Eagle94-A1

A youth protection issue. That was legit. The 12:30 AM call was not. It was a CM vs CC issue that definately could have waited.

While my wife's threat of divorce after 6 weeks of marriage was what finally took the blinders off my eyes, I can tell you I could not support a family on a DE's salary. Fine and dandy when single. But no way i could support my family. And one thing to think about is the hours. DEs are on call 24/7. Yes I had calls as early as 4:30 AM and as late as 12:30 AM. My volunteers gave me the best wedding gift: they would not disturb me between 10PM and 6AM for the first year of marriage. Job is stressful. I've seen folks have nervous breakdown. I know folks who got ulcers and other medical conditions.

I'm tired of the helicopter parents. After the wanting of a guarantee that nothing will happen to their Scout, a veiled threat to several of us at the meeting, I don't want anything to do with the helicopters or their sons. My house, which has hosted several troop functions, is no longer available after an incident at the Christmas party at my house. And my sons are not to have anything to do with the helicopters, nor their children. A conversation I will be having with the SM Monday.

I hope Venturing, as well as Sea Scouts, do not go away. Had a conversation with the hoodlums. They are not happy with the way things are going with the troop. Part of me wants to start a crew.

I think a bunch of us are thinking of leaving. I am getting tired of all the drama adults cause.

As others have stated, a COR or IH can remove any volunteer for no reason whatsoever. They simply say you are no longer needed, and then inform council. Ditto if a Scout. Council should be informed no matter what.

I'm one of the few former pros. I had friends leave the profession and make double, and in one case triple, his DE salary. But you have a few dedicated Pros out there. I found out my old boss, who left the profession before I did and continued on as a Scouter, is now back. He was successful, but there is something that makes you feel good working for the BSA. Mostly the volunteers and seeing the Scouts at activities in my case. But the pension changes affect those already in the system, and retirees. Benefits promised, and pros contributed to were being cut. What is this thing called Social Security? Agreed. Social Security will never pay me what I have and will continue to pay into it. And companies can change pension plans, like the BSA, in a heartbeat.

I should have realized that the annual planning conference would not go right when several adults complained about the date and time set by the SPL. the 2 adults involved are both ASMs and have sons on the PLC. The moved up time didn't give that much heads up. Grant you the process started before the Christmas holidays, but the Scouts were not fully prepared. So the SM and 2 ASMs ended up taking over. Didn't get a chance to talk to the SM or one ASM about the situation. Did get a chance to talk to one though. HE saw no problem jumping in and getting involved since the Scouts weren't prepared. Doesn't understand the concept of letting them fail in order to learn. At least The PLC has a scheduled meeting for next month. in the past they only did 2 a year, and one was the APC.

Need more info. Are other factors involved, i.e. divorce, remarriage, illness, death etc? I knew of a Scout who started having issues in school. His life was in turmoil because of his parents divorce, and mom's remarriage.Scouting was is "Safe Space" the place where he could forget about his troubles for a while and have things as they were. But the home life affected him, and his grades started going down. His mom warned him about pulling him out of Scouts, then did it. He was so devastated that the one safe place was taken away from him that he attempted suicide. Thankfully he was found, and saved. He got help for his depression, and was OK. One thing the family was told not to do is take Scouts away as it was a form a therapy for him.

I believe it. I know my retired SE was all over a change in retirement policies a few month back. I know he was upset with folks dedicating their life, only to get shafted when they retire. And DE , DD, and FD pay is ridiculously low. I knew a DD who qualified for government aid.

Yum Yum!

While we don't know the numbers per launch platform, it did come out in an with a former president the exact number of nukes the US has.

Have you seen the 20 questions video where Surbaugh talks about "as long as each Cub works out of their own book, they'll be fine," or words to that effect? It was in regards to having coed dens.

Yes, a lot of people are being competitive about it. And they don't realize they are just hurting their kids.

Regarding the 10-18 year old program. It's going to get interesting. One pro made this comment. "Developing the girl program takes time so if it’s not ready by December, 5th grade girls can easily continue in the pack working on additional Adventures, Nova Awards, other awards, etc. The older program is not absolutely needed by January 1." Does anyone see the PR nightmare if boys can move up to troop as soon as they are able, December 1st, but the girls have to remain with a pack? And how many troops will go rogue?

