Scouts is Uncool

[King Ding Dong]

Until we drop the school work and have a uniform that looks more like a BDU and less like a corporate-casual desk jockey, scouts will always be uncool.

Well said. Not so sure being "cool" is one of the character development aims of Scouting.

[Kudu]

Until we drop the school work and have a uniform that looks more like a BDU and less like a corporate-casual desk jockey, scouts will always be uncool.

Some of our Troop's natural leaders are in ROTC. Boys tend to think of them as cool.

 

School work Scouting and office dweeb "leadership skills"?

 

Uncool.

 

The very first page of my Boy Scout Website was a photographic comparison of a BDU with the official dress designer uniform of the time:

 

http://inquiry.net/uniforms/bdu.htm

 

Around 1997 I switched my support to nylon zip-offs.

 

Wood Badgers from around the country were so incensed at my advocacy of the uniform as an outdoor method, that they called my local Council office to report me. Whenever I stopped by, the secretaries would say "Those people from the Internet have been calling us about you again!"

[Sentinel947]

Until we drop the school work and have a uniform that looks more like a BDU and less like a corporate-casual desk jockey, scouts will always be uncool.

I'm in ROTC in college, and the Scouts always ask me questions about it and seem to think it's pretty cool. Cool as in macho, probably not cool as in fun or exciting.

[hyperduck]

Something I dug up a while back. Nuf said.

This Scout Can.

Scott Miller

2005-03-02

A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.

It's unfortunate that I have to defend the fact that I was a Boy Scout. But there was the whole GOD thing back in the 80's and now the GAY thing; the fact that people have seen them as a para-military group since the 'Nam, and lay on top of that the GEEK thing and you'd just as soon have your kid join the "Dungeons and Dragons Club". I'll wager the D&D may have TALKED about killing, but they never did. (I'm convinced that if the Boy Scouts of America hired the publicist the truckers had during the 1970's they wouldn't be in such piss poor shape. But I digress.. )

A "Camporee" in the B.S. vernacular is a gathering of troops, generally of the same Area Council (ours still being the Stonewall Jackson Area Council---don't even go there) for a weekend of camping, competition and LEARNING. This particular Camporee was to learn how you could survive in the wild with only your wits, a knife, two matches, a tarp, a compass, a length of rope and whatever you could hide on your person. We were given coordinates to a field strewn with potatoes (I think they referred to them as "Brazilian nuts"). Another set of coordinates took you to a field laden with carrots. You gathered your food, built yourself a shelter, started your fire and waited. For what? FOR WHAT? I'll tell you for what.

Yonder came a tractor-trailer loaded with live chickens to be released in a fan fare worthy of Les Nessman. When I see pictures of soccer crowds in England going on a rampage, or footage of the Ayatollah Kohmeni's funeral, or the Christmas Season that cabbage patch dolls were the toy to buy, it reminds me of the sight of four or five hundred starving twelve to fifteen year olds chasing after twice as many chickens. Mankind hasn't come that far, let me tell you.

One scout in our troop, and I won't name him (Macon Coleman) was lucky enough to be among the first to snatch a bird, and before anyone could think he smacked it's head against a tree trunk. Job done. And done well, I might add. We had that yard bird plucked, gutted and cooked before ANYONE. We were ready to chow down so quick that we almost missed the scoutmaster running from fire to fire telling everyone NOT to eat the birds. Somebody figured out that they weren't FDA inspected, and the last thing the BSA needed was a lawsuit...

It was then I looked over at the campsite next to ours, and saw a lone scout holding a live chicken in his arms. He was crying. I guess the chicken was too. He couldn't bring himself to kill it.

I guess it would be here you would expect some sappy ending, but those damn city troops were a bunch of wimps. He'd probably make his parents stop off at KFC on the way home because he was hungry and not give it a second thought.

I guess to be a scout you don't have to kill chickens, just choke 'em.

BUT IN CONCLUSION:

To all you "crunchy granola suites" out there, when you're having a meadow party and you have your kegs but no one can build a fire because it's raining, who can?

