Order of the Arrow
Discussions for OA Members and those interested in Scouting's Honor Society. Also includes a private sub-forum for OA Members only.
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LATEST POSTS
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Having eagle is a good thing for people enlisting in the military; when I was on recruiting detail we always did the extra paperwork to get the enlistee E4 (not E3 as a lot of other people claim) which was a HUGE pay difference. But there is no seal of approval. We would recognize that a skillset should be there, and we would reward you like we would reward college education or high physical fitness; however, once an eagle shipped to basic they were garbage just like everyone else. There is literally no mechanism to block scouting from operating on military bases; none, why do people keep saying stuff like this? The on base school PTOs, the FRGs, the USO offices, the Legion posts off base, the VFW posts off base, are all the charter orgs. "Derpy derp derp, can't meet on base." -- Random Politician, "Why not? Is there a youth based risk to the garrison that we need to evaluate that we need to assess multi-dimensionally across all youth groups?" -- Garrison Commander It's all about the money. Plain and simple. Where is @Armymutt on this, he's still serving. -
By Eagle94-A1 · Posted
Or it could be that standards for advancement have been lowered? Once upon a time, the standard was "master the skills" and "the badge represents what a Scout CAN DO (sic) not what he has done." Those come from old handbooks and advancement guides. Now the standard is "A badge recognizes what a Scout has done toward achieving the primary goal of personal growth. " Sadly I have been to a camp, where they gave away MBs. Best example were the Scouts given Canoeing MB, but could not paddle in a straight line on a troop trip to save their life. I had a Scout's family member tell me they bought the MBs by going to that camp. Or how about all the MBUs popping up where you sit in class and get a MB? Sadly my own kids, after they aged out, told me some of the stuff they didn't do for MBs they "earned" from MBUs. And don't forget the online MBUs. What FL council awarded over 18000 MBs during COVID from online MBUs? -
I am definitely not a fan of the current administration, but I think everyone should keep these changes in prospective. 1. I find few scouts who advocate for our current list of Eagle required merit badges. We have far too many citizenship MBs and most of them are already covered in school. I didn't have an issue with Citz in Society, but I also found little value with the badge. You can still guide your troop in the spirit of the badge. 2. Transgender scouts are still allowed in the program. I was scoutmaster of a troop with a transgender scout and there are various challenges you have to navigate. I didn't allow them in female bathrooms, I made sure they were in a three person buddy group, I didn't let them tent with a female, etc. I still made sure they could participate and told them to let me know if anyone gave them crap. The changes would essentially align to how I ran the troop which I think is appropriate. 3. I don't think anyone would argue against the military benefits. Perhaps they would like to push further but so far, I think scouters should move on to figuring out how to keep meetings fun, how to encourage scouts to fully embrace the patrol method and the other key aspects that scouters engage in every day and week. -
Nothing more fun than watching your kid get the big trophy. However, many scout parents get that same dopamine rush from seeing their non team kid excel in scouts. Being in an Eagle Scout ceremony, with congratulatory messages from mayors and members of Congress, sees some parents almost turn purple with pride. It's all good. I think the issue for scouting is that there are more kids and families that enjoy other youth activities more. That's because they are more fun and appealing to kids and easier to access and understand by parents. Scouting has been focusing on everything but those issues for decades and it's had a culmulative effect. Every newly diverting crisis that develops, like this one, only deepens the hole. -
Scouting really didn't/doesn't need the West Point Camporee or Jamboree to deliver program though. Both events serve very few scouts in the scheme of things. I think the potential loss of the Eagle Scout promotion and pay upgrades was likely much more consequential, especially since attaining Eagle is the single most important marketing point for the US program. It's a potential benefit noted in almost all the marketing materials and is positioned as almost a Good Housekeeping seal of approval from the U.S. Military of the scouting program. That, and the ability to operate units on US bases were likely the biggest items on the table.
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