Yak_Herder

The BSA expended a fair amount of energy in its early years establishing themselves as "THE" Boy Scouts of America. No one "owned" the concept of Scouting and Troops were springing up spontaneously all over the place. The Scouting movement caught on in Utah with some vigor. Young Men in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (The Mormons) already had a youth organization called the "Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association" (YMMIA) that provided educational, cultural and athletic program. Scouting was added to it and "MIA Scouting" began about the same time the Boy Scouts o

First, the manual is being reworked by "guys in the field". It will improve. At the very least it will be organized better. Second, Venturing cannot be fully understood without a knowledge of the conditions that stimulated the development of Sea Scouting. Furthermore, there is a need to understand the evolution from Explorer Scouting to Explorers and then Exploring. Venturing's "center" is a modern version of Explorer Scouting (high adventure outdoor program) with updated twists. There's a reason Ranger stands out like it does. The other areas are catching up. Third, Nation

NOT wearing knots is a lot of fun. Like many of you, I have a knot filled unifrom that mostly stays in the closet and the plain one I wear most of the time. I really enjoy being underestimated. You either have "it" or you don't. The vast majority of Scouters I meet recognize "it" without visual clues. I find that period between first meeting and discovery to be highly enjoyable. Another thought, and please pardon the analogy if it offends... If a man ever wonders what a woman must feel like after being "scanned" when meeting a man, consider the parallel to a knot display. I

Are you guys actually going to stand on the argument that no change should be made simply because it wouldn't make everybody happy? Nonsense. You do what's right because it's right.

A world view is helpful in this discussion. Other souting organizations are doing exactly what the originator of this thread is suggesting. It isn't producing the desired result. The evidence suggests it was a bad move. The BSA uniform is fine. In addition to the program, the merit badges, the activities, the oath and law, the uniform is also Scouting. If wearing the uniform and being identified with the BSA and what it stands for is a turn-off, best to just keep on moving down the road to another organization. That is not to say that the uniform is perfect. Prices could be bet

I wrote this proposal regarding Venture Patrols some time ago. The ideas discussed are being tested in several councils as we speak. At the risk of further muddying the distinctions between a VenturE Patrol and VenturING Crew (something that is not at all clear in this thread), I offer it to you for your benefit. The Venture Patrol The Venture Patrol is a little known but highly effective option for Scouters wishing to better address the needs and interests of the older Scouts within the Troop. With so many Senior Scouting options available, why would you want to consider imple

I once heard someone say there is only one article of official uniforming that is no longer acceptable to wear: the red beret. The claim that was made went like this: The red beret was deemed a safety issue because of the possible confusion with the Guardian Angels. Anyone have anything in writing that would support that?

I was a Scout when the red beret was introduced. At first I thought it was cool, then reality set in. One problem was the badge placement in the front. Even at my young age I knew that the badge should be off center and the beret sloped. The BSA designed theirs with the badge on center. It bugged me. Wearing the beret "even", rather than spilled off to one side just looked dorky. Another thing was the badge. Why didn't they make an allowance for rank pins to be worn up there rather than that gold flor de lis? Finally, that terrible band around the edge. Mine cracked short

So, what are you saying, a study of history has no value? That's a tough position to defend. Or do you mean that today's Scouting program is full and complete, that it is the be-all-end-all, the very paragon of Scouting perfection? That would be a tough one, was well. Some of the better aspects of today's Venturing program were gleaned from its predecessors. It's a good thing someone was aware of them. Part of knowing today's program is understanding it's roots. Being stuck in the past is no virtue, but neither is being ignorant of it.

Are understanding the mistakes of the past and delivering the program today mutually exclusive propositions?

I don't think the Venturers care about the history nor do they necessarily need to. The Adult Leaders, however, would benefit from knowing the background. There are a number of lessons to be learned from Senior Scouting's various iterations. Without an awareness of what has gone before, the mistakes of the past reappear. As Leaders, we should be smarter than that.

Herber? LOL I don't want to dampen your spirits or stifle your efforts. I love aviation. I love Scouting. Nothing would please me more than to see Air Scouting take off once again (pun intended). But it ain't simple and as you noted, it isn't cheap. From the Guide to Safe Scouting- "Aircraft Air travel is permitted as follows: 1. On any flight scheduled by a commercial airline. 2. The BSA Flight Permit, No. 19-672 (see sample in appendix), is required for all BSA flying activities except for commercial flights. The local council reviews and approves th

Two significant factors came together in the creation of Venturing. First, a lawsuit in Chicago over community funded Exploring. The BSA was going to lose. Second, good men at National like Bill Evans saw the way Exploring had drifted away from the original, more effective program and wanted to re-introduce much of what was good about it. Rather than the usual 2-year development cycle and 5-year testing, they had to move quickly. They seem to have simply done a search and replace, pasting in "Venturing" everywhere the literature said "Exploring". Much of Bill's influence can

Michael Brown's site is the best I've seen on the subject. I have a "Reader's Digest Condensed Version" that I'll send to you if you are interested.

There is a big problem that has to be faced. Liability. You can have all the uniform, recognition and literature developed you want, but the thing that will stop you (and did stop it originally) are the restrictions on the ability to go DO IT! Exploring worked and Venturing works because you could actually go hiking, camping, backpacking, canoeing, rappeling, and everything else outdoors (or whatever). Likewise, Sea Scouting works because you can actually go sailing or motorboating. Having proven successful on the land and sea, why doesn't the program have an air compo