Scouting is one of the most vulnerable victims of wedge politics and attempts to polarize voters. Even among veteran Scouts and Scouters, lines tend to get drawn over what the program should be doing.
Today the New York Times headlines a story, “Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and more.”
It’s Explorers, a group which has been distanced from Boy Scouts by moving it to BSA’s Learning for Life programs. These are not traditional Boy Scouts. I suspect that distinction, small as it is, will get blurred quickly.
It will be interesting to watch discussions about Scouts pictured with semi-automatic weapons and bullet-proof vests.
Exploring used to be more closely related to Scouting. Exploring was for kids 14 years and older. I belonged to an Explorer Post in Utah that specialized in kayaking (I was more active at the council level at the time), and I had the grand opportunity to work with a large Explorer Post affiliated with AMR Corp. (American Airlines), where some of our Scouts got significant time in aircraft simulators (in the good old days, when such machines had downtime). It was a great program.
That was then. Today, 14-21-year-old Scouts can join Venture Crews, which can be co-ed. The old Exploring program you remember survives today mostly in Venturing.
Posted by Ed Darrell 
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
