2010 Pathfinder MB....

[Cowboy]

ADMIN INSERT: Please post your "2010 Historical" Pathfinder MB questions and comments here, in this thread.

Go to "2010 Historical" Merit Badges for program information.

It took my son about 1.5 hours to do the Pathfinding. He had the benefits of having lived here (same house) all of his life (15.5 yrs), small town (1200 pop.), Cit. in Community MB completed, and as a building inspector, I travel all of the roads around. He has gone with and been trained to read plat maps and road maps very well. Other, younger boys, I anticipate about 3-4 hours to complete this MB.

The other ones will take time, and we have to remember, they do have other things to do, like Eagle Required MB's, camp, outings, rank advancement, all of the Celebration activities (Jambo?) Community Service, etc. If these were all that they had to do this year it would be one thing, but they do have a lot of other stuff.

[ThunderingWind]

Silly me.....here I thought Pathfinding meant map reading, air mobile operations, and leading the way for the rest of the
Army.

[Cowboy]

Not Army, Troop.

[ThunderingWind]

There would be some value in having every Scout know how to identify a helo landing zone and how
to guide the pilot in for those back county emergencies. Landing Zone ID panels could be carried as part
of BSA Back Country required gear.

Besides, Scouts do not know enough map reading to handle the looming collapse of the GPS satellite system.

[Cowboy]

I don't know about that. Our Troop uses maps and orienteering for everything. Our SM uses the GPS to verify, but so far there are a few of us who are holding out on the whole gps thing. I still like to make my son write stuff long hand instead of type it and spellcheck.

[smtroop168]

There would be some value in having every Scout know how to identify a helo landing zone and how
to guide the pilot in for those back county emergencies. Landing Zone ID panels could be carried as part
of BSA Back Country required gear.

Besides, Scouts do not know enough map reading to handle the looming collapse of the GPS satellite system.

Req 4 EPrep MB

[smtroop168]

Pathfinding MB was required for Eagle during almost the entire life of the badge. If you look at the requirements, it was designed to have scouts do good turns by helping others find their way especially in rural areas. Maybe an offshoot from the Boyce Fog story?

[RWSmith]

Nobody teaches how to lay out the panels to indicate the proper landing approach or the hand signals.

Pathfinders should know how to sling load the injured if the helo can not land.

These in-depth skills are missing from Scouting.

At least require the info to be in a water proof "Ranger," "Pathfinder" or "Special Forces" manual AND carried by each member of the outing. I do not leave home without them.

Perhaps the better approach would be to coordinate with your local SAR group to see if they'll conduct supplemental rescue training for the troop, or at least provide some of their SOPs. Helo ops, 9 Lines and patient air evac are more advanced skills than the basic emergency capabilities we would hope every Scout possesses.

[smtroop168]

Req 4 EPrep MB

Well, ok, sort of. I was looking for IR panels, strobe beacons, proper hand signals, hand signals at nigth with IR/flashlights etc.

Generally, the boys only learn mirror/cd flashes, smoke and bright color strips. And if they use the mirror, they do not know morse code well enough to tell the air crew whats happening/needed or warn of any dangers.

Nobody teaches how to lay out the panels to indicate the proper landing approach or the hand signals.

Pathfinders should know how to sling load the injured if the helo can not land.

These in-depth skills are missing from Scouting.

At least require the info to be in a water proof "Ranger," "Pathfinder" or "Special Forces" manual AND carried by each member of the outing. I do not leave home without them.

All the things you list are excellent skills to have especially if you find yourself in a position where they are needed. Remember a MB is not designed to make a scout an expert in the particular field. Each MB has lots of stuff that could be added to the current requirements to make them more of an "expert". The main purpose of the MB program is to introduce them to a variety of different areas and maybe a few become something they want to pursue down the road.

There is a process for submitting changes to MBs or having new ones added so send your good ideas to National.

[RWSmith]

Please post your "2010 Historical" Pathfinder MB questions and comments here, in this thread.

Go to "2010 Historical" Merit Badges for program information.

[ThunderingWind]

All the things you list are excellent skills to have especially if you find yourself in a position where they are needed. Remember a MB is not designed to make a scout an expert in the particular field.

If I were "King for the Day," the Eagle Required MBs would required the Scout to become for of an expert in those areas ans skills I mentioned above would be added to the basic Scouting skill set all Scouts learn.

Helo landing/guide skills can come in handy even in urban areas.

[FrankJ]

If I was piloting a million dollar plus helicopter that will kill me if I screw up. I would be really careful about taking landing instructions from some one with unknown qualifications.

[ThunderingWind]

If I was piloting a million dollar plus helicopter that will kill me if I screw up. I would be really careful about taking landing instructions from some one with unknown qualifications.

That is why all Scouts should be experts in these skills.

[topshot]

Are there any "local scout headquarters" that are still "in the country"?

Anybody have livery stables or blacksmith shops in their town? At least garages still exist today.

On the ones where the Scout needs to "know the location of the nearest...", will you be basing that upon his home, the local Scout headquarters or the location your unit meets? We have Scouts from different towns in our unit.

[Mrw]

So I went into the Scout Shop to buy 6 of these today. You have to ask for them and the guy looked at me a little funny and asked if there were even an counselors for this yet.