Merit Badges (old/new) with strange requirements/additions

[moosetracker]

Ok someone resurrected an old thread (I think they were trying to push some sales).. But I was interested in the chicken slaughtering in the Wilderness Survival Merit badge (back in the '70s or '80s)..

 

Tombitt wrote : I did the Wilderness Survival merit badge when it was brand new - we took a bunch of live chickens, some matches, and a few sheath knives into the woods, killed and cooked the chickens (imagine that with sheath knives only), and safely survived an unexpected severe Oklahoma thunderstorm without tents or high-tech comm gear. I'm also a technology expert, I advise major companies about new technologies, and I help our school district with their technology plan.

 

I guess Horizons did the meritbadge with the chicken bit also (from same camp).. I don't know if the chickens were really a requirement back then, or if this was something that was this camp's idea of "adding" to the requirements.

 

But it gave me a laugh.. Really? Wilderness survival? How many take live chickens with them in case they get lost and need to survive in the wilderness?.. Now I could have seen the requirements starting with snaring a rabbit or squirrel, or fishing.. But not dragging chickens into the wilderness with you for survival..

 

Does anyone else have memories of merit badges that had (or have) requirements that made no sense?.. Or where someone zealously added a requirement that not only was something they should not have done, but that made no sense to the merit badge either..

 

 

I think the current swimming requirement of using your clothes for a floatation device is unneccessary since you need special type clothing like button down shirts & parachute type pants.. Clothes you normally would not be wearing when at the beach or boating.

(This message has been edited by moosetracker)

[fuzzievohs]

I think the current swimming requirement of using your clothes for a floatation device is unneccessary since you need special type clothing like button down shirts & parachute type pants.. Clothes you normally would not be wearing when at the beach or boating.

That is very true...perhaps that requirement is there to help you when you find yourself in water unexpectedly.

[Eagle92]

I think the current swimming requirement of using your clothes for a floatation device is unneccessary since you need special type clothing like button down shirts & parachute type pants.. Clothes you normally would not be wearing when at the beach or boating.

 

I must respectfully disagree with the statement above b/c is it considered a lifesaving skill, one that can save you.

 

Actually I have done this activity with jeans, scout pants, comabt utility/BDU pants, and the old USN dungaree bell bottoms. Key is to keep the material wet.

 

As for long sleeve, button down shirts, it is possible to do this with t-shirts and short sleeve polo shirts, although I admit it is easier to prevent the air from escaping in the long sleeve buttondown.

 

Yep most folks boating are out for a day or two and a re palyign around. But some folks do wear long sleeves and long pants while underway as a means to protect against sunburn.

[CA_Scouter]

Yes, but when you are splashing around inflating your clothes, what do you do with the chicken?

 

Just wanted to add that you should use free-range chickens these days.

 

 

(This message has been edited by CA_Scouter)

[SeattlePioneer]

I agree with Eagle 92.

 

My experience is that any shirt I've worn has been suitable to blow up as a life preserver. Once the fabric gets wet it does a creditable job of holding air.

 

I was at a park department sailing class where adults were required to stay afloat while clothed for five or ten minutes. Most were struggling trying to stay afloat by paddling, while I was relaxed floating with my shirt inflated.

 

It works and is highly effective in my experience!

[Eagle92]

SP reminded me of a guy in my lifeguarding class. The only way he could float was when he either used his clothes, or with a PFD. Guy was 6'6'', approx 300 pounds, and had about 9% body fat. Whenever he went into the water, he sunk like a rock. And of course he was my buddy that I had to do rescues with.

[boomerscout]

The chicken was a training aid. If you could do the chicken, then you should have no trouble with a grouse, quail, pheasant. An emu may still be troublesome.

[moosetracker]

Huh.. Our camp specifically states to bring button up shirts & parachute type pants because those are the only clothes that kids can make float. The year my kid did his swimming MB, I had to go out and buy the right clothing for him.

 

You could say it is adding to the requirements, but if they tell you they will fail to get anything else to float, I take them at their word. And it does seem to mean jeans would be too heavy, and T-shirts would not hold the air in..

 

So besides chastising me because of what my camp has instructed us to do, to get the clothes to float, no one else has anything they thought was a strange requirement from an old or new MB book?

 

My husband says the fingerprinting using ink is now outdated, as no one uses ink anymore. But, I would imagine, if you did some school/BSA project and had a ink fingerprint of your kid, then he went missing, then the police would use the ink school/BSA project. (Unless they had your sons fingerprints in the police databanks already, for some reason.)

