Assistant Patrol Leader not counted for advancement

[scoutldr]

Just a suggestion, KS...if the PL is going to take a "leave of absence", why not ask him to step down and appoint the APL to that position. It's not really fair for the PL to be getting credit for leadership that he's not providing, and for the APL to do all the work and not get credit for it. Also, I'm not sure what all the discussion is about patrol positions such as quartermaster and scribe, but they don't cut it. The only patrol position that gets "Leadership" status is the PL.

[Dan Williamson]

LauraT7,

There are plenty of positions that count for leadership time that have not been mentioned here. Troop Guide is an honored position in our troop, third in line of succession and only appointed by the Scoutmaster from among the best. OA Representative is a good one. You can have as many Instructors as you want...an example of how to use them is to make them an expert in one task like knots or compass or fire starting and use them to impart knowledge. Librarian, scribe, historian and quartermaster are useful if you use them correctly, give them specific duties and projects and check their work. We have a year round junior leader training program. What we do is have three regular troop meetings a month for all scouts and reserve the 4th meeting for JLT, Patrol Leaders Council (Green Bar), Instructor/Troop Guide training and planning....works great.