Col. Flagg

Amendment: Don't bring cotton ANYTHING except for sleep wear. Cotton does not dry fast or well, holds odors and will mildew fast.

It sounds like the troop and SM's understanding of the rules governing MB work are a bit misplaced, and they should be compelled by district or council to adhere to these rules. That said, however, maybe their application of the rules may have something to do with these issues? Ensuring the Scout is working with a certified MBC. This is spelled out as a requirement of the SM in Section 7.0.0.3 of the GTA. The SM and Scout are to come to agreement on this and, failing agreement, "the Scout must be allowed to work with the counselor of his choice, so long as the counselor is registered and has been approved by the council advancement committee." So, is the MBC a registered counselor? Did the SM know? The SM may impose a limit on the number of MBs earned by a Scout from a single MBC as provided under 7.0.1.4 of the GTA, which states "...in situations where a Scout is earning a large number of badges from just one counselor, the unit leader is permitted to place a limit on the number of merit badges that may be earned from one counselor, as long as the same limit applies to all Scouts in the unit." Maybe the SM knew of this MBC? Maybe the SM has reason to believe he's teaching too many MBs meeting this single source issue? Lastly, Section 7.0.4.6 might be in play here. Maybe the SM has reason to believe that the other troop's MBC may fall in to a scenario outlined in this section. If the SM believes that to be the case, the SM does have every right to execute the section as written:"In cases where it is discovered that unregistered or unapproved individuals are signing off merit badges, this should be reported to the council or district advancement committee so they have the opportunity to follow up. But it is also the responsibility of unit leaders to help Scouts understand that only registered and approved counselors are to be used. Because background checks, Youth Protection training, and merit badge program quality control are involved, BSA registration and council advancement committee approval are mandated procedures. If a Scout to whom this mandated procedure has been made clear has ignored it, then unit leaders may require the youth to work with other counselors who are properly documented who will verify that requirements were met and sign the blue cards. A unit leader should discuss any potential follow-up counselors with the Scout and provide the name of at least one, but Scouts must be allowed to work with registered and approved counselors of their choice as outlined in “About the Application for Merit Badge (“Blue Cardâ€),†7.0.0.2." @@allangr1024, Section 7.0.2.3 does allow units to establish their own list of counselors "who may or may not opt to work with youth in other units." So while the council may own the registration process, the GTA does allow units to have their own approved list.

I saw the stats on this recently, but the percentage of people below the poverty line that have cable TV, cell phones and other such non-essential items was quite high...above 70%.

Day pack with ten essentials plus a notepad and pens. Too many Scouts to not bring these, although they are required in most camps.

Before you start, you might want to check out scoutmastercg.com. He's been doing podcasts on various subjects for years and might have already addressed the topic.

I would be more inclined to tell her to give her Scout the links and let HIM figure it out. Or does she research all his homework for school to help him manage his school year too? Rhetorical question, I know, but that's where I continue to point parents. If you don't do it for them for school, why do it for them for Scouts? And if you do it for them for school, well, maybe you (she) should rethink the helicopter/bulldozer parent mentality.

@@scoutldr, it's S-T-2-1 now.

The fact she's doing all that work and focusing on something like the Hornaday Award shows she's likely a Grade A Helicopter Parent.

Well, these are likely the same sociologists that brought us transgenderism, micro agressions and other nonsense, but as far as I am concerned my comments in red...

I overhear a pure gem the other day. A parent was asking an SM during a summer camp prep briefing for Scouts and parents, "How many MBs can be earned in just one day?" The SM replied, "None. You're an adult." The parent then says, "No, I mean how many can my Scout earn in one day?" The SM pointed to her son and said, "Ask him."

Instead of looking at Scouting at the national or regional level, if I look at my own unit I see a fairly stable entity. We celebrate our 25th this year and we've come a long way. Below are some of the stats that are our averaged over the last 7-10 years. We sustain a unit of 70-80 Scouts. Over 90% of our Scouts attend 9 or more camp outs a year. Over 50% attend summer camp. If you include summertime high adventure that number goes to nearly 80%. Of the eligible Scouts, 75% of our Scouts attend a high adventure base each summer. Our attrition rate is around 3-4%; boys who give up on Scouts for various reasons. We accept about 3-5 boys a year as transfers; this offsets our attrition. We produce between 4-9 Eagles a year. Our retention rate after Eagle is nearly 95%. Our on-going recruiting target is 14 new Scouts each year, which offsets age-outs and attrition. We usually exceed this number by taking in 15-18 new Scouts. I only bring this up because these stats contradict the decline BSA has reported for the same period. Now, we live in a major metro area where Scouting is very active, so getting these numbers is not too difficult. However, competition among units to maintain their status quo is rough. Within a 100 sq miles (not as big an area as you would think) there are over 60 Cub Scout packs; all within at most a 20 minute drive of my unit. There are about 45 Boy Scout units in that same area. Most are decent sized (30-50 Scouts) and some are huge (over 100). My point? A good program CAN keep the numbers up AND retain the boys. It's just a matter of long term planning.

