Is it just me or is training on my.scouting.org not setup to scale correctly for a mobile device? This happens regardless of browser. If I flip horizontally it still doesn't display correctly either.

So I just took IOLS with some ASM’s from our troop. A few of us came away from it feeling like we should also do Wood Badge. No adult leader we can think of has done wood badge training much recently; historically the troop has been pretty insular and the adults haven’t done much outside of the troop itself.

We were wondering if it’s advantageous to spread out doing wood badge so none of the leaders were doing it at the same time? The theory is we can support each other better while doing tickets if we aren’t each trying to do our own. Additionally, it may be hard to implement multiple improvements from different folks’ tickets at the same time. On the other hand, multiple leaders doing wood badge all at once could be a real shot in the arm to the troop and really benefit the scouts quickly, as opposed to a slow improvement over a long period of time.

This is all conjecture based on a very rudimentary understanding of what Wood Badge is. Anyone with more experience have opinions?

Son was SPL last year and took over as QM this year. The former QM didn't really do a great job. Our "Pantry" was handed off to us and it's full of....stuff. canned goods, unopened bottles of salsa, 10 rolls of foil....I'm trying to pare it down to just what we neeed as a Troop.

I'm thinking flour, sugar, rice, some spices, hot cocoa...maybe some unopened pasta...

What's in your troop pantry?

So I have been looking into CampDoc to collect and manage our medform collections and tracking for our summer camp, along with other forms (target activity permissions, YPT Certs, etc). A: Does anyone have any personal experience (positive or negative), or any competing software they recommend?

any cheap (or any in general) eagle project ideas

I posted about a parent in our unit earlier this year seeking advice and perspective and it was very useful. We had things settle down when he was able to attend summer camp to attend to his autistic child but this past weekend he wanted to be able to drop the youth off for an overnight event and for the scoutmaster to insist two youths who **did not want to share a tent with her** to share a three-person tent. He says it is unsafe for his child to tent alone when other scout units are at the same camp (not camp site - simply the same camp like a camporee).

When they refused he wanted the youth who refused to share the space to have to tent alone so the other youth would tent with his child, and when we explained we could not do this he went right back to saying we are discriminating, enabling bullying, etc.

Spoke with our council commissioner and arranging a meeting between leaders and the COR. We need this parent out our lives if we're going to keep doing these volunteer roles. Before we drop them at recharter I want cover from council in case they sue us. Has anyone navigated this? Do we need to think about retaining an attorney?

This is all a bit too much for a volunteer role.

Hello everyone, let me start off by saying I am in a girls BSA Troop. Our troop has been going strong for almost 6 years now. We just recently changed scoutmasters and it has been a disaster. I was previously the SPL, the first one under the new SM. My position almost led me to quit scouting all together due to the disorganization and lack of adult support. Anyways, I just started my role as quartermaster and I am working on my Eagle rank. We have 3 patrol boxes and I am missing one because the scout that has it has yet to return it. I received nothing from the previous quartermaster. No notes, no organizational papers, not even verbal communication on what is supposed to be in each patrol box. So, I was trying to organize everything into our patrol boxes, and there is what feels like a million loose pots, pans, kettles, lids, and everything that goes inside patrol boxes. I am in need of advice because I feel as though the troop is slowly falling apart due to the lack of organizational abilities. What should I do? I am not receiving any guidance on the situation and I have reached out to some adults who haven’t given workable advice. Thank you.

Hi there. I’m a den leader and have my child in the den with me. Starting this year, I’m no longer able to approve my child’s adventures. I can record them, but they need secondary approval in the Pack. However, I can approve every other Scout’s adventures in my den.

Is this a new change with the shift to internet advancement? If so, what’s the rationale? If not, is it a setting a pack admin can change? It just seems unnecessary to need someone else to green kids up when so many of the den leaders have their own kids in their dens — it’s often why we became den leaders to begin with!

I'm trying to go for a supernova award, but I'm having a tough time finding some good documentaries that I can watch to complete requirement 1. How relevant do the documentaries have to be? I'm trying to complete Whoosh, Shoot, and The Next Big Thing.

