Commonly Used Acronyms

There are lots of acronyms used in Scouting, so here is a list to help you decipher what our scouts and leaders are saying.

• ASPL - Assistant Senior Patrol Leader - A scout leader who is assisting the SPL.

• ASM - Assistant Scout Master - An adult leader who assists the Scoutmaster. ASMs are in charge of leading outings, helping scouts with rank requirements, and general troop supervision and assistance.

• BOR - Board Of Review - A Board of Review is an interview panel. Once a scout has completed all of the requirements to earn his rank, he must attend a Board of Review where his newly earned knowledge and his readiness for the rank will be assessed by the panel.

• COH - Court Of Honor - The Court of Honor is a ceremony where your scout receives any new ranks and merit badges that have been earned and any patches for events they have attended.

• MBC - Merit Badge Counselor - This is a person with a particular area of expertise who is trained to guide scouts through the merit badge requirements for that subject matter. A scout must have a counselor for every merit badge he attempts. Any parent can train to be a merit badge counselor.

• PL - Patrol Leader - The scout in charge of a given patrol

• PLC - Patrol Leader Council - These are the scouts currently in leadership positions in the troop.

• SICO - Scout leader In Charge of Outing - This is the scoutmaster running the outing or event.

• SPL - Senior Patrol Leader - The is the scout in charge of running troop meetings and PLC meetings. This position rotates on a quarterly basis and is voted on by the scouts.

• SPLICO - Senior Patrol Leader In Charge of Outing - This is the scout leading an outing or event. He will be in charge of planning the event with the SICO and managing the event while it's happening.

• TPC - Troop Parent Committee - The is the group of parent volunteers who handle the administrative duties of the pack such as accounting, advancement, registration, rechartering, shack maintenance. All parents are welcome to participate in the TPC.

Other terms you may hear:

• Patrol - The troop is split up into smaller groups called patrols. Patrols are self-managed by the scouts and each one is led by a patrol leader (see PL above). If you were in Cub Scouts, the concept is similar to a pack having multiple dens.

• Quartermaster - This is the scout in charge of managing equipment for an outing, a patrol, or the troop.