Fall 2006 BSA Merit Badge Workshop
AUSTIN, TX - Pegasus Squadron, part of Group III, Texas Wing, Civil Air Patrol, hosted a Boy Scouts of America Merit Badge Workshop last October 28, providing the setting for excellent cooperation and understanding between CAP cadets and BSA scouts. Thirteen scouts from the Capitol Area Council attended and earned merit badges in Aviation, Space Exploration, First Aid, Disaster Relief and Communications. The BSA Council was extremely grateful, since training for these Eagle Scout-required courses is normally hard to find. Pegasus Squadron, a Civil Air Patrol unit, is dual-chartered as BSA Venture Crew 351.During the Aviation portion of the workshop, scouts visited the Texas Military Forces Museum on Camp Mabry as part of their badge requirements. At the museum they saw an aircraft’s rotary engine up close, as well as a cutaway view of a jet engine. They truly enjoyed seeing the cockpits of an F-16 and the L10, imagining themselves pilots of these aircraft. During the tour, a few museum visitors attached themselves to the “tour.” Later they told us, “Thank you for the guided tour. You really made the history come alive!”
The Space Exploration module gave scouts an opportunity to build model rockets and create a card about a famous space explorer. Since the tasks requirements for scouting are similar to those for CAP cadets, the latter also took advantage of the opportunity to finish Phase II of CAP’s model rocketry program. CAP cadet officers acted as mentors to the group, completing their own progression requirements as Aerospace Education mentors.
The First Aid portion of the merit badge workshop presented many practical situations that tested the scouts’ skills. Many CAP cadets needed this training in order to complete their Ground Team 3 qualification, and scouts needed it to complete that merit badge. Both got hands-on training in how to bandage head and eye injuries, broken arms, and litter-carry (making a litter with logs and a blanket, and carrying the injured person to safety).
The Communications badge training came with an aviation twist, as students watched a video on radio communications in an airplane. They saw first-hand how critical it is to speak clearly and accurately when communicating with the airport control tower.
This was an exciting and rewarding event for everyone. Not only did CAP cadets finish progression requirement, ground team requirements and requirements for their Venture Crew Bronze awards, but BSA scouts completed critical requirements for their Eagle Scout award. The day was a total success and everyone went home with a sense of accomplishment.
The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) maintains the world’s largest fleet (550) of single-engine, piston aircraft, as well as the Nation’s most extensive communications network. Through aerospace education, glider and powered orientation flights, flight training scholarships, and cadet programs, CAP serves its nearly 57,000 members, America's youth, and the public at large. CAP performs 95% of all inland search and rescue in the U.S., as tasked by the U.S. Air Force. CAP also flies aerial reconnaissance missions for homeland security, as well as disaster-relief and damage assessment operations. CAP transports time-sensitive medical material, and flies counterdrug missions for homeland security. For more information about Pegasus Composite Squadron on Camp Mabry in Austin, TX please visit http://www.pegasuscap.org.
Article submitted by 1LT Daren Jaeger, Pegasus Composite Squadron Commander