Tackle football went up? That's contrary to everything I have seen...and I live in Texas. Football has been on the decline in both schools and youth rec teams for the past 10 years. This analysis seems to paint a different picture. I think soccer has not fallen off as much as they claim. According to other data I have seen, soccer has only lost 1m from 2006-2017. I find it hard to believe they lost 1m between 2000 and 2006.

I don't disagree...entirely. The mission and vision are clearly defined by BSA. The aims and methods are how those goals are achieved. The problem is units, district, council all push the rank advancement theme. Even national has structured rank advancement to make getting Eagle (and every rank) easier. That's the carrot to keep the kids in the program (at least, that's what it appears BSA wants), not spending time outdoors or with one's mates.

It's all cloud now. Heck, syncing accounts, etc., is another issue altogether. One thing I would add to the list above are the dangers of using all that "free" stuff on things like Google, Microsoft, gaming consoles, etc. You need to really read the fine print to see what data they are mining from you. Just consider every picture you take on ANY phone has the date, time, location, GPS coordinates and other data embedded in the picture's data file...unless you know how to turn that off. Share that picture with me and I can tell you a ton about yourself.

You can make Eagle, or any rank, by using the "alternative test" in the GTA 4.2.3.1. Which means, you can have an Eagle not show up to ANY meetings and such, yet still fulfill their requirements for service and camping elsewhere, as long as the latter is under the auspices of Scouting. I am not talking about the Eagle who shows up to the troop every once in a while which is the norm. I am talking about the Eagles that play the system to it's very basic minimum. There's a difference between a 3 drink minimum and a ten drink minimum. The latter is for serious drinkers. The former just gets the riff raff to pay their dues.

Correct. And showing up to football practice every day is meeting the minumum, but that does not guarantee a starting role or even the right to play. The point being that Scouts is one of the only things I can think of where you can achieve the pinnacle of the program doing just the bare minimum. Even attendance in Scouting is not required, so in effect one could meet the "alternate test" in the GTA for showing activity, complete the bare minimum and still make Eagle. Can't do that in any other program I am aware of.

Well, if you are looking for curriculum ideas I would start with (@@Torchwood, chime in): Home network security. How to lock down a router, encryption, not using guest wifi, renaming SSIDs, using MAC address assigning, shutting down protocols not used. Device security (software). Loading and keeping current a good antivirus program on all devices, especially computers. Device security (hardware). How to "lock down" all hardware devices from intrusion, especially new devices like gaming consoles, Alexa/Google, wireless anything, phones, etc. Safe usage. How to avoid phishing and other scams, safe browsing, data sharing, safe social media usage (e.g., not posting vacation pics while on vacation), "instant" media like SnapChat.

LOL, our paths may have crossed. At very least I have designed some of the facilities that you and yours may use. You hit the nail on the head. I just wish the folks in Irving would utilize some of the technology folks in that area to help create a real and viable program for the boys. Heck, you have TI, HP, CA and a host of other tech companies there.

Because if you don't catch it right away -- and with some volunteers this happens due to lack of training or knowledge or capability with technology -- you need to head to council to submit paperwork to back out what's in the system. Trust me, have had to do this on a few occasions. On the plus side, we developed a detailed training program for anyone using advancement software.

Exactly. But there are both individual and team elements in Scouting; hence the NASCAR driver analogy. The driver gets the glory (Eagle), but realizes that without the pit crew (troop), pit boss (SM), sponsors (parents/CO) and fans (all others that supported him) he'd have gotten no where.

Not to mention a needless, silly and misplaced attempt to teach kids about cyber security. What they should have done is revamp the program to cover pertinent, age-appropriate cyber security skills. The program as it stands is well below the average youth's level of experience.

Which also means that mistakes made in Scoutbook go directly in to the national database without any quality check. TM allows you to run and review your report, then upload in to Internet Advancement. I love that aspect. It helps as a quality check before you post it to BSA. This has saved us TONS of paperwork and travel to council HQ to "fix" stuff that might have otherwise been erroneously uploaded.

Audit? Sounds like she has not read the GTA. If that doc does not bar you from signing then you can. There's no such thing as an "audit". I know small troops where the SM is also the MBC for most MBs. He signs for both.

It was death by a thousand cuts on that decision. If BSA follows suit, they will have girls in all programs by 2021.

+1 for TM support. I had an issue on a Friday night on a holiday weekend. They got back to me with a fix by Saturday AM.