OldGreyEagle

Maybe if a couple companies made the uniforms, all to the same specs, the prices would come down, think that would work?

I guess it depends what definition you use for Agnostic. I always thought an Agnostic meant the person beleives in a higher power, just not in organized religion. Since Boy Scouts only say (I think) you must recognize a power greater than you, be it God, Yahweh, Buddah, ETC. I think Agnostics should be in Boy Scouts

I reread my comments and I apologize for being as harsh as I was. I did not intend to come off as I now read my comments. If we think about the program, and the boys in it, then the rest is obvious

Thank you Uncle Bob, thats a winner

Thank you Uncle Bob, thats a winner

I always get nervous when I am asked to join a group that knows it has all the "right" answers. I am not sure what gives them the power to be the arbiter of conduct. I also think to summarily toss out the wisdom of the Torah(my personal favotite), The Koran, The Teachings of Buddha and Confuscious may not be the best idea. Should be be allowed to set out own rules, YES, Should we be prepared to face the consequences, YES. Do we tell other people how THEY should behave no, for I dont beleive in judging others, my faith leaves that up to another much more well informed than I

Uncle Bob, I hardly know you, but I love you man! Indeed, while buying a Venturing Uniform, I asked about pants. The Scout store said they dont stock them because they cost 56 dollars, I mouthed the word 56? And she said, see, thats why we dont stock them!!! It seems Uniforms must be the cash raiser in BSA, I know I can find similar clothes at much less and has anyone ever seen a BSA store have a sale?

Mike, thanks for the info, the two links you sent were informative, but I think the opaque projector on plywood may be the answer, I am not looking for anything real intricate, just a shape/outline. Your projector idea is certainly a possibility

I am looking for either a wood pattern or a 3-d Eagle model to be used for ceremonies, does anybody know where I could find such a thing?

I never thought I would say this, but I think it has become my mantra, "back when I was a scout..." Anyway, back then you couldnt earn merit badges until you were first class. And to earn first class you had to learn either semaphore (flag signaling to young guys) or morse code. That was the biggest stumbling block. Now, in our council first year campers attend the fist year program in the am and handicraft merit badges in the afternoon. By the time a kid becomes a scout he has a fist full of merit badges and by fist class all he has to do is put in his 4 months to be Star if he has shown any energy at all. I guess the basic question is, what is better, for the eagle rank to be a symbol of excellence, or for troops, councils, and national to thump already overemblazoned chests with pride over the latest flock of mass-produced eagles?

The ScoutMaster Handbook has a color picture and explanation of the knots

Where are you located?

try the below address, Hennings scout pages has a lot of Eagle realted items http://www.users.fast.net/~shenning/index.html

i have tried the steel wool and while it does work, the best results i have seen is this method. Take a 9 volt light bulb, inject with needle and syringe enough kerosene to almost cover the filament. Place the bulb and socket (which, yes will be destroyed) in a cardboard box full of kindling, balled up paper, etc. Build your fire around the box, with the wires trailing off behind it. When you turn on the power, the filament will ignite the kero and the box will contain the bulb. Its 100% effective. A variation is to use a model rocket engine bolted in place on a board, again housed in a box, if nothing else, this item does leave no doubt boy scout are pyros

I agree, but here's a thought. As heretical ( i think thats a word) as it is, the scouting sun does not rise and fall on Philmont. Living on the east cost makes Philmont a total dream and the problems you point out dont help. However, with a little work, about the same as spent phoning on the "big" day, you can put together high adventure trips that arent the canned Philmont production. Remember, you dont need Philmont, it needs us

It struck me just how political scouting is when i attended our councils silver beaver banguet. The first guy had a resumme a mile long and the second one hardly had done a third of the first. I couldnt beleive they were both on the stage equally honored. I would have thought COuncil would have been embarrassed that they didnt give the first guy his beaver 10 years ago. But then as Scouter 659 says, it is for the boys, so i will continue to provide the boys in my troop and crew the best experiences i can. By the way, after attending the beaver banquet i will never again question whether or not scouting is a paramilitary organization. Depsite protests to the contrary, i saw enough medals and ribbons and sashes on chests that would have made a latin american dictator drool.

I think a patrol should have 10 -12 boys in it as you are right, they wont all show up at once and on outings, a significant amount of them should. I think a variety of ages is the best. The troop i belong to keeps all the ages separted and all that does is continue cliches and encourages division (i have tried to change the system, my failure is why i am old and grey) If you mix the ages, the younger boys will have role models plus older kids they know. As the new members progress they establish traditions for the patrol and develop into the assitant patrol leader or patrol leader. I think a system with a new boy patrol for one year and then after that year placing the boys in set patrols is the best. Over the years the patrol flag will weather and the boys talk about each event, you cant do that in patrols that hardly last a year

I took my answer, cant you tell, from comptons on line encylopedia,

the auction site i used was E-Bay

Decatur, Stephen was an American naval officer, born on January 5, 1779, in Sinepuxent, Maryland, and educated at the University of Pennsylvania. During the war with Tripoli (1801-5) Decatur was one of the leading American naval commanders. His destruction of the U.S. frigate Philadelphia, which had become stranded on a sandbar in the harbor of Tripoli and captured by the enemy, was an unusually bold venture. At the outbreak of the War of 1812 Decatur was the commanding officer of the frigate United States, on which he had first served as a midshipman. As master of that ship he defeated and captured the British frigate Macedonian in October 1812. The next year he became a commodore. In January 1815, while in command of the frigate President, he encountered a squadron of British ships. He defeated one of them, the Endymion, but after losing a large part of his crew was forced to surrender to the British commander of the squadron. After the war, Decatur was sent on a mission to North Africa to end the depredations of the pirates infesting that region and to demand reparations of the rulers of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, who permitted or encouraged the piracy. He succeeded in this mission, and on his return to the U.S. in 1815 he was honored at a banquet, at which he proposed the famous toast: "Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong!" Decatur was killed in a duel with a fellow officer on March 22, 1820.

I got two copies from THE auction site, thats the best bet unless we could start a campaign to have Disnet to release it for sale in Scout shops

Here is an idea, if the guy comes to meetings inebriated, next time call the local police and have them meet him at the door. What you cant do within the committee, you can do anonymously and by the law. Friends or not, alcohol kills and its time he was apprised of that fact

Our troop has several disabled kids from ADD, to wheelchair bound, to one who has a urinary stoma. I am looking for other scouts with similar situations. I would like to get these guys to communicate about their problems and see they are not the only one who face challenges

You can still get the red berets from E-BAY, just do a search on "boy scout beret" they usually have 2-3 a week on there

Especially for Yarrow, as was mentioned there is the Leave No Trace program, Mile swim and The Hornaday Award and the World Conservation Award, all of these will slow anybody up, and if the boy is not ready for eagle, tell dad the facts, its better to have one upset parent than an entire community who knows the boy is not an eagle. The other scouts will know what has happened and this will only further tarnish the eales lustre