Eagle Scouts: Check-In!

Does being a Royal Ranger count? Close enough to scout haha

 

i dont even buy the popcorn.

 

1995 Eagle here

 

Thank you John. Feel blessed every day - even when those two are trying to kill each other.

 

I am an eagle scout. I also earned 2 eagle palms. My most notable trip was Philmont by far.

 

No Eagle Scout here, but earned Star (and very proud of it) in the mid-late 80's. This thread just made me want to google my old troop 502, North East Georgia Council. Strange thing is, that troop is now located in Pineville, NC!

WTH!.. My old troop # switched states?!?

 

No, but my two sons are.

 

I was a US Marine. Does that count for anything??

 

1972. OA and Pine Tree. Attended the national jamboree in Idaho where Bob Hope entertained the troops.

Project was organizing a scout troop for the mentally handicapped. Good memories brothers.

 

Hell yea it does

 

After watching my brother in law earn his kid the ES rank, I'm not so sure I can be sold on how great of an achievement this award is. This is just my opinion and I truly hope it is not the norm.

That kid was not allowed to do anything on his own growing up. The kid did grow up to be a fine adult. Pretty normal once he left the nest. I'm sure the ES award helped him to some extent.

 

Earned Eagle in 2003, when I was seventeen.



Project: Cleaning, de-brushing, and replanting indigenous black sage at Eaton Canyon Nature Center in Altadena.
Notable trips: Overnight backpacking trips at least once a month in southern California, Philmont (twice), every summer we'd do a week-long backpack in the eastern Sierras.

I was in Cub Scouts as well. I bounced around from Troop 92 to 546, but then all of our old Cub Scout friends got together and formed our own troop (118). Two of the most important tenets of our troop were (1) that it was a boy-run troop and (2) an emphasis on the outdoors and backpacking. We felt that our previous troops did not place enough responsibility with the boys to run meetings, organize trips and events, and train younger scouts. Some troops have adults that run everything, and the boys are just along for the ride.

Also, we felt that quite a few troops spent WAY too much time primping for Camporee and trying to score the most points (buying all the scouts the same tent and organizing them in lines, pre-building timber/lashing impressive entryway structures and trucking them in, cooking for the boys on kitchen chuckwagons, etc.). We had the most fun by simply going backpacking once a month in the San Gabriels, Los Padres, or Sierras. We learned a lot by burning our own dinners.

Lastly, we had an especially high concentration of boys that Eagle'd. We did not tolerate merit badge mills or helicopter parents that tried to do everything for their kid (doing requirements and projects for them, packing their backpacks, etc.) We were a pretty small troop, no bigger than 25 scouts at our largest. If I recall correctly, just over half of us made Eagle before we eventually dissolved. 2 or 3 younger kids that were still left went to nearby troops, but they said it wasn't the same. Hell, our old troop members had a higher volunteer turnout at their Eagle projects than their current troops. We were just a very close group of friends, and our support for each other was awesome- which is why we had a great Eagle rate. Several of my very best friends today were friends that I grew up with in scouting- and we still spend time together in the outdoors; backpacking, off-roading, snowsporting, etc.

I feel that if more troops were like ours, kids would feel differently about scouting. Our group was small, dedicated, and purposeful. As soon as we felt that the troop's goals were reached, we decommissioned it. To be sure, starting a troop and building the infrastructure from scratch was a difficult thing, but worthwhile. Too many troops these days seem to focus on increasing their huge size and long tenure, maintaining unwieldy inventory, and pushing scouts through the mills.

Scrappy kids can do a lot with secondhand backpacking tents and stoves from REI, their boots, and troop parents that support their creativity.

 

Haha I know how that is buddy! My two are always trying to kill each other

 

Absolutely. Thanks for your service. The Marines I hang out with respect the scouting culture for instilling service, patrotism and an honor code in our kids. Like when we would raise the American flags at the cemeteries on veterans day. Some of them have encouraged their sons to become involved in scouting for those reasons.

Plus when we are camping I can start a great fire without using flamables.

 

Our troop was great because of two men. Don Blier and Rob Ross. Both were veterans of WWII. They were scoutmaster and assistant for over 20 years, trading off positions every year. It was a standing joke that no one knew who was actually scout master that particular year. These men dedicated every Monday night for meetings and at least one weekend a month for outside activities, usually camping. They taught woodscraft, told stories, held informal, non-denominational religious ceremonies in the woods when camping, and generally were like a second and third father to every boy in the troop. When they finally retired, the troop went to hell. They were both great men, and I am proud to have known them.

 

Yes, I have great respect for the Scouts, especially Eagle Scouts. It's a pretty big deal.

 

Just thought of a funny story, related to scouts. As per usual, I learned to tie knots in Boy Scouts. I learned well, and it usually falls to me when something needs lashed down or strung up. Well, as I got older, I started camping with a bunch of High School buddies, and it has continued to this day, some 30+ years later. Five guys in the woods for about a week, with the typical drunken behavior of 20somethings with no women around. We always put up this big army surplus tarp over the campsite.

One year, I started making mead. Honey wine, but it had a kick. I started drinking almost as soon as I got to camp that year, and was well lubricated as evening fell. Then next day, I was noticing the tarp, and how it was put up with the correct knots, and everything was properly adjusted. I asked my one friend who had tied the knots the night before. He just stared at me. I asked again, thinking that he hadn't heard me. He replied, "you did it." I had learned those knots so well I could do it even when I was so drunk I couldn't remember!

 

Well, in the interest of keeping things updated..I wonder how many of you are in here:

 

I feel like I ignore all the emails from NESA so I'm guessing I'm not. Lol