TAHAWK

I think most of understand that the Scoutmasters are a big part of the problem. That does not excuse the pushers of this toxic product.. ​The signatures of the SM's are, unless registered as Counselors for that Merit Badge, void. It is Councils duty to refuse to accept the aaDvancement Report of issue the Merit Badges. What do we know is going on when camp after camps says it is not a merit badge mill.

To extend the sports analogy, ask your SPL what he would think of this headline:

Met two Scouts for MB counseling today. Learned some more about Camp Runamuk. The First Aid "counselor" celebrated his 18th birthday mid Week 5. But, he told the candidates, that's OK because the Area Director, who's a Scouter, will sign all the Blue Cards. The Citizenship badges were handled mike the Scoutcraft badges - no individual testing. Only participation in discussion required.

Sorry. I like to be the model of the modern Major-General; I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabulus. (^___^)

Oh, using Scouting. To be sure. Didn't know he spoke for Scouting. Can't find where he did, but have not read everything. Did he appear at press conferences in Uniform or in front of a Boy Scout flag? All I can find are pictures of Fox in a golf shirt in front of some trees. Surely, if he did act under color of his role in Scouting, he is merely speaking as a citizen. Our purpose, in material part, is to make good citizens. If - if - what he related did happen, a good citizen would raise a stink about it. But, in any case, how does BSA enforce that? Of course, there was a series of Honorary Presidents of the Boy Scouts of America giving State of the Union addresses, but we know that does not count. In my youth, BSA was picketed every Scout Week by the John Birch Society for our integrated troops, World Brotherhood Merit Badge, and trick-or-treating for UNICEF. Filthy, left-wing, pinko Boy Scouts! Comsips at best! Now BSA is attacked for, oh , this and that. Say promotong a social position or agenda. Filthy right-wing para-fascists homophobes! And guns too !!!! As Joe Louis said of a different arena, you can run but you can't hide. Even when you want to hide.

We have pictures in our Scout museum of Scouts, some in uniform, pre- BSA. You were a B.S.A. Boy Scout in 1911 when you joined a Boy Scout patrol passed certain tests and took the Scout Oath. . There were , in 1911, Tenderfoot pins, Second Class pins, and First Class pins, all described and specified in the first Handbook.

Interesting as LVPD has no jurisdiction over the shooting itself. Over possible illegal sale of a firearm? Sure. But not the homicide or suicide.

+10 for qwazse's very practical suggestion. I had a couple of "super" SPLs back in the day. Sometimes, very able people find it hard to share authority. (Not that Scouters ever have that problem vis-a-vis leaders [that is Scouts who lead].) So, some other possiblities: Sit dowrn with the SPL . Have a talk [to be sure with someone else in sight. 0___0]. Tell him there is no troop method in Scouting. Give him a brief summary of the Patrol Method. (Not easy as there has been no description published by BSA in decades.) Tell him he is in charge of troop events, not the patrols as patrols. Tell him you will evaluate his performance, in pertinent part, on how he works THROUGH the PLs to get the troop activities to run and how well he develops PLs as good leaders. "What did the PLs accomplish on this campout?" "I measure your success in how well the PLs are leading." "How is the X Patrol developing as a team?" Tell him the plan for activities is to reflect what the patrol members want, as communicated by the PLs. He is the chairperson of the PLC but has one (1) vote and so needs the PLs get stronger. He needs to insure that the wishes of the patrol members are being brought to the PLC process. All this not because he is less but because other leaders (that is Scouts who lead) need to be developed so the troop can go on as an institution. Use your influence to reduce the relative number of troop activities and increase the number of patrol activities. The Scouts whould be spending the majority of their time in the partol context in any case. Make it clear to the SPL that he has no role in patrol activities except to monitor for safety, to ask the Pl how things went, and make appropriate suggestions -- not orders, suggestions -- to the PL one-on-one after the activity. Better this problem than the zombie SPL who wants the title, but not the job, solely for a resume item. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ The patrol is the team. The troop is the league.

