[Greg.B]

DemolitionMan, I'm glad you found the link I sent you useful, and are glad to see that you're on your way towards creating more opportunities for the boys in your unit(s). You're correct that the BSA program does offer opportunities to the boys, but unfortunately, not nearly enough IMO.

I had the fortunate opportunity over the last 3 months to take my NRA Shotgun & Rifle Instructors classes along with the RSO class through our BSA council at a very reasonable price, and will be taking the Handgun Instructor class in about a month through the same program. Unfortunately, the classes here were only open to this Council, but maybe you could check with your Council's Shooting Sports Director to see if they offer anything similar.

I took the classes for the some of the same reasons as you; I wanted to be able to finish those partials, and provide more opportunities for the boys in our units. As soon as I took the certifications, I completed the BSA Merit Badge Counselor applications for rifle and shotgun, and did my first stint as a rifle instructor at this past June's summer camp. I can't tell you when I had a more enjoybable experience. We ran 32 boys through the rifle merit badge course, and 22 passed with just short of 3,100 rounds being fired for the week. In shotgun we only ran 4 boys through with 2 passing, and fired 362 rounds for the week. To see a boy shoot the rifle for the first time (in many cases that's the first time that they had fired ANY type of firearm) with groups of 6" or more shrinking to qualification size after working with them brought some of the biggest smiles I've seen for a long time.

I encourage you to get that training done. As I said in my response to your PM, if I can do anything to help, just give me a shout!