country hikes, the typical contingent size for Philmont and Seabase.

If you give a mouse a cookie .... Truth is, your SPL has a servant heart. So he wants to swoop in ... thus your PLs' frustration. That's easy enough to do at camp where everyone is usually in relatively close quarters. It's time to up the ante, and you can do it in two words (before anyone whose username begins with a K and ends with a u beats me to it): Physical distance. Your next campsite has to be someplace where each patrol is 100 yards away from the others and yourself and your assistant leader(s). Have the SPL and ASPL camp nearby you. Let all those efficiency experts walk a quarter-mile to each patrol each time they want to micro-manage a situation.

Mine is on year 7, but you've already pointed out elsewhere that we're odd ducks. And in fact, things started running a lot smoother when the SM and I stopped fretting over each other's calendars. So, should crews not attend: - District events? - Council/Area camporees? - Jamborees? Should boys be removed from O/A if they transfer to a crew and drop their troop membership Is the price of freedom exclusivity?

One thing the program lacked ... and I'd say this was I foreseeable at the time ... was a profound sense of mutual respect. There were venturers who did not respect what a troop was trying to do, and Boy Scouts who did not respect what a crew was trying to do. I met SMs who resented being pressured by their DE to advise a crew and lead a troop, others who wer willing, but were stuck between two opposing committees. (Multiply that by thousands across the nation and we have our membership peak in '05 followed by a steady decline.) What you called freedom, others called insurrection. Now, an essential part of my VLST I take a moment to remind attendees "When adults bicker (or foster bickering) youth leave." I should NOT have to do this, but in every course someone broaches the issue of troop-crew conflict. So out there in scouter land, things are broken and youth are being under served as a result. Who needs to adjust? Well it seems like it would be a good idea to start with the division with the fastest shrinking membership.

Sorry. Inside joke. A lot of folks including my crew presidents trip over the term. I'm not so much correcting you (our anyone else) as I am picking on such an unnatural brand name. Again, cart before horse ... this isn't about making kids "do" certain things. This is about them attaining public recognition for the things that they do. If this is successful, we'll see a lot of t-shirts with those diamonds on them. Consider where we're coming from. The pin-on bling would nearly tear a shirt to pieces. From your's and my perspective, that is a really stupid reason not to pursue a nationally recognized award. But the third-world-general look resonates negatively with most of my youth.

There's a more specific response on http://www.scouting.org/filestore/ve...turingFAQs.pdf ...

Usually it's only economical if you have 100+ to feed. Council or Area camporees come to mind. Although I've been more impressed by other camps who have tight connections with their Arrowmen who will volunteer to cook for large gatherings of scouts.

Hey OX, better corral that bull!

The wording is not "Each registered scout earn at least one." Decide with your boys what is more scoutlike: Joey isn't going to earn another outdoors badge, so I'm gonna earn one for him. Joey isn't going to earn another outdoors badge, let's drop him from the roster! Let's forget about this award, and I'll forget about earning another outdoors badge.

As the program revisions are currently written, no, the national uniform is remains one of many options available to crews. The cloth awards will work very well with any of the crew-designed uniforms that I've seen. Note that they are still described as "Awards" not Advancement. And, they are still venturers, not "venture scouts".

Our dining halls are available year 'round. Units may use them (for a fee) and are required to leave them spotless at the end of a weekend. Depending on the number of participants, the cooks can be put on retainer for them.

Yep, 'cause we wont countenance the godless and [most] girls.

Congratulations. You're old enough to know better, and your still scouting! Look forward to you setting us old farts straight!

Epiphany: Now I understand why those two signal mirrors were in my brother's old sewing kit! Thanks Stosh!

Council mergers can be rough. I guess I'm one of your sash-n-dashers. The ordeal meant a lot to me, and I think it helped me be a better scout. I held on to all the materials and read them. But, lodge activities involved driving long distances on inconvenient weekends. On the other hand, many boys in my troop didn't find those distances all that long .... What's disappointing is hearing of lodges who miss engaging those boys who would add to the life of the body. You gotta cast the net before you can pick your fish.

Our boys count on the same camp - and campsite - every year. Couldn't change their minds if you tried. And some have. That said, the boys who are venturers wind up visiting camps throughout the area on spring summits. So, anyone who has that itch can get it scratched.

Well, this is dandy. My advice, call your SE. Tell him what you know and explain you may need independent help getting objective details. Simply put, there's no blackmail. There's an accusation of sexual harassment. Run it up the chain. Needles to say, give no further details on this forum. Resist any temptation to sweep this under the rug. I know this sounds like I'm telling you to make things worse, but this is the only way to make things better.