hoping they will change things."

[Alabama Scouter]

"As are sending in corrections to National and hoping they will change things."

 

In discussion of MBC's, a forumer stated the above, sending corrections to National.

 

I've wondered, as I've sent in a number of suggestions, a complaint or two, and have never received a reply of any kind.

 

Has anyone here every received a reply from National?

 

I had a question as to why in the new J2E, GOLD is the highest award, not SILVER. Did the fellow or committee that wrote this up not know ANY scouting history? Really? I don't get it.

 

[SeattlePioneer]

>

 

 

Circa 1985 or 1986 I turned in an adult leader application for a person I thought well qualified to be an Assistant Scoutmaster. I got that rejected ----no ladies allowed at the time.

 

 

I sent in a letter to the CSE arguing that this was a loss, and that this lady ran her own law firm in addeition to being a dead shot with a rifle.

 

I'm not sure if the lawyer line or the dead shot line might have had any influence, but a month or so later I got quite a detailed and polite reply to my query. Furthermore, a few months later BSA overhauled it's "adult MALE association" standard to allow women in positions previously reserved for men and allowing men in positions previous reserved for women (Den Mothers).

 

I don't doubt that my cogent and compelling arguments made all the difference in changing those policies!

[moosetracker]

I have had some emails to some departments go into the great abyss. Like at myScouting about trying to straighten out problems with peoples training registration accounts. Many people have had their Membership Id's snatched away from them because someone else plugged the wrong ID into their account.. Anyway, not response to things like that..

 

Health & Saftey though, you usually get a response, even had a dialog of passing back & forth email, for better clarification..

 

I don't know if anyone else in that department helps respond to the emails, but our own RichardB I know has responded to me.. I think he does a super job of keeping communication open between National and us guys in the field.

[ghermanno]

While I have not had the occasion to communicate with that section of the BSA office, I will say that whenever I have had problems with National, my SE will follow-up with an email.

 

He feels the Volunteers have enough on thier plate that National can at least handle/respond.

 

Maybe you should try your SE with your proposed changes and let him/her know what you have done to correct this on your own.

 

I would like to say that National cares, and I think they do, but they are a conglomeration like Shell oil or NorthropGrumman. They need us to function but do not normally deal with us directly and sometimes do NOT know how...

 

Just my $0.02

 

YiS,

 

Rick

[BS-87]

From: http://scouting.org/filestore/mission/JTE_FAQs-Unit.pdf

 

18. Should the silver award be higher than gold to match other hierarchy in the Boy Scout program?

 

This was discussed by the task force, which decided that Journey to Excellence would be better understood by the majority of volunteersespecially new volunteersif the program followed the bronze, silver, gold sequence.

 

 

Kind of a simple answer. The FAQ's on J2E are actually pretty helpful if you plan to take full advantage of the program. http://scouting.org/scoutsource/Awards/JourneyToExcellence.aspx

[SeattlePioneer]

NATIONAL not being responsive? How about DISTRICT officers!

 

 

Occasionally I identify problems with units or activities I think need attention. If I don't have a better person to refer that issue to, I customarily send an e-mail to my district chair and district commissioner.

 

It's rare that I get a reply, even though I'm an active district committee chair well known to these eminences.

 

Does National train district officers in their methods of being non responsive?

[moosetracker]

Funny SP! But, oh so true..

 

I respond to those who email me, and I get such appreciation back from them, as if it was very unexpected..

 

I email out to DCC & DUC & DE alot, my DE is responsive, the others are not.

 

My son in his last few months before he turned 18 was looking for an MBC for a quick MB, to finish a 3rd palm.. We had no one in our district (or so we thought, his own father was one for one of the ones he was looking for, but forgot he was..) He wasn't on the list, but materialize a year or two after the fact.. Son looked at him, all he could say was "Oooops I forgot"..

 

So he emailed out to all the Neighboring Districts, District Advancement Chairs, out of 3 or 4, not a single one responded to a youth inquiring about an MBC in their District that did one of a few easy MB's he had selected..

 

 

[skeptic]

"This was discussed by the task force, which decided that Journey to Excellence would be better understood by the majority of volunteersespecially new volunteersif the program followed the bronze, silver, gold sequence."

