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How about going back to an earlier version?

I would say my troop is pretty outdoorsy. We camp 10/12 months, with a lock in IF possible in December and 2 weekends of Scouting For Food in February, being the 2 months we do not camp. Even during COVID, we continued to meet, virtually and outside, had monthly day trips in the outdoors, and even did our own summer camp. Yes we car camp, but we also backpack, cycle, and do canoeing and whitewater activities. And the Scouts pick Summer Camps with the program they want, with the only caveat being it has to be within an 8 hour drive. The last 2 batches of Webelos that visited, the activitie

I have been told that Scouting has been my surrogate family, with the adults in my life being surrogate fathers, the Scouts in my youth as surrogate brothers, and depending upon what age as an adult I was, me serving in a older brother or father role. I have served in various roles for over 30 years, and until recently also had a passion for Scouting. Read some of my posts over the past 5 years so see issues. I have rebuilt so much over the years, and the current state of Scouting is deeply depressing: declining membership, inability to get council support, ad nauseum. My troop is dying

18 Eagle required MBs can be done fully/nearly fully indoor while 4 (cooking, camping, hiking and cycling) have substantial outdoor requirements. BSA lost me on "scouting is outdoors" when they added Citizenship in Society merit badge. Most of my Eagle Scouts have said Wilderness Survival should be Eagle Required but yet BSA went with another discuss/research/report type badge. In addition, my Troop was the only one to camp outdoors during our recent district's Klondike. In the past the Patrols camping outdoors would be awarded more points...not this year. In fact, the Patrols who did

25+ years from now, folks will still be saying "Boy Scouts," "BSA," etc. Just look at Venturing and all the older names that had nothing to do with the Venturing program still in use, i.e. 'venture crews," "Venture Scouts," etc. And I can tell you from the discussions i have had since it was announced, folks with years of irreplaceable knowledge, skills, abilities, time, and treasure are upset. In my neck of the woods we have lost a lot of folks over recent membership changes, and finding replacements is difficult to impossible. Best money example is the current FOS goal is 5%, yes FIVE

After talking to a professional recently, the writing in the wall that the "trial" period of 8/24-7/25 will be successful and full integration will occur. Also from the discussion, if you do not go coed, the council may not be able to help you recruit. I know my troop's volunteers will be meeting about folding the troop at the end of the year. Between existing challenges, and hint that we need to go coed or we will not be supported hit hard. But as @Scoutldr said, That is the sentiment of a lot of the boys I have worked with over the years. Sadly there are fewer and f

And then you join and realize 90% of BSA activities are meetings and merit badge clinics where you have to write reports while adult leaders argue if googling information for your report was sufficient or if you should have used an Encyclopedia written in 1982.

Last time National improved the program, Bill Hillcourt had to come out of retirement to lead it.

I think that changing the name to appease simpletons isn't a good solution, but it seems to be the way the BSA wants to go anyway. Rather than expect people to be critical thinkers and rise up to the organization's level, it will come down to meet them. We saw this with the elimination of the Bobcat badge. Simpletons were confused so the solution was to destroy a legacy rather than insist that people take time to learn and understand. To me, the BSA has been the only constant in my life. My parents divorced when I was young, so neither was in my life 100% of the time. We moved around

The obvious answer is that we haven't changed the name of the organization enough. I'm certain people will be knocking the doors down now.

I’ve been preaching for a more simple cub program for many years because it pulls down the membership for all the other programs. But, I fear it’s the troop program that will be changed, which doesn’t need change. National has rarely shown to make changes to better the program toward a better program. Barry

I've been thinking about it for a couple of days. I've come to the conclusion that the BSA was pretty much my home. It may sound silly, but I can remember the first day I walked into the BSA office in my current council. I had never set foot in that place before, but I felt like I had just walked into my home once again. I did a little reading on rebranding this morning and found out that it's not unusual for brands to lose 20% of their loyal customers following rebranding. I was extremely passionate about the BSA and worked hard to revive a unit, expand the program, and be involved as mu

It's OK for us to be a little different. For all our troubles, the US is still exceptional in many respects. We've gifted the world airplanes, the telephone, the internet, Post-It notes, and sliced bread. Clearly, we're getting a few things right over here. 🙂 I respect that your experience may have been different from mine and believe yours to be valuable too, but most kids in the US already get 8 hours of mixed-gender interaction in school. Many extra-curriculars, aside from athletics, are also integrated. Boys and girls already have ample opportunities to interact. The si

All I can say is keep up the good work. What do you and your scouts want to get out of the program? Awards? Ranks? Badges? Or is it about learning life skills? Encourage them to pursue Wilderness Survival in addition to Eagle requirements (7 MBs are elective). If your scouts don't like your district Klondike stop going. Find another one. Keep building skills, ranks and awards will come.

You must be doing it wrong. 75% of scouting is outing.

"Normalizing" is not always a good thing.