A leader, that is a Scout, told me one day that "The load expands to full available space - or worse." And we were talking Yucca Packs. Seems like we were missing all sorts of essential gear - that didn't exist then. We didn't know it was essential. Sometimes Life Otherwise interferes with Scouting Life.

Que Ko Ko. ^___^

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Since we're talking ALICE, the principle that most of the weight should go on the hips was discovered at least as far back as our Civil War by a Union Army surgeon. He could not convince the brass (who disliked magazine rifles 'cause you could lay down a rapid volume of fire) and gave up trying. Jump forward a century or so. Kelty rediscovered the lost secret in the 1960's. By 2004 the Military had caught up with Civil War load bearing principles. May not be quick but certainly are slow.

Your unit either supports the integrity of the process or does not.

The camp in whitch I staffed as a kid was in the mountains in So. Cal. We had constant fire bans and, as noted, even stove bans. By 1959, patrol cooking was about dead for summer camp, but pretty much all the units were camping every month of the year, so lots of cooking (and fire-building) experince. Old timers told me about non-troop summer camping with "site counselors" and "cabin counselors." I thought that sounded odd, like going to a Jamboree other than in your troop. Oh well. Our council had two summer camp reservations at one time. The "primitive" one (cold showers; no dining hall; no indoor class spaces) consistently filled better as a % than the camp with all the buildings. In some weeks, it had more campers in ten sites than the "big" camp with thirty. So they sold the primitive camp. The campers did not switch to the "big" camp. They went elsewhere. The SE at the time said he "did not understand." Too bad that was not a moment of insight instead of merely being true. Where did the primitive camp keep the papers and other things that needed to be dry? In wanigans or plastic tubs.

"My" troop from 1983-1987 and the troop I joined thereafter for twenty-five years did it's own cooking, and the Scouts wanted it no other way. They liked the meals that they planned and cooked. Cooking quickly morphed into one of the biggest features of camp for them - Iron Chef Thursday. Invited staff favorites loved it. Having said that, the Battle of the Dining Hall was lost fifty years ago. My council's training center was turned into a poorly-laid-out dining hall by unmistakable customer demand - as in "No Dining Hall," we're going somewhere else." The camp just attended did have about 100 Scouts cooking that week. Some untis are, thankfully, incorrigible. We were cooking there in 2010.

I have seen it in thirteen camps now in five states. Again, when dozens of camps say on their website "Camp Runamuck is not a Merit Badge Mill," its not a local problem. National says its not a local problem. Even where the "Counselors" know their stuff and are registered MBCs, they do not have time to test, individually on each requirement when the candidates show up starting at zero - something regarded as embarassing when I was a Scout - unless you have tiny class sizes. We came back with very few partials. One kid got - got - seven MB's. Unlike prior unit I was with, SM has no concern as he feels advancement is the entire purpose of Scouting. (Distinguish: "advancement" vs recognition for achievement.) We go to about three weekend MB programs a year. Aviation in a day. Rifle Shooting in a day. Great stuff. 0___0 We lead the Council in "Eagle Scouts." Could they earn it? We'll never know. Totally untrained SM. Scotumaster of the Year for 2011. Totally untrained Committee. Much practice in cheerfulness and grinding teeth. Years ago, camp was to tackle tough requirements and get signed off on requirements hard to do back home - field sports, waterfront, the long hikes -- and have fun ! Oh, and how do the honest camps compete with the mills? This camp this year filled seven weeks. Food was great. Staff is friendly. Pleasant con game with good meals.

Is it conceivable that an OA member could faithfully observe and preserve the traditions of the Order by Scouting in a unit? I hear someone saying, "Brothers, what is our purpose?" Perhaps the OA has changed. It turned out to be so weak - almost dead - here that I lost track. One year it had absolutely no meetings or activiites for the membership in general. Besides, my original Lodge merged out, as they say, and a lot of my feelings were tied up in that Lodge.

