Eagle94-A1

Never, ever heard of okra in Jambalaya. And I lived in the "Jambalaya Capitol of the World" for a while.

Now the $64000 dollar question, and maybe @RichardB can give us clarification. Are two registered adults over 21 required for a merit badge counseling per the G2SS, or do pre-October 1, 2018 rules allowing 2 Scouts, or a Scout and a unregistered parent, meet with a MBC acceptable still? Or do you need 2 registered adults over 21 and 2 Scouts to do a MB session now?

Agree with slowing down and enjoying the program. But there are some adults, and a few girls, who want to have or to be the first female Eagle Scout in their city, county, council, state, etc.

Yes, the OA is a service organization. But there was a camaraderie in the work. Sometimes that "cheerful spirit, even the midst of irksome tasks and weighty responsibilities...." resulted in turning it to fun or even turning the task into a joke to make it more bearable. Sadly that is missing. When I was CA 10+ years ago. I suggested promoting the fun stuff as well as doing our own. We sent folks to fellowship and conclave. We had fun meetings and even did some special trips. Our work load didn't decrease, in fact we did a few extra community service projects. OA was getting back on track for a while in my neckof the woods.

At the Scouts BSA level, you need to be EXTREMELY careful with the tagalongs. I've encountered major issues with "Family Scouting." I left a troop over the issue, and the troop is reversing their 'family friendly" policy because it was causing so many problems.

Problem is nationwide. I know for my two Scouts, they are not interested in OA because a) all they see is the OA doing work and no one having fun and B) it seems as if everyone is getting in and it it NOT a true honor society.

@shortridge, Bring back the pre-1998 or so election requirements, i.e. only 1/2 of those eligible can be placed on the ballot. Very similar wording was on the script when I was active as a chapter adviser. I had a SM come up to me after a troop election upset because the camp promo/ election team said to vote only for those they feel worthy. He was expecting all of his eligible Scouts to get in because they were always getting in. It was the first time in a long time the camp promo/election team was using the national script, and mentioning voting for who you think is worthy. Really sad thing is the SM was a past lodge chief and section officer. And he was not the only one upset. We had parents and Scouts upset that year. It seemed as if everyone thought OA membership was a "gimme," and a unit election was a mere formality.

Safety pin. Or look on Ebay for an pre-1979 set of DC cords. Those actually had a pin built into them since the uniform did not have epaulets yet. My cousin gave me his cords.

Same thing happening in my neck of the woods. We have a bunch of guys working in Indian Lore MB, and to make doubly sure it OK, AND ARE NOT OA MEMBERS ( emphasis), doing AOL ceremonies now. They are using the MBC's dance regalia for the ceremony. Since they are not Arrowmen, they are using one of the discarded AOL ceremonies the OA use to do. Only concern is that the MBC is an Arrowman, although not current in his dues, and 3/4ths of the regalia has been on loan to the local OA chapter for about 10 years now.

I say yes. But for many folks, the answer is "No!" There are some groups on Facebook that if you even question something about girls in Scouting, you are viewed as a sexist egotistical lying chauvinistic bigot who should immediately quit Scouting no matter how long or experiences with youth.

Some adults do not realize this. Some don't care. Some CORs are not involved in the troop. I was lucky, while approximately 55% - 60% of the adults polled were all for a "linked" troop, 75% to 80% of the youth were against linked troops. Over 50% of the boys stated they would leave. CO and adults backed off on making "linked" troops for now. One thing forgotten is that the troop belongs to the boys, not the adults. Merging two troops is one thing, had to deal with that once before as well as the aftermath of troop mergers. But I suspect that allowing girls into the program was not a popular one by the majority of existing members. Otherwise National would have posted the internal polling results and not just the external ones supporting their decision. The SM and other Scouters should listen to their Scouts as they are the current stakeholders with a vested interest in the troop. @thrifty stated it better than me, and beat me to the point. And don't think Scouts will not leave. If they or their parents do not trust the Scouters in the troop, they will leave. @Mom2Scout, What does your Scout want to do? As I see it, he can stick with the existing troop, or transfer to a new one. From personal experience as a youth and adult, while transferring is hard, it is easier on the youth than the adults. I had no problems when I was a youth transferring, and both my sons have had no issues with their new troop. I am the one having a hard time with the transfer. But the longer I am with the new troop, the more I realize it was a better choice.

