CNYScouter

Here is a list from a presentation I put together about Venturing Recognition and some of the other awards that could be earned. 50 Miler Award Historic Trails Award William T. Hornaday Awards World Conservation Award Boardsailing BSA BSA Lifeguard Mile Swim, BSA Snorkeling, BSA Kayaking, BSA Scuba, BSA BSA National Camping Award Physical Fitness Award Emergency Preparedness Award Crime Prevention Award Donor Awareness Patch International Activity Badge Interpreter's Strips Lifesaving and Meritorious Awards Religious Emblems

I was talking to one of the people in charge of our contingent to Jambo. Our council has only 33 youth and 9 adults registered (about 1 Troop) We have been allotted 108 (3 troops) to go. We are about a 6 hours drive away and the cost is $1895 to attend. They are discussing cutting all the side trips to lower the costs and increase attendance. He was also saying that they would like to have 2 Troops registered to go give more scouts a chance to attend but $12K down payment per Troop is due at the end of the month and he just doesnt see it happening.

Ltfightr wrote: So, you have had 4 den meetings total? How did you do all of the "Den Activties" and "Go See Its" with only 4 total meetings? Or did I misunderstand? We haven't. Counting this weeks Den meeting we have had 4 Den meeting and 2 Go-See-it total since September. Both Go-See-it's were scheduled opposite a Pack leader meeting The DL is craming all the "Den Activties" into 2 Den meetings and the Den hike. What has my wife upset as the DL also changed Den meeting times from the schedule he gave us 2 weeks ago. I will be traveling for work over the next couple of weeks and just I had to push this DL to start Den meetings in the Fall. I then had to ask the Den Leader for a schedule (3 weeks ago) so my wife could arrange her work schedule to be available for his Cub Activites. She works retail and they are flexible about her schedule but she needs to know 1 month in advance. Because of the change my son will being missing the first half of the Den meeting which are scheduled (only 2 more). I really don't expect to do much the rest of the year either. The DL's had told us his twin son's play baseball, which starts the begining of April The CM and CC of the Pack have told the DL that he needs to have an ADL but has made no attempt to find one. He has said that he runs his own business and he is doing the best he can but it sounds like he just doesn't have the time be a DL. I would love to be the DL but I never know what my travel schedule is going to be. I know what the committment it takes to be a DL and not being able to have a stable work schedule I would be in the same boat as this current DL. It's not like we not active in the Pack. I am the Pack trainer and head of the Outings Committee which is putting together a Pack camping trip in June. My wife is putting together the "Good turn for America" activity in April. I'm doing Cub Leader training to get our DL's trained and in Feb. doing Den Chief training for 2 Scouts that want to work with the Pack. This also doesn't include the time I put in with my older son's Venturing Crew. I think our CC and CM are afaid to talk with the DL. He's the VP of the council executive board (but told me he very rarely goes to the meetings). I have talks with our CM about this DL and since September the Cm expressed to me that he didn't know if he made a good choice in the DL. I have a meeting with the CC and CM tonight about the Den Chief training and will again bring up my concerns but at this point it may be to late to do anything.

I have been looking at attending PTC this summer. there is also a charter bus company than runs a daily shuttle between Colorado Springs airport and Philmont (Gray Line Colorado). I think they also run a shuttle from the Denver airport also. From Colorado Springs airport: The travel time is approx 3 1/2 hrs each way. The shuttle departs COS Airport at approx 3:00 pm each day, arriving at Philmont at 6:30pm (non-stop). The departure out of Philmont each morning is 6:00am arriving at COS Airport at 9:30-9:45am each morning, and the cost is $95 ea way or $190 roundtrip per person.

My son is a Tiger Cub this year and our den schedule is just causing real problems for our family right now. As a Den we didnt start meeting until well into October. We had one Den meeting the second week of November which our Den Leader switched to a different night through an email received about 2 hours prior to the meeting. Both meetings scheduled in December were canceled the day of the meeting with no explanation. After the holidays I asked the Den Leader for a schedule of our Den meetings because with 5 kids (4 still in school) and my wife and I both working, getting everyone to everything becomes a scheduling nightmare. He sent one with only 3 Den meeting on it, all on a week night and the schedule ending before the B&G in early Feb/ None of the Den meetings had information on what we will be doing at the meetings. So last night we had our first Den meeting scheduled in 2-1/2 months. My wife got there at the scheduled time and it seems that he had made a mistake and the Den meeting should have started hour early than the time on his schedule. The DL told us he sent an email to everyone informing us of the time change. When checking our email he did send an email about this at 4:45pm for a change to a 6:30pm start. He also announced that he forgot that the Den still needed to do the Tiger required Den hike and scheduled it on a weekend during a time we cant make it and the same weekend as the Klondike Derby which my older son is attending. This is the only requirement my son needs to complete his Tiger rank and they want to award these at the Blue and Gold in early Feb. He has said to go ahead a do something on our own but we have so much going on that redoing our schedule and getting this done on our own before the B&G isnt going to happen. Between showing up late and the forgotten Hike my wife is ready to pull my son out of Cub Scouts. The DL tried to tell my wife how busy he was with his own business and how unusual the circumstances were, but this has happen on too many occasions. I don't remember how my older son's DL when he was in Cubs. So, how far in advance are your Den meeting schedules set up?

