Mixing it up

[Stosh]

Certain council/district wide events have a mixed bag of scouts attending all covered by BSA insurance/sanctions. But what about unit events? If Boy Scouts regularly attend Crew events, does this still cover the Boy Scouts with insurance, etc.? I have Boy Scouts that attend regularly with my Crew because of it's unique situation, so would they be covered as a Scout activity?

 

Stosh

[Beavah]

Yes, as dual/joint events of a troop and crew, or as guests/potential new members of a crew. Da same applies to the HSR supplementary medical coverage.

 

Yah, yeh should of course be careful to be age appropriate, and should be aware of the few things (like hunting) that are permitted for Venturers only, eh?

 

Boys who are "regularly attending" crew events on their own (not as a joint troop/crew event) of course should primary in the crew and dual in the troop (or vice versa). It doesn't cost much (or anything) and keeps everything clear for insurance purposes (the HSR premiums are slightly higher for crew/ship members than for troops, so we owe them the higher premium if the boy is a regular crew participant).

 

What's your "unique situation," just out of curiosity? Are yeh runnin' a "consolidated" program like Pappy?

 

B

 

[Stosh]

My unique situation is Civil War Reenacting Crew. I have boys interested in the hobby that are too young to be in the Crew but qualify to take the field in reenacting. I have two registered Boy Scouts that are musicians who function in their position but are only 11 and 12 years old. They are full members of reenacting units. I have other Boy Scouts that come to our events to learn the hobby that are 13. We are very strict in following BSA policy for activity appropriate situations. It usually takes a year's worth of training to get the boys up to speed and this extra year when they are 13 allows them to take the field trained and experienced once they turn 14. We have alternative solutions to situations where the event dictates that no one under 16 can take the field with a weapon but with their permission our boys take the field, but without powder. Over the years all of these events have dropped that requirement for our boys because of the level of training they have shown, they are better on the field than most adult units. We have artillery boys associated with our Crew as well that have to be 16 in order to get the proper national certification of the hobby to man the gun.

 

This year the president of the crew will be taking the field as a regimental adjutant (lieutenant) at a national event at Gettysburg. I normally take that position, but chose to remain with the boys on the field as their company commander. I am the captain of the chartering organization and both the CO and Crew will take the field together under my command. The adjutant will be with the CC of the Crew who is the lt. colonel of the regiment. After 10 years of work, we'll have our first Crew member taking the field in a commissioned officer role. I haven't heard yet whether or not the 12 year old Boy Scout has been chosen as the regimental bugler or not.

 

This unique situation is why we can honestly say we don't follow much of the BSA program for Venturing. We have no one ever in 10 years of the crew speak of the Ranger Award or any other Venturing advancement/award. However, if the boy is a Boy Scout when he joins, i.e. 12 year old bugler, he is expected to remain dual registered with his Troop and attain the rank of Eagle. To-date, only one boy did not fulfill that expectation. We have had about 8 boys in our Crew Eagle in their home Troops. We have a retention rate of about 80% with some of our adult leaders now having been youth charter members of the Crew 10 years ago.

 

Stosh

[Beavah]

Neat program, jblake!

 

I understand your conundrum. I take it from what yeh write that you don't have a troop in this program, you just have individual Boy Scouts from other troops who come and participate? What do yeh do with regular "civilian" non-Boy Scout youth age 12 who want to participate?

 

I'd have a brief conversation with your DE (and probably SE) just to get 'em to "sign off" so to speak, since you're sort of in gray area. A 13 year old visiting the crew and participating in some stuff as a guest/potential recruit is a bit different than one who is coming to everything as a regular member of the activity. BSA insurance covers scouting/venturing events with members and guests, but not every youth activity a CO runs.

 

One option that might keep everything "clean" and make da DE and SE happy is to have yeh charter a troop and get special dispensation to allow boys to dual register in your troop and their "home" troop. Adds another troop to the roles, clearly resolves the ambiguity. As a specialty troop, yeh'd have to be clear with "home" SM's what your role was (to supplement but not replace their program), but it could work really nicely.

 

Beavah

 

[Stosh]

"I take it from what yeh write that you don't have a troop in this program, you just have individual Boy Scouts from other troops who come and participate?"

 

The Troop I serve is a regular BSA Troop. The Crew is an entity all of it's own and there is no connection whatsoever between my Troop and my Crew except me as leader of both. I have never had a boy from my present Troop or previous Troop join in with my Crew.

 

"What do yeh do with regular "civilian" non-Boy Scout youth age 12 who want to participate?"

 

Here's where the real rub comes. Do I have them "join" my Troop on paper and really just attend with the Crew or how far can I bend the rules to make it work. It would be nice to have the boy in the BSA program somewhere, somehow connected but what is done now is the boy's father joins the CO, takes out family membership and the boy falls in with the Crew. I also have the father sign on as a Crew CM so that any legal guardianship issues are covered too. Ugly situation huh?

 

"One option that might keep everything "clean" and make da DE and SE happy is to have yeh charter a troop and get special dispensation to allow boys to dual register in your troop and their "home" troop. Adds another troop to the roles, clearly resolves the ambiguity. As a specialty troop, yeh'd have to be clear with "home" SM's what your role was (to supplement but not replace their program), but it could work really nicely."

 

Or as I have stated, just have them join my troop to qualify as being in BSA, but they would never participate in the troop. One has to love all this ambiguity. Every time the DE or SE see me coming, they run. It's taken me a while, but now I have "permission" to recruit from anywhere in our arena of influence. We presently have Crew members from 3 different states and 5 different councils. Presently we have only one boy who hangs with us that isn't involved in scouting, but his father is a member of a similar organization to our CO. That may be all well and good, but one of the main reasons for our Crew is to offer a program to youth who's parents are NOT involved in the hobby, but the kids wish to be.

 

As far as "home" troops for these boys? Them staying with their troop and Eagle has always been a solid factor when SM's feel we are stealing away their scouts. It takes away all their arguments. As I have stated, all but one boy has Eagled. As a matter of fact, we had one boy pulling D's and F's and he's now doing solid B work in school. Another boy according to his parent's rules, couldn't join until he pulled up his grades, finished a major report for school and went out for sports. His grades all went up one notch, he got A+ with honorable mention on his report, and as a freshman, made the HS varsity swim team. He's our newest member and his parents drive him 3 1/2 hours each way to our once a month, all-day meeting.

 

Never underestimate the power of a good program. I'm just trying to figure out how to be able to make it available to more boys without having to hassle with insurance, registration, guardianship, etc. issues.

 

Stosh