Hello Jeff!

18 May 09 21:47, Jeff Snyder wrote to All:

 JS> Since when was the Boy Scouts about teaching children how to use
 JS> guns and go into dangerous life-threatening situation and
 JS> apprehend people, and potentially even kill people?

Armies were hiking under backpack, living in tents under the stars,
gathering food and preparing it over open fires, etc a few thousand years
before the Boy Scouts. :)   The Boy Scouts were founded by an active
lieutenant-general in the British Army over 100 years ago (pre-WWI). 
Robert Baden-Powell also happened to be an author of books on military
reconnaisance and =scouting= techniques, which quite a few boys were
already reading.  He wrote "Scouting for Boys" to relate the
skills into a non-military context.

 JS> Blessed are the peacemakers, not the warmongers!

Where Boy Scout troops focus on general skills applicable to well-rounded
individuals, Explorer posts are specialized to focus on skills applicable
to specific vocational paths that are likely to be available in just about
any community.  There are medical posts, law-enforcement posts,
fire-fighting posts, etc. and the Scout, if interested, chooses one that
specializes in his area of interest.  It might interest you to know that
"warmongers" like your local police department, paramedics, and
firefighters have also received additional "new skills" training
recently regarding terrorism and the aftermath of terrorist attacks.

Wonder why?  Ain't got nothin' to do with a "Hitler's Youth"
conspiracy...  You should be glad that somebody is raising folks to serve
and protect your ass, whether you know who they are or not, and even if you
protest the concept. They're prepared for that, too...

.\\ike

--- GoldED/2 2.50+