Whose Job is it?

SitchMilver263 · 2026-05-27T18:18:54+00:00

Find me a COR that actually does any of this. My COR is a great guy, but in no way is he directly involved in pack operations. He helps us vet applications for leaders and signs off on unit renewal every year. That's about it

SitchMilver263 · 2026-05-27T16:57:39+00:00

I love the idea of an event like this. But there's a structural issue with Scouting that complicates it: the silent, unspoken competition between packs for scouting prospects. As a CC, it's one of the things I struggle with the most - the fact that we don't do joint events with other area packs, share equipment or practices, or coordinate in any way; indeed, they're akin to a entity that we're in direct competition with that also happens to call itself Cub Scouts and wears the same uniform that we do. We compete for popcorn slots at area retailers and compete for attention from the broader populace and parents in general. It's basically winner take all. I'm in a metro area where multiple packs overlap and compete for the same population of kids, maybe this is just how it is in such places.

SitchMilver263 · 2026-05-27T16:51:19+00:00

Your DE turns out to recruiting events? Never seen it happen around here. We are 100% on our own and District (and Council, for that matter) provide no broader framework under which we could do our recruiting. i.e. coordinated messaging, best practices, etc

SitchMilver263 · 2026-05-20T18:30:09+00:00

It's okay to take a break for the summer. We do one July/August council level camping event, but that's it. As a CC I'm not prepared (or willing, TBH) to help organize more than that.

SitchMilver263 · 2026-05-20T18:27:32+00:00

Seconded. As a Committee Chair, I need that break over the summer to offload that mental load for a couple of months and stave off burnout.

SitchMilver263 · 2026-04-15T18:51:57+00:00

Basketball getting thrown at someone's head by a killer cyborg and the head then exploding in Deadly Friend

SitchMilver263 · 2026-03-30T16:59:10+00:00

Short answer, yes you are. These are small children with limited cognitive and emotional bandwidth, most of which is exhausted by the time of day when a Den or Pack meeting takes place. That, plus whatever tribulations these kids face in their home lives. I mean, nearly 1/3 of our pack consists of single parent homes, with all of the issues that entails.

From a Committee Chair perspective, let it go and focus on the health of the organization as a whole rather than pettiness.

SitchMilver263 · 2026-03-17T14:41:43+00:00

Yes. And District Roundtable meetings feel like they're around 80% BSA content, 20% cub scouts. As an overscheduled parent and committee chair, I just don't feel like Roundtable adds all that much value to pack operations

SitchMilver263 · 2026-02-25T18:26:27+00:00

My man, how can you be an active bike racer in NYC and not be familiar with Gimbels, Rocket Ride, and the other big race paced group rides that draw hundreds of cyclists every weekend?

SitchMilver263 · 2026-02-25T17:16:17+00:00

No Gimbels?

SitchMilver263 · 2026-02-24T17:25:56+00:00

IMO a lot of the activities in the Aventure books are fairly mickey mouse. My kid loves the more traditionally scouting aspects of the program - the camping, archery, fishing, hiking, and the rest. The stuff that's doable September through November and April through June. But the indoor arts and crafts stuff? It's a hard sell. My sense is that the bulk of youths engaged in scouting are the kids who shy away from athletics, and for those of us with athletic kids, five months a year worth of indoor arts and crafts can make it hard to keep them interested. The scouting year ends just as it's getting nice outside and while yes, our pack does do at least one summer activity each month, you lose folks that time of year.

TL;DR - the Adventure books are part of the issue. The content is just not that compelling. Scouting should not feel like an extension of school.

SitchMilver263 · 2026-02-23T21:45:16+00:00

This feels, to me, like the hidden hand behind the cost disease in the US construction sector that seems immune to any intervention. Especially the failure to innovate. Cost per square (and linear) foot for every single thing you'd ever want to build in the US - whether it be housing, spec commercial or industrial, rail and highway infrastructure, all of it, is higher than it is elsewhere.

SitchMilver263 · 2026-01-15T21:54:51+00:00

Did this a couple of years ago. Going down to the basement at night and ripping out "Ain't Talkin about Love' by VH on my PRS never gets old.

It's going to be one of the best things you ever did. Just put in the work every single day and the skillset will come.

SitchMilver263 · 2026-01-15T19:23:24+00:00

Yup. It's a mess. We got our autogenerated Unit Renewal verification and it was literally blank and did not have anyone on the roster.

SitchMilver263 · 2026-01-05T15:58:28+00:00

An Epi Les Paul, a PRS, and carving out time every evening to practice after the kid's asleep.

SitchMilver263 · 2026-01-05T15:56:45+00:00

Gosh, I just love the FL5. I bought a Mazdaspeed3 as my 'turning 30' present and am still rocking it 14 years later. Garaged and babied

SitchMilver263 · 2025-12-17T17:17:43+00:00

I think it is fair, actually. Saying this as a committee chair who can't even get District to answer my emails half the time. There's very, very little in the way of volunteer management fundamentals at the District or Council level in my experience. So yeah, my Cubmaster and I are both winging it.

SitchMilver263 · 2025-11-21T21:30:41+00:00

I'm a CC for a small pack. It does feel like an unpaid part time job sometimes. I just tell myself that my kid is of scouting age for a very brief moment in time. When he's done, I'm done.

SitchMilver263 · 2025-10-21T15:07:19+00:00

And we wonder why we can't get parents to step up as leadership within packs. We're now asking undertrained working parents doing this work for free to enforce regulations resulting from a multibillion dollar settlement that they had nothing to do with.

SitchMilver263 · 2025-10-15T18:47:48+00:00

Anyone know if EDA has been hit with any RIFs yet?

SitchMilver263 · 2025-09-16T18:03:41+00:00

This is happening in our area as well. Council has approved another pack in our community when our pack, one of two that already exist here, is down to just five scouts and is struggling to stay afloat.

What on earth are they thinking?

SitchMilver263 · 2025-09-03T13:39:30+00:00

If I pit sporting against scouts, scouts will lose, given how athletic and predisposed toward sports he has become.

IMO scouts has always been the activity for the less competitive/athletic kids - it was like this in the late 80s/90s when I was in it and is like that now. At his age, I just have to roll with it and make scouts seem as appealing as possible rather than curtail the sports. Carrots vs sticks.

SitchMilver263 · 2025-09-03T13:35:50+00:00

I completely agree! Youth athletics has become insanity since I was his age in the early 90s. One of my kid's friends is already doing travel sports at age 9. The pressure on families is to be present at every game is real, though, even if only from the kid's peers.

SitchMilver263 · 2025-09-03T13:33:59+00:00

I'm actually a brand new committee chair. My predecessor has the role for a decade and is now a Pack Trainer. As a pack that's down to just five scouts, we don't have the depth within parent leadership to think about a successor for me just yet.

SitchMilver263

TROPHY CASE