Col. Flagg

Hope won't do it. Solid strategies on retention will. The big question is will the inflow of girls exceed the outflow of boys leaving the program? Another set of stats not shown but equally as troubling: The number of units year over year. The number of adults year over year. Both of those numbers continue to decline at near 8-9% or greater.

I swear. Thanks for deleting a perfectly civil and respectable comment.

And these are the numbers reported at the annual meeting, and not the lower revised numbers reported (quietly) later in the year.

I was at a service project (painting) years ago where our SPL -- who knew of the age and tools matrix -- made sure that Scouts of a certain age were painting low, older guys were on stool ladders and the oldest guys were on the higher ladders.

Really? I thought @HelpfulTracks and I were fine? I took nothing he said out of context, nor did I read in to anything he wrote as being discourteous. Quite the opposite. I thought it was a good conversation. I used the phrase "Enlighten me" as just that, wanting to know what he meant. I think you are reading way too much in to what people are writing. @HelpfulTracks and I were just having a normal conversation.

Enlighten me. What's the argument you'd make then.

I live in the shadow of national so maybe I am jaded by knowing of the various docs. When my SM team took over back in the day, we had a library sciences ASM who researched and found all BSA publications and put together a list of them for us. We made our own pdf copies (before BSA made them available) and disseminated them to our ASMs. We were part of the pilot group that had all ASMs trained as the SMs were required. Could be why we know of all these things. This SM was also part of that pilot, hence the private flogging.

Well for the Scout I would agree. Who the heck could find all this BSA double-speak documentation on their own? I know adults who are challenged with it. However, the SM has been in the role 18 years. He should be able to recite the GTA, Sweet 16 and other docs chapter and verse. He got caught mailing it in and the flogged him good...and rightly so IMHO.

Quite the opposite. We should ALWAYS question the applicability of the Constitution. It is the only way to test our laws. We do this daily was we consult case law, codes and the Constitution. Do our laws fit within the framework? Do they violate our basic rights? I don't see questioning the Constitution -- or even discussing change to it -- as a step down the path of "shredding" it. Rather, I see it as our duty to continue to question all laws against that framework. And if change *is* needed, we operate within the process laid out in the Constitution to change it. I'd love to see Executive Orders and judicial legislating be a thing of the past. Courts don't belong making policy like they do now, and the Executive does not belong making laws like they do now.

This actually came up during an EBOR for another unit and the unit lead got in to hot water. The candidate was too young, as were his helpers, to use most of the tools on his project. There was only one adult from the unit present and he was not a trained leader. There were so many violations the district rep's head almost exploded. They used it as a chance to counsel both the youth and the SM on proper procedure and rules.

Read the Guide to Advancement starting at page 67. Meet with Scout and SM. Find out why this proceeded without signatures. Set up meeting with the Council/District rep to discuss how to proceed.

No, that's not organizational change. That's staff augmentation and they are different animals. Organizational change analyzes how the work is done (people, process, technology) and how things can be streamlined to be more efficient. Staff augmentation is throwing bodies at a problem without doing above analysis.

As others have noted, while have free speech, we cannot simply say anything we want whenever we want. I am assuming the same would apply for firearms. We can have firearms but not ANY firearm we want.

From my perspective, it is not the technology that is causing these shootings. Rather the technology is making the body count higher than it would be if the citizenry were allowed their arms, BUT those arms were not military-grade. I've got my 12- and 20-gauge, a replica 50-cal muzzleloader and a model 700 CDL bolt action. All used for hunting and sport (clays/target). NONE are the type of weapon to cause mass carnage. Such weapons are simply not needed by the citizenry. Don't own a handgun. My Gen-X 40# compound will take any intruder down.

Is this directed at anyone in particular? The discussion seems fairly civil as far as I can see.