billpelger 10 Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Can a Cub Scout earn the BSA mile swim? Link to post Share on other sites
scoutldr 732 Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Good question, Bill. I don't see anything that would prohibit it, provided all the requirements are met. (There's a little more to it than just swimming a mile, which they seem to forget at summer camp.) Link to post Share on other sites
CalicoPenn 729 Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Unfortunately, the answer is no. A Cub Scout may not earn the Mile Swim Award. The Mile Swim Award is not a part of the Cub Scout Program, it is available to Boy Scouts and Venturers only. Your Cub Scout will have to wait until he joins a Boy Scout Troop for this one. CalicoPenn Link to post Share on other sites
billpelger 10 Posted October 25, 2006 Author Share Posted October 25, 2006 Regarding the additional requirements, yes I am aware of them. My son belongs to a swim club and attends the practices regularly, they have "dry land" and talk about the safety and the do other excercises to build strength and stamina. Regarding the "No", I appreciate and respect your answer, but...can you show me where it specifically states that a Cub (Webelos in my sons case) cannot earn it or does not qualify, and that it is only a Boy Scout or Venture patch? Over the years, I have heard many "no you cannot do that's", only to realize later that it was their old council rules, or their opinion, or the way they thought they read the G2SS or other document and needless to say, an activity was cancelled or a patch was denied only to find out later it was an opinion, and not factual. By the way, I am not looking to score another patch for my son. It was a leader from a different troop who was watching my son swim who suggested this and even offered to sign off any application of form needed. Also, I thought of this in the past, and asked the very same question and was told no...I accepted it as gospel...but when I asked to see it in writing, they said they would get back to me and needless to say I waited and it fell between the cracks and I let it go, and I never heard from them and they never supplied the backup to their "NO". Link to post Share on other sites
nldscout 18 Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 As this only appears in the BOY SCOUT requirements book and not in any Cub literature, that makes it a sole Boy scout award. Link to post Share on other sites
MarkS 11 Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 All of the awards that Cub Scouts may earn are listed in their handbooks. If it's not in their handbook, it's not an award they can earn. So says, this FAQ on the National web site... http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/faq/awards.html For the complete list of Cub Scout awards... http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/awards/youth/index.html There. Now there should be no more threads about Cub Scout awards. ;-) Link to post Share on other sites
CalicoPenn 729 Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Bill, As I was responding privately to you, MarkS posted the same info on the forum, so I won't repeat. Hope this helps answer your questions - I said unfortunately because I could have easily earned the Mile Swim award back when I was a Cub Scout too, but had to wait until I became a Boy Scout. The Mile Swim was the first award I earned at my first Summer Camp. CalicoPenn Link to post Share on other sites
billpelger 10 Posted October 25, 2006 Author Share Posted October 25, 2006 Thanks for the info!! Link to post Share on other sites
Trevorum 24 Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 I'm in awe of anyone who can contemplate swimming a mile; even more so for anyone who has actually done it! {glug, glug} Congratulations to you son, Bill, for setting his sights high! Link to post Share on other sites
CalicoPenn 729 Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Trevorum, I did 14 Mile Swims during one two week camp period, including two back-to-back (got into a zone and my poor Scoutmaster couldn't keep up with me in the row boat). Of course, this was back when I was a young, in shape, lad who swam the 500-meter competitively during summer swim meets and in High School. Calico(This message has been edited by CalicoPenn) Link to post Share on other sites
SSScout 1615 Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Oh yeah... Mile swim at summer camp. Camp Roosevelt on the Chesapeake Bay. My buddy Don rowed my boat while I swam and then we switched roles. Half a mile out to the bouy and back to the dock, thru the Sea Nettles...(jelly fish)... makes me shiver to think of it. CampRoos is now included in the Calvert Cliffs State Park and Nuclear Power Plant... Link to post Share on other sites
Oak Tree 15 Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 As mentioned above, the web site gives an unambiguous, official answer to the question: May Cub Scouts earn badges such as the 50-Miler Award or Mile Swim, BSA? Answer: Cub Scouts are not eligible to earn these awards, which are part of the Boy Scout program. Unfortunately it goes on to say All of the awards that Cub Scouts may earn are listed in their handbooks or listed on this Web site, and refers to the web site http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/awards/youth/index.html. But that statement is clearly just wishful thinking by whoever wrote it. There are many, many official Cub Scout awards that are not listed in their handbooks, nor on that web site, but are listed in other official Scouting literature. So the question of what are official Cub Scout awards will clearly not be settled, although it appears MarkS was well aware of that. For example, the following awards do not appear on that website, and I dont think most of them appear in the handbooks (although there may be a reference here or there): Interpreter Strips Heroism/Meritorious conduct knots/medals James E. West knot Good Turn for America Conservation Good Turn BSA Family Award Summertime Award Jamboree-on-the-Air/Jamboree-on-the-Internet Donor Awareness International Activity Recruiter Strip Attendance pin and bars Service stars Crime Prevention BSA Physical Fitness The Insignia Guide is a more complete reference it includes maybe 9 or so of the above list, but even it is not complete. It is consistent in that it does not list Mile Swim as a Cub Scout award. It also doesnt list that as a Scouter award, but our summer camp hands out lots of them to Scouters. The Insignia Guide clearly has an error on BSA Lifeguard, where it only lists it as for Scouts and not Scouters, so this leads to some uncertainty about the accuracy of the other omissions. But the web site leaves no uncertainty about the mile swim. At any rate, even if its not an official Cub Scout award, theres nothing stopping you from issuing it as a pack award. Call it the Mile Swim Pack 356 award, or whatever strikes your fancy. Link to post Share on other sites
LongHaul 10 Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 I too was a competitive swimmer in my youth, and swimming a mile was no harder than walking one. My sympathies go out to CalicoPenn's scoutmaster, I ended up in the rowers seat for a scout of mine doing our channel swim, which is 2.25 miles. Trying to stay ahead of the swimmer for 2.25 miles was far harder for me than swimming it was for him. He went on to be an All American in swimming 1500 meters was his specialty LongHaul Link to post Share on other sites
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