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Camp Site Selection, White House Lawn?


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I liked how they all had very new and clean uniform vests, with patches sewn to military precision...

The most uniform I've seen a group of scouts in a long while

 

Even the tents were all new and matching, and set up with the use of a surveyor's transit!

 

Talk about a staged photo opp!

 

BUT what a great opportunity for those chosen few girls!

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Not unlike the pristine uniforms the youth representatives to the BSA wear when they deliver the annual report to the President/Congress.

 

I'm just wondering, with all the Presidents we have had that have been involved in the Boy Scouts, why it took so long - and will Bob Gates contact the White House and ask for equal time for the Boy Scouts?

 

What a great story to come out of the beltway.

 

(as a side - why am I tempted to invoke the staged "mission accomplished" photo-op)

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What's so great about camping on the WH lawn? No trees, no fires, no fun. Next will be a Jamboree in Central Park. Seriously? The only thing I would think is worse is a BSA STEM Jamboree in front of the Smithsonian.

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I don't know Stosh, looked like the girls were having fun to me - and as a Boy Scout, I've camped in large fields in county forest preserves where there were no trees and no fires allowed and the separation between units might have been 5 feet, if that, and still had fun. 

 

I. for one, would have been thrilled to say, at the start of classes when the teacher asked what I did over summer vacation, that I had camped out overnight on the White House lawn and met the President and First Lady - even if that President would have been Richard Nixon.

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Few Girl Scout troops go camping anymore.  At least the ones in central  Maryland.  My mother was a GS leader for over 50 years, and the one thing that drove her to tears was the fact that the adult leaders flatly refused to " camp" anyplace that didn't have hot showers, beds, heat, and a/c.

   A number of girls went all the way through the program,  earning their Gold Award  (that's the gsa eagle) and aside from summer camps never spent one night under canvas.

 

 And uniforms?!    I can take you to troop meetings of 20-30 girls, and no one is wearing what we would call a uniform. Including the adults.   According to gsa regs if you are wearing the gsa pin then you are in uniform.  

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GSUSA depends more on the leader's desire than the BSA does.  BSA has specific training to LEAD the leader into the outdoors, so to speak.  Not so in GSUSA to my ken. 

If the GSUSA leader doesn't want to camp/hiked/etc., it can't happen.  Gurlz who want to CHE, (especially etc.) need to join Venture Scouts!

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Stosh, in your first post you say "no fun" but then when Calico says the girls seemed to be having fun, you say just because it's fun doesn't mean it's Scouting. I think we get the idea that this is not your idea of a good activity, so I guess it's a good thing you weren't invited.

 

This was a group of fourth-grade girls, about 10 years old. It seems like an appropriate activity for that group. Whether it would be an appropriate activity for another kind of group is a matter of personal opinion. And apart from the outdoors aspect, getting to meet with the President and First Lady seems like a positive activity citizenship-wise. If my troop were invited to do that, I would suggest that they go.

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Great public relations initiative, and more power to the folks that would enjoy such a event.   Personally, I'd say "no thanks" and let someone else take my spot.

 

Trees are nice, but I like camping in the wide open places...prairie, tundra, desert.  But not under spotlights, nor with all of the PR staff, security, and extra rules/nuances of camping in such a place.

 

Plus, I've never been drawn to "celebrity."   Thankfully there are people who are, and I'm glad they will jump thru all of the hoops necessary to make the event a success.  

 

My personal feelings aside, I don't think it would be a good PR coup for the BSA to ask for equal camping time at the WH.   Camping of any kind in the GSA is a big deal.   If the BSA wants to pursue the outdoor adventure theme, they'll need to do something more than a staged campsite in Wash DC.

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