How long will this ignorance breed in our National Capitol? Pentagon considering disassociating with Scouting.

[skeptic]

From an email out of National this morning.  https://www.npr.org/2025/11/25/nx-s1-5615164/pentagon-scouting-hegseth-cut-ties

Secretary of the Navy is already pushing back.  But this coming out of the current administration is not a surprise.  

[qwazse]

Is this the cost of shrinking membership?

[InquisitiveScouter]

First, a leaked draft memo does not equal policy.  This memo could have been generated by some mid-level staffer with an axe to grind against Scouting America, and may never see the light of day as an official communique.

The real ignorance lies in all of the articles already attributing this as coming from the Secretary.  I promise you, no Secretary of any department drafts their own memos like this, and these draft memoranda go through numerous revisions and legal review before being issued.

Having worked at these levels with the Department of Defense (or so it was called when I was on active duty), I can easily posit this memo was the result of some staff task issued at the request of the National Guard Bureau to 'justify withdrawing support to Joint Task Force - National Scout Jamboree as a drain on resources.'  But that is an educated guess on my part.

https://www.wv.ng.mil/News/Article/3463243/a-decade-of-diligence-joint-task-force-national-scout-jamboree-kicks-off-10-yea/

In other posts, I have commented that Scouting America, over the past years, has, indeed, lost some credibility as a "meritocracy", (while maintaining the guise of one) as the quality of instruction and program at summer camps has declined, and Scouts are being given badges rather than earning them.

Let's have some tactical patience and see what develops with this story.  Hopefully, the press will show due diligence and ask the right questions to flesh out what is really going on here.  It would not surprise me at all if the burden of logistical support is withdrawn, considering the dwindling attendance at jamboree: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Scout_jamboree_(Scouting_America)  Nor would it surprise me if the initial enlistment rank advancement given to Eagle Scouts is withdrawn, given the observed lower quality potential recruits we (collectively) are producing.

Giving a rank advancement upon enlistment to Eagle Scout and Gold Award recipients is an endorsement of those programs...

 

 

Edited 12 minutes ago by InquisitiveScouter