Wilderness Survivial MB Redux

[TAHAWK]

As a Wood Badge Ticket item, I agreed to prepare a draft of a revised Wilderness Survival Merit Badge pamphlet.

 

I can send a copy of the draft revision to anyone willing to supply me with their email address. It is a 73 page Word document with illustrations; in short, a BIG file. I may have to send it in piece parts.

 

It has a table of contents, and the subtantive material tracks the proposed requirements.

 

It does not, as some suggested, go back to Olsen's original "primitive living" approach but does reintroduce navigation and self-rescue.

 

The bibliography is as up-to-date as I could make it. Dead websites have been eliminated as well as all websites that only sell training courses.

 

Any feedback you are willing to give me would be appreciated. Feedback I have already received from WSMB Counselors has been very helpful.

[Frank17]

TAHAWK:

 

Congrats on working on your WB ticket.

 

I am not a Wilderness Survivor expert, but you mention the large file size. 2 suggestions:

 

1 - If you can, convert to Adobe PDF as this will greatly shrink the file size and make it able to be viewed by most PCs.

2 - For sending the file, use a free on-line file transfer service (like yousendit.com or sendthisfile.com). You upload your file and the recipient gets a link to the file via email, rather than the actual file. This eliminates the email file size restrictions.

 

Good luck!

 

Frank

NE-IV-214, Owl Patrol

[TAHAWK]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give both of them a try.

 

Five takers thus far.

[TAHAWK]

The draft MBP has been revised (I hope improved) with the input of several here and suggestions from other MB Counselors.

 

Anyone else wishing to give it a look and express your opinions send me your email address. It's now in pdf so much smaller attachment. (Thank you Frank 17.)

 

My letter to National Council suggesting some improvements went out almost two months ago. No response.

[John-in-KC]

Best path to a response is a friendly cup of coffee with your Council Commissioner and your Council Advancement Chair. They have the heft to move the draft to Region and to National.

 

Depending on the size of your Council, your SE may also have some heft.

[scottmphoto]

I teach some wilderness survival and would love to see the MB pamphlet revised. It leaves some things out that I think needs to be there.

If you'd send a copy to scottmphoto@yahoo.com , I'll read through it and make my suggestions.

 

 

 

[Mafaking]

 

I wonder what it takes to get things like this changed at National? Or even some of the training we are discussing in other threads; when do we get to submit our good ideas? I have read these forums for years, I have seen many good ideas. At least 10, maybe more.

 

Funny how the democratic standard in which the program operates falls to the way side at National.

 

No votes, surveys or inquires that I have been a part of.

 

But I did miss two round tables last year so maybe the inquiry occurred at one of them. I'll re-read my emails maybe I was consulted in one from the RT commish, or golly maybe the District Executive asked for my input.

 

I did get a call from council for friends of scouting and council called another time to get the contact information for our popcorn chair.

 

How long do I have to wait to get servant led?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(This message has been edited by Mafaking)

[TAHAWK]

I don't expect to get a vote on what's in the MBP, but when I point out that the advice on water purification is contrary to the advice of the Centers for Disease Control, American Red Cross, USEPA, Wilderness Medical Society, and U.S. military, I expect something other than six years of silence and a new edition with the same errors. And that's only one example. Seems simply unwise.

 

Today, I was supplied with an actual name and email address at National Council. I have sent off an eletter this evening. Time will tell.

 

"Best path to a response is a friendly cup of coffee with your Council Commissioner and your Council Advancement Chair. They have the heft to move the draft to Region and to National.

 

Depending on the size of your Council, your SE may also have some heft."

I have a good relationship with our SE, who is a "pople person." I should try with him if my new name at NC does not work out.

 

I struck out with Council in 2001. I was told to write to the "comments" address inside the MBP and Scouting Magazine. Letters to the former got no response, and Scouting Magazine, that has helped wonderfully on other issues, came up empty.

 

I need to adjust the draft due to numerous changes made in the last two days due to good help from reviewers. I will then send it out to those who have requested it since my prior post.