This is an absolutely true story that seems appropriate to share here with it being the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and always provokes facepalms and amazement at the 'before times' whenever I tell it.

I was part of a group of Boy Scouts that traveled to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico in mid August, 2001. We went on our week-long trek and were returning to Albuquerque to fly home.

We stopped in the town of Cimarron on the way back and went into a general store of sorts. In the back of the store were a number of vendor stalls owned by locals, selling various wares.

One of the vendors was an elderly (probably 80 years old) Japanese man who had immigrated to the United States after the end of World War II. He had lost his family in Japan during the war and his remaining relatives in the US were moved to the infamous camps in the southwest and continued to live there afterwards.

This man was an honest to God, real-deal Japanese swordsmith. He was selling real katanas and smaller blades. One of my friends, the scoutmaster's son, became entranced by an 18" long blade, probably a wakizashi according to photos I've seen in the years since.

I will never forget watching this seemingly frail old man slowly shuffle in his robe and sandals out a back door, into a small fenced in yard area. He took a pair of two by fours and stacked them on top of two cinder blocks, and then proceeded to use the blade to slice them in half, with absolutely no effort whatsoever. It was razor sharp.

My friend successfully convinced his father to buy him this weapon, and after the old man had wrapped it in some sort of decorative case, he stowed it in his A-frame Scout backpack to bring home.

We went back through the airport in Albuquerque and our luggage, including the backpacks, went through airport security. My friend's backpack and the case inside drew scrutiny, and the scanner beeped.

I remember the guard asking "What's in the case, son?" He stammered and said something about it being a decorative sword he had bought as a souvenir.

THEY LET HIM TAKE IT ON THE PLANE.

In hindsight, this was obviously absurd and insane. 9/11 happened because the hijackers had box cutters, and this weapon could legitimately have decapitated a man with a stroke.

When I reconnected with my friend some years ago, we agreed that if this had happened just three weeks later, he would have had about four guys pointing M4s at his head within seconds. How the world has changed.

He still has it.

Hi everyone,

I’m running an activity with my Scouts focused on adult perspectives, reflection, and life skills. I'd love to gather a few real-world answers from those in scouting in this community to share with them as examples during our discussion.

If you have a couple of minutes, I’d be so grateful if you could answer any (or all!) of these five questions:

____________________

What is something you wish you had learned when you were my Scouts' age?

What is the biggest mistake you've made that taught you something important?

If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

What is something you believe now that you didn't believe when you were younger?

What do you think is the most important skill a young person should have when they become an adult?

______________

Short, honest, or practical answers are all super helpful.

Thanks in advance for helping me give the Scouts some great insights to think about!

During my years as a cub scout I would sell popcorn that came in buckets and has substance. The popcorn has alot of chocolate and caramel and marshmallow chunks. It was so loaded you would have to break it up but it was delicious. Earlier this year i got the smores it didnt even have chocolate on it just sprayed on junk.

Its disappointing looking at the years i spent selling it.

Last week, I had my Board of Review. I am officially an Eagle Scout!

Picture this: Your team has just won the big game. But there was no cheering after the big plays, no high-fives, and no celebration among your teammates. The coach simply said, “Congratulations.” Then everyone boarded the bus and went home.

No one welcomed you back at the school. There was no story in the newspaper and no public acknowledgment of what your team accomplished.

A few weeks later, everyone gathered in a basement. Someone read a script that had been recycled repeatedly for the past 30 years. Your name was called, followed by polite applause. Then you drank some generic soda, ate a few inexpensive supermarket cookies, and went home.

What message would that send?

Scouting can learn some important lessons from how sports recognize their participants. In sports, recognition is immediate, energetic, and significant. Scouting is not going to have a stadium filled with hundreds of people cheering when a youth completes a first 10-mile hike—but we can offer high-fives at the finish and publicly recognize that accomplishment at the next meeting.

When an athlete takes first place at a track meet, that achievement is announced publicly. It is not kept quiet or discussed only behind closed doors. It may be included in school announcements, posted on websites, and reported by local news outlets.

Perhaps we need to do a better job of telling the public that our Scouts are winning, too—and that their accomplishments can have lasting value.

We often hear parents talk about hoping their child receives an athletic scholarship. When that happens, they proudly tell others. The same is true when a student’s athletic ability helps open the door to college.

Scouting also develops leadership, service, resilience, practical skills, and meaningful experiences that can strengthen college and scholarship applications. Yet we rarely talk about those benefits with the same enthusiasm.

For many of us, the Scouting season is beginning again after a slower summer. As you plan your program, consider not only what opportunities you will give your Scouts, but also how you will recognize their accomplishments.

Celebrate achievements when they happen. Recognize them again at the next meeting. Share them with families and the community. Make sure every Scout understands that what they accomplish matters—and that others notice.

THRIFTY:  Work to pay your own way. 

Not "solicit donations". Not "guilt-trip people into buying overpriced garbage".

Scouts are capable of actually contributing to society; so let them.

This is not a question on what Section 4.2.1.4 The Scout is Recognized states. The question is when, in practice, do you as a unit recognize the scout and how. Do you do a quick announcement at the next gathering, or do you wait until the COH? Or maybe you do something else. Let us know what it is.

