Eagle94-A1

Not a lot of work. Folks just bring in cans. My oldest son and his brothers do the crushing if they are not already crushed. Storage can be a problem though. One guy donated 2.5 fifty-five gallon garbage bags full of crushed cans one time. He had been saving the cans for over 10 years. Edited: when scouts bring cans, they are already crushed. I have some folks not invovled in the troop bringing me cans. Hence my hoodlums involvement.

THAT is the understatement of the year!

We started doing the cans in January. We average about $10/month. Not a lot but every penny helps.

Well, my son's SM knows how to handle discipline. Sending folks home. He actually sent the entire troop home 1 time, about a month or two before Oldest joined it. The lesson was learned and the older Scouts informed everyone, that the SM doesn't play and tell the story how they got sent home 1 time. We have not had those behavior problems. I think bad behavior is like an infectious disease: if it isn't treated immediately the rest of the troop sees it, sees it's not getting corrected, and imitates it so that it grows. Unfortunately the SM believes that his son is can do no evil and that it's always other peoples fault ( yes, one time he told me that) He refuses to discipline his son. And as a result people have left. And those who remain apparently are following their SPL's lead.

I know one of the things I think the new syllabus does not emphasise enough is the PATROL METHOD (caps for emphasis). It was oneof the things I harped on in that class. One person actually kept track of the number of times I mentioned the Patrol Method, as whenever I had questions, I tried my best to incorporate the patrol method into the answer. I admit I did use some of the older syllabus and ILS-T , as well as some previous training informatrion, into my discussions. I do admit, one thing I like about the new syllabus is that it is it no longer 'Death by PowerPoint." Problem I has, and it may have been b/c of the large number we had, lots of good questions that got the discussion rolling along. We actually did it longer than the proscribed time, but still too short a timeframe IMHO.

By any chance, do you have ANY of the previous WB versions in an electronic format? I would love to have copies. And I'll trade you an electronic copy of BA22 that I have for it too.

When I went to PDL-1 as a brand new DE, one of the folks in my class was retired USAF and had her own plane. She would fly her plane around her district to service the various units. I think she was in ND.

Well, most of you have heard about the troop falling apart in my district. You've heard mostly about the SM not following the Patrol Method and appointing leaders; meetings are being used as MB classes; not working with their CO's pack; not participating in district activities, etc. I don't know if I've mentioned behavioral problems, in particular with the SM's son, but several folks have left becasue of him. To qoute my son, "He's a bully constantly picking on people." When he was a Webelos I saw some of this, and know for a fact that when the troop was electing leaders, no one would vote for him because of his bad behaviour. That's why the SM appoints leaders so "Everyone gets a chance." Well maybe it's a good thing they don't do much with other units as the bad behaviour apparently is increasing. Thankfully the original problem child is not at summer camp that both my troop and they are attending. Long story short it appears that the folks who are there are trying to start trouble with my troop, especially with one of the two guys who transfered from them to us. Worse part is, the guy causing the most trouble use to be his best friend, being in my old den together and in the same classes in school until one moved, and transfered to our troop. Thankfully my son hasn't been subjected to some of the physical aspects of bullying, but he's heard some of the language. And's made a comment that the Scout has changed in last 18 months. Their leader has been informed, and we had a very long conversation with our Scouts last night about the various incidents that have been occuring the past few days at camp. Hopefully the matter is solved. We'll see however. Folks, if you have a scout who is causing problems, please nip it in the bud. I may be wrong, but I think because the problems with the original youth were not corrected and taken care when they first happened, the rest of the youth see that behaviour, and are modelling it. I know the first troop I was in had some issues, and threats and language were the means used by the PL and SPL to get things done. And I know when I had problems when I first became a PL, I modeled that behavior when a problem arose. Thankfully my SM, and SPL were there to correct me and mentor me.

In all fairness to national, Bill was in the 67-69 years of age when he retired the first time. So I wouldn't call it being "benched." But yeah, I agree with folks not loving the outdoors working for national. Heck my old boss in supply was one. We were a pilot for allowing supply run summer camp trading posts. I had a few years expereince on camp staff, and my boss had none. It was a major P.I.T.A. trying to get her to understand what goes on at a camp and how things in a regular store won't work at camp and how ideas she had were not feasible. It was only after being assigned to jamboree staff that she fnally understood what I was talking about. As for backpacking WB. One of my old district commissioners did that at Philmont. MAN the stories he told. However, I beleive they had a canoeing and/or rafting WB course. I could live with that.

