I saw the BSA help a lot of young men ot who came from some pretty fugged up backgrounds. Saw the same in the military especially those who came from backgrounds lacking support guidance and structure.
Both my parents had to work, they did take us camping but time and money were always limiting factors.
I myself had some awesome times in the Boy Scouts, including one long miserable April night in New York where I about froze to death on account of believing the hype about "Space Blankets"
I never got above First Class with a few merit badges towards "Life", but I was a pretty good Patrol Leader if'n I do say so myself. "Hawk Patrol", we decorated banner with the outstretched wings and tail of a blue jay (nobody said anything about things like that back then). Our patrol even won "best campsite" at that same big jamboree I nearly croaked at. Not figuring we had any chance we didn't really try, and really couldn't tell the judge when he came what sort of knots we had used to put stuff up, only that it worked. I hope that reflector oven we won is still out there somewhere
The sad part is the decline of scouting is a symptom of a greater malaise. If the Mormons are way over-represented today in scouting it is because more of the rest of America once had Mormon-like family values.
Allowing openly homosexual scouts and scout masters in't gonna change that, the people who agree with that sort of thing weren't much into scouting anyway, although a malicious few will now join to advance their agenda and/or out of pure spite.
What the BSA HAS done is alienate the very people they needed to keep scouting alive and relevant.
Birdwatcher
