Brand new Troop

A little over a year ago, we became fed up with the direction that our old Troop was heading and started looking for a new Troop. The Pack that my son was in never had a Troop affiliated with it.....Until March 2012. I had gotten an email and a phone call from a gentleman who was looking to start up an old Troop and wondered if we would be interested in joining. I asked if we could have an "interview" of sorts, and he quickly said sure. That was a great sign. We met with them in January 2012 and I grilled them with questions. The first thing that got me was that he is an Eagle Scout. He's a few years older than I am, but wow what a guy. He's a Scouts Scout. Well, 2 months later, we chartered, I took a new job so that I could become an ACTIVE Scouter. We started with 6 boys. A little over a year now, and we have 15 active boys. In case you didn't realize, program matters! If you give the kids something to work with, they will come! This is my field of dreams. Rich and I have become great friends, we think alike, and we have the same values in Scouting. We completed almost 300 service hours last year. We camped every month, including taking 5 boys to summercamp! 23 Rank advancements. 27 Merit Badges. We don't need no stinking badges....Sorry, i just couldn't pass that one up. And the best part is, this is a boy led Troop, with adults and parents in full support of the program. Our committee seems to be strong and still growing. Our fundraising will be getting us a trailer in the next couple of months. We do things old school. No floor, canvas tents. Remember patrol boxes? I'm not talking about plastic tubs, I'm talking homemade built out of wood patrol boxes. You wouldn't believe all the people that come to our campsite during a camporee. We've done 4 of them now, and every time there are dozens of people who are amazed. This is something that I am very proud of and I hope this is something that I can bring both of my boys up in and continue on for years to come.

Frustrated Dad

So tonight I dropped off my son to his Jamboree Troop's first shakedown. He's excited about going to the Jamboree, as I was when I went to the 75th back in '85. But I'm very concerned with this council's leadership and their ability to make it a good adventure for these kids. I've asked questions to the Scoutmaster and Committee Chairman, and I've gotten flippant answers. Basically their attitude is, that it is none of my business. So I've let it go. Until today. This morning there was an email sent out with an official packing list, release form and menu. I was happy to see that they actually did something! Until I started to actually look at it. A month ago, they asked for the medical forms to be turned in, and they were. But yet, on the packing list for this weekend was medical forms. They aren't going swimming this weekend, but yet swim suit was on the packing list. And the part that got me going even more was that they said they needed to have 5 sets of clothes, towels, shower stuff...WTH! For 2 days?? Listen, I have no problem with "borrowing" other scouting programs ideas. Copy, paste, BUT EDIT! The sad part is that I actually think that this particular Assistant Scoutmaster took it upon themselves to do this, and screwed it up too. Why do I feel like this is how things are going to go for our boys at the Jamboree? As I'm dropping my son off, I run into the Field Director for our Council. I've known him for years and he knows me well. He could tell I wasn't very happy. As soon as I started to unload on him, he pulled the typical Scout Professional, "that's the guy you need to talk to". For once in this guys life, it actually was the guy I needed to talk to. I bent his ear for a good 30 minutes and he seemed to agree with everything I was saying. But if you agree with it, why has it taken you until 2 days ago to do something about it? I'm not some independantly wealthy guy, and neither are any of the kids' families that are going and the $1200 that our council charged us is a ton of money (although I know that people paid a lot more if you're further away). Make this a big deal. Whether these leaders know it or not, this is a big deal and they should be conveying that to the Scouts. I'm going to try and behave myself for now, and hope that this weekend is the turning point for the Jamboree Troop. If not, they are going to have one vocal and upset EagleScoutDoug on their hands. I typically call my dad when I feel that my council can't seem to get anything right. The bad part is that he agrees with me. I guess the only saving grace is knowing that the big powers that be in BSA know that this is a weak council and the leadership is terrible (from a paid professional standpoint). I know that BSA is testing the merging of councils within states. Let's hope they do it to this one. Our resources would grow by 100% if it happened. Or at least someone do something about how crappy this council is. I hate talking bad about Boy Scouts. I'm greatful for everything it has done for me throughout my life. I love it! Thanks for letting me rant. I promise, I'll get back to this again and let you know how our NEW TROOP is going!