HICO_Eagle

The IVFs were created in a time when Scouting could effectively deny a volunteer application without causing a stir while openly stating they suspected someone of sexual abuse or homosexuality could have wrecked lives -- many of them innocent. I'm a single male (never found Ms. Right and put too much time into work and Scouting) who simply wanted to give back to a program that I got a lot out of as a youth -- I'm willing to bet someone somewhere "wondered" about me at times and that could have been a career wrecker. The context of Scouting is precisely what made it attractive to predator

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Did you mean Robert Gates? He was a terrible DCI, worse SECDEF, and absolutely horrible President of Scouting. I'm not surprised he delivered this bit of shinola. Technically, he may be correct in that National owns the intellectual property of handbooks, uniforms, symbols, etc. and probably the loyalty of most of the SEs but it sure would be heartening for some of the LC boards to at least investigate their options in adhering to Scouting's ultimate purpose by separating from the disastrous decisions that have been coming out of Irving, TX for the past decade or two. My impression is that

When I first learned about the Ineligible Volunteer Files in the 1990s, I was given to understand that the cases of perversion were ones that Scouting couldn't prove (i.e., didn't go to trial) but that the local councils wanted to track to keep the alleged predator away from the boys. Cases that could be proven were supposedly referred to law enforcement. I understand that some people, wanting to avoid negative publicity, may have used the files as an alternative to pursuing prosecution. That was clearly wrong but it still hurts my head that something that was created as a tool for prev

I guess I've got a little different perspective. I saw little value in OA when I was a Scout in the late 70s/early 80s (Aloha Council). OA elections seemed to be a longevity or popularity award, in part because the new Scouts really didn't know who to vote for. The "Arrowmen" I saw were not necessarily the best at Scoutcraft and it was never the "Special Forces" of Scouting from what I could see. For that reason, I pulled my name from consideration as a Scout because I didn't want to take votes away from someone who did want to join the Lodge (I still seemed to get write-ins anyway). I a

Bear in mind that many of the individuals causing the most harm and responsible for the most damage are people who will actively evade the protections put in place: in the past, now, and in the future. The US Department of Defense and intelligence community spend tens of millions of dollars per year to find and protect against bad actors and they still have ongoing problems. The FAA and NTSB have extensive programs for protecting air travel against defects in design, manufacturing, and maintenance but none of their programs will do anything against the pilot who intentionally dives the a

I don't blame you at all but when you do move, you will be accomplishing exactly what the individuals and organizations who've been trying to destroy Scouting for decades want. Make no mistake -- some parties in these lawsuits are in it for justice, some are in it for revenge, some are in it for the money, and some are in it simply to destroy a pillar of traditional American culture and society. That last segment has been trying to destroy churches, Scouting, the military, law enforcement, etc. for decades and use any convenient avenue they can find. This doesn't diminish the very real hurt

I resigned from the Alumni Interview program in 2018, maybe 2017, due to increasingly regressive "woke" statements from the university in general and the Admissions Office in particular. I didn't just talk with interviewers, I was an interviewer and listened to the Admissions Office and looked at the matriculation rates of the applicants I personally interviewed. If youth are looking at the program as I did, as a path to gaining experiences, skills, and self-confidence, they should by all means continue with it or whatever program succeeds it. My point is that the value of the Eagle bra

I was an interviewer for an Ivy League university. From listening to the PC speak from the Admissions Office (not just professors who aren't part of the admissions process) to looking at the matriculation rate of applicants I interviewed, I'm pretty confident that Eagle rank is no longer a benefit and may in fact be a detriment in applying to these self-ascribed elite universities. It's one of the reasons I quit being an alumni interviewer.

IMO, the Eagle brand took a huge hit a long time ago for a variety of reasons. PC culture in elite colleges appeared to be using it as a strike against instead of for the applicants. Standards seemed to be lowered in merit badges, projects, etc. in order to increase the success rate. I personally would still be inclined to give an Eagle Scout the chance to prove him/herself to me even with otherwise marginal qualifications but that's just me and it's honestly a bit of sentiment. Outside forces have been attacking and attempting to dismember Scouting for their own reasons but I felt

At least the councils have the excuse of being broke. I've long had the opinion that the only thing National sees is money, hence needless changes like uniform changes that seem designed to just make boys spend money (like changing green to red), program changes that didn't improve the programs but made boys and units have to buy new MB pamphlets or fill out more paperwork (but hey, someone's ego got the boost of making major changes). Robert Gates showed just what he thought about local unit or even council autonomy when he decided to change membership rules without any discussion and i

FWIW, two deep was not required in the late 70s/early 80s when I was a Scout. Our troop went to summer camp with just one adult, the SM, at check in and in fact the SM was off-camp most of the week. We (the boys) in fact knew that was illicit but wouldn't have been able to go to camp had we not participated in the scheme because we had no other options. No other adult signed up to go with us and the SM (who didn't even have a boy in the troop) had a shop to run. The rules in the Aloha Council at the time required one adult, period. It absolutely was a thing by the time I joined a troo

I sort of went through this topic about YPT not being effective when the wife of one of my cousins claimed Boy Scouts has fostered a rape culture. The fact of the matter is that youth groups are viewed as target rich environments by sexual predators. It's not a lot different from the cases of men preying on teenage girls in high school athletic teams. These predators are not going to pay attention to guidelines in YPT. What YPT does help with is awareness so NON-predators can avoid situations that might look bad.

