So, Boy Scouts: evil, pure evil, or sometimes non-evil?

No doubt, if I stuck to it, that would be true, but I guess I was annoyed that the British Scouts (I was a Beaver at the time, going on Cub Scout) did camping at 2 years younger then the US scout troop (that’s what they are called!). Although the one camp trip I did as a cub scout was on the multipurpose recreation field, inside one of those giant military tents, with all the kids crammed in.

Anyway, camping seems like less fun now that I am older. Hiking and walking and outdoor fun activities is cool, but give me a hotel room at the end

We never learned knots either. The only interesting thing I remember doing was developing photographs manually.

As a former girl scout, we spent a fair amount of time camping, did archery too which was fun. What I noticed about the various troops though is what you did seemed very dependent on the adults leading the troop.

I always wanted to be in the Boy Scouts, but all I got was Awana and threats of hellfire.

Jon I made Life scout and was close to pursuing Eagle. It was, unfortunately, the juxtaposition of social life in high school and laziness that took over that dissuaded me. That being said, the organization I was in was very male and reluctant to change.

I too am glad to see the change now. I can’t predict the future of the scouts, but if i could scream it at the top of my lungs I would praise it for the great effect it had on me as a young person. Here’s hoping the combined organization can survive and prosper.

I was a Cub Scout, all the way through whatever the heck the ranks are of that. We pretty much just played Magic: The Gathering and occasionally kickball (I hated kickball nights), and went camping about once a year (I hated the camping trips). Still, weekly MtG was cool, so I thought I loved Boy Scouts-type stuff.

Till I moved towns just as I aged into the actual Boy Scouts program and signed up with the local Troop or Lodge or whatever it is. The first night they were all talking about huntin and shootin and fishin and campin and not a single damned one of them knew what Magic: The Gathering was. I didn’t go back for a second meeting, much to my Eagle Scout father’s eternal shame :)

Playing MtG during scouting trips would have been awesome. I still have all my mostly 3rd ed cards. Sadly the other girls were not into it. My sister and I played mostly with the boys who were friends down the street.

These days, I don’t camping either. I decided my back really doesn’t appreciate that. I will however do a nice long day in the woods or at the beach provided I have a mattress at the end of the venture.

I will 100% thank my mother for forcing me to get this done. She was like, you spent all of these years completing all of these requirements, and you are going to call it now?

I would say, anyone that has a kid in the scouts and wants them to be Eagle Scout, get that shit done when you are 15-16, because once I was 17-18 I had a lot of other priorities than scouting, and it was much harder to complete the Eagle Scout requirements.

There were a couple stickler merit badges I needed, and got help on, and the service project. So difficult. Getting a 17 year old to ask local charities/civic groups for funding for a service project was a lot. But I am glad I did it, was a great experience.

I think I was lucky with the Troops that I was a part of (2 troops, I moved in Middle School). I think it is difficult for people to understand how the entire scouting experience works, because every troop is different. They really depend a lot on the direction of what the kids are interested in, and what the adults volunteering can provide. We had multiple parents of kids with lots of land where we could fish, shoot, camp on. The basic merit requirements are the same across the entire organization, but the excursions, activities, and direction of the Troop is up to the parents and older kids.

So, depending on the Troop you were in, you could have very different experiences.

The experience most people have in Boy Scouts is directly related to the adults running it. My troop used to camp 3-4 times a year. One of those times would involve the troop helping to clear a meadow, meaning the adults and older boys would have chain or hand saws. That sounds like crazy talk today.

I never made Eagle, for one I never really tried. But yes, by the time I was 16 I was into other things.

Do Scout groups in the US not own/lease campgrounds?

They do, those are generally for the longer stay summer trips, or occasional winter ventures (polar bear badge!). The additional camping resources are supplemental to the BSA council camps that every troop uses.

Also, a lot of trips to state parks etc.

I know that around here there is one camp owned by some group of scouts (it gets use from scouts over a wide region) but it is only available for summer camp, so one week a year for each troop. My troop used to use national forest land mostly.

Bankrupt:

How soon does Trump come out defending them? I think it plays to his crowd.

Oh it definitely plays to his crowd if it plays at all.

I say this as an Eagle scout, btw. It is definitely an organization of “the Heartland.” Which is ironic given that it started in England.

$1 billion in legal liability. Amazing.

I imagine that’s a big number, but the same legal liability for the Catholic Church is probably much higher.

Still, one billion for sexual abuse lawsuits, yeowtch.

They have some money:

In its most recent tax filing, the national organization reported annual revenue of $285 million and assets of $1.4 billion. Its main sources of income include merchandise sales, membership fees and profits from its investments and facilities.

They also have had a lot of creeps:

The Boy Scouts have kept internal files about abuse cases at their headquarters almost since the group was founded in 1910. In a 1935 article in The New York Times, the organization described having files on hundreds of people who had been scout leaders but had been labeled “degenerates.” In recent years, an expert hired by the organization reviewed decades of records and reported that there were nearly 8,000 “perpetrators.”

Eh, my experience in the Scouts, albeit I reached only the lofty heights of like, what 2nd Class or something, whatever it was, was decidedly mixed. Some fun camps, mostly though they were full of snakes, rain, bugs, and idiots, not necessarily in that order. I did like the gear and stuff, and the manuals were cool to read.

Did I ever tell you guys why I was thrown out of the Cub Scouts?

Because you made a camgirl cry? (Or was that DrCrypt?)