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Considering the number of Yeti hunters out there ... If I'm going through the woods naked, I'm dyeing the hair on my Mediterranean back blaze orange!

Before dessert, ice cream and cake usually, I would pass around the text of the Declaration of Independence and have each person take a passage. My SM would make ice cream. Incredible stuff!

Sorry about the acronyms for a couple (current) varieties of Presbyterian. One the larger, the other an upstart. I'll not bore you with details. a) of course a conservative church would be steady on with non-believers. Sinners and publicans ... that's the recipe for growth. They might not be members, and they can't take communion, but they certainly are welcome. There's a reason they are called Easter worshippers and not solely Christians. b) well ... there are athiests and there are athiests. If one shows up for Bible study or providing music or sharing some other talent and trying thier level best to raise their kids in the church community, they are God's gift to the church as long as they are there. So, someone telling such a CO that a program that they would sponsor won't allow people under their care to participate, well that's a click against the program, not the company the church keeps.

I'm now feeling so sorry for the committee members who reviewed my 12-point courtier triple spaced document using whatever outline the project instructions required at the time. For our NIH grants, we are given an outline, and we write our 12 page proposal using those assigned headers. Project-specific sub-heads are three or for levels in. Some of our older grants are far easier to read than our newer ones. Because, background has increased, we propose to do more, but we have to pack it all between pages 1-12. Not only would @ItsBrian have gained three hours of his life back, he would have some swagger down the line when a colleague wonders how on earth their little department can write a grant application or contract.

This is such a strange discussion to have from a scouter perspective. My boys are intrusive in so many other ways, that their colors are the least of my worries. One dropped wrapper or abandoned bottle is far more heartbreaking than eight bright shirts. Regarding bright tents (or any tarp, really), mitigate their impact by choosing a campsite sufficiently off trail. When I'm with my scouts in an area that allows canines, I blame it on my dog. I want him to have a spot where he can enjoy their patrol's company and not be riled by passing hikers. Even in a meadow, a bright tent 100 yards off does not stand out among tall grass and wildflowers. Furthermore, when scouts randomly disperse their patrol sites, and their tents within those sites, it takes some effort to get an idea of how many scouts are really there. One laurel thicket, and you will wonder where the boys are. Those tents might ruin someone's drone flyover video, but among patrons of wilderness recreation areas, those oversized mosquitoes are a hotly debated issue themselves. Generally in WPa, outdoors-men hang red flags over their occupied campsites and deer stands. Some properties require them to. It spares hikers like my crew from stumbling in. Once scouts master topo-maps, they know where the good campsites are. That bit of color helps everyone divert from someone's claimed sweet spot so that all may enjoy a peaceful day in the woods.

Well, I'm threading a different guantlet. What's a plus for Episcopalians might be a minus for Anglicans. Same for PC/USA vs PCA. Lot's of big tents have ripped these days. Among houses who promote a restrictive sexual ethic, three concerns rise to the fore: Liability. Speculation is circulating that exercising the "local option" means that the CO could garner the ire of activists for inclusion if a volunteer is dismissed for conduct not befitting the ideals of the CO. Leadership/resource drain. As membership and attendance rapidly grows. They need their people for other things. There is less space in the building for another activity. Intransigence towards atheists. Some families attending don't believe in God. A program that excludes such youth is not looked upon favorably by the CO. Maybe after church membership re-shuffles a little more, BSA will be seen as a good partner. Maybe not.

This is an important skill. I am currently helping some HS youth arrange a baccalaureate service. It's a little rough because, although many are natural leaders, they've always relied on someone else to organize their religion for them. One youth leader explained that he was concerned they might not handle embarrassment well if they fail. I replied that the beauty of being a scouter is that your concerns over failure with knives and fires eclipse concerns over a little failure leading worship.

This is where an older scout being a member of multiple crews and/or being an officer in their council's VOA and/or being an active arrowman can be extremely helpful.This is also where more than one adult from a unit attending district roundtable can be helpful. One of your scouts might need an activity (for advancement or any other reason) that your troop rarely provides. The scout who needs that activity doesn't necessarily have to be that active, but when her troop's scouts and scouters are that well networked, good things happen. Encourage older scouts to try and engage their patrol in activities that they have mastered. The troop might not have backpacking on their schedule, but no big deal. Two enthusiastic members of one patrol could make a plan in a couple weeks. If it's a good plan, raid your depth chart for the two ideal adults to support it. <Insert rant about how, prior to last October, scouts A and B would have qualified as one of those ideal adults.> Troops only scheduling 7 camping events a year isn't a problem if patrols are taking up the slack in the "quiet" months.

