SWScouter

Anne, when you visit the units, always let them know you're coming, even if you get an open invitation. Also, always bring them something, such as the flyers handed out at roundtable. Good luck! SWScouter

Joni, You'll want the red Centennial Quality Unit Award patch. Not the black Quality Unit patch. The Centennial Quality Unit program has replaced the Quality Unit program and the black 2007 Quality Unit patch was for units that received Quality Unit at the end of 2006 when the recharted for 2007. If your unit is a 100% Boys Life unit, then there is a special red 2007 CQU 100% Boys Life patch to use instead. SWScouter

I remember cooking cornish game hens for dinner on overnight backpacking trips. Each scout has their own. We cooked them over a fire. Bacon or sausage and pancakes was common for breakfast, as was oatmeal.

I'm going to throw something else out here. What CSP do you where on the District Committee shirt? I assume the one for the Council the district is in. It seems to me then that you should also where the pocket flap for that council's lodge, and then, only if you are registered with that lodge. If you are not a member of that lodge (not even considering dual membership issues; would anyone really care?) then you shouldn't wear the flap. SWScouter

Get them away from the cars and backpacking more. The extra food and the wasted food will stop if they need to carry it around.

For the W4C conclave, units taking scouts had to submit a tour permit and such. That is, this fell under the purvue of the visiting unit. I don't know how individual scouts attending conclave on their own were handled.

FScouter, The diff is that $20 annual registration would be a better revenue stream. I'm sure a lot more people pay the registration fee each year than buy a new shirt each year.

I think we as scouters can help set a better example when it comes to diet and exercise than many of us do now. Here's an example. Several times over the years, I have attended some scouter trainings that served lunch by demonstrating dutch oven cooking. I have yet to attend one were decent meals were cooked. It seems that many are under the impression that if a meal is cooked in a dutch oven it has to be exorbitantly fattening! That simply is hogwash. Why, when people cook cobbler, do they need to coat the top with a layer of butter? I've never used butter on cobbler and it tastes great. Why when people cook a Mt Man breakfast don't they drain all the grease from cooking a package of bacon? Is there really any reason all that grease needs to stay in the pot when the eggs and potatoes are added? I always drain the grease and it tastes great. Why are all the dishes greasy and fattening? I just don't understand.(This message has been edited by SWScouter)

A little story about transferring scouts. Backgroound: About a year and a half ago, five scouts transferred from one troop into the troop my son and I are members of. Those five scouts had been together for a long time but there was some conflict with some leaders and there wasn't too many active scouts other than the five. The troop: Great group of scouts. Everyone seems to get along well enough and everyone respects each other and no one would ever ridicule any other scout, especially a couple scouts that are special needs and a bit "different." The transfer: New scouts keep to themselves at first. A fair bit of setting the pecking order started. There were some minor turf wars and stuff. Us adults had to keep our eyes open and nip this sort of behavior in the bud. There was some resentment from the previous scouts to the transferring scouts. The scouts were worried about the troop being ruined. Now: Transferred scouts are sometimes still referred to as the scouts that transferred but not much. They have become a major part of the troop. Everyone gets along fine and respects each other as before. There is definitely a different dynamic than before. It ended up helping the troop. One of the transferring scouts dropped out several months after the transfer. I think the biggest issue was with the scouts establishing the pecking order and their own territory so to speak. That will have to happen but it's important to keep a wary eye out for stopping any ridiculing and teasing that tends to occur when that is happening. A lot of mini conferences and some SM minutes about differences, talents, strengths, helpfulness, etc can go a long way in the scouts transition. Good luck, SWScouter

I was wondering the same thing that Molscouter brought up. When requirement 11 was added to 1st Class a few years ago, there was a grace period where scouts already working on first class had time to earn the rank without completing the new requirement. Once that period ended, the scouts needed to complete requirement 11. It seems reasonable that something like that would occur now too, though I haven't seen anything more. SWScouter

One thing. If you're the lodge chief, then you are under 21 and you won't be able to register in any council or district positions. All those require one to be 21 or older. There isn't a lodge chief position patch either, so just keep your uniforms as they are, don't worry about dual registration and any of that stuff. I hope you have a great year as lodge chief! SWScouter

Well Fred, some may say that BSA is being assimilated by that evil empire Microsoft

Longhaul, are you saying that all roundtable staff wear the roundtable commissioner position patch? That seems strange to me. My understanding is that there are four different RT commissioners, one for each program type (Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, Varsity Scouting, and Venturing). There would be a commissioner that is in charge of each program's RT. That would be the RT Commissioner. Each commissioner would have several people helping out, running breakouts, etc. Those people would be RT Staff.

There is no limit on how many scouts in a troop can be elected to the OA in any election. All eligible can be elected.

Alright, local1400, it actually is on a tag on the uniform shirt! At least one I have hanging in the closet. I got a brand new longsleaved shirt for my son off ebay ahile ago but it is still too big for him. The "Scout Uniform" tag opens up and has the diagrams for patch placement for the left/right sleeves and the left/right pockets.(This message has been edited by SWScouter)

Ed, I don't consider roundtable staff commissioners, however, I do consider them part of commissioner service. Like I mentioned, the "training" award for commissioners is the Arrowhead award. Roundtable staff are not eligible to earn the Arrowhead award, however they are eligible to earn the training award. SWScouter

Local1400, it's already in all the handbooks.

I don't mean this to seem like we're picking on you MVScouter, but there is no training award for round table commissioners or any other type of commissioners. I believe there used to be, but there isn't now. There are training awards for round table staff though. The "training" award for commissioners is the Arrowhead award. SWScouter

Which god stone, oh, the God stone. Why would we even want the God stone mixed in with those other god stones like Mercury, Mars, etc.

What are some ideas to increase the numbers of Ordeal members that seal their membership in the OA by getting their Brotherhood? I know that one thing a lodge needs to achieve for quality lodge is a 30% conversion rate. To me that seems rather low. Some thoughts: Challenge the adults that go through their ordeal to get their brotherhood and to bring along those scouts in the troop too. When an adult that went through their ordeal as a scout joins the lodge as an adult, encourage him to go through the next brotherhood ceremony and to bring some scouts along too.

I'm confused; was the scout trying to light the snow on fire? Or was he attempting to light the paint on the snow? Or was he trying to light the paint spraying out of the can?

I don't think the idea is for units to challenge themselves. I think the idea is for the units to look at where they're at and improve on that.

Hey Gern, I doubt Romney wants anything to do with the FLDS church! Their prophet just got sentenced to jail for supporting underage sex or something like that (FLDS practice polygamy and marry off very young women (13/14) to grown men). The FLDS is all the media rage here in Phoenix.

Right, there has been a lot of difficulties rolling out this program. I know the western region president sent an email on this to all the western region councils. Basically I was told (I'm a District Commissioner) that units should look for improvement and if there was improvement, then the unit should qualify for the award. This goes for units that filled out the commitment form and also those that did not. There were a lot of units that made unacheivable commitments for example that will now be able to get the award. For example, a pack with 10 Webelos that graduated to boy scouts out of 50 cubs may have committed to 90% retention, an impossibility. That unit probably should have committed to something like 70%-74%. The form goes to the district. Basically the unit leaders meet with their unit commissioner and fill the form out. The unit should keep a copy for records and the UC should get a copy to the district commissioner. The forms are changing for 2008. SWScouter

If you really want to make it difficult for them to dial, remove the rotary, or the buttons. Make them dial by flashing the hookswitch. Awhile ago I called home and my son answered. I asked to talk to Mother. Son said he couldn't get her because he was on the cord phone! When did we make the transition from cordless phones to cord phones? SWScouter