Tampa Turtle

To be fair I am not sure if he is intending to mislead a little and phase in a co-ed plan or really mean what he says but it is muddled thinking. I am pretty sure eventually they will all be called 'Scouts'. I am curious on how a form of conditional gender integration will be implemented in the field or how the reality will be accepted by the public. Am I the only one who thinks that anything less than 100% gender integration (for lack of a better term than 'co-ed') will be loudly pointed out by GSUSA?

Sorry, Son#2 turned in his Eagle notebook this week and Council approved . I just picked up his final Merit Badges for the sash for whenever the EBOR is after National reviews. I guess I was a little giddy. It was a hard week.

"Gays, Girls, God, and Gouda. One by one their sacred shibboleths of scouting will crumble." -- Sir Baden Powell, 'Aids to Scoutmastership, Cheese, and World Domination' (intro) , Cheddar Gorge Books, 1919.

I think that was over the issues with Cheese that the internationalist one-world government one-scout movement collapsed. How soon we forget the 'Feta War' tragedy between the Greeks and well, everyone else. And the Americans insisting that 'American Singles' is an actual cheese rather than the whey-based lie it really is. While I am raking up the muck I will not, for once blame Mr Surbaugh--the cheese issue sits squarely on Bob Muzzuka's head. If not for him Baden Powell's deep, deep state plan for world domination would finally be ours!

'Apart, yet the same?'

I suggest you talk to your SM or a trusted adult and perhaps a religious priest/minister/rabbi (whatever applies in your family tradition) as you sort out your feelings. I have had many of these discussions in scouting myself...it is a personal matter that is more complicated for some folks than others.

Our Cubmaster of 25 years wanted each Den to yell their cheer whenever their name was mentioned. We usually had 8 to 15 dens so it could get chaotic--some would wave their little table flags as well. While some parents thought it was a little rowdy it got the lads to pay attention to the adults speaking because at the very least they would have a chance to yell.

Nah, cookie pushing, skirt wearing misandrists.

The University of South Florida are 'The Bulls'; the women's teams are called "The Lady Bulls". Yeah it is stupid but there you go. I am glad I got my email from our CE today reminding me that we are not going 'co-ed'. I suspect some are reading these boards. I tried explaining the proposed 'separate but equal' scheme to some Mom at High School the other night...before I could finish the words "separate but parallel" Troop she shouted out "NO!". Gonna be a tough sell. Then again she seemed confused because she thought boys can now join Girl Scouts if they wanted because we came to some new agreement...

I saw a big OA production at a unnamed camp. They did wear tight white pants under their loin cloths and were bare chested with technicolor feathers. All our leaders, including the women, were rather uncomfortable with the rather homo-erotic nature of it. I much prefer our local Lodge with the attempt to dress in Seminole fashion.

Camp Woodruff has the dreaded Beaver-Sharks that sometimes escape their cages in the lake--that look exactly like the flood control devices. Always some newbies that fall for that.

We used to allow Cub Den's to adopt 'unofficial' names, flags, yells (Siberian Tigers, Gray Wolfs, Polar Bears) if they wanted. I suppose we were a Apostate Pack. Was very popular though.

Florida you often have to dry camp; many water sources are contaminated. I have carried 8 liters-it is heavy. I would add everyone needs to 'camel up' when you have a good water source and top everything off. Nothing worse for morale than running short of water. Been there, done that got the Scout leader dehydration patch.

Poor fellow. Prayers for his family, friends, and colleagues.

(Off topic a little bit) Sunday The Turtles are urging Son#1 to finish his college scholarship essay and get his application in. Son (who is just goofing on the smartphone all day) says "Stop being helicopter parents--you are the worst parents in the world!" Mrs Turtle tells him it is not being a helicopter parent to remind him the weekend is almost over and you made the commitment to do this. Son#2 chimes in with "Mommy and Daddy are not helicopter parents--the other ones at scouts and school are so much worse. They are more like drone parents--you know orbiting high overhead observing. They might only be watching you but it is nice to be able to call in an air strike now and then."

Don't cave. Tonight there will be 12 boys at our meeting getting a MB spoon fed them again at evening scout school (zzz) while 1 boy who is trying to finish the MB the right way has scheduled a meeting with me. Until he emailed me this morning I was tempted to skip but I will button up the ol brown shirt for the sake of that 1.

All I know is that a number of Explorer units were listed as having vetoed line items in the budget document so I assume they will be short that amount of money.

Throw in some week long adventures (NYLT, hiking trips, sea base, philmont) it is doable. We had a number of boys get 130+ while doing other extra circulars in High School.

100 nights is pretty doable.

I have seen it abused both ways. We had an outgoing Mayor give a Looney-Tunes address at a Troop/Church fundraiser that was self serving and very dark. We felt a bit used and stopped inviting some speakers and asked to keep things non-political. I have also seen snarky scouters of both political wings mutter and disrupt ceremonies attended by an official of the wrong political pride.

Saw it on BBC...made the International News. Another example for a PR class! Considering how many volunteers and situations that must come up I am surprised that this is not more of an issue...

When my sons reminisce about their path to Eagle it is rarely about those kind of classes. It is the field trips, cool demonstrations, adventures, and larger than life characters. So many Eagle driven boys are focusing on the result and not the journey.

Back to the article. It is easy to say if you are not the one who has someone else's sons as your responsibility or if you have not had to deal with a serious injury, etc and had to tell the parents.

Joseph MD, I do the same thing and so some kids at my Troop did not get signed off on things that they were supposed to do on their own. I try to remind them, suggest how they can meet the requirements, nag them at meetings, etc. But more and more and more boys are getting used to do the Council Merit Badge Academy Class style/Summer Camp just-sit-and-get-signed-off being offered elsewhere, it is getting harder and harder to get the boys to do the work on their own and not as a group. One of the parents did an end run around me and has commandeered the last three Troop meetings for the same Merit Badge class where they bring in speakers, ask a couple questions, and get signed off. Complete cut off at the knees. This parent is very wealthy and influential and raises $$$ for the Council so I am pretty sure I do not have much leverage. The SM caved and the SPL wants to do everything possible to help as many boys getting their Eagle as soon as they can (to the point that any-non Eagle merit badges are not very popular) The older boys who want a more adventurous Troop are getting discouraged. I have been fighting the good fight against becoming an Eagle Mill but fear I have been defeated.

This looks like it will hit the Fire Explorer Posts in my council hard.