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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]

#101

Post by jvanderbot »

amalcon wrote: post #77
throwawayboise wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could support kids learning boxing if it was limited to body blows. With what we are learning about concussion, it seems to be more and more understood that blows to the head are never OK. Maybe you still need to teach defense against head blows, but they should probably not be allowed in competition. Getting battered in the head until you cannot stand up or respond should be right out.

There are martial arts where even in competition, concussion is relatively rare. E.g. grappling sports like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu don't usually involve impacts of that intensity, to the head or otherwise.

Football has more concussions than boxing, because it has more full speed competition than boxing. Almost nobody does in-the-ring boxing, they just learn.

And soccer has the most injuries of any sport, according to an ER doc (who treated me for a football injury).

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

#102

Post by jvanderbot »

SapporoChris wrote: post #99
jvanderbot wrote: post #48

I really love this. I am a firm believer in everyone studying _some_ martial art (player's choice). For the following reasons: - It teaches an insane amount of respect when two people have to hold themselves back to practice - It teaches self-discipline, mostly in the long-forgotten art of keeping yourself from becoming so angry you cannot function with form. - It gives a crazy amount of confidence to know you are at…

I can't disagree, but I offer I hope an amusing counterpoint I heard from my uncle. It was Korean war or earlier and during basic training they were learning bayonet fighting. One soldier protested and said he did not need to learn bayonet fighting as a knife wound to the ass is not fatal. My counterpoint being, it's good to know the skills but avoidance when possible is best.

It is really hard to safely create space in a fight if your opponent is right on you and there's any kind of obstacle around. Or, if they have a hold on you.

At least, I assume so given how much time is dedicated to creating space and moving away in my boxing and krav maga training.

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

#103

Post by EVdotIO »

jackcosgrove wrote: post #88
EVdotIO wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, basket weaving and leather work were super fun, and I have all cool ones like shotgun, archery and rifle. The most boring are probably your citizenship badges. Don't knock it till you try it.

Safety was the most boring badge, and quite a bear too. Lots of memorization. It was required afaik too, at least back in the 90s. Had a reputation as blocking advancement to a higher rank, I think Life.

Oh damn, totally forgot about safety. That's probably telling.

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

#104

Post by gonzo »

nytesky wrote: post #53
ddoolin wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't at all worried BEFORE that swim test, but afterwards I can safely say that was legitimately difficult and pretty terrifying. Especially when you realize the lake we did it in was full of leeches, which was completely foreign to me at the time.

Ah summer lake leaches. Stuff of nightmares. My understanding was as long as you didn’t touch the mucky bottom you were in the clear? I swam in New England lakes for 20 years and never had one myself but saw several. Probably why I did the mile swim several times, treading water to keep leach free builds endurance.

I had Scouts earn the Mile Swim award offshore in Hawaii.

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

#105

Post by gonzo »

jackcosgrove wrote: post #88
EVdotIO wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, basket weaving and leather work were super fun, and I have all cool ones like shotgun, archery and rifle. The most boring are probably your citizenship badges. Don't knock it till you try it.

Safety was the most boring badge, and quite a bear too. Lots of memorization. It was required afaik too, at least back in the 90s. Had a reputation as blocking advancement to a higher rank, I think Life.

Safety was dropped from the “required for Eagle” list in 1999

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

#106

Post by gonzo »

ilamont wrote: 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.

Hiking requires one 5-mile hike three 10-mile hikes, one 15-mile hike and one 20-mile hike.

None can be overnight.

The Backpacking MB requires a 30 mile trip over at least 3 days or nights (3 overnight stops).

None require a 50 mile hike, though there is a “50 mile” award that requires at least 50 miles over 5 days with no motor vehicles. Some troops (units) make a 50 mile trip compulsory in order to attend the High Adventure base trip (e.g. Philmont.)

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

#107

Post by gonzo »

fishtoaster wrote: post #50
ilamont wrote: 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.

I remember getting my computer badge- in the late 90s, iirc. I had to write up a document in a word processor, create a simple spreadsheet, and one or two other things I'm probably forgetting. Even then it felt a bit basic and behind the times, but I was happy to get an easy badge!

Merit Badges are mostly designed to be introductory, not a test of advanced competency.

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

#108

Post by gonzo »

dctoedt wrote: post #38
irrational wrote: post #19

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

There is an infamous story about a Duke in the SCA pugil stick fighting with a DI

http://www.florilegium.org/files/STORIES/SCA-stories1-msg.ht...

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

#109

Post by gonzo »

motohagiography wrote: post #74
nimbius wrote: post #55

Broke: I want to enter my son into a child fighting ring. Woke: My boys earning his arms merit badge in the boy scouts.

Grew up playing hockey and just assumed the point of having children was to set them against one another for sport. It's as though nobody here is from Canada. Did you not have lawn darts, potassium nitrate, and licorice cigars? I was a generation or so late to get a duelling scar, but grew up about 20miles from the site of Camp X (where we invented the CIA), and it seemed the american kids were given guns willy nilly…

We had lawn darts and potassium nitrate.

I was given my first rifle when I was 6 (for Christmas). Still have it.

I turned 60 yesterday.

Different times.

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

#110

Post by gonzo »

themodelplumber wrote: post #2

Holy smokes! Reading this over, I'll bet there were more than a few injuries among the groups that practiced it. Imagine sending your kid off for a fun weekend and then watching them come home Sunday morning with an acute elbow injury from an arm bar... Scouting was dangerous enough without that stuff. You could get lost and even die in any number of unexpected ways. I watched a friend take a full swing of a wood axe…

As a Scoutmaster for 7 years I introduced the axe and other subjects to over 200 11 year-old boys without a single injury other than 2 semi-minor burns.

I, OTOH, suffered an ascending aortic dissection that terminates in my left iliac. I survived (obviously), but it did stop me from e.g. Philmont afterwords.

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