qwazse

Learning to delegate requires a cycle of trust. Most of us don't realize that we shouldn't trust folks who we haven't seen perform. I don't know why we do this. I mean, I can barely walk and chew gum at the same time ... Why would I think that someone else could do more than one job? So, over time, we learn to give folks one task at a time. Exactly how we do that depends on your posse.

Just to de-fuzz the math, remember that to break even from a ten percent a ten percent loss, one needs a subsequent eleven percent gain.

Never heard of the site. Never cared.

Right, because nobody else is ever going to have a UK scouter drop by camp to update you on one of your scout's Totin' chip fails ...

The scoutshop is organizing it (article on Bryan's Blog) @5thGenTexan, I would hold off until the sibling's ticket was filled and tell the Scoutshop that you're not doing no giving-tree half-ask.

More to the story? We can bet there is. The SM is quoted about "legacy", "Eagle rank", "19 year charter", etc ... But what is not said speaks volumes. How many times do the boys hike and camp each month? What happened on the last campout? How friendly are these three remaining scouts to others? Are they good mentors? What skills do they have? Are they first class scouts? What was the last notable good turn of one of these scouts? Have they won at camporees or camp-wide uniform inspections? Folks, if you're going to the press about your unit, stop talking about how good you were. Tell the reporter about how you are fulfilling the promise of scouting by inculcating a vision of hiking and camping independently with your mates. And tell them how your scouts will help their kid make that happen this weekend if he drops by tonight! Otherwise, find your scouts a new home, where they stand a chance of becoming "all that."

For your specific issue, our committee gives the SM a yearly allocation for gear purchases. (Usually this is an estimate based on the SM and QM trying figure out what the troop needs will be. If the PLC is running smoothly, the SPL would be the one submitting the estimate.) The committee does not get into the weeds of what gear is purchased. That way, if the SM and scouts are buying a new stove, and see a couple of tents competitively priced, they may buy them. Receipts are turned into the treasure, and the committee sees the total dollar amount of gear purchased in the treasurers report, and the list of gear purchased in the SM/SPL report. The same applies to most general expenses. The committee establishes a budget, and delegates the responsible parties to work within that budget. There are some things that come up quickly and cannot be budgeted, like families needing support for camp fees and the cost is beyond SM's discretionary budget. I've recommended that committees handle those between the treasurer, CC, and SM in executive session, and the treasurer reports the expense as an anonymous line item like "Camp fees for scouts in need". Bottom line: the committee should focus on deciding how to support what the scouts want to purchase ... not deciding what to purchase for them. Since our troop doesn't buy tents, and I only buy tarps, I can't help you on your hunt!

Here is where I disagree with @ParkMan, the SM was the only adult who wore a uniform in our troop. The rest showed up in their best work clothes. The ASM who was a coal miner looked pretty rough, but one of the most caring men I had met in scouting. I never saw a committee member in a uniform until my sons joined scouts. Still think it's dumb. Why does an MC need a field uniform? To set off his/her beads? None of those adults bothering with uniforms, and guess what? I made a point to look sharp every meeting and hang my pants creased in the evening. Shoes polished every Sunday. Inspected patrols every couple of months just like the SPL's before me had done. You're the only adult who the scout needs for an example of a sharp uniform. You don't need your adults to uniform. It's not their program. You need them to admire your scouts. You need them to be kind to one another. You need them to turn into wallpaper as the scouts run meetings and activities.

Yeah, we have choice words for older teens who forget their knife safety, and "bad boy" is not one of them. Again, thanks to these forums for keeping me abreast of scouting around the world so that I could broach the subject with a modicum of tact.

You're giving me World Jamboree Flashbacks to apologizing to a British SM for one of our scouts upsetting one of hers by indiscriminately flicking open his knife. File under: How to not impress that fine young lady.

FWIW, The one that nearly got thrown at me was a Griswold, Erie P.A. U. S. A. ... I'm thinking 1940s.

I think your best bet is to talk to a really good blacksmith (you are in AZ) who can lift the numbers (down to the threads) off of the patch. You could wear your fingers thin getting the right font and creating a digital spec, and the guy's gonna print it on hard copy to feed it into his scanner (pushing "shrink" or "enlarge" in the process) anyway.

