wilderness survival question

[diamondbackAPL]

for the requirement where you have to build the shelter, does it have to be all natural materials, or can I use a tarp as a building material?

[Mick Scouter]

diamondback,

First did you read the requirement and the MB Pamphlet? I guess I could have left it there but I was curious. Requirement 8 states

Show that you can find and improvise a natural shelter minimizing the damage to the environment.

Let us examine the requirement #1 "Show that you can find" I imagine if there was a tarp in the woods one could use it (in real life). #2 "improvise a natural shelter" Is a tarp natural? #3 "minimizing the damage to the environment" well if the tarp was in the woods then one could argue you were improving the environment.

I am not a wilderness survival MB Councelor but my answer would be No!

Don't get me wrong I learned something here but so could you if you just took the time to read the requirements and the book. I did not read the book maybe it says something different.

[diamondbackAPL]

thanks, that's what I thought, but the book kept mentioning ways to use a tarp on your shelter, so I thought it was alright (if it wasn't, why would it be in there?)

[Mick Scouter]

I do not know. I do not have the book but you might try looking up the defination of a tarp. Maybe there is a different defination for a tarp (a natural one). I am interested because my son will be taking this MB at summer camp. I enjoy the dialogue. You must remember when writing on these forums to try to explain your question very well and put what you have done and reviewed. I can see you did more work than you took credit for in your question. Do you understand what I mean?

[wagionvigil]

Great MB All the Boys in the Troop I was SM for for 18 years took it. Several years ago there was a push to make it required.

[Mick Scouter]

Not a bad idea. My star scout took it at summer camp and I thought it was a great experience for me just observing.

[cballman]

after the shelter is built and show that it would work as a shelter then we let the kids put a tarp over the top just in case the weather turns bad. we also like to do our WS merit badge in the winter when there is not many creepy crawley thing wiggleing around in and out of the sleeping bags.

[Mick Scouter]

Great Thought! Winter Wilderness Survival. I like it!

[JazerNorth]

During my last summer scout camp two of my troop members did the Wilderness Survival. When the other boys found out that they got to go build a shelter in the wilderness and sleep in it for the night, pretty much all of them wanted to go do it. I let them go, even though they weren't in the MB class. They had a great time. It even rained and got them all wet. They still talk about that experience. I let the boys be boys and go get wet or stay dry depending on their shelter. For this next summer camp, I have a few boys who specifically looked for the merit badge before any others to make sure they could fit it in their schedule.

JazerNorth

[diamondbackAPL]

well, last night my friend and I built shelters in his backyard, and today, I went to a merit badge workshop and finished the badge.

[wagionvigil]

congratulations!!!

[Mick Scouter]

This is a Great MB! I am looking forward to my youngest doing it this summer!

[Lynda J]

I have a question on this also. If you have a backpack with you and you have a poncho in it. Would that meet the requirement. If you also used downed timber to make the structure?

[diamondbackAPL]

I think that so long as they didn't use it as an actual building material, you could use it. However since the point of the badge is to teach you how to survive with nothing, it would be better if they didn't.

[jeffrey]

Quote:
Show that you can find and improvise a natural shelter minimizing the damage to the environment.

I am a MB councilor for Wilderness survival. In order to minimize damage to the enviroment, I allow the boys to use a small tarp. I have shown them pictures of debris huts and demonstrated the process to them. In one of my lectures on the shelter portion, we go into the woods and build one. I do this during one of our weekly meetings so we don't usually get it completed. I had 8 boys going thru the overnight at once. For each pair of boys to construct a 'proper shelter would have disturbed quite a large area.

[TCC7]

Several years ago, our council camp cancelled the overnight WS exercise due to a threat of rain. We thought that it was pretty silly and that it would be great if you pick the kind of weather you needed to survive in. We decided to complete the exercise in our camp with a plane crash scenario. The scouts were all on a soccer team. You get the picture. They had a great time and we were amazed at the leaders who rose to the top. It was also a great lesson for them to utilize all members of the group.

[ICanCanoeCanU]

When my son took this badge at camp in the Adirondack mountains, they were allowed a flashlight and sleeping bag, that's it.

Seems redundant to call it Wilderness Survival and then allow modern advantages?

[SoopaScouta]

Wow! When I took this badge at summer camp, we weren't allowed to bring anything that couldn't fit in regular pants pockets. That meant no sleeping bags. The only things I brought were two fleece jackets and a raincoat. I was planning on laying the coat down on the ground and sleeping on it, but it got so cold that I just put it on.

[Rick Tyler]

All of these extra restrictions are NOT part of the MB requirements, which state:

8. Show that you can find and improvise a natural shelter minimizing the damage to the environment.

9. Spend a night in your shelter.

Personally, I think some of the artificial restrictions I've heard about (like "no sleeping bags") make it more fun for the Scout, but these are in direct contradictions to BSA MB rules: "add nothing, subtract nothing." If BSA meant, "no sleeping bags allowed," that's what the MB requirements would say.

Some scouts in our troop did their Wilderness Survival night out in March in western Washington. Nighttime temps in the 30s combined with a light but steady rain would have been life-threatening following the "rules" set by some counselors.

[cballman]

after reading some replies to the question I think the answer would really depend on what the weather would be at the time. like no sleeping bags would be ok for a summer outing here in KY but not for a winter outing. so IMHO I think it would depend on the conditions as to what gear would be allowed. but then again for purist reasons I can also see that having nothing except the clothes on your back and your normal everday pocket items. then again we are trying to grab the atten. of the kids and the merit badge program is to give a kid a chance to learn from a new experience that they would not normaly do. so just like rick I do beleive that adults can read to much into these req. and make it harder on the kids. now then again when a group of kids go back the second year after they have completed the merit badge and do the shelter again then we must have done something right the first time.