Some things are better than in the 1950's -1960's, not to mention the really early years BB (before Bill).. Some things are worse. As for I submit that there" is nothing "simple" about an historical analysis of any significant social institution over nearly 106 years. (And if you think it's 104 - even in the U.S. - you are not in a position to discuss the history. Hint: there were 99 troops in Cleveland when the B.S.A. first showed up in 1912, and many were four years old.) Scouting for the first twenty years looked pretty questionable from the standpoint of a teenager at the height of "Fifty Years" in 1960. There was no Patrol Method "back then." Adults were told in so many words not to trust boy leaders. Some of the early scoutcraft ideas were frankly silly. (Can we post pictues here? I have some doozies - like standing on the log to "buck" it betwwen your feet.) Some of the early first aid was dangerous. The advice not to drink water when exercising - "Suck on a pebble." - was a special laugh for Scouts when I was one. Gear had been primitive (Ours was so "advanced": wood back boards with unpadded canvas straps; even actual aluminum frames! [no waist belts]). Stewardship of nature had been heavily into "Subdue the Earth" (and was still fairly axe/saw oriented + "Burn/bash/bury."). And those uniforms - jeesh!! But, even allowing for the tinted glasses of age, kids were more disciplined (if less sophisticated){Mom was at home.), advancement was harder to achieve (1% Eagles), and everyone knew the very few troops that did not follow the Patrol Method as laid out by Bill in 1950. Our Council annually and publically recpognized the vast majority certified as following TPM, and by negative implication the few that did not. I can't seem to convince our Council to do that recognition thing. Popcorn? Yes FOS? Yes. 100% Boy's Life? Yes. Not TPM. It's that last issue that grates, The Patrol Method was supposed to be the big thing -- method off all methods. All else sprang from that. (E.g. you wanted to go camping with your friends; it was time with your friends ! ) B.S.A. still says so. I cannot find a single even slightly veteran Scouter who does not believe that the Patrol Method has been allowed to deteriorate. Now, I run Klondike evensts and the "patrol" members have trouble telling me what patrol they are in, have a five-minute flag, and confess they are just together 'for the Klondike." I work with a troop where, when I joined, even the "Patrol Leaders" literally could not tell me what patrol they were in. And that Scoutmaster had just been named "Scoutmaster of the Year." If you think that is how it was in the 1950's and 1960's, I have a "simple" for you. One thing that history has taught anyone who looks: it's not always onwards and upwards. Change is not inevitable improvement. Some things are worth keeping and, so, worth fighting for. I distingush working and fighting from jus' bitching. I still hope. (New SM syllabus coming out.)

Assuming that B.S.A. remains successful in asserting its exclusive ownership of "Scout" and "Scouting," no other organization can use those words in connection with a youth program, a product aimed at Scouts, or any use that in any way suggests any relationship with Scouts or Scouting. B.S.A. owns the words used in those contexts. Wann'a call your truck model or rifle model a "Scout? Go ahead. Wanna' say you operating a "Scouting" program for youth, that your youth members are "Scouts," or that your youth program follows "Scouting"? Do it and, off the history in Courts, get sued and lose.

From the website of the Transportation Safety Administration (blog.tsa.gov):

Even assuming Fox is exagerating, hyperbole is as American (British, German, Frence, Greek) as apple pie. Its use has certainly not stopped what passes for political discourse. The video may or may not show everything that happened, but CPB claims it does and that it shows no weapon was drawn. But we can't see it.

The best quality staff cannot comply with the rules when the ratio of staff to candidates is too high and Council dictates that the candidate WILL get the MBs. The staff I saw were well within the range of the acceptable. Some were very strong. None could follow the rules with a few minutes/candidiate/week + the Council dictate that the MBs would be given with no individual testing. ("We are not here to hand out partials.") The PL you mention sounds first rate. Good for him.