Status of Historical Merit Badges

[emb021]

"If it were entirely volunteers doing all this stuff, that would be one thing. But I was under the impression that "National" has a fairly sizable paid, professional staff running the show. Maybe I am mistaken?"

 

Thing is, National has gone thru another re-org, which included moving all the Regional offices into the National office. This has caused a lot of problems and things slipping.

 

 

 

[OldGreyEagle]

"If it were entirely volunteers doing all this stuff, that would be one thing. But I was under the impression that "National" has a fairly sizable paid, professional staff running the show. Maybe I am mistaken?"

 

Ah, see, the supposition may be that

 

Volunteer = Incompetent,not really devoted to the program

 

Professional = Competent, devoted to the program

 

In general, I have found the opposite to be true

 

[BadenP]

emb021

What this fiasco is really called is poor and incompetent organizational planning management. I don't understand why you feel that National needs to be defended when the CSE is ultimately and solely responsible for all the messes his management style has created since he decided to reorganize National. OGE is correct incompetency at the National office is at an all time high. Poor planning is not excusable at the National level.

[Lisabob]

emb, the thing is that as a "consumer" of their "product," I really do not care all that much WHY the BSA national office hasn't got their stuff together.

 

OGE, I am not assuming that volunteers are incompetent, just that they are both busy with the rest of their lives, and may lack the resources and communication capacities to roll out national-level programs with ease.

 

Professional, paid, staff that works full time for the BSA should not lack the time, knowledge, resources, OR commitment to doing their jobs well.

 

Hey! I got it! Note to National - HIRE YOUR VOLUNTEERS!

 

 

[rrienfeld]

Ok, I have a question about the Signaling requirements from the 1961 Printing that I found on another post. Item 3) says says send and receive a message in the International Morse Code by wigwag and by blinker or other light signaling device. I thought that wigwag was some Civil War code and nothing to do with the International Morse Code? Does the requirement book from that time give a better explanation. I plan on teaching this badge to our troop, but I want to make sure I have the correct requirements before I start. Please post more information if you have it. Thanks.

 

 

From another post:

3) Demonstrate an ability to send and receive a message in the International Morse Code by wigwag and by blinker or other light signaling device at a rate of not less than 20 letters per minute.

 

 

 

[OldGreyEagle]

LisaBob, I didnot mean to imply that you were calling volunteers otherwise, what I was ham handedly trying to say was that in my experience, the people with the most passion and devotion invested in the program are the volunteers and they tend to cover all bases.

 

The Professionals know little of the program and just push to reach critical achievements whether or not it is done according to the program

 

I should have worded it better, I was trying to represent the axiom "brevity is the soul of wit" and ended up only halfway there

[Eagle732]

WIgwag is a method of sending Morse Code by the use of a single flag. Basically you move the flag from the upright (12 o'clock) position down either left or right and back up to 12 o'clock again. A wave to the signaler's right is a dot and one to the left is a dash. A series of waves, say three to the right would mean three dots or the letter "S".(This message has been edited by Eagle732)

[rrienfeld]

Thanks Eagle732. This is great news as I know Morse Code and Semaphore, but I was afraid I was going to have to learn a whole new code from 1865. Do you have a link to a source?

 

WIgwag is a method of sending Morse Code by the use of a single flag. Basically you move the flag from the upright (12 o'clock) position down either left or right and back up to 12 o'clock again. A wave to the signaler's right is a dot and one to the left is a dash. A series of waves, say three to the right would mean three dots or the letter "S".

(This message has been edited by Eagle732)

 

 

 

[NE-IV-88-Beaver]

(This message has been edited by NE-IV-88-Beaver)

[rrienfeld]

My bad, I tried to copy and paste and created confusion. Here is my question back to Eagle732:

 

Thanks Eagle732. This is great news as I know Morse Code and Semaphore, but I was afraid I was going to have to learn a whole new code from 1865. Do you have a link to a source?

 

 

[Eagle732]

Wigwag uses the International Morse Code. My source is the 1968 printing of the Signaling merit badge book. I have seen copies of old merit badge books in the public library so you might want to check there for a copy, also eBay occasionally has them.

[RememberSchiff]

Maybe there are different "wigwags" for morse code? Standing, we swung a large figure "8" counter-clockwise from top on our left side for a "dah" and on our right side for "dit". This was visible over a fairly large distance.

[ScoutBox]

In the Army we had a little saying for this.. Proper, Planning, Prevents, P..., Poor Performance.

 

Anyway, I even looked up the Historical Badges on the link they give:

 

http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&c2=NEW&C3=&C4=&LV=2&item=HISTORICMB&prodid=HISTORICMB^8^01RTL&

 

www.scouting.org/100years

 

 

And this link doesn't have any information about the badges...

 

Would like for my boys to get a chance to work on these sooner rather then one month before the end of 2010...

[CubsRgr8]

Much to my surprise, I didn't see these listed on the Jamboree website as being offered at the MB Midway.

[Be_Prepared]

For wigwag, the Figure 8 is used so the flags don't wrap around the pole. If you take a flag from the 12 oclock position, then wave it down to the left, then back to 12 o'clock, it has a tendancy to loop around the pole - so for 3 dahs, you might wrap it around 3 times. If you wave it down in a figure 8 pattern, you can keep the flag from furling. Most of the scouts I work with can pick this up pretty quickly.