During my life and career in the National Park Service I have had opportunities to interact with Scouts on many occasions, with decidedly mixed results. I would rate the organization as inconsistent. It seems to depend upon the local leaders, and there are a lot of good ones out there, but there are glaring exceptions. Of course, it would be possible to make some of the same observations about the NPS! smile

The good experiences - I once taught Advanced First Aid to an Explorer Troop. It was a marvelous experience. The students were bright, energetic, and involved. We did the standard stuff and then turned to exercises where we improvised with the things we woudlbe carrying on a backpacking trip. It really paid off a few months later, when one of the participants in the group, now a member of our SAR organization, and I were a team of two looking for an overdue hiker. We found him - in bad shape with numerous injuries. Our FAKs were exhausted and we were improvising like mad. At one point Jeff turned to me and said, "I really appreciate the training you gave us." He is currently a practicing physician. Yes, BSA does good stuff.

On the other hand, I hosted another group of Scouts on Santa Rosa Island. They were rowdy beyond belief. I kept waiting for the adult scout masters to step in and exercise some minimal discipline, but to no avail. Finally one of them told me, with reference to the lead hellion, "We don't say anything to him; his Dad is the Scoutmaster, and we are afraid he might quit if we disciplined his son." I guess those Scouts actually did learn some real world lessons about power and its application.

Then their was the Scoutmaster who threw a hissy fit because his troop could not tour Balcony House (Mesa Verde NP) as one group. The fact that group size was limited because of space and that everyone did get to go through the dwelling was of secondary importance.

Coloring my view was my participation in a long and extensive search over fifty years ago for three scouts who tried to climb Mt Wrightson, near Tucson, AZ, just as an incredibly ferocious storm dumped six inches of snow on the ground in Tucson, with a lot more at altitude. Their troop was planning some sort of survival training the following month. From the analysis of their actions and preparations, it is clear that these kids were totally unaware of what they were undertaking and did not know of the potential hazards. Perhaps BSA should get a pass on this one because the excursion was not an official outing. Still..Like I say, BSA is a mixed bag.

My own sons were in Cub Scouts, but dropped out because the program was, well, mundane. At the time I offered my services to the local scouting group for teaching outdoor and survival topics. I never got any kind of response from the organization.
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Geezer in Chief