Col. Flagg

If Venturing was used as a vehicle for a coed program, you'd obviously open it up to 11 year old boys. And no, it would not be "coed Boy Scouts". Venturing would a different program from Boy Scouts. Maybe the revised Venturing program is not so summer camp, MB focused. Maybe the new Venturing program would provide other opportunities than summer camps.

Some troops may not have troop libraries. PDFs are another option.

LOL, I hear ya. But we have a society that cannot take saying "S**t" on TV like our more progressive cousins overseas do all the time, or showing of butts or breasts. So we Americans have MANY things that our British friends find repressed and odd, so what's wrong with one more thing (single-sex Scouting)? One, we don't know that the local option will be the method of implementation. Two, even if it is we now make things like camporee and summer camp that much more difficult to organize. Three, districts and councils have constrained enough resources as it is without having to manage the "coed question". At least with a separate program (coed Venturing 11-20) BSA would not pollute or dilute their existing flag ship program that is Boy Scouts.

Yes. I found nearly 90 pdfs of the MB pamphlets online. One guy scanned a ton of them and keeps them on a Google drive. If you know where and how to look, you can find them. Now, not all badges and not the latest requirements, but the info in the books rarely change all that drastically. Here's one troop I found just doing a quick search.

I hear good things about SF. Our guys can't stand Constantin and would rather go to Sid Richardson or go out of state. They plan on going to SF this fall for a weekend camp.

Cubs is more complex and I would not want to simply open CS to girls for the same reason I would not want to open Boy Scouts to girls. Maybe the answer to CS is to develop a cub-style program for Venturing. You'd create a program that is less fragmented than CS2BS and still allow CS and BS to keep what makes them special (single sex learning environment).

As is my opinion. But that's usually what opinions are based on.

They don't have to. They can retool Venturing and allow the girls to join at 11. Done. Boy Scouts stays Boy Scouts.

The same way you know of the parental demand for coed Scouting or that any movements aren't behind the pressure on BSA in the last 10 years.

There's an larger amount of people who saw Bigfoot at the Portland DMV. Does not make it a large enough ground-swell of potential members to alter a 100+ year old program. Much like the much touted supporters of allowing gay members who would join BSA, this "demand" has not materialized.

The skills needed in the IT market will always be needed, but competition is going to get rougher? Why? Simply because more people are being trained in these skills. Making it more competitive is also that many IT jobs are going offshore. Of course, we will still need US-based IT jobs for the government, financial services sector and other industries where we don't want to rely on foreign labor.

Reading the pamphlet should always be mandatory. BSA writes them for a reason. For folks who cannot afford $4.99 a pop, you can find pdfs online.

I continue to be concerned the the movements (we know who they are) that are pressing for change across society, and in particular organizations like BSA, don't apply the same pressure to other organizations (GSUSA). I am concerned at the continued lack of backbone demonstrated by BSA when they poll their membership on an issue and yet make decisions contrary to what a majority of their members expressed. It would change my opinion of BSA if they caved and went coed with Boy/Cub Scouts for those two reasons. But also because BSA has a viable alternative (Venturing) which they could retool to fit a coed model without marginalizing their base that drives Boy/Cub Scouts today.

+1 for their live customer service. I know a few of the folks who work there and they are good folks. -1 for their testing and change control around their applications. My friends tell me there are few controls in place you would find in other IT shops. They keep trying to suggest changes to avoid such things but those in charge are reluctant to change.

Actually, you can, depending on how you script your videos. If you use an approach where you record segments for each topic and then edit them together, you can add/delete sections of your video series and recompile them. Using a suite like CS6 with AfterEffects, Premiere Pro and such, you can really manage your series -- and even provide updates -- quite easily.

The irony with the marginalization argument is that you have to marginalize boys in order to give girls their "shot" at Eagle. Until those (SJW) voices are as vociferous about GSUSA allowing boys -- and as rabid about adult women in GS not marginalizing or denigrating men who want to be part of GSUSA -- I will continue to opine about Boy Scouts staying for boys only. I am more than happy to help Venturing build a strong coed program for women. I am more than happy to volunteer at GSUSA to help them, just as I am to do the same at BSA. I just think opportunities for just-girls or just-boys should remain available.

That's the thing, the application will not render the report for you to print or view. At least, not from that main screen. You can do this: Go to the main training screen outlined above. Click on "search training" icon. Select the names of the adults you want, then click "print report". The system appears to let you do that, though I just did that and the application is hung.

I know enough that "end point not found" is an application error. So I suspect BSA might have updated their application recently and just have not discovered this error. Of course it brings up a more disturbing issue: Clearly BSA does not test out code releases in a testing environment and run it through quality and change control before releasing it to their members. Or if they DO test, their QA process stinks.

But we (BSA) has a program -- and a very good one (Venturing), at least potentially -- where women could learn and grow quite well. I am all in favor of opening up Venturing to younger ages, training up leaders and putting in resources there to really help girls learn, grow and advance. I would also be up for extending the MB program to Venturing (for girls, since guys can already work on MBs). If BSA wants to change Venturing and make it more robust in order to give girls a coed environment where they can experience all the things boys do in Boy Scouts, I say COUNT ME IN!!! However, all that can be done AND preserve the unisex experience of Boy Scouting just like GSUSA does for girls today. Side Note: The preliminary results from the survey BSA sent out this spring are in. The questions around coed Scouting (i.e., making Boy Scouts coed) I am told were overwhelming (above 85%) in favor of keeping Boy Scouts for boys. Should be interesting if these results are made public, or if BSA just goes coed despite the opposition...similar to the last time they conducted such a survey.

Was wondering if anyone else was having this problem: Using Windows 10. Chrome, IE and Edge. Log in to my.scouting.org. Go to training manager and pull up the training dashboard. Try to link to and download the training report (either report). A new page comes up that says "Service" at the top. The text underneath reads "Endpoint not found. Please see the service help page for constructing valid requests to the service." No report. No pdf. Nothing. Anyone else having problems accessing this information from Windows 10?

I think that's a bit bit dismissive. Having a unisex program, whether for boys or girls, is important for development and growth...especially for teens and pre-teens. But why stop there? Let's open up ALL activities in school and elsewhere to both sexes. Why just focus on Boy Scouts? I think we all know the answer to that.

LOL, while that is somewhat true, I've been to Hale in summers where 105F was present. What about Slippery Falls? Do more OK units go there?

Nice camp. Two things: 1) Need a shuttle or more time to get from one end of camp to the water front, 2) Crazy amount of ticks!!!

Just the opposite. The guys use them 11 months out of the year. Heat, cold, rain, etc. Backpacking or patrol camping. One patrol with mostly new Scouts I thought destroyed one of the tents. Cleaned and inspected, no damage. Now mind you, we have the Taurus line. No see-through on the rain fly, just fabric.

Good points, Fred. But the boys can use the Patrol Method to put in checks and balances to ensure no single point of Scout failure. Our unit has the Patrol QMs inspect all tents before being taken down to make sure they are dry, clean and notes any repairs needed. The PL make sure the QM does this. The SPL takes up the PLs equipment report (usually a piece of paper). The Troop QM checks in the gear and records the status of each tent (simply noting returned as-is, needs cleaning, needs drying, needs repair). At the garage the Scouts who used the tent are re-issued the tent to bring home and clean (and given the tent cleaning/care guidelines to follow). Does this always work? Nope. But it has greatly curtailed the number of tent replacements and repairs we've had to do. It also puts the onus on the boys (where it should be) for equipment care and maintenance.