InquisitiveScouter

Furthermore, will it not undermine the authority of that CO to exercise their prerogative to select adult leaders in line with their own beliefs?

That is a very slippery slope. By your reasoning, through today's lens (or the lens we would have foisted upon us by certain factions), we actually should remove any honors for many of the founders of this country. https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Founding-Fathers-and-Slavery-1269536 We should judge people based on their own times, not ours... "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

There is something I don't get here. Please help me... If a CO has the ability to not select (i.e., make a discrminating choice against) adult unit leaders based on their choice of gender identity or sexual orientation, won't this badge introduce confusion and mixed messages to the Scouts in that unit?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Temple_Hornaday https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/nyregion/thecity/06zoo.html

OK, using your metric, the evil SE makes 7.61% of our $2.7M expenditures.

YGBKM!!! (You gotta be kidding me!)

Yup... DE's start around $35K here. (That's what current SE offered me. I declined ) And compounded with the COVID crisis, all our DE's have been let go. Not furloughed, mind you, ...dismissed. We now have one FD covering our council. Volunteers are not happy.

Where have you been all my Scouting life?? 😁

Ours gets over $210K, with the median income per family (not per capita) in our area at $88K. Parents balk at donating to FOS when they hear those numbers...

Agreed, but not on the backs of adult volunteers who are paying for their own training. Program events (camporees, summer camp, etc.), I get it... training events, especially required ones (like IOLS and BALOO) should actually be given for free. If BSA requires me to have some sort of training, then they should figure out how to offer mandatory courses for free. This would really show volunteers that you value their time and service. You have won me over with this...thank you!!

There is a toxic WB culture in this council. Heck no! When building budgets for training events, we always had to build in extra to the fees to provide revenue to the council (at the direction of professional staff advisers to whatever event it was.) Made me sick to my stomach... And now, how many events are we going to cancel because we don't have a Short-Term Camp Administrator? (Yes, this was pushed from national, but councils will be the enforcers.) Can't even tell you who our UC is this month (or is it this week??) ??? DE's, yes. But SE's?? Not buying it. I have recommended to our board on several occasions that we reduce the SE salary, and pay our DE's more...we might keep them around longer than six months 😢 Answer back was that National set salary window, and they had to pick one of National's candidates. Again, 🤢

Yes, you can expect that soon. Remember when they hopped on the bandwagon after George Floyd's death back in June? https://scoutingwire.org/bsas-commitment-to-act-against-racial-injustice/ Reviewing every element of our programs to ensure diversity and inclusion are engrained at every level for participants and volunteers by applying a standard that promotes racial equality and denounces racism, discrimination, inequality and injustice. Requiring diversity and inclusion training for all BSA employees starting July 1 and taking immediate action toward introducing a version for volunteers in the coming months. Conducting a review of property names, events and insignia, in partnership with local councils, to build on and enhance the organization’s nearly 30-year ban on use of the Confederate flag and to ensure that symbols of oppression are not in use today or in the future.

When I first met our new council SE, in conversation I asked him what his biggest headache was. He said (closely paraphrasing), "Volunteers who think that when they put on the uniform, they are equal to me." I knew right then we were headed down the road to dysfunction...and I have not been wrong these last five years.

We did not re-register 13 out of our 51 Scouts. So, overall ~25%, but, broken down, we are about a normal year... Five of the 13 "aged-out"; six of the 13 were "chronic inactives"...those just not interested in Scouts anymore; one of the 13 was disciplinary (we will not re-register him due to behavior), and the last was due to COVID (family has significant health challenges). So, I look at it as six "eligibles" lost out of 44 "eligibles", or ~14% attrition. We are usually around 10% per year... We have not had any Webelos declare intent to join our Troop yet. Those notices don't start coming until mid to late January.

