I'm in charge of finding tents for our contingent this year for Jamboree, and I'm not having luck finding what we want within our budget. The supplier for our 2023 tents is no longer an option, I'm looking for some suggestions.

*6 person, preferably dome style

*Full rain fly

*Budget number is somewhere around $130 (not my number, unfortunately, I wish I was given more to work with)

*We're looking for approximately 14 tents.

*Any outfitters or suppliers friendly to Scouting that may be willing to give a bulk discount is a plus.

Help me, BSA subreddit, you're my only hope.

I’m helping start what is essentially a district-wide PLC (Patrol Leaders’ Council) for Scouts BSA and I’m looking for advice from units or districts that have tried something similar.

The idea is NOT to replace troop PLCs or OA, but to create a monthly youth-led gathering where SPLs/ASPLs (or a youth designee) from troops, crews, and ships can:

- share ideas that actually work

- help newer Scouts integrate into patrol life

- plan district activities with youth input

- exchange camping/location ideas

- discuss leadership challenges

- build connections between units

We’re thinking of holding it during Roundtable night once a month.

A few things I’d love feedback on:

- What made something like this succeed or fail?

- How do you keep it truly youth-led instead of adult-run?

- Did attendance become a problem after the first few meetings?

- How do you avoid overlap/conflict with OA?

- What kinds of activities or discussions kept older Scouts engaged?

- Should it be highly structured, loosely structured, or project-based?

- Any pitfalls you didn’t expect?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people that actually attempted this, even if it eventually died out.

Honest lessons learned are welcome. Thanks!

My son has been studying guitar for about a year now, and felt confident enough to perform country roads as a sing-along at our campfire program last month. It was a big hit and the scoutmaster asked if he could bring his guitar along to future campouts for more sing-alongs.
We’ve started to look for other songs, I’ve done some searches for them as well, but I’m wondering if y’all have any favorites and secondly, would songs like Friends in Low Places, and Margaritaville be against scouting America policy because of the alcohol references? Country Roads mentions moonshine so I guess we’ve already violated rules if that’s the case?

Background: I've been scoutmaster of our troop for several years. When scouts turn 18, I've allowed them to continue coming on camping trips if they take youth protection and register as an adult. I make them tent by the adults, follow two deep, etc.

Well, one of my scouts finances fell apart and he'll be working next year instead of going off to school as planned. The "silver lining" in his mind is that he can keep coming on camping trips and he thinks he's an adult leader.

In my opinion, he is only an adult in the sense of his age and he is not what I'd consider a leader.

Struggling to think how to handle this.

I‘m putting together a packing list for new scouts joining our troop. Would appreciate if anyone has a list to share.

We provide tents and patrol boxes.

What kind of gear do you recommend for scouts to buy? Would appreciate specific brand name options too.

The packing/gear list is aimed at scouts and families who have never camped and were not part of the Cub Scout program.

Based on responses from this, and in no particular rank or order.

How realistic is it for these to actually take place? Where would the paid staff and/or volunteers come from to enforce these items?

Do Nothing

1. Do nothing

Miscellaneous

1. National-level communication to all parents that the program is about experiences, not just checking boxes.

Merit Badges

1. National and/or councils conduct audits of merit badge programs, particularly summer camps and merit badge colleges/universities, with consequences for failure.
2. National and/or councils ban certain merit badge programs, particularly summer camps and merit badge colleges/universities.
3. National and/or councils place caps on the number of Scouts in merit badge programs, particularly summer camps and merit badge colleges/universities.
4. National and/or councils mandate that all merit badge counselors be position-trained, including examples of good and bad outcomes.
5. National intervenes when it is clear that council staff or volunteers are failing to enforce standards.
6. National sets a policy that prohibits parents from signing off on their own children.
7. National allows units to award merit badges if a Scout leaves camp with a one-requirement partial for a non-Eagle-required merit badge and no local merit badge counselors are available.
8. Councils require counselors to submit plans/syllabi before merit badge colleges/universities.
9. Councils provide roving auditors for merit badge programs.

Unit/Rank Advancement

1. National and/or councils mandate that all unit leadership be position-trained, including examples of good and bad outcomes.
2. National allows Boards of Review to retest Scouts (e.g., knots).
3. National policy prohibits parents/guardians from signing off on their own children.
4. National policy prohibits Scouts from signing off on rank advancement.
5. National creates a standardized, published test for each rank to be used in Scoutmaster conferences.
6. National intervenes when it is clear that unit volunteers are failing to enforce standards and councils fail to act.
7. Councils conduct annual assessments/audits of units and their advancement practices.

> Announced at the Scouting America National Annual Meeting and communicated today to Council, Council Service Territory, and National leadership:

> The 2-month lapse period will end on December 31, 2026. All members must be current by this date to maintain active status. Members with an October 2026 renewal date are last to receive a 2-month lapse period. Members with a November 2026 will receive a 1-month lapse period , and members with a December 2026 will not receive a lapse period.

In the modern age, podcasts and audiobooks are extremely common mediums that people listen to while driving.