If I wait until our training committee figures out what is the correct syllabus this training will never happen. Im pretty busy this spring and placing this on hold and moving it later in the spring Im just not going to have the time to do this. I talked with one of the other trainers that is helping with this. Weve decided to run this as unit level training and just not include any district or council level training people. Our council has been encouraging units to hold training as a unit so as a Pack Trainer Im going to hold a unit level Den Chief course.

I took a trip to the Scout Shop. They had copies of the Den Chief training syllabus which was the one that ccjj posted with a copyright of 2004. The one I have is copyrighted 2004 but is a 2004 printing. In looking over the material they seem to be exactly the same. I am not sure what I am going to do as I have been asked to put this trianing on hold until I get a copy of the new syllabus.

Can anyone give me the number and printing date for the newest Den Chief Syllabus I have been asked to help organize this training. 2 District training chairs and the professional staff advisor for training have sent me a syllabus, but a 3rd district training chair is saying that there is a newer version out. Searching the internet only turns up the verision of the one I have. The copy I have is numbered 34450C 2004 printing.

I ended up contacting the District Chair, Dictrict Commissioner, and Council Commissioner about this. It has been already resolved with the DAC. He went and looked up the Eagle App and Eagle requirements and agrees that a youth does not have to be registered in a troop and that the Venturing POR and time being active in the Crew/Ship counts toward the rank of Eagle. It seems that this couple was placing words in our DAC mouth and even though he was unfamiliar with Venturing and the Eagle requirements he took the time to review the material and find what was correct. This will be discussed at the next Advancement Committee meeting. nld- If you have an e-mail for John can you PM it to me? I didn't know we even had a council advancement person and no one else I know is Scouting did either.

Here's your chance to let the media know where the people stand on our faith in God, as a nation. NBC is taking a poll on "In God We Trust" to stay on our American currency. The choices are: Yes. It's a violation of the principle of separation of church and state. No. The motto has historical and patriotic significance and does nothing to establish a state religion. Poll is still open so you can vote. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/

Unfortunately this couple are both long-time Scouters , both retired and both sit on the committee that approves Eagle projects and on EBOR and it is very rare that they miss one of these. Our DE doesnt have a clue on what Scouting is about. Hes been a DE for a couple of years and its his first involvement with Scouting. The advice you all have given to read the requirements, Eagle App and Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures Guidelines are exactly what this person has told me to do and when I did I would see that he was right. My question on if this was ever a requirement is because he insisted that a youth needed to be registered in a troop is printed right on the Eagle Application. One thing our council has asked is to contact our commissioners first to see of they can work it out so Ill go that route first.

Last night at our District First Aid rally I was approached by a husband and wife that are on the District Advancement Committee and they had been meaning to talk with me about my son getting his Eagle Rank. They told that I needed to get him registered in a Troop ASAP because needed to be registered in a troop to earn the rank of Eagle. They also expected him to have his POR through the Troop and be active in the Troop for 6 months prior earning Eagle. They went on to say that the DAC will not accept anything done at the Venturing level for Eagle Scout because Eagle is a Boy Scout award and Venturing has its own awards. He insisted that it states on the Eagle App that a youth must be registered in a Troop to earn Eagle. I said that this wasnt correct and I had gone through this same discussion a couple of years ago with our old DE when I started the Ship. I told him that I talked with someone at the National office (I dont remember his name) about this and was told that a youth could be registered only in a Crew or Ship and earn Eagle. The Advancement person just said that I was wrong and the person at the national council was wrong. He even wasnt convinced when another Venturing Leader, who is also our ex District Chair and listening in, agreed with me. I downloaded the latest copy of the Eagle App and I dont see anything that says this. My son has been very active in both the Ship and Crew. He earned Life Scout in the Ship and was Boatswain for over 2 years (most of it after turning Life) in the Ship and was just elected President of the Crew. After looking at the latest Eagle app he has more than fulfilled the requirements. Although he has 10 months before he is 18 he really doesnt have 6 months available to put into a Troop level POR. He will be leaving to staff summer camp the end of June (in 5 months) and starts Football right after coming back and runs through his 18th birthday. Also dont think its right to ask a Troop to remove someone from their POR and replace him with my son in the middle of the year. My son is still a few months away from his EBOR so I have time to work this out They say you need to pick your battles well this is one I am going to pick. So this leads to a couple of questions 1) The Advancement person asked when did it change (not having to be registered in a troop to earn Eagle)? Was this ever a requirement? 2) Who else should I get involved to work through this? We do not have a council advancement person, as EBOR and project approval are done on the District Level. I have to add I have never met our DAC. He never comes to District Committee meetings or Roundtable but I do know most of the other people on the District Advancement Committee. 3) A few years back a letter was on the National Site explaining this. Does anyone have a copy of this you can send me? I saw a copy of this once and this would easily clear this up.