Not necessarily. I talked to one professional recently, and the implied message was that we need to create a coed pack, and have a girls troop, or no longer get recruiting support from council. Grant you We have had 0 support for over a decade now, so it will not make a difference. Where there is a will, there is a way. I cannot tell how many couples I saw when I was involved in Venturing.

I guess I don't understand the need for "affinity groups" in Scouting. To me, when one joins Scouting, one sheds all of one's other identities. Same when I go to work. In Scouting, I'm whatever position is on my sleeve and an Eagle Scout. I'm not Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, etc. I'm not gay, straight, etc. I'm a male only for YP and bathroom reasons. I'm not Dr. Armymutt, I'm Mr. Armymutt or just Armymutt. When someone holds tightly onto whatever they are outside of Scouting, I question their values and their commitment to Scouting. If the idea of simply following the Scout Law

There is literally no need to change the name. The stated reason is to bring in more people. Tells me that they don't care about the people already in who have been in for years and are totally cool with most of the changes - I'm still annoyed about trashing the Bobcat rank. Sorry, but to me, when an organization changes its name, it loses its history. You can claim it hasn't, but it has. I never met a single girl who didn't join because Cub Scouts was a program under BSA. I have met plenty who didn't join because it was too expensive. I'm not seeing how spending millions of dollars to

"Scouting America" sounds more like the program we are delivering to today's youth, and it is consistent with other WOSM organizations.

Because GSUSA was not meeting their desire for an adventurous program. And their leadership does not want to change. While society does indeed teach there are no differences in roles, psychology and other sciences do show otherwise. Give me until the weekend to get the research collected. Because research from way back, and event to this day, shows that both boys and girls need their own spaces without the opposite gender present to develop. Again, GSUSA has not listened to their base, and have lost many over the years.

I've been pretty supportive of the recent membership changes, but I gotta say - I have some serious reservations about coed troops. Middle school may have been the 3 worst years of my childhood, but Scouting was my refuge at that time. It was nice to go on outings with the boys in my troop without having to worry about impressing anyone. By high school, I was more self-assured and wouldn't have minded participating in a coed troop, but I do worry that we're denying our boys (and girls) a growth opportunity by integrating them at this stage in their development. The march toward school 2.0

I feel like the name change helps remove a distraction, the constant complaining from folks who still felt like the name "Boy Scouts of America" was some kind of mandate that girls not be allowed. Removing the basis of that argument ("Boy" in the main organization name) means there is no argument anymore. It's part of the org name, it's codified into the primary brand identity. It's done, we can (finally) move on from having to defend the contradiction in the name.

Does this mean the BSA has joined with Scouts Mexico and Scouts Canada to form Scouts America? That would be fun. Oh wait, what about South America?

I don’t like it since I feel like it is a distraction. I assume “they” feel like it is “action”, when it really is just a district from the real work. Very disappointing.

Name changes and minor program tweaks won't make a significant impact. I'm seeing a complete collapse of scouting in my area. Multiple Packs ending, others seeing limited growth. Multiple Troops in my area are also near collapse. Summer camps, camporees are losing attendees. The answer from National... A name change? I think the change is fine, but hopefully I hear about their plans to reverse the decline.

What a surprise (not). We conspiracy theorists knew this was the plan all along. Now that the objecting religious sponsors are out of the way, time to make the move.

Dear Scouters, I just wanted to introduce myself and say what a great resource this website is and how excited I am to be a part of it! I am overwhelmed (in a good way) by the amazing resources available about and for Scouting. I was a Scout as a youth decades ago. I achieved the rank of Life Scout, and I was also Senior Patrol Leader. Last year, I volunteered to be my son's den leader, which was my first experience as an adult leader. I have many fond memories as a Scout, and Scouting is one of the main reasons I love the outdoors as an adult. We go camping as a family every year w

Take out point 5, everything else applies when drivers are on their own. Before cell phones, we moved a whole troop of 120 six-hundred-miles and ended up at the destination with in 15-20 minutes. So it works well. Before cell phones, we used radios that had a range of 50 miles. Our trailer broke an axle in Colorado and all other cars knew within minutes. A plan was set to which car would help and which ones would continue to next stop at a safe place for a bunch of scouts. Much better than stopping a whole caravan of cars along side a busy two lane highway. Barry

To acquire Venturers in any significant number, the registration fee will have to be less than the cost of a pizza and a movie. While we’re rumoring, scuttle but says there are co-Ed troops being piloted. But even on an informal basis this is happening. I was manning a station at spring Camporee and saw several patrols of mixed sexes. One or two may have bee ad hoc, but a couple operated well enough that I figured they weren’t segregated OPO.

