Sentinel947

It's supposed to be a lesson in being responsible for something beyond themselves. ​Leadership is a goal of the program, but not exclusively the goal of POR's.

​ Guide to Advancement. Page 26. 4.2.3.4. "Positions must be chosen from among those listed." http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/33088.pdf While I agree in principle that a Patrol level POR may make an excellent leadership opportunity, it doesn't count for BSA requirements. Not all good things in life "count". Somethings in life that "count" don't matter. ​Sentinel947

My troop does use optional Patrol Positions like Patrol Grubmaster or Quartermaster. They are assigned by method to be decided by the patrol. ​They do not count as POR's for Rank Advancement. John in KC is correct in what I've learned, observed and taught about the BSA's position on rank advancement and POR's ​Sentinel947

Glad to hear you're back with your Scouting family, and welcome to your Scouter.com extended Scouting family.

90%? Why not 95%. Specifics matter. What regulations would you remove?

I challenge that assumption. Size is not an indicator of the ability or inability to use the patrol method or the boys leading themselves. Although I grant you are probably right that the Troops aren't effectively using the patrol method or letting the Scouts lead. Ideally, Troops should be 4-5 patrols, around 32 boys or so. But you're going to have scenarios where that doesn't work. Take my troop for example. 70+ registered Scouts. 1 SM, 3 more ASM's. (soon to add two more). The Scoutmasters son is 17. Another ASM's son is 15, and another is 16. I have no sons. The new guys have younger sons, but we can't get anybody to volunteer to take over for the SM. If we split, now we'd need to find TWO new SMs. Who do you send to lead the new Troop? How do you duplicate the committee? There's a ton of risk involved there. The ironic bit is that the Troop did split back in the early 2000's. Both Troops are now at the 70+ size. So it can be done, but there has to be a demand for it, and it needs to be carefully planned out. Every couple of years we evaluate the Troop, and we keep hitting the same issues. Sentinel947

I wish the uniforms looked like that now honestly.

http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2014/07/30/different-colors-scouting-shoulder-loops-mean/

That's the way to do it.

What Krampus said holds true for my unit as well.

As a hawks fan, I was pleased with Superbowl 48.

I don't follow that council or the Magazine.

The little steps forward we take are awesome, and it's important to stop and smell the roses. Otherwise we drive ourselves nuts trying to constantly improve things, and never appreciate the accomplishments the boys make.

My church celebrated Scout Sunday. Otherwise.....It's nearly 1pm in the EST and no post from the BSA facebook about what day it is today..

Grammer police sighted!!!

That has never happened in my Troop, and we've always had an SPL for over 20 years.

I wouldn't punish scouts for the mistake's of adults, but you should contact your District Executive. He'll probably tell you the same thing I did.

I. Love. That. Answer. Our Scoutmaster invites folks. CC approves. Any other aspect of the process is hidden to me. I stay in my lane, that's not my lane. We have 1 Scoutmaster. 4 ASM's that still actively attend meetings and camp, and another 3 Assistant Scoutmaster Emertius, who are not active, but will come by and pitch in when they can. We have 75 Scouts on the roster after rechartering. Sentinel947

Build a program that forces the Scouts to need their scouting skills, and they will retain them.

Perfect timing. http://scoutmastercg...-boy-led-troop/

Good observation. It's 100% impossible to do it without the SM or the CC. In my experience even with those two in place, it still will not go quickly. Especially if you encourage the Scouts to lead the transition, it will be even slower. We're on year 2, and it's going nowhere fast, but the boys are engaged, they're taking the lead. Sometimes I get frustrated with the glacial pace of progress, but I look back on where the Troop was at in 2013-2014, and I realize just how far we've come already. I liked your steps you outlined.

I'm going to venture the possibly contentious observation that being "boy lead" is a continuum. It's not as simple as an on/off switch. Any troop that has tried to shift from heavily adult organized to youth making the decisions know how much of a continuum it is. I realized I could try to hunt down every little thing we didn't do right. I even had a rather lengthy document typed up on the subject. (If anybody is curious how out in the weeds a troop can get, I can PM you it with redactions.) After a few months of pushing, I realized I had to prioritize what I was pushing for, and what battles were most important. I choose the patrol method as the single most important objective, and until that is accomplished, I'm ignoring the other battles. Our scoutmaster still addresses the whole troop on occasion. Our election structure is still whacked out. I resent the implication that it means we are totally adult lead. We're in the transition process towards a more youth led troop, and we will be even when I step aside from this troop. Always push for your troop to get better. Fight for changes like no adult announcements, no adult emails, but don't put the cart before the horse. Prioritize what's really getting in the way of your scouts making decisions and leading their program, and take care of that stuff first. Never, ever, let perfect be the enemy of good. Local situations, your mileage will vary. Sentinel947

There can be plenty of drama on the program side too. Between the scouts. Between the adult volunteers, between parents and adult volunteers.

Got it, I've already been removing duplicate posts when I see them.

Welcome to the forum.