This scout can.

When you're drowning after diving into the town duck pond drunk as a skunk, who can save you?

This scout can.

When you're moving home from college and you're trying to tie down your Morrisey poster so it won't fly off your parents' car, who can?

This scout can.

When it does fly off your car and causes a huge accident, who can treat the wounds of your soon to be accusers?

This scout can.

Who can out-smoke, out-drink, out-cuss and then (and only then) out-argue you about the worthiness of The Boy Scouts?

This scout can.

 

[blw2]

Something I dug up a while back. Nuf said.

This Scout Can.

Scott Miller

2005-03-02

A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.

It's unfortunate that I have to defend the fact that I was a Boy Scout. But there was the whole GOD thing back in the 80's and now the GAY thing; the fact that people have seen them as a para-military group since the 'Nam, and lay on top of that the GEEK thing and you'd just as soon have your kid join the "Dungeons and Dragons Club". I'll wager the D&D may have TALKED about killing, but they never did. (I'm convinced that if the Boy Scouts of America hired the publicist the truckers had during the 1970's they wouldn't be in such piss poor shape. But I digress.. )

A "Camporee" in the B.S. vernacular is a gathering of troops, generally of the same Area Council (ours still being the Stonewall Jackson Area Council---don't even go there) for a weekend of camping, competition and LEARNING. This particular Camporee was to learn how you could survive in the wild with only your wits, a knife, two matches, a tarp, a compass, a length of rope and whatever you could hide on your person. We were given coordinates to a field strewn with potatoes (I think they referred to them as "Brazilian nuts"). Another set of coordinates took you to a field laden with carrots. You gathered your food, built yourself a shelter, started your fire and waited. For what? FOR WHAT? I'll tell you for what.

Yonder came a tractor-trailer loaded with live chickens to be released in a fan fare worthy of Les Nessman. When I see pictures of soccer crowds in England going on a rampage, or footage of the Ayatollah Kohmeni's funeral, or the Christmas Season that cabbage patch dolls were the toy to buy, it reminds me of the sight of four or five hundred starving twelve to fifteen year olds chasing after twice as many chickens. Mankind hasn't come that far, let me tell you.

One scout in our troop, and I won't name him (Macon Coleman) was lucky enough to be among the first to snatch a bird, and before anyone could think he smacked it's head against a tree trunk. Job done. And done well, I might add. We had that yard bird plucked, gutted and cooked before ANYONE. We were ready to chow down so quick that we almost missed the scoutmaster running from fire to fire telling everyone NOT to eat the birds. Somebody figured out that they weren't FDA inspected, and the last thing the BSA needed was a lawsuit...

It was then I looked over at the campsite next to ours, and saw a lone scout holding a live chicken in his arms. He was crying. I guess the chicken was too. He couldn't bring himself to kill it.

I guess it would be here you would expect some sappy ending, but those damn city troops were a bunch of wimps. He'd probably make his parents stop off at KFC on the way home because he was hungry and not give it a second thought.

I guess to be a scout you don't have to kill chickens, just choke 'em.

BUT IN CONCLUSION:

To all you "crunchy granola suites" out there, when you're having a meadow party and you have your kegs but no one can build a fire because it's raining, who can?

This scout can.

When you're drowning after diving into the town duck pond drunk as a skunk, who can save you?

This scout can.

When you're moving home from college and you're trying to tie down your Morrisey poster so it won't fly off your parents' car, who can?

This scout can.

When it does fly off your car and causes a huge accident, who can treat the wounds of your soon to be accusers?

This scout can.

Who can out-smoke, out-drink, out-cuss and then (and only then) out-argue you about the worthiness of The Boy Scouts?

This scout can.

I enjoyed that.

I even remember the Less Nessman reference when it originally broadcasted back in the day.

Too funny!

[King Ding Dong]

Something I dug up a while back. Nuf said.

This Scout Can.

