OldGreyEagle

Since you are on the District Committee, you must know a couple of troops who have a history of doing the boy run boy lead thing right. Could you and the new Scoutmaster put together a joint activity with one of the better boy run troops to demonstrate how it shoudl be done?

Its one thing to sit down and play games with the scouts, any game, and then another one altogether if you are actually gambling. And it doesnt matter if its matches, M&Ms or whatever. If I saw an actual card game with money, or other commodity being wagered, I would ask what point of the Scout Oath and Law was being honed. If they want to keep track of mythical points, chips, etc thats one thing, but actual money, no. Then gain, am I being inconsistent?

See, we have a 12 foot bridge lashed together which the Cubs walk over going from Cubmaster to Scoutmaster and SPL, but I love the fog and the indian touch, it may not be to late to incorporate it

One thing the Camp we go to started doing a few years back was an "Introduction to the OA". Seems what happens is that the OA isnt really talked about alot in the troops and the only time its really the focus of a troop meeting is OA election night and the explanation of the OA's purpose and goals is quite dependent on the election team which is not always on the highest caliber, they try hard, they just dont always give the best explnation of the OA. On monday night all "first year campers" are invited to attend an OA Campfire where the story of the OA is told by a member in regalia back lit by a huge fire. The boys learn about the OA and what its about and then on wednesday, when the call out is done, the new guys have an idea about whats going on and they want to learn more.

I beleive Yu-Gi-Oh is dead, the best part is that Poker killed it. Last campout not a Yu-Gi-Oh card to be seen, they were all playing Texas Hold'em. Trevorum, I see no need to apologize, I mean when I was a kid Poker was considered a Life's Skill if not a Scouting one

I feel your pain, you can find plenty of Cub Ceremonies and Boy Scout Ceremonies as they have been around awhile. Venture Crews are a relative newcommer as you know so little tradition has been built up, so you get to make your own. I have always been a sucker for the recitation of Pop songs, after all pop songs is the current day poetry of the masses. Green Day's "Good Riddance" (Time of your Life) will strike a cord and Rod Stewart's "Forever Young" can bring a tear to your eye as well. I have some ideas for Venturing Ceremonies in a resource book I developed for part of my Wood Badge Ticket. PM me with your Email address and I will send it to you, the PM systems dont allow for file attachents.

"Having the time of his life" or HTTOHL for short

Perhaps my head cold is preventing comprehension, what are you taking about Semper?

I agree with nldscout, it depends on the goal of the activity. At the 2001 Naitonal Jamboree show, where we were camping, there was quite the sound stage set up and video extravaganza (loved the Three of Hearts), should every scouting outing have three trailers of equipment and enough roadies to make the average Rolling Stones Tour turn green ? probbaly not, but this is a local decision and I have found the more involved the scouts are in the program, the less extraneous activities (card, iPods, etc) intrude

My son, the oft afore mentioned YoungSpikedEagle can boast of being an Eagle and having none of his merit badges, enough for a double bronze palm, come from Dad. We had a Dad in the troop who was a counselor for a multitude of the rare and esoteric (for us at least) merit badges and he would rave how easy they were to earn, this was confirmed by the fact his son "earned" everyone of them. His sash was quite the motely assortment and we delighted in asking him which is this one and hearing him say 'I dunno' The Troop now uses a guideline that a parent wont counsel their son in an Eagle required merit bage unless its done as a group (with individual testing of course). I use the term guideline because if anyone ever challenged it on a District level, the policy would lose. A meritbadge counselor approved by District/Council has no limitatons on who they can and cant counsel, The family earned "their Eagle" and we all were happy when they moved on

Why restrict? Why not have the guys with the Wildderness Survival merit badge teach the others how to do it?

First welcome to the forums Now, Trails End catches quite a bit of heck here and other places and some of it is very deserved. Something to consider is that all BSA units can sell popcorn, Cub Packs, Boy Scout Troops, Venture Crews, Sea Scout Ships, Varsity Teams and any other I may have forgotten. They have to come up with "premiums" that will have something for all of these groups. That which is ok for a Boy Scout or older (above 14) may not be the best choice for a Cub. Given the already high price for product, I dont think different premium programs for the different branches is a good idea.

