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When I was an active Scoutmaster, I worked with the Eagle Scout and his family to create an ECOH that they wanted. I gave them examples, ideas and sometimes my opinion but I for one applaud Bando for expressing an opinion at his ECOH that showed his love and appreciation for the organization. If he could care less about the BSA, why would he talk about its membership policy. Now, it he turned it into a political rally for a candidate or a sales pitch for something he was selling, I'd highly suggest he remove that from his ECOH.

Beavah is correct and IMO, the congressional charter is important (and part of what I feel makes the BSA a public organization in my eyes, but not in the eyes of the US legal system. Also, the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS or "Mormon" to some) does not have their own youth program but has stated that Scouting is the youth program of their church. That is a big difference.

Just as long as they don't allow the Dutch, I'm fine with it. Say hello to queen Liz for me!

The boys (and adults) know what they are supposed to do. It is doing it that is difficult. I think at this age (11-17), issues the boys can relate to is to stick up for what you believe and don't worry so much about what your friends think (i.e. peer pressure). As adults, we sometimes forget how difficult this can be for 14-16 year olds.

Cambridgeskip - just my observation from the DIBC alone.

When I was a Scoutmaster, yeah I realized we were not formally a patrol but I had us (adults) camp away from the youth, eat meals on our own, etc. So we sort of functioned like a patrol and I found that if I told some of the lesser informed adults they we apart of our patrol, their helicopter ways would ease. I even had the adults "earn" a patrol patch. I had a shirt I wore to troop only outings that had a patrol patch. I had many other shirts that had no patrol patch that I wore to jambos, roundtables, camporees, COH, etc. We used that opportunity to model ideal patrol behavior. Our

DeanRx - I've attended the Dorchester International Brotherhood Camporee in London, Ontario (Canada for those geographically challenged) quite a few times. Scouts Canada is fully co-ed. I had lengthy talks with the Scout leaders of Scouts Canada about the pros & cons most were somewhat ambivalent about it. The biggest negative was the need to have female adults on outings - not that having them was a bad idea, getting them was problematic. I know the membership at the Boy Scout level was about 55% female, 45% female from the attendance by my guess Scouts Canada is for youth 5 -26

A green "red jac shirt." Why am I thinking of the newspaper joke?

Yeah, I was somewhat surprised that one of the Scouts in our troop was also a member of "Polish Scouts" and another "Ukranian Scouts" right hear in southeast Michigan. I wasn't aware of these ethnic based programs. BTW, I thought it was funny when the brothers who were a part of Polish Scouts told me they like "my" troop much better. Seems that some of these ethnic based programs teach a little history and culture about their ethnicity that most boys of scouting age don't readily accept as "fun." Some of the posters on here remind me of one of my favorite quotes from Austin Power

Listen carefully everyone, the BSA does not exclude leaders or scouts due to sexual orientation. They do exclude leaders and scouts for homosexual conduct - however, conduct doesn't get defined in detail. Only by observing this "conduct" does one now become "known" or "avowed" as a homosexual. I'm not trying to justify their position (I think it is ridiculous myself), just explain the nuances of their position.

To use BSA vernacular, one wears the appropriate shoulder loops (or tabs) on the epaulettes of the shirt to denote program level.

Not sure if this is from Mark Twain, Will Rogers or Groucho Marx but your comment reminds me of I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member.

No, it is still true if one is uneducated. Not being aware does not make it false.

Let's say I'm running the BSA "business" as the CEO. I see tons of kids join Cub Scouts and drop out by the time the boys become Boy Scout eligible from an age perspective. Hmmm. How can I fix this. instead of a couple of month Webelos program to transition to Boy Scouts I'll drop the last Cub Scout rank (Lion) and make the final 15 months a full transition type program to Boy Scouts - Webelos. Well that worked for a few years but I'm still losing the older boys. The youngsters still are eager to join however, I know, I'll shift the Cub Scout program down in age by creating the T

The fact that the Boys Scouts has an award, the Dr. Sally Ride Supernova Award, that honors a celebrated astronaut and scientist who happens to be a lesbian does not surprise me. Given the fact the the scouting program was founded by a man who enjoyed watching young men swim naked, expressed disdain for seeing female nudity, admitted that he could not judge a woman's physical beauty and shared accommodations with a younger man for over 40 years, I'm not shocked. Looking back on a life of over eighty years, I realize how short life is and how little worth while are anger and political war

Epaulettes are and have always been the same color as the shirt in the BSA - tan/khaki being the current color for Boy Scouts.

