A Scoutmaster's Blog

When I was a Boy Scout in the mid 1970’s we needed to earn belt loops called skill awards for the first three ranks. Each skill award was based on a certain set of skills, such as camping, hiking, or swimming. There were twelve belt loops a Boy Scout could earn. The Citizenship Skill Award and one other were required for Tenderfoot. Hiking, First Aid, and one other skill award were required for Second Class. A Scout needed to complete the Camping, Cooking, and one other skill award for First Class rank, in addition to the First Aid Merit Badge.

When I became a Scoutmaster in 1981 it was easy to use the twelve skill awards as monthly themes for the younger Scouts. Twelve awards, twelve themes. It worked well. Then, in the mid 1980’s, the National Office decided that skill awards would be discontinued and new rank requirements would be created. I hated to see the belt loops dropped from the program, but we had to move on and follow the new “improved” advancement program.

I thought it might be fun to look back at these old awards and what the requirements of each one were at the time. So today, I start with the Camping Skill Award.

1) Present yourself to your leader, properly dressed, before going on an overnight camping trip. Show the camping gear you will use, including shelter and food. Explain how you will use the gear. Show the right way to pack and carry it.

2) Go on two overnight camping trips with your troop, patrol, or other Scouts, using the gear. On each overnight camp, do the following:
a) Carry the gear on your back for at least 2 km to your camp. After camping, carry it 2 km back.
b) Pick a good place for a tent. Pitched a tent correctly in the place you picked and sleep in it overnight. Store the tent correctly after use.
c) Make a bed on the ground. Sleep on it overnight.
d) Follow good health, sanitation, and safety practices. Leave a clean campsite.
e) After each trip, tell your leader what you achieved and learned. Tell how good camping practices proved useful.

3) Whip the ends of a rope. Tie the following knots: square knot, sheet bend, two half hitches, clove hitch, taut line hitch, and bowline. Show their correct use.

4) Lash poles together with the following lashings: square, shear, and diagonal. Show their correct use. Use lashing for making a simple camp gadget.

As you can see, all of these requirements are still a part of the Boy Scout advancement program. They have just been broken up into the first three ranks.

I almost wish I young enough to be a Boy Scout again. The merit badge I have been waiting for has finally arrived. Scouting Heritage is has been approved and is ready for Boy Scouts to begin earning. Since I am too old to earn it myself, I will be signing on as a merit badge counselor.

The merit badge requirements have been posted at scouting.org. It is not going to be an easy merit badge for a boy to earn. A Scout is going to have to interview at least three different people. He needs to create a Scouting memorabilia collection. Some research will also need to be done on Scouting’s history.

When I first read the requirements I thought that requirement #4 would be one that would limit many boys from earning the badge. It states:

1. Do ONE of the following:
   1. Attend either a BSA national jamboree, OR world Scout jamboree, OR a national BSA high-adventure base. While there, keep a journal documenting your day-to-day experiences. Upon your return, report to your counselor what you did, saw, and learned. You may include photos, brochures, and other documents in your report.
   2. Write or visit the National Scouting Museum in Irving, Texas.* Obtain information about this facility. Give a short report on what you think the role of this museum is in the Scouting program.

I missed in 4b where it states “WRITE or visit” the national museum. Good thing I read it a second time.

What do you think about this merit badge? Are you as excited about it as I am? Leave a comment.

Are you a Boy Scout? Would you like to do something different this year, the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America? How about earning a merit badge from the early days of Scouting that have been off the books for years? The BSA is bringing back four merit badges that you earn this year only. The badges include Signaling, Tracking, Pathfinding, and Carpentry.

These badges must be completed before December 31, 2010, or you lose out on your chance to earn something from Scouting’s history.

For more information checking out the blog of Scouting Magazine, the Cracker Barrel, at http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2010/01/historical-merit-badges-help-boy-scouts-celebrate-scoutings-past.html

I was a scoutmaster for several years when I noticed that we had a number of Boy Scouts who would go along on many of the outings, but would not show up regularly for troop meetings, and would not take the time to earn their advancement. I talked to them. I encouraged them. But it did not make a difference. They would not put forth the effort to earn their ranks and merit badges.

