Tampa Turtle

I agree. We got so many boys trying to 'paper eagle' it. We had a meeting with an AWOL Patrol Leader who wanted his sign off for his term after missing many PLC's, Troop Meetings, and did not go on one campout. He is an 12 year old Star who transferred in from another local Troop and HAS to make Life for "his schedule" so he can beat his Dad who got Eagle at 14. We told him to look at the Troop requirements again for PL and come back and tell us if he really thinks he did the job. We'll see. His dad is a real piece of work--seems very critical of the lad so I do want him to be successful. But we told him no he is not gonna make his schedule because he just not ready on the leadership part (bangs out those MB Academy MB's though). When I do MBC I will try to be flexible IF the boy is really learning something and trying. But I get tried of communications and emails from the parents. And yes Scouters are part of the problem too. There are times I wonder how my own Son's completed some of these requirements. J Blake is right (scary I agree with him again ) We have had the same experience with Bugling MB. I hope my son who plays trumpet will step up. I have my Dad's old BSA Bugle from when he was Bugler in 1949. Seems like a fun job--get to wake everyone up at camp outs.

Me and Mrs Turtle waited a long time on starting a family and our parents thoughts on the matter were not much of a factor. We almost missed out and ended up adopting but I know what you mean it has been a much different journey then I thought. I think it would be good to get involved in a Pack or Troop and get your "fix". I think I might do that when my boys cycle though which is less than 4 years away. I know our unit always needs guys willing to put on the brown shirt, I know I am not in shape for the first team but I like to think I make my difference. I get very frustrated working with the lads but when there is a payoff it is sweet indeed. Hang in there.

Sometimes the Cubmaster attends and the Mom usually will display his (cute little) Tiger shirt and some pictures. I have seen this pattern as well. Not many Tigers become Eagles but a lot of Eagles started out as Tigers.

I think the boy got confused between Pet Care MB (easy) and Dog Care MB (work). Dog Care is really hard to do without access to a dog...

Yeah Skeptic I'd bet this is true of the media with regards to most anything... they like to villianize anything they can to get readership or get you to turn in to the nightly news. Anything that purports itself to be "good", BSA, youth pastor, school teacher, cop, etc... is automatically a lightening rod if / when something bad happens anywhere close to the "good" thing. It makes the news that more sensational, eh? BSA is held to a higher standard because we claim to HAVE a higher standard. So when someone screws up they get called on it. Gee BSA likes pictures of quasi-military uniformed boys standing on the summit with an american flag it is kinda asking for it. It seems GSUSA does not really portray itself the same way and I think that is partially why I do not think they get picked on. The message I get about Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts is that it is (true or not) all about the kids and fun. As for journalist they just don't have the time to research anything anymore. And sometimes what we may think of as news is not of interest to their viewers. And there are times there really aren't "two sides of a story" though they will try to find it. I do not agree that media takes every opportunity to degrade scouting at least in my experience at the local level. I see plenty of local stories about Eagle scout projects, food drives, and pinewood derby. One Troop got booted by their CO over the new gay policy and they got lots of favorable articles --and offers of new meeting places--folks were upset the boys got caught in the middle. But if you are a Scout Master and you do something really bad they are gonna pick up on that.

I suspect that 200K scouts doing 500K nights means a lot of partially active scouts. Our Troop has 50-70 boys on paper but maybe 35 "core". I suspect our average is a lot lower than I would like.

Thank you, We try to go with 4 adults. I do not do some activities when I think I up to the physical challenge,

Well the Rays are out of it so I have not been into this series. I did watch a few Buccaneers FB games with my boys and was able to impart some good life lessons about snatching defeat from the jaw of victory and the philosophy of supporting your team when they are losing all the time. One of my fondest memories is sitting in my Grandpa's basement with him listening to the Oakland A's games on the radio. He had an old vacuum tube Zenith and I got the honor of turning it on to "warm up" for 5 minutes before the game. So keep making those memories King Ding Dong!

That was very interesting. 200K in Utah--That is a lot of scouts. BTW-I thought the GSS said a minimum of 4 adults per outing? I think they had only 2 and they did not look that fit.

I use a lashing and two half hitches but have the hardest time doing them late on a Friday night in the dark. I rarely have an issue getting them undone.

Face to face recruiting. I never quite understood the Pack Committee structure when I was a Den Leader. As a Boy Scout Leader the situation is a bit different. We get some "retired" den leaders who feel it will be less work as well as some Dad's that want to avoid being a brown shirt or a Merit Badge counselor. Also get some Dad's whose boys go AWOL during high school years and hope to maintain some influence for a 17 year old Eagle dash.

Vermont!? What the...(now I have 10 characters). I guess I should visit.

Gee whiz I can't believe these guys were from the "Utah National Parks" Council !

Arrghh. Can National just step in, have a shaming ceremony, and rip off their epaulettes? I think all the work scouts have done to try to overcome the bad reputation scouts have at some National and State parks. Yea this is a black eye. I will pass it on to our boy LNT trainer.

Back to the thread. I think we are a mix, Trying to move toward a boy led--sure not an even journey. We found the boys liked planning the program but not the work of running the program. So parts of it fall apart and other boys vote with their feet.

I think it is interesting in looking at the Ladder how our Patrols are different. They each have had consistent cultures that seem to 'stick' even with changes of membership over the years. People are funny that way.

Stosh you NAILED it. Just came back from a campout with many key leadership POR's AWOL. Some of them rarely show up on campout and when you discuss how they may not get their needed POR some of their parents are pushy monsters. A few of them are old Eagle Dad's who push their sons to Eagle and have NEVER helped out as ASM, MBC, or CC. Our SM refused to sign off on scout spirit for one boy and the Dad threatened to go over his head to the Council exec to get it signed off like he did "at the other Troop".

I have not been. We did Woodruff 4 years in a row and I missed Boone. I heard the topography was better, water colder, food worse, and staff less engaged than Woodruff. But some of the older boys liked it. Could tell you by July ,14.

I hate when some boys screw up or are lazy and it impacts the whole Troop with a bad experience. On the other hand when the boys do it and things go smoothly it is easy to forget "hey they got it taken care of!".

I guess if the boys wont get up that is why the Chief Scout of all Scouts invented the Bugle.

Ohhh an Aircraft Carrier or someplace like that.

Scouting is a bit like a Venn Diagram. I love Scouting more then the national organization known as BSA. Sometimes they overlap closely and other times I wonder what National was thinking. You need to err on the side of the boys and safety. But IMHO there are a LOT of judgement calls.

Basement, us too at camp last year. We got up 45 minutes before flag, and missed it. Then the SPL did 60 and missed it. We had to go to 90 before we (barely) made it. And we were really close to the parade ground. Teens!

And there is nothing like being away to appreciate what you got back home.

Maybe Stand-up Paddle Boards. More stately. And a giant Eagle puppet.