bsaggcmom

Thanks CynicalScouter. I'm a healthcare provider and don't speak legalize. So I really like when a synopsis of the days events are posted in layman terms by yourself and others. But thanks for the link.

Perhaps, and I don't know if this is possible, we could have a locked thread/page that those that are closely following the bankruptcy and the proceedings could enter a layman's version of what happened, maybe the docket info too, and no comments would be allowed. Comments could be on a linked thread. Then those that wish to just stay up to date on the court case can do so without having to shift thru pages of commentary. I think there needs to be a place to vent/what if/share experiences and thoughts/concerns is very important. But I also think a place for 'just the facts' is important too. As someone who can't always check the forum on a regular basis a 'just the facts' thread would be awesome.

UKScouterInCA Thanks for the reply. Daughter said she enjoyed her time with a UK Scouter and his crew. She said to tell you that you weren't the only UK guy there. And she's glad you had a great time and thinks your list should be on everyone's packing list. Happy trails, Bsaggcmom.

This is a question from my just returned home Philmont staffer daughter - UKScouterInCA - Did your crew go thru Rayado? That's where she worked and thinks she spent some time with your crew hanging out with the goats and chickens while you waited your turn for the forge. Thanks Bsaggcmom.

Our camps have been canceled for all the the lower penninsula of Michigan for the summer and no in person meetings/activities until further notice. On a different but related note, 2 dams in mid Michigan failed 2 nights ago after the region received 8 inches of rain in less than 2 days. The staff and neighbors of Camp Rotary loaded most/all of the camps beds for summer camp into trucks and took them to the flood zone for shelters to use. See the link below for more info. Summer camp may not be going here in the lower mitten but the beds are going to good use. https://www.themorningsun.com/news/mt-pleasant-hotels-serve-flood-victims-as-communities-rally-to-help/article_cf79bb6a-9ab9-11ea-896d-638c9336b39f.html?fbclid=IwAR2c4QJyPJY06lVMoc_Pk3DOE8ltEjXiKAYQH7bDW0PWx9uo5byHwRU9Als

My council has a disabilities troop. The young men in that troop are mostly Down's Syndrome and other mental disabilities. The troop has turned out quite a few Eagle Scouts over the years. Some of these gentlemen were in there 30's or 40's when they finally finished up Eagle. The troop goes camping, to summer camp and works on community service projects. They are a really neat group with some of the most dedicated scouters I have ever met. What really impressed me with this group was watching a scout in his 30's guide a younger guy maybe 20 something thru an activity on a community service project. The older gentleman had done this project dozens of time in the past and he remembered how to do it and taught a younger man how to do it. True boy/man led scouting. The troop leadership pushes each scout to achieve his maximum, some make it thru Eagle, some only make Scout after years in the program. Unfortunately, the leadership for this troop is aging. Most of them are in their 60's or older. There doesn't seem to be any younger adults stepping up and stepping in. I fear this remarkable group will end soon without new blood. A sad thought.

Not quite an answer to the question, but something I thought I'd share. After I finished reading this thread I went looking thru a box of scout memorabilia in my son's room, I was looking for a particular neckerchief, anyway I found my father-in-law's 'I survived Philmont' plaque. Dad went to Philmont in 1956. Do individual trek members still get their own plaque or is just a crew plaque now?

