Tenderfoot Rank

Be a Scout in a troop, working on Tenderfoot Milestone

Tenderfoot may be worked on at the same time as Scout, Second Class and First Class. It must be earned after the Scout rank and before Second Class.

Work to the requirements in force when you start Document

Rank requirements are republished yearly. A Scout beginning work on the next rank uses the requirements as they stand then.

Usually comes after Be a Scout in a troop, working on Tenderfoot.

Rank requirements are republished yearly. Guide to Advancement 4.0.0.1 states that once a new or revised requirement appears on the program web page, a Scout beginning work on the next rank uses it as stated there. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.

1. Camping and outdoor ethics Requirement

Three parts, and the middle one is a night away. Most of the rest of this rank is done on that same campout, so it is worth getting on the calendar first.

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

1a. Turn up prepared, and show you packed it yourself Task

Present yourself to your leader ready for an overnight camping trip, with your personal and camping gear, packed and carried the right way.

1b. One night on a patrol or troop campout Often forgotten Event

In a tent you have helped pitch. This is the night that requirements 2a and 2b are done on, so it is the hinge of the whole rank.

Requirements 2a and 2b are done on a campout, and 1c, 5a and 5d all need an outing you have actually been on. If this campout is missed, five other requirements wait for the next one, which in most troops is a month away.

1c. How you kept the Outdoor Code and Leave No Trace Task

Explained from campouts or outings you have actually been on, not in the abstract.

2. Cooking, on the campout Requirement

All three parts belong to a campout rather than a meeting, and two of them say so outright.

6. Fitness, and this one is thirty days long Often forgotten Requirement

Record, plan and track for at least thirty days, then improve. It is the longest thing on the sheet by a wide margin, and Second Class and First Class both continue it.

This requirement takes at least thirty days of elapsed time and cannot be compressed. Requirement 6b asks you to keep track of your activity for at least 30 days, and 6c asks for improvement after practising for 30 days. Start it on the first day you can: everything else on this sheet can be caught up at the end, and this cannot.

2a. Help cook one of the meals Task

On the campout (the sheet says so), and tell why sharing the cooking and the cleaning up matters to a patrol.

Usually comes after 1b. One night on a patrol or troop campout.

2b. Clean up safely afterwards Task

Demonstrate the right way to clean what was used to prepare, serve and eat the meal. Done while on a campout.

Usually comes after 1b. One night on a patrol or troop campout.

2c. Why a patrol eats together Task

The one part of this requirement that can be answered anywhere.

3. Tools, and the knots put to work Requirement

Scout rank asked you to tie three knots. This asks what you used them for.

6a. Record your best at four tests Often forgotten Task

Push-ups and sit-ups or curl-ups in sixty seconds, the back-saver sit-and-reach, and a one-mile walk or run. Doing this early is the single most useful thing on this sheet: it starts the clock.

3a. A practical use of the square knot Task

Not a demonstration, a use.

3b. A practical use of two half-hitches Task

Not a demonstration, a use.

3c. A practical use of the taut-line hitch Task

Not a demonstration, a use. Guy lines on the tent you pitched for 1b are the usual answer.

3d. Knife, saw and axe: care, sharpening and use Task

Including describing when each of the three is the right tool.

4. First aid and the things that grow Requirement

A long list of first aid, the plants to keep away from, how to avoid needing either, and a kit to carry.

6b. Write a plan, then track it for thirty days Often forgotten Task

A plan for improving each of the four, and a record of your activity kept for at least 30 days. The thirty days are the requirement, not a suggestion.

4a. First aid for the injuries a campout produces Task

Cuts and scrapes, blisters, minor burns and scalds, bites and stings, venomous snakebite, nosebleed, frostbite and sunburn, and choking.

4b. Poisonous and hazardous plants Task

Describe them, identify the ones that grow where you camp or live, and say how to treat exposure.

4d. Build your own first-aid kit Task

A personal kit to carry on future campouts and hikes, and an explanation of what each item is for.

5. Hiking, and not getting lost Requirement

Four parts. Two of them need an outing you have actually been on.

6c. Show improvement in each of the four Often forgotten Milestone

Of any degree, after the thirty days of practice. Second Class requirement 7a then begins the moment this one is finished.

Usually comes after 6a. Record your best at four tests.

Second Class requirement 7a begins "After completing Tenderfoot requirement 6c" and asks for four more weeks of activity; First Class 8a then begins "After completing Second Class requirement 7a" and asks for four weeks again. Finishing 6c is what starts the next one, so a gap here delays two ranks, not one.

4c. How to not need any of that Task

What you can do on a campout or outing to prevent or reduce the injuries and exposures in 4a and 4b. The requirement names them both, so it comes after both.

Usually comes after 4a. First aid for the injuries a campout produces and 4b. Poisonous and hazardous plants.

5a. The buddy system, used and not just explained Task

Explain why it matters to your own safety, on outings and where you live, and use it on a troop or patrol outing.

5b. What to do if you are lost Task

On a hike or on a campout.

5c. Safe and responsible hiking Task

On the highway and cross-country, by day and at night.

5d. Why trails and durable surfaces Task

And examples of durable surfaces you saw on your own outing, which means you need to have been on one and to have looked.

7. Citizenship: the flag, and an hour of service Requirement

Two parts, and the second one is the first service requirement on the ladder.

7a. Display, raise, lower and fold the flag Task

Demonstrated, not described.

7b. One hour of service Often forgotten Task

In one or more projects approved by your Scoutmaster, and an explanation of how serving others relates to the Scout slogan and motto. Get the approval before the work, not after.

The service project has to be approved by your Scoutmaster. Approval comes before the work: an hour already served on something nobody approved is the commonest way to lose service time on this rank. First Class 9d later says its projects must not be the same ones used here or for Second Class 8e, so write down what you did and when.

8. Teach somebody the square knot, using Teaching EDGE Task

Describe the steps of the EDGE method and then actually use it on another person. The knot is the one from requirement 3a.

Usually comes after 3a. A practical use of the square knot.

9. Scout spirit, and four points of the Scout Law Often forgotten Task

How you have done your duty to God, and how you have lived four different points of the Scout Law. Write down which four: Second Class 10 asks for four different ones and First Class 11 for four different again.

10. Scoutmaster conference Often forgotten Milestone

While working toward Tenderfoot, and after completing Scout rank requirement 7. That ordering is stated, and it is the one part of "work them simultaneously" that does not apply.

This conference must come AFTER Scout rank requirement 7, which is on the Scout rank page and so cannot be drawn as a step here. The two conferences are separate events and the later one cannot be backdated to cover both.

11. Board of review Approval

The last step. Not a retest. The requirements are already passed.

Usually comes after 10. Scoutmaster conference.

Board of review, and the rank is earned Milestone

Requirement 11 is the board of review. It is not a retest: the requirements have already been passed, and the board asks how it went and what the Scout got out of it.

Usually comes after 11. Board of review.