Kevin Christensen
Jul 25, 2017 · 2 min read

John, The off topic content of President Trump’s speech says everything about our president and nothing about the BSA.

I am am Eagle Scout, Scout Master and the father of an Eagle Scout. You are off base on some of your points (assumptions). Please don’t use an off base speech by our President to throw shade at the BSA, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to instilling principles of honor, citizenship and service in the youth of our country.

The BSA nor its leaders endorse the baser actions and comments of our current president nor does the BSA promote or endorse partisanship. I guarantee that most of the leaders and boys cringed at that speech President Trump gave. I suspect that much of the applause was out of courtesy and not agreement.

The speech was totally off base with the the values of scouting and that’s what your article should have focused on. The content was not appropriate for the setting nor the audience. Unfortunately we have a sitting president (Note: All sitting presidents Democrat or Republican are invited to speech at each national jamboree) who has lost sight of what true citizenship is and struggles to understand decorum of the office of the president.

You point to your experience as a boy scout, to give some credibility to your efforts to denigrate the organization. Yet, it is clear that you never really made it past cub scouts, and therefore haven’t been intimately associated with scouting since you were 10 or 11 years old because in your article you refer the scout troops as “packs” and scout masters and “den leaders” both cub scout terms. The cub scouts don’t participate in National Jamborees.

The core principles of scouting have been in place for over 100 years. If you are interested in learning what the scouts are really about and what they do please go to www.scouting.org or visit one of the local troops. If you do, you won’t find what you accused the scouts of being.

Scout Oath:

Boy Scout Oath or Promise. To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight

Scout Law:

Scout motto

“Be prepared”

Scout slogan

“Do a good turn daily”

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