quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:
My son just got the last signature on his Eagle project proposal. He’ll do his project in January. My other son, my six brothers and I are Eagle Scouts.

The LDS church pulled out of Scouting because it new it would increasingly be at odds with BSA and it wants to establish a youth program that is more universal and can be implemented world wide.

LDS took a third of the boys and a lot of the financial support when they left. I used to help at the local district but the red ink was flowing a no way of stopping it.

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
The BSA of today is not the BSA of yesterday. So, good that they will die. Don't give a shit. Whatever organization(s) that need to pick up the slack should have their moral principles carved in stone and not crumble due to corruption and political correctness.

There are no companies too big to fail, or organizations too important to fold, imo.

This has to be one of the dumbest things I've read on here in a while. Do you know anything at all about Chapter 11 bankruptcy?

Man, you missed the point entirely with all that chest thumping.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:

Wow. That’s succinct. I can only imagine how tough the last 20 years have been for you.

I'll save you the worry. The last 20 years have been great for me. But thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
The BSA of today is not the BSA of yesterday. So, good that they will die. Don't give a shit. Whatever organization(s) that need to pick up the slack should have their moral principles carved in stone and not crumble due to corruption and political correctness.

There are no companies too big to fail, or organizations too important to fold, imo.

This has to be one of the dumbest things I've read on here in a while. Do you know anything at all about Chapter 11 bankruptcy?

Man, you missed the point entirely with all that chest thumping.

Chest thumping?

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
I'm not a big fan of the scouting program. In particular, one thing that really burned me was the financials; a lot of boys and a lot of parents have little money, and that should never be an object is an organization which is supposed to be 100% altruistic.

When a kid can go to the store and buy a swiss army knife for half, or a third of what the BSA is charging scouts for the same knife (only with the BSA logo on it), that's a sad statement. When the kids are supposed to wear a uniform, but it's cheap, cheesy uniform that costs an arm and a leg for something they'll wear once a week if that...it doesn't speak well for the scouts.

For many years I used to collect scout uniforms, often scouring second hand shops like good will and other places and would buy them to have on hand for the boys that couldn't afford them. Maybe it was insurgent, ignorant practices like mine that bankrupted the BSA, because we weren't buying their pricey official gear.

Word.

I was a scout, while I didn't make Eagle, I was an instructor at summer camp and served in Order of the Arrow into my early twenties; all very enjoyable & memorable times. Scouting introduced me to the outdoors and helped guide me into a career in the outdoor industry. Our Troop was big (55 boys at one point) and it had some issues, and those 'issues' were shown the door, we also had a couple of dads who played for the other team, however the troop was there for the boys. Growing up in the 80's I saw all of the above push kids/families away from Scouting because the costs kept going up. Divorces were starting to skyrocket and more and more boys were coming from single-parent households; the good thing is we had a lot of dads who participated, there was also equally many others who saw it as a cute babysitting service. Mothers started participating in Father/Son Campout because they wanted their sons to be around other guys and adult dads. Many of the single mothers could only afford the uniform shirt, I got my first uniform came from Goodwill.

While I'm no fan of how the SJW's have taken great pride and glee in tearing down a once proud institution, that same institution was also run by a lot of people who had their own ideas of running a personal fiefdom. As I got older, I just remember how much teeth gnashing from the parents about policies from district, council or, national. The Scout uniform store was a joke, the gear was absolute crap, national thought their business plan to license out the 'Official Scout' badge to companies making camp equipment, it all sucked.

Boy Scouts was instrumental in making me who I am today.

My love of the outdoors was nurtured by a third weekend of every month camping trip. Tents, saws, open fires, knives, rope, orienteering, first aid, bacon, card games, just plain fooling around.

The discipline that has been removed is exactly what made Boy Scouts desirable and unique. They died long ago, the corpse has finally begun to stink. Maybe the girls will show them how to prostitute themselves selling cookies, it could extend the inevitable.

My take is that this is exactly what the people who pushed this "can't be just for boy's" bull crap wanted. The demise and total dismantling of an American tradition that is based upon a concept that God created a man and a women by his design. Doesn't have anything to do with girls being able to do anything they want. Or boys either for that matter. But being able to have their own organization to do their thing is not the problem.
Another mission accomplished in the incremental destruction of the USA.

I started out in Cub Scouts and moved on to Boy Scouts when I lived in Truro. It was a great organization that made the best with limited resources.

However, trying to be 'all-inclusive' by knuckling under to the PC crowd has claimed yet another once-fine organization.

I guess the leadership decided that they would stand for 'nothing' and thats what they're ending up with.

A shame, but not unpredictable.

I have 3 sons and all three are Eagle Scouts with the youngest attaining Eagle 4 years ago....my sons and I are thankful that they made it through before all the changes.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
I was a scout. My boys were scouts. One got his eagle. I was a scoutmaster twice.

Just wondering when your son received his eagle? My son also has his eagle. Our experience was different from yours. Just curious if the differentiating factor might have been time and /or location. We lived in the Kansas City area at the time and it was 1996.

"On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to obey the Scout Law, to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.”

They had simply ceased to be "Boy Scouts".

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Originally posted by SpinZone:

This is what happens when you go from standing for something to standing for everything.

You end up standing for nothing.

Exactly!

