When I was a Boy Scout our Scout Master drove a VW Bug. After our MIA/Boy Scout meeting I popped the hubcap of the Scout Masters driver side rear wheel put 3 rocks in it and put the hub cap back on the wheel. The hub cap was metal back then instead of plastic.

Scout Masters did not volunteer for the job they were told they had to do it so most of the time Boy Scouts was a sham. He was a real A hole to us boys.

So he got into his car and took off down the road with this weird noise coming from his tires. He was soon out of sight and we went back to playing some game. About 10 minutes later we hear this noise and he is driving his car really slow. Even slower than you think and the rocks in the tire are going tink tink tink every few seconds. The scout master gets out of his car and says he has blown a rod in his new car and has to buy a new engine. He is so upset. I start feeling sorry for the A hole and tell him his engine is ok and take the rocks out of his hub cap.

Even gets angry that I/we played a trick on him and his engine is not ruined. He was angry that his car was ok. I got to take my tenderfoot test 13 times. The paperwork always got lost.

I wish I had left the rocks in the tire and let him pay a tow truck to tow it.

Mormon Boy Scouts was such a joke compared to regular scout troops. I used to ask my parents if I could join a real troop. It supporting the church program was more important to my parents.

Did you have any fun experiences in Boy Scouts.

I got my eagle, didn't do jack for it. I would just show up and hey would hand me merit badges and rank advancements.

I remember getting my personal finance merit badge. You are supposed to track your income/expenses for like three months. I told the merit badge counselor I didn't do it. He just said he trusted I would get it done and signed me off. Easiest merit badge ever!

My son got into an argument with his scout leader on one of the levels because the leader said he wasn't "active" in Scouts. My son went to every scout activity but bailed on YM's activities and combined YM/YW activities because he didn't believe in Mormonism and didn't like the YW. He also thought the YM activities were a bore. The scout leader said he only had 50 percent attendance and that wasn't enough. So my son showed him that at designated scouting activities he had 100 percent attendance. The scout leader said he'd never differentiated between church and scout activities before and would have to think about what DS said. So my son just kept talking, pulled out some info from the scouting books about what is and isn't a scout activity, had me post questions to you guys here on RfM about how to handle it and just argued his case until he won.

The scout leader awarded him his advancement. A couple weeks later, I saw the leader at a school function and he came up to me, smiling and asked what my son wanted to do when he grew up. When I said he hadn't decided, the leader said "Well, if he decides to become a lawyer, let me know. I'll give him all my business because when it comes to arguing a point, I've never seen anything like him. He knows how to win." Still smiling, the scout leader walked off and I honestly think that's the advancement my son is most proud of because he stood his ground and won the moral victory.

I enjoyed being a scout and had a great scout master. He took us hiking, flying in his plane etc.. and we had a lot of fun. Just like everything else, its about the people not the program - the people make the program. However, I agree that because LD$ Inc more of less forces people to participate if you get the wrong guy the program will suck.

I was a scout master or asst scout master for about 20 years before I threw in the towel and modeled my program after my old scout master (who is still a good friend). We got merit badges etc., but its more about being outside, learning to love nature and having fun. We did 20 mile backpack trips into Yellowstone, rode bikes to Antelope Island and did lots of overnight hikes all over the Wasatch. I hiked the heck out of the little bastards, including my own boys. They loved it.

LDS Inc., is BS, but the scout program is one bright spot for me.

My scoutmaster was a dentist (we all called him "Doc"). I don't think he was typical of Mormon scoutmasters, as I always regarded him as a scout first and then everything else after that. It was all about adhering to Lord Baden Powell's scouting principles and becoming a good young man first and foremost in his troop. The Mormon part was very minor. I wasn't the best scout (had a bitch of a time with knots) but loved the years I spent in the troop.

Ron Burr

In general you get a position in your ward because

a) you may show some degree of skill in X and the ward needs someone to coordinate X
this maybe youth leadership, PR, Genealogy, etc

b) no one else is available and you dont have anything to do for that particular 5 hours-a-week slot

---------

a) produces happy enthusiastic people who enjoy their roles.

b) produces Aholes



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2014 11:52AM by EssexExMo.

I was once called as Cub Master. I took the time to certify as a trained Cub Master. Later, I was called to be a Scout Master. I was following the same path of certifying as a trained Scout Master when a job change forced a move.

It's a shame when someone accepts a responsibility but doesn't put in the effort to become better trained to fulfill it. Even LDS Scout Masters can (read: should) do this!

I am an Eagle Scout that has no business being an Eagle Scout.

In my experience, the Scouting program for the Mormons is just another tool to alienate people who don't fit their mold. It's used to manipulate people by dangling the possibility of belonging to an organization.

In reality the organization (in the church) is just a sham. They just make Eagles as if on an assembly line.

I feel like a cheap chinese product.

I had a pedophile scout master growing up. He abused a couple of boys. One later committed suicide. I was alone with him in his house on several occasions. I'm lucky nothing happened to me.

I hated scouts... It was so pointless. They'd talk about scout stuff for 3 minutes and then play basketball. I made it a point to not go, and when my parents insisted I'd usually end up at my friend's house playing video games.

After I married, they called me to be the teacher's quorum adviser. I told them that I despised scouts and wouldn't do it, but would take the calling.

I think they thought I'd come around. Hell no. They kept trying to pin me down on wasting half of a Saturday to do the mandatory scout training (I never went). I passed on the Friends of Scouting drive and the Stake President ended up doing mine.

Kind of funny, I was never a rebellious kid/person but scouts... I HATED.

Being that it has some aspects of Freemasonry, it make sense.

I worked for four years and 22 merit badges to get my eagle award.I resent the farce of a fourteen year old skating through to "eagle scout" because he goes to phood meeting regularly.

My feeling and observation only



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2014 09:50PM by thedesertrat1.

I attained the distinguished rank of eagle scout. This required going to my Uncle's house so he could sign off on about half of the merit badges. The other half were then signed off on by a few other members in the ward. After all that hard work, my Mom coordinated my eagle scout project while I pretty much tried to look busy with a shovel. I screwed up the knot they asked me to tie during the final interview and I'm sure the answers I gave to the questions were fantastic. I finished everything but the eagle project by the time I was 14 but didn't complete the project until just before my 18th birthday so I had forgotten pretty much everything by the time I had the final interview. The local non-mormon leader protested pretty much every mormon kid who attained eagle and for good reason. It was a joke.

That said, some of the best times of my life were spent camping in the mountains and joking around with the other scouts. We went to scout camp a couple times and had a blast. We would laugh all night in the tent until one of the scoutmasters, after yelling at us all night to shut up, would come over and threaten physical violence. Then we'd do the same thing the next night. I remember having team canoe races with the other troops and those were a blast. The good times were simply the result of young boys getting together and having adventures. Scouting was nothing more than the vehicle that made that happen.