DuctTape

And you (nor anyone else) should have access to students during the school day.

The equal access is for meetings and use of facilities and does NOT mandate schools to provide for recruitment activities to students during the school day. In years past, students were sometimes handed flyers/applications in school by their teachers or others and/or recruitment tables were set up in the cafeteria during lunch. Most (all?) public schools do not allow any of these for any outside organizations.

I repurpose an old gatorade bottle. Slightly larger mouth than typical soda bottle, significantly lighter than nalgene. I abhor bladders for many reasons. I have zero trouble getting my water bottle in/out of the pack pocket while walking. Some packs are just designed better for this. ymmv.

Occassionally I will carry an umbrella on backpacking trips. Besides their intended purpose for rain, they also provide shade. This can often be more valuable. Another use I have found is with fire prep. I can easily prepare the tinder&kindling under the umbrella, even light the fire while holding the umbrella over it until the fire is sustainable. That said, I bring the umbrella on less than 20% of my trips.

The only idea I can think of to help with #4 is to create some type of "tag" or identifier ( by either mod or thread creator) which identifies the thread is dedicated to "on-topic". Then any tangential responses can just be deleted. Not sure how well it would work in practice.

sounds neat! I wonder if searching the BL archives might provide some info. edit: quick search found references in 1934 and 1937

I am so sorry to those survivors whom, through this entire process, are continually being triggered, re-traumatized etc... as reports, information etc... are reported. Stay safe and strong! You WILL get through this.

While I can appreciate the desire for a term better than grooming and understand the difficulty since the term has multiple meanings, I do not think predation while it captures the insidious nature it does not capture the trust element distinction. Grooming is predatory but what makes is distinctly different than just hunting, the purpose is for the abuser to gain the trust of its intened victim so as to exploit it. I am not sure a better word exists, nor do I think we should spend too much energy of finding one. Our energy should be spent on finding ways to eliminate the exploitation of children (and others).

High adventure does not require a specific camp like Philmont. Especially for older scouts who have planned many 3+ day camping trips, the next step is them planning and executing more adventurous excursions worthy of their skill level. If they are into canoeing, great. Find a location and plan it. With the internet it is easy to find locations nearby; routes and reviews abound online. Not just canoeing either. Backpacking, fishing, etc... Scouts planning their own adventures should be the norm, including summer camps.

Not sure about how obvious my comment is. Often what I think is obvious or self-evident apparently isn't. Agreed that scouts is the best place to learn it.

Almost all areas I go backpacking there is no cell service. It is imperative that we also ensure scouts know more than just "use the cell phone".

I hear you. Adult leader knowledge is but one resource I mentioned. I also stated handbooks, fieldbooks, mB books, and bsa recommended external resources. The entire point of these resources and the scouting program is this type of knowledge. Even rank requirements specifically reference local poisonous plants (since you mentioned hogweed). If scouts aren't learning these, then the entire program isn't being followed. If the adult leaders don't have the knowledge, what are they doing to ensure the scouts have access to other adults and resources. This is true for all aspects of the program, not just poisonous plants and disease carrying insects.

Ticks and mosquitos have been known to carry diseases for a long time. Campsite selection, first aid, and insect bite first aid/prevention has been part of the outdoor program for almost the entire existence of BSA. The guidance is within the handbooks, fieldbooks, mB books and all the other external resources BSA recommends including CDC, FDA and other governmental resources not to mention the adult leaders knowledge. Sure it may not bein the Guide to Safe Scouting, but it is not possible to include everything, nor should it attempt to. The GTSS is NOT the program.

DoubleEagle makes an excellent point, one that not only bears repeating but expansion. "And, the SM conference is not just a one-time requirement, but when ever the SM has a conference type tone, if there such a thing." I would encourage a change in our mindset about SM conferences being tied in to the rank advancement. Sure, they often take place just prior to a BOR. However as DE reminds us, they are not a one-time req. I would remind us all that these conferences should be ongoing, and often. Whether the conferences are with the SM or ASMs, these are a significant opportunity to get to know the scouts, encourage them, find out what they need, etc... We often talk (write) about sitting around with coffee watching the boys do their program, but we should not ignore a primary responsibility we have which is to regularly conference with our scouts; and not just as a rank advancement check-in. These conferences are where the SM can advise the scout about all the program goings on. Leadership development training- SM conference. Patrol method issues- SM conference. Ideas and decision making- SM conference. Adults should be seen and not heard during the main program (unless invited to speak by the scouts). But regular SM conferences should be occuring often between scouts and SM. How often do "you" conference with each of your scouts? Is it only for the rank advancement and/or behaviorial issues? Or is it used as a method (adult association) to help the scout grow in all aspects of the program?

I advocate for the Fieldbook as a primary resource too. Especially the first one. I often find copies of these at garage sales for $1. I have mentioned in the past a patrol could go page by page with the original fieldbook and lead a fantastic program.

It appears "Peter" has checked in since his initial post. Odd he has not responded.

As I mentioned previously the Scout Slogan, "Do a Good Turn Daily" needs to be re-emphasized. It is the embodiment of the Motto, the Oath and Law. If I could define one thing which defines Scouting as unique to any other team, club, or organization with similar aims, methods, and principles it is this... Do a Good Turn Daily.

Hi. Welcome to the virtual campfire. I have no knowledge of this event, nor do I know the official procedures. I would surmise the official letter had more details. Are you involved with the troop or this scout in some way?

Copyright violations do NOT require selling or a commercial interest. One does not need to have a monetary exchange to be in violation of copyright.

A lot of great stuff in there, but I wanted to highlight this single line as it is often lost on folks. Too often Be Prepared is reduced to things, not the scout himself. Secondly, the scout slogan and motto are not two disparate concepts. They fit together. Merging Barry's understanding of Be Prepared with Do a Good Turn Daily, one starts to see how these two often misunderstood (and in the case of the slogan; forgotten) tenets of scouting form the basis of achieving the scouting mission.

The elections are a unit activity as they are done at the unit level. Just as a den chief may be elected by the unit to help a den in a different unit. The activities the elected scout participates in may or may not be unit activities.

I think part of the answer can be found in some of the older BSA literature. What I mean is the descriptions of what things were supposed to look like. For example th older PL handbooks used stories to show a young PL how to deal with situations. And the fieldbook had sample activities for patrols. Heck the entire scouting program for a patrol could be done by following the fieldbook page by page. And here I go describing a problem... the issue at present with the books is everything seems to be theory without examples of theory into practice. We do it here too. We try to explain the solution in theoretical terms but rarely do we give a "how to script". I have tried on occassion, but it really is time consuming to do more than just a simple "for instance".

I am not sure I have ever seen new scouts bored their first year due to being overprepared. I have seen them bored due to being under prepared.

Caltopo is good. I also use the USGS collection. I especially like the older maps as one of my hobbies is to explore long forgotten trails.

Over the years I have seen the mention of the "perversion files" a number of times. Were these files specific as to "why" the scouter was on the list? The reason I ask is eagle1993s post references the entire list as though they were all abusers. I am not suggesting otherwise, I am asking whether the files were solely of abusers and suspected abusers or did they include names of people who were labeled as "pervert". (as an example homoexuals have been labeled this way, perhaps adulterers as well).