Posted on 11/28/2010 2:13:18 PM PST by NYer
APO?
I did when I got out of high school, and my dad served for 30 years...
I was a military brat at the time...:)
LOL, those glasses I had to wear my whole life (until I could buy my own) made it pretty darn easy to stay “morally straight”, at least when it came to the girls...:)
Cheltenham, MD...about a mile from Andrews AFB at NAVCOMMSTA Washington, DC.
Now, it is a Department of Homeland Security CounterTerrorism Facility.
Very cool. For Scouts to have a Freeper as an assistant Scoutmaster can only be a positive thing! I’ll bet you have a great troop...
He’s not the only one.
Sadly my troop has folded up and blown away. Just not enough kids to keep it running.
That, and the latest changes to the program up there did it in.
Sorry to hear that. I know that even back then, we spent a fair amount of time fundraising, and now...I can only imagine how much money and time it must take to run a troop.
Not to mention changes to the program that make it even harder.
The boys were great. The higher ups had all these progressive ideas.
The board actually voted to leave the last year I worked with them, we had 100 percent support from the families and from the kids.
The consequences meant that we were severed from the rest of the pipeline, and we knew it meant that when the last were finished, that was it for the program.
But they did have a blast that last year. So I still think it was worth it. The choice wasn’t whether it would live or die, but how you would go out.
I was a Scout for 5 years. I gained a lot from the experience too even if things didn’t end well.
Bears repeating, my FRiend...bears repeating. Sounds like you can look in the mirror every day...
Eh, that year was the most epic scouting year we ever had. So I have no regrets.
The entire city now only has one troop, and even that troop has maybe 5 kids. They used to have close to a thousand kids back in my day, and I’m not that old. It was a shocker. I know all the leaders, who were old friends of mine, but they chose to tow the line.
They asked me if I was interested in taking up the stick again, and I asked them about the regulations. They apparently have turned the dial up to 11.
Their argument is that “kids have more options than they did”. Blind as blind can be. Sure, there are fewer kids now, but the demand is still there.
We weren’t angels or model kids. But we got a gift from scouting that might have been invisible to us at the time, but I bet most, like me, see it now.
It is the gift of knowing how to accomplish things. Whether it is building a fire in the rain, teaming up with a bunch of guys to design a travois to carry all your gear several miles to the campsite, or doing a mile swim, you learned that you COULD accomplish something if you tried and gave it your best shot.
You didn’t always succeed. When we made our travois, it was a darned disaster. The wood was too heavy and already somewhat rotted, and as we dragged, over time, it just wore down and disintegrated. But we tried...it was a requirement for a jamboree we went to, and we didn’t know in advance what the challenge was going to be. So, we had to put our heads together, think of the best way to do it, and execute it. In this case we failed. But I know for a fact that if I were in a position today to have to do something like that, I could do it successfully because I failed at it once before, using my own ideas and those of others as part of a team.
(Interestingly, I saw a television program on the selection process for special forces training, and they had them do the same kind of thing, though much more advanced and a LOT harder. They gave them a full 55 gallon drum, and their team objective was to use the tools given to design (as a team) a way to transport that drum to the destination fifteen miles away in a specified time frame...their task was a LOT harder than ours, but the concept was similar. We only had to go a few miles, maybe two or three)
Proud Mom of two Eagle Scouts. The best thing I ever did for them was support them in Scouts. Loved being part of watching them and the other boys in the Troop grow into fine young men with their heads on straight.
I attended my first Eagle Scout Court of Honor yesterday. I have two boys in Scouts - one is a Wolf and the other a second year Webelo. They assisted in the ceremony with the honor guard as well as lighting of candles during the Spirit of Scouting Ceremony. I was honored that we were invited and that my boys were asked to participate. Scouting has been a wonderful asset to our family.
There always seems to be more options for succeeding generations, but I do believe that the basics don't change. Self-reliance is an option that will never go out of style.
Congratulations to you… when you look at the list of successful men who were Eagle Scouts, you have to believe that it is a valuable contribution to the growth of your son.
My oldest has wanted Eagle ever since he started Scouting in first grade. Yesterday’s ceremony affirmed his determination. My husband and I both do all we can to support our boys in Scouts. Congratulations on raising two fine men!
That’s my thought as well.
But you have to experiment and stick with the experiment, no matter what happens. That’s after all the scientific method. ;)
It couldn’t be that the wise ones had something *right*.
I know troops that will make your son an Eagle in 30 months. They have merit badge workshops each month where every boy earns the same badge as a group activity. They have 14 year old Eagles serving as Assistant Patrol Leaders because they are so top-heavy.
A troop like yours that matures a boy as he rises in rank is a good troop. In the Eagle Factories, a boy that makes Eagle at age 17 is rare because the 17 year olds have been Eagles for a long time.
If you talk to the Scoutmasters of these troops, they are very proud of “their” accomplishment but it is pretty obvious that Eagle is just a participation trophy to these guys, and the parents are happy because to them, Eagle is just another ticket to be punched on the way to declaring their son’s well-ordered childhood a success.
Amen......
Eagle factories produce inferior products. There is little quality control that can stand the wrath of an irate pushy mother
The resume is all that matters, not the quality of the entries
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.