Tampa Turtle

(I have no way of knowing if this message will be posted) Sunday, May 27, 2018 It is with extreme regret that I after 3,600 posts and 6 years I am ended my association with Scouter.com because I disagree with the recent heavy handedness of the Moderators. I have recently been disciplined and my content erased for an unknown specific issue both Kafkaesque and Orwellian. To all the folks I have met over the years and agreed/disagreed with thank you. The discussions here greatly aided my ‘work’ as a scout leader and was personally rewarding. I have personally met a few folks passing through Tampa which was very exciting. (If you are wondering if I am at my breaking point with scouting I honestly don't know. I am going to do some hiking this summer and see if I want to come back to BSA/Scouts USA come the fall. Too many changes and both my Eagle sons/ASM's who are opposites - one progressive and one liberal -are not coming back because of the changes and proposed changes. I have done my best to not influence them one way or the other.) I am really posting this over the poor treatment by one og the moderators and a warning to some that winter is coming. If I offended anyone with posts of poor taste I apologize. Electronic forums are a poor substitute for face-to-face communication and civility. I have usually tried to say the same things I would say around a campfire and have a hard time writing and expressing my ideas online. But if I ever had un-scout- like behavior it is entirely my responsibility. I still do not know what specific breach of decorum caused such extreme unction. I have asked and asked and frankly at this point I no longer care. I think the forum is useful in these times of organizational change, if for no other reasons than to gripe and blow off steam and then hear the reasons from the other guy. However, like many things these days it is getting harder and harder for folks who disagree to have a common stage to talk.(err…like a Forum). IMHO the threads are being overly managed, moved, and policed. It is just not fun and Scouter is becoming like the Webelos 3 of Scouting. I do feel , both on this blog and on the BSA and related social media threads, that dissent of any kind to recent and upcoming BSA policies will be repressed.( banning a person’s speech and removing ALL trace of three thousand postings is not what we teach our scouts in Citizenship; it is over-reach and over-kill.) I believe this attitude will trickle down from Irving to Councils to individual Scout Leaders if they stick their head above their unit. In any case no hard feelings; it has been a good run. I have connected up with many great scouters and scouts here. Friends are free to email me. Good bye and thanks for all the fish. 'John'* aka “Tampa Turtle” Lostluggage2015@gmail.com * my real name, but I'd prefer to not use my full name because I have discussed scouts and scouters the last 7 years. I am sure you understand.

Sue Nunn's Scoutmaster MB course at Woodruff SR was like that.

Me too. The Seminoles are supportive of our efforts.

So will we have a "Linked Lodge"? Or will the youth be (wait for it)...."Co-Ed". (cue music)

Many of this saw this coming but we keep getting told that "no, no, no changes no co-ed". The meeting requirement will be a problem for some patrols...our best patrols just get together and meet in addition to Troop meetings...which is exactly what we want them to do.

Welcome.

Good topic. Son#2 just had his (delayed for a buddy) ECOH Sunday* and has well aged out. I am attached to few of the older boys and show up for the old pep talk and sign offs but seem to have less and less reason to be there. Mrs Turtle, understandably, is asking me after 10 years what is my next step. Someone already tapped me on the shoulder to be a DC, someone else to do EBOR duty at the District. Hits just as the nest is emptying. It is hard as I probably identify as a Scouter as much as anything else in my life. How does one stay connected but keep in balance? Feel a bit like a traitor if I plan to cut back and do something I enjoy more (like just hike for fun). I have seen enough divorced old Scouters to not ignore my better half's requests to do more things together. So yea @mashmaster it is not easy. * Fantastic one BTW. Had many old timers and faces re-united. It was truly a family reunion. Many teary speeches including the boys.

I did like the line "Never trust anyone who likes your kids more than you do". BTW I do plenty of other youth based activities and none of them required this (thus far).

Taking the online training today....awfully long...site is overly complicated to work with. I think the demands of sitting through this is going to cause a loss of registered leaders. Again, good content...just too long.

Lief Ericson explorer, Boy Scout*, Coffee achiever. *post humus, honorary

I know Orthodox Scout Troops n Hollywood FL.

You got me there. I am holding my breath on the UMC Central Conference in Africa vote on Skorts vs. Skirts.

I wouldn't dismiss anybody...you don't want to attract attention as a problem. I have known different receptions at different places by different RC bishops. It mostly boiled down to if the bishop had been a scout and had fond memories of it.

Yes and the UMW is very liberal. It is quite a mixed salad of directions. At our church the men's group was always hostile to the scouts (too much dinged up furniture) while the women love us. The irony was the complaints went away when the men's groups died off and the church rolled their remaining funds to the troop. The women support us on a regular basis and chip in now and again as the boys look smart in their uniforms and provide labor for this and that.

The Catholic Church has many, many organizations, groups, and orders that are sometimes aligned with Rome and sometimes not. Surprisingly diverse. Just get a group of Priests, Nuns, and Monks together and you will find out. The United Methodist Church (which is a CO of many units) has multiple Scouting oversight groups but no one in our UMC sponsored Troop ever recalls a single contact, letter, or brochure since we have been around since 1955. The United Methodist Men has this: http://www.gcumm.org/scouting/ They mostly like any group.They seem to parrot whatever National says.