Kilt Pin Regs

[Doc Hudson]

Hell's Bells and Oriental Smells!

The lack of woodscraft displayed by city boys during to Matabele and Boer Wars is the very thing that led Lord Baden-Powell to found, with able assistance from Fredrick Burnham, the Boy Scout Movement in the first place.

Burnham, btw, was an American frontier scout, and a veteran of the Matabele Wars, were his exploits behind enemy lines gained him much fame. He also began his friendship with Lord B-P at that time.

[Doc Hudson]

I know that Army ROTC Cadets have to contract with the Army after their second year of training in most cases. I'm not sure what NROTC and AFROTC do.

I can't speak knowledgably about NROTC, but in the AFROTC, Cadets signed a contract at the end of their Sophmore year, just before attending Field Training. After Field Training, Cadets were part of the Air Force Reserve, and any who left the AFROTC prior to commissioning got Reserve Discharge papers with the official rank of Airman Basic.

On a lighter note, back in the mid-1970's when I was an AFROTC Cadet at Troy State University, the AFROTC Detachment had some big plywood letters spelling out AFROTC placed on the hillside at the endzone of the football stadium. Periodically, a squad would have to be sent to straighten the letters, because wags would rearrange them to spell FARTCO.

[macwilkin]

Hell's Bells and Oriental Smells!

The lack of woodscraft displayed by city boys during to Matabele and Boer Wars is the very thing that led Lord Baden-Powell to found, with able assistance from Fredrick Burnham, the Boy Scout Movement in the first place.

Burnham, btw, was an American frontier scout, and a veteran of the Matabele Wars, were his exploits behind enemy lines gained him much fame. He also began his friendship with Lord B-P at that time.

Doc,

I just finished a very well-written and researched book about the military aspects of the Boy Scouts and other organizations in the British Empire entitled "Sons of the Empire: The Frontier and the Boy Scout movement
1890-1918" by Robert H. MacDonald (University of Toronto Press, 1993). Besides the Scouts, MacDonald also discusses the Legion of Frontiersmen, Boys Brigades, Lord Strathcona's Horse (the Canadian version of the Rough Riders), etc. You might see if your local library can get it for you via interlibrary loan.

B-P wanted to see the youth of Great Britian trained in "scouting" (something he observed whilst working with colonial units in S. Africa, such as Strathcona's Horse, etc.) so they would "be prepared" for the next war.

Regards,

Todd

[Bob C]

When I was a Boy Scout, the handbook said that Baden-Powell started the organization because boys were reading a soldiers' guide to scouting, and he thought they should have something more directed to civilian and age-appropriate use.

I don't doubt that your research is more accurate than the myth that BSA printed in my handbook, 30-some years ago. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

[macwilkin]

When I was a Boy Scout, the handbook said that Baden-Powell started the organization because boys were reading a soldiers' guide to scouting, and he thought they should have something more directed to civilian and age-appropriate use.

I don't doubt that your research is more accurate than the myth that BSA printed in my handbook, 30-some years ago. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Exactly, Bob -- this author makes that premise that the American Scouts had more civilian origins then the British Scouts did.

T.

[jfellrath]

Exactly, Bob -- this author makes that premise that the American Scouts had more civilian origins then the British Scouts did.

The story I remember is that the founder of American Scouting, whose name escapes me at the moment, was helped by a scout while in Britain and was so impressed with him that he founded BSA upon returning home.