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Master at Arms Badge for Boy Scouts (1925) [pdf]

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Re: Master at Arms Badge for Boy Scouts (1925) [pdf]

#31
post #10

Some merit badges involve strenuous physical challenges, such as hiking (multiple long-distance hikes including a 50-miler). The canoeing MB requires learning how to get back on an overturned canoe while in deep water, which is bloody hard. They still have badges for shooting and archery, too. There are also some badges that were unexpected - plumbing, fixing farm equipment, computer game design.

there's no 50-mile hike requirement -- all the hikes are to be done in a single day and 20 is the maximum length for good reason

the sum total of all the required hikes is 70 miles: 5, 10, 10, 10, 15, 20

Re: Master at Arms Badge for Boy Scouts (1925) [pdf]

#32

I'm just thinking back to my time in scouting and can only imagine what it would be like to teach a bunch of 14-16 y/os the 1920s equivalent of MMA. Probably about 30min of fun until kids just start hitting each other as hard as they can with sticks. Still sounds more fun than the basket weaving merit badge though.

Hey man, my first year at summer camp all I did was basket weaving, leather working, and pottery. I originally planned to do swimming and some other adventurous stuff but was too overwhelmed by the swim test to be allowed in the lake and had a bit of a meltdown before changing course. I spent the whole week chilling in camp or the crafting grove working with my hands - it was great.

A few years later I went to a different summer camp as a senior patrol leader and finally got my swimming badge along with canoeing and rock climbing - that was a great week too. Point being: there's value in the "boring" stuff, maybe even more so now that I'm established in my career and looking for a little more peace these days. Lately I've been strangely interested in weaving and am thinking of making a simple loom - maybe this goes back to my basket weaving experience when I was 10?

Re: Master at Arms Badge for Boy Scouts (1925) [pdf]

#33
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sheesh. Some of the best things I ever did involved the risk of getting hurt. And yes, I guess I could see someone very left-leaning hating on an Eagle Scout but it would still probably be rare thankfully.

What's the liberal complaint about scouting?

There are certainly complaints to be made about the BSA policies as an organization but I wouldn’t hold that against someone who went through scouting.

Re: Master at Arms Badge for Boy Scouts (1925) [pdf]

#34

I'm just thinking back to my time in scouting and can only imagine what it would be like to teach a bunch of 14-16 y/os the 1920s equivalent of MMA. Probably about 30min of fun until kids just start hitting each other as hard as they can with sticks. Still sounds more fun than the basket weaving merit badge though.

Did you do basket weaving? Basket weaving was super chill and could make you feel like an adult in some important ways. My baskets were a disaster but talking to friends about favorite video games while weaving them was like free therapy.

> but talking to friends about favorite video games while weaving them was like free therapy.

This is backwards. Your friends aren't cheap knockoffs of a therapist. Therapists are people you pay to pretend to be your friend.

Re: Master at Arms Badge for Boy Scouts (1925) [pdf]

#35
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, sure. I was a quiz bowl captain, president of the national honor society, and placed yearly at the state science fair and I didn't list those on a professional resume either. It takes very little effort to be an Eagle Scout. I completed all requirements including the community project aside from the board review before I turned 13. Our scoutmaster suddenly quit on us to attain his MS in engineering (his employe…

> It takes very little effort to be an Eagle Scout. I completed all requirements including the community project aside from the board review before I turned 13. It really varies from troop to troop. Ours is old-school, by the book, multiple leadership positions required for half-year terms. No one got an Eagle who was under 15 and the projects are very involved with construction or logistics. Tearing down and rebuild…

This was also our troop. You couldn't make Life Scout before you were 15 thanks to the leadership requirements, and that meant that the earliest you could get Eagle was sometime at age 16. The vast majority of them got it just before they turned 18. The projects were intended to be ambitious and demanded that the Scout do the bulk of the planning and dealing with the bureaucracy.

Imagine my surprise when our troop went to SeaBase and ran into a bunch of other troops where everyone got Eagle at age 14.

Re: Master at Arms Badge for Boy Scouts (1925) [pdf]

#36
post #31
post #10

Some merit badges involve strenuous physical challenges, such as hiking (multiple long-distance hikes including a 50-miler). The canoeing MB requires learning how to get back on an overturned canoe while in deep water, which is bloody hard. They still have badges for shooting and archery, too. There are also some badges that were unexpected - plumbing, fixing farm equipment, computer game design.

there's no 50-mile hike requirement -- all the hikes are to be done in a single day and 20 is the maximum length for good reason the sum total of all the required hikes is 70 miles: 5, 10, 10, 10, 15, 20

You are correct. I was thinking of the "50 miler" badge.

https://www.scouting.org/awards/awards-central/50-miler/

Re: Master at Arms Badge for Boy Scouts (1925) [pdf]

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the liberal complaint about scouting?

For the big ones, read about the history of scouting, including when BSP visited Portland OR. You'll understand right away.

That is the worst homework assignment ever: read the complete history of Boy Scouts, including when an unexpanded not-common acronym visited Portland.

Was a link asking too much?

Re: Master at Arms Badge for Boy Scouts (1925) [pdf]

#38

1925 in Great Britain? So, this was published just a few years after the end of World War I. I presume it was written by people who actually fought in the war. I wonder how much of this reflected the skills they had learned or used as soldiers in that war?

> I wonder how much of this reflected the skills they had learned or used as soldiers in that war?

Even today, Marine recruits are trained to fight with pugil sticks and padding — part of the idea is to get them accustomed to being hit without losing focus on the mission.

https://rp.marineparents.com/bootcamp/mcmap.asp

Re: Master at Arms Badge for Boy Scouts (1925) [pdf]

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you do basket weaving? Basket weaving was super chill and could make you feel like an adult in some important ways. My baskets were a disaster but talking to friends about favorite video games while weaving them was like free therapy.

> but talking to friends about favorite video games while weaving them was like free therapy. This is backwards. Your friends aren't cheap knockoffs of a therapist. Therapists are people you pay to pretend to be your friend.

This is bassakwards. A therapist isn’t supposed to be - let alone pretend to be - your friend at all.

Re: Master at Arms Badge for Boy Scouts (1925) [pdf]

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When multimedia was a huge thing in the late '90s and early '00s, you had a lot of small businesses with tight groups of graphic designers, illustrators, developers (full stack web + Flash & Director), and animators. Usually one of the creatives was in charge of hiring. It was totally obviously not a pro, and in many cases they'd make fun of it outright, or politely advise to take it off.

Well, sure. I was a quiz bowl captain, president of the national honor society, and placed yearly at the state science fair and I didn't list those on a professional resume either. It takes very little effort to be an Eagle Scout. I completed all requirements including the community project aside from the board review before I turned 13. Our scoutmaster suddenly quit on us to attain his MS in engineering (his employe…

Life for life?
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