I am not a doctor but I am an engineer and used to dealing with tests and data analysis. I took the flu vaccine every year when I was on active duty because I was required to. I probably caught the flu every 2 or 3 years despite that. When I retired over 10 years ago, I stopped taking the flu vaccine because I'd read how it's created and was appalled -- haven't had the flu since. My clinic asks me about it every year and every year I tell them I'd be happy to take it if someone has a study showing it's more effective now. I intend to take the CV-19 vaccine when offered but there are v

My mother, sister, and 2 nephews all received the Pfizer vaccine with no ill effects. My brother-in-law was laid low for a day or two after each shot. The brother-in-law is probably the fittest person in the family (he's a physical therapist and physical conditioning counselor by trade) with about 3% body fat but the vaccine just hammered him.

Congratulations. Glad to hear the young men chose to recognize you.

You must be much older than me. We were able to work on T-2-1 requirements simultaneously in 1978. What you COULDN'T do was earn Second Class before achieving Tenderfoot or First Class before achieving Tenderfoot. While I keep an open mind that SOME 12 year old might be mature enough with natural leadership abilities and work hard enough to get Eagle in 2 years, it would be extremely rare and I am rather skeptical about earning 71 merit badges in 2 years.

The troops I've been involved in have always been small and therefore always ran on the cash model for activities anyway. Our charter organizations provided a place to meet and (sometimes) to store equipment but that was about it so the new model would work for those troops (if they still exist). Liability insurance is the real kicker. I would not trust Council with my unit's money (if it had any worth speaking of) and I *like* my local Council. I've just seen too many broken promises and shenanigans as execs and directors change out. I wonder if a trust arrangement could be made to spon

Extremely disturbing and disappointing. I have been going through extended discussions with the wife of one of my cousins who accused BSA of having a "rape culture" and homophobia. Nothing but redirects when I pointed out the assaults over the years were almost exclusively man-on-boy. I just *love* discussing these things with people who think 2+2=9 because that's what they've been told in the newspaper, on TV, on Facebook, etc.

As I recall, the consensus of the longtime Scouters I knew was that it was a MB that didn't do any harm, might help some Scouts, but that it was ridiculous for it to be Eagle-required. This DI&E MB is Maoist or Stalinist indoctrination IMO -- utterly ridiculous. Citizenship in the Community could have had a few requirements added to address an expanded view of "community" but creating a whole new MB -- much less making it Eagle-required -- is more social justice nonsense from the folks in Irving that have been destroying Scouting from within for the last decade or two.

I understand your friend not wanting to donate the land unencumbered. I've seen too many shenanigans at the council level trying to get around encumbrances in order to turn land donations into cash even when the land donation paid for itself in terms of cash flow (i.e. program fees to use the land were enough to pay taxes, utilities, fees, and improvements). An enduring trust that gives your local unit first right of refusal to use the land for activities or something like that might be the way to go but it does require finding a trustee willing to do all of the work.

FWIW, Pikes Peak Council incorporated knife and axe throwing into its annual Shootaramas 4 years ago or so.

There have always been girls who have been interested in the same things as boys. We used to call them tom-boys. BSA's insistence on staying focused on single-sex operations was not to deny these girls outdoor experiences. It was because there weren't enough of them to justify taking on the additional costs and logistical burdens of incorporating them into the program. A lot of camps were built with little to no privacy in hygienic facilities. I remember the back-to-back latrines at Black Mountain Camp down in Philmont -- being back-to-back was the only privacy you got. The more vari

As with many class action torts, the lawyers are incentivized to get (or create) as many presumed victims as possible. Some of the abuse was real but how many of the supposed 90,000 cases are mixing things like teasing by other boys in group showers with pedophile cases? How many of them are a result of the lawyers getting the now-men to attribute their current problems to "abuse"? If the count vastly exceeds the so-called secret files (at least some of which were unproveable and maybe even innocent people), just what were BSA or the adukts involved supposed to do with cases they didn't eve

I'm going to disagree with the premise that the fact the brain is still growing means they don't have the physical structures necessary to start thinking like adults. If we want youth to start thinking like adults, we have to start treating them like adults. Yes, you make allowances for their age and inexperience but you don't coddle them. They aren't infants. Heck, the term "young adult" USED to refer to this particular age group (as opposed to 18-25 year olds) -- and I think still does in the book publishing world. One of the reasons I said that the skills needed in years