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Old Time - Well, Early 1960s - Scouting


Subdeacon Joe

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This picture makes my heart ache.  My son took he Pioneering merit badge at summer camp last year.  He was bored to tears and couldn't understand why anyone would be interested in lashing things together like seen in the picture.  Then he pulled out a set of dowels and string they had used.

 

Come to find out they didn't build ANYTHING in the merit badge class.  All they did was learn how to do the lashings with dowels and string.  My goodness, when I was a kid, we lashed together a few A-frames from logs we had cut, put them on either side of a ravine, MADE OUR OWN ROPE, and built a monkey bridge across the ravine using the rope and A-frames we had made.  We then traversed back-and-forth across the ravine BECAUSE IT WAS FUN, and because we got a sense of accomplishment at having built something like that.  

 

These kids tied dowels together and called it "pioneering."

 

I got on a forum for Scouting leaders and mentioned this, along with my assessment:  "THIS IS WHY KIDS QUIT SCOUTING!!!"  To my surprise, someone came to the defense of the camp, claiming the lawyers have taken over and do not allow anything like this to be greater than six feet off the ground.

 

SO BUILD A MONKEY BRIDGE SIX FEET OFF THE GROUND!!!!  DON'T TIE DOWELS TOGETHER AND CALL IT "PIONEERING"!!!!!!!!!

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Scouting has changed a lot since I was a Boy Scout (Cub Scout too). Our troop went to the first World Jamboree held at the Irvine Ranch in the early 50's in southern California. We made our own tents, packframes and pack covers. Camped there for 5 days and met scouts from all over the world. I still have a commerative coin given to everyone.

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2 hours ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

Could be, but the color of our uniforms then was much darker than later in the decade.

That is possible, but I noticed that they also have collars.

 

When I was in Scouts, the long sleeve shirts had collars which you were supposed to tuck under when you wore your neckerchief,

22e0087c90e6ad1c986e2c96c4944fcd--boy-sc

 

but the short sleeve shirts were collarless.

 

il_fullxfull.357176544_h39k.jpg

 

Did your short sleeve shirts have collars?

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I've seen that picture before.  It was one of a series presented in a class during the BSA "Doctorate of Commissioner Science" course I was in several years ago.

 

European, as I recall... that particular class was a comparison of BSA to Scouting programs around the world.  There are some places (not necessarily Europe) where sleeping off the ground is considered to be quite prudent ~ there are some nasty critters out there!  Thailand comes to mind....

 

One surprise was that the most popular branch of Scouting in Egypt is... Sea Scouts!  Like one of their Scouts said, "This is Egypt!  Who wants to go camping HERE?"  

 

Anyway, my son's old troop (I was Assistant Scoutmaster and I'm still on the Troop Committee) DOES still do real lashing projects - including towers and monkey bridges and such.  But the Scoutmaster is an old fart like me... and the current Assistant Scoutmaster who is the driving force behind these activities is in his eighties.  

 

I fervently hope the troop can keep the momentum going after they check out....  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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9 minutes ago, Alpo said:

That is possible, but I noticed that they also have collars.

 

When I was in Scouts, the long sleeve shirts had collars which you were supposed to tuck under when you wore your neckerchief,

22e0087c90e6ad1c986e2c96c4944fcd--boy-sc

 

but the short sleeve shirts were collarless.

 

 

 

Did your short sleeve shirts have collars?

I don't remember a short sleeve collarless shirt. We didn't tuck in the collars on the others. Now that you mention it, we might have.

 

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What amazes me about that picture is that, these days, nobody would let that kid even climb up on that platform out of fear he might FALL!.  And those LOGS!  Those poor trees had to die in order for some dumb kid to play Tarzan and sleep in a TREE!  And those kids probably cut those TREES down with a . . . . . HATCHET !!!  Who in their right mind would trust a kid with a hatchet?  That's teaching a kid to use a WEAPON for Pete's sake.

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4 hours ago, Cyrus Cassidy #45437 said:

This picture makes my heart ache.  My son took he Pioneering merit badge at summer camp last year.  He was bored to tears and couldn't understand why anyone would be interested in lashing things together like seen in the picture.  Then he pulled out a set of dowels and string they had used.

 

Come to find out they didn't build ANYTHING in the merit badge class.  All they did was learn how to do the lashings with dowels and string.  My goodness, when I was a kid, we lashed together a few A-frames from logs we had cut, put them on either side of a ravine, MADE OUR OWN ROPE, and built a monkey bridge across the ravine using the rope and A-frames we had made.  We then traversed back-and-forth across the ravine BECAUSE IT WAS FUN, and because we got a sense of accomplishment at having built something like that.  

 

These kids tied dowels together and called it "pioneering."

 

I got on a forum for Scouting leaders and mentioned this, along with my assessment:  "THIS IS WHY KIDS QUIT SCOUTING!!!"  To my surprise, someone came to the defense of the camp, claiming the lawyers have taken over and do not allow anything like this to be greater than six feet off the ground.

 

SO BUILD A MONKEY BRIDGE SIX FEET OFF THE GROUND!!!!  DON'T TIE DOWELS TOGETHER AND CALL IT "PIONEERING"!!!!!!!!!

