New Troop

[Flyingfish]

I saw this while trolling Craigslist for equipment and thought it was too interesting not to share. Names have been changed to protect the innocent. I would be interested in the collective diagnosis of the group's observations. PS, I do not have a dog in this fight and know none of the parties (that I know of).

 

"Attenion All Families in the North XXXXXX Area:

 

We are starting a new Boy Scout Troop for families that live on the North side of XXXX. We wanted to offer an alternative to the readily available Troop on our side of town. Our objective is to get away from the boring meetings, admin heavy details/committees, and unnecessary meetings to have more meetings! Our focus will be boy driven, which means the boys will have more opportunities to do what they want to! We plan on monthly camp outs, activities such as fishing, canoeing, rifle range, shotgun range, cook outs, merit badges and leadership training. We will make every attempt to make use of our local nature trails, state parks, walking trails and splendid back country of North Carolina! Our Troop will be small (12-20 boys max), and focused on the outdoors and the true meaning of Scouting! We are fortunate that a retired soldier is leading the new troop who has decades of leadership, training and mentoring experience, not to mention is already Scout certified to be the Scout leader! If you have left Scouting due to the politics, long meetings and your son being bored to death, then maybe you should give us a try. So if you have ever thought about having your son join the Scouts, your son is between 12 (or sixth grade) and 17, then drop us an email and we can send you directions to the meeting."

 

[momof2cubs]

Interesting strategy. Would love to know how many people actually troll craigslist looking for troops to join?

 

At any rate it sounds like they want to form a traditional troop. And by traditional, I mean one like the old timers in this board remember as having had as young lads.

 

Just out of curiosity: are adult led troops common in North XXXX Area? Would this really be different than what the other troops are doing in North XXX Area?

[Flyingfish]

There are typically 1 or 2 very well run troops in each town that have tons of boys and are run entirely by adults. They're real parent catchers for helicopter webelo parents that view boy run troops as chaos.

 

I don't know the details here, but it sounds like this is a reaction to these types of units.