gblotter

I stand corrected. I am happy for the successes of UK Scouting.

By obey, I guess you mean that you did not quit BSA over the issue? That certainly does not scream unity.

Actually, yes. My son attended National Jamboree last year, but he is avoiding the upcoming World Jamboree despite recruitment efforts from our council. The flavor of the two events is significantly different (only partly because of girls).

More accurately, the UK is recovering after dramatic membership losses. Nowhere near previous membership levels. Yes, you can.

And if you don't support the DRP, are you still worthy to wear the World Crest? What about unity and brotherhood?

If your desire is to strip me of the World Crest for supporting single-gender Scouting, you will get your wish soon enough. 2018 will be my last year as a registered Scouter. After BSA is rid of folks like me, there will be no obstacles for your utopia of unity.

This is exactly what I see happening. If you want a to maintain a single-gender boy troop, the available program options for summer camp, camporee, merit badge midways, etc will just push you aside. The girls will prevail and the boys will walk. That is essentially what happened with coed Scouting in Canada. Scouts Canada is now primarily a girl movement and just a shadow of its former self after dramatic membership losses.

So if I don't embrace coed camping, I am unworthy to wear the World Crest? Please clarify.

So in other words, the whole BSA4G structure is unworkable. I agree that BSA4G is a very bad idea, and I have opposed it from the beginning.

I wouldn't want our boys sharing merit badge classes, evening campfires, flag ceremonies, or dining hall times with girl troops. I seek to continue the same summer camp experience our boys have enjoyed before these announcements.

Correct. It's not the same.

I won’t try to speak for the LDS church, but for this LDS Scoutmaster the red line is I won’t take my troop to a co-ed BSA summer camp.

LDS already has rules against co-ed camping for youth activities. I doubt an exception will be made to allow co-ed summer camps for LDS Scout troops. If BSA summer camps go co-ed, that could spell the end of LDS Scouting IMHO.

We do this already. Two small LDS troops share one committee. The troops meet separately, have separate SMs and ASMs, separate youth structures, separate weekly troop meetings, separate campouts, separate summer camps. The goal is not to run a combined Scouting program for the two troops - we simply want to cut down on the administrative overhead by joining forces for staffing adult positions on the committee. It works (mostly).

Now I have a definitive date to plan my exit from Scouting.

Our Scouts decide who they want to tent with, whether they tent alone or together, and even if they want to have a "party tent" with a larger number of boys. Just another step down the path to being a boy-led troop.

Toxic is too strong a word. Casual or uncommitted is a better adjective.

This 16 year-old Scout has the maturity. He could perform well as Troop Guide if he is willing to apply himself. Last night he accepted the TG POR with specific tasks and milestones. He is good at telling people what they want to hear. We’ll see how he actually performs.

You have grasped the situation well. And you mirror my thoughts on this. It is a fine line. Support the boy, but still require genuine efforts from him so that whatever outcome has meaning in the end.

It’s a great look - I agree. Wonder if my SPL would go for it.

That’s a good one. National does not care what I or anyone else thinks about this topic. Why would they suddenly start now? They will ram through whatever stupid decision they come up with, and then claim everyone is asking for this and they are just responding to popular demand. They will lie and manipulate as they always have.

Those garrison hats are sized incredibly small. Even our youngest Scouts wear a size large. Folks in this century just have bigger skulls.

@The Latin Scot If you want to make the event special for your young friend, may I suggest that you pull out your Eagle Scout medal and wear it to his court of honor. I did that for the first time last month. There are so few occasions where wearing your medal would be appropriate, but that is one of them.

Quality is not binary. You ask me to paint your house. I can slap one coat on there in an afternoon without any prep work, leaving splatters and drips everywhere. Or I can take several days to power wash, scrape, fill, sand, tape, prime, plus two top coats.

Yes - this boy has remained on the troop roster, but he has rarely meetings or activities. He does get a signed blue card from me for merit badge work. As I said, he does the minimum required.