When I was in the Boy Scouts, a long time ago, it was a quasi-military prep organization, complete with hazing, knife- and gun-play, homophobia and racism, on top of the requisite survival skills

Kinda like a Red, White & Blue Hitler Youth

All I wanted to do was go camping & canoeing and get drunk & high in the woods

I can't see why any girl would wanna sign up for that

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My daughter was in Girls Scouts for a couple years when she was younger. She really liked the friendship and community support aspects of the organization. Sadly, her troop leader had to give up her position due to time constraints and D'Kid didn't get the same vibe with the new leader so she left Girl Scouts as well

You are so full of shit your eyes are brown. I don't know what Troop you were in but I have been involved in Scouts just about my entire life and have never ever seen what you are describing. And if you wanted to get drunk and high in the woods, you joined the wrong organization. No wonder why you have such a low opinion of the program.

i agree with randmart. former eagle scout.

Similar experience here. Former Life Scout.

So we know have 3 people who participated in scouts equating them to the Hitler Youth?

So we know have 3 people who participated in scouts equating them to the Hitler Youth?

Seems like 3 really unlucky people. I moved around a bit as a kid, so I was in three different BSA troops, not counting Cub Scouts. I didn't run into anything like what was described. It was definitely a conservative organization in terms of teaching fundamental core values, but I didn't see any hazing above and beyond normal young kid teasing, there were no guns at all that I can remember, there was definitely no "knife play" since they were very strict about teaching safe use of knives, and I don't remember any racism or homophobia. Of course, when you have 20 or so boys in a range of ages, you'll get teasing, off color jokes, etc, but certainly nothing serious and nothing institutionalized.

I went mostly also because I liked to camp, fish, etc, and stopped at Life because I wasn't interested in enough Merit Badge topics to earn the additional 10 or so required for Eagle. I never ran into or heard of anything like Hitler Youth, including several summers at camps with multiple troops, jamborees, etc.

I think RandMart's description is more extreme than what I experienced but I noticed similar themes during my time in Scouts. It definitely felt like military prep to me, from the uniforms to the language of being sorted into "platoons" and "ranks" to learning to stand at attention and salute and fall out, and so on. Knife and gun safety was emphasized by the leaders but seemed it was honored more in the breach. Racism and homophobia were big no-nos in my troop, but in some of the others in my region it was definitely a strong undercurrent if not openly practiced; but that came from the individual leaders of particular troops, not something that seemed like it was institutionalized within the broader Scouts organization.

I liked Scouting and got a lot out of it but I think there was/is a lot of variation. IMO the default to a military-lite style of organization and the significant level of autonomy from troop to troop can enable bad actors both within the members of the troop and its leaders.

Our troop was supposedly a strong one. There were some very good guys, but the adult leadership was toxic. Racism was a major issue.

Similar experience here. Former Life Scout.

When I was in the Boy Scouts, a long time ago, it was a quasi-military prep organization, complete with hazing, knife- and gun-play, homophobia and racism, on top of the requisite survival skills

Kinda like a Red, White & Blue Hitler Youth

All I wanted to do was go camping & canoeing and get drunk & high in the woods

"quasi military" - wear uniforms, a 'troop' organized into 'patrols', salute the flag, do an opening colors ceremony, report all present and accounted for, police the camp (i.e. cleanup), have duty rosters. This was my experience in scouts. As far as what it was prep for I don't know, but a number of guys from my troop enlisted in the military (most of people I knew of from my town that joined military were from my scout troop).

hazing? - I won't get into details, but there were certainly "ordeals" that some might call hazing; it did not involve sex, alcohol or physical abuse, but the definition of hazing by some is anything that is difficult or could make you uncomfortable. Is making 13 year boys sleep out dispersed in the woods for one night, without a fire or flashlight hazing? Is making someone sleep overnight in a survival shelter hazing? Is making someone do extra chores or 10 push ups as a punishment, hazing? Is telling 12-14 year old kids stories about the camp bogeyman (in our case "Charlie the Bogman") at night out in the wood, hazing? I think once a a couple of older scouts pushed me around a little bit because I kept doing pranks on them.
This was my experience in scouts. Textbook, I guess I was 'hazed', I would call it learning to be responsible and/or not be a pussy.

knife play - yes we had pocketknives and probably were fooling around with them when the leaders were not watching our every move. Yes we were instructed on safe use and handling of knives/axes (Totin chip certification) and yes, the leaders would take these things away from you if you did not follow the rules.

gun play - yes, we had cap guns and sometimes would run around in the woods and have fake battles on campouts. This was the 1980s, remember 'Red Dawn'? This wasn't as weird as it sounds. We did not have real guns, except at the rifle range at summer camp where we used bolt action .22s under heavy supervision. Same deal for archery.

homophobia - at least in the 1980s, if you had any group of adolescent teenage boys there was rampant homophobia. When I was a kid (1980s), calling people a faggot was a common insult (we also used to call people retard). I did not know of a single openly gay person until I went to college. Again, very different world today. My point is this was not confined to the Scouts, more of a generational thing.

There was no drinking or drugs tolerated.

So depending on how you won't to slant it, I don't think RandyMar was too far off.

"The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law. "

So we know have 3 people who participated in scouts equating them to the Hitler Youth?

I was asking if he was in it. Some of his post sounds like the induction ceremony I went through.

Ah, got it. I was OA back a long time ago, but my lodge doesn't exist anymore. Apparently there was some reorganization and it was combined with another.

Come on, man. You know we aren’t suppose to talk about OA!

All of that can be found right on the official OA website.

Shhhhh!