Scouting, Volume 86, Number 4, September 1998 Page: 6
74 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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are sewn on crooked or in the wrong
places....
...We should remember that the
uniform is just one method we use to
help achieve the three aims of Scout-
ing, which are to build character, foster
citizenship, and develop fitness, [and
that] it is not the uniform, but what is
inside the uniform, that makes a Scout.
Bruce McCrea
Scoutmaster, Troop 180
Lansing, Mich.
♦ The sampling of critical letters in the
March-April issue was not meant to de-
tract in any way from the accomplish-
ments of the Scouts of Troop 76 or to
overemphasize any specific insignia in-
fractions, but rather to call attention to
how seriously some Scouters take the finer
points of correct uniforming.
However, as the responses above dem-
onstrate, it is also important to remem-
ber that uniforming is just one of the
eight methods (along with ideals, patrols,
outdoors, advancement, personal growth,
adult association, and leadership devel-
opment) used to achieve the three aims
of Scouting—character, citizenship, and
fitness. (For more on uniforms and in-
signia, see this issue's Front Line Stuff
column on page 18.)
Are tenure records available?
I have been Scoutmaster of Troop 14
for more than 45 years. Your recent
profiles of two Scouters with more than
60 years of service prompt me to ask if
records are kept of leader tenure. What
is the longest unit leader tenure known?
Joe Ehrman
San Francisco, Calif.
... As a youth I was both a Cub Scout
and a Boy Scout. Now that my sons are
Scouts, I have become involved again
and would like to determine the exact
length of my time in Scouting. Is it
possible to find out the exact years and
duration of my Scouting tenure?
John McDougall
Berkeley, Calif.
♦ The BSA national office does not main-
tain historical records of memberships in
individual Scout units nor keep individ-
ual registration records. However, some
local councils may maintain records of this
type, or a chartered organization of a troop
or pack could have kept records of unit
membership.
Scouts helped hikers in distress
In October we were hiking in pairs in a
remote part of Arizona. Two of us
were to meet the other two at a pre-
arranged point, but when the second
pair didn't arrive on schedule, we decid-
ed they must be injured on the trail. The
two of us began to drive the 15 miles
back to civilization. It was dark, and on
the rocky and pitted road off the moun-
tain, we got not one, but two, flat tires.
After an hour and a half, still far
from our destination, we had the in-
credible good fortune to flag down the
only vehicle we had seen in eight hours.
It contained Kevin Larson and his Boy
Scouts. This well-prepared group re-
paired one tire and replaced the other
and then escorted us down the mountain
to where we could contact the authorities.
It turned out our missing hikers had
been forced to turn back on the trail
and had trekked 12 miles through a
canyon in the dark to the campsite we
had used the day before. It was there
that we were all reunited at 11 p.m. It
was a frightening and exhausting day,
and all four of us would like to extend
our heartfelt thanks to the boys of
Troop 99 from Chino Valley, Ariz., for
postponing their camp-out to help
some hikers in trouble.
Susan von Salis, Kim Brookes
Margaret Schaefer, Ruth Slater
Maiden, Mass.
A question about values
One night my son called from college
and said he was not sure how to
answer the following question on his
application for medical school: Most
individuals live by a system of values and
beliefs which serve as a guiding principle
for daily living. What influences have been
particularly important to you? (Please de-
scribe both values and influences.)
I pointed out to him that he had
been living within an all-encompassing
set of values he had learned many years
earlier. The next day via e-mail he sent
me his answer, which I would like to
share with other Scouters:
I joined the Cub Scouts when I was 8
years old and earned my Eagle Scout
[Award] by 13, one of the youngest in
the district's history. At the time I did not
realize what long-range effect and im-
pact Scouting would have on me and my
entire life. Back then it was just a cool
thing to do, a group of friends to go on
neat camping trips. I worked hard for my
merit badges and higher ranks because I
thought the activities were fun, not as
training for a future life as an adult.
Part of being a Scout was to recite the
Scout Oath and Scout Law before each
meeting. We said them because our Scout-
master required it, not because we really
believed or disbelieved them. We weren't
real serious about it; it was just a re-
quirement to be a member of Scouting
and therefore [be] with my group of friends.
But as I became older, and without
even realizing it, I was living within the
bounds set by the Oath and Law. This
may sound corny or trite, but the Law's
12 points—trustworthy, loyal, helpful,
friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheer-
ful, thrifty, brave, clean, reverent—and
the Oath's emphasis on duty to God and
country, helping others, and keeping
oneself morally straight, encompass
everything that is decent and good. I re-
alize now that the Scout Law makes a
great deal of sense as a code of daily con-
duct for today's modern society.
The beliefs that Scouting instilled in
me steered me clear of drugs, which were
rampant at my high school, and binge
drinking every weekend at college...
Twice I went overseas...to represent the
U.S.A. at jamborees. [Scouting's influ-
ence] helped me face the course load of a
college engineering student, [and] it gave
me the courage to stop a group of bullies
from harassing a young retarded boy in
my high school.
I think I will carry the influence of
Scouting with me for the rest of my life.
As a doctor, or as any individual, I can-
not think of a better code of ethics to live
one's life by.
Joe Weingarten
Assistant Council Commissioner
Miami Valley Council
Dayton, Ohio
(Letters continued on page 61)
SCOUTING SEPTEMBER 1998
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 86, Number 4, September 1998, periodical, September 1998; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353655/m1/6/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.