Ranger Award

The Ranger Award is an award available to youth in the Venturing program. It is designed to encourage youths to become proficient in outdoor skills.

Award

The medal is an antique silver colored roundel suspended from a white and green ribbon that is in turn suspended from a bar. The medal is inscribed with a compass rose with the BSA universal badge at the top and the word RANGER at the bottom. A powderhorn is in the center on a green enameled background. The bar is inscribed with RANGER. The Ranger bar is available as a separate item for informal uniform wear. As of late 2007, there is no square knot insignia.

Requirements

To earn the Ranger Award, Venturers must earn awards similar to Merit Badges. There are eight awards, called Core Requirements, that are required to earn the Ranger Award. To earn the Ranger Award, a Venturer must also earn four out of eighteen awards, called Electives.

Core Requirements

To earn the Ranger Award, all Venturers must earn the following awards:
# First Aid
# Communications
# Cooking
# Emergency Preparedness
# Land Navigation
# Leave No Trace
# Wilderness Survival
# Conservation

Electives

To earn the Ranger Award, Venturers must earn four of the following:
# Backpacking
# Cave Exploring
# Cycling/Mountain Biking
# Ecology
# Equestrian
# First Aid (Different from the Core Requirement)
# Fishing
# Hunting
# Lifesaver (Lifeguarding)
# Mountaineering
# Outdoor Living History
# Physical Fitness
# Plants and Wildlife
# Project COPE
# Scuba
# Shooting Sports
# Watercraft
# Winter Sports

Origins

The first Ranger Medal was issued between 1946 and 1949 as part of the BSA's Explorer Program. [cite web |url=http://home.pcmagic.net/ogdenj/scout/pages/hiranks.htm |title=Highest Rank Awards of the Boy Scouts of America |accessdate=2007-08-14 |author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ] Although the Ranger program was officially discontinued in 1949, Explorer Scouts could continue work on the Ranger Award until 1951. [cite web |url=http://www.sageventure.com/history/ranger/awards.htm |title=Ranger and Silver Awards Past and Present |accessdate=2007-08-14 |author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ] A total of 2,782 Explorers earned the original Ranger Award between 1944 and 1959. [cite web |url=http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Falls/8826/explorerscouts.html/ |title=A History of Senior Scouting Programs in the BSA: Explorer Scouts (1933-1949)|accessdate=2007-08-14 |author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ]

The Ranger Award was re-introduced by the BSA in 1998 as part of the new Venturing program. Adam Snyder of Waukegan, Illinois was the first Venturer to earn the Ranger Award in 1999. [cite journal |url=http://www.scoutingmagazine.org/issues/9911/a-rang.html |title=Rangers Rock! |journal=Scouting |date=November-December 1999 |accessdate=2008-03-13]

For Leaders

Scout Leaders interested in the Ranger award can take the Powder Horn (Boy Scouts of America).

References

Ranger Handbook/Venturer Handbook, 2006