My friends and I have been looking for a jacket other than the red one to put patches on. Ive seen green ones at camp that looks amazing with patches on. I found something on custom ink that I can design but it doesn't really look patchable. Does anybody have ideas?

If you have read any of my last posts you would see the Committee Chair has caused a lot of issues in the troop this past year. my son is on the verge of Eagle and chose to finish in the troop he started since he couldn't make another nearby one work with his schedule.

Back to the main point of this post. The Troop sells popcorn every year as I am sure many of your troops do. The prior popcorn kernel was chased out of the troop (prior post, reported a YPT incident against committee chair). New popcorn kernel is wife of committee chair. Doesn't seem to know what she is doing. She over ordered popcorn, own council allows returns but only 12% of original value of fill cases. Popcorn kernel was left holding nearly $3000 worth of popcorn and didn't even try and make a return. Mind you she could only return about $500 so troop was going to owe more than it made in popcorn sales. We went for a troop selling $20,000 to $30,000 to a troop the struggled when it ordered $4500. She failed to set up store front sales or promote the sale. She did get lucky after missing the return window and found someone to take all but $700 of the product.

Troop has funds and could cover the loss especially considering on the $700 we owe about $500. The rest would have been profit. All this consided it was almost a major issue of thousands and turned out to be a few hundred. Rule in the past was any left over product was taken out of those that sold, this time most sales were the committee chair's 2 sons so would have directly after them (mind you when the troop was selling $20,000 to $30,000 our prior kernel had years with nothing left most of the time and I think a bag of two over the last 5 years).

Committee Chair sent out an email stating troop owes the $500 so they will be taking a little from everyone to cover the excess popcorn. Just doesn't seem fair especially since the Committee Chair's wife ignored emails and never attempted any returns.

Context: I am the SPL of a small 10-person troop. I recently moved High Schools for a special academy I am in. Over summer camp last year, I was re-elected as SPL for a second term. As I have previously posted about, we had issues determining the new ASPL due to a lack of interest, but eventually the old ASPL stepped back into the job. We have a new scout from only a year ago who has already gotten first class and is on great pace. He is very skilled and the younger sibling of a former SPL and Eagle in our troop. We'll call the younger Scout Thomas for the sake of this post (not his real name ofc). ASPL and I have been best friends since First Grade, we went on our first camping trips together, ranked up around the same time, did similar extracurriculars outside of Scouting, it was great.

The problem: Ever since this summer (he ran for SPL but was unsuccessful for the second time in a row), ASPL has been acting a bit off. He's always been a very stern and reliable leader, but now he's gotten even stricter with his interventions to the point where he tries to overstep me. He'll completely ignore my set out plans for a meeting, and start trying to get people to do what he thinks we should do. This goes as far down as what sandwich meats we should bring to a trip, it's like he wants control over everything. As a Neurodivergent person, I struggle sometimes with standing my ground, and his assertive attitude has caught me off guard at times. I am 90% sure he is aware of this. Despite not currently being a PL, I invited Thomas to come to the Troop PLC meetings because I know he has a bright future ahead of him and want him to learn more about leadership and the inner workings of the troop. However, at this meeting ASPL started belittling him, calling him stupid for small misunderstandings just due to a lack of info, and several other unscoutlike things. Afterwards, I let him know that this wasn't appropriate and he shouldn't be treating fellow Scouts like that. He barely responded to me and ever since none of my fellow older scouts have talked to me that much (they are all very good friends with him). I've never known him to act this way, and I've found it especially odd. Seeing as we are a very small troop, I intend to warn him that if the behavior keeps up I might consider replacing him as ASPL with Thomas. I think he has the potential to be a great leader, and I've seen it from him after years of friendship and the last term working with him as SPL and ASPL. I'm really stressed that I might lose the friendship, as well as the friendship of other scouts in the troop who are talking to him. Does anybody have advice?

It appears Scoutbook is showing requirements for Lion that are not in the 2024 printing of the Lion handbook and not on the BSA website… is this something you all have seen before? If so, how do you deal with it? The mobile app is super helpful, but it having inaccurate data is off putting.

