Its easy to rip on Boy Scouts of America for their policies, but can anyone think of another group comprised of thousands of volunteer adults that spend so much time introducing young boys to the joys of camping and hiking outdoors, while at the same time teaching them to be self sufficient, to be leaders, and grow to be good citizens and great neighbors?

Name another volunteer organization that maintains properties to allow young men and women to backpack in the New Mexico mountains (Philmont Scout Ranch), to canoe the northern boundary waters (Northern Tier), and to experience the wonders of the Florida keys (Florida Sea Base).

The BSA policies are there to keep other people's boys and girls safe. Simple as that.

Requiring the use of commercially designed - and tested - chemical fuel stoves, and requiring adults to supervise the use of these fuels is a simple and common sense measure to avoid the horrid disfigurement or death associated with these highly flammable fuels. I'm happy to leave it to the parents work with their kids to build and use homemade stoves.

About the knife thing, all the BSA policy says is "Avoid large sheath knives. They are heavy and awkward to carry, and unnecessary for most camp chores except for cleaning fish." Personally I agree with that statement. Though I carry both a Ritter Mk3 fixed blade and a Ritter Mk1 folder when camping, the Mk1 gets 99.9% of the usage. The fixed blade really shines in the kitchen and when doing heavy cutting, but for the latter I'm more often using an axe or saw.

Name another organization that teaches hundreds of thousands of youth to how to live outdoors, how to backpack, how to winter camp, how to navigate using a map & compass, how to build outdoor fires, how to cook over them, how to apply first aid, how to shoot with a bow & arrow, and how to safely use knives, axes, rifles, shotguns, and even black powder rifles.

My 16 year old son - a boy with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, is now an Eagle Scout earning his 6th Eagle Palm, and has done ALL of the above. He spent a week at Florida Sea Base last summer, and will be backpacking at Philmont Scout Ranch next summer. Two summers ago the same boy who covered his ears and cried during fireworks came home with the summer camp's shotgun skeet shooting award for weeks' highest score. That little spray-painted clay pigeon is worth its weight in gold to him.

Frankly, I feel bad for young men who haven't had the good fortune of experiencing Boy Scouting. I hope their parents are providing them with this amazing breadth of experience.

Go ahead now - rip on the Boy Scouts of America and their policies, but you're going to come across as kind of foolish.