Looks like the Skill Awards started in the 1970's. I have read some of the changes they made back then had a negative impact on membership, or maybe it was just a sign of the times. Maybe Moms and Dads didn't want their boys going out into the woods wearing uniforms and insignias, when there were slightly older boys in uniform on TV and in the newspaper going out into the jungle and getting killed. Anyway, just my opinion, don't want to get political.
I joined in late 1989 and they were in the handbook as requirements up to first class (I still have my books). I earned at least 7, at leas