Our previous COR is a law professor. When I asked him why he thought BSA policies are often ambiguous, he said they most likely WANT some ambiguity, because it protects them in court. That is, if a case ever arises under a particular policy point, the lawyers for National will be able to argue whatever interpretation suits their interests best. And don't bother reaching out to National for any policy clarifications. If you use some email account not tied to your BSA profile (to try to maintain some anonymity), you will be ignored. If you can be identified, you will be reported to your SE. And, National will defer to your SE to interpret any policies that are ambiguous, anyway. So, just work any policy issues through your SE. And if you don't get a good answer from the SE, live with it...or be labeled a troublemaker of some kind, especially if you are not up on your FOS donation. BSA is only really worried about the money. They have gone down the YPT route because of fiscal reasons, not for some sort of altruistic desire to protect kids. If they weren't facing massive lawsuits, they wouldn't have acted.

No, my original is not a Stetson...there is an ink stamp inside at the crown of the head saying "Leisure Felt 100% WOOL" Ordered it from the BSA catalog through my local Scout store. The catalog entry (in the 90's) was "Expedition Hat", now called the "Brimmed Hat, Adult" in online catalog https://www.scoutshop.org/brimmed-hat-600016.html Guide to Awards and Insignia still refers to "campaign and expedition hats", page 69, bottom right, Universal Hat Pin https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/33066/33066_Universal_and_Nonunit_Insignia_WEB.pdf And, yes, it is too much to ask for the merchandising nomenclature to match the G2AI nomenclature, in case you were wondering

If you look for offense, you will always find it

What have I done?

About as much as an unladen swallow?

This is getting heavy. Oh, weight...

Insofar as I understand it, in Buddhism, if there is a "god", then you are it, or it is you, or both. https://www.learnreligions.com/gods-in-buddhism-449762 If you read through the eight beliefs of Buddhism, you will see they are in harmony with the Scout Oath and Scout Law. https://mysticalbee.com/beliefs-of-buddhism-religion/ And nothing in the DRP prevents you from claiming that you are the "god" you believe in. The Dalai Lama called his local pizza joint. When they asked him what he wanted, he said, "Make me one with everything." (Hope my tongue-in-cheek does not offend ) Buddhists are not "atheists"...they are best described as "non-theists".

I love this hat. I have the same one since the early 1990's. Yes, it is hot in the summer. Also, it bleeds some color when it gets wet or sweaty. So, mine is a little faded and sun-bleached. As a first time Scoutmaster in the 90's, I bought this hat for each Scout when he reached First Class. Troop funds paid for his First Class pin. They loved them. This was also the time when Scoutmasters could let a Patrol camp without adults. My standard was, a Scout had to reach First Class before he could go on such a camping trip. They worked hard for that rank, and wore those hats proudly on their adult-less overnighters! In 2016, I met one of those Scouts at Philmont. He was a Scoutmaster with a crew from his Troop there, and was wearing his same hat from his time as a youth! Current Troop is not so much into hats...

Uncanny! It's almost like you know me! Lol... I have been asked to serve on five separate council committees because of my experience and belief in what Scouting can accomplish. Yet, because I do not support FOS, our SE has denied my positions on those committees. I only suspect this because our SE has never told me he has denied my participation, nor why. I only hear the negative from the volunteers who have asked me to serve. Was also asked to serve on a neighboring council WB staff, and a regional and national committee, only to be later told "thanks, we're full". I suspect my SE torpedoed those, and that the course director and committee chairs we trying to spare my feelings. I have some schadenfreude with BSA (the organization) circling the drain...knowing that Scouting (the movement) will continue. I can wait

In search of Scouting? There it is!!! Thanks @RememberSchiff

I do not believe it has "run its course." Rather, flip the script...Is there a need that Scouting fills? Or better yet, in the big picture, What is the problem we are trying to solve with Scouting? BP saw a problem in the structures (or lack thereof) that society used to bring youth into full adulthood, with the physical, spiritual, emotional, social, fiscal, (and more?) accoutrements (aka character) necessary for a well functioning society. He thought Scouting could address those problems. https://infed.org/mobi/robert-baden-powell-as-an-educational-innovator/ Do those selfsame problems exist for youth in our society today? I would posit they are even more pronounced. That is why I am a Scouter...I am deeply concerned with the future of our country, upholding our founding principles, and our way of life as Americans. If we do not raise them to replace us, then, will all we have built be lost?