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Mr. Frazell speaks the truth.

Upon reflection you could also have been beating up fascists I suppose.

True, there were an unusual amount of pre-pubescant brown shirts around when i was growing up

Darkchild

102nd Inverleith Beavers and Cub Scouts.

10th Haymarket Scouts, then, following the move to England....

17th Tonbridge Organised Hooligan Brigade!

Oh the fun times we had back then...cutting down trees with spades, wrecking other troops bivouacs, and generally being a nuisance!

Unfortunately Dogma's experience is not as unusual as it should be, much of it coming from when the Mormon church basically took over the Scouts in the 80's. For a fun and interesting watch over the changes over the last few decades see Penn and Tellers Bullsh!t episode on it. I can't say whether you will agree with it all of course, but it is certainly worth a watch. Luckily you can see it on Youtube. Each part is about 10 minutes.

WARNING: HARSH LANGUANGE

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

I was under the impression that roughly one third of the registered troops in BSA were mormon. That is hardly 'taking over'.

Cub Scout, Webelos, Boy Scout, switched to Explorers at 14. Assistant Scoutmaster and Cub Scout Den leader, Explorer advisor, Girl Scout Leader (two daughters, what do you expect). Now, granddaughters are starting to get into girl scouts, so.............. Here I go again!

Girl Scout Leader (two daughters, what do you expect). Now, granddaughters are starting to get into girl scouts, so.............. Here I go again!

Greetings DOG(S)!

You can stick your Mormon Scouts up yer bum!

Peter Duncan is the Chief Scout now...he was in Flash Gordon, playing Arborea Bingo. The guy what gets stabbed in the wrist before James Bond puts him to the sword. Thats Peter Duncan that is.

Please! Let's not go into general attacks on any one faith. I think a scout troop can be set up thru a religion and then you get that religion's spin on it (for example, I had a buddy who set up a troop with his catholic youth. They had lots of fun, but they were very catholic on their trips). But the actual belifes in scouting are non-specific. There are jerks out there who ruin it (by putting their own beliefs in it) and that makes me sad.

Made it to Eagle just before I turned 18 (the cut off time for scouts in general). Some of the best skills I learned in Scouting. Co-ed camp outs were always interesting as well.

Wasn't knocking Mormons, just pointing out the British Scouts are clearly superior as our head honcho was in Flash Gordon

Religion wise, people are free to believe whatever mumbo jumbo takes their fancy. Unless they claim it to be based on ancient Druidic texts or other such patent nonsense (the Druids didn't have a written language you see)

Gen. Lee Losing wrote:I was under the impression that roughly one third of the registered troops in BSA were mormon. That is hardly 'taking over'.

We aren't talking about the troops themselves, we are talking about the administrative structure, of which the Mormon Church has a controlling share. The number of Mormon scouts probably is up to that amount though since it has taken administrative control. If we go back to the 70's I imagine it was far less participation. Though in all fairness participation in general was probably greater.

In terms of rank, I got through.....

Cubs...Seconder, Sixer, Senior Sixer (moved Packs)

Scouts? Assistant Patrol Leader, Patrol Leader, Senior Scout.

My Mum and Dad have been involved in Scouting for absolutely Donkies years. Been considering going into Leader Training myself, but sadly my work hours during the week include 4 out of 5 evenings, so I can't really be of use to the movement.

BTW, is the American Scouts the same as The Scout Assosciation?

I don't believe so.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Wasn't knocking Mormons, just pointing out the British Scouts are clearly superior as our head honcho was in Flash Gordon

Religion wise, people are free to believe whatever mumbo jumbo takes their fancy. Unless they claim it to be based on ancient Druidic texts or other such patent nonsense (the Druids didn't have a written language you see)

What, you mean apart from Ogham?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogham

Though I think you’re alluding to the Mesopagan revivalists like Edward Williams (AKA Iolo Morganwg), who claimed to have discovered ancient texts which were bollocks I grew up mostly in ADF (late 80s through 90s), though my local group (DANA) schismed off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-druidism

Here’s an article my kid sister wrote:

http://vxnightingalexv.livejournal.com/14584.html

Back on topic, I was never a scout, though I was interested in it and used to read Boys’ Life. I was out in the woods a lot as a kid. The religious end of it put my family off.

