New FCF Handbook and Advancement.

To know what I'm dealing with I did decide to buy a single copy of the new FCF Handbook. 
What follows is simply a review for those who want to know.  I am not attempting to start and argument. 

It has been slimmed down.  The usual parts are still there, History, pledge, motto, etc are still there. It only mentions the territory and leadership structure, where prior editions went into more detail.  I know from experience that info is needed in Buckskin, so for this and other reasons I'd recommending keeping old handbooks on hand for future reference. 

Advancement
Is as previously discussed in other threads.  No required merits for the Frontiersmen / Buckskin / Wilderness steps.

Trappers Brigade
Previous advancement required increments of 40 hours to be served out of your district.
Revised requirements now have 4 areas.  20 hrs to the Outpost, 20 to the Church, 10 for the Community, and 10 for Missions  for clarifications, Mission efforts are to be focused to BGMC, STL, Pathfinders, or RRI. 
IMHO as they now no longer have the geographic restriction, that makes Trappers Brigade far more attainable. 

Arrowhead badges
Arrowheads were the primary reason I ordered the new book. Alas, the merit requirements are not listed.  It is specifically stated to check the Expedition trail on TracClub. 
They are being rolled out as new Silver merits.  There is a separate trail of medallions, with 4 separate levels: Pilgrim, Pioneer, Trailblazer, & Patriot.  Each level requires 4 arrowhead merits to earn.  There is clipart shown for each merit so I have hope that the requirements will be posted to TracClub faster than other merit work we are waiting from (ie revised bible merits, Leadership merits.)
For reference the Arrowhead merits listed all start with Frontier, but more specifically
Hawkman
Blacksmith
Tribesman
Knifeman
Carpenter
Skinner
Hunter
Rifleman
Preacher
Soldier
Trekker
Archer
Cook
Tradesman
Scrivener

Yes, there are 16 and that would be needed for the Patriot Medallion. 

That is the essentials of the new book.  61 pages academic, followed by check sheets for merit tracking. 

Questions are welcome.

Is Trekker merit already your favorite...?    

If I understand correctly no trail of the grizzly just BMA is needed?  Sorry taking the camping merits out of FCF entry is like firearm safety out of the shooting program. Now all focus areas can join a frontier camping ministry without the basic skills to do modern camping. Smh. 

Shrewd move putting the new silver FCF merits on tracclub. The merit requirements are found on national website with reference guides on tracclub. You might look there. 

When I suggested new FCF skill merits I never intended the advancement system to change.

RRCmdrBennett wrote:

If I understand correctly no trail of the grizzly just BMA is needed?  Sorry taking the camping merits out of FCF entry is like firearm safety out of the shooting program. Now all focus areas can join a frontier camping ministry without the basic skills to do modern camping. Smh. 

Agreed, that's why we're still requiring them on an outpost level

On the other thread did you say GEA from DR can take the place of the BMA?  

Before all a promoted DR needed when entering AR was Camping merit.  A new AR has at least a year's worth of work before doing FCF. I can clearly see the burn some are feeling at Mark's cmdr's conference.

Yes, the GE or the BMA or E1. 
And I can understand the view point, but to me this strikes me as the old GMA discussion of earning it.  When you looked at the 8 Grizzly merits any Ranger had a year of work to do to get in.  FCF was/is supposed to be the honor group.  How 'easy' is it supposed to be to get in?
I've had 2 boys join in ARs have to wait their year just to get Grizzly's done, and they saw younger DR grads to AR get in before them because those DR's joined the program sooner.   I think it is a good lesson that age isn't everything thing, unlike what high school often shows.
Now I do think it is insane to not have the Grizzly merit requirement, and even more crazy to send a boy in for a FA without the skill set, I'm controlling that internally.  I am mechanically fixing engineering problems. 

I guess I think it is crazy, but I think it's crazy too easy.  Maybe I run #35 weird, but BMA isn't hard to get to here.  It's the norm actually.  Boys start having trouble with me around SMA / GMA because we still hold the old Service Project requirements.

#35 weird?

I guess it would be similar to a 30 yr old grunt taking orders from a 22 yr old 2nd Lt. 

I've been dismissed as not having been around as long as others so I don't obviously know what I'm talking about. One can definitely have more experience in shorter years such is the case with DR's and new AR's.

Strouds the Trappers Brigade has been 50 hours for several years now and they dropped the out of area thing about 4 years ago. It was simply any good work you did outside of being paid for and outside of normal RR meeting time.

So it has become much harder to attain from the last 4 years anyway. Most guys won't go to the trouble of tracking 4 columns. I could barely get them to track one column.
We just recognized 14 Trappers Brigade at our So. Mo Dist. Commanders Conference.
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strods wrote:To know what I'm dealing with I did decide to buy a single copy of the new FCF Handbook. 

Trappers Brigade
Previous advancement required increments of 40 hours to be served out of your district.
Revised requirements now have 4 areas.  20 hrs to the Outpost, 20 to the Church, 10 for the Community, and 10 for Missions  for clarifications, Mission efforts are to be focused to BGMC, STL, Pathfinders, or RRI. 
IMHO as they now no longer have the geographic restriction, that makes Trappers Brigade far more attainable. 

