Scoutmasters are notorious for telling “back in the day” stories. Above is a young man who successfully spent the night on top of Kyle Mountain for his Wilderness Survival Merit Badge.
In the summers of 1982, 1983 and 1984 I worked Camp Staff at Camp Freedom in Dautphe, West Germany (there was a West and an East Germany then). I was a member of Troop 1 out of Heidelberg in the Transatlantic Council due to the fact my father was stationed in the Army. I taught Wilderness Survival for all of those summers. Every Wednesday I would take out the wilderness survival campers and the camping merit badge campers out to “The Hill”. At times it was just me and a Counselor in Training (a 14 or 15 year old scout) and about a 100 campers. Back then, I referred to Wilderness Survival as “hamburger on a rock” merit badge. The boys were given a quarter of a pound of raw ground beef for dinner. They boys had to start a fire without matches and cook without utensils and pans. Most of the time, they just cooked the meat on a flat rock on the fire.
Today Wilderness Survival Merit Badge is more focused on what to do until you are found if you are lost. This is probably a better life skill than burning your fingers flipping a hamburger on a rock.
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