Eagle94-A1

THIS! One of my proudest moments as a DE was starting a minority unit. It took a lot of time to get it done, and I needed the right folks in the right positions. Sadly when the key to that unit left Scouting after 5 years, the unit I started folded because they could not find anyone else. I would NOT want my kids with anyone with just BSA training, even WB, at the Scouts BSA level. At the Cub Level, you have other DLs and the CM to bounce ideas off of and get help. And sadly the commissioner corps is non-existent in most places. You gotta develop relationships. Those relationships will get units started and continuing. Relationships also provide the exchange of ideas, and mentoring, needed by new Scouters. One of the things I hated about being a DE was the pressure to start new units. I understand why it's important, you gotta grow. BUT when existing units are having issues that you need to help them out with, or are dead for all intents and purposes, it is a major challenge. And I know the UCs are suppose to be helping, but again when you do not have a commissioner corps, you gotta do it yourself.

These two quotes concern me: National is already using the term "Family Scouting," and I have seen it used by troops to include all members of the family. It nearly destroyed the troop.

Oh yeah weather can be unpredictable. I went camping with my family on a bald. Checked weather prior to going on the trip, again in the parking lot, a third time on the climb up, and a 4th time prior to setting up camp. Wife was in the kids tent reading to them, and something told me to check the weather radio one more time. Sure enough lightning storm was a few miles away and headed in our direction. took us two trips to move everything, and the wife and I barely made it on the second trip before the storm hit.

Yeah, I saw those labels when I was looking for compasses. Some BSA licensees do sell on Amazon. But national does not.

No. Does the name Norton? That was the Quartermaster's last name who served as SM when I was an ASM.

My thoughts on the matter. 1. regarding this quote: How often does BSA policies change? How long after a policy change does it take to get full compliance? Venturing started on August 1, 1998, and almost 23 years later folks still call Venturing Crews, "Venture Crews," and Venturers, "Venture Scouts." 2. Has anyone besides myself ever taken off insignia to be compliant with uniform, or in my case work, regulations, and have very noticeable "spots" where the insignia was at? 3. The Guide to Awards and Insignia State, Do you know how much of a pain it is to sew on one knot? Try removing and rearranging knots. Then multiply that by the number of shirts you need to to that on? It can be a time consuming exercise, that leaves "spots." I am not at the stage where I have 10 knots. But I have no problems with folks wearing more than 9, especially if they are in an older uniform shirt. That said, am I compliant? Yes. Although I have the older Sea Scout dress whites, both shirts have 6 knots, 4 reproduction Sea Scout white background knots from SHIPS STORES, and two official issue.

Regarding old uniforms, if the shirt you have all the knots on predates the new requirement, it's is legit. I mentioned in a previous post that when I returned to work at the Scout Shop, my manager allowed me to wear my WSJ insignia and knots. Part of that was because it was obvious where my regional patch was worn because it's outline remained.

Can the judge order his appearance?

Alas, the bulk of WWII torpedoes had issues, and either could not hit the target, or if they hit, not detonate. The US had to reverse engineer captured IJN torpedoes to fix the problem. As to the torpedo tubes, I bet the Navy fixed it so they were inoperable. However, a good Chief Gunner's Mate could probably make them operable again, kinda like the 5" guns on the USS KIDD (DD 661). 😝

Yep National would throw a coniption fit if some of the things Scouts used to do back in the day were done today. One of the SM's told me about his Sea Scout days where his ship spent a month, month and a half travelling from Little Creek VA to Maine and back to pick up their new vessel: a decommissioned WWII PT boat. They traveled by train to Maine, repaired the PT boat to make pass USCG inspection, then steamed her down the east coast with stops along the way. And they spent the 4-6 weeks and time on the ocean without any adults.

You know, Clan Macleod and Clan Ross have never fought against each other. That can change you know.

Don't know. The Scottish troop I worked within the UK looked distinguished in their kilts, lovet hose, sporrans, and singh dubhs. I wouldn't mind wearing a Macleod of Lewis kilt.

