TAHAWK

If a third person indeed must be party to every telephone communication, we have to hang up if a Scout calls to arrange a MB meeting or hang up if only the Scout answers a telephone call to his number. Otherwise we would be communicating in private. Consistently, I could only counsel a MB candidate if every word is heard by a third party, which is not required by the specific rules for MB Counselors. I chose to believe that cannot be the rule until BSA expressly says so. I believe that particularly in light of the demonstrated inability of BSA to consistently communicate clearly. For example with specific regard to YPT, the YPT training AV formerly said that all "discipline" in Scouting must be handled by adults. This apparent dictat, of course, contradicted a good many other statements in concurrent BSA literature and would reduce the troops leaders, by which I try to always mean Scouts, to nothing more than snitches: "Mr. Smith, Johnny won't do his share of KP/stay with the patrol on the trial/keep his tent neat. I would talk to him about ti, but you said all discipline must be handled by adults." (Upon complaint channeled through my council, the language was amended to require consultation with adults before anything is done along the lines of discipline - also contrary to other BSA literature. Someone should reprise Bill's old unofficial role of making sure all the statement coming out of National make sense and make sense in the context of Scouting, as opposed, say, only in the context of risk management.

Learning is often a result of experience, and a good bit of that experience is bad experience. Try cooking competitions instead of prohibition.

Based on my experiment, there does seem to be a limit on the number of words allowed in a post. Not sure what is is, but the post I could not make was OK in three parts. Perhaps a faster Internet connection makes a difference. Literally the only service I can get is digital over copper - better than dial-up but relatively slow. Fiber is two miles away, as it was twenty years ago, and the trees block dish..

In Ohio we have a Conceal Handgun Permit. A concealed anything else, if deemed to be carried as a weapon, is not covered by a Concealed Handgun Permit (Which does allow carrying a loaded ling gun in a motor vehicle.) I am responsible for my own many mistakes, not Stroud's. The most respected experts on the topic of survival suggest sheath knives. While Stroud is serious about the topic, he is also the guy who has burned himself out of his expedient brush shelter more than once by building an open fire inside the shelter and then, deliberately, going to sleep. Especially as they are recommended by BSA, as noted above, and required if we are to meet our obligation to teach their safe use as that obligation is expressly recognized by the G2SS, as also noted above.

When last I looked, the most common woods tool accident recorded at BSA camps was "knife closed on finger." look good but the metal is too soft to hold an edge. They get dull and dangerous quickly. Carbon steel knives generally look like crap, but they are the best for holding an edge because of their hardness. For this reason I carry only older knives that have carbon steel blades. Alas, Stosh, we are showing age. I too recall when stainless steel knives were soft - or brittle. For some years, the decent knives with the hardest, most abrasion-resistant edges have been stainless steel. They are harder even that D2 tool steel, the standard for hard among "carbon steel." The large chromium carbides are close to diamond hard.

Wiggle room?

Tried for a third time to post. Pacifier for ten secs. Nothing. Is there a limit on size of posts?

Maybe it's OK if you use an analog telephone. I still have one sitting to my left. "Western Electric. Bell System Property."

Tried again. Noticed the pacifier bar lop center. It ran for about ten seconds, then went away. No post.

Sorry. I will post in the other place. Should have noticed.

Tried again. Noticed the pacifier bar lop center. It ran for about ten seconds, then went away. No post.

Attempted to post. Nothing happened. Mo message, just nothing happened.

We all had to have our lines perfectly memorized, or those waiting to challenge us for our positions on the ceremonial team would quick send us off. "even to the giving of their blood." Awareness of blood-born pathogens took care of that.