Harrison Ford has stated a few times that Indiana Jones only made it to Life Scout since he, Harrison, also only made it to Life

Semper, what part of the country are you located ?

One of the methods of scouting is adult association, and while the merit badge program is often thought of the center piece to this method, the Board of Review is also a very important component. The scout discusses his behavior, succcesses and failures (or areas of potential, depending on your semantics). Some scouts take to it right away, others are never really comfortable with the process, but all learn from it. I have heard it said many college interviewers can spot an Eagle by the ease he handles the interview, he has talked to an adult before about his hopes and goals. If there is a question the scout did the work, check with the merit badge counselor. The troop may wish to have non-advancement boards of review for the truly terrfied to get them comfortable talking to adult with nothing on the line.

Actually Ed raises a good point, how many of us remember OA "Tapouts" that degenerated into slugouts that ended with separated shoulders and broken clavicles. Many decried and still decry the end of the tapout tradition and having been tapped out, I undestand the loss. I would love to have the OA start the tapout tradition again, but as soon as one exhuberant tap outer causes a medical bill its all over again. I may have to reconsider my position. I mean if a kid in the troop is sorta meek and shy and the scouts think sending him a letter at summercamp telling him his beloved dog died is a hoot, I mean whats the harm, no one got hurt. The kid oughtta toughen up. And if I get a plate of food that has been doctored with some Tobasco sauce and one mouthful causes me to vomit uncontrollably for about an hour, hey I guess I should toughen up, after all no one promised me a rose garden with this boy scout thing. and if a scout thinks taking some kids clothes is adequate payback, I guess the teaching of respect for other's possesions can be placed on the backburner for one night.

Actually I cant think of a time when a Troop needs a Chaplains Aide more than when said Troop is sans Chaplain.

Semper, I would have your Troop Advancement Chair get a copy of the BSA Publication "Advancement Committee, Policies and Procedures, #33088D. On page 28 under the heading Boards of Review it says the following: "A periodic review of the progress of a Scout is vital in the evaluation of the effectiveness of the Scouting program in the unit. The unit committee can judge how well the Scout being reviewed is benefiting from the program. The unit leader can measure the effectiveness of their leadership. The Scout can sense that he is, or is not, advancing properly and can be encouraged to make the most of his Scouting experience. Not only is it important to review those Scouts who have learned and been tested for a rank, but also to review those Scouts who have shown no progress in their advancement over the past few months. The members of the board of review should have the following objectives in mind when they conduct the review: To make sure the Scout has done what he was supposed to do for the rank. To see how good an experience the Scout is having in the unit. To encourage the Scout to progress further. The review is not an examination; the board does not retest the candidate. Rather, the board should attempt to determine the Scouts attitude and his acceptance to Scoutings ideals. The board should make sure that the good standards have been met in all phases of the Scouts life. A discussion of the Scout Oath and Scout Law is in keeping with the purpose of the review, to make sure that the candidate recognizes and understands the value of Scouting in his home, unit, school and community. Please note that nowhere does it say that a uniform is required.

Semper, I see a lot of references that no one or unit may add to or subtract from the requirements, where do you see that a troop could add wearing a uniform to the requirements to pass a BOR?

While the uniform is one of the 8 methods of scouting, I would ask the District person resonsible for this edict to show you a reference in BSA literature that an uniform is required. And when that is done, please come back and share with us as none on this forum can find it.

