Col. Flagg

Darn it! I must be doing something wrong!

Might want to hold your indignation after reading the Guide to Awards and Insignia, page 12. Emphasis added. "Boy Scout neckerchiefs are optional. Troops choose their own official neckerchief. All members of a troop wear the same color. The troop decides by vote, and all members abide by the decision. If the neckerchief is not worn, then the shirt is worn with open collar. Boy Scout and Boy Scout leader neckerchiefs may be worn in a variety of plain colors and contrasting borders." One CAN wear the uniform properly AND still look professional WITHOUT the necker. Let's hope everyone wears the uniform properly following all the other standards.

When you're 35 and you use a queen size air mattress for comfort or cot (with no medical condition), while the kids are sleeping on the ground or a foam pad? Yeah. If you lead, you lead by example. Simple as that.

Well, there's be a whole lot of change in the last four years. Why can't the necker be one of those things sacrificed on the alter of progressiveness? In all seriousness, we seem to be protecting a piece of cloth more than the REAL foundation of Boy Scouting. This is an ironic and amusing dichotomy.

Nope. Just parents that wanted to see the necker kept. But they don't have to put up with the thing, so in the end the kids prevailed. When these parents come on events they always encourage the boys to wear them. When they arrive and see no one wearing them they are taken off. In fact, the SPL says "If one person is missing them, we will all not wear them." Very Heartbreak Ridge.

Ours did just that. They decided to ditch the necker. I supported it. The troop committee tried to override it. PLC stuck by their guns. Then the parents on the TC, many of whom have sons on the PLC, "talked" to their Scouts. There was a re-vote and the neckers were kept. The irony: The sons of the folks on the TC who were strong-armed in to changing their vote NEVER wear them with the uniform. So, of course, no one else does either. In solidarity with the PLC, I never wear mine either. NOTE: PLC got votes from each patrol. The vote was 80% in favor of ditching the necker.

True...but in many they are taught at the same time and cert is good for the same period (two years). For many they simply equate the two together.

It's a bit more than just teaching tourniquets and such. If taught properly, you have a chance of saving someone in the wilderness that might not make it if someone wasn't properly trained. In my book, even if it's one life it's worth the money to take it. Sure, BSA's reason might be butt covering. *MY* reason for taking it is to try to keep someone alive who might not otherwise make it if I didn't have the training. I carry a PLB for the same reason. Yes, it cost me $300 and no, I've never used it. But if I am caught in the back country I can open my PLB, pop smoke and direct a med evac chopper to my location to get me out.

I disagree to a point. While he doesn't need to boil the ocean to get some slick slogan or vision statement or something, forward long-term planning using some of these tools is helpful in keeping a unit (adults, not Scouts) robust and successful. For example, our unit has done a rolling five year plan for recruiting every year. We take in to account kids aging out, the health of other Packs (e.g., how many kids they have at each level) and forward plan how many kids we can take each year. This allows us to set our target for recruitment and adjust accordingly. The outcome? A unit which never has to worry about how many guys we have. This allows us to focus on delivering a quality program. All that takes surprisingly little time. We are one of a few units that never has to worry if we are getting 5 boys, 15 boys or 25 boys. We already know.

I suspect it was prohibited. I am sure he was talking about the philmont graphic which also shows the tents in the pic, but not actually inside the triangle.

If you can find a train-the-trainer class, you can take the course and become a trainer. This will be a bit more expensive ($150 in my area) BUT you don't need to recert every two years since you are now the trainer. There is some continuing ed and you will need to recert your CPR/AED training cert, but not WRFA. The hands-on sessions are the best. Be sure to ask each course director, assuming you have more than one option. Some are more book based than hands on. If you want another great training opportunity, take your local emergency management agency's CERT program. If you live in the midwest (tornado alley) or along the coast, CERT training is GREAT. Plus, you learn what the "tag system" means. HINT: Keep red or yellow tags in your bag to affix to your body.

If you want, next fall when you put in for Seabase again feel free to PM me. Happy to walk you through the selection process if my post was not clear.

Ah, Millennial Dads...

2 Years. How much are they charging?

Well, they need proper training for the adventures they are supporting.

Agree. I would not wait either. When I joined Scouts the first thing I did was find out about how the "lottery" system worked at each base. I heard some troops always got slots and wondered how that worked. I asked around, found the right folks and then chatted with them about how the system worked. The official directions tell you how to apply but they don't tell you how the system works really. NT and Summit you can get in to no problem. Philmont is a matter of good reputation, good payment/credit history with them, filling your crew 100% and picking some less popular treks. That's the recipe for getting a better chance of being selected there. Oh, and picking dates that are less popular. We usually go the first week since our schools get out early. And if you can't get in on a unit contingent, try your district to see if others got slots they can't fill. Same with council. We are going to Seabase this summer and had two open slots. We filled them in 30 mins posting on our district forum.

I have similar experiences. If I volunteer above my unit I get ridden hard, put away wet and someone else takes all the credit. That's fine, I am not in it for the knots, silver furry animals or the accolades. But I don't go back for a second riding either. I'll stick with my unit...or use the time to binge watch Vikings!

