I went through the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and finally got my Eagle in Explorer Search and Rescue Post 18 in Salem, Oregon. This was in the 1950's and early 1960's. I also did scuba searches while in the Post. This set me up well for getting into the USAF Pararescue in 1967.
When my sons were ready, they went into Cub Scouts, and and I was a Pack Leader. As the boys got older, I became involved in Boy Scouts, and they began the program. Unfortunately, this troop was oriented to "adventure scouting," and I got into a tussle with the scoutmaster about how he was structuring some of the scouting adventure trips. For instance, he wanted to came out on the top of a mountain in February (this is in the Oregon Cascades). The boys were not prepared for arctic survival, and I was successful in modifying the trip to a lower elevation.
But the "adventures" continued, and the next trip was to a ski resort area, but they skied in a blizzard. I thought the trip was cancelled due to weather, and did not even show up for the trip (driving was extremely hazardous, and it was over 100 miles to the ski area). During the skiing, which occurred in white-out conditions, one boy did a face plant in the snow, was wedged and couldn't move. He sufficated in the snow before he was found, and was pronounced dead later that day after a helicopter rescue unit made a "hairy" lifesaving flight to pick him up.
A little later, my boys faced a decision; they had to give up one activity. They were active in band, swim team, scouts and piano. Each activity had it's own rewards, but they were too busy to keep up their studies. We only said that they each had to give up the same activity. They choose to give up scouting. I had been scheduled to take over the troop, but after the death, and the disagreements I had with the scout master, the board decided not to have me take it over. That whole situation left a bitter taste in my mouth for that type of scouting, which I had felt corrupted the scouting concepts. The boys did not run the troop; adults did, and it was a mill to turn out Eagle Scouts. But the patrol concept, the learning about how to run an organization, the fundamental tenants of scouting, had in my opinion been turned over into an ego trip for the adults. That was not my type of scouting, and that really was my last work with scouting (some 12 years ago).
What does this have to do with diving. Well, I used diving to introduce some of my Cub Scouts to the water. I had a trip where I put the scouts in scuba in a pool, after an orientation, and let them swim around in very shallow water. They loved it, and we could have gone a lot further with it in different circumstances. So scuba does have a place in scouting, which others have discussed.
SeaRat
