Heroism Medal

[twh1207]

Thanks for all the responses guys. It just really unfair to the rescuer that some councils have a much lower threshold for what constitutes heroism than some other councils.

 

Any water rescue is dangerous to the rescuer. The lifesaving merit badge booklet discusses these dangers and how to mitigate them.

 

The whole point of this is that there is too much room for interpretation and subjectivity in all five of these awards especially where a life has been saved. Not to mention that the instructions on the form contradicts itself. There is also too much room for overlap between the merit and the so called lifesaving awards. The lowest so called "lifesaving" award, heroism, can be had for averting serious harm and a certificate of merit could conceivably be awarded for making a rescue that involved extreme risk to the rescuer.

 

As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and for better or worse the level of award recommendation is in the hands of the advancement committee.

 

[Eagle92]

TWH,

actually it's not individual council's standards, rather it is based upon each and every individual Cub Scout, Boy Scout,Sea Scout, and Venturer and the situation they are palced in.

 

Perfectly good example would be an old friend of mine who did first aid at a car wreck when there was the possibility that the car would lite up as gas was leaking. He was not a trained EMT, etc and but did what he had to do. Therefore he received the award with crossed palms.

 

Then there is the 18 YO Sea Scout who is a certified YMCA lifeguard being trained as a BSA Lifeguard who rescues a very panicked and active victim while doing swim tests at summer camp, just as dangerous a situation as the one you described, but hte Sea Scout is ineligible b/c he has the training and it is a job of his, although in this situation he was a student.

 

Then you got the 9 yo Cub Scout who has Readyman who sees a teacher having a heart attack and goes into action.

[twh1207]

All the replies have been terriffic but no one has addressed the original reason for starting this thread.

 

That is:

 

What difficulties have others encountered in getting a scout recognized with a Heroism Medal for saving a life in a minimum risk situation and how did you overcome those difficulties?

 

[NeilLup]

Hello twh,

 

In my time in Scouting, I have been involved in applying for about 4 of these. Also, as my council's VP Program, I have oversight resonsibility for the Council Advancement Committee and so have some involvement in the awards. Our council this year will have gotten 5 National Court honors including one written up on page 7 of the current Scouting magazine.

 

1) If the victim will not cooperate, it makes matters very difficult. You can try but it is much tougher.

2) I always recommend to our committee that they nominate the Scout for the highest award that would appear to be appropriate. The National Committee knows how to downgrade awards if they find it appropriate. Do NOT count on the National Committee upgrading an award.

3) Put together the best recommendation package that you can. Send it in.

4) National likes to give out these awards. If you have a reasonable package and a reasonable application, it will be approved.

5) If there was any kind of news article, etc. about the rescue, be sure that is included.

 

So don't be discouraged about the approval at the National level. But your local situation makes it tough. Getting the application through the local advancement committee can often be the hardest step. Those committees can really be "Horatius at the bridge."

 

Please let me know if I can give you some additional information.

[twh1207]

A big problem is that our council advancement committee has failed in its responsibilities as outlined in the procedure on the award form. They have definitely failed on these steps:

 

4. The council committee must investigate the case, interview the principals and witnesses, secure necessary signed statements, and make a recommendation based upon a full knowledge of the facts. It is recommended

that this committee meet within 30 days of the receipt of the recommendation.

5. Only members of the committee present during the interviews and involved in the investigation should sign the application. The National Court of Honor reserves the right to contact individual principals or

witnesses in the case or members of the investigation committee.

6. The council committee bears the responsibility to:

a. Write a summary of the event

b. Complete the application in detail

c. Provide any attachments, newspaper clippings, etc., which pertain to the case

 

There has been no attempt to (step 4) interview the rescuer and I suspect that the committee has failed to interview the eye witness.

 

In step 5 it does say "should" but if it were me I would not sign the form if I had not been part of the investigation and interviews.

 

The committee has done nothing towards completing the application form in its detail. It could not possibly have written a proper summary without having completed step 4. I believe that the rescuer statement confused the committee into believing the trainee was responsible to supervise and rescue swimmers. Without the interview they did not know this. The committee should have interviewed the rescuer and contact the other council where the rescue took place for confirmation about responsibilities. Doing this it would have learned that the responsibilities of a counselor in training do not include supervising swimmers or carry an expectation to rescue them.

 

This has been extremely frustrating.

 

[NeilLup]

Hello twh,

 

May I suggest that you prepare a short summary of what happened and write it up. Then, meet with

 

a) Your Scout Exec or

b) Your Council Commissioner or

c) Your Council VP Program

 

Tall them what you know and ask how you can get consideration/reconsideration of the Heroism Award. Offer to write it up yourself for consideration by the Council Advancement Committee.

 

I know that if I were contacted by a unit leader, I'd listen very respectfully