Herbert
Hoover
Franklin
Roosevelt
Harry Truman
Dwight Eisenhower
John Kennedy
Lyndon
Johnson
Richard
Nixon
Gerald Ford
Jimmy Carter
Ronald
Reagan
George Bush
William
Clinton
George W
Bush
You may also remember that, in responding to Todd Biggs about a
possible Hunting Merit Badge, I said, “I never heard of a Merit Badge that had,
as a requirement, the earning of other Merit Badges”? Well, I’ve got
some sharp-eyed and informed readers, because right after that column
came out, here are two emails I got in an eye-blink...
Hi Andy,
I look forward to
reading your columns as they come out, and I’ve found them very useful.
I just wanted to let you know that I just read your August column
tonight, and believe it to be one of the best yet, especially your
response to the Scout who wanted to quit. I especially like your column
because it helps me to see what other councils do. Here, they do a few
things differently (not necessarily wrong, mind you). So thanks for your
effort—it’s appreciated. And, you must earn First Aid to earn Emergency
Preparedness, and Swimming for Lifesaving. But I’d like to learn more
about this pilot merit badge program! Thanks! (Michael Morris, CC, Pack
214; ASM, Troop 25, Greater Saint Louis Council)
Hey Andy,
I was just reading through your latest column and had something to add. In regards to that new Hunting merit badge, you stated you’ve "Never heard of a Merit Badge that had, as a requirement, the earning of other Merit Badges!" Well, it’s out there. The Emergency Preparedness MB requires that you earn First Aid first. I don't want to nitpick your great (and very helpful) column, but I felt compelled to address this. (Kortney Jendro, DC, Viking Council)
Thanks to Michael and Kortney (and probably some others, who saw my
goof but didn’t write), I get twenty lashes with a wet lanyard for
forgetting about that First Aid-Emergency Preparedness MB combo! But
would you believe that Swimming is NOT required to earn Lifesaving?
Yup, that's right. So, only ten lashes? Naaaah! I’ll take all
twenty! I can handle it!
And another sharp-eyed
reader, on the subject of devices on religious square knots...
Hi Andy,
I saw your response to
the question of knot devices on the youth religious knot. While you were
largely correct, you missed the fact that for some religions there are
TWO religious awards that Boy Scouts can earn. There is one for boys
11-14, then another one for boys 14-18 that is earned by older Boy
Scouts, Varsity Scouts, or Venturer. So a Boy Scout could earn two
additional religious awards. This is one of the reasons why there are
knot devices for Varsity Scouts and Venturers. So, if I saw a Boy Scout
with both a Boy Scout knot device AND a Venturing knot device on his
religious square knot, I’d know that he had earned two religious awards.
(Michael Brown)
Yup, Mike’s absolutely right, and my answer was incomplete! (Those
lashes are beginning to sting a little – Guess I’m not as tough as I
thought!)
Dear Andy,
I continue to read and
re-read your Ask Andy columns. I feel you’re providing Scouters with
good advice on how leaders should have the same, or better, Scout Spirit
in leading units that we expect from our Scouts. Recently, after reading
a Troop’s "By-Laws", I questioned an attendance clause that stated, “If
a Scout did not attend 50% of the Troop actives (weekly meetings) he
could not go on campouts with the Troop. The Troop’s goal was to have
strong attendance and meet the camping requirement for the National
Quality Unit award. My question: If a Scout is missing meetings, is
keeping him from going on campouts helpful to the Scout? Wouldn’t the
better question be: Why is the Scout not active? (Don McDow, UC. Greater
Alabama Council)
Thanks for your continuing readership, and thanks even more for
asking good questions! Let's take a whack at this "attendance
legislation"...
A Troop can try to "legislate" participation, but what they’ll
ultimately get is a spiral of diminishing returns. Let's take a few
chops at this "50% rule," just to make sure we understand how silly and
self-defeating it is...
-
Why 50%? Why not 20%? 80%? 75%? 90%? 45%?
-
How is 50% a "magic
number"?
-
What happens when it's an
odd number of meetings?
-
Does the campout itself
count toward the 50%?
-
If a Scout attends 50%
of the meetings, but he’s a total goof-off while there, he can still go
on campouts, right?
-
Suppose his parents
have taken their Scout son out of town on a trip for a couple of weeks.
Does this mean that, even though he wasn’t in town and couldn’t attend,
he gets “docked”?
-
If, in the case above,
the Scout doesn’t get docked, then let’s see the entire list of
legitimate reasons for non-attendance.
-
How do we know the
attendance records are correct? Who monitors and verifies them?
Finally, what about
Scouts who think to themselves, “Hey, I can ditch half the
meetings and I still get to go camping! Cool, Dude!"
