eagle1977

Scoutfish, I don't think anyone here is remotely suggesting anything of the sort. You seem to be reading into this. As I have stated, along with others, this process is the culmination of the Scouting advancement ladder. The Scouting organization as a whole has placed a certain and specific value on the concept of being an Eagle Scout. I simply think that the mentoring process should include providing the Scout with all the tools required to put his best foot forward and present himself in a literate and appropriate light. I did not say the mentor, SM, parent, or anyone else should rewrit

If the goal of Scouting is assist a young man to become the most productive, well-rounded member of society that he can be then why would we stand back at the this point of his Scouting career and not give him the proper tools to effectively succeed? If we are going to project to the rest of our own organization and the rest of society that this young man represents the crme of the crop why would we as mentors allow him to submit a poorly worded or misspelled application? I am not saying that we should redo the application for him or edit it so that it becomes the work of someone other

I miss Bob White! But other than that I think this forum is among the best I have ever participated in. Mods keep up the good work!

How about this: "The atheists... maintain that a religion that has to be learnt from books written by men cannot be a true one. But they don't seem to see that besides printed books... God has given us as one step the great Book of Nature to read; and they cannot say that there is untruth there - the facts stand before them... I do not suggest Nature Study as a form of worship or as a substitute for religion, but I advocate the understanding of Nature as a step, in certain cases, towards gaining religion" (Rovering to Success, Robert Baden-Powell, 1930, p. 181).

Skipper, not to be a drudge or anything but you said "I only earned 2 MBs after Eagle, enough for Bronze and Gold Palms." Doesn't it take 5 additional merit badges and three months active time in a patrol to earn a palm? That was what I had to do to earn mine. I am just asking.

The report I saw on Fox also pointed out that one was studying to be a Mormon minister. I thought the lead in about the Boy Scout angle was a little titillating and sort of relieved when they included the additional religion angle. But not at all happy about the cruelty of the nature of the crime. So sad that teens are driven to such deprived behavior.

Barry, From the Nobel site: "The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2002 to Jimmy Carter, for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development." http://tiny.cc/1he0F It goes on to describe Carter's continuing efforts to peace and human rights over the twenty years after he created the Carter Center as the main reason for their consideration in awarding the medal to him.

Our Troop of boys returned this Sunday from a very enjoyable weekend after attending Jimmie Dyess Days 2009 at Fort Gordon, Augusta, GA. What a wonderful experience. My hat is off to the many Scouts, Scouters, members of all branches of our Military, Emergency Personnel, dining facility staff and all other volunteers that pulled together to make this amazing event a success. More than 3000 Scouts of all sizes and organizations were on hand to learn about citizenship, the call to service, and selfless sacrifice that encompassed the life of Jimmie Dyess (the only American to ever be awarded th

Our council is involved in a special all Scout activity weekend this week for a reasonable cost $37.00 per person at a nearby park. Here is a copy of the flier: http://tinyurl.com/kvh4qd. Our troop has decided to participate. We will see how it goes.(This message has been edited by eagle1977)

My Scoutmaster's name was George and we all referred to him respectfully as George. He was our mentor and our friend. I hail from a small dysfunctional troop that developed into a functional troop through George's watchful hands-off approach. He allowed the boys to learn and fail, lead and stumble, follow and grow. We had one Assistant and we referred to him by his first name as well, Sam. Maybe it was a different era or something else, but at the end of the 70's in central PA it seemed that things were a little looser when it came to names and addressing adults. Today, the boys in

Alright, I guess my response might sound a little silly but here goes. DR77 has some very reasonable points regarding blending boys and girls. I have served in the military and I understand his points. However, this has already been addressed by the Venturing program and that begins at 14. Why can't we simply allow kids to continue to mature separately until they are better prepared to mix. School districts throughout the country are exploring single gender schooling options through middle school because research shows kids learn better without gender related distractions. If the pro

As a brief aside, in 1980 I was a young political science major at Penn State seeking knowledge of all thing political I decided to run as a delegate to the Democratic Convention. I sought out the advice of my mentor and he advised me to hitch my rope to the star of President Jimmy Carter if I wanted to go to New York and witness the convention. So there I was the second youngest elected delegate (by something like two weeks) to the 1980 Democratic Presidential Convention. What a wonderful experience. Talk about citizenship in the nation!