Scott Miller

2005-03-02

A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.

It's unfortunate that I have to defend the fact that I was a Boy Scout. But there was the whole GOD thing back in the 80's and now the GAY thing; the fact that people have seen them as a para-military group since the 'Nam, and lay on top of that the GEEK thing and you'd just as soon have your kid join the "Dungeons and Dragons Club". I'll wager the D&D may have TALKED about killing, but they never did. (I'm convinced that if the Boy Scouts of America hired the publicist the truckers had during the 1970's they wouldn't be in such piss poor shape. But I digress.. )

A "Camporee" in the B.S. vernacular is a gathering of troops, generally of the same Area Council (ours still being the Stonewall Jackson Area Council---don't even go there) for a weekend of camping, competition and LEARNING. This particular Camporee was to learn how you could survive in the wild with only your wits, a knife, two matches, a tarp, a compass, a length of rope and whatever you could hide on your person. We were given coordinates to a field strewn with potatoes (I think they referred to them as "Brazilian nuts"). Another set of coordinates took you to a field laden with carrots. You gathered your food, built yourself a shelter, started your fire and waited. For what? FOR WHAT? I'll tell you for what.

Yonder came a tractor-trailer loaded with live chickens to be released in a fan fare worthy of Les Nessman. When I see pictures of soccer crowds in England going on a rampage, or footage of the Ayatollah Kohmeni's funeral, or the Christmas Season that cabbage patch dolls were the toy to buy, it reminds me of the sight of four or five hundred starving twelve to fifteen year olds chasing after twice as many chickens. Mankind hasn't come that far, let me tell you.

One scout in our troop, and I won't name him (Macon Coleman) was lucky enough to be among the first to snatch a bird, and before anyone could think he smacked it's head against a tree trunk. Job done. And done well, I might add. We had that yard bird plucked, gutted and cooked before ANYONE. We were ready to chow down so quick that we almost missed the scoutmaster running from fire to fire telling everyone NOT to eat the birds. Somebody figured out that they weren't FDA inspected, and the last thing the BSA needed was a lawsuit...

It was then I looked over at the campsite next to ours, and saw a lone scout holding a live chicken in his arms. He was crying. I guess the chicken was too. He couldn't bring himself to kill it.

I guess it would be here you would expect some sappy ending, but those damn city troops were a bunch of wimps. He'd probably make his parents stop off at KFC on the way home because he was hungry and not give it a second thought.

I guess to be a scout you don't have to kill chickens, just choke 'em.

BUT IN CONCLUSION:

To all you "crunchy granola suites" out there, when you're having a meadow party and you have your kegs but no one can build a fire because it's raining, who can?

This scout can.

When you're drowning after diving into the town duck pond drunk as a skunk, who can save you?

This scout can.

When you're moving home from college and you're trying to tie down your Morrisey poster so it won't fly off your parents' car, who can?

This scout can.

When it does fly off your car and causes a huge accident, who can treat the wounds of your soon to be accusers?

This scout can.

Who can out-smoke, out-drink, out-cuss and then (and only then) out-argue you about the worthiness of The Boy Scouts?

This scout can.

Arthur 'Big Guy' Carlson: As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!

[blw2]

Until we drop the school work and have a uniform that looks more like a BDU and less like a corporate-casual desk jockey, scouts will always be uncool.

Kudu, just took a look at your BDU comparison page.

When I read your comment about wanting BDU's, I have to say the image is of some para-militant nut-job that wants to play army with the boys.

Looking at your site, it seems that you are really just suggesting using the military bdu pants though, and you bring up some great points. I might agree with the idea of substituting the pants. They are certainly designed and built for many of the needs of scouting, and for the purpose really do look functional and maybe even "macho" or "cool" for many.

I'm not so sure I would buy into the whole BDU uniform though..... The military blouse has a certain look that I don't think would be appropriate for the "image" of scouting. I actually think the current issue stuff even looks rather stupid...... they can't even sew the patches..... er Velcro.... on straight! The flag on the sleeve flies backwards and all the patches droop. I personally think that the BSA and military both should be able to design the practical features that you highlight into a garment that also has a classy look and gives an image of strength an good order.... not the sloppiness of the bdu.

