.40AET

Thank you very much for the link. I watched both.

Could you please post the link? I searched and came up empty. TIA

The SM should have seen this coming and should have put a plan in place before the Scout failed. I have concerns like this for 3 of our Scouts. My plan is to work with them personally, to ensure that the parents/friend do not do all of the work and provide the leadership for the Scout during the Eagle Project process. I also plan on attending the work days and helping with the projects so that I can know for myself firsthand that the leadership was provided.

I'm fine with the Training classes needing to cover their cost. My SM training was $10 and I'd have paid ten times that because the instructor was fantastic. I start to question what I'm doing when it comes to classes that cost $250 and I need to donate a vacation day and my entire weekend. I hate online training. I'm on a computer right now and I'm on one all week for work. I also get plenty of useless online training that my employer feels is very important. * How much? Cover your costs * Do people get something (i.e. a book) which adds perceived value? I don't see a value unless it's a great book * How do people feel about being charged? Free would be nice, but covering your cost is understandable. * If charging for training is fairly new, has it impacted attendance? Most of the training classes that I've attended have been full, so the cost doesn't seem to impact the attendance. Stosh does make a great point. If BSA really wants a push for Trained leaders, free is the best incentive.

I enjoy the vintage versions of things as well. I picked up a 1970's version of the SM leaders patch. Hopefully, a previous SM left some luck in it. While not something to wear, I picked up the 1938 version of the Handbook for Scoutmasters. I've been looking for the red wool jacket lately. Sadly, no stories behind them, just cool old things.

I was on 1 of 3 crews from our Troop this past summer at Philmont. We have the benefit of an ASM that works at REI that also attended the trip and I'm a gear nut. We needed 2 stoves per crew and it was time to replace our 4 old stoves with 6 new ones. We settled on the MSR WhisperLite universal. It burns both alcohol and isobutane. We used both fuels over 5 shakedowns and settled on the isobutane cans. Personally, I don't like fiddling with the alcohol. I found cooking with alcohol to be dirty. The alcohol soots all over the place. We can convert the stoves back to alcohol any time, but I doubt that we ever will. The boys are rough on all of the camping gear and the stoves have held up well. FWIW- Philmont encourages the use of alcohol stoves. It's supposed to be better at altitude. Good luck!

My Tombstone will read "Died without a FB account and was happy". This forum and a couple of others are as close to the public as I plan to get. I enjoy helping others, and would appreciate any help that you and the others can provide to me. Best

One committee member would need to get a bunch of CMs and the CC together to advocate for change.

We have 12 Eagle Scouts that will hopefully carry forward under the College Reserve category. I'm planning on paying for my son to continue and I'm all but positive that the other dads are planning on doing the same thing. I don't see the $40 as a big issue. It's worth it for someone (dad or Scout) to pay this just to have the ability to go camping with the Troop whenever they please. (plus YPT)

It would be great if you would start something like that here. I’d love to read the tips support and advice that other leaders are willing to share. Thanks

Missing the goal of Eagle does not equate to failure for all Scouts. I met a life scout on staff at summer camp a few years back who was a Life Scout. All of the younger scouts in camp looked up to him. Everyone wanted to take MB with him and spend time with him outside of class. He had a group of boys just hanging around him talking all week long. One evening when he wasn't surrounded by boys, I bumped into him and he started chatting about how fantastic his summer had been in camp. Out of curiosity, I asked about Eagle?? His reply was "I'm now a Life Scout for Life". My 18th birthday was 2 weeks ago and I got so caught up in the fun of camp, that I forgot to complete my last 2 MB's. He said he wouldn't have given up anything that he had done to make Eagle. He selflessly gave to the Scouting program and enjoyed every minute of it. It's hard to put into words just how happy this Scout was with everything that he had learned while a Boy Scout. He certainly did not fail.

The most important thing in the Boy’s journey is just that, it must be the boys doing, not his moms. We find the most successful Scouts come into the Troop with a group of friends and all work together and push each other towards Eagle.

We camp regularly at 4 different BSA Scout Reservations. Only one of them has electric in the Scout campsites and that is a leaders cabin with power. We have one dad in the Troop with a CPAP and he brings a battery pack and charges it every day. I look forward to the peace and quiet of no phones or electronics in camp because of the lack of electricity. I would leave it up to the adults to take care of themselves. I'd rather see any money that would be used to hire contractors to install electric be used to better the program for the Scouts.

Last summer our Bearded Dragon went out on a 3 month vacation around the neighborhood. My son and his 3 friends started the MB in camp and finished by pet sitting for one month each. I was hoping someone would fall in love with the little guy and keep him. Other Scouts went to the nature center and watched one of their reptiles.

I gottta say..... I received a warmer welcome here than I did at our District Roundtable meeting on Monday.

We've been using TroopWebhost for a year as a Troop. Cutting the cord of the Yahoo group that we used for 10 years was the hardest part. We finally turned off the Yahoo group and forced everyone over and it's been working great ever since. Event sign ups and accounting for the events is all handled really well. The Treasurer's life is a lot easier now as is the trip leader who used to manually manage the money. We have a very dedicated adult Webmaster who setup a laptop at every meeting to give demonstrations and teach everyone how to use the site to their advantage. As a leader in the Troop, it's fantastic.

I'd like to thank everyone on the site for all of the great ideas! I've been reading extensively for the last month jotting down all of the little bits of golden wisdom that have been written. I appreciate the wealth of knowledge that here to help. Sometimes it's as simple a statement as "we do this...." and I thought that way is better than our way. Best regards, .40AET