And so it begins, the race to be the first female Cub Scout, Eagle Scout, etc. Already seeing lots of photos of girls in their uniforms. Lots of folks saying they cannot wait for January first to be the first ones. Even saw one post on FB where dad stated his daughter will be designated the official first female Cub Scout with his daughter receiving her Bobcat from the Assistant CSE, and the National Cub Scout Director. Scouting is not suppose to be a race, but a journey,.

While I did not grow up in that era, I remember seeing the fallout shelter everyday from 8-12th grades as my high school was a shelter. One of my assignments in grad school was conducting an oral history. I interviewed my father-in-law. He talked about some of the things he did as a kid. So glad he hasn't shared those stories with my hoodlums But then it got all serious. He started talking about the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was in Miami at the time. Regarding who owned the nukes, it was the Soviets, not Castro. It was in retaliation for us placing nukes in Turkey if memory serves. A lot of information was released with the fall of the Soviet Union, and especially to celebrate the 50th anniversary a few years back. Just wait until 2037 when most of the classified documents get declassified.

A program for females needs to be in place by December 1, 2018 when the first batch of Webelos are eligible to earn the Arrow of Light and Cross Over.

I talked to a DE who went to Dallas either in January 2016 or '17, I can't remember which. But he was told "Big changes" were headed our way in 2018. Yes National screwed up, and screwed up hugely. The town halls were a farce, ticking off volunteers and pros alike. As for national's survey, I would love to see the results from members and volunteers , even with the obvious pro-girl slant of the questions. And unlike the June 2015 Cub Scout Program, they can't change things 17 months later. Girls and parentswill be ticked. As to "Separate but Equal" it won;t work. And volunteers in the trenches are already stating that. Heck the CSE spoke out of both sides of his mouth when asked that question.

BSA use to sell skorts for female Scouters. They were not popular at all, and hated counting them when doing end of year inventories. So glad when they got rid of them. Only lady I saw who wanted a skirt or dress was my wife. And that was only because she HATES the tan and green uniform, and didn't like the old Yellow and Blue one. When she saw the 1950s/60 Den Mother's dress, she fell in love. Otherwise she wants her Venturing green and grey.

The problem is that National said they would release info in 2018, and I know I and other locally expected the info at RTSs like they did the new CS program. But then National allows council to start allowing girls January 15th if they want to AND packs meet criteria. Council next to us is an early adopter, and I know of at least one girl who is not fully outfitted with her uniform. This announcement and the criteria came out in apparently an invitation only email to a webinar on the topic, and that was just before Christmas. Not only is there a lack of confusion on those of us in the field who are hearing all kinds of different things ( I was told June 1st, what you mean January 15th?), but it seems as if national has no clue as to what it is doing. I don't know why I am shocked by this. I knew national would screw up the roll out. I didn't think it would be this bad.

I have found the Scouts know who is better to do the job than us old fogeys. My son was 10 when he was a PL. Ok it was a New Scout Patrol with other 10 and 11 year olds with an older Scout as Guide, but he was in charge, and in all honesty the Guide didn't do much. At the end of his term of office, he was nominated for, and elected by the troop. Senior Patrol Leader. He was 11 years, 2 months old when elected. You trained your Scouts. You need to trust your Scouts. NOW LET THEM LEAD! to paraphrase Green Bar Bill.

I would love for BSA to publish the actual stats of those members and volunteers lucky enough to take the survey, and not just the info from non-member surveys. If anyone could point me towards the actual member results I'd appreciate it. I keep finding the non-member results. And as someone else stated, BSA has a history of ignoring those of us in the field. After all, 94% of those surveyed thought BSA needed to keep the 3 months for Eagle Palms, and they ignored the near unanimous result, and decided on 'Insta Palms"

Sadly, I've seen so many units do their own thing and ignore BSA policies, that I can believe a unit doing anything. Heck my own troop said they will ignore BSA upcoming policy on separate girls troops, and fully integrate girls with their own patrol. They would be a girls only paper troop. In fact one of the reasons we are now accepting girls is because of rogue units IMHO. SWMBO jokingly said once that she will cremate me and put my ashes in knee socks. I said "YES and bury me at these three camp...." I got 2 pairs in the safety deposit box. Currently 2 camps are within 2 hours drive, and she knows exactly where to bury me. 3rd camp is a wee bit aways,and I hope she remembers where I want to go.

50+ years Scouting veteran, with 40+ years in the troop, with 20 of those as SM. He was buried in uniform, and anyone connected with the troop or district was there in uniform.