Well, Seabase, Philmont and NT are the crown jewels so to speak. Frankly, I could care less about Seabase, but I am a Ginge that burns easily, so the mountains or lakes are more my speed any way. I think the other lure for the BSA bases is that they are easier to coordinate for logistics. Council camps are okay but not as easy as the BSA camps. Non-Scout outfitters can be a mix of easy or hard to work with. But you are right, looking beyond BSA does have it's own merit and some times better adventures.

The Seabase lottery system is totally different than the Philmont lottery system. I spoke to a Seabase administrative manager a long way back and this is what they told me. The Seabase lottery is done based off of a rolling set of dates against the list of adventures/treks. Let's say that the sessions start June 1st and run through August 15th. Also, let's say that each "Term" -- being the length of time a crew is at base arriving or departing" -- is every 7 days. This is important because this helps them manage their rolling capacity; defined as the maximum capacity of all their treks AND base camp in any single "term" or week. Got it so far? So, the Seabase lottery is based on total availability. Now, you are a crew and you want to go on the Tall Ships Adventure. You've met with your crew and you can only go July 1st-8th, so you put in for THAT trek on ONLY that date. That's your only shot at getting your trek. If you don't get selected you're out. NOW, let's say you had a bit more flexibility. Say your crew can go at ANY TIME during July. So when you fill out your lottery form you fill out Tall Ships Adventure BUT you fill out FOUR "terms" or weeks: July 1-8, July 8-15, July 15-22, July 22-29. So when they pick July 1-8 if you are not chosen you go back in to the bucket for the other weeks. But Seabase allows even MORE flexibility on SOME treks. For example, they might have 2-3 Tall Ship Adventure slots PER WEEK! That means for each week in July there are 2-3 MORE chances of you getting your slot for the month than simply one. When they pick for July 1-8 you have three chances to get selected that week. If not, you are still in the bucket for the next week and the next week and the next week. Get it? So the advice I received from this Seabase manager was this: If you want to increase your chances of getting a Seabase slot, be as open as possible. So what my unit does is: We tell our Scouts and parents to leave the ENTIRE summer open for the year we are submitting. We pick 2-3 treks we are interested in. We pick ALL dates we can for the entire summer for ALL treks. If we get more than one trek (and this has happened several times to us) we simply give back the ones we don't want. Lastly, and most important, if you do get a trek make sure you: Fully staff the crew. Make sure all slots are filled. Pay on time!! This was emphasized to me many times as being the single reason many units don't get picked. When at base follow ALL rules and be model Scouts. Again, all HA bases I have been to have said that they DO check to see what each unit's history has been at that base. If they have a bad rep they go under review. I cannot promise if you follow this advice you will get selected. All I can tell you is that I received this advice once and we have never missed a slot at any HA base we've submitted for. BTW, Philmont, NT and Summit have a totally different "lottery" system.

It would still, IMHO, be a Values Statement, Mission Statement and Vision. One says what you are, one says how you do things, the latter says what you will be in the future. Or better yet, what you hope the Scouts will be in the future. Maybe I am missing something, but I think BSA already has -- for lack of better words -- "catch phrases" that encompass the spirit of your intent...I think. "Character Counts" comes to mind. The Oath and Law, to me, say it all...the Oath especially. That boils down Scouting to its essence IMHO. That's why most Eagle ceremonies I have been to give the Eagle Charge an ask the candidate recite the Oath. Maybe this will help. My PLC did a t-shirt fundraiser once. They were trying to think of a shirt that anyone would buy, not just people involved in Scouting. They asked everyone in the troop to think of words that brought to mind Scouting's ideals. If they couldn't think of anything except "reverence", let's say, they asked for synonyms. They collected this all on a Google Form so that they could parse the data on a Google Spreadsheet to de-dup" the data. They got over 500 words. Maybe such an exercise would help you boil down what you are looking for if you cannot find it in the Oath, Law and other BSA catch phrases.

Then Council should hire, track and evaluate their employees better. Personally I don't hate to see a bad DE go. I am doing a happy dance...and sending a note to the council or district he's going to in order to warn them about him/her. Otherwise, I am waving good bye and signing a song.

That was one of the reasons the NT director gave. The others were 1) proximity to effect a rescue if needed, and 2) breaking up a crew in bear territory. All good reasons, none found in the literature.

Let him do his thing. He will not make his numbers and they will find a job for him elsewhere. He seems too immature to realize that, in order for HIM to be successful, he needs to get the district volunteers, unit leaders and unit CORs on his side. Give him the rope to hang himself. He will. Then you can mop up the mess when he's gone and start again.

When I was a DL we met twice a month as a Den, once a month as a Pack. I could care less what the Pack did. Their meetings were boring not put the kids to sleep...literally. The Pack was useful for the camp outs and getting bling. Other than that, they did nothing. Everything was done at the Den level.

2016's stats. 4th largest class.