My best memory from boy scouts was me, the master knot-tier in my troop, making some harnesses and tying them around trees. Then a dozen of us rapelled in tandem down a 50-foot cliff.

I only realized how dangerous this was a couple years ago.....and I definitely want to try it again.

I was a boy scout until I decided I was done pretending not to be a bisexual atheist. My troop was more tolerant of other religions, but I was essentially told I would never advance. My dad and I go camping and backpacking all the time anyways, so it wasn't a huge loss.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Wasn't knocking Mormons, just pointing out the British Scouts are clearly superior as our head honcho was in [i]Flash Gordon

In all fairness... who CAN compete with that?!?!?!

I was a boy scout, earned my eagle, stuck around for a few more years as a Senior Patrol Leader, went to Philmont, did all that. I even pitched the summer after my freshman year as an "adult" on a backpacking trip in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. So... yeah, I was in scouts.

That said, my experience was vastly different from most people's. My troop was sponsored by Prysbetarian church, but at the high point I think 2 of the scouts were part of the parish. We were nicknamed the "library patrol," and actually learned things like fire building, knot tying, and first aid. The scoutmaster when I joined used to read Edgar Allen Poe to us around the campfire, and most of the adult leaders were engineers or scientists. It was a pretty geek friendly atmosphere.

The mormons (and to a large extent, the southern baptists) have been very successful in the last few decades in emphasizing some of the more esoteric parts of the scout law, and outright misinterpreting what Lord Baden Powell's original intent was. All I know is that I was in scouting actively for a decade, and I never once heard any serious discussion about whether I should believe in god or only have sex with women. Sure, vague references to "keeping your mind and body clean" were used to simmer us down, and Scouts were meant to be reverent (Whatever, exactly, that meant), but I didn't realize scouting had any sort of anti-atheism or anti-gay policy until the court cases showed up in the popular press. Funny story: one of the den mothers of my brother's cub scout pack was actually a M to F transsexual.

It saddens me to hear many of the negative experiences people have. I know I lucked out, but I got a lot out of scouting, and many of the kids it could help the most are the ones quickest to get drummed out of some of the more "enthusiastic" troops. I also disagree with the policies of the national organization, and I've written them many times expressing that displeasure. In the end, however, the organization goes to where the money and the manpower is.

What happens happens. As I said earlier I was happy in my old town with the old troop. I just moved to a small very political town. 5 years later I was still one of the new kids. I still believe in the scouts. Think they do an admirable job with the kids in this age of skinned knee lawsuits.

Wasn't a scout, but most of my friends were. Already knew how to use rope (Dad was an oyster farmer, so boats and all of that too), trap (also a trapper) and how to sod off into the bush (that's the 'forest' in Australia) for several days by the time they were doing their ... whatever the hell they called it when they bought tinned food and slept outside under tarpaulin. Also mananged to pick up the pyrotechnica, despite absolutely no support from my father at all.

stonefox wrote:My best memory from boy scouts was me, the master knot-tier in my troop, making some harnesses and tying them around trees. Then a dozen of us rapelled in tandem down a 50-foot cliff.

I only realized how dangerous this was a couple years ago.....and I definitely want to try it again.

I got hoisted up a tree and left for a couple of hours for my 14th Birthday...the gits.

All good fun though!

I guess the first troop I was in (early-70's, and yeah, I'm an old fart) was a lot different than these days. We had the Pink Panther and Tookie Tookie Bird patrols...................

Did you ever send any of the younger scouts out on a snipe hunt?

hehehehehee, oh yes. Take this bag and go out there and we'll drive those snipe right to you..................

Gotta know the snipe call, too.

Don, Judging from your posts we're from the same era of scouts. Did you ever use any of the special powers that the scouts taught you for evil(scouting out the location of the girls camp, using fieldcraft to sneak up,ect...).