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NPR: The Boy Scouts of America turn 100

Burgold

By Burgold
in The Tailgate

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Burgold

Burgold

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They actually turned 100 on Feb. 8. They've been celebrating it all year and this weekend they hit DC with parades and geo caching events and all sorts of fun stuff.

I was only a Boy Scout for a fairly short time, but I remember going caving with my troop and having more than a little fun. It was cool, slick, and muddy as heck. I think I had two inches of mud caked on every molecule of my body. I also remember some of the scouts freaking out when we saw the sleeping bats. It was a rainy weekend and that didn't help, but I was very proud that I was able to make it and pull myself up, over, and around.

Any other ex or current scouts out there?

They don't look a day over 18... but the Boy Scouts of America are celebrating their Centennial this year.

The Scouts will mark the occasion with a march down Constitution Avenue on Sunday, July 25th. With ten thousand scouts planning to join the parade, a high tech treasure hunt taking place in the city this weekend and a 40,000 member Jubilee gathering near Richmond, the Scouts are pulling out all the stops.

http://wamu.org/audio/mc/10/07/m1100723-36059.asx

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fullnelson9999

fullnelson9999

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Eagle Scout here. My scouting experience was strange I guess. I disagreed with a lot of what the organization stood for (mostly their views on homosexuality) In my later teens I pretty much quit my troop for a year and a half until I said "**** it, I'm going to finish what I started." I barely made the cutoff before my 18th birthday, but I finished.

Looking back, I guess I'm happy I was a scout. It's fun to bust out some outdoors knowledge from time to time, and get that look of "How the hell did you know that?" from other people. Our troop's multiple trips to Alaska, Florida, and Philmont (I only went to Alaska), backpacking for days. In the end the positives definitely outweighed the negatives.

I may end up at the parade on Saturday. Im still an Assistant Scoutmaster in my troop.

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MissU28

MissU28

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I was a girl scout for 11 years and it was one of the best things I EVER did! SO many opportunities through scouting (trips to Mexico, London, Switzerland, a cruise to the Bahamas, working Clinton's inauguration, trips to Chincoteague, camping, etc. etc. etc.) I had the advantage of having fantastic leaders, obviously, because I know my experience wasn't the same as all scouts.

I encourage anyone to put their child through scouting. Such a valuable experience full of good values.

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zoony

zoony

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I saw it as a way to get a pocket knife at age 8. I went thru cub scouts and think I made it to First Class with the boy scouts before I quit, around 11 iirc

I think it had some positives and negatives. It was a little weird being 10 years old hanging out (read: getting the **** kicked out of you by) 17 year olds.

I pass their headquarters in Birmingham all the time. It is an important landmark for me on my way to Orange Beach... it is exactly 1/2 way there from my driveway. Strange.

.....

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China

China

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A lot of Eagle scouts here. I only made it to Life Scout. Order of the Arrow.

I learned a lot of stuff in Scouts, including how to drink and smoke.

Went to Goshen many times. Went to Philmont back in '82.

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China

China

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Star Scout here. Loved Goshen too. My troop was definitely the reason I never made Eagle. The way they ran things was "odd" to say the least. Maybe I'll finish later on in life.

That'd be difficult seeing as they have an age limit of 18.

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Ellis

Ellis

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A lot of Eagle scouts here. I only made it to Life Scout. Order of the Arrow.

I learned a lot of stuff in Scouts, including how to drink and smoke.

Went to Goshen many times. Went to Philmont back in '82.

that's pretty much all I learned as well. :ols:

:cheers:

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Conn

Conn

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Anyone ever seen Penn and Teller's show Bull ****? They had an episode on the Boyscouts. And its bull****.

Before all you Eagle Scouts get angry, just look it up and watch it. Its all about the anti-gay institution of the boyscouts being supported by public funding....meaning they can't discriminate...yet they do. And strongly.

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SkinsHokieFan

SkinsHokieFan

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Proud Eagle Scout here

Some of the most fun times in my youth were on campouts in West VA, down in Goshen VA, Gettysburg, biking the entire C&O canal in a week. I did the whole OA thing as well

It was really my first chance at leadership amongst peers and taught me a lot about beating whatever challenges and obstacles were in the way. Spending a night in the woods with basically nothing but the clothes on my back was pretty exciting

I made some life long friendships with some great people. Happy birthday BSA, what a great thing Lord Baden Powell found.

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SkinsHokieFan

SkinsHokieFan

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I wanted to be a Boy Scout, but my mother never let me. :(

It was funny for me because I started out in Cub Scouts and trying to explain to my recent immigrant mother what the hell I wanted to sign up for was interesting. That sucks you couldn't be a part of it

I think it had some positives and negatives. It was a little weird being 10 years old hanging out (read: getting the **** kicked out of you by) 17 year olds.

.....

:ols:

That was certainly a part of it, being an 11 year old around 14 and 15 year olds. I never thought it made too much sense to have such an age gap. By the time I was 16, and 17, our troop had done a pretty good job of making sure the older kids were doing what we should do and really not always around the younger kids just kicking their asses

Anyone have a particularly creative Eagle project?

Mine wasn't, but one of my very good friends had us basically digging ditches (11 years ago this week in fact) at a nature center in Springfield. We were essentially setting up a new drainage system for the place, and digging the ditches where all the news pipes would go in. This took 3 frickin whole days.

One neat thing with that project was former UVA and Carolina Panthers TE Casey Crawford was helping us out

A lot of Eagle scouts here. I only made it to Life Scout. Order of the Arrow.

I learned a lot of stuff in Scouts, including how to drink and smoke.

Went to Goshen many times. Went to Philmont back in '82.

Yup. The first time I smelled pot was at a Camporee in Gettysburg in 1996. First time I saw someone trip acid was on a hike in a crazy ass thunderstorm in November 1996.

Star Scout here. Loved Goshen too. My troop was definitely the reason I never made Eagle. The way they ran things was "odd" to say the least. Maybe I'll finish later on in life.

I think thats what makes or breaks a troop, how disciplined and how much adult supervision there is, and how well and "fair" they run things. Lets be honest, having a bunch of teenage boys supervise and lead can lead to lord of the flies type situations. Having the right adults who know what they are doing and are organized is critical

My boy scout troop was rife with bullying. Really bad, and the scoutmasters basically encouraged it. :(

That sucks. As I said just above having the right adult leadership is critical to a successful troop and successful experience. Word gets out and eventually troops fall apart without the right type of grown ups in charge

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