If, by now, no one gets the idea that this is a pretty dumb “rule,”
I'd better give up! The simple facts of the matter are these:
PROGRAM PRODUCES PARTICIPATION – SCOUTS "VOTE" WITH THEIR FEET"
This silly "rule" of theirs tells me that they're lazy. If
attendance is falling off, it's time to start making some phone calls
and find out what the problem is. That's the job of the Scoutmaster and
his ASMs, or the membership person on the Troop Committee. Leaning on a
rule instead of bucking up and doing their jobs just isn’t the way to
go! When a Troop runs interesting, active, involving, and FUN Troop
meetings, participation is never an issue. When a Troop runs outings
that are equally fun, interesting, challenging, and involving, guess
what happens: SCOUTS SHOW UP.
On top of everything else, it's the job of the PATROL LEADER, and
not "the Troop," to see that all members of his Patrol are "present and
accounted for" at Troop meetings! That's part of his leadership job,
and this "rule" of theirs is depriving the Troop's youth leaders of
their important responsibilities.
Most boys and young men who are active Scouts are usually active in
other ways too—like sports in their seasons, extracurricular school
activities and clubs, church and synagogue youth groups, and on and on.
Penalizing the most active youths because they have conflicts at certain
times of the year, or on certain nights from time to time, is anathema
to the spirit of the Scouting movement. This Troop needs to stop being
"governed" by the adults and needs to start being run by the Scouts.
Hi Andy,
I’ve looked everywhere
and can’t find guidelines on where to wear the Eagle Palms. Can you
help? (“JGDUNIGAN”)
Good news! The BSA book, INSIGNIA GUIDE - 2003-2005 (No.
33066D – get one at your Scout Shop), states (go to page 23) that Eagle
palms are "Worn only on the Eagle Award ribbon or Eagle square knot."
So, that's two places. If you're a Scout, you wear your palm(s) on your
Eagle ribbon (horizontally on the cloth). If you're a Scouter, you can
attach your palm(s) to the red-white-and-blue square knot that you wear
above the left pocket of your uniform shirt.
And here’s a tip— Be sure to wear the correct palms for the number
of merit badges earned, remembering that they're not "cumulative." By
this, I mean that, for the first five MBs, for example, you’d wear a
bronze palm, and if you earn five more for a total of ten MBs, the
bronze palm comes OFF and you wear a gold palm in its place. For 15
MBs, it’s a silver palm, but not all three. For 20, you wear a bronze
and a sliver. Etcetera. Now, you’ll see some guys wearing a bronze AND
a gold AND a silver palm, and let’s hope that they’ve actually earned 30
MBs beyond those needed for Eagle, and that they haven’t simply
continued to pin stuff on their ribbons or square knots!
Hi Andy,
Our District is looking
for a Boy Scout Roundtable Commissioner. We haven’t had one for some
time now. I’ve never been one. If I take the position, what advice can
you give me? Also, what training should I take first? I don’t want to
see our District suffer or be weak, but I just need a good focus on
doing this job if I do take it. (Mike Dallago, SM, Troop 64, Sunshine
District, Yucca Council, NM)
First off, thanks for being a Scoutmaster—this is one of the most
important Boy Scouting volunteer positions anyone could possibly have!
As long as you enjoy it, and have time for it, you may very well want to
continue for at least a few more years (after about three or so
years—but not much more than this!—as Scoutmaster, it's a good idea to
consider a change, because longer than that and folks in the Troop start
considering you "permanent" and stop thinking about transitioning to the
next Scoutmaster, so that your tenure begins to look like a "reign").
(If, at this point, you get the idea that I'm not terribly impressed by
guys who take pride in having been a SM for 10 or 20 years, you're
right—the baton should be passed, I firmly believe, to new people whom
the present SM has identified and trained to succeed him. This avoids
"calcification" and keep Troops fresh, vibrant, and up-to-date.)
By the way, did you know that it's actual BSA policy that
Commissioners do not hold key unit leadership positions? Bet you
didn't! Few folks realize this, and even fewer abide by it, but it's
the right way to go, and the BSA recognizes all too well that a
Scoutmaster can't "serve two masters." So, if you really want to take
on the job of Boy Scout Roundtable Commissioner—whether now, or at some
time in the future—be prepared to replace yourself as Scoutmaster!
Trust me on this—the burden becomes too great when we start wearing too
many volunteer "hats" and you'll wind up doing no job as well as you'd
like. And, don't fall into the trap of thinking, "Well, I'll
handle it differently..." Ain't gonna happen!
That said, if
you do decide to take the job of BSRT Commissioner, there's definitely
training available for you. Check out your council's Commissioner
College or Conference—training for all types of Commissioners. From the
BSA Supply Division or your Scout Shop, get these: BOY SCOUT ROUND-TABLE
COMMISSIONER TRAINING (LT34256), BOY SCOUT ROUNDTABLE PLANNING
GUIDE-REVISED (LT34253A), COMMISSIONER ADMINISTRATION (LT34128D), and
COMMISSIONER VOLUNTEER DUTIES DESCRIPTION CARD (LT34265B). Then, plan
to recruit a STAFF as well—Roundtable leadership isn't a one-man job.