[neil_b]

I got fingerprinted for a security clearance just last year by my local police department and they used ink.

 

Strange requirements? How about this one, "5.Using the construction project provided or a plan you create on your own, identify the items that would need to be included in an environmental impact statement for the project planned." Making a kid learn how to comply with government red tape, now that is truly strange.

 

At least killing and eating a chicken is something a kid could relate to. I bet if the kids had to do that they'd never look at their chicken nuggets the same way again. It's only strange by modern standards in which most people never see the animals they're eating while they are still alive.

 

I am thinking they probably used chickens because it wasn't rabbit season. Right? B-P had his boys skin and cook rabbits.

[Stosh]

I'm thinking the chickens were a learning tool of convenience because most MB counselors wouldn't want to wait 2-3 days for the boys to catch something in their dead-fall traps.

 

And after all is said and done how much training is there being done with edible wild plants? Surely a boy can collect enough stinging nettles and cattails faster than he can butcher a chicken. But, alas, it's not as much fun to cut cattails in knee deep water than it is to whittle away at a live chicken with a belt knife.

 

Your mileage may vary,

 

Stosh

[dScouter15]

moose - maybe the next time your troop does a swimming activity, you could get a group of scouts to wear different outfits made up of various clothing items (shorts/tshirt, jeans, other long pants, button down shirt, long sleeve tshirt, sweatshirt, etc). Don't ask anyone to buy or come up with anything specific, just have them wear a typical outfit that they would normally wear. Then have them do the jump in the water activity, and see how easy or difficult it is to stay afloat in different kinds of clothes. Maybe make it a game to see who can stay afloat the longest, or with the least amount of effort, or something along those lines? It seems having the scouts get familiar with survival swimming in typical attire would be a lot more useful than a requirement that has you go out any buy special clothes just to make the requirement work. If nothing else, it would probably be a fun and memorable activity for your troop.

[shortridge]

I really doubt that killing chickens was EVER part of the Wilderness Survival merit badge requirements. Just because tombitt's camp did it doesn't mean everyone else did, too. The badge has only been around since 1974, and chicken killing certainly wasn't required by the time I earned it in 1991.

 

Offering an experience that's not directly linked to completing a requirement isn't "adding to the requirements." It's what a good camp does. (Is killing chickens such an experience? That's for another thread. )

 

I hated the inflation requirement, and these days I rarely wear anything but a polo shirt, but it's good to know about.

[desertrat77]

I did Wilderness Survival MB in '76--no chicken.

 

But the year before I went to camporee where this was the grand event of the afternoon...one chicken per troop. SPL had to catch the chicken (they were released in a bunch, or flock, or pride, whatever grouping chickens travel in), then the entire troop ran with the SPL back to the campsite (over barb wire fence and railroad tracks), killed the chicken, cooked it, and then sent a runner to the judging station about 1 mile down the road.

 

All timed. And points added or deducted for taste, style, and presentation of the final dish.

 

Fortunately our SM was an old farm boy, and after his initial surprise when we showed back up to camp, he taught us exactly what we needed to do.

 

All this nostaglia aside, I think it is a mistake for adults to decide what isn't fun, or relevant, when it comes to scouting activities. Those unusual events are sometimes the ones that stand out in the long run. The chance to show off a skill that is slowly fading into history, or being entrusted with a live chicken, etc., are profoudly more interesting than many of book-work requirements and activities the BSA touts now.

 

By the way, I had never tasted chicken so good. The SM recommended a) skinning the chicken instead of plucking it (saved time and mess) and b) cooking it in about an inch of oil in the dutch oven. What a day!

[Eagle92]

Moose,

Not trying to chastise you at all. having been involved with water activities for a long time, life guarding, 3 fifty milers, Sea Scouts, etc, I see the usefulness of this activity.

 

 

As for specifying the exact type of pants and shirt, I agree it's adding to the requirements. Any pair of pants will work, although the nylon probably do work better than jeans or utility pants since you have to rewet them.

[desertrat77]

Eagle92, I concur...the inflated clothing drill is still useful.

 

Upon reflection, many of my favorite memories from scouting were the result of an old scouter who added a twist to the requirements, or GASP, outright added to them. Usually he was bolstering our foundation of knowledge, and most scouts understood that. Especially something old-school, or eccentric. Passing the torch of knowledge. And making great memories.