Scouting is "the" youth program of the LDS church. The BSA also has allowed the LDS church to modify the program to suit their needs (i.e. age limits, etc.) Scouts Canada adopted a national program of coeducational Scouting, but allowed organizations that have a religious or traditional history of all-male Scout groups, such as the LDS church to maintain that status. So no female scout leaders in LDS packs or troops. Assuming the BSA would remain treating the LDS units the same, my guess is that membership would remain constant with the LDS units and the BSA would gain about as many folks

Basementdweller - you don't get it. Some of us feel that we are a part of the BSA as much as others and we act in a Scout like manner - when we see injustice we try to remedy the situation. Walking away is not a solution in our eyes. I will not call being homosexual a human failing like you do, because it is not. However, because of the nature of the issue, it cannot be tolerated in the Scouting atmosphere. I don't understand the above. Why can't it be tolerated in a Scouting atmosphere. I can "be" heterosexual in a Scouting environment, but no, I should not be fornicating with t

How? In a (pre-1980) Scout like manner.

It is not appropriate for Scouters to encourage homosexual Scouters to live chastely, and considering the staggering number of CO's that would consider it immoral to advise any other way of life than chastity for homosexuals, it is impossible for Scouting to embrace Gay Pride, or the acceptance of committed or promiscuous homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle. - Agree! Conversely, It is not appropriate for Scouts to encourage heterosexual Scouters to live unchastely (or chastely for that matter), and considering the staggering number of CO's that would consider it immoral to advise an

Honestly, it's the non-USA uniform that makes me look fat! Do I have to wear it? Where does my Atheist patch go on the shirt? If I wore my OA sash on my belt it would be more of a vertical stripe than horizontal and everyone knows that vertical stripes makes me look thinner.

I didn't really see anything I didn't really already know - I think the crux is the private/public dichotomy. I liked the Scoutmaster/Eagle Scout - he made a case with out the "entertainment value" of Penn & Teller. What was not presented totally was that the policy doesn't exclude gays, it excludes homosexuals that exhibit "homosexual conduct" - which is not explicitly defined. I think that is a subtle but important distinction.

When I went to Double H (run by Philmont staff but no longer used by the BSA) the medical history form had a height and weight requirement. Unlike Mr. Allen, I'm vertically challenged and at age 51 I needed to either grow another two inches or lose 8 lbs to qualify (I chose the latter). I lost the weight to come in at around 199 lbs at 5'7". I also did some practice hikes (full backpack, 10 plus miles a day, etc.) and some aerobic training. I was the oldest adult by about 10 years and the scouts were high school athletes (three football players, two wrestlers, one track/cross countr

Now, if we could just get those boys away from the TV, computer, PS3, Xbox, etc. . . . I work on average 50-60 hours a week. My wife is not employed. Her idea of a vacation is to go somewhere and have highly schedules activities. My idea of a vacation to stay at home and do nothing. Yes, parents need to realize that children need completely unstructured time to just do what their imagination drives them to do. Each youth is different and some really get into the travel squads, bible schools, robotic camps, scouting, etc. but many just like to "chillax." On our troop outings,

First, I'm coming at this from a Scoutmaster's perspective. 1) You used your son as a pawn - not wise. If your son needed a break, he should learn to speak up. An experienced SPL should also learn to recognize the fact that some of the scouts were lagging and sought solutions. Now, allow me to get on my soapbox and once again state that this is another example on why I believe peer based patrols and patrol functions are best. When I was an active Scoutmaster, the troop did a couple of strenuous hikes. It was not a troop event but only for the more experience and physically capable sc