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Old 02-22-2016, 05:16   #136
Chris O`Crooh
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Poland - Tarnów
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Happy World Thinking Day, brothers scouts!
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Old 09-03-2016, 00:10   #137
UwharrieGuy47
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Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: central North Carolina
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As an Eagle Scout, I want to apologize for your negative experience

1) Yes, and I took the Scouting experience as far as I could go with it

2) Yes, I made Eagle Scout. Eagle class of 1987. Ronald Reagan was still President

3) I was not in the military, but Scouting did directly help my civilian life in multiple ways. The outdoor expertise I perfected in Scouting influenced my major in the University, Geography. Additionally, the swimming skills I learned in Scouting directed me to become a lifeguard after high school and to become an aquatics professional for many years, part time and full time on and off. The leadership skills I learned I still use to this day. And being an Eagle Scout got me several jobs over my life, I observed having "Eagle Scout" on my resume or job application seemed to be the deal maker in several jobs.

4) N.A. however at Philmont Scout Ranch I met quite a few teenage Scouts who were planning on enlisting into the military specifically to go Special Forces, SEALs, Rangers, Marine Corps, etc. Their motivation seemed to mix directly with the rugged outdoor lifestyles they had purposely developed for themselves, at that time.

5) Yes definitely, I have comments and this is the main reason I registered for this board, to comment in this particular string. As an Eagle Scout, NESA member (National Eagle Scout Association) and Philmont Staff Association member, I have some things to mention about Scouting. First, in my time as a Scout and later on as an Assistant Scoutmaster, I observed a wide variation in quality of Scout Troops and quality of local Scout council programs. Because I was so involved in BSA "High Adventure" programs, I got to see troops from all over the country and councils from all over the country.

Just like I would imagine there are some low quality outfits in the military with poor leadership, there are also dud troops with unmotivated boys and poor to non existent adult Scout leadership. Then there are troops with highly motivated boys and good, solid adult leadership. There are troops that go camping year round, "even in the winter when its cold." And there are troops that almost never go camping, believe it or not. And there are troops that mainly only go camping when the weather is mild (Fall and Spring and maybe summer camp).

I always tell potential Scouts and their parents to visit several Scout troops, go by their gut intuition and choose the troop that seems to have good adult leadership and motivated Scouts. Choose a troop that has a strong outdoor program and one that consistently goes camping in the winter, as being able to take care of yourself in cold weather is IMO, the outdoor skill that separates the real outdoors man from the slackers. Also, choose a troop where they have an active camping program, also choose a troop where the boys seem to be making rank.

Finally, my last BSA comment is directed to the guy who wrote the stuff he experienced as a young boy in a low quality troop decades back. Please realize your experience was NOT what Scouting is about. There is no official...or unofficial..."hazing" program within the Boy Scouts of America. There might be some low quality, redneck type troops who have taken it upon themselves to believe they should institute some sort of private hazing program to initiate new members, but trust me, thats not the norm even in the lower quality troops.

If you had been brought into a halfway decent Troop, you would not have experienced such hazing nonsense as you did and dropped out of Scouting. Nor have the opinion of Scouting you have today.


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Originally Posted by Mitch View Post
I am reluctant to even mention this here – it is unflattering to me, and a story that goes against what we all respect in each other – namely, guys who are expected to be hard as nails and able to take anything handed out and ask for more. That may be the case – for a young soldier, but should it apply to an 11 year old tenderfoot?

I tried scouting for about 3 months - one of the darker memories I had as a kid growing up. I subscribed to Boys Life and read about the Scouts for a couple of years prior to turning 11 when I could actually join. I will never forget the day after I did turn 11, I went up to the local Episcopal Church off of Elizabeth Ave in Fort Worth - officially joined the troop. Having read about Scouts for years, having watched all he Spin & Marty movies from Disney it was one of the happiest days of my young life.

That next day, I had a list of things I needed to buy. My uniform, a scout guide book, a scout knife, etc. My parents took me to Leonard Brothers Store in Fort Worth to get all the gear and - the next week I showed up in all my regalia. That was probably the last good day I had as a scout.

I did not know about the Initiation rites that were in vogue back then - becoming a slave for all the other guys, becoming a patsy for every joke, getting slammed to the ground repeatedly in some game we were playing in which I seemed to be the object of the game - I recognized what was going on, but wanted to be a Scout so much I just went along with it - until the Camperee two months later - a total disaster, also my last week as a scout.
Everything I had was stolen from me - my tent was torn down several times, finally it was thrown into the creek near by - without a tent, me and this other newbie had to sleep in the open - it was a cloudless night so we didn't have to worry about rain, until the eggs started flying. During the night, about every five minutes, an egg would get lobbed into our sleeping area - eventually I woke up the Scout Master and complained - he laughed and told me to just hang in there, the other guys were just having fun. Getting no help from him, the other guy and I climbed up in a tree and spent the night there - staying awake, no one saw us up there, but we saw them come looking for us - we stayed quiet, I do remember wishing I had a few bricks with me.
When I finally got home the next day, I had no hat, no tent, no knife, no scout book, just an egg stained sleeping bag and back pack. I never went back. I was young, just a few months past 11 years old.

Perhaps if my dad had been a Scout, he could have prepared me better, or taken a greater interest, or if the Scout Master had lived up to the image as portrayed in Boy’s Life – it would have been different, but as it was, I was just too green and felt no encouragement from anyone to continue. Also, I never learned whether what went on with me was normal or an abortion.

The frustration of that experience stayed with me for years - later on when I went into the Army - I kept my guard up, but that is when I noticed the difference - in Basic - we got abused, but we all did, together, not just me – it wasn’t the same. It was better – it was real. By the time I went into SF that scouting experiacne was basically forgotten - a non factor, but all the same, I made sure that nothing, no person, no amount of abuse, nor any humiliating act was going to keep me away from my goal – don’t know if that is actually a correlation or not – but that Camperee at age 11 was the last time I ever let anyone get the better of me – I don’t credit scouting for that, but I do credit my personal scouting experience as having value in preparing me, maturing me and giving me some insight into myself.

Last edited by UwharrieGuy47; 09-03-2016 at 00:18. Reason: needed to add something in
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