With respect, I would start with the 4th grade Webelos. I was around in the old 3 year Cub Scout program, when you had 9-12 months to earn both Webelos and AOL and cross over. One year was not enough time to prepare for the differences in programs. When the 18-24 month program came out in the 1990s, it was based upon research, and the training of the time emphasized the differences between the two programs and how Webelos needed to start transition in 4th grade. When the training got updated circa 2009, that information was not emphasized as much as the older training. IMHO separating al

FINALLY ! Our time with Pinewood Derby shows results : : :

Once BSA moved to admit girls, it should have changed the name to reflect its dual membership. Once BSA decided to accept girls' membership dollars, and charge girls the same fees that it charges to boys, it had a duty to make sure the general program experiences and opportunities were similar. That's what a well managed, functional organization would do. If it didn't want girls, and it didn't want their membership numbers and their membership dollars, then it would have made sense to retain the old name and the old perspectives and live with that. But that's not what the organization did, and

I wish it was that simple. Prioritizing my obligations was simple on Monday. 1. Work related that I couldn't blow off or my boss would find out? 2. Scouts. 3. Everything else. Kids had a sports game the same day as a Cub Scout event? No brainer, we'll be camping. I have a hard time being loyal back when an organization is disloyal. I'm just Scottish and German enough to take it personally and say "Screw it" even if I really want to be there.

Just a guess.... GSUSA may well be ok with seeing us rebrand as Scouting America but would consider it a bridge too far if all we do is drop the word girl from their name.

Another random thought, it does explain why Jim Kirk was never a Boy Scout. https://y.yarn.co/193eb197-66ad-4b5c-843a-0519c7779c8b.mp4

Scouts Canada and Scouts UK, they are just called Scouts. Scouts BSA felt redundant to me anyway. I'm not concerned with a name change, nor any administrative hoopla fixes as to whether a girl unit is a troop or if it is just a patrol (or even if mixed patrols are allowed). I am concerned with long-term viability of program, and none of these changes to me are going to solve this. I'd love to share the optimism others are expressing here, but to be quite blunt, we heard all of that when girls were allowed to all programs, and what are the results? My council follows what national has dire

Maybe the kids today lack the hormones we had in the 90s. I can tell you that back then if there was a girl around, a lot of the guys reverted to being inside the high school halls. Everyone was trying to impress the girl at the expense of the other boys if necessary. Going to be some sleepless nights for adults who have to maintain a vigil all night to keep the two groups separated. Going to be interesting when the first Scouts BSA girl in a troop gets pregnant. Going to make this name change thing look like a molehill.

If they plan to make a change, now is the time. I'm tired of the drip, drip, drip of change causing constant controversy. Get it over with at once or never change it for 10+ years. I'm concerned that they will save this change for 2-3 years from now just when people have finally accepted the name change.

Actually I think they were appeasing the simpletons by waiting 5 years to change the name. They could have done this when they opened the program up to girls but they knew that too many peoples' heads would explode if they did the name change at the same time.

Why do we need to be consistent with other WOSM organizations? Educate me. What has WOSM ever done for the BSA?

If girls need girls-only spaces, why did they join the former "Boy" Scouts of America? Like a lot of folks here, Boy Scouts was my refuge in middle school when I could pal around with my friends in the woods not worrying about social pressures from school. It was a gender-segregated program. Imagine my surprise when I got to high school and found there were girls with similar feelings and interests. Not all of the girls, but quite a few. Why did we deny them the opportunity of a program that goes outdoors to teach self-reliance, teamwork, determination, and leadership? Before you say girls hav

It's like the Army changing the name of Ft. Hood to Ft. Cavasos. Guess what, nothing else changed and it is still a terrible, depressing place. Frankly, this sounds like some staffer getting a bullet on an evaluation. Someone recently went through and changed the names of several organizations in the Army. Nothing else changed and we're still not getting recruits.

Scouting America is going to be just fine, as long as everyone is indeed welcome so that we do live our timeless values.

Nothing new, only that maybe they are finally listening. But trial is not really needed in my view, as it is obviously the best option for small units already, allowing them to officially do it. We all are aware it is already a silent choice for many.

Now that the rebrand notification is dropping, there are other changes that will begin to be announced. One came from the NAM. As of September 1st, there will officially be a pilot for a "combined troop" option.

It seems dumb. Our girl troop had flourished with 22 Scouts at its max. We have ebbed down to 12 between this year and last. It wasn’t because of BSA. Maybe if they really moved from Boy Scouts of America to nearly 100% use if BSA they could get “there” without as much turmoil. Seems like a waste of resources. So, does this mean Scouts BSA just becomes Scouts? Again, turmoil that we already went through. Is the juice worth the squeeze? No.

Convoys,,,,, Every driver MUST have the good directions. I marched in the Purdue Band 1966-1970. When we went to away games, it was a military operation. Ten or more busses, two or three trucks, a couple of private cars.... The student corps (I was a "supply sargent" , helped load and arrange stuff) listed, ordered, spoke to the drivers, and answered to the faculty staff. No cells, some radios, paper maps, memoes, lists of people and gear. Even a Troop of a half dozen cars/vans/ trailers, 35 people, needs knowledge, organization, cooperation, understandings. Convoys are

And, for the history buffs, see page 49 in the attachment, right side, #10. 2007 Printing, BSAGuideToSafeScouting.pdf

I’ll go one further: integrating the local community is the only way forward. There are hundreds of ways to do this. Waiting for National’s next marketing campaign is the least effective.