I have to agree with DR77. This is like all the Eagles that complain that President X or Y signed their card because they don't agree with their politics. Get over it. The accomplishment of earning the rank does not rest in the wallet card, rather, it rests in the life experience which hopefully you do not attempt o carry around in your wallet. I was never aware of a wallet card. I earned my Eagle in 1977 (which means my certificate was signed by President Jimmy Carter, oh woe is me!) Yet it was not until I returned to Scouting last year that I ever got a wallet card (signed by Presi

I have decided to edit my profile and remove the reference to my military experience because it is not germane to this forum. It is only a small part of who I am and I do not need anyone making decision about me based upon their reflections of veterans or non-veterans. Between 2-and 5% or something like that attain the rank of Eagle in Scouting. First Class has always been the stated goal of Baden-Powell and BSA. I would never willingly assist Bob White (who has seemingly disappeared from this forum) but your idea is simply elitist at best. If only the fewest of the few already earn t

Troy, our troop ran across a young man this summer, while we were camping out of council, who was proudly and very incorrectly, wearing 2 merit badge sashes festooned with 98 merit badges. This 13 year old Eagle Scout was very proud of himself for his accomplishments; yet he never presented himself in a proper Scout uniform throughout the entire week of camp. After some investigation it was determined that prior to joining his current troop he was a "Lone Scout" for the first two years. Now it would be beneath me as a fellow Eagle Scout to doubt the veracity of this young man's s

At least this is an item that is for sale by BSA. How long will it be allowed to be worn on the uniform?

"Also what about the YOUTH who are going through the course, shouldn't they receive something special besides a temp patch?" Are they not getting training from this experience? Is that not the purpose of the whole event in the first place? Should they not be carrying that back to their respective troops with them to share with their fellow Scouts? There is entirely too much emphasis placed on the awarding of "beads", "smokey bear hats" or "whatever" to set one person apart from others in the BSA. Scouting should be a classless organization of brother Scouts (or Arrowmen, or Vent

Perhaps we could look at this from another angle. I am the youngest of five boys in my family and the only one that attained Eagle Scout. My father was an active Scouter for most of his life. While my earning Eagle was my accomplishment and the letters and declarations I received from our state representative were rightfully meant for me; maybe, just maybe, they were also a recognition of the example my father set for me and the mentoring he provided to help me achieve my goal. Life and Scouting is a shared journey.

I certainly remember this 13th point from my days as a Northern Scout in the '70s. Funny thing is nobody here in the South seems to remember that at all!

The simple problem here revolves around the Scout law. There is no ambiguity surrounding those 12 points., They are the things that we should as as adults as youth be striving to achieve. I am struggling, mightily, to figure where the ingestion of urine, or the mere suggestion of the same meets any of the points of the law. Aren't we supposed to be mentoring our boys that the Scout Oath and Law are the tenets that they should be measuring their lives by? These decisions should be ingrained in their thought processes (you know whether or not someone is looking) so that they are just second

xlpanel, I get the concept of devil's advocate but let's not stray too far from the root problem here. Body spray can and will wash off. Urine by its very nature is human waste and while it too will wash off the effect will be far longer lasting! This was not a prank, this was a willful attempt to terrorize this young man and put him "in his place". The four individuals that decided to dole out his punishment did not live up to any of the basic tenets of Boy Scouting (you remember those don't you the Scout Oath and Law?). They all need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of th

Lisabob you said: "As for the super soaker thing. Dean, I'm sorry you appear to have over-zealous people running your council's cub events, but this really is a matter of interpretation and not clear BSA national policy. Unlike laser & paintball, there is no mention of super soakers in the G2SS language. While I suppose it could be interpreted that way, in reality, a super soaker bears so little resemblance to a "fire arm" that I also think it could very easily be argued that the ban on simulated firearms does not include tubes of water being sprayed at each other." I think tha

I think we as adult leaders should be in the position of educating the scouts by setting the proper example. No electronics should be no electronics for everyone. However, I am not naive enough to think that is possible. There are reasons for some Scouters to be connected back to the real world because of jobs and other possible emergencies. However, these adults should be respectful enough of the program to step aside and conduct their business quietly. Eagle732 couldn't the same warning have been accomplished with the use of a two-way radio? This would limit the communication to th

I have to agree that this is a deplorable idea. I am not a fan of the merit badge university concept either. I was thinking the other day that, with the exception of the Klondike Derby, our council does not have any real, meaningful competition among the troops. When I was coming up (back in the dark ages!) we had quarterly competitions at the district level. They were usually held on a Saturday at a gym or some other public building, not always at camp in other words, and there would be a patch for all participants, a trophy of some sort, and a streamer for the Troop flag for the top thre

Our council is between camps right now. We recently sold our camp to a developer and have been in the process of locating a suitable replacement site for a time. They have recently selected a site and are in the process of due diligence now. This quote is from our 5 year strategic plan: "Recommend a minimum of $9 million be raised to build a complete Scout resident camp. This does not include the site itself, a separate Cub Scout facility or facilities for activities beyond Scouting. It is the strong recommendation that no capital expenses be incurred until the money is in the ba