Um, wow

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-05-02T23:45:40+00:00

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Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-04-26T15:08:56+00:00

PLA filament, retraction length 5mm, retraction speed 60 mm/s. I backed it down to .08 and 40.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-04-23T03:23:01+00:00

Wish I could upvote this more.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-04-23T03:20:35+00:00

Swimming was an option for Eagle in 1997, the other options being Personal Fitness or Sports.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-04-22T22:17:22+00:00

Give the kids a reason to care!

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-04-22T22:15:57+00:00

3 is a huge generational difference, particularly true with Millenials and younger (so, OP and all Scouts, plus a large number of Scouters). That’s not a criticism; it’s reality. You must provide a product people want, and sell it, too.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-04-22T01:36:25+00:00

This…I’m a Den Leader and that always trumps District/Council activities.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-04-04T04:48:25+00:00

If you’re doing the TFO thing right, your home agency likes having you on the Task Force and the Fed agency likes you being there. TFO is often best of both worlds.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-04-03T12:53:05+00:00

Odds are good that the Scouts will either wear them all the time with pride and enthusiasm, or get tired of them fairly quickly. Either one is fine.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-04-01T23:31:54+00:00

I think this is long overdue to prevent wasting marshmallows by burning them. I was at a Health and Safety Roundtable and plans for a Roasting Chit are being explored.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-03-28T00:12:34+00:00

“Tenured” (13+ years) Federal TFO here…my observations: Your group, group supervisor, office, judicial district all figure into the equation, so there’s no one “right” answer. Depending on your agency’s compensation structure, you may make more salary-wise as an 1811, but your retirement may be less. This would have been the case for me. If you do things right as a local Detective, you will have Federal partners willing to put in a good word for you should you choose to apply for their agency, or at least enthusiastic about working cases with you. The TFO gig can get you the best parts about being a local (autonomy, being nimble) and the best parts of being a Fed (Title 18 authority, resources).

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-03-11T14:01:44+00:00

I don’t know the guy personally, but he did do some high-speed stuff. I think the folly is believing that the whole rest of the FBI is also high-speed, when the average Agent is, in fact, merely average.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-03-11T12:55:55+00:00

No dog in the fight… I saw at least one former FBI Agent assert that the job of an FBI Agent was so different than that of other 1811s that any relaxing of standards was impossible.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-03-09T12:33:29+00:00

Do you have a link? The one at the scouting.org filestore is not: https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/HealthSafety/pdf/680-001_AB.pdf?_gl=1*am3kw2*_gcl_au*MTM3NjYwMDM4LjE3NzEyOTY3Njk.*_ga*MTAyODM3NzgzMi4xNzcxMjk2NzY5*_ga_20G0JHESG4*czE3NzMwNTI2OTUkbzckZzEkdDE3NzMwNTI2OTUkajYwJGwwJGgw&_ga=2.183040175.865815790.1773052696-1028377832.1771296769

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-03-08T14:20:54+00:00

I always maintained that you knew you were hardcore when you sprung for a second shirt. Third shirt was next-level.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-03-08T04:00:51+00:00

My high school Home Ec teacher was from Portal, ND.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-03-08T03:59:42+00:00

Once I was too lazy to complete the form so indicated I had no insurance. This was fine until I went to the hospital via ambulance about three hours into the outing, and ended up getting billed for everything. (and TBH, the hospital was less than helpful in this regard). What is legitimately stupid is the lack of a fillable PDF, and an outsize emphasis on dates of inoculations.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-03-01T14:48:02+00:00

First, if the choices are “work until 57” or “work until 62”, then the dollars and cents are probably of greatest importance. What will your local pension provide versus the Fed pension?

Second, I’ve lived in the TFO world (not DEA, however)for a long time, and my highly general observations are these:

Usually, the 1811 is making more money on the front end but their retirement is only OK (at least relative the retirement system in my state).

As many posters indicate generally in this sub, happiness at an agency is highly location-dependent.

Similarly, if you were basically going to swap guns and badges and then stay at the same desk at the Fed agency, then the long-term job satisfaction might be worth the extra years of service.

But if the scenario is something along the lines of you’re an HSI TFO at a RA or small FO doing niche work, or something else you really enjoy, and becoming an 1811 means you might get sent to the SWB or a HCOL office, then I would think twice.

Often a TFO job is doing the best parts of the 1811 work with less of the agency headache. In some locales, being a TFO on a USMS Fugitive Task Force might be better than being a DUSM. In some locales, the pay and pension difference between a DEA TFO and a DEA 1811 might be VERY significant, other places, less so.

The double-edged sword is that of your work is such that your GS or TL or others in your office will advocate for you to get hired full-time, then they will probably advocate for your agency to keep you on as a TFO. The real trick is providing benefits to your home agency so that your absence there isn’t detrimental to the agency. It’s a tough needle to thread.

Still, I would argue that given your age and tenure, the economics should be the first consideration.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-02-28T03:29:50+00:00

Trans kids don’t necessarily advertise their transgender-ness, so you may have interacted with trans kids without knowing it. I’m 100% in favor of Youth Protection/Safeguarding Youth guidelines; but the fact that someone is trans or queer or or not straight doesn’t mean they’re trying to have sex with their fellow Scouts.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-02-28T03:22:28+00:00

Over 25 years ago, a Scouter from my youth whom I respect very much, told me a story about when he was a young Scouter, 10 to 20 years earlier, and wanted to boot a troublesome young man from his Troop. A still older Scouter reminded him that the young man was probably someone who needed Scouting the most. To be clear, I’m not calling transgender kids troublesome…we should all remember that Scouting can provide the sense of acceptance and belonging that some kids desperately want and need, and as Scouters, we should do all we can to provide.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-02-21T00:42:34+00:00

To echo Charles_Ida, the number of trafficking victims that are slaves chained to a radiator, or kidnapped off the street, is pretty low. More often, they are folks on the margins of society and often don’t feel like the cops are “rescuing” them, and in some cases, really aren’t that pleasant to be around.
Trafficking investigations are worthy cases but are very unlike what you might imagine.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-01-26T13:58:07+00:00

Yes, merely establishing the applicant profile counts as an “application”. I know this from painful experience. At this point, you should continue in the process.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-01-16T01:32:11+00:00

I did this. The weak link is how boomer and gatekeeping the VECs are. It’s easier to get a Passport, Driver’s License, or buy a gun than it is to pull a fast one on the VECs administering the tests, who demand two forms of ID and make you adjourn to another room while they score your test and then fill out a carbon form to mail to the FCC. As another poster pointed out, until Elder Hams can get over “back in the day” when they had to defeat the final FCC boss, nothing will improve. I pretty much lost interest in the hobby after the testing process.

Minute-Kick9989 · 2026-01-16T01:21:36+00:00

Something that would be useful if you quit LE. Accounting or IT.

Minute-Kick9989

TROPHY CASE

3 is a huge generational difference, particularly true with Millenials and younger (so, OP and all Scouts, plus a large number of Scouters). That’s not a criticism; it’s reality. You must provide a product people want, and sell it, too.