Wood Badge Reflections

I participate in several online discussion groups about Scouting.   One topic which has come up quite a bit recently is the difference between the “new” (I’d prefer the term “Current” because it’s been in use for 15+ years) and the “old” (I’d say “previous” because it was used from the late-80’s until a little over 15 years ago) Wood Badge course.

I think I’m in a unique position to answer that question, having been a student in each.

First, a bit of background philosophy changed between the courses.   The first course I took, C-29-94 (that’s the 29^th course in the Central Region of the BSA for 1994), had significantly more stringent requirements for getting into the course than the second course I took, C3-144-15 (Central Region, Section 3, Council 144 (that’s Abraham Lincoln Council), 2015 course.  

In 1994, participants had to have already completed the Trained Strip for their position and were strongly encouraged to have already earned the Scouter’s Training Award, or be close to completing it.  (The Training Award has a 2-year tenure requirement, so it was one way of keeping someone from taking Wood Badge without having at least some background.)  And of, course in 1994 you had to be registered to a Troop to take the course – there was a separate course for Cub Scouters.   For my 2015 course, we wanted to train anyone who wanted to be trained.

Some of the curriculum changes reflected this philosophical change as well.  The 1995 course met for one “Pre-course orientation” in Peoria, and then three weekends over a six-week period at Ingersoll Scout Reservation in London Mills, IL.   During the two weeks between each weekend, our Wood Badge Patrol was required to meet once each time.  (Because the hosting council covers a large geographic area and three of us were coming from out of council, our patrols were built somewhat geographically.  My patrol had 3 scouters from McLean County IL and three of us from Springfield – so our Patrol Meetings were in Bloomington at a patrol member’s home – 20 to 25 miles for the three others and 70 miles or so for the Springfield group.)   

My 2015 course met for two three-day weekends (Thursday morning through Saturday afternoon) with a single Patrol Meeting between the two weekends.  (Interestingly our course met one weekend at Camp Illinek in Springfield and one weekend at Camp Bunn in Hettick IL).

The 1995 course required all participants to be in a “Wood Badge Uniform” – a full and complete uniform and your uniform shirt was authorized to have on it ONLY your council shoulder patch, the troop number 1, the world crest and the American Flag.  (No square knots, OA Flaps, temporary patches or badges of office).  We were told what specific items to bring with us the first weekend and were told to wait in the camp parking lot for further instructions.  Further instructions turned out to be an envelope with your patrol assignment and a questionnaire.   Since I had a sewing kit with me, and knew how to use it, I spent the first morning of the course sewing Eagle Patrol medallions on uniforms while my patrol-mates put together our campsite.  Our staff greatly appreciated the sewing, and lost no opportunity that first weekend to comment on the other patrols with their blank right sleeves.

The 2015 course required a complete uniform, with whatever patches you’d wear for the position you considered your primary registration (they were pretty flexible with this – I wore my “Unit Commissioner” position patch with my silver shoulder loops, but ended up writing my ticket as a Cub Scout Pack Committee Member.

The first weekend of each course was roughly similar – the idea of building a team was integral to both courses, although the 1994 course focused highly on the Patrol Method and how to teach it and the 2015 course was more focused on “leadership” as a skill.  (Or possibly as an art form).

I found the classroom curricula in both courses to be highly useful, very valuable, but not “life changing” as some would suggest.   In both courses, there were a few who “just don’t get it” – my first course had member of my patrol that would grumble about almost every demo the staff did, saying “I already knew how to do that” and missing the point that what they were demonstrating was not how to cook a meal, or build a fire or sharpen an axe or whatnot, but how to teach that particular skill.  My second course had some issues getting sessions done on time because one of my classmates was a brand-new Tiger Cub leader, with no scouting background beyond what he’d learned over two years as a non-registered parent of his older son and the summer discussing Tiger Cubs with his Cubmaster. . . as you might imagine, he had LOTS of questions.  (They were good questions, and the staff gave them the attention they deserved, but they were things everyone else already knew and understood.)

I’m assuming all of my readers understand that Wood Badge participants spend the time before the last weekend coming up with items for a “Wood Badge Ticket” which will be approved the last weekend and which they’ll then have 18 months to “work” in order to complete the course and receive their Wood Badge beads.