BSAT17SPL, I undestand you are new here, I have posted this before, but am copying it forward so you wont have to hunt it down. Read this story, and then tell me how fun you think it was: It was a long time ago, in a place far far away, well, actually Chicago area, about 1965 or so. I was a bright young scout, really Gung Ho. I thought being a scout was the bestest thing in the whole world. On one summer campout. we drove for what seemed like hours. We got to the campsite and set up.. The Troop used an Army surplus 16X16, that thing was huge, and it was heavy and we all loved it. After the tent was up and the gear stowed, Charlie, the SPL came over and told me he needed my help. I was in like 7th heaven. Charlie was like a god to us younger scouts, he had his license and his own car. It was a 57-58 Chevy, it was painted candy apple red and roared like a jet, that car was cool. Rumor was he shaved everyday and had a girl friend. I fairly floated as we walked over to the group of older cooler scouts. Finally I was going to be part of the in crowd. I was to be the bag man on a snipe hunt. It was simple, all I had to do was stand on the Snipe trail and hold the bag open and the Snipe would run straight into it. Now, wait I said, I know what a Snipe hunt is, and I am not going to do it. I felt a lot let down that Charlie thought I was stupid enough to fall for a gag like that. So then Charlie says, well, you are right, but you know, Snipes are birds and we happened to have driven into where they live. So, I bought it. I went out and held the bag, and held it, and held it and held it. Well, back at camp the older scouts sure were having a party at my expense, they had this kid who knew about Snipe Hunts out on a Snipe Hunt, it was glorious. The adults on the trip knew what was going on, and reminded them that I was supposed to be brought back to camp about 1 am if I didnt show up first. Back at the Snipe Trail I stood, bag open. I knew Snipes were rare birds and figured we had driven long enough to get in their range. I waited, and waited. Along about dawn I figured I had waited long enough. Seems the older scouts got their signals crossed and everyone thought someone else would get me, but nobody did. I got back to camp as breakfast was being made, and when I was spotted, the whole camp cheered, laughed and hooted. I was not having a fun time. I remember thinking, remember this moment, remember how hot your cheeks feel, how angry you are, you are never ever going to feel this way again. A few months later it was the Fall Camporee. Charlie again asked me for some help. I asked him what, I was more than a little suspicious of anything he said at this point. He told me he needed the Camps Canon Report. It has the schedule of the Camporee on it and it was floating around the camp and people would get it, copy it down and pass it on. So, after being assured it was real, I went off. Gol dang it if every troop I visited had just had it but passed it along minutes before I got there. I went to over 10 troops before a kindly old scoutmaster who knew my dad from work asked me if I had ever been on a Snipe Hunt,. I almost fainted. The rage, anger, fear, humiliation just ran through me like an electric shock. He had done it to me again. I walked back to camp, slinked actually, imagining all who saw me were laughing behind my back, pointing me out as that absolute and complete idiot. When I got back to camp, I walked up to Charlie and told him I was sorry, but I didnt get it, but I would go after it first thing in the morning. I never did go after it and I never talked to Charlie again. I never did anything he said and completely blocked him and all his older buddies out. I learned never, ever to trust what a boy leader said because they were out to get me. As time went on, I made sure that no other scout ever went through what I did. I would tell all the new scouts about snipe hunts and canon reports and all that. I told them if anyone asked them to do anything that didnt sound right, to ask me first. I had a few angry older scouts, but I didnt care and I was getting big enough that nobody retaliated. I eventually was elected Senior Patrol Leader because the scouts knew I would not betray them

Well, you all know I would have to weigh in on this, Hazing is nothing more than bullying a younger, weaker, unsuspecting victim that has no place in the Scouting Program. If this is to be another argument on the merits of Hazing, go to it, There is nothing in the cyber world that will convice sadists what they see as harmless fun is as outdated as a black-faced Minstrel Show

With a theme of a "celebration of scouting" you could have a few re-enactors become B-P and Dan Beard and a few other of the scouting founders and roam around talking about how scouting was "back then". The B-P double could center around a Brownsea island station and the activities could be based on the original Brownsea island program. The Dan Beard charactor could be around the Sons of Daniel Boone exhibit which would display the aspects of that program that became part of the BSA and have the boys try their hand at those activities. Muzzleloading here? And then the local OA chapter could be "tapped" (I love saying that) to do a station of the orgins of the OA on Treasure Island. I could see an archery station here.

What part about reading the book didnt he understand? No approval, no sign off for Eagle leadership project, now, he has plenty of experience and all the boys who helped him have service hours so it wasnt for naught!

I have to congratulate you okstatecowboy, you used a viola and didnt promote violins (This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)