Ask the Expert: What happened to Bugling merit badge?

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UPDATE: Bugling merit badge has been reinstated as a separate merit badge. More details here.

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This week we hear from Bill Nelson, a Scouter in the Grand Canyon Council. Bill writes:

The Bugling merit badge is no longer on the scouting.org site, and it looks like the Music merit badge requirements have changed to absorb Bugling. What’s happening there?

That’s a great question, and it’s one that a lot of Scouters are asking. Diane Leicht of the BSA’s Youth Development team tells us that the Bugling merit badge will be discontinued in 2011 and its requirements will be merged into Music merit badge. Here’s her full response:

The revised merit badge pamphlet that merged Bugling into Music was released earlier this year. It won’t be official until the 2011 Boy Scout Requirements book is released in January 2011.

Scouts may continue to earn the Bugling merit badge using the old pamphlet until that time. If Scouts have a copy of the new merit badge pamphlet with Music only, they can choose to earn the Music merit badge and complete the new bugling option as part of the requirements for the Music merit badge.

The two merit badge pamphlets below illustrate this change. Previously, Music and Bugling were two separate merit badges that shared a pamphlet (below, left). With the new pamphlet (below, right), Bugling is no longer a separate badge, and bugling-related requirements become an option for Scouts seeking the Music merit badge.

MusicMB

About Bryan Wendell 3282 Articles
Bryan Wendell, an Eagle Scout, is the founder of Bryan on Scouting and a contributing writer.