The lawyers have ruined scouting.  I remember felling trees and building a 20 foot signal tower and other things.  Tremendous experiences.  The camp officers were happy to have us cut the trees because they were in a ravine that would be lake bottom a few years later.

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3 minutes ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

I don't remember a short sleeve collarless shirt. We didn't tuck in the collars on the others.

 

Yup.  They were collarless.

 

Present uniform guides recommend wearing the neckerchief under the collar or tucking in the collar with the neckerchief.  Not s'posed to wear the neckerchief over the collar... like I usually do.  :rolleyes:

 

 

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When my boys were in scouts (both are Eagles) in the 1990s, I thought the merit badge and rank advancement requirements had gotten pretty easy compared to my day. At first I thought maybe it was just my faulty memory. Then I stumbled across some of my scouting memorabilia and saw my first class rank requirements were more comprehensive than their camping merit badge.

 

Toward the end of their days they were complaining that scout badge clinics at summer camp were more demonstration than allowing the scout to do anything. By that time, scouts could acquire 10 or more badges in a 10-day session. In my day, that would have been impossible as there just wasn't enough time.

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15 minutes ago, Marshal Hangtree said:

What amazes me about that picture is that, these days, nobody would let that kid even climb up on that platform out of fear he might FALL!.  And those LOGS!  Those poor trees had to die in order for some dumb kid to play Tarzan and sleep in a TREE!  And those kids probably cut those TREES down with a . . . . . HATCHET !!!  Who in their right mind would trust a kid with a hatchet?  That's teaching a kid to use a WEAPON for Pete's sake.

 

Marshall, that reminds me of a story:

 

In the entire history of my son's troop's outings there only been one injury requiring more than a band-aid - and of course, yours truly was there*.  Then came the year that my ex-, a long-time ER nurse, went along to summer camp as an adult leader.  Timing was perfect, as Travis fell off a log and broke his arm, and Ethan sank his hatchet into his knee.  *Ouch!*  She was within yards both times.  Immediate first aid, then off to the hospital.

 

So, jump ahead a few years - 2010 Eagle Court of Honor.  Five new Troop 118 Eagles.  

 

Part of the program had each scout tell about a memorable event.

 

My son stands at the podium, speaks for a moment, then says "Honestly - my most impressive memory was when Ethan sank his hatchet into his knee at Camp Chawanakee..."

 

The next three young men all pretty much said the same thing:  "Wow!  I was right there when Ethan hatchet'ed his knee!"  "Ohhh... it was horrible!  I watched while Ethan..." and so on.

 

Last kid walks to the podium.  "Hi!  My name's Ethan... and MY most memorable experience was...."   ^_^

 

*Cody and the Undertaker

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5 minutes ago, Marshal Hangtree said:

That's hilarious, Hardpan!

 

Thanks,  Marshall!  Uh... the "hatchet" story or the "Cody and the Undertaker" story...?  :)

 

By the way  ~ we're not s'posed to talk about this (so what're they gonna do, fire me? ^_^), but I was at camp one summer when an entire troop was literally kicked out and sent home.  Seems some of their more enterprising youngsters were trapping chipmunks, skinning 'em, and putting their li'l hides on hoops they'd made from twigs to dry.

 

I had mixed feelings about that... part of me thought they shoulda been given some sort of special recognition for exercising primitive skills...  :rolleyes:

 

Oh - and at Camp Chawanakee the pesky li'l boogers are called "Chawana-bears."  Many, many an expensive backpack has been chewed up by 'em.  Chip 'n' Dale they ain't.    

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47 minutes ago, Sawyer said:

Some changes are bound to happen.  The thing that is bad in my opinion is allowing girls in “BOY Scouts” and not allowing boys in “GIRL Scouts”.

 

Uh... two answers come to mind:  

 

1 - Why would they want to?  :rolleyes:

 

2 - Actually, they have been able to for a number of years.  They just have to identify as being a "girl."   whistling.gif  See # 1.  

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1 hour ago, Sawyer said:

Some changes are bound to happen.  The thing that is bad in my opinion is allowing girls in “BOY Scouts” and not allowing boys in “GIRL Scouts”.

 

I wholeheartedly disagree.  

 

Girls are in SEPARATE TROOPS from boys.  Thus, the boys have NO CHANGE WHATSOEVER to their program.  

 

Scouting was designed to instill moral and ethical values in youth.  Girls are youth.  

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What Mr Cassidy sez.

 

Further... there are something like 38 million scouts in over 165 countries/territories.

 

From what I've been able to find, only 13 of those restrict Scouting to boys only: Bahrain, Barbados, Botswana, Kuwait, Lesotho, Liberia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Swaziland, UAE, and Yemen.  

 

And, until 2019, the United States.*  

 

Pretty heady company, huh?  I'm kinda glad we're no longer a member of that "club."  

 

Heck... Even Afghanistan has girls in Scouting!  

 

*Actually, in this country, girls have been participating in Explorer Scouts for over 50 years, Venture Scouts since it's inception in 1998, and we've had women Scoutmasters since the '70's.  Plus, Cub Scout "Den Mothers" since the 1930's.

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