2010 Advancement Requirements Changes

Each year the Boy Scouts of America update different aspects of the advancement program. A summary of all of the changes can be accessed on the US Scouting Service Project web site at:

http://usscouts.org/advance/changes/advchanges10.asp

This page does a great job showing what has changed by showing deleted text in red and new text in green. There are links from the summary to the full requirements for each badge, both with and without highlighting, and from the new requirements to the old requirements for those still using them.

One other item of note is that BSA has clarified the positions of responsibility lists for Star/Life/Eagle to specifically include Webmaster and LNT Trainer as valid for all three ranks in any unit (Troop/Team/Crew/Ship), and that Bugler is valid for Star/Life, it is NOT an eligible position for Eagle (correcting an error in the new Handbook). They also reworded the Eagle "Scout Spirit" requirement, but that is not noted on the inside cover. And the "age requirement" for joining was clarified, but not listed as a change.

17 merit badges have changes. Of those, 5 have major changes, and the other 12 have just a few changes (some of those are really quite minor in scope or just editorial, really), and Scuba Diving is included, of course. Some of the changes bring the book into conformance with merit badge books issued in the past few years (such as Graphic Arts).

New Merit Badge pamphlets are available for 8 subjects: Communications, Computers, Fishing, Fly-Fishing, Home Repairs, Medicine, and Oceanography, plus Scuba Diving, of course.