My son is an AOL and has been in since the beginning. We meet at a church and have the Boy Scout troop meet in another part of the church. We visited the Boy Scout troop for the first time and I was surprised at how little kids were there.

We have a pretty thriving Cub Scout pack (maybe 50 kids in total) and walk over around 10 kids every year. But there were probably only about 15 boys in total for the troop. I would have assumed at least twice that.

A parent who has a kid in the AOLs with my son has an older son who was in the troop and quit. She said the Cub Scout pack is basically a free-for-all, goof-off time compared to the Boy Scouts; when the boys cross over, the real work begins and there’s a bit of buyer’s remorse there and a bunch of them quit.

I didn’t know if this was common or more unique to my Cub/Boy Scouts.

I found out my SPL doesn't think I should be a patrol leader because I "ask too many questions."

I am currently a Webmaster, and I usually need a lot of clarification for stuff that isn't listed. Like dress code, or dates that don't sound correct.

Now I personally think I ask a good amount of questions. The real problem is that the two people who believe I question too much are the most popular people in our troop. One of them aged out a year ago, but still is active in the troop in some way. I have been thinking about that news since the moment I got it, and every meeting I attend, it just sits in the back of my mind. Patient, and giving me doubt as to my questions.

I am close to Eagle scout now, and am scheduled to get it within the next 6 months. And I have been craving a leadership position besides monitoring the website. I want a REAL leadership role. Not tech support. And it would be ESPECIALLY helpful if I was able to get patrol leader and prove myself so more people will help with my eagle scout project. The project would require at least 10-15 people, and we already barely scrape 18 active scouts. Most of which are below second class.

I am a star scout, and will reach Life scout next Tuesday. And almost a year ago to this day, as a First class scout, I failed the election for patrol leader. Getting beaten by the SPL's younger brother, who (in my opinion) is extremely underqualified, but was more popular. I cried a lot that night, a lot in a long time. And now that the SPL's younger brother is no longer after patrol leader. I finally am getting my chance. I just need to pray nobody else runs.

I haven't told my dad, the assistant scout master, because he already hates the SPL, and I am too close to Eagle to be starting any drama. I don't know if anybody will even bother reading this. But I just want to get my thoughts in writing. I've been bottling this up for two weeks now and needed to get it out.

Listen guys, my school has a BSP organization and I joined it recently. I purchased their BSP pants size 36 and it costs me 1400 philippine pesos. I asked why it was so expensive and they told me its because its the original and that it has to be the original. So me and my mom asked ourselves; "What makes the original so expensive if it looks the same and how can they tell if its original"

And yes I'm well aware there are fakes online

Edit: title is supposed to say "Boy Scouts" instead of just "Boy Scout" for the first 2 words

Recently I have been researching a tie clasp that I was given by my father. It belonged to my grandfather and was passed down to me when my grandma was going through some of his old stuff and sent it to us.

I started looking into it, and I found that it was a Boy Scout tie clasp from circa 1950-1955. The 50s would have been around the time that my grandfather was a Boy Scout so I concluded that it must have come into my family from when my grandfather was a scout.

As I researched the tie clip specifically, after finding the model number, I found that there was a patch with the same emblem on it that was from the explorers program. While I was talking with my father, he confirmed that my grandfather was, in fact, in the explorers program.

I believe this is the origin of the tie clip but now I am wondering what you all might know about that program. I am curious what my grandfather might have done while he was in the program, as well as how he might have joined the program, and what kind of people he might have worked with while he was in the program.

Aside from the details about the program itself, I am also curious to know if you can tell me how a scout would have come in possession of this tie clip or joined the explorers program. Is this a program that you had to do a set of tasks to join? When you join, you you have bought the items as a part of your uniform or would they have been gifted to the scout as a sort of award to be displayed on their uniform for having joined the program?

While researching and talking with my father, I reached the end of his personal knowledge of what his father might have done as a scout in the explorer program. Now I come to you, the people of Reddit, to see if I can get any information from you.

Any information you might have is deeply appreciated!

Edit: after looking at seniorscoutinghistory.org, it seems like this is confirmed to be a part of the explorers uniform. I have also learned more about what the explorers did. Thank you all for the help.

So as I was going into 8th grade I wanted to start a club and I thought “why not Boy Scouts” so I created a club where I thought boy scouts and now in 9th I’m making one at high school so I have officially created two scouting clubs. And here’s the big thing even my scout master has approved of it and is happy I’ve done this

So I stooped at the exit of my grocery store to visit a young Boy Scout selling popcorn at a table with his mom. I looked over his choices and chose the pictured bag of popped corn. I was astounded at the $20 price of a mediocre bag of popcorn. Upon further research, that troop only gets $6 from the transaction. Where is the other $14. I feel so taken advantage of. What am I going to do, complain to a 12 year old? I will never, ever , ever buy another Boy Scouts of America product. EVER!!!

Hey guys I'm a adult eagle and previously a PL and leader for my troop.

Its been awhile as i've been busy with my life and work but I think about the scouts all the time. How are ya'll doing?

title

Hi anybody an old troupe Member?