Battle of Backbone Mountain

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Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth social movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking, and sports. Another widely recognized movement characteristic is the Scout uniform, by intent hiding all differences of social standing in a country and encouraging equality, with neckerchief and campaign hat or comparable headwear. Distinctive uniform insignia include the fleur-de-lis and the trefoil, as well as merit badges and other patches.

In 1907, Robert Baden-Powell, a lieutenant general in the British Army held a Scouting encampment on Brownsea Island in England. Baden-Powell wrote Scouting for Boys (London, 1908), partly based on his earlier military books. The Scout Movement of both Boy Scouts and Girl Guides (renamed to Girl Scouts in some countries) was well established in the first decade of the twentieth century. Later, programs for younger children, such as Wolf Cubs (1916), now Cubs, and for older adolescents, such as Rovers (1918), were adopted by some Scout organizations. In 1910, Baden-Powell formed the Girl Guides, for girls in the United Kingdom which spread internationally as Girl Guides and includes age programs of (Brownie Guide, Girl Guide and Girl Scout, Ranger Guide).

In 2007, Scouting and Guiding together had over 38 million members in 216 countries. International umbrella organizations include:

World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), for boys-only and co-educational organizations
World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), primarily for girls-only organizations but also accepting co-educational organizations
World Federation of Independent Scouts
World Organization of Independent Scouts
Order of World Scouts
International Union of Guides and Scouts of Europe
Confederation of European Scouts (Full article...)

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Scouts at the 22nd World Scout Jamboree in Rinkaby, Sweden (2011)

The World Scout Jamboree is a Scouting jamboree of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, typically attended by several tens of thousands of Scouts from around the world, aged 14 to 17. At the jamboree, many scouts swap badges.

The first World Scout Jamboree was organized by The Scout Association in London. With exceptions for the World War years and the Iranian Revolution, it has been organized approximately every four years, and in the more recent years has been organised by the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), in different locations over the world. The 25th World Scout Jamboree was held in South Korea in 2023. (Full article...)

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Image 1Lovely sunrise at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico
Image 2American Boy Scouts at summer camp in 2002. In the front row, the first three boys have made Eagle Scout and the 4th is one requirement away.
Image 3Memorial stone on Brownsea Island commemorating the first Scout encampment, Aug 1-9, 1907, Brownsea Island
Image 4Girl Scouts in the Central African Republic
Image 5Sioux: Ohiyesa, (pronounced Oh hee' yay suh), February 19, 1858 - January 8, 1939) was a Native American author, physician and reformer. He was active in politics and helped found the Boy Scouts of America.
Image 6Boy Scouts canoeing on the Blackwater River, Virginia
Image 7Yang Huimin (simplified Chinese: 杨惠敏; traditional Chinese: 楊惠敏) was a Chinese Girl Guide during the battle of Shanghai.
Image 8The first Scout encampment, Aug 1-9, 1907, Brownsea Island
Image 9Scouts camping at the hallowed ground of Scouting, Gilwell Park, England in the summer of 2006
Image 10Cub Scouts of Hong Kong at Scout Rally having fun, Nov 2005
Image 11Mafeking Cadets, one of the many inspirations of the Scouting Movement
Image 12Lady Olave Baden-Powell, wife of Lord Baden-Powell and founder of Girl Guides/Scouts
Image 13Frederick Russell Burnham one of biggest influences on the founding of Scouting.
Image 14Scout councils (Boy Scouts of America)
Image 15Portuguese Girl Scouts at the 21st World Scout Jamboree, Jul 28, 2007, England
Image 16British Guiana Scout leaders, April 1954
Image 17Young future U.S. President Eagle Scout Gerald Ford, Mackinac Island, Michigan, August, 1929
Image 18Wood Badge beads and neckerchief. Wood Badge is the premier Boy Scout adult leader training course. A holder of the Wood Badge is a leader highly trained and dedicated Scout leader.
Image 19A happy Cub Scout holds a winning pine car
Image 20The 8th Indonesian National Rover Moot - Prambanan Temple-Yogyakarta July 8-17 2003
Image 21Commemorative stone marking the site of the first Scout encampment at Brownsea Island, England, held Aug 1-9, 1907 by Robert Baden-Powell
Image 22Scouting friends from around the world at the 21st World Scout Jamboree, Aug 01, 2007, England
Image 23A Czech Scout camp at 19th World Scout Jamboree 1999
Image 24B-P's footprint
Image 25Scouts in Virginia, USA having fun, like Scouts from all over the world do outdoors
Image 26First Gilwell Wood Badge in the Netherlands, July 1923
Image 27Polish Boy Scouts fighting in the Warsaw Uprising
Image 28This postage stamp was issued in 1978 to celebrate 50 years of Girl Guiding in the Faroe Isles. This year will mark their 80th anniversary.
Image 29Preparing the pancakes before the arrival of the children for the evening dinner during the summer camp of the Dutch Student Rover crew Delftsche Zwervers for children in special education. Because pancakes are considered to be a feast meal for children, this is served on the last evening dinner of this camp.
Image 30Boy Scouts take to the streets in New York City, 1917
Image 311996 World Rover Moot
Image 32Boy Scouts of America uniform circa 1917-1918
Image 33Baden-Powell grave
Image 34Sculpture erected in 1982 to commemorate the 1979 Jamboree at Perry Lakes Western Australia and 75 years of Scouts.
Image 35Rohwer Relocation Center, McGehee, Arkansas. A 5-day Boy Scout Camp on the bank of the Mississippi River was composed of nearly a hundred boys from the Rohwer Center, a few less form the Jerome Center, together with a small troop from the nearby town of Arkansas City.
Image 36The Tooth of Time, a landmark at Philmont Scout Ranch