Having my 3rd son in Cubs and having done 12 or 13 PW cars here are some quick tips. Be sure to remove all the burrs off of the axel nails using a file. Even a cheap nail file will remove them. Look under the nail head and you will see that there is metal flashing. Be prepared to removed weights at the weigh in. At our PW last week I saw one dad that had to tear the car apart becasue they had sealed all the weight into the car without weighing it first. If you are not sure how muchyour car weight bring extra weights (a lot) and a fast drying super glue to the weigh in. This way you can add weights and quickly attach them just about anywhere on the car. I try to weight the car first before painting to get as close as possible to 5 oz. I don't attach the weights but place all the parts of the car onto the scale and then add weights until I get 5 oz. Paint and glue don't really effect the weight. You can then carve out from the bottom a space for the weights. Remember you need to have enough clearance under the car for the track guide (you don't want it to scrape). I have found the best place to put the wieghts is just in front of the rear wheels.

roguedawg wrote: Try our neighbor up north and the CSA. We did two international campouts back in 1982 and 1984 with the Canadians. It was a good time. Of course we were in New York which is a little closer to the border than you are. One year the US hosted and the other year the Canadians did. We had a contigency of about 75 scouts. I traded loads of patches. That camp-oree still exists and is done the last weekend in September. I'm only 1-1/2 hours form the border and my district does this instead of a local fall camp-o-ree. I wouldn't be looking at our neighbors to the north for ideas. They dont have the issues with the 3Gs like the BSA and they have seen a drastic drop in their numbers.

There is no time limit for the completion of Merit Badges other than the age of 18. This in on page 34 of the Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures guide. This can be purchased at your local scout store or it can be downloaded at: http://www.gwinnettbsa.org/downloads/2008AdvancementGuideBook.pdf

I am considering skipping the Packs Blue and Gold Banquet this year Why? 2 reasons 1) I just found out that the organizer has gotten the Blue and Gold Banquet down to 4-1/2 hours, not including setup, tear down or the 45 min pre-gathering. She has been asked a couple of times to shorten it (the first schedule was almost 6 hours) and insists that this is as short as she can make it. The CM and CC (or the other leaders) dont seem to think the length is a problem and seem to be giving her free run. My 6 year old Tiger Cub is just not going to sit through something this long. 2) As with most Packs in this area, all the Dens are supposed to have their rank completed and awarded at the Blue and Gold. WEBLOS 2 do their cross over at this also. Well it doesnt look like my sons Tiger Den is going to be done. We havent had a tiger Den meeting since the beginning of November and we have had only 3 Den meeting total. The DL has canceled the last three Den meetings at the last minute (the day of the meeting) with little or no explanation. As of right now there are no den meeting scheduled and with only 4 den meetings nights left before the B&G I dont think we will get everything done. I have completed everything that I can with my son but we just have most of the requirements that need to be done with the Den to complete. (This is a whole other matter. I have discussed this with the CC and CM they say they are on it but not sure what is happening. My wife and I have talked about offering to take over the den as if we dont do something quick my son wont stay with Cubs.) I knwo there will be other kids getting awards but I cant see my son sitting around for that lenght of time and then not recieving an award on top of it is just not going to work.

from the FAQ section of the National OA site: http://www.oa-bsa.org/qanda/qa-52.htm Q/A: Camping Requirement Interpretation Q: Who decides what camping activities qualify for the camping requirement needed for election to the Order of the Arrow? A: With the camping requirement, as with all other eligibility requirements, it is the Unit Leader's job to interpret whether a Scout has met the requirement. As stated in the Guide for Officers and Advisers (#34997A, 1999 revision, page 20): "Unit Leader Approval. To become eligible for election, a Boy Scout or Varsity Scout must be registered with the Boy Scouts of America and have the approval of his unit leader prior to the election. The unit leader must certify his Scout spirit (i.e. his adherence to the Scout Oath and Law and active participation in unit activities). The unit leader must also certify that the nominee meets all specified requirements at the time of this annual election." Other than defining the length of time needed for a camping activity to be considered a long-term camp*, the National Order of the Arrow Committee leaves the interpretation of the camping requirement to the unit leader. * A "long-term camp" is one consisting of at least six consecutive days and five nights of resident camping. A "short-term camp" is anything less than that.

