TAHAWK

"A patrol is a team in the game of Scouting. " Good. And what is a "troop"? BSA used to know.

B.S.A official records used to say that I completed Scoutmaster Training (at least 21)years old) in 1910. Now they say 1912. Imaginary units with imaginary members. Imaginary advancement B.S.A. records should be up for a Nebula Award.

And that's not to mention potential environmental liability to restore the strip-mined areas. What were they .... Woops, I almost said "thinking." ☢️

Until BSA largely killed it off as inconsistent with WB 21st Cent, there was a good district-level Saturday or 1.5 day basic course ("JLOW") that lent itself to troop presentation. Weaker/newer units could partner with other units to put it on. Some iconoclastic Scouting councils keep putting it on., recognizing that week-long revenue-producers are beyond the reach of most Scouts. https://scoutingevent.com/441-JLOW2018 http://www.trcbsa.org/Event.aspx?id=915 This useful training is also out of step with BSA since based on the Patrol Method and Leadership Development, whereas BSA now requires that at least two registered Scouters supervise every single Scout activity. I suppose all the material about the Patrol Method, Scouts leading and all that, could be edited out to get in step with the latest changes. 😐

Can you even imagine "adventure" other than in a revenue-generating context? How about adventure in the natural social group - the patrol? In real Scouting, a Scout was to spend "his" time primarily in a patrol context. "Boy Scouting" is patrol scouting.This still pops up in BSA literature here and there. There is no "troop method," but it's hard to tell that since the 1970's when the BSA model Troop Meeting Plan" came out, allocating five minutes to the patrol - to be used in business , for Bill's sake - and the balance to a group that is supposed to exist solely for the administrative convenience of the patrols that make up a troop. You have to be old now to have had much chance to experience "Scouting." BSA dumped it overboard generations ago - with the last coherent formal training on what it meant in 1972. And now the inhabitants of the odious Safety Bubble want two - TWO - registered Scouters "supervising" even patrol meetings - should they occur. Let's try something "new" Let's try Scouting. It worked well, but is so secondary now to BSA's primary goal - raising money for payroll - that what is left has little attraction to the vast majority of kids. Whereas, nationally, 2/3 of all boys were registered at some time with a BSA units, we are under 5% in NE Ohio.

Trademark law aims to protect "customers" from being misled as to whom they are "doing business" with. BSA used "Scouts" for boys and girls youth programs since 1969, with co-ed Exploring ("Explorer Scouts"). If that was an infringement, GSA had to promptly act to enforce their claimed rights. But it didn't for almost fifty years. GSA should lose, big time. Anti trust law aims to foster competition on the theory that competition benefits consumers.

I had three uncles in WWII. They didn't want to talk about it. All gone now. The uncle in the Merchant Marine was killed in January, 1941 on the Russian run. Many first-person accounts remain.

Adventure Scouts BSA But, then BSA would need to live up to it.

BSA has used "Scouts" and "Scouting" since 1913. A tad late to sue over merely using those words. This is the last gasp of a zombie organization. Scouting BSA cookies! _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Win the culture war and leave only devastation. "Free stuff"

Speaking only of Boy Scouting, such a PL might benefit from training on the role of adults in program. Being a resource is not inconsistent with youth leadership. BSA is an entirely other issue, with registered adult "supervision" every minute being mandated.

So long Patrol Method. So long Boy Scouting. We tried top-down dictatorship before and have never recovered. Participation is voluntary. So long.

This might encourage them to bring those ideas to the PLC - part of their job.

Tell the voters about how the PL has to be able to convince his peers to schedule what his patrols wants and the SPL has to convince the adults on the TC so support the PLC's program - need people who will be taken seriously.

Wilderness Survival, including SAR. Many skills involved in broad sense, running to 10s of MB topics.

Practice Practice with the "right" committee members and other sensitive, informed adults is good Counseling the Committee on their proper role as supporters of the Patrol Method, inclusive of youth leadership/responsibility is also good.

I posted about this, contacted people then at National, and the page was removed some time ago. The idotic 😢 that the Patrol Method is "part of what we call the boy-led troop" is still there. 😢

Accortding to BSA (for now): "Age Guidekines" All Cubs may camp at a council-organized family camp, Otherwise, Tiger, Bear & Wolf can not camp except at Pack campouts, and Webelos can do Den camping and can camp with a troop as a guest, but the troop has to invite and welcome them. "If a well-meaning leader brings along a child who does not meet these age guidelines, disservice is done to the unit because of distractions often caused by younger children. A disservice is also done to the child, who is not trained to participate in such an activity and who, as a nonmember of the group, may be ignored by the older campers."

Muddy the waters" BSA? Say it isn't so.😃

That is what it once meant. As BSA's rep here likes to say, it's not 1954 anymore. Once, Boy Scouting was the iconic program for boys. Now it reaches lress than 5$ of eligible youth in our area. For the new pursuit of membership see https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Family-Scouting_Infographic_v10-1.pdf

Nor I. But that's not the requirement. Background check or not, they can only stay 72 hours if not registered..

They had planned on certain parents - unregistered - staying at camp all "week."" as their "two-deep leadership." Under the 72 hour rule they were supposed to leave. Like a full moon with 'da Wolf-man, that 4321st minute turns the unregistered parent into enhanced risks to Scouts. 🐯 So the units adults began calling around to find other adults available during the work week. That's right; as we "hive mind" types know, adults are less available during the day Mon-Fri - esp on short notice.. Having no luck, they decided to ignore the silly rule.

No harm so long as the rule is not enforced. If it were, that troop would have gone home Wednesday night. Our troop's trek in Canada had me (registered) and four parents (not), two of whom were cops and one a county social worker. My experience in different from yours. My experience supports your dichotomy as false. Usually, in my experience, when they register nothing useful is found out.

The parents are the same people the first 72 hours of a given activity as they are in hour 73. If they cannot be trusted for 72 hours, why are they there? Having them registered Scouters does not make them more reliable in any way that has been measured. Really stupid rule.

One local troop I know about - confronted by the 72 Hour rule already imposed by the Safety Bubble - simply did a couple of days at Summer Camp without complying. That is, parents stayed over 72 hours, registered or not, and the camp staff knew, agreeing it was a "stupid" rule. Silly rules create disrespect for rules generally and for rule-makers. Sociology 101.

Richard, if your idea of required "safety" results as is is doing, in destroying BSA Boy Scouting, there will be nothing for parents to "look" at. "Your attitude is beyond unhelpful. It is your rule that says the presence of one or more parents is not good enough to insure the safety of their children at a Scouting activity - must have registered Scouters, who unlike parents, have no legal status ipso facto vis-a-vis the child. Wow, just wow! 😵