.

Our 5 star FCF Chapter is looking over the tops of our glasses at the National FCF Staff wondering how in the round world could they have ignored so much good common sense. I had several tell me they felt like just walking away from it. It's almost like they are intentionally trying to do their best to make it not work. I wonder if some of Obamacare's staff is in on this QLC committee for FCF.

Whom ever is responsible has simply just not thought it through at all.

Mark Jones

If they had thought it through they need to answer me why they would have a 10 year old boy that just turned 11 that has never been camping going on a event that he has had NO Training for at all. Talk about a good chance of failure. I would think this would have some legal ramifications to it as far as liability. Not a smart plan at all.

Mark Jones

Mark Jones wrote:Strouds the Trappers Brigade has been 50 hours for several years now and they dropped the out of area thing about 4 years ago.  It was simply any good work you did outside of being paid for and outside of normal RR meeting time.  

So it has become much harder to attain from the last 4 years anyway.  Most guys won't go to the trouble of tracking 4 columns.  I could barely get them to track one column.
We just recognized 14 Trappers Brigade at our So. Mo Dist. Commanders Conference.

never knew about the change... thank you

Mark Jones wrote:If they had thought it through they need to answer me why they would have a 10 year old boy that just turned 11 that has never been camping going on a event that he has had NO Training for at all.  Talk about a good chance of failure.  I would think this would have some legal ramifications to it as far as liability.  Not a smart plan at all.

Mark Jones

Totally agree.

Mark Jones wrote:If they had thought it through they need to answer me why they would have a 10 year old boy that just turned 11 that has never been camping going on a event that he has had NO Training for at all.  Talk about a good chance of failure.  I would think this would have some legal ramifications to it as far as liability.  Not a smart plan at all.

Mark Jones

Not defending the decision as I agree with you but who hasn't taken new recruit to pow wow with no camping experience or merits under their belt?

I know. I have seen that blow up in peoples faces.

I have a nephew. He had never been camping. 10 years old. He went to whacking on the owners hardwood tree with a axe and just chopped it to pieces. I accepted the responsibility and asked for forgiveness for his act. The boy never went camping with us again and still remembers getting jumped by the land owner.
We can do what ever we want to. It's a free world out here. Just because we can do really stupid things it's not a good idea to do those things.

Same goes for swimming. They will tell me they can swim but I don't believe it until I see them swim... I have had to go in with phone bill fold, glasses to save 2 Rangers both told me they could swim.

I can't amagine someone allowing a boy to shoot dove at our Pow Wow campground with out first making sure they had Gun Safety and if using shot guns shot gun safety. (These are required at our Pow Wow's dove shoot)

As far as FCF goes and Frontier Adventures. I have been to over 10 of them these past 10 years and we have seen 1st hand boys that shouldn't be there mainly because they were to immature. Now they are throwing inexperienced into the mix. What fools.

Mark Jones

We need more good soup! Just keep adding water... it'll get there...  :evil:

My older son and I went into FCF together. He was 15 or 16 at the time, and was probably the youngest recruit there. The soup wasn't watered down at the time. You needed maturity and experience to make it through.

Philip, keep adding water to Jack and it loses its bite...

Everything needs and has some amounts of water in it to be enjoyable. A good distiller knows how much to add without ruining it. But that's the whole point. There needs to be someone at the point who knows what actually works and what doesn't, or who at least will be honest with themselves and others that the current direction isn't working as well as it was supposed to and there needs to be a change. Using this newly introduced analogy, if it gets too weak, the only remedy is to go BACK to the beginning to get the pure stuff to add to the over cut batch. You don't have to throw away the over cut batch, just add more original back into it. Simple in concept, yet that does take time. You've got to get the fire burning again...

Agreed. I loved having a "review" or would like to see a universal test given again but they won't do that.

Phillip Gross wrote:You don't have to throw away the over cut batch, just add more original back into it. Simple in concept, yet that does take time. You've got to get the fire burning again...

Great Idea, but one Flaw: N.I.H. (Not Invented Here)

To go back and adopt the successful portions of R/R1.0 would be to admit that it was BETTER than what the Current Regime replaced it with.

That ain't gonna happen!

Coke went back to the original when New Coke flopped.

RRCmdrBennett wrote:Coke went back to the original when New Coke flopped.

And how long did it take them to do that:

...........6 years, ................14 years.........?

Maybe someone will go independent and create a Royal Trail Life for fedup Royal Rangers!

I think the new Christian version of Trail life has that covered. I have always said once Rangers is no longer resembling a Church Boyscout group I will go join the Christian boyscouts. Right now I can still do a Church boyscouting group. So I will stay for now.'

Mark Jones

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RRCmdrBennett wrote:Maybe someone will go independent and create a Royal Trail Life for fedup Royal Rangers!

I have to submidt a letter to our Chapter to get signed and go up the channel to allow the Ranger Outposts to still use the past merit system. We have a lot of outposts that don't go the GMA track. So this option will allow us to quickly train the boys and get them into FCF like in the past.

Mark Jones

So with this new system what is FCF?