EmberMike

I went to college 1998-2002 and did plenty of camping in those years. But always with non-scout friends, and any scouts I knew who I camped with were from back home, not college area. I just think it would have been cool to connect with other scouts on campus. No one needs organization to go camping, for sure. I was thinking more like there are clubs, fraternities, etc., maybe there could be something on campus that brings scouts together. It doesn't seem like such a crazy idea to me. There's already NESA, but that's pretty broad being at the national level. Why not a University Scouting

Who said he was "lucky"? Neither I nor @@ghjim (both of us suggested maybe Trump didn't/doesn't really want the job) said anything about luck or attempted to take anything away from his win. For my part, I was referring to Trump's own words, that he liked his previous life better. Why does everything have to be interpreted as a jab at the guy?

Good to hear he's keeping the eye and the duct. Not that it makes as much of a difference now, but doesn't the duct act as a drain? I definitely could be wrong about this, but I thought the eye gets moisture elsehere, the duct only serves to carry tears away from the eye to the nasal passages. As far as I know, lack of a tear duct wouldn't negtively impact eye moisturization.

I was thinking more along the lines of filling the gap between 18 and when people come back to scouting with their own kids. And it doesn' thave to be a program. I'm actually opposed to adult programs that might take away resources and/or focus from the youth program. Just brainstorming something that mght help keep young guys involved in some way, or at least keep them active in the ideals of scouting even after they're no longer going through the youth component of the program. Again, maybe this already exists and I just never took advantage of it. Not sure if the BSA already tries to a

There should be something there. Maybe there is and I just don't know about it. I always wished that I didn't take a long break from scouting when I went away to college and in the years afterward. I guess I could have just looked up a local troop near campus, but my priorities in my early years at college weren't exactly in line with the virtues of scouting. But what might have gotten me back in the fold is some sort of campus scouting initiative or a program focused on the 18-to-20-something age group. Not sure if it was just my troop or if it's a more widespread problem but I kind of f

When people talk about whether or not Trump will still be president at any time in the future, the assumption doesn't have to be one of "something bad happening to the president" to end his time in office. It's not unreasonable to think that Trump might not be permitted to remain in office for some reason or another. Seemingly every week lately there is some big new scandal, some of them bordering on the kinds of things that could almost get someone impeached. I'm also personally of the opinion that he may not even want to finish out a term in office or seek a 2nd term. Not a popular opin

Then why bring it up, bro?

I would think that caravanning would be less necessary these days. Everyone has GPS, in the car and on their phone, so getting lost really isn't as much of an issue anymore. I'd prefer to have everyone go at their own safe pace and driving style and get there in one piece. Random side-story: When I was a kid, I remember our ASM freaking out on another leader when we got back home from a trip for not staying with the caravan in the proper order of vehicles. He got in the guy's face and screamed something about ripping his face off and feeding it to his dog. This all took place in front of

He also mentioned in a WSJ interview that he got a standign ovation. The audience stood for him the whole time. Even through there are no seats there.

So I should expect to get called out if I just say "Eagle" because it doesn't align with the charter language? Is that it? Really, I don't know if this is a joke or what. Surely I'm not the first person around here to just say "Eagle" in a post.

World Jambo is in a couple of years. What's the protocol for those in terms of presidential invites? Think Trump will be asked to speak?

Is it against the rules around here to abbreviate the rank name?

There is no way they'd do that. Part of Surbaugh's presentation about this referenced the drop in similar organizations, including GSUSA. Why would they reference another grout that is experiencing the same membership decline, and then modify themselves to be more like that same organization? The whole point of this plan is to not be like those other organizations and change the trajectory of the BSA. I'll admit I don't always get why National does some of the things they do. But there's no way they'd do this one. Never happen. If there's anything that could pretty much be universally ackn

So being mostly single-gender is the BSA's "unique flavor"? I guess I've been wrong all these years, because I thought the unique flavor of the BSA was leadership development, outdoor skills, community service, adventure, character development, Eagle, etc...

Fair point, but in the particular case I mentioned I think it could have been a different story. Wanting to help is great, but people wanting to just have a scouting experience for themselves as adults when you're trying to get a new unit off the ground is just more work for leadership. I don't know if it would have even come up, but if it had, I would have definitely been at least a little annoyed to have to deal with any adults just hanging around to relive their childhood.

That's not infringement of free speech. Not being invited somewhere doesn't violate anyone's rights. The BSA chooses whoever they want to speak at events. It's customary to invite the current President, but it's their right to not invite him or anyone else.

I'm misunderstanding something here. You're saying that what these leaders do matters more than what they say, but you mentioned how memorable they are because of what they said. Do you think Trump will or won't be remembered by his words over his actions?

You're absolutely right, the proper thing to do with you have issues with someone is to discuss it with them face to face. That's what Trump himself would do, right? He'd never do something like, for example, tweet attacks and name-calling at people he has issues with. Right?

There's another adult scouting program, part of the BPSA. They use Baden-Powell's model of the Rover concept for adult scouters and leaders with no upper age limit for membership. Within the context of a youth scouting program, personally I don't think I'd have the time or patience for that. Several years ago I considered setting up a local BPSA group. I abandoned that idea, but I always thought that if I did it I'd probably turn away any adult who wanted to join without their own kids. There's already enough work to do without needing to be concerned with an adult who wants to relive the

Surbaugh has issued another statement: http://scoutingwire.org/chief-perspective-presidential-visit/ Here's a bit of it:

It's heartbreaking to hear about something like this. Sympathies to the family and friends, and the scout's troop.

Equally amusing are the folks who, again after just 7 months, declare him the greatest president ever. Or had crowned him "the greatest" before he even took the oath.

Sure, a decade sounds about right. Because like I said previously, I think the effect of these changes will be seen as part of a series of actions taken by the BSA, not individually. I think it's short-sighted to only look at the immediate effects of this. Fortunately I don't think the BSA is being short-sighted. They knew they wouldn't seen a big bump in membership from the policy changes. They're more concerned with the cumulative effect of changing a public perception of the organization that it's discriminatory, out-dated, out of touch with modern society, etc. In the program, they've

I answered that in the post you responded to. Just to clarify, by your comment about "the strike counts as soon as the swing is made" it sounds like you deemed these policy changes as failures before they even had an chance to have any effect at all on the organization. Is that accurate?

To be fair, not a lot of time has passed since the transgender policy change, and I'm going to guess that large corporate donations wouldn't resume with a snap of the fingers once policy changed. UPS was one of the companies that stopped donations, but they resumed them to local units that showed compatibility with their own non-discrimination policies. I've seen/heard no news about this recently, but I suspect the BSA is in the process of going back to UPS and others to say "Hey, we changed. Can we talk about those donations now?" As someone who was in favor of both the gay member policy