Just found out about a camp that sounds really awesome for my son. He is crossing over to BSA in a few months and we'll be joining a troop that's pretty small. Covid did a number on their registration so they have three or four kids who are on the verge of aging out and then about five or six kids in the 11-13 range. They don't have much in the middle to teach/mentor. This is where his best friends are scouts so I know he's going to join that troop. I'm thinking this will be an awesome opportunity for him to learn A lot of basics. Thoughts? http://www.brownseacamp.com/. Sounds like it is not a merit badge thing but strictly focused on rank advancement and basic scout skills. I've talked to a few other kids who have done it in the past and the couple of kids I've talked to said it was really great. Anyone familiar with this particular camp? It sounds like the brownsea program is completely different from the regular BSA offerings at that camp. This is done the same week as NYLT and run by completely different people.

This might sound like an obvious question to some of you, but there have been changes in my area and I wanted to get a feel for how it's been elsewhere.

Our Scoutmaster was booking camping trips and our council asked for the names of the IOLS leaders who were going. This is the first time anyone has asked. Until now, council has used terms like "recommended" and "highly encouraged". Out of our six ASM, only three (myself included) have gone to IOLS. Is it now required the same way BALOO is for cubs? Has it always been that way? I'm afraid to ask my council and get us in trouble. We had a campout last year with the three not-trained leaders.

Are you allowed to purchase a bugle using your scout account if the bugle is used for scouting?

Our charter organization currently has two separate troops—one for boys and one for girls. Each troop operates independently with its own committee and Scoutmaster. The boys’ troop has over 70 scouts and is expected to grow even more in 2025, while the girls’ troop has around 20 scouts. We intend to keep the troops separate, but we’re considering combining our committees to form a linked troop.

Many of the parents are involved in both troops, as most of the girls have (or had) brothers in the boys' troop (and vice versa). I have both a daughter and a son in each troop and will be taking over as the boys’ committee chair next year, while my husband will step in as Scoutmaster for the boys.

I’ve proposed combining our committees to streamline efforts, as much of our work feels like double work with two different people doing fundraisers, parent events, equipment management, rank advancement, etc. Most of the people doing that work have a scout in each troop and may be doing the work for one committee or even doing two different jobs for each committee.

Right now, the troops camp separately about half the time. They do attend summer camp together on adjacent sites, and they maintain separate campsites with separate gear when they do camp at the same location. The boys’ troop, being well-established, hosts most merit badge clinics that the girls can attend, while the girls run their own meetings and courts of honor.

I’m curious about your experiences with linked troops. Do you think combining committees is beneficial? Also, what are some of the pitfalls?

Additionally, the treasurers of each committee suggest keeping the finances separate if we merge, but I’m not convinced that’s the best approach. Why not combine the funds? Currently, the girls’ troop has about 75% of the funds per scout compared to the boys’ troop, likely because the girls’ troop is only five years old and less established. I believe there’s great potential in sharing resources and working together more closely and am trying to know where to draw the line.

To be clear: we are not looking to become a co-ed troop as I know that is being piloted now.

Thanks for your insights!

Please share your thoughts on a gear transportation solution for our troop of over 70 boys. We typically have 20-30 boys on each campout and up to 45 at summer camp. Currently, our Scoutmaster rents a U-Haul van or box truck, drives to the church garage and loads up, then drives to our meeting spot to meet all the scouts and they load up their gear. There is excessive traffic where we live, so driving just a few miles can take 30+ minutes, especially on a Friday afternoon. The troop always aims to leave by 6 PM (7 PM at the latest). The Scoutmaster drives the truck and we always have enough drivers to drive the boys.

With my husband set to take over as Scoutmaster next year, his demanding job means he won’t be able to leave work during the day to manage this process. We’ve discussed getting a trailer, but no one in our troop has a truck to tow it. We live in a very big city where parking is tight and expensive, and streets aren’t suited for larger vehicles.