 

Maybe they should have retained the tradition, and let the "newbies" learn the history of BSA and its awards. Kind of like going to red for scouts, and green for senior boys for so many years, even though tradition had it the other way with year pins and tabs for socks.

 

Just an "old guy" blathering on of course.

[jtswestark]

A few years back I got a response from a living person concerning the ScoutZone website (the predecessor to BeAScout.org) and how their searches were based upon only zip code.

 

The township I lived in was split amongst about five different zip codes and I pleaded with him to adjust his search program to utilized geographical locations instead. After a few very cordial email interactions, we both recognized what I was asking for wasnt going to happen. I dont know if he was a contractor or an employee.

 

Looks like the BeAScout,org took care of that problem.

 

[Alabama Scouter]

Agree, Silver, Gold, Bronze for J2E would have been a great opportunity to expose many others to the traditions of the Boy Scouts. Opportunity lost, however. Sad to see 100 year old traditions get the heave ho.

[Eamonn]

A friend used to work in the Relationships Division, when I asked him whatever? If he wasn't the person he passed my question on to the right person or department.

Since the reorganization he moved and is now working as a SE and earning more.

Anytime I have phoned the National Office, the people there have always been great.

For a while I thought some of the guys in the Regional Office, just didn't like me! This changed once I sat on the Area Committee and got to know them and work with them a little more.

Most SE can if they want or feel the need pass things on to where they need to end up, but a good many choose not to do so.

Why? I don't know.

Maybe part of it is because everyone feels that they have something that they see as being urgent or special?

Email has made it very easy for anybody and everybody to dash off a few lines. Perhaps the volume is just too much for the guys who work in the National Office?

Never had a problem in a District.

As District Chair and as District Commish. I wasn't that hard to find. I was at each an every District Committee meeting. R/T Meeting, Commissioners Cabinet Meeting and I've lived where I now live for over 20 years with the same phone number.

If someone couldn't find me? I think maybe that they weren't trying very hard.

Ea.

[Papadaddy]

I have met the "District" and "Council", and they is us.

[UCEagle72]

SP --

 

As Dist Comm I received an email from a new family that had moved into our area - their sons had already been active scouts in another council in our state. They were looking for some suggestions on units in their area.

 

I had answer back with three possible sponsoring bodies, all of which had a full scouting family to serve them, and send him a complete list of all units, just so he had more information. Plus, I gave them contact info on the DE and DC. That took about 5 minutes from the time I received the email.

 

Last night I heard back from the father, he had never had an email returned to him so quickly - especially in his previous council.

 

I told him, "Welcome home."

 

[SeattlePioneer]

MY DE e-mails me inquiries from families interested in Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts or adults interested in volunteering. I follow up on that, saving him the time. And I can afford to spend more time on that than most DEs do, I think.

 

 

 

When I was a furnace repairman, I happened to get a cell phone call from a person with no heat just as I was driving by their house. I stopped and rang the doorbell, and the customer opened the door while she was still talking to me on the phone!

 

You can't get faster furnace repair service than THAT!

[jtswestark]

I have met the "District" and "Council", and they is us.

 

Thats beautiful!

A long time ago there was an OA election snafu where someone told someone else something that was incorrect about elections and we had a unit all bent out of shape.

 

I just happened to be at the next Roundtable in my role as SM when I overhear two leaders that recently became Arrowmen complaining about a recent election. Now, since their Ordeal neither has attended anything in OA nor seen an election done beyond their troop, suddenly both are raging experts on elections announcing to all in earshot that our Lodge does them all wrong. Something to the effect of These guys running these elections and this lodge dont have a clue and have it more screwed up than ever before Seeing the honor of myself and numerous other dedicated advisors in the OA reputation being tarnished, I ask what was wrong. They continue with all kinds of ranting of inaccuracies about an election held at their unit. Famous line I dont care about those guys in the OA anyways, they dont know whats going on around here.

 

They both had real funny looks on their face when I informed them I was the incompetent adult they referenced in their election story, too bad they werent there that night to witness it themselves and the other adults on our Chapter election team were very well known SMs, ASMs, and UCs in our District that I pointed out from my seat. Neither had the courtesy to apologize.

 

They are us.