@RichardB, with all due respect a lot of Scouters are skeptical of professionals, both locally and nationally. Folks have been burnt by both sets. Best example I can give is the 2014 or 2015 survey on Instapalms and leadership requirements for palm. 94% of those surveyed were either AGAINST (18%) or STRONGLY AGAINST (76%) the awarding of palms at the Board of review. I do not remember the exact percentages, but a majority also believed that leadership PORs should remain in place for palms. And look what happened, Instapalms came about, and their is no POR requirement for palms anymore. A friend of mine was on the Cub Scout 411 committee that came up with the June 2015 - December 2016 Cub Scout program. I am told that the committee members talked to a lot of folks in the field, I know my friend did, They created an outstanding program. Not only did national change the program without giving the opportunity to work out the kinks, it was a radical program change that packs that did not go through the trainng leading to the new program needed time to update IMHO, but also National did not even have the courtesy to talk to the folks who created the program before changing the program mid-year. Can you now understand why folks are upset and skeptical?

Yep. there were two types of iron on paws, the first batch had cut outs of the different activities. They were a major pain to iron on because if you didn't do it just right, the pawprint was screwed up.

Tiger Cub History It was an experimental program up to August 1982 and it was for 2nd Graders. After August 1982 until some time in the 1990s it was a "separate, optional program affiliated with the pack" or words to that affect. They earned the square Tiger Cub Gradate patch for completing the program, and the uniform was a orange t-shirt with iron-on tiger paws In the mid 1990s, they were incorporated into the packs, but still wore the tshirts, although they wer suppose to wear blue shorts/pants with the blue and orange socks. Instead of the square patch, they earned a Tiger Cub Strip patch Shortly thereafter, the Cub Scout program went from a 4 year program, including Tiger Cubs, to a 5 year program including Tiger Cubs. Only LDS packs kept the original 3 year Cub Scout program. They also got to wear the blue shirts with Tiger Cub Necker, slide, and hat, as well as the Tiger Cub Rank patch. First it was worn on a belt fob, then on the blue shirt. Sometime in the 2010s, they switch from Tiger Cub to Tigers. And in 2018 National brought back the name Lions, but used it for Kindergartners instead of the oldest group.

Branding irons can only be used by adults now?!?!?!?!?!?! Guess Philmont, and other camps need to get rid of their branding irons since the Scouts can no longer do it.

Not on the camp property. On the properties along the road to the camp. lots of them and new houses. Also an area off camp property we had permission to go to for ages has new owners, and no longer allows us to hike there and back. I checked the current NCAP, and see no grading scale listed anymore. Back in the day when I ran day camp and there was a scale, I graded it as a D. It was extremely primitive and neglected. Forgot to add, Back in late October/ November had a town hall about how much camps cost to operate per person. First of 3 meetings showed that it cost about $60-$70 per camper to operate. That included an emergency capital expense, the camp road was washed out and needed to be fixed, and the attendance was lower than normal because it was closed for 9 months. I mentioned this to some folks and the next meeting showed about $12/person. "I got a bad feeling about this.

With all the bankruptcy stuff going on, I thought I would update on council and district situation Good news: We no longer have a conditional charter according to the council key 3. Bad news. Council has downsized professional staff. From 8 districts to 3 districts. Local camp, which has not been in a trust since 2000, had some visitors last week. SE, 2 exec board members, and gentleman with a clip board who looked like a "suit," walked around camp inspecting it. Apparently the camp is a B+. Why am I worried?