No age limitations. Son #1 and his buddy went on a backpacking trip with me and his buddy's dad the autumn before they crossed over. In the troop, we simply assign the seasoned scouts a longer route than the younger scouts, and rendezvous in the evening.

I'd agree with everything @Ranman328 and @mrkstvns said if my scouts who broke bad weren't also so neatly uniform. My stance is more nuanced, like @Eagledad's. And, as @TAHAWK notes, BSA's absurd slavery to fashion has hurt, rather than helped, neat uniforms. That said, if one SM lean into uniforming and another is less demanding, I'm fine with both of them. It's a big country. One wonders, however, if GS/USA's coaching parents and girls in opposing their school dress code could also be used to encourage them in opposing their SM's stance on uniforming.

If I had a dollar for every GS who visited our crew complaining about our troop but not making any change .... Not trying to be cynical, I just hope you are able to help these girls develop a program that suits them. Real commitment is real commitment, no matter how you slice it.

The solution? 1) Workbook instruction in plain-text ascii document. 2) Permit scouts to submit their project plan and report in-line with that text, in narrative form as an ascii document, or on their own paper - typed or handwritten, if desired. Media should be irrelevant. If the average scouter can read it, and it's a good plan, it's a good project. Period.

We don't have class B. (We don't even have troop/patrol-specific activity shirts ) At camp around here (Western PA) scouts mostly wear neutral colors. I've found that wildlife don't care what color you're wearing until someone starts shooting at them. There is a tremendous amount of color around here ... flowers, fungi, fruit, sunlight reflected off of brooks and pools, male birds and mammals, rainbows ...

Great spot. A little crowded, but very pleasant. The only thing you need to explain to your boys is that GotG got it's name because one of the first USGS surveyors who saw it said, "This would be a great place for a beer garden!" Make sure your scouts are very careful with litter there. Lots of folks are watching and they are quick to judge. I'm not saying boys shouldn't be attentive everywhere, but this is a really important treasure to the folks in the community, so anything they do to respect that gets attention. A tour of Pikes Peak is a good way to get acclimated to the altitude. Getting tickets on the cog railroad is the best way to avoid the time-consuming drive to and from the top. When I went their with family, we had to wait bumper-to-bumper coming down because of road construction (which is pretty frequent, along with elk crossing, etc ...). Not a big deal if your schedule is open, but we were planning to met-up with friends arriving on a later flight.

No clue. But in the '80's I had a standard-issue poly-cotton red jacket with the same emblem on the left side. Meanwhile, I started seeing guys coming from Philmont with a similar jacket and the Philmont bull on the back.

Older scouts are hankering to fulfill the pinnacle scouting experience of hiking and camping independently with their mates. This internal imperative means: Some of them need to meet with their buddies absent adults. Some of them need you to throw them the keys to the car, the keys to Gramp's cabin, the map to a sweet fishing spot. Some of them need a trusted adult to review a plan for an excursion, and if it's a good one, excecute it on their own. Some of them need to sit with their elders on committee meetings. Once of age for war, some need to be counted as adults for the safety of our youth. Some need a trade that feeds their family. Some need to talk one-on-one with a trusted counselor. Anybody who provides these will attract and retain older youth. Don't provide them, and the majority of older youth wil find them without you.

I just realized that the Western Pennsylvania Orienteering Club is hosting an event at Heritage Scout Reservation on Sunday. Details at http://wpoc.org/heritageflyer.htm I went to a similar event last fall. Acquired the best camp map I ever saw.

With youth, I only bring this up if they ask. Their handbook sufficiently guides them in most things about insignia. Most questions come up they become involved with different units and wind up doing things beyond the local level. My scouts are currently a little anxious about this because the SPL wants to do uniform inspection soon. I try to make it clear that it's up to the judges to be fair, so any non-regular patch placement might cost them a point. But, before ripping patches, they need to look at their opposing patrols and bet on their ability to sharpen up their uniform by other means (e.g., making sure their scouts all have regulation pants, belt, etc ... and their patrol patch). If your patrol hasn't raided the closet to get those mutliple-point items on every scout, that should be your priority.

I had mentioned in another thread that hats are for pins. It sounds like your scout could use a "brag vest". Incorporating We're all proud of our heritage. But, we all need to find ways to share it that don't distract from tasks at hand. @TAHAWK is correct that BSA has made a hash of Uniforming. So, we have to decide, for our scouts, what makes the method a rewarding experience for them, and what makes it worse. Maybe this is an opportunity for your scout to research how Swedish Norwegian scouts wear their uniform.