While I agree that ultimately it is the CO's decision, a good CO will listen to the concerns of the parents AND SCOUTS (emphasis) involved in the existing unit. The troop I just left had an anonymous online survey of all folks with a vested interest in the troop: parents, committee members, Scouters, and Scouts. While a slight majority of adults were for a "linked" girls' troop, the overwhelming majority of Scouts were against it. 1/2 of the Scouts polled said they would transfer or quit. The CO decided to start a completely separate Girl's Only troop, but reserves the right to make the two troops "linked" if it is not working out.

SPOT ON! And worse, we now have folks in key levels at national who have little to no experience in the program making policies and procedures. I am told the national director of training has 0 experience in Scouting as either a youth or volunteer, but has the position because they hold a PhD in education. Ditto program director, no expereince in the program. yet they are making policy. Another factor is online training. So much is being left out in order to make it convenient. has anyone looked at some of the Scouting Facebook groups and the questions being asked by "trained" adults? A lot of the times I am shaking my head because the answer to those questions use to be covered by basic training, and they no longer are. When you had real classes, you could could cover a lot more material and have expereinced Scouters helping you out.

Actually yes they are. I am fortunate in that my town created a high speed internet utility company because other providers were ignoring the area. They met their 5 year growth goals in about 9 months because they are that good, and reasonably priced too. They were slowly expanding into the county as people were begging them for high speed internet access. Unfortunately the lobbyists for the major internet providers got laws passed in my state to prohibit them from expanding outside of existing areas. So the rest of the county is out of luck. And the big time providers still won't come into the rural areas as it is "cost prohibitive." People wish they could get Netflix and Youtube.

I am going to wait until the syllabi for all the new classes to come out and I have to teach it. In my neck of the woods, internet speeds are so problematic that some folks took over 4 hours to do the YPT2 class online. And instead of online training improving our numbers, they have fallen drastically.

1) WELCOME TO DA FORUMS! 2) GOOD FOR YOU FOR WANTING TO MAKE YOUR SCOUT'S EXPERIENCE AWESOME! I also believe it is best if first year parents don't go if at all possible. I had to go my oldest son's first year to insure 2 deep leadership. But I was busy with aquatic supervision classes, so I only saw him at meals and before lights out. But I know of two lawn mower parents who not only went to summer camp, but followed them around all day and even allowed son to sneak into their tent the entire week.

My understanding is that the new YPT3 will include the May 2018 YP changes that went into effect October 1, 2018.

Once the current inventory is gone of male uniforms, you can bet the FDL BSA logo shirts will be available for boys and men, unless the GSUSA vs BSA lawsuit gets settled.

FYI, A male den and a female den can have "joint" den meetings.

I lost a lot of stuff that was at my mom's house in Hurricane Katrina:patches, jackets, etc. From a collector's side I was able to find a 1995 WSJ necker and patch with one auction. The most meaningful one for me though was the Brownsea 22 patch. Best one was the result of several auctions over several months. And that was my wife's 1950s/60s blue Den Mother's uniform dress.

Please bear with us. We are not disbelieving you. Rather we are disbelieving what national is putting out. Some of us have been involved withe the BSA for a long time in many different capacities. We have seen how National has skewed data in the past to get the results they wanted. And this has repeatedly happen over the years. EDITED: first case of that happening that I know of is the OPERATION FIRST CLASS report that @Eagledad talks about. As a 15 year old Life Scout, I even commented on how skewed the report was for aged based patrols. And sometimes BSA doesn't publish results, or even ignores the published results. They never did post the internal results of one series of polls. And another time, they completely ignored the 94% who either disagreed(16%) or strongly disagreed (78%) with removing tenure requirements for Eagle Palms. So again, we are not disbelieving you, but the BSA. Anytime someone or a corporation invests time and money into something, they want facts to support them. And it's not only the BSA. Look at Seattle. They hired a college to come up with how the $15/hour minimum wage they implemented is helping out. When the university showed them the preliminary results, and those results were NOT supporting Seattle's wishes, they fired the university researchers, and hired another. Here is the kicker, the other university had 1 month to take the data the first university collected and shared with the city and prove the city's position. And the 1 month deadline was to publish the results before the original university published theirs.

