BigSprings

Well I guess I'm paranoid for having a fire extinguisher in my house, or first aid kit on outings, or tire plug kit in my truck, extra key in my wallet. The prepared vs. paranoid debate goes on, I suppose. I am a CCW holder and carry whenever I can. Carry on schools is a felony in my state, so between scout meetings and kid transport that limits it quite a bit. I've gone back and forth about carrying on outings because of the GTSS policy. I've thought that if I ever actually had to draw on a threat, the last thing I'll be worried about it the GTSS and my future career as a scouter. I'm uncomfortable not carrying on outings, but also somewhat as uncomfortable when I do. When I do, it is definitely deep concealment. I'm ok if some want to label that as paranoid. Ok gotta go...have to go flag the land mines on the property and check the perimeter.

Jumping in here because we just did our Fall campout last weekend... Our Pack does individual cook for both breakfasts and lunch, but we do a Pack dinner. A few leader volunteers organize and make the main course, and all families bring sides, desserts, tableware, drinks, to share. We collect donations at dinner time, and usually offset the cost. Last weekend we did BBQ pork skewers, BBQ chicken, 60 lbs of potatoes baked on charcoal in foil, and fresh salad to feed 100+ people. It worked out pretty well, but there was a lot of prep/pre-cooking ahead of time by a few adults. We did 'gourmet foil packs' in the spring, which was again a lot of prep work by a few, but we made and cooked 100+ foil packs with a lot of success. I'm thinking of deep frying a few turkeys for our Oct2013 trip, doing a 'Thanksgiving in October' (Canadian?) theme with all families helping with the sides. Giant stock pots of instant mashed potatoes, stuffing, green been casserole in dutch ovens...why not!

Agreed with Eagle732. Patch would be cool, but bringing him up to tell the story, followed by the whole Pack doing a cheer for him would be plenty! It would be positive recognition, no trophies, and it will encourage the cub and others to do more good turns. If that leads to more good turns and more cubs getting a cheer done for them, I'd be ok with that trade-off in time at the Pack meeting.

Not 100% sure, but since this is an Award of Merit and you have to nominated by others for it, I suspect that it the one-knot-at-a-time rule wouldn't apply. I'm assuming the District AoM, and all silver animal awards are the same.