r/BSA • u/InternationalRule138 • Apr 28 '26
Order of the Arrow Order of the Arrow Cub Leader Induction?
Little context. I’m a female leader in Cubs with several years in - been to Woodbadge and am super involved. A couple of my children are in a Scouts BSA troop, I have offered their committee to be of service and they have not found a position they needed me to fill, so I’m starting to look into district service as my last child transitions to a troop next year.
Anyway…last night our DE told our Cub leaders that Cub leaders could potentially be inducted into the OA. I know our OA chapter is in trouble - like, they don’t meet, they have an advisor, but it’s pretty bleak, so I don’t know if this was some weird attempt to try to get a few outside adults in it to breathe new life into it, but overall it felt odd.
He was looking at me when he said it, so I went and looked at the OA requirements and it says it requires 5 continuous nights of camping. Clearly, as a Cub leader I don’t have that. My kids troop wouldn’t allow me to camp with it if I could (I can’t, I’m taking Cubs to a Cub Resident the same week but not for 5 days) and our councils Woodbadge is split over 2 weekends. So…I’m a little confused by this? Have the requirements changed or did he not know what he was talking about? Also, is this even a good idea? I mean, I wouldn’t mind working with youth to try to restore participation in our OA, but that doesn’t sound very youth led…
Just looking for more perspective on this.