Meritorious awards

[Oldscout448]

Any one here have ever had to apply for a Lifesaving medal or medal of merit for one of his scouts?

 

I watched two scouts do some amazing first aid last night and have no idea how to go about getting national to award them the medals they now deserve

 

Old Scout

[scoutldr]

Your Council has the forms...if approved by Council, they will send it on to National.  

[qwazse]

Contact your district or council advancement chairman, they should be able to send you the papework.

 

The process usually involves gathering witness statements.

 

Enjoy it!

[JosephMD]

I claim these scouts too!  #proud

[4CouncilsScouter]

Hey OldScout448,

 

Here is the link to the application for meritorious and lifesaving awards: http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/LifesavingAward.pdf.

 

Hope this helps!

[Oldscout448]

I claim these scouts too!  #proud

Yes indeed!

[Eagle94-A1]

Link provided is the one I used. For the guy who pulled me out of the water after my accident. It was downgraded to Certificate of Merit,.There is a time limit, so make sure you begin the process ASAP.

 

Sounds silly but MAKE SURE THEY ARE REGISTERED PRIOR TO SUBMITTING! (emphasis)

 

Long story short, one person the Cub Scout pack was going to submit was not registered as an ADL like she was suppose to have been. Good news is those involved don't care about recognition. Bad news is that because the one who jumped in and pulled the person out was not a registered leader, the other two leaders who took over CPR from her refused to have the paperwork submitted.

 

Definately something to be proud of. And I bet it was a great reward for you to see your Scouts in action.

[Stosh]

Personal humility and humbleness aside, there needs to be more of this recognition put before the public.  We spend a lot of time teaching our boys to be prepared when situations like this arise, it would be unfortunate if we let these example of scouts in action go unnoticed.  If the leaders or scouts refuse, my first effort would be to convince these people that such public recognition is not just for them, but as an example of inspiration for other scouts to step up and prove that all the classroom, boring, and often times never to be used skills are being taught so that some day someone's life may be saved.

 

The first time I took CPR classes, it was not all that personally enriching, but after doing CPR on someone trying to save their life allows me the satisfaction that I was able to do all I could to give them a chance at life.  Knowing there exists a femoral artery and that someone can bleed out in a matter of minutes, pinching it off and holding it for 45 minutes as we raced to the hospital not only saved a young girl's life, but the medical staff was able to save her leg as well.  That's the story I want to remember, not me standing around watching her bleed out and die right in front of me.  I have had to counsel people who didn't know what to do and unfortunately that was their only choice and it was something they would regret forever if it happened to be a loved one.  It's not always for public recognition, it's for the well-being of not only the one being helped, but the one that steps forward and knows what it takes to save a life.

[Back Pack]

I getting not wanting to be recognized. Some see it as doing their duty, nothing more. Some just like anonymity. It should be enough to point out it was Scouts who save the life. If people aren't smart enough to make the connection, adding faces to it won't change anything.

[cchoat]

While I can understand the humility, it's the example that they set to other scouts and the public at large that is highlighted when heros like these are recognized with the medal.  Many people may be trained, but not willing to step up when the need arises.  they never know, someone in the audiance may be inspired to take the lifesaving training, and save their life one day.

[TWCub]

I have submitted one.  We used the form that was linked above.  It is not fast process.  After we submitted the paperwork, we waited months before we heard anything.  The award must first be approved from your local council, who will then forward it on to the national committee.  For us the national committee came back with a couple of question; then we waited for another 2 months.  They finally came back with the approval for the Honor Medal with Crossed Palms.  (Another couple of months for the award to arrive at our local council.)  

 

The process is worth it though.  Good luck!

[Stosh]

I getting not wanting to be recognized. Some see it as doing their duty, nothing more. Some just like anonymity. It should be enough to point out it was Scouts who save the life. If people aren't smart enough to make the connection, adding faces to it won't change anything.

 

The problem is that unless it is a specific BSA recognition, how is anyone to know that the fireman who rescued the small child in a recent fire is also a SM.  Or the police officer who was recognized as doing something heroic in the line of duty is also his son's DL?  Now those things may not qualify for the award of merit, but what about the volunteer EMT working for the local volunteer fire department?  Do those qualify?  Oh, no, it's their job even if they don't get paid for it.

 

So what happens is by the time it boils down to some scout or scouter who just happens to be at the right time and the right place does something special it is put on the back burner and ignored.  Why?  because everyone will simply say, he's just did his job. So the reason this award is no big deal is because unlike the Eagle rank, there's really no true Oooh, aaaah connected to it and it's nothing more than bling.  There are thousands of scouts and scouters out there every day doing these things and no one thinks twice about it.  It's their job, it's what they were trained to do.  That's what Scouts do.

 

So where's the incentive to be recognized by BSA?  They fill out applications and go through some secret vetting process to make sure this is a for real qualified situation and then they sparingly give out the award after months of deliberation as if it's some really big deal.

 

I had a boy earn the award as a Cub Scout.  He and his buddy were on a fishing dock with others present.  His buddy fell in the drink.  The Cub Scouter reached down and grabbed his shirt and hauled him over to the ladder where he climbed back on the dock.  Neither could swim, so the award was given as at grave danger to the rescuer.

 

These awards need to be photo ops in the local community, not secret deliberations of national worth.

[Eagledad]

Stories of scouts who earned these awards was one of my favorite articles in Boys Life magazines back in the 60's and 70s. In fact, I learned several life saving techniques from those articles that I passed along to my scouts.

 

The process is long and very detailed. Start it soon while the experience is still fresh on everybody's mind.

 

Barry

[fred johnson]

I too have always been inspired by these stories both person-to-person and the ones I'd ready Boy's Life.  Heck, I almost always opened Boy's Life directly to that section first as it was the most interesting to read.

 

QUESTION - I've seen a few of these processed.  Is it always normal to have significant involvement from the award recipient during the writing and submitting of the award? 

[RememberSchiff]

Scouts in Action. I liked the skills review at the end of the story.