Let's look at a couple of things regarding this young lady. If my memory (which can be flaky at times) serves the scout in question completed her Eagle Scout project prior to Feb. 1. If that is the case then she did a service project not an Eagle Project as one must develop, have approved, lead and complete their Eagle Project while a Life Scout. Said scout couldn't be a Scout until Feb. 1, let alone a Life Scout, so if the approval/completion dates on the project are before Feb. 1 it doesn't count. No camping nights can be counted from before Feb. 1. Whether she was a Venturer or not no camping nights counted. Therefore, she hasn't completed camping merit badge, unless she has spent 10 weekends camping in a tent since Feb. 1. It was a fairly mild winter in most of the northern climes, but 10 weekends out of the 21 possible weekends since girls were allowed to join Scouts BSA is a stretch. There have been no long term camps that I'm aware of since the first available joining date. Maybe said scout found a spring break week long camp somewhere, but I've never heard of a spring break camp. Summer camp of course, Christmas/winter break camp yes in some places including one here in the Great Lakes State. Next, one must be a Life Scout for 6 months and serve in a POR for that time period. Said scout, if granted advanced standing by her council, wouldn't be eligible for her Eagle SMC until at the earliest August 1. With her EBOR thereafter. Is she still serving her troop and in what capacity? Or is she trying to get past credit for that too? Finally, has she met with her 20 MBCs to get the badges signed off since Feb. 1? One can negotiate with each MBC about previous work credits, but one can't earn MBs without being registered as a Scouts BSA member. Therefore, no MBs dated before Feb. 1 can be counted. And since no MBs can be earned before being registered, is she really a Life Scout or just a First Class Scout? If you truly follow the MB earning rules, she came into Scouts BSA as a 1st Class Scout. 4 months of POR service/time in rank and some MB haggling, then she is Star somewhere around the 1st of June. 6 more months of POR service/time in rank, more MB haggling and Life Scout in December. Eagle shouldn't be possible until June of next year IMHO.

For those bashing Frogg Toggs, were they the full suit for $20ish or the $50 each piece ones? Frogg Toggs has 3 levels of fabric/suit. A cheap, and I would agree with the disposable comment, rain suit that may make it thru a weekend camp that sells for about $20. These pieces are very thin and flimsy and tear if you look at them sideways. This is the level that ScoutStuff sells (or sold when I worked for National Supply). Then there is a level that sells for about $20 per piece jacket or pants. These pieces have much more body to them and last fairly well. The $20 pieces are no frills, no pockets, decent pieces. I wear them during rainy fall/spring sports as an athletic trainer. I do find the pants wear in the inner thighs, but they are still water resistant after a lot of use this past school year. I got mine at Dick's Sporting Goods. Then there is the deluxe version of Frogg Toggs, these sell for about $50 per piece. They have good durability, zippered pockets in both the pants and jackets, and tuck away hoods. Maybe even arm pit venting, I can't remember for sure. Saw these at Bass Pro. I don't support or recommend any store over any other store. Just telling you where I have found what level of material. The one thing no Frogg Togg piece, cheap or expensive, will tolerate is being heated. We wore the mid priced stuff during a trip to Alaska and got a little too close to a campfire and the material shrunk up, kind of shrink wrapped itself. The part that shrink wrapped itself was no longer waterproof. Like all things, buyer beware.

I can highly recommend Camp Rainey Mountain's Whitewater KR program. Eagle son and his Eagle best friend did this camp as their last ever youth summer camp. The CRM staff was awesome in helping two Mitten State Eagle Scouts fit in with mostly southern campers. They really made the boys feel special for travelling such a distance to camp. Believe it or not they weren't the farthest away campers. There were scouts from Texas and Florida that traveled further than they did. The guys raved about how great the rafting was and how much fun they had. There only complaint was the quality of the food. An overall great last summer camp. The staff was also great to me as I hung out and volunteered at the CRM camp proper. The whitewater camp is held off site.

My kids worked in the B-52 mosquito hatchery for the last 4 years, AKA a Cub Resident camp on a shallow and somewhat swampy little lake. A great little Cub camp in the non-mosquito season, but not a great place to live your summer. We sprayed their clothes, hiking boots, tennis shoes, and the outside of their sleeping bags with permethrin before staff week. We also sprayed the mattress pads for their beds (they slept on sheets and used the sleeping bags as quilts or for hammocking) and the rug for beside their beds. It greatly reduced the attacks of the mini vampires. They didn't have any adverse reactions to the spray. But it sure helped keep the mosquito bite quantity down, didn't stop it but drastically reduced it. One good spraying before the season and it lasted the summer. We used so much of the stuff we actually buy it in bulk at the local feed store. A quart of the concentrate used for livestock and a pressurized 1 gallon sprayer cost me less than 2 containers of the cut down stuff at REI or the scout shop. It only took us a couple of minutes to do the math to get the dilution right. Got 2 summers out of my quart. Just make sure you don't use it full strength, it will ruin your material.

