BulldogBlitz

i think i remember a different rule when i was in the program in the mid 80s. POR was defined as something of substance, like SPL or ASPL. Chaplain's Aide, Library, etc. where little or no leadership actually occurs were not valid positions for a Life to use as credit toward Eagle. For First Class, Star, and Life the positions could be of the non-leadership end of the spectrum. Life (not the rank) is full of choices, and if someone has decided that band, football, job at Dairy Queen is more important, then so be it.

isn't america fun? an admittedly small portion of people request catering to their special needs to the detriment of the whole. whose rights are more important? your right to live "progressively" or someone else's right to remain in the status quo?

i am in the market for a completely new uniform. the last one i wore was 100 pounds ago - hehe. i will go to the local scout store and look at what is there. If they have the old one, it fits right, and is discounted -- i'll buy it. if the new one is there and it fits -- i'll consider buying it instead of the older one. as my wife likes to point out, i get value out of all my clothes and shoes. i'll wear it until there is a publicly visible hole. :^O

"Boy Scouts cannot carry and use zippo lighters. " The only ones which are prohibited are the left handed version of zippos.

i had 6 years of summer camp (that 7th was the pinnacle for me with philmont trail crew). 5 of those years were at the council camp. my first summer camp (also at council) was rough. i remember it well. the next year our leaders said "we'll go elsewhere". we did. i wondered why. i didn't understand it. i do now, but didn't then. i had fun at both camps. we returned to council camp. things had changed (which i see was the reason). the long and short of it, as a boy, it didn't matter to me that i wasn't getting 5 merit badges. i was having fun. i was being a boy, period. then agai

i'll add a couple of late cents to this discussion. i'm an environmental engineer. fourteen years of my fifteen year career have been spent as a consultant to refineries and chemical plants (as of last year, i stepped out of consulting and directly into a plant opting away from travel). i've been interested (as we all) in the price of oil and how fast gas shoots up. This is a multi-tiered problem, and finger pointing goes all the way around (as always). The price of crude jumps $1. The corner gas station (which I am in sight of right now), starts the day at $3.859. The market opens,

"It talked about how engineers invented the lawn mower. Then the self-propelled lawn mower. Then a riding lawn mower. Then a riding lawn mower with a canopy. Lo and behold, engineers then invented treadmills and tanning salons because people we not getting enough exercise nor sunlight. The net effect? Energy consumption! " i resemble that remark (engineer). the net side effect to that lineage is job security.

On a different site, this seems like a topic that would get way out of hand very quickly. BSA discriminates, no? Are girls allowed to become cub scouts, weeblos, or boy scouts? Women can be leaders, but there aren't girl cub scouts (or are there? and i am just a neanderthal trapped in the cave). Why should we strive to include every group? These are the values we have grown up with.... belief in God and Country. If I am a atheist, satanist, or communist (or whatever anti-scout oath), why would I want to join the BSA? Why would I want someone to force the BSA to "include" me? I

at a camp, i would imagine there are a few jobs that a girl could be adequate. however, the reverse situation, a boy applying to work at the girls camp would come under much scrutiny. When I was Program Director at a summer camp, we didn't have that problem, but there was a girls camp within 10 miles or so of ours, so there were other camp employment opportunities for girls and women. The one occasion that I've had to see a girl at camp was one of the special needs troops that came to camp one year had a female assistant. She had segregated sleeping arrangements (in the winter cabins).

the world crest is one that has me a bit confused. i've been gone from scouts for nearly 20 years, and i know skill awards are gone (hey, i earned them all... can i get a knot ;-> ) and a few other changes. last year when i saw a scout at our church, i asked him about his world crest - i thought it was for participation in an international event like a world jamboree. he couldn't really tell me why it was on his uniform, only that it was there when he got it. well everyone in the troop had one, so it didn't seem likely that all of them bought second hand uniforms from world jamboree par

"Maybe BSA is trying to drive women out of the program with uniforms that are not only not flattering but don't fit either." my chauvinistic views aside, i don't think that will be the result. the troop attached to our church shows up to once a quarter to do a fund raiser of some sort. of the 30 scouts there (leaders and boys), there will only be 2 or 3 uniforms - and by that i mean shirt and pants - never mind correctness beyond that. i've already been given a tip that i may want to shop for my pants elsewhere as they don't fit a majority of the adults in a comfortable way.

as a scout, i think i tried to wear both sashes one time to a court of honor. i definitely see the reasoning for "not" wearing the OA sash to a non-OA function such as a court of honor, but wouldn't have a problem with the very few scouts wearing their OA sash who don't have enough merit badges for a merit badge sash. the OA is after all the national honor society of campers and courts of honor are special occasions.

Sheath knives... I have one distinct memory of them - urban legend or not - they were not allowed within our troop. When I was a scout through the 80s, this was the time when Rambo was big. Shortly after Rambo hit the movies, there was a scout that brought this ridiculously large sheath knife (complete with compass on the end, and hidden compartment for him to carry matches, fishing line, etc.). He wore it with pride - and of course believed himself to be the real life incarnation of John Rambo. One camping trip is all it took for the leaders to institute the new rule of "no sheath knives

back when i was in scouts (81-87), i sewed my patches on - after my mom did the first batch. when i had enough to put on a patch blanket, i had already understood the magnitude of sewing that many patches at once (the merit badge sash did me in). i paid someone $1/patch in 1989, and at that time it was well worth it to me (and apparently to her). as i sit on the edge of getting back into scouting and realizing that i will have an adult uniform... i'm glad that the patch blanket is done (for now)... and all i have are uniform parts to deal with.

I just found this site today - via a long and winding bounce around cyberspace looking at old patches available on ebay. I'm an Eagle Scout (c/o '85) from Troop 32, Memphis, TN. Live in Austin, TX now and my son is 9 (neither he or I could really get into the flow of cub scouts or how it even dovetails with Boy Scouts). Last night, I decided to jump the gun and volunteer for leadership at the troop sponsored by our church. Flashbacks ensued... as well as questions about "why?" - since my son wasn't of age. Last night, I did realize how lucky I was growing up in the troop that I did. I've