Skipper1701

Troopmaster ME is a great aid to the recordkeeping process, but... If you attempt to keep track of all attendance, partial merit badges, training of adults, etc... Even Troopmaster is a full time job.

First Question - I received the information directly from the National Office. They said the clue for future changes is to look at the merit badge number. If you look and merit badges that change they add a letter to the merit badge number. Ex: 1234A If the merit badge has the same number with a letter added, it is the same badge and cannot be earned twice (even if the name of the badge changes). Second Question - I believe that this would be the scouts option. The scout has the option to complete the partial until his 18th brithday. He also has the option to do all of the new requirements. If he chooses the new requirements, I would want him to do all of the requirements for me if I am going to be the one signing off on the badge.

Thank you... Our scout shop still has not received copies.

Thank you for the information... I am on theDistrict Committee and have mentioned this to several including a couple of district and council professionals. They have been telling me that it is a National policy. Now I know different. I will go to our Scout Executive and see if I can get us some different options to make our financial goals. I believe in supporting the council in any way possible. That is why I am on a couple of council committees. I do believe we need to support the council financially. I DO BELIEVE the council and national should not force a method of fundraising down the throuts of every unit. The amount raised will suffer if the workers in the field do not believe in the product or the method...

Popcorn sales are part of acheiving quality district. That is a fact... Many units, especially the older, not so cute scouts, really do not want to sell the popcorn. Why can't there be another option. Many units have the fundraising thing down to an art. My unit can make a thousand dollars a day. It takes a hell of a lot of work to sell $3000 worth of popcorn to make the same impact to the unit. We really want to support the district and the council, but we are not interested in supporting a third party popcorn manufacturer. Why can't we support scouts with other types of fundraisers and forget about the for profit businesses out there that want to make a $ off of us? The Council would come out ahead if they would let us do a couple of fundraisers and give them a percentage as an opt-out for popcorn. One of my units sold $100 worth of popcorn. It is all in my closet for my family's consumption. Of this over $30 left the scouting community. This is a crime! And having to do it to get quality district and support our professional scouters' performance goals is even a bigger crime!

I went to our scout shop. Guess what... They have not received any heads up on the changes. In fact, according to the manager, Supply has been turning down his orders for phamplets for Atomic Energy, Chemsitry and Family Life. We called them late yesterday and asked them why. The said the item number did not exist. The manager asked them if they had the same numbers with an "A" added and guess what! They had them. I think National needs to work a little on getting the word out. We already know that books will be changed for Jan. 1 each year for several years. Can't they give us a little heads up on the internet, a press release, or something?

In my panic to figure out what was going on, with usscouts.org site down, and National not able to answer many questions, I started this thread. I believe that I might have worried a few that are attending the Hornaday Weekend in our area. Here is the storey on Nuclear Science. It is the same merit badge number as the Atomic Energy Merit badge. The book as a "A" added to the end of the number, which means that it was just a scheduled update instead of a replacement. There is a name change and there is a new look to the badge. People that have already earned the Atomic Energy Merit Badge cannot earn Nuclear Science as well since it is the same badge. People that already have a partial on Atomic Energy fall under the same regs. as any other person that has a partial when the requirements change. The situation was just confused by the fact that they came out with the new "revised" requirements, a new name, and a new look for the badge all at the same time...

Anyone know what all of the changes were to the merit badges for 2005? I posted a question related to Atomic Energy vs. Nuclear Science. I have also found a reference to Chemistry. Are there any others that have changed?

Anyone know what all of the changes were to the merit badges for 2005? I posted a question related to Atomic Energy vs. Nuclear Science. I have also found a reference to Chemistry. Are there any others that have changed?

According to scout regs: if the scout started the merit badge prior to the end of the merit badge program, the scout can continue until his 18th birthday. The availablity of the actual patch will start to drop pretty quickly. Our council shop (Capitol Area) still has several of the patches. One interesting thing is there is supposed to be a new phamplet and a new patch. This means that the people that already earned Atomic Energy can also earn the Nuclear Science badge.

I originally heard it from the council scout shop. They had received a memo from National. I then checked the internet to no avail. I then checked the scoutstuff store which has it and says it replaced the atomic energy badge. I am attempting to get the requirements from national, but I am nervous about response times...

Now that the Atomic Merit Badge can no longer be earned. Does anyone know the requirements for the new Nuclear Science Merit Badge? Our scout shop has not received any phamplets and I cannot find them on the internet. We have one of the largest merit badge days (Univeristy of Texas Merit Badge University) and a Hornaday Merit Badge Clinic coming up in a couple of weeks and we need to develop the new course. Any assistance on the requirements would be appreciated.