Martin Hash wrote:C-Mag wrote:Martin Hash wrote:
My kids were both Eagle Scouts, and their cousin. How about you?
Boy Scouts and Eagle Scouts generally suck in the woods. FACT
R U an Eagle Scout? Do you know my sons & nephew, or any of the Eagles in my troop? Have you hiked the Inca Trail? Sawtooth Mountains? Na Pali Coast? Driven in the "Gambler 500" race? Did you go to West Point or the Air Force Academy? Boy Scouts teaches independence & self-sufficiency. Unless your track record in adventure & exploration is anything like the kids I know, it would be disingenuous to talk.
It's not an insult Dr Hash. It's just the facts. Boy Scout and Eagle Scout programs are valuable, great programs, I'm really glad we have them. That being said, they are primarily designed and carried out for Suburban Youth to get out in the woods and learn some skills. OUTSTANDING GOALS. But the image of the Eagle Scout doesn't fit reality in the woods.
You being an academic, resumes matter. You've listed a lot of great stuff and challenged my resume as a woodsman so here's a little of it. I grew up in the Rocky Mountain west, hunting, hiking, fishing, trapping, camping. I made all my teenage spending money on pelts, trapping beaver, mink, muskrat, weasels and coyotes. I hiked through the rockies, packed horses in, set camps from single man to dozen man camps. I've stalked, ambushed, and hunted Deer, Elk, Moose, Bighorn Sheep, Mountain Goats, Bear, Mountain Lions, Lynx, Bobcats, Wolves and Pine Martins. I've trapped, fished, netted, used set lines, snares, hounds and live traps. And most of that I did many times before I was 20.
I logged, worked as a Sawyer, Hooker and Skidder operator. I learned to rebuild saws, axes and chainsaws. Live for months in the woods with a trip to town 2-3 times a month for groceries. I built and cleared roads, bridges, lookouts and trails in Rocky Mountains, California and the Great Lakes region. I've lived for 4 months in a tent in the Beduoin Desert, spent weeks in the Jungles of Panama, the Highlands of Guatemala, the Mosquito Coast of Honduras working with natives and learning their skills and primitive survival techniques. I've been trained and used emergency first aid in wilderness areas. I've been through the US Air Force SERE school, Survival Evade Resistence Escape. I established a Regimental Winter Survival Training School.
That's some of my outdoor skill resume, what you won't find in my resume that are mandatory for Eagle Scouts are a badge for Global Citizenship with stints with the European Union or world court, Nor did I get etiquette and manners training, or the blessings of speaking to a counselor.
The problem with Scouts is, their reputation is far greater than their experiences in the woods. It's a very valuable program, but camping, hiking and cycling enough to get a badge doesn't make you very skilled in the woods.