Timeless Values — Duty, Honor, and the Boy Scout Tradition
"On my honor, I will do my best . . . ." Ever since 1910 when
an American businessman brought the scouting movement from England to the
United States, the young men of the Boy Scouts of America have done their
very best to be of service to their communities and to their
country. This Boy Scout tradition embodies values of duty, honor and
service deeply rooted in our country's heritage. Today, Boy Scouts
continue to follow these ideals in their own towns and cities, making
selfless and generous behavior a part of their everyday life. Since its
founding, more than 110 million boys have discovered the timeless values
of duty, honor and service through the Boys Scouts of America.
Today's scouting movement had its origins in the mind of a 19th century English war hero and his desire to train soldiers to survive in the British Empire. Born in London in 1857, Robert Baden-Powell spent much of his life serving in the British cavalry in India, Europe and South Africa. Baden-Powell based the idea for a boy's organization on his own experiences as a youngster in England and as a soldier in the British military. In 1907 he invited a group of twenty-one boys to attend the world's first Boy Scout camp. For two weeks they lived in Army tents and were given instruction in camping skills, tracking, woodcraft, first aid, and the virtues of "honor, chivalry and good citizenship." The success of the camp led him to write the first Boy Scout manual, called Scouting for Boys. It became an instant bestseller and within weeks Scout troops dotted the British Isles, eventually spreading across the Atlantic Ocean and throughout the world.