You mean like Green Bar Bill's WB syllabus? Why does it seem like the folks at national want todo away with everything Bill did?

Boyled, 1) WELCOME TO DA FORUMS! 2) I'm sorry you have a dysfunctional troop. 3) I'd follow the 10th Doctor's ( or is he the 11th now) advice and "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" I've seen first hand a troop like yours. SPL, PLs, and other PORs assigned by the SM. SM makes all decisions. etc. Only difference is there is no conflicting orders from ASMs. And I can tell you first hand the frustration you will encounter if you attempt to make suggestions for change and are ignored. The troop I know about was on the way to being the best in the district. SM was finally in the position to sit back and drink his coffee without having to leave his campsite, letting the youth he worked with run everything, when he needed to step down and a new SM volunteered. One youth at his Eagle SM conference point blank told the new SM how the changes he made was destroying the troop. He was ignored, and he stayed around long enough to have his ECOH, try to encourage change, and finally left in disgust. Three Scouts when to NYLT, found out how things should be run, expereinced it for a week, and tried to encouraged change. They were ignored. One Eagled and left. One Eagled, and is "active" in that he pays his registration fee in order to remain in the OA. He's a chapter officer, and is loving the OA. But with the troop, he doesn't attend meetings or the few camp outs they go on. Third Scout finally had enough and transferred to a Scout run troop. He Eagled, and is working on his Hornaday Award. He's still active with the troop. That's from discussions with the youth in question. And adults get frustrated too. Former SM tried to help them out. Ignored. District training chair, who was once an ASM with the troop was ignored. Unit Commissioner, the experienced old fogey who is assigned by district to help out units, kept trying to get them back on track until he died. And I tried to help them, was told I don't know what I'm talking about, and finally quit trying to help them in frustration. Now the troop is dying out. My oldest son's den was the last den they worked with, and only because I A) begged them to do something, ANYTHING, with the Webelos to get them interested in the troop and B) one of the committee member's sons was in the den. Out of that group, 2 joined a different troop, 2 eventually transferred to the troop their buddies joined, and 2 quit. Only the MC's son remains, and his oldest son is nearing Eagle. They are not doing anything with the Cub Scout pack, i.e. providing DCs, inviting them to a meeting and camp out for recruiting purposes/ AOL purposes, working with them on district level service projects, not working with them to coordinate Scout Sunday, etc. SO the last 2 batches of Cross Overs, the main group in December, and one in May, went to the different troop. They do not participate in any district or council activities, except for MB colleges and weekends. Currently they only sent 4 youth to summer camp this year. Why am I frustrated with this troop? I helped set up the troop. I helped train the original SM, worked with Scouts on MBs and the OA, camped with them etc. When it came time for oldest to be a Cub Scout, I went to their feeder pack first because I wanted him in that troop. But between that time, and the first and only camp out with them as a 4th grade Webelos, the troop fell so far that even he commented that the troop isn't doing things right after 1 camp out.

Same here. Reminds me of my DD's dad. His dad died after taking his old troop on a weekend canoeing expedition. They had just finished loading the canoes and gear when he had a heart attack.

Bad Wolf, Unit level stuff shooting sports is only for Boy Scouts, Sea Scouts, and Venturers. Cubs can only be done at the district/council level. G2SS states that limitation. All, As others have mentioned, districts are an administrative unit of the council. Districts exist at the whim of the council basically. So there is really no change.

Ok I'm in the information management field, medical librarian to be exact, and I can tell you without a doubt that the search engine on scouting.org is one of the worse I've ever used. It's gotten to the point that I google what ever I'm looking for and add " and 'Scouting.org" to find whatever I'm searching for. And a database's search engine must be user friendly. There is a very good database available through my state's library. But it's not very user friendly. Heck I'm a librarian, can use the jargon to find information, and I still have challenges at time with that database. Hate to think what some of my MDs and RNs have to face, oh wait, that's what I'm for.

Well I too am looking at necker options. We've used standard BSA neckers, and now National supply is out of the necker business, at least the ones we used (they are still trying to get rid of some, just not ours). Really hit home when we had 2 crossover ceremonies, and no neckers One of the priorities at the next PLC 'cause we have 1/3 of the troop without a necker, and are about to get at least 8 new Scouts in December, if not more.

I thought Powder Horn was suppose to focus on HA planninng and exxecution? I woulld love too. go through th preWB21C course that focused nnot only onn leadership skills,bbut alsScoutcraft.

