Who was in Boy Scouts/ Is an Eagle Scout?

[Gambit McCrae]

I got my Eagle in 2005 along with 3 palms. I still stay somewhat active in scouting volunteering as a Commissioner and sit in on roundtables. It is where I learned of my love for the outdoors and have countless great memories of those days.

[Pedaling Fool]

Talk about "blazing"

As we say in the navy: Standby for heavy rolls

And for some posts this may be more applicable: All hands brace for shock

[BuckeyeBill]

I got my Eagle Award in 1974. I still remember many things from Scouting and I'm glad I was part of it in my youth.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk 2

[Another Kevin]

I've discussed my mixed experiences as both Scout and Scouter in the past. It's a great program, that unfortunately didn't work out well for me as either participant or leader.

[runt13]

Never did make Eagle, but was in the scouts from 1974 to 1983, Troop 14, Panther patrol, Metuchen New Jersey.

[Don H]

Eagle in 1972 and have been a Scoutmaster for the last 8 years.

The first time I ever stepped foot on the AT was as a young Scout in 1969.
I take my Scouts on the AT every year. If it wasn't for Scouting a whole lot of boys would never seen the AT.

[July]

Does anyone remember the "pine wood derby"?

[runt13]

Yup! still have the cars. 6 or 7 of them. My grandfather and I built them hen the rain kept us inside.

[Tuckahoe]

Late 70s through 1987. Pack 25 and Troop 67 in Norfolk, and Troop 55 in Chesapeake, Virginia. Only made it as far as 1st class though.

[Sarcasm the elf]

Received mine in the winter of 2000.

[Sarcasm the elf]

Does anyone remember the "pine wood derby"?

I'd bet good money that my parents still have my cars somewhere in the attic.

[samb.]

2008 eagle. Troop 195 out of Louisville, Ky. Not active anymore now that I am in the Marine Corps, but still know some of the younger guys in the troop who are about to head into venturing crews or are about to pick up eagle.

[rafe]

I was in Cub Scouts, then a Boy Scout for a short while. Hated it. Our one "camping" trip was a disaster. My interest in hiking and camping only developed years later as a young adult.

[Sarcasm the elf]

Received mine in the winter of 2000.

My first time on the A.T. was a sobo dayhike somewhere between Salisbury and Kent in CT back when I was twelve, we then stayed at a scout camp in the area that has since since been closed.

[chall]

Eagle Scout, 2005 out of Yardley, PA.

[Chair-man]

Let me tell you my experience with scouting.

When I was a very young boy somewhere between 7 & 10 years old I wanted to join the Cub Scouts because I wanted to go camping. My parents didn't camp. So I begged my mom to let me join. I can remember my mom taking me to the department store to buy one of those uniforms that make you look like a catholic school boy. And I can remember my mom saying to me "are you sure you want to do this? Don't have me buy this stuff if you're not going to stick with this". I said I'm sure mom and she bought it.

The first meeting was with a den mother and a bunch of other cub scouts and we went over the book and some other stuff at the den mother's house. The 2nd week we met at the den mothers house again and did pretty much the same thing and I asked the den mother when we were going to go camping and she said that we were not going to go camping and that we just meet at her house once a week to learn camping.

Needless to say I quit and my mom said "I knew you wouldn't stick with it, you know you wasted a lot of money, those scouting clothes don't come cheap" LOL that was my only experience with scouting.

[bangorme]

I was a scout for about 5 years in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. First time I hiked the AT was in the scouts. When I moved back to Maine in the 7th grade, all the troop did was "hike" the roads (ironic, isn't it?), so I left it.

My daughter wanted to be a Girl Scout, but the troop was full... except for well-off kids. They opened another troop for everyone else, but it was just to placate everyone and never did anything. My daughter left it after about a month.

[peakbagger]

I was an eagle scout and involved with the program as an adult. The original leaders of our scout troop were mostly WW2 vets and their idea of camping was car camping. Around the mid seventies the backpacking boom was really kicking in and we worked our tails off fundraising for better tents. We were thinking nylon backpacking tents but the adults went to LLBeans and bought a new set of LL Bean Pine Tree lodges that weighed in around 50 pounds each . My father was never an outdoor person and there wasn't a lot of outdoors in my family so it was my only exposure to the outdoors. As an adult I assisted a local scout troop for about 10 years, its a rural community and the number of scouting age children is far lower than previously plus youth sports and video games tended to eat into the membership. Combine that with many parents who believe that their participation level is to pick up and drop off their children and after awhile its tough to run a good program.

Much as folks will pick on scout troops, I see very few programs that are successful in introducing youths to the woods and my observation in that if kids dotn get in the woods when they are young they rarely pick it up as adults.

[Tipi Walter]

HAZING
My experience with the cub scouts in 1958-59-60 was very good---blue uniforms and all. Got my first Sears 9lb sleeping bag with them and did some serious backpacking. Loved the Bear and Wolf patches etc. Then I moved to Texas in '62 and joined a Boy Scout troop led by a ape-like silverback who believed in hazing and belt lines. What's a belt line? All the kids stand in a line with their legs spread and you crawl between on your hands and knees while getting hit with belts. Sort of like a Pawnee gauntlet.

I lost interest real fast but heck I'm self-motivated and don't need a bunch of bonobo monkeys to teach me about nature or how to hike and camp. Dumped them quickly right after getting Tenderfoot. Still not a team player.

[Odd Man Out]

I was in scouting for many years. I may have set the record for the longest tenure as a Second Class Scout. You could move up from Tenderfoot to Second Class very easily. But to go to First Class (and beyond), you had to earn a bunch of merit badges and I really had no interest in doing that. I did all the activities, and learned all the skills. I just had no interest in filling out the paperwork and saw no point in getting badges to sew on my shirt. Then one day at a troop meeting all the adult leaders cornered me and said that they wanted me to be the new Senior Patrol Leader for the troop. It seems that based on my scouting skills and leadership ability, I was much more qualified than all the other scouts with lots of badges sewn to their shirts. The problem was that the rules said that the SPL had to have a rank of First Class or higher, so the adult leaders figured out that I had done everything I needed to get a boatload of merit badges, filled out the paperwork, promoted me to First Class, and made me SPL. I don't know what happened to my shirt with all the badges, but I still have my winning Pinewood Derby car and trophy.