Scouts: "be prepared" for attacks: the ACLU and other "liberals" are filing numerous lawsuits against the Boy Scouts in an attempt to force the Scouts to retreat from a moral stand.(Culture War)(American Civil Liberties Union)

In the narrow but decisive 2000 victory in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Scouts cannot be forced to accept homosexuals as members and leaders. One would have thought the Scouts could put their legal battles behind them and get on with the pressing mission of preparing boys for service to God and country.

But the harassment continues. The Boy Scouts have been booed at the Democratic National Convention, stripped of United Way funding in some parts of the country, and sometimes denied the opportunity to use school facilities for their meetings.

Most recently, to settle a lawsuit brought against the United States by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Armed Forces agreed not to sponsor Boy Scout troops on bases and posts across the country.

As a Scout and as a soldier, I am deeply troubled by this slap against the Boy Scouts of America. I joined Cub Scouts in 1953, graduated into Boy Scouts and became an Eagle in 1960 at the age of 14, and continued to work with Boy Scouts and Explorers throughout my high school years.

When I reported for active duty with the Air Force in 1971, one of my earliest assignments was to serve as advisor to an Explorer Post at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. I have also helped both of my sons advance through Scouting.

Scouting taught me the basic virtues of discipline, industry, courage, and integrity. Scouting prepared me to be a man and a military officer. America's military capability, as well as America's moral virtue, will be greatly impaired if this partnership between the Boy Scouts and the armed forces is dissolved. And the Scouts do not deserve this kind of harassment. They have simply stood firm for what they know is right.

The Armed Forces Surrenders