Putting a little spin on this thread. My daughter arrived at the PTC today to start her summer job at the Craft Center. She thought she had everything she needed before arriving, but NO!! She's been there 12 hrs and I have a 'please send me list'. Namely she needs a folding step stool - she and her tentmate are too short to reach the light switch on the light in their tent. Go figure 5'6" is too short to reach the switch. To everyone going to Philmont this summer, either the Training Center or Trekking, know that your staff has/is arriving and working hard to make your trip one to remember. The PTC staff schedule for staff week is pretty hectic and the CHQ staff has been busting butt for a couple of days now. 23 staff arrived with her on her bus from Raton this morning. Enjoy your time at Philmont. Go to the craft center and say Hi to my kid. I wish I could go back, maybe someday.

The young man in the photo must not be taking advantage of the back of his sashes for badges. When my son was in Scouts we got 58 (rows of 3 until the point, then 2 or 1 in a row) badges on the front of his sash. By extrapolation a large sized sash (personally I feel these are the only ones that should be sold, but that's another topic) can fit 116 badges and still leave a strip at the top of the shoulder for a sash pin.

What I want to know is how Ms. Ireland got into Scouts Canada? We live in a border city and I was not allowed to enroll my children that are half Canadian in Scouts Canada. I was told by the local council, provincial council and the National office that kids living in the USA weren't allowed to enroll in Scouts Canada due to reciprocity agreements between Scouts Canada and the BSA. The only way my kids could enroll was to be residents of Canada. My daughter wanted to be a Scout so bad she could taste it in first grade. There were no GSUSA troops in our area that would take her. So I called Scouts Canada to find a unit near my Mom's house for her. They told me no. So I called Girl Guides Canada and they helped us get her in to unit near Grandma's house. She went all the way thru their program. A weekly trip across the border for Scouting for 9 years. During much of that time she was in a great GSUSA Cadette/Senior/Ambassador troop 25 miles one way from the house. Life would have been so much easier if I could have just put her and her younger brother into Scouts Canada's program. But we were told no. If kids that are half Canadian are refused by Scouts Canada how did a US kid get in? We didn't force the issue. We didn't fake papers or residency, we accepted what we were told. I'm not saying that Ms. Ireland lied or cheated to get in but I am confused. She was part of the same provincial council we would have been in and we were told no. Something seems fishy on that front too. Ms. Ireland needs to play by the same rules as everyone else, not have lawyers and money buy her what she wants.

My son's first troop was an Eagle Mill/Factory in the true sense of most definitions. Troop meetings started with the SM handing the SPL a sheet of paper with the announcements for the the opening. After the opening the troop broke into 2 groups and went to MB instruction for the next hour. One of the 2 badges was an Eagle required and the other was usually an elective. Sometimes there would be 2 Eagle required badges running at the same time. All scouts that had not completed the Eagle required badge were required to attend that session. The only way a scout could attend the elective badge session was if he had the required badge. No choices allowed. Badge instruction usually took 4 troop meetings and then the scouts were signed off for the badge. 90 day badges had the usual 4 weeks of instruction, then monthly check ins for progress. There was no T-2-1 instruction at troop meetings, no games, no activities other than MB instruction. If the scout wasn't interested in either badge offered or already had them, too bad, hope you brought a book to read. T-2-1 skills only happened on campouts and were only signed off on campouts. The meetings ended with the SM handing the SPL another piece of paper with the closing announcements on it. Campouts ran on a schedule, 30 minutes for each skill then sign off and go to the next one. Adults did the teaching, older scouts helped but never lead the process. Higher rank scouts not involved in helping with skill practice just lay in their tents and read or take part in merit badge classes run by adults. The scouts did cook and clean for themselves, but only under the strict supervision of adults. Campouts had just as many adults as there were scouts. Even at summer camp. The troop was adult run and advancement driven. There was only one path with these guys. They turned out Eagles on a regular basis. Palms flowed freely. But it wasn't scouting.