Did you know

...that Dr. László Nagy was the Chief Executive of the World Organization of the Scout Movement from 1968-1985 and that he was a Swiss citizen of Hungarian origin?
...that Mury was a clandestine Girl Scouts group organized by young Polish women; political prisoners in the concentration camp in Ravensbrück?
...that the Mafeking Cadet Corps, volunteer boy cadets in the Siege of Mafeking, are sometimes seen as the forerunners of the Scouts, and were depicted on one of the only British stamps not to depict the monarch?
...that Yang Huimin was a Girl Guide during the battle of Shanghai who supplied a Republic of China flag and brought supplies to besieged defenders of the Sihang Warehouse? Her actions proved inspiring to the defenders, who flew the flag the next daybreak in front of thousands of watching eyes across the bank of the Suzhou Creek.
...that the history of Gilwell Park can be traced all the way back to 1407 and that there is a 1000+ year old Buddha there?

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Official portrait, 2006

Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943) is an American intelligence analyst and university president who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011. He was appointed by President George W. Bush and was retained by President Barack Obama. Gates began his career serving as an officer in the United States Air Force but was quickly recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Gates served for twenty-six years in the CIA and at the National Security Council, and was director of central intelligence under President George H. W. Bush from 1991 to 1993. After leaving the CIA, Gates became president of Texas A&M University and was a member of several corporate boards. Gates served as a member of the Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan commission co-chaired by James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton that studied the lessons of the Iraq War.

Gates was nominated by Republican president George W. Bush as secretary of defense in 2006, replacing Donald Rumsfeld. He was confirmed with bipartisan support. In 2007, Time named Gates one of the year's most influential people. In 2008, Gates was named one of America's Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report. He continued to serve as secretary of defense in President Barack Obama's administration and retired in 2011. "He'll be remembered for making us aware of the danger of over-reliance on military intervention as an instrument of American foreign policy," said former senator David L. Boren. Gates was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, by President Obama during his retirement ceremony. (Full article...)

Scouting and Guiding in South America
Sovereign states	Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Panama¹ Paraguay Peru Suriname Trinidad and Tobago¹ Uruguay Venezuela
Dependencies	Aruba¹ / Netherlands Antilles¹ (Netherlands) Falkland Islands / South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (UK) ² / French Guiana (France)
¹Territories also in or commonly considered to be part of North America and/or Central America. ² Territories also in or commonly considered to be in Antarctica.

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