I used to be a Beaver, and a good old old Beaver too. But now I've finished Beavering, I don't know what to do. I'm growing old and feeble, and I can Beaver no more, So I'm going to work my ticket if I can. Back to Gillwell, happy land; I'm going to work my ticket if I can. CNYScouter I used to be a Beaver... NE-III-175

I recieved my Eagle in 1973. Perhaps this was due to the change in Eagle requirements that went from 21 MB's to 24 MB's. I know that for my twin brother and I and another set of brothers in our Troop pushed to get our Eagle done as we were grandfathered in to the old requiiremnts until a certain date. And it wasn't just earning 3 more MB's, if I remember right, they also changed the required MB's.

YPT is not required to for an SM/ASM to wear the "Trained" Patch. per www.scouting.org: Scoutmasters and assistant Scoutmasters are considered trained when they have completed New Leader Essentials, Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster Leader Specific Training, and Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills http://www.scouting.org/BoyScouts/NewLeaderTraining.aspx(This message has been edited by CNYScouter)

Your Troop may do things different but there is no official position of Assistant Scoutmaster in-training in the BSA. My question is, since only SMs and ASMs are allowed to sign off on requirements and do other Troop actions, when do other Troops consider ASMs to be functional? SMs and ASMs are not the only one allowed to sign off requirements. The SM can designate anyone they feel qualified. I agree that an SM should empower youth to do most of the signing of requirements for T-2-1. When they first express interest in becoming ASMs? When they fill out an application? As John-in-KC said you are an ASM when your approved app is loaded into ScoutNet. I am not sure you even have to wait until you have your BSA membership card back to be considered registered in a position. When they complete all training required by BSA? Again requirements can be set by a Troop or CO to become a SM/ASM (or any position) but the BSA currently has no required training for any position.

My sons Cub Pack just watched this for a Family Movie Night. One thing that stood out to me was that the town didnt have a Boy Scout Troop because no one would step up to be Scoutmaster. It doesnt sound a lot different then what is happening today in many places.

If you are NOT a registered Merit Badge Counselor, than you can not teach ANY merit badges, ANYWHERE, to ANYONE. I have to disagee with this. You do not have to be a Merit Badge Counselor to teach a Merit Badge. A registered Merit Badge Counselor must sign that a Scout completed the MB. At most Scout summer camps staffers teach MB's all the time without being a registed MBC. The Blue card (or whatever you use) is signed by the MBC (usually the program Area director) when a Scout finishes the MB.

I used to be on the Venturing Crews need to be there own unit bandwagon until recently when I became involved with a Crew that started exactly the same way that Eagle92 is describing. The crew was first started for the sisters of boys in the troops and for a few older Scouts that had made Eagle and where looking for something to keep active. The boys in the troop really had no problem with these young ladies as they had around the Troop with their brothers and they saw them at school every day. At first the Venturing Crew worked right along with troop. They meet at the same time, did the same skills instruction and went on camping trips with the troop basically acting as another Patrol. This worked out really well as the young ladies needed the basic skills the troop was teaching and it allowed the crew members to learn these skills without holding back the older scouts as they went ahead and planned more high adventure activities. After about 15 months the crew is now meeting and doing activities on their own. This year they are still planning on doing a few joint activities but the Crew is slowly becoming a unit on its own. The reason I see this crew working is that the leaders of the Troop and Crew worked together to make this happen. There is no Youre stealing our older Scouts as the Troop leaders would rather see the kids stay in scouting than fight over what unit they are in. I have yet to see a Troop leader get mad because a Scout is attending more Crew activities than Troop activities.. There is at least one member of the crew that is 18 (an Eagle) that is registered as an ASM in the Troop. He uses the Crew to do better high adventure trips as a Venturer and works with the Troop as an adult. I am now convinced that this can be a great way to start out a crew. Kids who come into the Venturing program without a scouting background usually dont have the skills to jump right into the really high adventure stuff and this gave them a way to learn the skills without having to tie the Crew Advisors up running to different program The key to make this happen is the Troop and Crew has to sit down and come up with a common vision and be willing to work together to make it happen. Currently this crew is approaching 30 youth members.

BrianScout One of the other changes that our Council Commissioner said was coming is that more and more training is going to be available online. He said that one big reason is that new (younger) leaders are getting their information from the internet and the BSA is responding to this. I think another reason is the lack of consistency between council training and having this training online keeps the content the same. This also frees up a shrinking training staff to do the courses that a more hands-on approach is required.