File this under "Be careful what you wish for." The only folks who can select a different COR is the CO. So, yes, the institution head (IH) can, on behalf of the CO replace him. However, your denomination might order its churches differently than you are assuming ... 1) The pastor may not be the IH. In our CO, a Presbyterian church, the clerk of session (chairman of the board) is the IH, and he/she is obliged to the seated elders of the church (the board) of which the Pastor is the moderator. 2) Even in churches where the pastor signs as IH, he/she may still be obligated to work with the congregation to select a new COR. 3) Many churches do not have a vast depth of volunteers.* Without a volunteer pool, you might get saddled with a COR who does your successor no favors. In other words, things can get messy fast. So, before you go that route, that coffee & cobbler is a really, really good idea. *My church realized this about itself, and began herding young adults to classes on churchman-ship (my word, not theirs) and talking-to-strangers (again, my word) instead of the usual comfy self-absorbing (again my description) disciplines of tithing, fasting, prayer, devotion, and suffering. Still, I'm not entirely sure that it would be able to call forth a COR if it sponsored a BSA unit.

I suggested spending quality time at estate sales. That almost got our handed-down skillet thrown at me. I'll have to check the mark. It spent most of its life in Erie county, so ...

Sea scouts has a national flagship nominated every year. Maybe Scouts BSA needs a national flagtroop nominated every month.

This is for a postmodern nomad, so I have no idea what kind of stove will be used. I'm just hoping it will fit in the bag for the flight out!

Resurrecting because someone put it on their Christmas list -- mainly for stovetop use, but if there's an excursion within driving distance, I wouldn't be surprised if it sees some outdoors. It's been 11 years. What say you all? Is lodge all that?

Stopped at "easy". Requirements have become increasingly verbose. All because we litigate the snot out of everything. You know what was easy? When the requirement said, "Camp 50 nights."

The way I see it you have two options: Take the load of her and be expected to do it from here on out. Invest in chocolates and flowers and put up with her complaining, but at least it's not the dog house. Typically, the financially challenged scouts are resolved between the CC, the CM, and the Treasurer. That way, on the report to the committee the Treasurer only has to report the lump sum needed to underwrite dues, and the folks who got the help don't have to worry about being mentioned by name.

This can fall to whoever does the work. I would put it on the treasurer. Otherwise, the committee chair.

Fulfilling the vision of the pinnacle experience hiking and camping independently with your mates ... this has several implications, one of which is becoming epic. When I talk to veterans who weren't in scouting, for example, they will often tell me about "those Eagle scouts" who handled basic training so much better than they did. There is a bit of a swagger to a 1st class scout (the concept, not the patch) that cannot be denied. I've seen it in my adult children, so I know what these guys are talking about. But, there's also the other thing: consecutive hours in the elements. Football players might be on the grid-iron (i.e., the ones not under a dome) for three hours, skiers may be on the slopes all day, but precious few will countenance 24 hours with one another under any circumstances ... let alone when it's time to bed down under the stars. We offer the ability to go out with like-minded souls and build a home away from home for a day or ten and come back with a smile. Or, at least, that's what we should offer. Why, because being prepared for all that may befall one outside is what gives a scout the tools to become epic.

Forget talk of shipping out. Tell them that you're betting they'll want to shape up. If that means hanging their shirts and pants in a closet in the scout house so they can change the moment they arrive, so be it. You want them to be the winning patrol upon uniform inspection. Period. And the most important part of their uniform: their smile. Now, in your post you mentioned a lot of reasons why you wanted this: you're bothered, younger kids getting sloppy, "drag on the system," etc ... Those are the wrong reasons. (Don't repeat those out loud. And if your scouts are reading this, let them know that you are working on an attitude change.) The only reason that you want these boys to look sharp is this: real men take pride in their work and even face drudgery with a sharp appearance and a smile. It has nothing to do with what you get out of the job, it has everything to do with being prepared to give others your best -- even if they don't deserve it. I agree with @Eagledad that you basically have two troops. The older half might not deliver everything you expect. They may never win uniform inspection. But raise the bar on them, and be happy at any stretching you see from them. Your listening tour is basically a set of meet-the-SM conferences. Not a bad idea. Be positive, and you'll succeed.

Call the directors of your council camps. Some of them will make their canoes available to you if your troop camps there. A few of them might have NT experience, and can help with training. Local canoeing clubs might help as well.

Cousin Robbie always challenges his students by asking if they would have supported slavery had they been brought up as an upstanding citizen of the south. They unanimously would answer of course not. He then goes on to point out that if he went back in time to a classroom of upstanding citizens in the 1850's south, they would have resoundingly answered of course. The likes of Jackson did not betray us as much as resemble us. And I say that as a grandson of immigrants whose forefathers shunned their countrymen's penchant for acquiring slaves as spoils of war.

I wouldn't feed a rumor mill. I will say that as our SE he was not one to take a sick day. Nor was he one to shy away from tough issues.