Be Prepared – For Adventure, For Life
Posted by Scoutmaster on March 12, 2010 at 11:17 am
Vol. 2, No. 3
This is the National Council’s outstanding newsletter promoting our rich culture of Scouting traditions. Let the troop know what you think about it.
Badges, Bicycles, and Bugles
Celebrations of the BSA’s Centennial are sweeping across America. Many councils are hosting gala events, and preparations continue for this summer’s “100 Years of Scouting” National Jamboree®.
With Centennial badges, all Scouts can show pride in the BSA’s big birthday. The patches are sure to become collectors’ items in years to come.
BADGES OF THE CENTURY
Scouts and Scouters everywhere are wearing the Embroidered Centennial Ring Emblem around the World Scout Crest Emblem on their uniform shirts. If you are one of the 43,000 attending the 2010 Jamboree®, you can proudly show off the 2010 Jamboree®
World Crest Ring emblem.
Centennial Ring Emblem, World Scout Crest Emblem, and 2010 Jamboree® World Crest Ring
Official 2010 Jamboree® Partcipant Emblem
Centennial Badges of Rank
Complete the advancement requirements before December 31, and you can earn a Cub Scout or Boy Scout rank badge with 2010 embroidered into the design. Check with your Scout leader to learn how to get these once-in-a-century awards.
For Cub Scouts:
For Boy Scouts:
The Eagle Pin that Never Was
Scouting came to America in 1910, but it would be several years before a Boy Scout advanced through all the ranks and reached the rank of Eagle. The first Handbook showed that Scouting’s founders thought the Eagle pin should have the profile of an eagle in flight.
That original Eagle design never became more than a drawing on a Handbook page. By 1912 when the first medal was presented to Scout Arthur Eldred, it had taken the shape of the familiar Eagle emblem Scouts still know.
Arthur Eldred, the first of more than two million Eagle Scouts. Note the merit badges on his sleeve.
PEDAL POWER!
Cycling was a merit badge Arthur Eldred earned on his path to Eagle. A hundred years later, bicycling is still a favorite way for many Scouts to get around.
1911 Cycling Merit Badge Cycling Merit Badge Today
Advertisements in the back pages of BSA Handbooks often featured bicycles and gear to go with them.
As bicycles improved through the decades, Scouts used them for bigger and better adventures. These 1950s Scouts had the latest in uniforms and pedaling machines.
Scouts today set off on roads and designated bike trails for the fun and challenge of two-wheeled travel. Riders going into the backcountry follow the rules of Leave No Trace by using only those trails that are approved for bicycles, minimizing their impact, and remembering that hikers, horseback riders, and others may be enjoying the pathways, too.
Spring Maintenance
Late winter is a good time to check over your bike to be sure it is ready for the rides of spring and summer. Inspect brakes and gear cables and see that seat and handlebars are adjusted to fit you.
Cleaning and lubricating bicycle chains and gears helps make riding a joy. Practice repairing bicycle tires so you’ll know how to do it if you have a flat far from home. The
Cycling Merit Badge Pamphlet and BSA Fieldbook can show you how.
BUGLES
An advertisement in the 1924 Boy Scout Handbook brought the bicycle together with another traditional Scouting favorite – the bugle.
The image embroidered on the Bugling merit badge has stayed the same for a hundred years.
Bugling can also boast that its requirements have seen fewer changes over the century than any other merit badge. A Scout is still asked to perform bugle calls that send information throughout camp. Reveille, for example, rouses Scouts from their sleeping bags. Mess alerts everyone that it’s time to eat.
Among the simplest musical instruments, a bugle is a coiled brass tube with a bell at one end and a mouthpiece on the other. Bugle calls can also be performed with a trumpet or coronet – essentially, bugles with valves that add a full range of notes for making music.
The famous notes of Taps are played at the end of the day, as the American flag is being lowered, and during funerals.
In the Centennial Handbook
Badges, bicycles, and bugles have been featured in many editions of the Boy Scout Handbook. Check the back pages of the Handbook’s new Centennial Edition, and you’ll see just one advertisement – for the BSA’s Supply Group. At
www.scoutstuff.org you’ll find everything you need to outfit yourself for Scouting’s Centennial activities, and for many years to come.
Boy Scouts of America®, the Universal Emblem, Be Prepared®, and Be Prepared. For Adventure. For LifeTM are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the Boy Scouts of America in the United States and/or other countries. All rights reserved.
All other trademarks are properties of their perspective owners. All rights reserved.
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