I'm still wearing the ASM patch that I was given in '82. A scout is thrifty! Some of us have judged BSA's design changes to a lot of effort to sell fashion with little to show for it in terms of membership. It seems that once Uniforming explicitly became a method of scouting, there was a new uniform design being rolled out every few years.

Got a hat? Collect your pins there.

We see the same thing with boys. Some do better with the whole patrol in one tent. Some do better at singles. If at all possible, allow your patrol try a different configuration every month. You'll find every class of scouts has a different preference, and it's only through trial and error do they settle on their preferences. While we're talking about safety, however, single-person tents aren't without risks. A scout who doesn't know how to get out of his/her tent in an emergency sometimes needs a buddy to control the panic.

I missed this earlier. I had to deal with this misconception when I started being a crew advisor. These older girls -- especially A and B from your post -- aren't entitled to anything from you but a welcoming, oddly care-free, environment. There is no transaction to be made regarding advancement tips or tricks. When I realized this with my venturing crew, I began to see real personal growth from, and honest-to-goodness friendships with, my venturing females. Turned out it was the same thing that older boys were looking for. As far as advancement: The only thing you owe these young women is potentially 7 scoutmaster conferences, and your committee owes them 6 boards of review. I suspect your real challenge will be keeping your committee agile enough to have these promptly once requirements for a rank are met. They owe you all to live up to the oath and law, be first class scouts (concept, not patch). If they are all that, I bet you and your committee will have four chances by end of summer to review plans and suggest alterations. At those boards of reviews, it will be really important to ask what MBs the scout is interested in. That's where your CC will find out he/she needs to recruit other adults who could qualify to be counselors. That's the other thing you owe them. The contact info for caring adults. I agree about the comments about camping frequency, but I suspect Miss A and Miss B have sufficient connections to BSA camping opportunities outside their troop. Miss C would really benefit from a patrol that takes initiative and schedules a couple of overnights. A and B could help, but the YP regs might get in the way of their doing so.

@Scoutero0 welcome to the forums! I hope that you weren't discouraged about those check-boxes in scholarship applications. Just because an award isn't on the list doesn't mean it's not esteemed as highly. Eagle ranks are awarded in the thousands per month, and there has been an century-long campaign promoting it. That's why it gets its own box. Chances are, the old folks who are fronting the money for the scholarship were or knew of an Eagle scout. I talk to ex-military around town, and they tell me about how they watched the Eagle scouts in basic training excel. For some of these guys and gals they'd have only known First Class girl scouts. But, if a girl writes in her awards and can articulate the impact on her, she'll be on as good or better standing as any boy who checks a box. I was very proud of my venturers who earned a Gold Award. Some of them really got us all mobilized to do some neat bits of good in the world. If they had a chance to join a BSA troop, earn 1st Class, then transfer to my crew and earn Eagle, I don't know as I would have encouraged them to do so if they were active in a good GS/USA troop. My daughter was not at all pleased with the GS/USA troop that she could join, and she was not allowed to join the troop that she liked. She enjoyed our crew and our council's venturing officer's association. I encouraged her to try for the venturing awards, but her mind was on starting college early instead.

I am certain we lose a lot of high-speed low-drag parents and scouters at this section simply because it does not it does not give an explicit nod to the other methods of scouting. Competition between patrols are how scouting skills are honed. The outdoors is where scouting skills apply. Leadership development should revolve around scheduling time for patrols to "show off" their skills. To @Treflienne's question ... I don't teach scouts so much as put them in positions where they need to demonstrate what they should already know. That's because I think scouting is not a learning environment so much as it is an application environment. A lot of our sign-offs go something like this: Scout: "Sir, at the last campout I did requirement x as a part of activity y." Adult: "Did your PL/SPL see you do it?" Scout: "Yes, sir!" Adult: "Then why are you talking to me? Your PL has a pen." Scout goes to PL, who either sign off or talk to the SPL or an ASM about what he saw and if that was enough to qualify for passing the requirement. In other words. Neither I, nor the SM, SPL, PL or TG sit at the end of a finish line checking if a scout completed an orienteering course. A scout tells me what he tried to do, how well he accomplished it, and if he could do better. Now, some things, like aquatics safety are more like an oral exam. But that has nothing to do with rank advancement. A scout just telling me that he set up a safe-swim area is not good enough. That has to do with me feeling confident that the scout will be observant at any activity on the water ... and that he'll be able to spot any missing safety minimum and address it. Still, it's far easier for a scout to talk about a safe swim defense after he has been to an aquatics area.