Scuba Diving Merit Badge

Start the badge the right way Milestone

Meet your unit leader, get a counselor and a signed blue card before working with them. That process is the same for every badge and is set out on its own page.

Work to the requirements in force when you start Document

These requirements are republished yearly. A Scout who has already begun may finish under the ones they started with.

Usually comes after Start the badge the right way.

Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.

1. First aid and CPR, and this is not behind the gate Often forgotten Requirement

Two parts, and the only requirement on this badge that requirement 2 does not block. This is what you can be doing while the Swimming merit badge runs.

Usually comes after Work to the requirements in force when you start.

1(a). First aid for the things diving does to people Task

Hypothermia, hyperventilation, squeezes, decompression illness, nitrogen narcosis, motion sickness, fatigue, overexertion, heat reactions, dehydration, injuries by aquatic life, and cuts and scrapes. Several of these appear on no other merit badge.

1(b). CPR: the conditions for it, and the technique Task

Identify the conditions that must exist before CPR is performed and how to recognise them, then demonstrate the technique on a training device your counselor approves.

2. Earn the Swimming merit badge, this gates the rest Often forgotten Milestone

An entire other merit badge, with its own counselor, its own blue card and its own swim tests. It stands in front of requirements 3, 4, 5 and 6: everything except requirement 1.

This is a whole other merit badge and it blocks four of the six requirements here. Start it early. While it runs, requirement 1 is the only part of this badge you can work on, which is exactly why requirement 1 is drawn where it is.

3. The Scuba Diver's Code, guideline by guideline Task

Discussed with your counselor, explaining why each guideline matters to a diver's safety. Worth doing before the certification course rather than after. It is the framework the course fills in.

Usually comes after 2. Earn the Swimming merit badge, this gates the rest.

4. Earn an Open Water Diver certification Often forgotten Milestone

From a scuba organisation recognised by the Scouting America scuba policy. This is a commercial qualification taught outside Scouting by an instructor who is not your counselor. Check the policy, and check with the organisation, before booking anything.

Usually comes after 2. Earn the Swimming merit badge, this gates the rest.

Read the Scouting America scuba policy BEFORE you book a course. The requirement is not "learn to dive". It is a certification from an organisation that policy recognises, and a certification from one it does not recognise will not satisfy it. Confirm with both the policy and the training organisation first.

5. What an ecosystem is, and four a diver meets Task

Explain what an ecosystem is, then describe four aquatic ecosystems a diver might experience.

Usually comes after 2. Earn the Swimming merit badge, this gates the rest.

6. Three scuba careers, then one in depth Task

Find out about three career opportunities in the scuba industry, pick one, and find out the education, training and experience it needs, then discuss it with your counselor and say why it might interest you.

Counselor signs it off Milestone

The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.