THIS! I once was on two council committees, and staffed council events. I questioned a few things. I am no longer active at the council level as a result. I am tolerated at the district level because I am one of the few people to do things at the local level. Also I have quieted down because I have two more sons on their trail to Eagle. EDITED: National extremely rarely listens to the volunteers in the field. Best example is "InstaPalms." national took a poll on whether to instantly award Palms at the EBOR, and do away with the ledership requirement. 94% were either AGAINST (18%) or STRONGLY AGAINT (76%) awarding palms instantly and doing away with the leadership requirement. Despite 94% saying it was a bad idea, they did it anyway. Another example is the surveys they did regarding membership changes. They have never released the membership survey results, only the non-member results, to support their decision. And looking at the GSUSA court documents, it appears the decision was already made before the polls.

Regarding a few things. Regarding G2SS, they used Department of Labor Laws to create some of the rules, i.e. the no little red wagons, no power tools, etc at certain ages. I questioned that, brought it to my SE's attention, and he got clarification for me. Regarding the BSA's expulsion letters, I have read a few, had to enforce one, and sadly contribute to one.They are direct and to the point, membership revoked, and you are no longer allowed at BSA activities. Again I had to enforce that letter one time, only to find out the guy had a court ordered injunction against the expulsion until his civil trial against the BSA ended. Wish I was told about the injunction prior to phone calls being made. As for being placed in the IVF and being innocent, you still won't be allowed back in the BSA, and even if they did allow you to continue, your reputation is ruined. Good friend of mine was accused. They were promptly escorted off the camp, and police began an investigation. There was enough physical evidence left by the accuser to prove that her story was corrrect: she caught the "scout" being a peeping Tom after hours in the ladies shower area, and when she confronted him, he ran off. He accused her to save himself, and sadly it worked.

"NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!"

While the course I took and taught, Cub Scout Basic Leader Training, were longer, they were live classes, and IMNSHO a heckuva a lot better. It was a 9AM - 4PM class with a lunch break/social, and when you completed it you were trained in any position in the pack except Den Leader Coach/ Pack Trainer. I know when I last did the online training a while back just to see what the complaints were about, the different CS DL courses had heavy repetition. 3+ Hours on a computer will drive a person nuts, especially when repetitive. Actually some councils are requiring IOLS to be completed before being an ASM/SM. Last IOLS class I taught, 2/3 of the participants were from the neighboring council that required all position training, including IOLS, to be completed before being registered in the position. Training rates affect district and council JTE scores. Sadly just because some is "trained" does not mean they will implement the program properly. I have seen "trained" leaders run adult lead programs and limit their Scouts what months they can camp and to car camping. That last course I taught was designed primarily for one specific troop that had a bunch of new Scouters. The only time that fit both schedules was January, only 1 person showed up from that troop. When I asked where everyone else was, he stated "it's too cold to camp." Temps were in the upper 30s/lower 40s, and we had an enclosed shelter for the classes.

Just read their recent newsletter. Was disappointed in their commissioner comments. No one is perfect, we are all products of our times. We got to recognize both the success and failures of our role models. We need to learn from their mistakes and grow. If anything happened to BSA, I was looking to join BPSA, now I don't know.

Little trick I did to get distances. used 100' of paracord and put knots every 8 to 8.8 feet apart. Sorry cannot remember but got the number from adding the width fo the chair to 6'. It was strung out and construction flags the church used for services were put at every knot. And that marked the rows of chairs. The two areas I had for the high rick folks were 12-12.5' away from everyone else. Also CALL ALL HIGH RISK INVITEES IF THEY DO NOT RSVP! (emphasis, not shouting). I just remembered we had a 4th high rick person who did not RSVP and showed up. Thankfully it was at the point we were adding chairs to the ones set up, and the family spaced themselves apart. For an outdoor venue, visit the place around the same time the ceremony will be. Pastor recommended one spot were he has services. At the time of day the ECOH would be, it would be sweltering. Found another spot on the church's property that was perfect. Back to masks, PLEASE MAKE SURE INVITATIONS STATES MASKS ARE REQUIRED. Sounds commonsense, but trust me it's not. And again have them on hand.

Moderna #1 yesterday. I too knew it was there by late afternoon. Glad I work from home today because I hurt. Hope all is well tomorrow as I am back onsite.