Renax127

I was talking to one of the other ASM's in the troop who recently took Scoutmaster Specific training, I haven't been able to yet. Anyway he said they were told that Scouts may not sign-off rank requirements, that they may initial it but that a SM/ASM must ensure that the Scout actually has fulfilled what has been signed off. I have been unable to find any BSA rule/guideline that says that, of course I might not have looked in the right place in the multiple documents. Can anybody help me find something on this, either way? Oh every troop I've ever visited or even read about allows First Class and above to sign off requirements, which makes sense to me.

Sure just like the always could skip it.

Yeah What Eagle94 said, the kids in sports do all the, "cursing and swearing, rampant racial jokes, hitting or grabbing others impulsively, etc." as well (speaking in generalities) they just do it out of the coaches ear shot. In my experience Boy Scouts tend to get more comfortable around the adult leaders. I know I was certainly more comfortable around my leaders than I was my coaches. Plus a coach can sit a kid or make him bear crawl a cycle if the kid does something the coach disagrees with, so the kid is more likely to make sure the coach doesn't see the bad behavior. In scouts we tend towards the "Really you think that was the right thing to do" type of guidance.

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/HealthandSafety/TourPlanFAQ.aspx They didn't need one per BSA unless; Trips of 500 miles or more; or Trips outside of council borders (exception: not to your council-owned property); or Trips to Florida Sea Base, Northern Tier, Philmont Scout Ranch, Summit Bechtel Reserve (you will be asked to present a copy of your tour and activity plan upon arrival),national Scout jamboree, National Order of the Arrow Conference, or a regionally sponsored event; or When conducting any of the following activities outside of council or district events: Aquatics activities (swimming, boating, floating, scuba, etc.) Climbing and rappelling Orientation flights (process flying plan) Shooting sports Any activities involving motorized vehicles as part of the program (snowmobiles, boating, etc.); or At a council's request (Contact your local council for additional guidelines or regulations concerning tour and activity plans; many have set guidelines for events or activities within council boundaries such as for Cub Scout overnight camping.) It doesn't sound like any of those are true in this case, not that I know for sure. Though their council may require one under different circumstances.

Since Scouts Own is not a Christian service, why would including the phrase "great spirit of the wind" be an issue. I would love to see a non Christian service for Scouts own but unless I happen to get involved with a Troop chartered by a Synagogue or a Buddhist temple, etc I don't really see it happening. Not that Christian services offend me (even though I'm not Christian) but I would probably faint if I ever attended a Scouts own that wasn't a blatant Christian service.

Those rules have nothing to do with a boy building his car as they have no bearing in my garage,

Stay away from that stuff they call chili there. Oh and King island ain't too far. Mammoth Caves is about 4 hours away and AWESOME. S'all I got man

~~When creating a Facebook page, you should make it a public fan page. That's from the official BSA Facebook policy, you can find the whole thing here http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Marketing/Resources/SocialMedia.aspx So the page may not be private according to the BSA.

Had the same thing happen at a camporee recently. Sunday morning flag raising followed immediately by a church service that would be indistinguishable from a Christian service (GOD, Jesus, prayed to etc) and after the service camp was closed. No consideration given to non-Christians. Not that I fault the Scouts that ran the service, I fault the Chaplin who didn't mentor them properly and the people that organized the whole affair that just decided everyone would be ok with the service.

Well on another Scout group I'm in one gentleman stated plainly that if you did not believe in the Christian GOD then you couldn't be a couldn't be a scout. Since the oath states "Duty to GOD" you have to worship GOD, never mind that the BSA says otherwise. Now do I think that's going to be wide spread, no but it will happen. And considering that non-Christian are often ignored or made to feel unwanted of course we should be concerned. For instance I was at a Camporee recently where the Sunday program was flag raising then immediately having everyone attend a "Scouts Own" then right back to lowering the flag and closing the camp. It certainly was expect that you would attend even if it technically wasn't "required". It was also a typical Christian service, prayers to GOD, reading from the bible, etc.

I'm getting a bug net for sure. I'll probably try a plastic tarp from Walmart for my first attempt, since I have about 10 of those, and if I like it I might look into one of the nylon ones. This is for car camping anyway so no concerns about weight just yet.

So the tent I've been using for a while finally is beyond repair so instead of spending a lot of money on a new one I'm thinking about just using my cot and a tarp. However I've never used a tarp to sleep under so I'm looking for some pointers. I thought about maybe using a hammock as well. I'm in North FL/South GA so I'm not really worried about cold though bugs might be an issue. I plan on getting a bug screen of some sort as well.

I have a hard copy of the GSS and it's in the margins, somewhere. it isn't in the current one online and I can't off the top of my head remember what version it is.

