Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge

[moose32 10]

I am an ASM and E-Prep merit badge counselor in our Troop.

 

For the past four years now each summer camp we have attended seems to turn a blind eye to requirements 8A-C. For instance,

1) Not requiring scouts to prepare a troop mobilization plan (we have one but as patrols change we require scouts to update the plan)

2) Not requiring scouts to construct a family emergency kit and/or a personal mobilization pack

 

I would be interested in other people's experiences.

 

I would also be interested in the mobilization plan others have used. We have a telephone recall system, but in this day and age we have limited success with a phone tree. I was considering having some of the scouts develop a text broadcasting system. Has anyone tried that?

 

Thanks.

[ASM162 20]

Hi Moose,

The summer camp that our Troop attends requires the mobilization plan, which the Troop does have, and it gets updated after every Troop election. It is essentially a telephone tree list, but the PLC is toying with the idea of a text system, since most of the boys have their own phones.

Each scout also is required to have their own mobilization pack. As far as the family emergency kit, the scouts need to know what to include in such a pack and to include any medication and to not forget about any pets, and what is required for their proper care.

[SMT224 10]

The summer camp we attend requires the whole enchilada, so after several years of partials, we finally got smart and have the Scouts do as many prerequisites as they can before camp (including the First Aid merit badge the year before). This includes a list of emergency government agencies, a well documented mobilization plan, family plan of escape, photos of their family emergency kit and a signed statement from mom & dad that they had a family meeting to discuss, as well as anything else they can do before camp.

[Tampa Turtle 1011]

I am interested in this as well. I signed up MB-C as well. as E-Prep I am involved in Emergency Operations as part of my work duties. We live in Hurricane Country and 90% of our scouts live in early evacuation zones. I know the big picture but am not sure how to translate the individual activity to a boy level.

 

I know where there is a lot of FEMA, etc guidance and am sure I can contact/pull-in Fire/Rescue types if needed.

 

I think the Troop emergency plan would be useful. For real.

 

I think it might be good to roll some of the requirements into a drill. In Tampa they always have some really good disaster scenarios (two airliners collide over the city, one crashed into the stadium during Superbowl, the other attempts to land clipping and overturning a chemical truck next to a neighborhood before crashing intact upside down in 20 feet underwater.)

 

I also think this is one of those "be prepared" activities that SHOULD be interesting/exciting to a boy like Wilderness Survival should. I think it is a cool topic.

 

Be. Prepared. Mazzuca. Learn. Proper. Punctuation.

[jtswestark 11]

My past councils camp always has a list of all pre-reqs for every MB in the leaders guide. If they dont have those pre-req items on Monday at the first class, the counselor excuses them from the class. Some re-reqs can be finagled and done at camp to get back in, but others eliminate them right off the bat. Its crystal clear in the leaders guide what requirements are to be done before hand and how they are to be done. The only ones that get confused over it are the boys that neglect to do it or their leader didnt inform them of the pre-reqs. I lay into the Scouts pretty hard that 'forget' to do their pre-reqs as the class sizes are limited and someone else may have gotten locked out of that class.

 

On the EPrep MB, most of the work is done at home before camp and documented by the Scout having the SM sign a statement or writeup of what he did and how it went. Photos of the family kit; brings the personal kit with him; and the Scout would need to do a phone tree emergency before we left for camp. I can see a benefit for texting but a large number of our boys don't have phones. One of the better phone tree instruction sheets a boy put best way to contact Joel and then a secondary contact for Joel. If the tree failed they had to try again and it can make them very frustrated!

 

[CalicoPenn 729]

Four responses so far and no one has mentioned the elephant in the room - guess it's up to me:

 

Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge offered at Summer Camp? Really??? I'd like to know why? Do we really need to offer every Merit Badge there is at Summer Camp? Does your summer camp offer the three Citizenship merit badges too? No wonder so many summer camps have a reputation of being a week long merit badge mill.

 

In my opinion (and if you disagree, by all means try to change my mind), the merit badges offered at summer camp should be limited to those that summer camp is uniquely suited to offer like the rifle, shotgun and archery merit badges, the aquatic merit badges (try to earn rowing in winter), the nature merit badges (including astronomy) the outdoors merit badges (fishing, pioneering, orienteering, camping, wilderness survival, etc.) and the handicrafts (why do basketry and leatherwork at summer camp? They can help fill free time, and keep Scouts occupied when thunderstorms have closed the waterfront). If you're lucky enough to have a camp with it's own ranch, horsemanship.

 

First Aid? Emergency Preparedness? The Citizenships? Leave it out of summer camp - they can be done year round much easier than small-boat sailing or reptile and amphibian study.

 

If your argument is that Emergency Preparedness is an Eagle-required merit badge, save it - just because it's required for Eagle Scout shouldn't mean it has to be offered at summer camp if it's not a proper fit for a proper outdoor summer camp program.

 

 

[jtswestark 11]

Yeah, youre right Calico - to a point. I don't have a problem with First Aid, Camping, E Prep, Wild Surv, and some others though. A camp environment is as good as any to teach these with the right program and staffers. I would hear about some monumental battles on the camping committee each year over this. We got stuck with alternating Cit Nation and World each year as a compromise for a long time. They added Communications this year, which really bothered me. I could half buy Personal Fitness a couple years ago, but even that was a stretch. Four required for Star (Camping, Swimming, First Aid, and ...) and three for Life really entices a kid looking to advance.

 

I dont like it either and would frown upon the boys taking them and really try to talk them out of it to do as you say take some summer campish merit badges. Theres some ways you can twist the kids arm away from those, but largely that only works so much especially when we have tight classes and you may only get into two to begin. Plus when you look over what many of the fourth and fifth year guys already have many and what is offered, you lose much your argument.

 

[Venividi 35]

jtswestark,

 

I agree with you to a point. The point being that the outdoors is a good place to teach first aid and other badges you listed. And there-in lies the problem - teaching. Even the best staff cant be effective counsellors in a group setting. They become teachers. Nothing wrong with teachers, but they are different than counsellors. They are faced with a situation where they must get a lot of boys through the badge in classroom type settings. Much of the responsibility shifts from scouts to the staff. Staff has larger issues than making sure each and every scout completes each requirement on his own.

 

Reguarding your second paragraph, I'm not sure why there must be an arguement to win or lose. A troop can take the position certain merit badges will not be approved to be taken at summer camp. SM signature is required, and SM can specify a non-camp staff MB counsellor. The troop has control over the quality of the experience that the troop's scouts will have with MB's. It need not be abdicated to a camp, MB university, or other entity.