what to do when your troop dosen't act like a troop?

[ksphotoscout]

My troop is probably the worst ever. No one ever pays attention to the leaders, wears there uniform, they make fun of other members, and just doesn't act like a troop. The leaders do nothing about it and it is really irritating. Since the troop is part of our Churches young men's program, you can't take out a member. What should I do? I was looking at joining a new troop, but then my church leaders would try to get me to come back, and it would be very embarrassing.

[scoutaholic]

Your problem is one I have seen many times in my scouting experience. When MOST of the scouts (and leaders) are part of the troop because of their religion rather than their interrest in scouting, little scouting gets done.

This is one of the problems that convinced me that LDS and BSA don't go together as well as both groups want us to think.

If you are truly interrested in scouting, seek out a troop whos charter partner allows them to run a BSA program rather than the church program. This will probably not be a troop charted to another unit of your same church. Once you find such a troop, visit their meetings, ask if you can visit a camp/outdoor activity, get to know a few of the boys, and ask questions before you commit to join them.

If you work it right, you can find a good troop that meets on a different night from your church troop. You don't have to leave the church troop. You can do real scouting with the new troop and weekly time-wasting in the name of scouting in your church troop. If that doesn't work for you, just be honest with the church leaders and church scouters when they talk to you about it. There is no reason you have to be embarrased that you took the initiative to find a troop who supports your needs when the current troop wasn't doing it.

I was an LDS SM for nearly 10 years. I saw the problem you mention in my troop several times. Too often, boys were there because the church leaders and/or parents made them come. This made scouting harder for those of us who wanted to do it right. I know the SM of the only NON-LDS troop in our district (he is actually LDS, but the troop is co-chartered Catholic/Lutheran), and have worked with him and gotten to know his troop. I considered taking my own sons to that troop when they were old enough rather the the LDS troop where I was SM. As SM, I would have been happy to support a boy who decided he needed scouting differently from what I could offer in the LDS troop. I've seen several LDS boys go this route, including about two-thirds of the local NON-LDS troop.

[ksphotoscout]

I can agree with that. There are a few troops around here that are non-LDS. I talked to my mom about that, but she said she would rather have me in a LDS troop because of the influence is better. I told her that i am not so sure, that a lot of the boys in the LDS troop aren't exactly a "good influence". It's a difficult spot I'm in. I want to be eagle, nut it is awfully hard to go. Thanks a lot.

[Ursus Snorous Roarus]

Ask your Mom if she will at least go with you to visit a meeting or two of a couple area troops. All you need to do is tell the leaders you are only visiting. Regardless to whether they are LDS or not, they may have a different environment that suits you a little better. If she'll at least go with an open mind go see how some other troops function, she may see what you are trying to tell her. Or she may see that there are some things at your current unit that can be worked on. While it never hurts to look around, don't be so quick to give up and leave before doing your best to help. Your adult leaders may be looking for someone like you to step up and be a leader! Think through this carefully, be careful and understand that the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence!
Good luck.

[ksphotoscout]

Thanks so much. My mom says we could do that pretty soon one time. Its just so hard to be in a troop like that, and since I can't change what others do, I can change what I do. Thanks a lot for the advise.

[smtroop168]

Your council shows 438 troops. One of them is sure to fit your needs if you go that route.

Also don't sell yourself short on being able to change others. It's one of the great things about Scouting. The opportunity to learn and practice Leadership. Sometimes you have to start small and make your patrol the model the other kids want to follow. There will always be those who will not want to follow and it's their loss. It will catch up to them later in life.

[ksphotoscout]

In my patrol, Im the Patrol Leader, and when I try to give the directions, nobody listens. The members only listen if the Scoutmaser yells, and that never fun so....... About the 438 troops, I'm pretty sure there is at least one good one. I was just wondering if its hard to move all of your records to a new troop like your advancements and your health forms. You would think it might take a while to do that. Thanks for the help.

[wagionvigil]

Very Easy to make the Transfer.

[ksphotoscout]

Excellent! I will just get my papers and head over to look for a new troop. For the Lone Scouts, is it only available for people who live in the middle of nowhere? Now that would be boring, going camping by yourself and all!

[ronin718]

ksps, I know exactly where you're coming from. The "troop" in my ward is a troop in name only. You could almost be talking about my ward. For that reason, my son and I are in a non-LDS troop and loving life. Our bishop knows it, our YMP knows it, and the newly called DQA knows it. My son still attends YM meetings, but there is no pretending that it's Scouts.

Do the research, find a troop that you enjoy, and transfer. My son just boarded Life, and he's only 12. Keep in mind, the troop we're in is no merit badge factory, they are just very active (check us out at http://bsatroop970.org). I've had a few go-arounds regarding how fast he's moving along, but I simply explain that we're exercising LDS Scouting culture in a non-LDS troop, that being a focus on advancement while participating in great activities. Most of the leadership, youth and adults, accept it and are very supportive.

BTW, what part of Seattle are you in? I'm a West Seattle native, growing up in what was then the Seattle 2nd Ward.

[mt_goodrich]

Unfortunately, I have to agree that majority of LDS units are exactly as ksphotoscout described....disfunctional.

Main problem is that leaders don't get trained or just won't follow the program. Another factor is retention. Scout leaders in LDS troops are hardly in their position for more than a year or so. Also, there are boys in the program who just do not care about being in Boy Scouts.

I am a Scoutmaster for an LDS unit. I just took over the troop in June. Before that, I had served as an 11 Year Old Scout Leader for two years. I also served as a Unit Commissioner to several non-LDS units and I served on the district training team.

I attended Wood Badge and received my beads in May. I think this is what caught our Bishop's attention. That and the parents asking that I be made the Scoutmaster.

It was just killing me to get the boys to 1st Class, only to see them lose interest as soon as they went into the troop with the older boys and the Scoutmaster. Reason was that the past four Scoutmasters they had were duds. Three of them didn't even bother to have a uniform. It was pretty sad.

We are a small troop, about ten active boys and about five that may show up from time to time. We had a great summer camp and boys are excited about Scouting. Advancement is going well and will have two boys ready to begin work on their Eagle projects soon.

The really hard part was getting all of the advancement documentation in order and that was no easy task...but all is up to date now and matches with the council.

My advise to ksphotoscout is to find another troop and don't feel bad about it. Do continue to go to your Wednesday night activities and try to be a good example.

[biglou]

Maybe I should have posted my Troop Issues topic in here. My Scouts are acting like how a Troop should. The SPL takes charge and leads the meeting. The ASPL is helping those under his charge. We are working on the Patrol Leader's and the PLC to get that running smoothely. Now we need to work with the Troop Committee!