We know many leaders do not do their position specific training due to saying they do not have time for it. I think it would be cool to adapt the trainings into a podcast/audio medium.

What are other people thoughts here?

I’m getting ready to do a short Merit Badge Counselor recruitment pitch at several troops’ Court of Honors, aimed specifically at troop parents, and I’d love advice from other Scouters.

A couple themes I’m leaning into:

- Merit badges often shape future careers, hobbies, and passions. I know adults who still remember the counselor who introduced them to engineering, welding, photography, etc.
- Scoutmasters and ASMs already carry a huge load delivering program and advancement. Merit badges are one of the best places for parents and community members to step in and directly support Scouts.

I also want to lower the intimidation factor. A lot of parents think:
“I’m not expert enough.”
But honestly, many badges just need someone willing to encourage, mentor, and share experience.

I’m trying to strike the right balance between:
- inspirational,
- practical,
- and not sounding desperate for volunteers.

If you’ve recruited MBCs successfully:
- What messaging worked best?
- What made parents actually sign up?
- What should I absolutely avoid saying?

Would especially love ideas for a short 5 minute Court of Honor pitch.

This idea came to me in a dream, it's probably awful.

But what if a Council, it seems like a thing that should be done at a council level, put out a state wide pelt grant, for wild Nutria pelts, with the intent of total eradication... And turned the long hair into ground cloths, and the short hairs into campaign hats, and branded them as Outdoor Code Conservation Minded Conformant...

Would you buy them at a slight premium - Maybe $200-250 a hat?

I’ll be tent camping two weeks this summer. What are some glamping suggestions you can’t live without?

Seen way, way too many people posting about how they had YPT, skipped directly to the SYT refresher, and then got angry that it wasn’t sufficient or that they have to take the full 90-minute SYT first.

And yes, in a perfect world, Scouting America’s Learning Management System would block you from taking the SYT refresher before completing SYT, but the LMS wasn’t built for that.

For those of you that have been involved with scouting for a while how many uniforms do you have and wear regularly? I’ve been involved my whole life and have collected 6 different uniforms for events and things I’ve done. My youth youth, venture, camp staff, centennial jambo, pack, troop, and now woodbadge. I routinely wear different uniforms to meetings to display to our scouts that scouting has more to offer than just one thing.

I know we have gotten details about the pie in the face update... has there been any guidance about the NAM changes regarding laser tag and water guns? Tonight my troop is planning their quarterly fun event for 1 June and if guidance will be out by then, I would love to let them consider these as an option

Try to fix toxic Troop or start a new one?

Quick details: Rural area with 15-20miles between Troops.

Crossover cohort of 7 joining 3 age-outs and 6 Scouts.

Highly dysfunctional/toxic Troop with lax "boy led into the ground" leadership, open insubordination, and major behavioral problems.

2 school systems in Troop, the host district has all the problems and the other school's Scouts are exceptional in every way.

Scoutmaster retiring in December, I am the currently assumed replacement

The question I am struggling with is whether I should jump fully into this Troop to try to make it better for everyone, or if I should prioritize my own child and his cohort by keeping them out of the toxic mess. At a Camp work project recently we had 3 instances of open insubordination, Scouts openly telling the acting SPL "no" I'm not doing the job that was fairly assigned to them. No consequences. There is an ADHD kid who is a genuinely good kid, but he is caught in a nasty attention seeking habit that has him basically pestering the entire Troop constantly. The real issue there is that his father is a (good) leader who is great for the Troop in every way except for how he deals with his child. Every issue turns into a loud, antagonistic argument/show of force that grinds everything to a halt and leaves us all embarrassed. Dealing with the Scout is easy enough in my mind, dealing with a Father's parenting style is out of my league. He's a great guy, it just doesn't work for the Troop. Myself or this leader are the presumed next SM. They aren't the only behavior issues either, the open insubordination and borderline bullying of each other has infected everyone. It's just a group of boys who have never gotten along and I don't know if they ever will...our Troop has 2 school systems and the kids from ours are model Scouts, they are everything you want in a Scout, and that's an objective, unbiased opinion from other units.

We have the opportunity if we wish to start a new Troop just with our school/town... The thing that is holding me back is that if we pull our kids, I fear the Troop will fold. It's a Troop with a long history and it's barely hanging on. Going from one small Troop to 2 Troops struggling to meet minimum participation is not ideal. The Crossovers have had me as their Den Leader for 4 years and the parents have all expressed genuine trust in me that I feel like I would be breaking if I left to start "our own" Troop. The leadership is entirely checked out, no committee meetings, weekend campouts arranged on Wednesday by text without meal plans, duty rosters etc...these are problems that I'm not worried about fixing, but my big question is whether or not it's a good idea to dive into leadership with a possibility of bailing on it or if I should bail before getting ingrained. I mention bailing because if the toxicity persists, my son and his mates will NEED to be removed from the situation. The thing that makes the decision hard is the personal relationships I've built, I like these people, even the problematic ones...

The Scouting process provides the template for HOW to get around some of these problems, but my question is should I put a family-stressing level of effort into doing it knowing that if I fail, I will bail?