boy scouts

Post by **Coyote** » 2003-05-04 12:38am

Did they have an "Expert retriever of fallen soap" merit badge?

Solid and powdered categories?

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-05-04 12:45am

I quit the Boy Scouts because the local troop pissed me off. The lower ranks were all whiny little pricks who were coddled by the Scoutmaster because they were all his sons' friends and the higher ranks were all jackass seniors who were generally assholes to anyone not them.

jegs2 · Post by **jegs2** » 2003-05-04 01:12am

I was a scout in the early 80's, and I made it to the rank of Second Class. Our troop was run by a retired Marine NCO, so we did pushups, marching and the like. One particular kid felt he was in some sort of competition with me, and when he outranked me and became our patrol leader (think that's what it was called), he felt it necessary to lord his newfound power and authority over me by assigning menial tasks to me. Soon thereafter, I realized I was paying to be in an organization that allowed that twit to give me a hard time, so I dropped out.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-05-04 04:31am

The Boy Scouts are already gay. It's just that they don't admit professionals

BTW in my country, boyscout is slang for gay

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2003-05-04 09:03am

HemlockGrey wrote:I quit the Boy Scouts because the local troop pissed me off. The lower ranks were all whiny little pricks who were coddled by the Scoutmaster because they were all his sons' friends and the higher ranks were all jackass seniors who were generally assholes to anyone not them.

my first troop was like that.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2003-05-04 09:05am

Slartibartfast wrote:The Boy Scouts are already gay. It's just that they don't admit professionals

BTW in my country, boyscout is slang for gay

Im not surprised in the least. a few dozen, or hundred, or thousand athletic males, put into isolation, and no femmes for 20 miles.

what do you *think* is going to happen?

makes me wonder about the whole gay military thing. how many guys havent thot about it, 9 months from seeing a chick?

whats really weird is when a new scout tries to seduce you. god, that was an odd evening.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-05-04 01:13pm

Being an Eagle Scout and all I was (and am) disappointed in the Boy Scouts' official stance on atheists and homosexuals.

The supposed reasoning behind baning gays, especially Scout Masters seems rather stupid to me. I know of two instances where Scout Masters were accused of inproprieties. In one case the guy had to stop coaching his little league team and he switched troops and took over the one I was in. IMO he was a very good Scout Master. He was also maried with 5 kids, two of his sons were in the troop as well. (He had supposedly foundled some kids on his baseball team. Some of the kids were also in his troop).

The other guy I don't know much about other than he was my brother-in-law's Scout Master. This guy was accused of molesting some kids (boys I think) and went to prison. My brother-in-law was still coresponding with him the last I knew so I don't think he believed the charges.

As far as I know neither guy was gay but in trying to avoid this kind of problem the Boy Scouts fell back on the easy scape-goat as far as American religous society is concernd.

I'm not sure why they got all upset about atheists though. Other than a lot of the oaths and stuff having "God" in them. I always assumed those had been put in there to help show that the Boy Scouts was not a Communist organization.

There are a couple religion oriented awards, like the God & Country but it's not like they are required. In fact, far fewer people complete the God & Country than the Eagle.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-05-04 01:18pm

I forgot to ask if anyone new what kind of rules the Girl Scouts and other groups have for chaperones.

I seem to recall that a man couldn't be the sole chaperone on outings for the Girl Scouts. I'm not sure about Campfire (Blue Birds & Blue Jays) or the YMCA/YWCAs Indian Guides.

I also think that the Girl Scouts didn't like a man to be the leader of a troop either.

jegs2 · Post by **jegs2** » 2003-05-04 03:24pm

Tsyroc wrote:Being an Eagle Scout and all I was (and am) disappointed in the Boy Scouts' official stance on atheists and homosexuals.

My hat's off to you for reaching that rank. The politics, power struggles, and maneuvering in the BSA puts even the ranks of Army officers to shame. Anyone who can hold on and tolerate such in the BSA, reaching the rank of Eagle Scout (along with achieving the myriad of requirements for said rank) has earned my respect.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2003-05-04 03:31pm

I made first class. I never really worked on badges.

congrats on eagle, btw.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-05-04 04:29pm

jegs2 wrote:
Tsyroc wrote:Being an Eagle Scout and all I was (and am) disappointed in the Boy Scouts' official stance on atheists and homosexuals.
My hat's off to you for reaching that rank. The politics, power struggles, and maneuvering in the BSA puts even the ranks of Army officers to shame. Anyone who can hold on and tolerate such in the BSA, reaching the rank of Eagle Scout (along with achieving the myriad of requirements for said rank) has earned my respect.

Thanks to you and Enforcer Talen.

With me it helped that my parents were pushing me to an extent. My dad did stuff with the troop and went on some of our various outings. That Scout Master I mentioned was also a big reason I got it done. He had things very well organized and focused. We did a lot of fun things but we always tried to accomplish something while doing it. Still, I finished my Eagle just before I turned 14. After that I think I got one or two merit badges before I got involved with other things. I really sort of feel sorry for people who were struggling to finish up before they turned 18.

