Laurie... it was not my intention to jump down your throat.. and I offer my most sincere apologies. I misunderstood your intentions and thought you were argueing with me over the allowability of fuels such as alcohol during scouting events. I have argued vehemently with Scout Leaders and other adults who have taken the "letter of the law" over the "intent of the law".. using guidelines such as the Guide to Safe Scouting as loose intrepretations of possible suggestions on how to conduct their behavior and supervision of their boys. I, mistakenly, thought you were one of those adults.

My motto is "Not on my Watch"... I refuse to let my troop turn into a headline while my name is in the leader section of the Tour Permit or while my boys are on an outing that I have painstakingly planned. I also fight hard to ensure that no boy in my council, that I have the ability to affect, is injured or worse on an outing. I participate as a trainer in most of the outdoor leadership and training classes conducted by my local council and actively go to troop and leadership trainings on smaller levels as well in order to ensure the safety of all of our sons (and daughters) out there....

Originally Posted By: Laurie
They said that BSA no longer allows the use of rubbing alcohol - did they ever allow it?

To answer this part of the question... yes.. BSA did allow rubbing (isopropyl)alcohol as a source of fuel in homemade backpacking stoves such as the "alcohol-can" stove. These widely used stoves were banned after the tragedy that claimed your sons life (in May of 2010 I believe).

I am truely sorry for your loss and meant, in no way whatsoever, to trivialize Seans death or his love for Scouting. My original post was merely trying to show what the BSA National levels reaction to some of the accidents suffered by Scouts has been over the last 5 years.