Boy Scout Troop 325
Scoutmaster Minute
What is Boy Scouts?
March 11, 2003
George Denise, Scoutmaster

As a Scoutmaster, I find people often do not really understand what Scouting is, what the Boy Scouts is all about. They often try to compare it with other organizations that are similar, or turn it into an organization they would like it to be. The Boy Scouts is really rather simple in its basic purpose, yet it is so complex in the outcome it has on those who join the Boy Scouts and stay in the program.

How can you compare it? Is it like a sports organization? In some ways, "yes." Like sports organizations, Boy Scouts is made up of boys in teams called patrols. These teams or patrols train together and they compete against other patrols, similar to the way sports teams compete against one another. But Scouts also work on individual achievement. And they advance in rank.

Is Boy Scouts like the military, or the ROTC, then? In some ways, "yes." Scouts wear uniforms similar to those worn in the military, though they are similar to forest service and park service uniforms too. They do advance in rank. Yet, even though the founder of Scouting was a decorated military officer, and the original Boy Scout handbook was based on a handbook for military scouts, Scouting has made a conscious effort not to be too military-like. This was even true when I was a Boy Scout in the 1950s, shortly after World War II and the Korean War. While we take pride in being American citizens, and we salute the flag and pay respect to the flag and what it represents, we generally are discouraged from marching except in special ceremonies, we do not train for war (though in training to "Be Prepared", we are that much better prepared for anything including war), and we do not salute each other or Scouts of higher rank.

Is Scouting like school, then? In some ways, "Yes." While we do study and learn skills, we do so less in the classroom and more in the field, working in teams, using the patrol method. We study less with books, more with demonstrations, hands-on, trial-and-error. We have no teachers, really. The adults that work with us are advisors. Our instructors and troop guides are older boys from our own ranks, passing down lore they learned from older Scouts themselves.

Is Scouting like boys on a playground, then? Is it just boys choosing up sides, playing games, and just having fun? In some ways, "Yes." The primary, overriding principle of Scouting is to have fun. Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the English general who founded Scouting said that Scouting is a game, but a game with a purpose. The purpose is contained in the values of Scouting, of the Oath, the Law, the Slogan, the Motto, and the Outdoor Code.

Scouting is about creating good citizens, who are prepared to take on the world of tomorrow. Not doing the things they are doing because they have to, but because they want to. Not studying the things they are studying because they have to, but because they find them interesting. Not advancing in rank and learning to lead because it is expected of them, but because it is fun. It is fun to go to meetings and hang out with your friends, but not just hang out, because there is a purpose to it. It is fun to go on outings, not just to play, but to hike and to explore and to learn "woods wisdom." It is fun to learn, and advance and to develop as an individual, but at your own rate, and as you feel so motivated.

You are training to be the citizens of tomorrow. We want you, like the Army says, "to be all that you can be." We want you to do all that you can do to continue to develop yourselves and to help improve the lives of those around you. We want you to make the world a better place. But not because we want you to; because you want to do it.

That's kind of what Scouting is all about.

Thank you. God be with you!