 

Regardless, I think a better tact might be to push for borrowing design features and quality of the military BDU......

[Kudu]

Until we drop the school work and have a uniform that looks more like a BDU and less like a corporate-casual desk jockey, scouts will always be uncool.

To me, the BDU blouse looks just like the early BSA Scout Uniforms, but my purpose was to show that the current BSA uniform could be easily constructed from outdoor materials, rather than the official indoor dress designer version that most Boy Scouts hated with a passion.

 

At the time REI made a excellent breathable nylon hiking shirt (with a generous ventilation flap on the back) the same color as the BSA shirt, so we used that.

[Kabong30]

So, um, wow. Probably shouldn't have started my time here by reading this thread.

[njeagle92]

My buddies razzed me and the girls laughed at my "little uniform". Then the local paper did a write up following my Eagle COH. Same buddies, same girls (even the "hot" ones) all agreed my Eagle accomplishment was pretty cool. Go figure.

[berliner]

Until we drop the school work and have a uniform that looks more like a BDU and less like a corporate-casual desk jockey, scouts will always be uncool.

ah - you speak my language. I agree somewhat: I grew up with the entire troop wearing OD BDU pants, and most of them army boots, with the old style pre-centenial shirts. I am used to the class a/class b thing so the scout shirt is only worn to flags at camp, rest of the time is class b's with necker.

 

I think the most ridiculous thing is that we are supposed to teach the kids not to lug around so many electronics,

but the new BSA shirts, even the kids, have a special hole for earphone cable ....

"No you may not take your MP3 or phone to camp, but your scout uniform shirt got this neat thingo for your earphones ..."

[berliner]

I have made/been involved with homepage and 2 Facebook pages for Scouts - one public and one a private group.

Public one is great for recruting, advertising fundraisers, thanking your sponosor/charter etc.

The private group is great for the kids to share camp pictures etc.

I knew a 8 year old who's mom (Pack Leader/Akeela) made an account for the scout ... who am I to say something?

 

 

Ok, a joke I slightly altered (original: Magic the gathering), hope you guys think its funny:

 

 

a) Boy scout aye? Wow you're really letting your nerd flag fly.

 

b) Actually its a GEEK flag.

Nerds are more academically inclined, while we geeks are just super-passionate about our hobbies.

 

a) I see. And the people who know and care about this difference are called ...?

 

b) I believe "dork" is the prefered nomenclature.

 

 

 

 

[Kudu]

Until we drop the school work and have a uniform that looks more like a BDU and less like a corporate-casual desk jockey, scouts will always be uncool.

The purpose of the page was to move the BSA in the direction it eventually took: The Uniform as an Outdoor Method. However, it is not as easy to convince parents that the place for their son's expensive "class A" uniform is on the trail.

[Kudu]

 

 

a) Boy scout aye? Wow you're really letting your nerd flag fly.

 

b) Actually its a GEEK flag. Nerds are more academically inclined, while we geeks are just super-passionate about our hobbies.

 

a) I see. And the people who know and care about this difference are called ...?

 

b) I believe "dork" is the prefered nomenclature.

 

That's going on our Troop's Website!

 

 

[Kudu]

I have made/been involved with homepage and 2 Facebook pages for Scouts - one public and one a private group.

Public one is great for recruting, advertising fundraisers, thanking your sponosor/charter etc.

The private group is great for the kids to share camp pictures etc.

 

Add passworded Websites to my list of why Scouts is uncool. In sports, a boy's first AND last name are published in both the analog newspaper and the online edition to announce his accomplishments.

 

In Scouts we hide in secret vaults what is cool about Scouts (the one thing that has proven to recruit Boy Scouts to our Troop), so as to protect young men against imaginary monsters lurking in the parking lot.