The ticket is where I found the MOST significant difference between courses.  My 1994 ticket was written in three sections:  1) Service to my unit, 2) Service to scouting at large, and 3) Self-improvement.  Each section was to have 5 items within it.

For the record, the 15 items in my 1994 ticket were:

11.     Develop a youth training schedule to ensure that the Junior Leaders in my troop were fully trained.

22,   Develop a specific curriculum for training Patrol Leaders in my troop.  (I had a large, fast-growing, and very young troop.  My typical Patrol Leader was 11 or 12 and a 2^nd Class scout, so this was critical)

33       Develop an environment in which training was encouraged to the point that at least two adults in the troop would earn the Scouter’s Training award.  (This one sounds difficult, but was really a “gimmie” – I knew that two were in the process and two others could be encouraged to take the Scoutmaster training of the day.)

44.     Develop a “First year scout” program in the troop with the aim of getting 75% or more of the scouts joining the troop to the rank of First Class within their first year.

55.       Develop a plan for ongoing recruiting from nearby schools and Cub Scout Packs

66.       Serve a year on Lincoln Home District Roundtable Staff (another “gimmie” – I started staffing roundtables in the fall of 1993, and would continue to do so until I moved to Bloomington in 1996)

77.       Develop a specific roundtable program for Junior Leaders (we had a few scoutmasters who brought their Senior Patrol Leaders to Roundtable, and we were encouraging that.  I led a breakout session monthly for them).

88,       Serve on staff for at least two district and council events.  (I wimped-out here – my Troop Guide wanted this to be “chair a council or district event”)

99.       Deliver at least three presentations regarding the Friends of Scouting program or training opportunities to units within my district.

110.   Deliver at least three presentations regarding scouting to non-scout groups.  (I became a fairly regular lunchtime speaker, talking to Rotary Clubs and other service organizations and a few evening presentations to church groups considering charting units.  One of them helped to start a Troop in 1995)

111.   Lose 15 pounds (from 215 to be under 200) before traveling to Philmont Scout Ranch with a council contingent in 1995.

112.   Complete my Undergraduate Degree (Another “gimmie” – I was going to graduate in December 1994, no matter what my ticket said)

113.   Apply to at least three graduate schools (my first draft of this was “Register for Grad School” but my Troop Guide pointed out that I couldn’t control my own acceptance.)

114.   Serve my community through at least one non-scouting group by providing leadership to for at least two functions.  (This was a step-up to my service as a Deacon in my church – the bit about “at least two functions”)

115.   Complete first-responder training and notify my employer of my status as a first responder for medical emergencies.

I RUSHED through this ticket – turns out that by completing it before May 1995 and writing a paper on it, I was able to get four credit-hours of college credit as a grad student at the University of Illinois at Springfield. (It’s an undergrad Educational Seminar class. . . EDU465, I think.)

My 2015 ticket consisted of only 5 items, but they were each more detailed.   One of the five had to focus on “diversity” and one had to be a “personal growth” item.  (By the way, I actually wrote two tickets, one as a Unit Commissioner and one as a Pack Committee Member.  The Troop Guide had me complete the Pack Committee Ticket, as it would be more useful to Scouting as a whole)

11.       Survey local faith communities, especially those sponsoring Scouting Units (or open to doing so) and produce a list of contacts able to work with scouts of that faith on religious awards.  (Since my older son was about to be a Boy Scout, I pushed this into the Boy Scout-age awards too)

22.       Develop a “core curriculum” showing the training for each job in the pack (Committee Chair, Committee Member, Cubmaster, Assistant Cubmaster and Den Leaders).   This also included the requirements for the Scouter’s Training Award and the Den Leader Awards. (Yeah, it’s a throwback to my first ticket, but I consider training to be crucial)

33.       Develop a written plan for SOMEONE else to lead the Pack through the JTE process.  (I’d been coordinating JTE for 4 years and we wanted that coordination to continue after I leave the pack)

44.       Prepare a “WEBELOS Parents Guide” focusing both on the Pack’s WEBELOS program AND on how to pick a troop and have an easy transition to that troop.  (We don’t have a troop at our chartering partner, and have had too many boys over the years move to troops that were a poor fit, causing them to quit)

55.       Lose 25 pounds (yep, another fallback).

All in all, the courses were more similar than different, and of course the most important part of each was the “between sessions” stuff.   The lasting value is in the results of all those tickets, but also in the relationships built and strengthened during the course.