Krampus

Unless you are a Lone Scout, or if there are extenuating circumstances. Both need council approval.

The requirement says simply, "Make a satisfactory effort to develop and demonstrate leadership ability". As an SM to me this means: Be able to articulate how leadership ability was developed over the three month period. Discuss how the scout was able to demonstrate leadership over the three month period. Have been visible during those three months so your leadership is obvious. I don't see anywhere where it says that you have to have this approved before an SMC. If you are going to have a meeting with the SM to discuss what he did for leadership why can't that be done in his SMC? To me there's no reason that this discussion could not be part of the SMC.

@@fred johnson, I should note that the one reference we did find is below. It is from the Guide to Advancement. "For Star and Life ranks only, a unit leader may assign, as a substitute for the position of responsibility, a leadership project that helps the unit. If this is done, the unit leader should consult the unit committee and unit advancement coordinator to arrive at suitable standards. The experience should provide lessons similar to those of the listed positions, but it must not be confused with, or compared to, the scope of an Eagle Scout service project. It may be productive in many cases for the Scout to propose a leadership project that is discussed with the unit leader and then “assigned." I agree that back dating something make one feel uncomfortable. But then again, I am not sure I could live with myself by denying a good scout who was taken ill the chance to make eagle. I am sure you will make the right decision.

We use them very sparingly. We had a young man (Life) who moved away from the troop. Despite there being several troops around him, he still commuted to our troop for meetings and events. All this while still keeping a high GPA, playing football and being a competitive target shooter (shotgun). I let him do a leadership project in lieu of a POS. We searched all the usual BSA publications to find advice on how to implement this but did not find anything very useful. The scout developed his own plan and got it approved by the SM. The end result was a punch list (think pilot pre-flight manual) that was spiral bound, the size of an iPhone (the small ones before the 6 came out), which outlined all the things a PL should do at various events such as camp outs, service projects, etc. VERY cool project. The young man used that as an example at his Eagle BOR. Impressed our district guy so much they wanted to use them too. Just to make the POS official, we assigned the project under the role of Troop Guide and revised the position description accordingly. The district rep at the BOR said that the leadership project would have been enough; that we didn't need to assign the POS too. Not sure if that was true or not, but since this young man was close to 18 at the time, we were not taking any chances with this grey area.

According to several companies that make flags it is canton, field or union. Take your pick.

I would think a discussion with the SM would answer this question.

Don't you guys use Tres Ritos in NM as your council camp? Nice area.

I'm not sure I understand. Did I say something funny?

I don't think anyone is saying they don't have time for a parent of a scout. I think most people are saying that they would like to know up front what the issues are so that they can appropriately allocate their time. Being realistic, if you have a troop of 40 scouts, one hour per scout could be a full time job. Respect goes both ways. Parents need to be mindful of the scouter's time. Scouters need to be respectful of the request to meet. The sharing of information and positions (before such a meeting) will help speed things along....or might negate the need for a meeting altogether.

I think our council is okay. The site is easy to use and stuff easy to find. Our adventure bases out west of us have some pretty unique adventures. The living history program, while not a sexy as Revolutionary War stuff, is pretty cool if you like western history. I think I have read a few of the people here are/were in to re-enacting; they'd love that program. http://www.longhorncouncil.org/

An hour is neutral? Pushing back from the SM saying "Have Junior come to me and I will explain it to him" is neutral? How many parents call the school to arrange a meeting with their kid's teacher when Junior misses several answers on a test? Isn't that Junior's job to follow up? Even in 6th grade? An hour is overkill. The request is silly. Why not handle via email and be done with it? It's inconsiderate.

@@Hedgehog email is a fine tool to begin that discovery if someone needs guidance. The OP seemed to be almost demanding a meeting. Unless there is a serious issue to be addressed, the tone of the request is not only off-putting, but disrespectful. At a minimum the parent could show more consideration of the SM's time, present the issue via email or a phone call, get the input from the SM and then if there is reason to follow up in person, do so. This high touch, me first, listen to me attitude is a direct contradiction to what scouting is about.

I give you this parent. We need more like this one. And this "primer" for any parent still missing the boat.

Does this parent question every ball or strike at their kid's game? Do they review and question every grade they get in school and set up meeting with the teacher? Do they go to every employer and ask whey their kid didn't get the job? I think @@Stosh has the right approach. Have the meeting. Make it short. Have the scout there. Direct the questions through the scout and let *him* answer his mom's questions. If he doesn't know then help the scout explain. Mom needs to be respectful of the SM's time. 45 scouts x 1 hour meetings is a full time job if everyone wanted one. There are limits to the one hour a week we can give to volunteering.

As a parent I don't think I'd require an hour of a leader's time. Some troops are dependent on adults to help. Others run well while the boys are running the show. In a troop of 40 scouts imagine how much time an adult leader would have to take if every parent demanded an hour of their time. I'd show some respect. I would let them know via email what my concerns were. Short. Concise. Bullet point. I'd request 15-20 mins to discuss my concerns. If the questions are simply why something has not been signed off, chances are the leader won't have the answers right there anyway. He may need to investigate. If the issue is something deeper, an hour may be necessary, but the parent owes the leader full disclose of what they want to discuss. That's the only way for them to be prepared and give answers. To do otherwise is just disrespectful of their time.

We've done the one in Houston. Good program. Stay the following morning and do the site tour. You will need coffee, ear plugs and Zzzquil. Headphones work too.

I would not mind. Women add value, but in a society that is placing less and less emphasis on religion and family (especially households with one father) I would not mind to see an organization that was male only.

The message "ORA-00936: missing expression" is a problem with the syntax in a statement in a database call. They may have updated the system Friday night or Saturday morning (usually when US-based businesses do software releases, that or Sunday morning) and put in to production a piece of code that is not working. From the looks of it, it could be code that calls your troop roster based on your unit ID or your personal ID. It could also be an ID issue, meaning that your ID may not be assigned to your unit anymore which is why they ask you to contact the council rather than the BSA IT department. Cannot say anymore because I don't know their run book so I don't know what their error handling processes are. But the code is definitely a syntax error.

We had scouts at an oktoberfest. It was great. They did several service projects to help out. No one batted an eye that they were in uniform helping. Everyone thought it was great....even saw other troops there too.

But given the amount of stuff councils lose, one could claim they turned it in and then you'd have a problem. Everyone knows councils are not good at paperwork and an audit of their records would find a whole bunch of problems. So if they are going to require annual YPT they better have a tracking method and a good way to audit and back up everything, otherwise their requirement is not worth the paper they lost it on.

So is thing flamingo thing a southern thing? A northern thing? I have never seen or heard of it where I live. Or any place I have lived. I must live a sheltered life.

If the BSA requires us to take it every two years, and a council requires it every year, and there's no administrative tool provided to prove if someone has taken the training, how will anyone know if there's a violation? Also, what would a council do if they found a violation since we are chartered by national and they only require every two years? Anyone know?

What do you do with them once you sell them? I guess I don't understand what they are for. Is this a regional thing? My first reaction was to say, "what the flock?".

Is it this one? http://www.harborfreight.com/magnesium-fire-starter-66560.html

A few I ran across. Two very old.