Bases barred from Boy Scout sponsorship. All of my sons were involved in Scouting, from being Tiger Scouts to Cub Scouts and finally to Boy Scouts. Since we are a military family, our housing area sponsored our troop. I always thought the partnership between the military and BSA went hand in hand. So many of our volunteer leaders had expertise in whatever merit badges they had our sons work toward. The military community offered many opportunities for our boys to participate in events such as Schofield Day in which the Army set up different stations for boys to learn different skills and at the same time earn a few merit badges. The Coast Guard had a similar event for the Cub Scouts.

As my sons got older, they began to lose interest but even today they will admit that they have learned things we normally wouldn’t have thought to teach them. They got to experience many things other boys didn’t have an opportunity to experience. All of it is attributed to the skilled and unselfish volunteers who, when not dedicating their time to our boys, are now dodging bullets and riding around in unarmored tanks for this country. How’s that for supporting our troops?

It’s enough that the military families are already stressed and worried about their loved one’s safe return, now they’ll have to worry about whether their son’s troop will be forced to dismantle for lack of a meeting area and sponsorship, especially at overseas bases. Yep, this is something that just boosts morale …. NOT.