Boy Scouts Push Back on Bankruptcy Reports

The Boy Scouts of America is pushing back against reports the organization is considering filing for bankruptcy as reported by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

According to the report, leadership with the Boy Scouts have hired a law firm that specializes in bankruptcy and have been brought on board to explore options. Filing for bankruptcy would halt the many lawsuits alleging inappropriate conduct by employees that have been brought against the organization, the newspaper said.

In a statement released Wednesday, Michael Surbaugh, chief scout executive said "...in anticipation of news reports that will speculate about the BSA’s financial position," that no immediate decisions are expected.

Surbach said BSA was focused on keeping the youth who participate in their programs safe and continue preparing them through character development and leadership training.

"We have an important duty, and an incredible opportunity, to focus as an organization on keeping children safe, supported and protected, and preparing youth for their futures through our nation’s foremost program of character development and values-based leadership training," Surbach said. "To do so in perpetuity, we are working with experts to explore all options available to ensure that the local and national programming of the Boy Scout of America continues uninterrupted."

In the statement, Surbach acknowledged the lawsuits and the rising costs of defending them.

"We have a social and moral responsibility to fairly compensate victims who suffered abuse during their time in Scouting, and we also have an obligation to carry out our mission to serve youth, families and local communities through our programs."

Surbach also apologized to anyone who had been harmed during their time in scouting adding that one incident of child abuse is one too many.

"We sincerely apologize to anyone who was harmed during their time in our programs," said Surbach. "As you all know, we have always taken care of victims – we believe them, we believe in fairly compensating them and we have paid for unlimited counseling, by a provider of their choice, regardless of the amount of time that has passed since an instance of abuse."

Fucking whatever. Just go away.

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Originally posted by 2000Z-71:
...lose sight of their core values...

The cause of their demise, plain and simple.

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Originally posted by Skins2881:

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Originally posted by 12131:
Good.

Not good.

I have read of some of the craziness going on with the changes to the Boy Scouts. While I was never one, I see a need for a organization like this more than ever. Maybe it's not BSA, but something to teach kids how to exist outdoors, work and learn skills, have goals, and be upstanding citizens.

While they may be going downhill, I want for something like this for my hopefully eventual kids.

Skins,

Seriously look into the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary - Civil Air Patrol for your eventual kids. I haven't been active since 1996, but it was an awesome experience for me in my unit as the XO for the Cadet Program working with the kids and hopefully giving them some direction in life.

https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
Skins,

Seriously look into the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary - Civil Air Patrol for your eventual kids. I haven't been active since 1996, but it was an awesome experience for me in my unit as the XO for the Cadet Program working with the kids and hopefully giving them some direction in life.

https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/

Thanks for this. I am employed in the Aerospace industry and both my father and my wife's father were in the USAF. I spent a few minutes perusing the web site, but will definitely look into this more. There's a squadron just a few miles away. This will be on our list of things to investigate.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Boy Scouts? Wait, I thought they were just the Scouts now.

Surely they will reorganize again and then call it the Allscouts.

So long! They destroyed the organization with their BS. My son completed the cub scouts and got his arrow of light and completed the "super webelo" status by completing 100% of the badges for Webelo. They didn't even acknowledge his super webelo at the final ceremony, because it would be singling him out over the other kids. He was bummed out. He chose not to go on to boy scouts, for several reasons.

Just like when they admitted gays into the group... I was trying to explain to the bone heads on the board that whether or not you agree with that decision or regardless of how you feel about gays, this is a quasi-religious organization with sponsorship from many churches. You personally may have no problem with openly gay people in the den, but the church that is sponsoring you may have a problem with it. You will lose some support, right or wrong. You may feel the fight was worth it, that the fight for being inclusive is worth it, but you have to accept that some will not see it that way and drop their support of your group.

Same with accepting girls, which was a disastrous decision. For the cub scouts, I agree its not as a big of a deal to have boys and girls (although I still am against it) but as they go on into boy scouts and they get older, having girls around just destroys everything that you are trying to build. You can deny it all you want, point out girls can do whatever a boy can, etc. That's not the point. Girls involved changes the dynamic of what is going on, especially for teenage boys. The bonding is disrupted, the whole system is disrupted.

My son can get co-ed activity with his STEM group, his theater group, his Tae Kwon Do class, his 4H activities, at school, etc. The scouts was the one place, the only place he could be a 11 year old boy. Even at school he cant play with his friends like we used to at that age, no pushing allowed, no tackling, no wrestling, etc. Scouts was the one place he could be a rowdy ass boy with other boys and talk about boy shit, etc.

They self destructed the organization.

The head of our local Council is paid $220,000/year. The Chief Executive of BSA USA makes more than $1,000,000/year. The retired Chief Executive is paid $750,000/year as an annual pension.

Their business is hosed. Not because they pay their executives an unreasonable amount of income but because their moral compass no longer points North.

quote:

My son can get co-ed activity with his STEM group, his theater group, his Tae Kwon Do class, his 4H activities, at school, etc. The scouts was the one place, the only place he could be a 11 year old boy. Even at school he cant play with his friends like we used to at that age, no pushing allowed, no tackling, no wrestling, etc. Scouts was the one place he could be a rowdy ass boy with other boys and talk about boy shit, etc.

They self destructed the organization.

Yep.
Teen and pre-teen boys sometimes need that. They are often shy, particularly around the young girls they are just starting to find attractive. Having a place to get away from that dynamic was a good thing for boys.