I am an Eagle Scout. I wasn't a cub scout (although I was in Webelos). I joined the Boy Scouts when I was 10 or 11 because all my friends were joining and it was the "cool thing to do." Then my dad got involved in the Scouts, eventually becoming an Asst. Scoutmaster. A few months later, when all my friends quit, I tried to quit and my dad wouldn't let me.
It was really because of his persistence (and insistence) that I stayed in the Boy Scouts and made it to Eagle. It was the source of some really, really deep tension between us that to this day resides somewhere in both of our psyches.
I'm happy I stayed and made it to Eagle. I wish I had done it all on my own will and not because I was forced to. It's not like it was all horrible for me; not at all. I was just more interested in other things.
Upon becoming Eagle, I couldn't remember a damn thing about making knots or starting fires or anything like that. What I DID learn from the Scouts was leadership and responsibility. WhenI became the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, my first instinct was to do like those had done before me; act like a Nazi to everybody below my rank. (It was our understanding that this was your responsibility - nay, your DUTY - when you became ASPL.) Instead, I decided to act like a real leader, and that was a very long learning process for me. I found that by the time I made Eagle and was SPL, I had gained the respect of both the kids and the adults around me by learning how to delegate, how to lead by example, how to admit when I was wrong, and how to let loose and have fun. Those leadership skills have stayed with me to this day, although I don't let loose enough.
One summer at Boy Scout Camp I did a program called COPE (Challenging Outdoor Physical Encounter) which consisted of various ground-level trust exercises and eventually a whole bunch of climbing walls and ropes and various things that forced me to come face to face with my fear of heights. I did very well in the program and often think how I need to have an experience like that again. It was actually the only thing I liked about Boy Scout camp.
I have decided not to actively support the Scouts anymore because of their stance on homosexuals. I am proud to be an Eagle Scout and I'm proud I was in a troop where questions about that (or God) never came up. But I would not give them money today because of that ruling.
Thanks Troublebot for posting this originally, hope nobody minds that I resurrected this thread.