From Boys to Men

It seemed like the whole country had turned anti-establishment in 1968 when Tom Bowden signed up as a Cub Scout leader.

Bowden was a veteran aerospace engineer working for a Van Nuys defense contractor at the time, designing and manufacturing armaments for the Vietnam War.

“I was in charge of the ordnance division, and I was making light anti-tank weapons and cluster bombs in support of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force in Vietnam. We made ‘em--they would shoot ‘em,” said Bowden, a 62-year-old Mission Viejo resident nearing his 30th year as a Scout leader.

“Those were tough sociological times. Anything that had a uniform associated with it was not popular with young people during those days.

“I recall some instances where our troop members would put their uniforms into shopping bags, bring them to the meeting and change, because they were afraid to wear their uniforms on the street.”

In Scouting, Bowden found more than a place for his 8-year-old son Mike to learn traditional American values, he found a refuge for his own beleaguered sense of patriotism.

“Many of these boys needed help, they needed good role models, they needed direction, they needed to know that it was not bad to be patriotic, that it was not bad to have good moral values. Both patriotism and morals were taking a beating in the ‘60s and the ‘70s.”

After 13 years during which he was a committee chairman, fund-raiser and cubmaster, Bowden became scoutmaster of Laguna Hills-Mission Viejo Troop 615 in 1981. Since then, Bowden has witnessed growing support for the ideals of Scouting from a society increasingly concerned about the future of its youth.

“It had been a tough time for our organization and the principles that we stand for. But that recovered after the Vietnam War was over. Scouting went through sort of a revival under President Reagan. He put patriotism back into the culture and gave us the feeling that it’s not all that bad to be an American.”

Bowden will be taking the 80 members of his Orange County troop to the National Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, in Bowling Green, Va., on Wednesday. The festival of Scouting, held every four years, is expected to attract 30,000 Scouts this year.

The Orange County Council of the Boy Scouts of America will be a prominent participant at the National Jamboree, Bowden said. There are about 94,000 Scouts in the various divisions of the county council, making it the eighth largest of 309 councils nationwide. But Bowden said the affluence of the Orange County lifestyle also presents local cubmasters and scoutmasters with more of a challenge.

“I don’t think the work ethic or the idea of personal responsibility is as strong as it was in prior generations. A lot of the time I tell the boys, ‘Hey, if you worked as hard at doing the task as you do at making excuses why you can’t, you’d have done it quicker.’

“I read an article about three or four months ago that had a letter written by a father about his son. It said, ‘This boy is lazier than I was as a kid. He doesn’t take responsibility. He doesn’t do this, he doesn’t do that.’ And I thought, that’s pretty much the way I feel about it now. Well, it turned out that the letter was written by Socrates. So there is a generational perspective that’s always involved.”

Bowden, who has helped 46 Scouts achieve the Eagle Scout ranking during his career, is generally optimistic about the youth of America, as long as parents and volunteers continue to spend the time necessary to help them come of age.

“We’re handing the next generation a really big challenge and it’s up to us to instill in them the ethics and the optimism to make the world a better place.

“We want to help these young men to appreciate and eventually live by the principles of the Scout law, which says that a Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. If you can influence a young man to have those character traits, you’ve got a good system.”

Most Scouting volunteers are inspired and guided by two ambitions, Bowden said. There is the immediate task of helping shape the character and behavior of young men, and the long-range goal of helping shape the destiny of a nation.

“What would have happened if a young man by the name of Adolf had been in a Boy Scout troop as a kid, and had learned the values of being trustworthy, loyal and helpful and all of those good things. If you could have influenced just one person like that, you might have changed the history of the world.”

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Profile: Tom Bowden

Age: 62

Hometown: Steubenville, Ohio

Residence: Mission Viejo

Family: Wife, Barbara Georgine; five grown children; eight grandchildren

Education: Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Case Institute of Technology (Cleveland); graduate studies in business administration at Cal State Sacramento

Background: Test driver and development engineer at General Motors’ Cadillac division; designer, developer and project manager at Aerojet-General Corp.; vice president of marketing, Marquardt Co.; private industrial consultant; engineer with MPC Industries (Irvine) for 21 years, president and chief executive officer since 1989

Scouting: First joined Cub Scouts as committee chairman for a local pack in 1968 and has since spent about 17,000 hours volunteering for scouting organizations; became Cub Scout fund-raiser and Boy Scout committee chairman in 1972; cubmaster for Pack 614 (Mission Viejo), 1976-81; scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 615 (Laguna Hills-Mission Viejo) since 1981; winner of Silver Beaver award and Saddleback District Award of Merit; has had 46 Boy Scouts become Eagle Scouts under his direction

On molding youth: “Young people are a work in progress. Adults should be caring, patient and enthusiastic with them. We should concentrate on their successes, rather than their failures.”

Source: Tom Bowden; Researched by RUSS LOAR / For The Times

Los Angeles Times