I think it depends. In some cases, no. But if what you have done in Scouting reflects on youur field, then yes. A friend of mine incluuded Eagle, as well as a desription of his prooject: creating portable obstacles to help train search and rescue dogs. Asyoou can gguess,he's K9 oofficer. Another young man put his summer camp experrience, which was the camp coommisioer. It related to the customer service position.

SSSSSHHHHHH, don't tell anyone, But I still got one of those in my big first aid kit. If they brought back tourniquets, they may bring back these. I like being prepared.

In regards to first aid, I know AHA has a 2 year certification process for both CPR and First Aid. Instructors also need to do recerts every two years. THEN we need to get certified with the updates that come out every 5 years. And that is one of the biggest challenges in regards to first aid training: research changes techniques every 5 years. Best example I can give is CPR. back in the day it was 5:2 and Airways, Breathing, Circulation. Now it's 30:2, and Circulation, Airway, Breathing. Anyone remember when bleeding was Direct pressure, elevation, pressure point, tourniquet? Then they took out tourniquets and replaced with pressure ball and bandage? Now they brought back tourniquets. So I can understand why they want the 2 year recerts for first aid. On a differnent note, didn't the old pre WB21C course cover a lot of what we are talking about?

Here's my thoughts. 1) Things happen despite the best planning. Best examples I have are two weeklong canoe trips. On the first one, while prepared for bad weather, it was worse than predicted. Had to make camp at an alternate site and catch up the next day. Second one, non-Scout realted, involved a coworker who got seriously sick and a medevac had to be used. So the unexpected can happen. 2) Water Treks are covered in Aquatics Supervision: Paddle Sports. 3) In regards to First Aid training, I'm old school. I think First Aid MB should once again be required for First Class Scout. Back when I took FAMB, it focused on using your resources, including what you would find in the outdoors. Don't know about ARC, but AHA's first aid program consists of mostly watching videos, with limited hands on. So I think First Aid should be covered. 4) Emphasis should be on planning, planning, planning. One of the nice things about out current SM, he's been around so long, he;s been to every camp withing about a 7 or 8 hour drive. I think as much prep work needs to be done prior to an event as possible. 5) Know when to call of your trip and/or modify it. Yep I hate doing that, but I've done it once as the primary leader, and recommended it about a month ago when after doing skills training, realized none of the Scouts attending were ready for one planned trip, We changed it to a different river trip to accomodate the level of expereince.

Pee Wee Harris? All joking aside, I do not think anyone has made the impact that Green Bar Bill has made since 1980. Afterall, he came out of retirement to save the BSA. The closest I could get, and this may be because I'm biased towards them, but how about the guys who created the OA Trail Crew program at Philmont, which inspired the other HA bases to have OA programs.

Kudu.

Calico, The IH/ASM is relatively new to the CO. So he's keeping things as they are. He's still getting a feel for things. And since he is an Eagle with a son in the troop, he signed up to help when he can.

Yep, I'm an oversized kid, and sometimes do not maintain boundaries. I've been known to walk into patrol campsites when I smelled somethign good and ask, "What's for dinner?" LOL! But it has been known to freak people out. When I was doing training, the ASM was helping out on staff, but was on call that weekend. Chief had to give him permission to leave his jurisdiction (campsite was approximately 400 yards away from city limits), but he had to take his vehicle with him. Well he gets called out Friday nite, so he's not at camp. Saturday morning, he shows up in his police van, and some of the Scouters are a little freaked out. I'm just waiting for the SWAT team leader to go camping with us. It seems as if every time we go camping, he's on call and cannot make it.

Thanks folks. Yep, I want to stay out it. I think the SM, CC, and COR need to handle it. And I'll add the IH as well since he is also involved in the troop as an ASM and has seen the guy in action on the camp out the folded troop joined us on. Qwasze, My goal is to help the current SM until he steps down and my friend, aka the "Heir Apparent" takes over. Then I am going to support him because his job crazy. He's had to miss and/or leave early from meetings, leave in the middle of the night and come back very early the next morning on camp outs, and his job even tried to get him to come in when the troop was at summer camp! Thankfully the chief of police is a big supporter of Scouting, and understood why he couldn't come back to work during summer camp. However, he had to report in about 4 hours after returning from summer camp. As for the coffee pot, I will quote what is on the adult leader's coffee set up, "Adults Only: KEEP YOU PAWS OFF!"