Ranger Award Fact Sheet

Background and Purpose

Outdoor/high adventure is the largest and fastest growing interest in the Boy Scouts of America. High adventure and the outdoors have always been of interest to young Americans as well as an important part of the BSA program. Because of the attraction of high adventure, the Ranger Award is available to Venturing youth members of the Boy Scouts of America.

The purpose of the award is to: encourage Venturers to achieve a high level of outdoor skills proficiency; recognize achievement of this high level of outdoor skills proficiency; provide a path for outdoor/high adventure skills training; establish Rangers as a highly trained leadership resource for crews, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and the community.

The Ranger Award exemplifies a challenging high-level outdoor/high adventure skills advancement program. Once earned, it will identify a Ranger as an elite outdoorsman who is skilled at a variety of outdoor sports and interest, trained in outdoor safety, and ready to lead or assist others in activities. Rangers can be great program asset to Cub Scout packs and Boy Scout troops.

How to Become a Ranger

This is not an easy, quick award to earn. It will take planning, time, initiative, and plenty of hard work. It will probably take you over a year to complete all the requirements, but that too will speak to your determination and staying power, two more attributes of a Ranger.

Requirements

Ranger candidates must complete eight challenging core requirements:

And four of eighteen challenging electives:

For the detailed requirements, click here.

Note:
The 2014 printing of Venturing Awards and Requirements (34784 - SKU 618767) omitted the requirements for the Scuba and Shooting Sports electives. The full requirements are available as a download from BSA by Clicking here. Although the requirements in the corrected version include the missing electives, the introductory requirement mistakenly reads "Complete requirements 1-8 and any 4 from 9-24" instead of "... 9-26". We have shown the correct information on this site.

Note:
Venturers, who received the Outdoor Bronze Award before that award was discontinued, have completed four core requirements and two electives already.

Procedure

Ranger candidates can earn requirements. They can work on their own or with other Venturers. A crew may also work together. Candidates can work with outside consultants such as a scuba diving instructor. Advisors and consultants must sign a Ranger candidate's record sheet found in the Ranger Guidebook or Venturing Awards and Requirements (34784 - SKU 618767).

The Ranger Award

After months of experiencing and acquiring skills on a wide variety of outdoor/high adventure interests, sharing those skills with others, the Ranger will receive a sterling silver medal that features a powder horn superimposed over a compass dial. The medal is worn suspended from a green and white ribbon, which is suspended from a silver Ranger bar.

A Silver Ranger Bar only (without the medal) is also available (#04185) for wear on the left pocket flap of the field uniform.

There are a variety of ways to approach these requirements. Many requirements you must do completely on your own. Others you might choose to do on your own or with others, such as scuba certification. Others your crew might decide to do as a crew, such as Project COPE. The key is to have a plan and to have initiative. Not everyone will be a Ranger; only those who are willing to learn, work hard, and meet the requirements will be known as Rangers.

You may work with outside consultants who have expertise in the area you are working in, such as a scuba dive instructor for the scuba diving requirement or a certified first aid instructor for the first aid requirement. However, you must have these consultants preapproved by your Advisor. Consultants may initial and date your Ranger Guidebook when you have completed the requirement.

Once you have completed a requirement, have your Advisor or the consultant who worked with you on your requirement initial and date your Ranger Guidebook. Then, when you complete all eight core requirements and at least four electives, have your Advisor review your completed requirements, certify your completion of the Ranger Award requirements, and order your Ranger Award.

Multiple Credit

You may receive multiple credit for requirements, such as using an American Red Cross Emergency Response Course for credit in the first aid core requirement and for the first aid and lifesaver electives. The only time you cannot receive multiple credit is when you are required to do a tabletop display or presentation. If a core requirement or elective requires you to do a tabletop display or presentation on a particular subject, then it must be done just on that subject, not two or more at a time.

Past Credit

All core requirements and electives require you to do work as a Venturer. As an example, you may have earned the Backpacking merit badge as a Boy Scout, but you must do all that is required in the Ranger backpacking elective as a Venturer. Some core requirements and electives require some type of certification, such as scuba Open Water Diver, Standard First Aid, or BSA Lifeguard. This certification may be used regardless of when you received it as long as the certification is still current.