1) WELCOME TO DA FORUMS! ( and yes that is me shouting my welcome at you ;) 2) Maybe I can help. BSA Lifeguard, and some places offer duel ARC Lifeguard certification, is a nationally recognized, professional lifeguard certification that equips folks to work at pools. It is heavily based on the ARC Lifeguard course, using their videos and books if I remember correctly. When I did BSA Lifeguard, If I wanted to pay the extra money and take the ARC Lifeguard test, I could be duel certified. ARC Lifeguard is a more recognizable certification, and some states do not recognize BSA Lifeguard ( an aside, some states also do not recognize Lifeguard Instructor Certification as a "Lifeguard Certification" i.e. NJ). The emphasis is on pools with one canoe rescue when I did BSA Lifeguard a few years back. It also requires a specific number of hours. As SSScout said, it can lead to a job, especially for youth doing a duel BSA/ARC Lifeguard certification. The two separate Aquatic Supervision Courses, Swimming and Water Rescue and Paddle Craft Safety , are not professional certifications. They are step above Safe Swim Defense and Safety Afloat. They are designed to give Scouters the skills for beach front swimming activities and conducting boating activities, specifically canoeing, kayaking, or both depending upon the course. That includes rescues. Again if memory serves, the two Aquatic Supervision courses are using some of the Waterfront Aquatics Manager Supervisor material, but as it relates to BSA. AND IT IS NOT CONSIDERED A PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION ( caps for emphasis, not shouting. I've done all three. The Aquatic Supervision certs are 3 years, while BSA Lifeguard is 2 years. I had overlap. I plan to recertify in the Supervision courses as they appeal more to Scouting than the Lifeguard class.

Associate Adviser is a separate position. The AA's job is to assist the Chapter Adviser with with the various duties. It varies from chapter to chapter and lodge to lodge. I was an AA once when I was helping to restart an OA chapter. I worked with the CA and the youth to get things up and running. When the CA was notable to do something, I was there.

In my neck of the woods, council camporee does not have an overall winner. Instead patrols accumulate points and the color ribbon is based upon what range of points you score i.e. 151-200 points = blue; 101-150 = red; etc.whoopie you won a blue ribbon, just like a bunch of other patrols. The pst 2 years my old troop didn't go to council camporee. This year my new troop may not go. Although thatis mroe related to the fact that 2/3 of the troop may be at a state competition rather than how the camproee is. District Camporee is different. We do points and there is a 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place patrol. We also do some specialty awards, i.e. Dutcvh Oven Cook Off, and when we have them Halloween Costume Contest.

A variation of knot tying and firebuilding; build a fire, boil water, cook a noodle, and tie a square knot under 30 minutes. You would be surprised at how many Scouts cannot do it. But everyone seemed to have loved the event. Also a variation of pioneering was catapults: build the catapult, and launch tennis balls for distance and at targets for an event. Dutch Oven Cook Off, both Scout Division ( for a prize and points) and Scouter Division (bragging rights) is poplar. Our OA members, who are the judges, eat well that weekend Theme that attracted the most interest was a Wilderness Survival theme. While we had some challenges, mostly due to adults, overall the Scouts had fun.I think the fact that we encouraged them to bring, and use fixed blade knives was a draw. One popular event was the survival shelter building. Scouts ate it up. Complaint we got from the Scouts was that it was one per troop. Not everyone got involved in building it. I admit I caved in on that with so many people complaining about building 1 per patrol. (an aside, My oldest son was responsible for building the troop's shelter. They came in 2nd overall, and it was extremely close. The judges liked how he used bamboo to collect water. But the side vent in the first place shelter, which prevented moisture accumulating inside the shelter since it was cold weather was the deciding factor.