We’re considering purchasing a used cargo van that could stay parked at the church, allowing us to store our gear and prep for outings during meetings. We also have a sister troop of about 20 girls who could potentially share the van.

Questions:

1. Do any troops own a cargo van?
2. What are the pros and cons of this approach?
3. How do you handle maintenance and costs?

Currently, we spend up to $7,000 a year on rentals, gas and tolls. We have the budget to buy a used cargo van.

Thanks for your insights!

My pack is going camping soon and the Cubmaster is the only Baloo trained attendee.

A friend of mine insisted that this would be a tough event, if not a total disaster.

It is to his understanding that the Cubmaster has to be the only one cooking, managing the fire, and participating in everything or the pack can’t do it.

Does this sound accurate or true?

The website only says that one adult must be Baloo trained for an overnighter.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Be trustworthy. :P

Hi --

I'm looking for some quick guidance on how you would handle this.

I'm a merit badge counselor who almost never works with Scouts outside of my own Troop. A Scout in a different unit reached out asking if I would be his counselor for American Business and Entrepreneurship.

The Scout sent me his response to some of the requirements. Something seemed off with how well written some of his responses were. I Googled a couple of them and discovered that he copy and pasted all of his work verbatim from a website.

This is my first time working with a Scout virtually. Is this common? There's nothing in the requirements telling the Scout to explain something in their own words, but it feels icky to me.

https://preview.redd.it/oyrccnx4myxd1.png?width=1201&format=png&auto=webp&s=9715e653a0df75e63a0b7a57e6caefa579be33af

I can't say the BSA isn't thrifty... The new "Scouting America" shirt has a patch with the new logo. Does anyone know if we can just buy the patch to update our uniforms to the new name?

I've been looking at the rank requirements and have been thinking about the fire starting parts. Then I remembered that my son has his Totin' Chip but not the Firem'n Chit. I think he's supposed to have that before starting fires, right? He's Scout rank and almost Tenderfoot (just the knife/saw/ax care and Scout Law requirements left) and has been in the troop since they crossed over at the end of February or so.

Looking to see if anyone else has come across this situation and 1. Is it a problem? 2. Is it something I have to reach out to council registrar about?

I (key 3) have been keeping tabs on membership renewal orders in my.scouting, so that they can get approved on time at the end of each month. (See document here Unit-and-Member-Renewal-Approvals.pdf)

I noticed on the most recent renewal by a parent that it was marked approved but not paid!

https://preview.redd.it/okzyemjefwxd1.png?width=1059&format=png&auto=webp&s=6c11b023e947582832d7bda91823bfe3cfcff27b

I'm not even sure what that might mean. Does anyone one know if this is going to cause a problem?

Thanks in advance.

First of all, sorry if this is too candid of a topic, but I only recently discovered this community, and felt it necessary to ask given my unique situation.

I recently volunteered as an assistant scoutmaster in my son's troop, thinking I could help the troop during meetings as I too was a scout in my youth.

Unfortunately, the days of my youth are gone, as well as my physical fitness, as I am quite overweight and a large guy, at 485 pounds and 6ft 1. Upon becoming an ASM, it's been implied to me that I need to attend some of the weekend camping trips. While I move quite well, and don't let my weight prevent me from many things, I am unsure about camping. My sons have described to me the usual camping site (which sound remarkably similar to the ones from my scouting years), with the restrooms being the main issue. I fear that I would not fit on the toilets if they were of the smaller variety. I am also unsure about my ability to climb in and out of tents.

Are there any other fellow big guys who have gone through my situations, or anyone with advice in my situation. I'm happy to have discovered a community to ask questions to, especially with some of the unique struggles I have due to my size, and am thankful for your replies in advance!

Hey,

I recently became an assistant scoutmaster in my son's troop. Problem is, I'm a big guy, and I don't fit in the 4XL uniform shirt. I usually wear a 7XL, with a 70 inch chest and 68 inch waist (I know, I gotta drop a few pounds, I'm trying to get to 4XL). Does anyone have any recommendation for a uniform for a guy my size?

Thanks a lot in advance!