Milestone · part of 2. The gate: the Swimming badge and 400 yards
2(a). Earn the Swimming merit badge
Required Often forgotten
An entire merit badge with nine requirements and a swimmer test of its own, stated here as one line, and unlike the First Aid badge inside Emergency Preparedness, this one is a prerequisite. There is a separate plan for it on this site. Start it first.
Notes and warnings
Warning. An entire merit badge stated as one line, and here it is a prerequisite rather than a parallel task. Emergency Preparedness also contains another badge, First Aid, but lets you work everything else while it runs. Lifesaving does not. If you have not started Swimming, start it before anything else on this page. There is a separate plan for it on this site.
Where this step comes from
- Lifesaving Merit Badge Requirements (Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2025-12-31), Requirement 2(a) · An entire merit badge stated as one requirement, and made a prerequisite by the wording of requirement 2.