I had a habit of collecting unusual merit badges that few had seen before: Animal Science (hey, it's got a cow on the badge, and besides I had cows), Atomic Energy, etc. I got my Entomology merit badge at the National Scout Jamboree from a team of highly motivated active duty Soldiers who had the job of eradicating potential disease vectors from areas where our troops would live and work, even during wartime. They were so happy I stopped at their little booth — I'm guessing the majority of Soldiers treated them like the bulk fuel folks (or other unsung jobs) rather than the people who keep you from contracting some horrific tropical disease.
The head of the team was a full bird colonel with a PhD from IIRC Cornell who revelled in the fact that .mil is exempt from EPA regs. They got to use the heavy artillery of insect control means. He flatly stated, with no small amount of pride, that not a single Scout at the National Jamboree that year would get Lyme unless they went into the (untreated) woods. My father was a staff physician for the Jamboree, and as best as he could tell the colonel was right — now, they did have Lyme infections from kids going decidedly "off piste", this being Fort AP Hill, VA, in the summer.
I had a habit of collecting unusual merit badges that few had seen before: Animal Science (hey, it's got a cow on the badge, and besides I had cows), Atomic Energy, etc. I got my Entomology merit badge at the National Scout Jamboree from a team of highly motivated active duty Soldiers who had the job of eradicating potential disease vectors from areas where our troops would live and work, even during wartime. They were so happy I stopped at their little booth — I'm guessing the majority of Soldiers treated them like the bulk fuel folks (or other unsung jobs) rather than the people who keep you from contracting some horrific tropical disease.
The head of the team was a full bird colonel with a PhD from IIRC Cornell who revelled in the fact that .mil is exempt from EPA regs. They got to use the heavy artillery of insect control means. He flatly stated, with no small amount of pride, that not a single Scout at the National Jamboree that year would get Lyme unless they went into the (untreated) woods. My father was a staff physician for the Jamboree, and as best as he could tell the colonel was right — now, they did have Lyme infections from kids going decidedly "off piste", this being Fort AP Hill, VA, in the summer.