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Status of Historical Merit Badges


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Why would national pull the Historic MBs?

Half of the members of this forum could research the old requirements, post 'em online, and get bids for producing the physical badges in half a day.

Isn't it more work to retract the Historic MB offering than to finish it?

I don't understand...

 

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Just to confirm what has already been mentioned, we were informed by our DE this evening at the Commissioners meeting that the Historical merit badges have indeed been "suspended".

 

He gave a list of reasons why, but it basically came down to the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing.

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Well NOLESRULE, your DE is in error. I talked to National this afternoon and basically got the same answer as given on the FB page. They are just "delayed a bit", until when, take your pick: by end of the month or early March. The actual MBs are due into the Scout Shops the first week of March. They are not going away.

 

This program, while a very good idea, should have been rolled out at the end of 2009. There is no excuse for this SNAFU. I just hope there is some leeway for those who are almost finished in December, but need a month more.

 

FYI, there is also talk that both these MBs as well as the Centennial rank advancement will be tightly controlled to prevent collectors from getting their hands on them. Good luck with that! That only make the items more sought after and valuable. You would think National would think about these things.

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It will be interesting to see just how badly National continues to screw up this particular program, in any case it really seems to be another example of their inability to take a simple idea and bring it into reality. I am willing to bet you will see this program continue to be delayed because of very poor planning.(This message has been edited by BadenP)

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"Either way, it means they can't be earned right now anyway."

 

Maybe in your Council but the Baltimore Area Council registrar told me last week that the program is up and running. Scouts in this council are free to start working on them now.

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Those requirements were not official. The first official announcement said to look for a new web page coming out at the end of the month (January) that would explain the program and list the requirements. That still hasn't happened.

 

I don't see what the big rush is. How many merit badges take 9 months to earn? My guess is a Scout will be able to earn these in 3 - 4 weeks, if he really wants to. It's only the middle of February - patience.

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"My guess is a Scout will be able to earn these in 3 - 4 weeks, if he really wants to. It's only the middle of February - patience."

 

I've already heard some people boasting that they have had scouts earn 2 of them in an afternoon at one of the lovely MB universities or MB fairs. There are some things within scouting that I'll never really understand, and the need to make sure a scout gains possession of a patch (rather than gaining a skill) is one of those things.

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Any word that National has canceled these is simply untrue.

 

A Scout approached me a few weeks ago and wanted to work on Pathfinder, based on what he had read on the Internet. I checked with my DE, and he said to go ahead, then fill out the advancement form and send it in. We did. Today I received the merit badge from our district in the mail.

 

I'd say that means this thing is going full steam ahead, right now. :)

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There's obviously something wrong here. Some people are sure the requirements aren't official, yet at least one person has gotten the merit badge from their district (or council, in my neck of the woods districts don't have separate places to keep merit badges, but whatever.) National itself doesn't seem to know what it's doing. This isn't just the left hand and right hand not knowing what each other are doing, it's like some kind of poly-octopus with many hands going in all different directions and no brain connecting them.

 

Clearly the BSA can do better than this.(This message has been edited by njcubscouter)

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