The job of BSRT Commissioner can be very rewarding. It's more like being
a Cubmaster than Scoutmaster, though. Your job isn't to "run" the
meetings or provide the training and programs by yourself. Your job is
to reach out and recruit speakers, demonstrators, and others who
actually put on the program every month, and then you function as the
Master of Ceremonies. Do it differently, and you'll hit burn-out very
quickly. The training materials will tell you much more than there's
space for here. Best wishes!
Paul Wengert (had a
problem a few weeks ago with the changing Cub and Webelos requirement
changes) writes again...
Hi Andy,
Well, I’m taking a deep
breath and untying my knickers. It's made so much more complicated when
there are updates to the boys' books, but nothing to update the leader’s
materials. I had to be on my toes to realize, for instance, that
following the Webelos Leader Guide-Den Schedule (where the Citizen
activity badge was part of Arrow of Light and therefore scheduled for
the second Webelos year) means the boys in the Den would not have an
opportunity to achieve Webelos rank in a timely manner. I sure wish
that "they" would better communicate these changes to us leaders! Here’s
another example: We’re told in the 2004-05 "Cub Scout Program Helps" to
plan a program that will allow our boys to earn the 75th anniversary
award for Cub Scouting—which is a terrific idea—but the BSA is only
releasing the requirements for that award at the very end of August, and
I’m already pretty well done with planning by then. Anyway, thanks as
ever. (Paul Wengert)
Well, now that your knickers are untied, let's add a little
something more: ABSOLUTELY RIGID FLEXIBILITY. This means that you can
"roll" with the punches, or as my Scouter-Marine friend put it (this is
my all-time favorite), “SEMPER GUMBY”! Always flexible—that's
the way to be! Couldn't plug in the 75th Anniversary award stuff when
you sat down and planned things out? Well, once you get 'em, change the
plan—It's only written on paper; not chipped in granite! Scouting's a
movement, not an "organization" in the sense of a corporation,
army, etc. Sure, it has its red tape, and sometimes the cart's before
the horse, but, hey, we're volunteers here, and we're supposed to be
having fun! Which “KISMIF” do you want... Keep Inflexible Structure-Make
it Fail or Keep It Simple-Make It Fun!
Dear Andy,
After reading your
answer about the two same-sex couples and their sons, I was floored by
your reply! After a great effort was put forth by the National BSA to
assert the "right of association" all the way to the highest court in
the land, you of all people should know that the BSA and its members do
not approve of same-sex unions. As for them being in the scout unit, all
scouts and scout leaders are bound by the National polices, which
address same-sex unions as not living within nor reflecting
the values of the BSA. As for their sons, they can be welcome members if
they support the values of the BSA. But this would be hard to do
without stating that you think the union of your two "parents" is
wrong! This is one place where their life-style CHOICE does not fit the
life-style choice of the rest of the group. Your reply echoes
"Everyone’s doing it", because there are a few people who wish to live
this way. Scouts need to learn that it is totally W-R-O-N-G. Please
provide me with any National BSA polices that support your point of
view. (Don McDow, UC, Greater Alabama Council)
My reply pertained to two sets of positive-minded parents who
supported their sons’ interests in being Boy Scouts. Nothing less, and
nothing more. Shall we “punish” these two young men by refusing their
applications to joint the Boy Scouts when they, themselves have done not
a thing “wrong”? How is the BSA or anyone else for that matter permitted
to "punish" a youth who is "guilty" of having same-sex parents? Is this
the youth's "fault"? Shall we exclude these young men from the values
of Scouting because of their parents' situation? There have been cases
of Scouts whose parents were atheists, yet these Scouts attained the
rank of Eagle. Why? Because, my friend, the BSA did not automatically
assume that the Scout's values were identical to his parents'. To do
otherwise denies the right of the individual to determine and establish
his own values. I stand by my answer—which is, once again, my personal
opinion on the matter—100%. And I will not vary it, or waffle. I have
not said "everyone's doing it," so kindly don't put words in my mouth.
I have definitely said that, with each passing day, alternative
life-styles are becoming more apparent. You will also notice that I did
NOT address the issue of such parents taking a registered leadership
role on their respective Troops—that is an entirely different issue. I
did address the point that they, as parents, need to and have the right
to support their own sons' interests. If you can find fault with the
notion of supporting the interests of one's children, so be it. Yes,
this is an emotionally charged area. However, good sense (not "common"
sense) should prevail, and the youth should ALWAYS be the WINNER!
Happy Scouting!
Andy
Got a question?
Send it to me at
AskAndyBSA@yahoo.com
-be sure to let me know your Scouting position, town, state, and
council!