I discovered a new blog today written by a gentleman who would like to be an Eagle Scout. But like me, he is beyond his teen years. What he has decided to do is to try to fulfill all the requirements from the joining requirements, through Tenderfoot and all the ranks, all the way to the Eagle Rank. He realizes he can not actually “earn” the award but I have to give him credit for giving this a try. He is currently working on his Tenderfoot requirements.

Have you heard about the Scouting Heritage Merit Badge yet? No? Well, that is probably because there is no such merit badge… yet. On the BSA Innovation Engine (found at http://ideas.scouting.org/ ) there are a lot of ideas thrown around for new merit badges. This one happened to catch the eye of Cubmaster Chris and I as we recorded a new episode of the Leader’s Campfire podcast last night. During this episode we discuss some of the ideas found on the BSA Innovation Engine, along with Jerry from The Scoutmaster Minute podcast.

The idea for a Scouting Heritage Merit Badge was posted by alobdell. He, or she, gave this merit badge some serious thought before submitting it to the engine. Here is what he/she wrote:

Include Scouting Heritage as a Merit Badge. Many of our Scouts do not know about the movement of Scouting. Requirements could include some of the following.
1. Write an essay about one of the Founders of Scouting. Make a presentation about the origin of Scouting to a non-Scout group such as a Church or civic organization.
2. Learn about Careers in Scouting.
3. Exchange letters with a Scout in another Scout Council.
4. Learn about the World Scouting Organization
5. Conduct an interview with a Veteran Scouter
6. Meet a Scouting Professional
7. Visit your Scout Council Headquarters
8. Learn about the BSA’s Adventure Bases
9. Attend a District Rountable or District Meeting
10. Make a display of Scouting information and material for your community to be open to the public for at least one week.

Chris and I agreed that this would be an excellent merit badge idea and a great idea for some sort of Cub Scout level award. To tell the truth, I thought this was one of the best ideas for a new merit badge listed on the idea engine. Chris thought this was a good idea with the 100th anniversary of Scouting coming up in 2010. Jerry had to leave us for a family function before we discussed this during the podcast, but knowing Jerry, he would give his thumbs up to this merit badge also.

Unfortunately, the BSA Innovation Engine is only open to professional Scouters to vote on the various ideas, so Chris, Jerry, and I could not leave a vote for this merit badge. However, Chris has installed a simular engine on the PTC Media site that is open for all of us non-professional Scouters to use.

The CNNMoney.com site has a quiz titled “Are you smarter then a Boy Scout?” It has ten questions about finances based on the personal management merit badge. I gotta tell you, a couple questions could be a little tough. I just took the quiz for the fun of it, and was doing well until the tenth question. I did not take the time to think it through and got that one wrong. My final score was nine out of ten correct.

Take the test yourself and see how well you know your stuff. It can be found at
http://money.cnn.com/quizzes/2009/moneymag/boy_scout/index.html
Post your score here so I can see if I am smarter then you.

A fellow Scouting friend of mine, Jeff Cummings, writes a blog called The Trainer’s Corner. It is one of the many Scouting blogs I visit and read. Recently he wrote an article about the reasons we as adult Scouters of the BSA should earn our knots. You know, those little patches we can wear on our uniforms over our left pocket. They are the awards that we as adults can still earn. Our merit badges or ranks, if you think about it.

Jeff wrote about four good reasons that we should consider earning the knots: quality, consistency, recognition, and roundtables. All are good reasons. I would encourage you to go to his blog and read them. You can find it at http://tinyurl.com/74u92s

After reading Jeff’s blog I pulled out my uniform and looked at my knots. I have six of them. The first two I earned were training awards: The Scouter’s Key and the Scout Leader’s Training Award. The next one I received was the Scoutmaster Award of Merit. Those were earned during my first decade as a scoutmaster. Since then I have added the Distinguished Commissioner Service Award, the District Award of Merit, and the Silver Beaver Award. They add a little color to my uniform.

To tell the truth, I doubt that I will be earning any more knots and that is all right by me. I have pretty much done all I can in the current position of scoutmaster, and I do not plan to accept any other positions in the foreseeable future.

Now, here is a quick quiz for you. The six knots pictures with this blog post are the knots I have earned. Can you put the right names to the right knots?