02-02-2014, 01:39 AM | #11 |
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Re: How to Build a Boy Scout
First, that describes only a small number of the Eagle Scouts I know. I think that there are some Disadvantages that are probably more common to Scouts than to the general population, but I would still not think them really all that typical.
Second, the OP was looking for a "background in Scouting", not the specifics of being an Eagle Scout or lifelong Scout or being the kind of person for whom Scouting is the end-all-be-all of existence. If people can get through Catholic School and still lack the traits you describe, then they can certainly get through Scouts without them. Seriously, most Scouts are pretty ordinary kids. Also, individual units tend to develop a coherent personality AND tend to be regional in nature - I knew troops that were run like the Marine Corps and had a lot of guys like you described, I knew other troops that were only slightly better than thugs. If you see a bunch of Scouts all acting like douchebags, they probably all came from the same Troop, which managed to run out everyone who didn't fit the profile the Scoutmaster wanted. |
02-02-2014, 09:35 AM | #12 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: How to Build a Boy Scout
Quote:
I think the biggest piece of mid to high level scouting might be a basically Cultural or Style Familiarity perk - it gives you a small edge interacting socially with current and former scouts, even from other cultures.
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02-02-2014, 09:50 AM | #13 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: How to Build a Boy Scout
Quote:
Or if you see a bunch of Scouts who all play RPGs, don't like going outside and only go camping so that they can game all weekend without parents imposing bed times, you might have met my old Troop, of which I was the reluctant Scoutmaster.
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02-02-2014, 10:42 AM | #14 | |||
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: One Mile Up
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Re: How to Build a Boy Scout
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[/eagle scout] |
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02-02-2014, 11:56 AM | #15 |
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Seattle, WA
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Re: How to Build a Boy Scout
Gizmos
"Be Prepared!" |
02-02-2014, 12:04 PM | #16 |
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Los Angeles
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Re: How to Build a Boy Scout
I like the idea of using the Dabbler perk to model a scout. If I were going to select eight skills to use for the Dabbler perk that seem kind of standard, I’d go with: Area Knowledge (State/Region), Cooking, First Aid, Hiking, Knot-tying, Naturalist, Survival (whatever is appropriate for the region of origin, but probably just woodland would do), and Swimming. You could make a case for Navigation (Land) instead of one of those. An eagle scout might have a full point in one to three of those skills and have the dabbler points spread to just about anything you can find on this list of merit badges. I would say the skill an eagle scout most likely has a point in is first aid, followed by swimming or hiking.
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02-02-2014, 12:52 PM | #17 | |
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Re: How to Build a Boy Scout
Quote:
I would also argue that even Eagle Scouts are not consistently going to have points in the actual skills. Being a Scout could certainly be used for justification, but gaining a full point would require effort and training above and beyond what Scouting offers. I think I would do Dabbler (First Aid +2, Knot-Tying +2, Hiking +1, Naturalist +1, Survival (pick 1) +1, (Any of Running, Climbing, Swimming) +1) to represent an Eagle Scout's skills. |
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02-02-2014, 12:57 PM | #18 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: How to Build a Boy Scout
Quote:
Isn't scouting something people do at least once a week and oftentimes more than that for many years? So the average Eagle Scout has skill 8 in First Aid and skill 6 in most other scouting skills? Including Hiking? And no higher Navigation than someone who once saw a TV show where a compass was used?
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02-02-2014, 01:19 PM | #19 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: How to Build a Boy Scout
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02-02-2014, 02:48 PM | #20 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
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Re: How to Build a Boy Scout
My scouting experience tells me, like with any group, some buy in, some don't. The below is for those, like myself, who bought in.
If you bought in enough such that at the age of forty you can complete the sequence: trustworthy, loyal, helpful...you probably picked up the code of honor. If you earned camping, wilderness survival, and the like, multiple merit badges that fall under Survival, you probably have points there. Toss in forestry, fishing, and other conservation badges, it might be Naturalist. First aid, life saving and safety probably net a point in First Aid. There are many badges relating to swimming and water sports. It would be difficult to leave Scouting after a few years without having absorbed some civics. Eagles have three badges minimum (at the time I was in). The point I'm getting at is that a Scout who has participated for several years has multiple badges in domains that count as GURPS skills. Not just one badge for a skill, but several. This is particularly true in the primary domains of Scouting; nature, first aid, swimming, and civics. Not just instruction, but also practice. I had well over 400 hours of camping practice, on top of instruction. It's excellent justification for dabbler, true, but I don't think you could be an Eagle without a point in Naturalist or Survival and First Aid. Swimming is almost certain, and some form of civics showing on the sheet is very appropriate. |
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boy scouts, character creation, scouting |
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