Some might but I certainly do not. I would like the troop to take the Webs camping because, by the rules, they can do more fun things when with Boy Scouts. Which honestly if the one trip they invited the Webs on was fun for them that would do way more them than multiple trips. Do I think the restriction on the Webelos activates are silly yes but I have decided I am not going to disobey them when there is a fairly simple fix. A troop Guide as PL for a bunch of visiting Webs sounds ok, though I would think a Den Chief would have been a better idea (though around here at least that just isn't going to happen). I don't think Web II's should be camping with the pack, going to Cub-o-ree etc, (council events here are always a circus) It's a step backwards for them. As far as me camping goes, I have taken Owls, IOLS, Baloo, and was a Boy Scout and have camped regularly my entire life. I don't need the Boy Scouts to do anything I would just like a little less attitude about Webelos from them.

Webelos II are 4-5 months from being Boy Scouts, so a lot of the boys in the troop will be barely a year older. Not that I would expect a troop to invite the Webs to every camp out more than a single Webelos III type camping trip would be nice. How about inviting the Webs to go on a tune-up hike or canoeing etc. If the boys that crossed over the year before can handle the Web II's probably can too maybe they'll need a little help from the older scouts but then shouldn't those guys be offering to help anyway. Every single camping trip I have ever seen a Troop offer the Webeols might as well be a Pack camping trip for the amount of adventure or Boy Scout flavor they offer. And that has nothing to do with the BSA rules it has to do with the attitude Boy Scout leaders (adult mostly) have concerning the Webelos.

When Webelos are with Boy Scouts they can do whatever the boy scouts are doing (baring age restrictions) As far as the parents go, well that's sort of the Scoutmasters job, to teach the parents what to do/how to handle Boy Scouts. If you aren't comfortable with that that's fine but the attitude that "Webelos need to stay with the Cubs" is one of the problems with keeping boys excited about the program. By the time they are Webelos II they are, by and large, tired of dealing with the Tigers and new parents and if I'm being honest so am I. Webelos resident camp has been taken over by allowing the Tiger thru bears at camp with a parent. So now the already second class webelos have their limited class leaders stretched thin teaching tigers as well. Webelos II shouldn't be camping with the pack, they should be learning how to be Boy Scouts. That means camping on their own and with Boy Scouts

Camping on our own. I would like to have them camp with the Boy Scouts but it just isn't going to happen on a regular basis. We do have one camping trip scheduled with a troop but that's it.

I was never a Cub or Webelos when I was a boy and only got involved with my son but I'd have to agree. Most of my parents still want to have the whole family camp when my Webelos den camps, I don't allow that no siblings and only a single parent (which I discourage). I two families drop scouting because I wouldn't allow siblings on Den camping trips.

Honestly I didn't really care about the "purpose" too much (adult) purpose turn an otherwise fun time into a school project. If the boys aren't having fun they won't stay in the program. But a bunch of boys running around in the woods on their own sounds like a great boy lead leadership opportunity to me.

For the first den camping trip with my Webelos I scheduled nothing. Pack camping is always so structured with little down time, so I decided the only thing I wanted them to do all weekend was run around in the woods and be kids. I did plan the cooking of meals but that was it. They did work on building a fire because they asked if they could, other than that they played in the mud. the consensus was it was the most fun they had had camping.

The GSS is not a legal document, despite how much it may resemble one, so a law dictionary doesn't really have any bearing on what it means. Anyway how are you supposed to ascertain who is a guardian (using the legal definition)? Mom shows up at every meeting with a guy and says they are married. Are they or are they just dating?

I don't see how it's even possible for SM to decide if a scout is preforming his "Duty to god". I'm not Christian but was raised that way so I could probably make an educated guess if a scout was trying to be a good Christian. Other than that I have no idea, what constitutes a good Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Wiccan, etc. So as far as I'm concerned it's just a question for the scout "Do you perform your duty to god as you understand it" anything other than an outright "no" gets a sign off. I honestly have no idea how to do it otherwise.

Well after visiting 5 different troops and camping with 3 of them (one a disaster) my son finally picked a troop. they recently picked up another entire troop when their CO dropped them and went from 20 scouts to 50 since January. Boy lead, to a degree and troop focused. The incoming SM says he wants it to get more patrol focused and truly boy lead. We'll see. I wasn't overly impressed with the adult leaders but the Scouts impressed me.

Not sure we are speaking the same language, car camping means driving right up to the camp site, not sleeping in a car. And there are plenty of places close by to camp but only so many that hiking in is really an option and are clos enough to be a real option to make on a Friday after 8 hours of school/work. Yeah they could hike into one of the scout camps along a paved road or the other close one on a dirt road but why other than to prove you can walk a couple miles on a road with a backpack. It doesn't offer any particular challenge or anything interesting to look at. Not to mention even boys on occasion like to take it easy.