Col. Flagg

Five words that prove this thesis wrong: Merit Badge Universities Helicopter Parents MBs were much harder to get in the past. Scouts had to find and call counselors. No answering machines. You had to be diligent. Didn't have worksheets and Google to look up answers. I cannot recall a MB I completed in a week, let alone a day. My parents stayed out of my Scouting except for my dad. He was a TC Chair so he was in meetings are the time, but he stayed WAY out of my way. My mom would not have known where to start with helping me, but she would not have stuck her nose in my business either. She wanted me to grow and Scouting was the way. Those five words above have literally paved the way for kids to rocket through Scouting. Add in evolution in technology and communications, and these kids have it far easier.

Apparently they are still charging $15. Someone should register and hold them to this publicized amount.

I was wondering when this old chestnut would come back. And ironically we just received today the response from our superintendent about the whole Scouts-in-Schools issue. Guess what? In his estimation the BSA and our school district's missions are "not 100% compatible"...whatever that means. Also, "...allowing Boy Scouts to charter with, and use ABC Schools, without having to pay for their use would put the district at a further financial disadvantage." He went on to say, "While the district supports Scouting, we cannot act as sponsors or hold the charter of any non-district organizations. All third party organizations are welcome to use available school resources according to availability and fee-for-use." So where I live the local district has essentially said "No Thanks" to Scout units unless we want to pay to use their facilities. So much for BSA making all these changes with the hopes that schools would open their doors again. Oh, and a local pack that *is* recruiting girls was kicked off of school grounds for doing so, even though they had district permission. What fun!!

I got a $75,000 one year contract with a $50,000 bonus per unit I act as unit lead for. That's $175,000/year plus benefits. Not bad in the end.

That's near the end of July, right. If the monsoons are done by then it can get hot depending on where you are. Be prepared for that. You will know better the closer you get. The bears down here are cuter and more cuddly than the ones in your neck of the woods.

Sexism of ANY kind is an issue. Many men here experienced this firsthand trying to volunteer as leaders in GSUSA, only to be treated as if we were convicted pedophiles because of our sex. We've also seen our fellow males treating female leaders as second class leaders and stepping in to call the men out on their actions, so no need to pontificate here. I disagree though about the "He-man Woman Haters" (that's for you @Stosh and @TAHAWK) being the ones who will have problems in this new coed environment. Those guys are entrenched in BSA and won't budge. The know so much and are usually the heavy lifters that if you got rid of them your district or council would grind to a halt. The real losers in this will be the girls. Why? Because the whole program for girls is being thrown together by a group of know-nothings. If units are "separate but equal" (meaning: boys in one troop, girls in another) you will need to replicate the entire boy-led, patrol method troop structure TWICE. That means TWICE the leaders or TWICE the work for the same leaders. Either way you have a big problem. Most current leaders are well beyond being tapped out and over-extended. I will be most of us here wear or wore about 5-10 different hats, be they at the unit, district or council level. I'd wager my 2018 pay checks that less than 5% will sign up for that extra, girls-only work. That means you have FIND and TRAIN a whole bunch of new leaders to run those all-girl units. If you've ever tried to recruit Cub or Boy Scout adult leaders you know exactly how hard that will be. I think the exacerbation you hear is from the collective (and considerable) experience in this forum knowing that BSA usually missed the mark BIG TIME when major change is involved. We are gearing up for that giant dung ball that will start rolling down hill in 2018...knowing it will land on our door step.

Don't think Bugler counts for Eagle either. But point taken. "Assistant patrol leader and bugler are not approved positions of responsibility for the Eagle Scout rank. Likewise, a unit leader–assigned leadership project should not be used in lieu of serving in a position of responsibility."

Well, unless they've changed the leadership requirement for Eagle recently, but leadership projects currently don't count for Eagle leadership positions.

I received some advice from our long-time Eagle coach in our unit. He would have the Scouts read and re-read (several times) the application and the workbook. He would then have them take notes, noting the action words, bolded text, noting where they use the terms like "not" or "shall" or such. Really break it down and read it as if you were signing your first mortgage contract. This advice opened my eyes and has been something we continue to do as a unit. The output of this is a checklist, that the Scout creates, that has all the "deliverables" or artifacts that must be completed and/or submitted. We don't provide it as a list because we want the Scout to develop and use those critical thinking skills. Most of our Eagles are 16-17 so this is much easier. Younger Eagles typically struggle with this concept greatly. Maybe that's why our youngest Eagle was 15...but he was a 40 year old lawyer in a 15 year old's body.

So the LDS program is more adult-led with Scouts being discouraged from taking the lead and making contact?

I am just waiting for the first girl who obviously cannot make Eagle in the timeframe she has, being given a lighter trail to Eagle so as not to disadvantage her because of BSA's lack of speed in implementation. You know that will happen. Some hover-parent is going to blame BSA that their 16 year old daughter cannot possibly make Eagle in two years and how "unfair" that is. Just wait.

Right, $33. Not sure why I had $34 in my head. My understanding was that BL was still an extra $12 for Scouts who register with BSA, $24 if you are not registered or want a subscription otherwise. Point was that when some troops charge $100 a year, only $33 of that goes to BSA, another $12 to BL, the rest goes to the troop.

I simply went to their website, called their 800 number and asked them to cancel my subscription. They were taken aback a bit because they called it a "free" publication, so why wouldn't I want it, right? I was pretty forthright with them and told them why...pretty much many of the reasons enumerated above. Again, they were a bit surprised but they took me off the subscription list. It took a few months but I eventually stopped getting them.

