Re: Being an Eagle Scout kicks ass!

**Uranium - 235** · 07-27-2008, 08:28 PM

Originally Posted by Ferris Bueller

Wow, I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but I think that your one bad run gave you the wrong impression. You just needed to find a different troop.

Probably, I did live in an extremely conservative town at the time.

So, sorry your experience sucked uranium, but you're expressing a very narrow viewpoint based on limited experience and apparent unwillingness to find out if it was anomalous.

Ah, I know that there's been failed lawsuits over the atheist thing, so anomalous, it is not. This basically means that the BSA leadership has no problem with discrimination.

**Mech__Warrior** · 07-27-2008, 11:46 PM

He worked hard, but his birthday was right before he made Eagle (I think). I never did like him because he always made fun of me. We were a small troop back then and we worked hard. We also go to a place called Gerber Scout Camp. I think every year I took merit badges and I did some on my own time. Next month or so, I'll get my Silver Palm.

**Melee** · 07-28-2008, 12:24 AM

I didn't join scouts until I was 16 so even though I ranked up as quickly as allowed, there wasn't enough time to make Eagle before I turned 18...bummer. My little brother made it though, really cool.

I was Order of the Arrow, though. And we took a great trip one summer to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. Awesome.

**Mech__Warrior** · 07-28-2008, 12:39 AM

Yeah, I was active in the Order, but then the meetings became boring and going to them felt like a chore. I'm still recognized as a member, but I'm inactive.

**Skylark** · 07-28-2008, 01:03 AM

I went to Philmont 3 times

Our troop did a lot of high adventure trips.
Even years we went to Philmont.
Odd years, we did something different.
White water rafting, canoeing and fishing in canada, etc.

We had a good troop. We had a very high rate of eagle turnout.

We went camping once and it got to a wind chill of 60 below. Fort Riley pulled the troops out of the field, but we stayed out. Our scoutmaster was hardcore, but made sure we
a) were trained right
b) had the right equipment

At least one campout a year was a survival campout. We were given an axe. That was the only utensil. Had to build shelters, make the fire and cook everything with ONLY the axe and what we could build. It was always cool.

Order of the arrow: We didn't do the order of the arrow until our scoutmaster retired and we got a new one. He felt (and I agreed) that it was a popularity thing rather than a who deserves it thing. The other scouts in the troop would vote for it, which makes it popularity. Sure, it is theoretically possible for it to be voting based on who earned it, but so is the Presidential elections. Instead, we had a group called Leadership Corps. That was earned. We were the 'elite' group in our troop and (consequentially) had a lot more duties to perform.

**ScratchMonkey** · 07-28-2008, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by Ferris Bueller

It wasnt a "dont as dont tell" policy at all, with either of the troops I was in.

I meant that that policy is at the BSA-to-local interface. If your community leaders don't tell BSA that they're not enforcing the national ideology, national looks the other way. The issue only comes up if the locals enforce it and a would-be member tries to fight it.

**Betterdeadthanred** · 07-29-2008, 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by Uranium - 235

I was in Boy Scouts for a few years as a kid. I ended up getting kicked out. It didn't make much sense to me at the time since I was only like, 14 or 15, and had bigger things to worry about, but it ultimately turned out that the scout leaders didn't like me and my family because we didn't go to their church. Then they found out we're god-hating atheist commies and gave me the boot. My dad wasn't a scoutmaster, but he was one of the biggest parental planners, organizing a lot of the events. So now, according to the Boy Scouts, since I don't beat a Bible and hang gays from trees, I have no morals or values.

While Eagle Scout means you've achieved a lot, it also means you're getting advantages for being a Christian sponsored by an organization of bigots. To hell with that. Uh.... sorry to rain on the parade.

Congratulations, at any rate :P

Eh, I'm a pretty open atheist and my scoutmaster shared no love for fundamentalism so I guess I'm in the minority. I suppose agnostic would be a better term. I don't mind saying god and country and one nation under god, to me they are just words as part of a tradition and to get up an arms about them is just silly.

**Skylark** · 07-31-2008, 05:32 AM

And I believe there is a requirement for most/all classes to be the previous class for a certain time period. I think the time periods add up to more than 1 year.

Yeah, here it is:
Be active in your troop and patrol for at least 4 months as a First Class Scout.
Be active in your troop and patrol for at least 6 months as a Star Scout.
Be active in your troop and patrol for at least 6 months as a Life Scout.

Hey, that is a minimum of 16 months AFTER you get your first class. So this guy who did it in a year broke the rules. So much for trustworthy and obedient (2 of 12 laws).

**Bisclaveret** · 07-31-2008, 11:40 AM

Nice! Congrats. What troops were ya'll in? I was in Troop 45 Georgia-Carolina council for a while, then when we moved back up north, Troop 180 in the Keystone council.

Was in scouting for about 6 years, but kept to low ranks, almost Star. I found more pleasure and fun in helping others get thier achievements then my own personal achievements, so i took more of an advisory/planning role. About that time, our old SM got invited to work at council, and the new SM whipped everyone into shape. We had a bit of a disparity with some parents, one was an adult leader who felt like everything needed to be run like the military, and a bunch of others who felt the BSA was a babysitting service for an hour or 2/over the weekend. He basically told them both off and took quite the reins on the operation, and those were some of the best years of the troop imo.

Went to Philmont right after I turned 18 as an adult leader. It was a mixed experience for all of us. We trained hard for over a year, doing endurance hiking runs on the Appalachian Trail, survival weekends, lots of map and compass work, etc so we thought we were prepared. We weren't, quite... Our itinerary got juggled around like crazy because of the wildfires going on (It was 2003) The SM who had been to Philmont over 8 times before and went with us gave out on the 4th day as we were crossing a ridge. Got heat exhaustion, he took an inventory, told all of us to fall in and take a knee, and tearfully told everyone he was packing it in, as he was just slowing us down. He was having a lot of problems out in the sun, and we were taking a lot of breaks trying to let him catch up, but he just couldn't. We dispatched 2 runners to go 5 miles back to a staffed camp to get some medical help, and that was the last time we saw him... Until we took the multitude of switchbacks down the ridge to base camp, and he was waiting there, clapping with a smile on his face by the trails end sign.

**warpig1292** · 07-31-2008, 01:49 PM

Good Job bro

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