I’m a counselor in the Northern Star Council of the Boy Scouts of America for the relatively new Signs, Signals, and Codes Merit Badge.  I’ll be doing my first session for this merit badge this weekend, and I put together a collection of various cheat sheets to give the scouts.

If other counselors are interested in having a copy, I have a PDF at my website.  Most of this same information is available in the merit badge pamphlet, but not all scouts will have a copy, and it will be helpful to have all of the references in one place.

The merit badge covers a lot of interesting material, and should be of interest to scouts.  It’s also one that one counselor cannot adequately handle.  I’m an expert on Morse Code, but I’ll be relying on outside experts to help me with subjects such as semaphore and American Sign Language.  Many other subjects are also covered, including trail signs, silent scout signals (although “silent scout” is an oxymoron), nautical flags, and even emoticons.

Click Here For Today’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Cartoon