I was wondering if we could make a change to the default notification settings. I've noticed that when I follow certain threads I end up getting email notifications when my profile is set to not have any notifications. So my "automatic" setting is set to none, but I am not allowed to change the notification setting for "Someone comments on something I follow". This is pretty annoying since I really don't want or need email based notifications. Can we please allow users to change that notification setting rather than making it default to email?

I would think ring finger of either hand. Pinky finger if you're Sicilian. You will find that most men as they get older rotate rings if they have them. Sometimes they will rotate in the class ring or the signet ring or the family heirloom ring, etc. The one ring that does NOT get rotated is the wedding band. Take that off at your own risk.

Some I like, others not so much. But to point @The Latin Scot is making, if we allow everyone their own little "change" to things then you really don't have a "uniform" uniform, do we? I could get behind allowing units 1-2 places they can ad lib with their own dongles. BSA already allows hats, neckers and patches to be customized. How many more special things do we need? I love the sentiment behind such things, but I do agree we need guidelines and limits.

Of he pa' is an official tlhingan Interpreter qosta'. Hoch idiot knows 'e'! 'oh is not parha' BSA is staffed by Romulans, is 'oh?

Gotta be a regional or local thing. Never heard of any change to NYLT in my area. I have seen the NYLT patches that look like the "Trained" patches. I have seen off-issue ones too done by local councils or units. I have head a few districts call their leader training "SEAL Training" and other such names to make it sound more elite than plain-old NYLT. I'd be interested to see how/if these programs differ from NYLT. To carry on the metaphor I'd liken NYLT to advanced flight training. I'd call NAYLE more akin to "Top Gun" or "Red Flag".

Never heard of that. Must be a local thing? How is it different from regular NYLT?

That's them. Have had them four years now are are my primary Scouting/Venturing/hiking pants. Been to Philmont twice and summer camps too.

Would CNN or MSNBC have been a better choice?

Hi Fred. I guess I missed those points, so sorry. I get the idea of having the gear in places people can see as maybe a catalyst for getting kids to join. But to be honest (and not trying to be offensive), that's a pretty expensive way to accomplish that task. Merchandise that just sits takes up valuable space and costs the owner of the merchandise (or "merch" as the kids call it these days) to keep it around. Once has to think that money could be better spent to hit that target market. With all the "free" media you get on social media these days, the cost of sending, storing and displaying that merchandise could likely fund several online campaigns. In my area the place that had Scout gear was a mom & pop hardware store. The only folks in there were guys over 60. Millennials were never in there. I spoke to the owner many times about his customer base (on an un-related matter to Scouting) and he noted his clientele was mostly 40-80. Addressing profit level of BSA's supply is harder because it supposes that it is run like a successful retail outlet. I'm not sure their supply is designed to make a profit...at least, not like other outfitters are set up. We can likely agree that their gear is expensive and that cheaper alternatives can be found. Heck, I use Magellan grey switchbacks ($24) instead of the Venturing ones ($50+) and I have never had any issues. I would suspect you are right about the stores breaking even, but again, I don't think they are designed to...hence my post above. If they addressed those issues I think you might see more success in the stores' bottom line.

My ENO hammock and the REI Flash air mattress (insulated and not fully inflated) has solved that issue for me. I am amazed at how comfortable I sleep...and I am a "stomach sleeper" but I sleep like a baby.

I am lucky as I have two scout shops within 15 miles of my house, so access is not a problem. They were also recently renovated and pretty swanky...in fact, needlessly so. Sure the mom & pop shop down the road was closer but usually didn't have exactly what I needed. At least now I know I can get what I need...assuming it is in stock. And with scoutstuff.org I can always order it. I get the distributor-ship concept, but with Amazon Prime as an example, how many of us complaining about "buy local" also have been guilty of online shopping? My BIGGEST issues with BSA's supply is 1) price, 2) quality, and 3) sizing. IMHO, BSA should be offering far more cost-effective clothing for their members. $50 for a pair of switchbacks for an 11 year-old is insane. As others have noted, the quality of many items is suspect at best. I have a shirt that says, "B y Sc uts o merica"...and that happened after the first washing!!! Some international friends thought I got the shirt in Wales. Others thought it was just the Texas spelling of the group name. Lastly, SIZING. The Venturing switchbacks were designed by someone with no knowledge of the human body. The "large" is a size 38" waist. The "medium" is a 31". So you are out of luck if you are a (svelte) 32". Your thighs won't fit the medium and the large is cavernous!!! I'd be fine if these issues were fixed and could only order online. If BSA outsourced their "pick and pack" to a third party, they could fulfill like Amazon. Heck, they could even offer their gear via Amazon...but that would take some innovation and we know how BSA is on that topic.

I agree as well. Years ago I used to find Scouting articles helpful. I still have several hard copies I kept. Great "how to" articles, ideas for units, trek planning ideas, etc. As I have pointed out earlier, the last 12 months or so have been drivel about "family camping" or something of that ilk. I've cancelled my subscription for 2018 as they have all gone straight to the recycling bin in 2017. Boys' Life I think is hit or miss. I've met several of their staff and they truly believe in the program and the outdoors. I wonder how much editorial control they really get but I didn't want to bring it up in conversation. None of my business really even if they know the answer. I hope they stay around as a publication AND find their historic value to boys, rather than re-tool it in to some coed mag that tries to be overly hip and "with it"...or is that "down with it"? I'll have to ask my son.