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My oldest has been BSA certified Life guard for 4 years (renewed once, and worked Summer Camp as  a life guard). He just took an ARC Lifeguard course. He was disappointed, and wasn't impressed by the training.

 

When I got my BSA Lifeguard last year, for $25 more we could have dual certified as ARC Lifeguards. The $25 covered the cost of getting the ARC credentials. Since I do not plan on working at a pool again, I didn't get it.

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I've always though lifeguards with whistles at a crowded beach or pool were kinda funny in a not so funny way.  They go tooting away, with a thousand folks in the water.... and nobody bothers to look at them to see what's up.

Useful maybe in a real emergency to get the attention of the other lifeguards....but the tooting thing at folks horsing around or whatever.... everybody is thinking they must be tooting at someone else!

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All PL's used to carry a whistle for patrol communication.  Now they just scream like banshees on steroids.  Have a kid get lost after dark it's like a flock of geese settling in for the night.  And as a side-note, it doesn't go unnoticed by other campers within a five mile radius either.

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I always keep a police-grade whistle on my key-chain; it's more of an emergency preparedness thing but on rare occasions I have found use for it in the classroom or with my Den during outdoor activities. :rolleyes:  It's not for attention-getting usually - I'm a (poorly) trained opera vocalist, so I can be as loud as anybody if I want (I'm obnoxious like that), but I still figure a nice whistle is good to have if I need to save my voice for whatever reason. A whistle is a pretty standard emergency item; I am surprised there is even any controversy. 

 

 

Of course this may also have to do with the fact that I can't whistle naturally anyway, lol.

Edited by The Latin Scot
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BSA whistle, old single tone, British dual-tone scout whistle. All work just fine.

Work? Sure they work.

 

Make a noise that gets everyone's attention even in the next country? That's a Fox40. :) There's no. Claiming they didn't hear it.

Edited by Back Pack
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When I was a youth soccer referee in High School, it was an ACME Thunderer- the one with the metal band that went around your fingers- no lanyard. Now, the Fox 40 is what I usually have clipped to my pack. Not sure what happened to my ACME...

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When I was a youth soccer referee in High School, it was an ACME Thunderer- the one with the metal band that went around your fingers- no lanyard. Now, the Fox 40 is what I usually have clipped to my pack. Not sure what happened to my ACME...

 

They are still around.

 

Smart to use a pea-less whistle for emergencies. I have one I use for emergencies too. Great whistle. Definitely a loud whistle.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Go to any professionally managed pool or beach and every lifequard will be carrying-and using-a whistle. There is a reason for that. And I don't see lifeguarding a BSA swim event as any different in this respect. I think somebody at National Camp School is still carrying baggage from when they didn't make the lifeguard cut as a teenager.

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