BSA: Q. I’m going on a camping trip with my troop, but my hunting knife broke. I see a lot of different hunting knives advertised. How do I know which one to buy? – Knifeless Neil, Summerville, S.C. A. The best type of knife for camping trips — and most any other outdoor activity, for that matter — is a short, fixed-blade knife with a beefy handle. Folding pocketknives can fold up on your hand while cutting. Not fixed blades. And remember: When it comes to blades, bigger isn’t always better. Avoid blades longer than four inches. A small, sharp blade can cut just as well as a long one, but it’s safer to handle and easier to maneuver in tight spots. With a good fixed blade you’ll be set for most anything the outdoors can throw at you — whittling, cutting, notching, butchering, filleting, even spreading peanut butter. Here are two of my favorite fixed-blade knives: Buck Diamondback Guide ($27; http://www.buckknives.com/)This knife has a 3 1/8-inch-long drop-point blade with a texturized rubber handle. SOG Field Pup ($60; http://www.sogknives.com/)A four-inch stainless steel straight-edge blade with an easy-to-grip handle and nylon sheath. Boy's Life, June, 2008. G2SS Comment: Can openers are rarely used in the backcountry for the last several decades because backcountry foods rarely come in cans. Those who rarely venture into the backcountry doubtless are unaware of that fact. Car-camping presents a different situation where a can opener is quite useful. The most common use of sheath knives issued to U.S. military personnel in WWII was to open food cans, a task they perform easily and with no threat to the knife. B.S.A. does not explain what "large sheath knife means." The exception for knives "for cleaning fish" suggests that length of blade may be one criteria. However, the statement that "large" means "heavy" flies against length as a sole criteria as filleting knives are notably light. So we simply have a vague standard - and no prohibition whatsoever. The statement on Outdoor Program suggests that knives, and the justification for their possession by Scouts, are connected in the minds of the authors of the G2SS with knives, It is an open question whether knives are, in reality, more used outdoors or in the indoor kitchen. The fixed-blade knife is the classic outdoor tool, with the even more dangerous axe as the nearest competitor. The last sentence seems to be an acknowledgment of our duty to teach proper use of a knife not illegal to "own," which in Ohio is every single knife. "Possessed" would have been less inclusive. Laws are written to control possession of knives. And, of course, it is difficult to teach the safe use of legally owned knives if entire classes of them are prohibited by "zero tolerance" rules. Although years have passed since B.S.A. acknowledged its "duty" to, in effect, teach proper use of fixed-blade knives, the training material formerly in the Handbook and Fieldbook remain missing in action. So volunteers are left to their own devices to carry out our acknowledged, specific "duty." Again, communication.

What is a "rule" that is not enforced?

The Guide (hereinafter "G2SS") is subtitled "A Guide to Current Policies and Procedures [regarding safety]" "Current," in this case, needs to understood to mean not literally current as the Scouter is directed to review the quarterly updates which are incorporated into G2SS by reference. In fact, G2ss clearly reminds us that it does not address all safety rules, policies, and procedures: "The Guide to Safe Scouting provides an overview of Scouting policies and procedures rather than comprehensive, standalone documentation. For some items, the policy statements are complete. Unit leaders are expected to review the additional reference material cited prior to conducting such activities." This statement is significant, because G2SS states that, beyond a mere expectation, we "must" "know, understand, and comply with all rules, policies, and procedures." So, can we but find them all, G2SS at least seems to say that a "rule," "policy," or "procedure" is something that we "must" follow. G2SS gives no such guidance to language that is only a "guideline," without being a rule, policy, or procedure. One subject were mandatory language might seem appropriate would be safe driving. Scouts are nowhere more at danger than in a Scouter's motor vehicle. Nevertheless, the new "materials" on driving safety ("The Risk Zone") neither issue commands or directives or are described as setting out rules, policies, or procedures. Your question does not address The Sweet 16 of BSA Safety, "16 points that embody good judgment and common sense for all activities." These sixteen points "are applicable" to "all activities," so they may be rules, policies, or procedures, although they are not given any of those labels. This is an area, as with others, where the communications performance of BSA could be improved upon.

A sincere but erroneous belief can be more damaging than a lie.

We have never had only one DE slot - sometime unfilled. That's since 1981. If you expect DE's to do volunteers' jobs (advancement, program, advancement, training, commissioner's service), one is too many.

People in the JTE bubble speak only for themselves and for JTE. If you think you need backup, ask the district or council Advancement Committee.

Not a problem in this area. Ash Borer getting closer and closer. 0___0

So it isn't even a Boy Scout Troop. Boy Scouts of America, 2015 ( and every year since 1930). We ought to try Boy Scouting before deciding it does not "work."

If the kid gets hurt, his representatives may sue, and any release not approved by the court with jurisdiction over juvenile matters is usually worthless. (In Ohio, that is the Probate Division of the Court of Common Pleas. In other states, it's the Family Court.) A release is a contract. In most states, parents cannot contract for their children without court approval and children are legally incompetent to contract. A permission slip does create a defense to a charge of kidnapping and, thus, should be specific to each outing. And yes, we had a fine single parent claim a Scoutmaster had kidnapped their son. (Kid said she knew and had packed his lunch. Learned judge decided she was "nuts" and dismissed charges with prosecutor's concurrence.) A medical care release will usually be honored by a health care provider, who may refuse treatment in its absence. (Ask me why I am real careful about that. Blood dripping on hospital lobby floor and all that.)

And another. Imagine fields of snow.

Around here, natural reclamation of old fields and pastures produces thickets of maples and White Ash and little else. The borer will change that shortly to all maple. Results in lots of material for pioneering poles as there are few lower branches. Over generations, other species start appearing - oaks, yellow popular, hornbeam, feral apple, hemlock if the terrain is right.

Likely, it's a MBC who is only willing to work with Scouts from the troop ion which the MBC is registered as an adult.