I don't recall much in the way of politics within my troop but there were definately some things going on within the council (district). Luckilly for me a lot of the people involved in the council heirarchy had either been involved with my troop at some time or were on good terms with my Scout Master. Plus, we had a lot of people from our troop doing activities throughout the council, whether it was Order of the Arrow, or camp councelors.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2003-05-04 04:34pm

wow. I was tenderfoot by 14.

Setesh · Post by **Setesh** » 2003-05-04 04:39pm

http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05012002.html

I had to

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-05-04 04:40pm

Well, I joined right out of Webelos (sp?) at the end of 5th grade. My birthday is in May so that made me a little younger than a lot of the others when I started. So I had everything but the court of honor wrapped up before I started high school. After that I mostly just did the cool stuff

like the camping, hiking, canoeing, backpacking etc...

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2003-05-04 04:42pm

ah. my troop does that most. we dont bother with badges, really.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-05-04 04:43pm

Setesh wrote:http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05012002.html

I had to

"Take it like a Boy Scout"

I like the trees wearing overalls. I imagined the "dueling banjo" music kicking in.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-05-04 04:47pm

Enforcer Talen wrote:ah. my troop does that most. we dont bother with badges, really.

That's the best part anyway.

We tried to go camping at least one weekend a month although it was a little less in the winter time (I lived in Iowa at the time). Still I have 3 polar bear badges (okay now I feel like a mega geek)

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-05-04 05:36pm

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-05-04 07:26pm

Alyrium Denryle wrote:http://www.somethingpositive.net/arch/sp05042002.gif

Describes the Belle Chasse Football Team to a T.

That pic always crax0rz me up!!

jegs2 · Post by **jegs2** » 2003-05-04 08:14pm

One summer, many moons ago, my mother chose to clean out my room. Believe she did that in '87, while I was at Basic Training at Ft. LeonardWood. She saw fit to give away all of my old Star Wars toys, including my prized Mellineum Falcon which I got as a Christmas present in 1980. Moreover, she gave away (or threw away) my old Boy Scout stuff, including merit badges with sash and ranks. To this day, all I've left is some old skill awards (those have apparently been discontinued for some time). Lesson available: Those who still live at home should store such things in a box marked, "Mom, do not touch the stuff herein -- it is most valuable to me! Thank you."

Andrew J. · Post by **Andrew J.** » 2003-05-04 10:00pm

I was in the Boy Scouts years ago, and and I loathed with the white-hot intensity of a supernova. For one thing, we never actually did anything-we just sat in the elementary school cafeteria listening to speeches and doing*shudder* arts and crafts. And on top of that, the fucking-stupid uniform took forever to put on (at least to my young, unusually lacking in motor-skill hands) and...well, that's about all I can rmember really. Glad I quit so early.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-05-04 10:06pm

Andrew J. wrote:I was in the Boy Scouts years ago, and and I loathed with the white-hot intensity of a supernova. For one thing, we never actually did anything-we just sat in the elementary school cafeteria listening to speeches and doing*shudder* arts and crafts. And on top of that, the fucking-stupid uniform took forever to put on (at least to my young, unusually lacking in motor-skill hands) and...well, that's about all I can rmember really. Glad I quit so early.

Scouts is just "something to do". The world is filled with "something to do" events and clubs and places. That's fine, except that for "something to do", the organization has a rather inflated opinion of itself.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-05-04 11:08pm

Alyrium Denryle wrote:Redneck Trees usually prefer male Elves because they "look like girlie boys," much the same reason why so many priests like them as well.

Substitute Elves with Boy Scouts

jegs2 · Post by **jegs2** » 2003-05-04 11:54pm

Andrew J. wrote:I was in the Boy Scouts years ago, and and I loathed with the white-hot intensity of a supernova. For one thing, we never actually did anything-we just sat in the elementary school cafeteria listening to speeches and doing*shudder* arts and crafts. And on top of that, the fucking-stupid uniform took forever to put on (at least to my young, unusually lacking in motor-skill hands) and...well, that's about all I can rmember really. Glad I quit so early.

That sounds more like the Cub Scouts.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-05-05 07:59am

jegs2 wrote:One summer, many moons ago, my mother chose to clean out my room. Believe she did that in '87, while I was at Basic Training at Ft. LeonardWood. She saw fit to give away all of my old Star Wars toys, including my prized Mellineum Falcon which I got as a Christmas present in 1980. Moreover, she gave away (or threw away) my old Boy Scout stuff, including merit badges with sash and ranks. To this day, all I've left is some old skill awards (those have apparently been discontinued for some time). Lesson available: Those who still live at home should store such things in a box marked, "Mom, do not touch the stuff herein -- it is most valuable to me! Thank you."

I know how that goes. Before I went to basic my parents and I had discussed whether I wanted to keep my bed or not. It was a super single waterbed with a ton of drawers built into it. My parents wanted to get rid of it because it took up a lot of space. After thinking it over I decided that I wanted to keep it.

I don't think it was my first phone call home from boot but it was an early one when I found out that they got rid of it anyway. What's worse is that the "sold" it to my cousin. Basically they gave it away because I never got any money for it and I had purchased it myself when in high school. When I got out of the Navy I got to keep the wooden futon that had been placed in "my" room while I was in the Navy.

That's going to be one of those things that will continue to irritate me for a long time.