The Buddy System ©

 

The frontispiece from The Boy Scout Hike Book, by Norman Rockwell

The Boy Scouts Of America have been teaching the “Buddy System” for various outdoor activities since 1910.  As a Scout Master for over eleven years and a Birchbark Expeditions Senior Guide for more than five years, I have taught a great deal of young men about the buddy system.

Over the years, I have noticed that quite a few adults, those that were never part of Boy Scouts when they were young, have no idea what the buddy system is, what it is for or why it is important.  So, on the off chance that you have never heard of it either, here is what the buddy system is, what it is for and why it is important to you today as you travel through the wilderness.

In the original Boy Scout manual, The Handbook For Boys, the buddy system was used only when swimming, page 199 states “Scouts should always swim with a buddy”.  Over 100 years later, this is still important advice that can save your life.  Never swim alone!

“So a buddy system for getting the job done seems natural enough”, an excerpt from page 126, Field Book For Boys And Men, 1967

Over fifty years later, in the 1967 Boy Scouts Of America, Field Book For Boys And Men; they had expanded the uses of the buddy system to include cooking, gathering wood or water, cleaning and hiking over rough terrain.

“On rough or unfamiliar trails, hike in parties of at least three so that two can help a disabled hiker”, an excerpt from page 242, Field Book For Boys And Men, 1967

I have always taught the Boy Scouts and the adults that I have trained to use the buddy system for all of their outdoor activities, from setting up tents to gathering wood and water, cooking, cleaning up and hiking in the wilderness, and even when they are simply walking from one area of a Scout summer camp to another one.  For most of these activities, company simply makes the task more enjoyable, but just as with swimming or hiking it also makes the activity much safer.  Also, a more experienced person can be paired up with a less experience one so that, as the 1967 Field Book For Boys And Men states on page 126, “on-the-job training” can take place. 

If you are in the wilderness by yourself and you get hurt, quite literally, you are own your own and you will have to rescue yourself.  If you had a buddy or two with you, the situation would be very different.  With the buddy system, if you got hurt, your buddy could provide first aid or other emergency care and if necessary, help you get to safety.

 

The frontispiece from Field Book For Boys And Men, 1967

A two-person buddy system is good; however, a three-person buddy system is even better.  As it notes in the 1967 Field Book For Boys And Men, you should “…hike in parties of at least three so that two can help a disabled hiker”.  If there are three people in your buddy system and one is injured, the other two can give emergency care or one can give emergency care, while the other one goes for help.  I recently took a survival class taught by Craig White, a Canadian survival expert, who used to train the Canadian Military, and he emphasized that you should always be in a three-person buddy group, instead of a two-person buddy group.  The problem with the three-person buddy group, is that the person going for help is travelling through the wilderness alone and has no “buddy” available to help him or her if there is an emergency on the way.  A four-person buddy system, two sets of two buddies, is the best, because if one person is injured, one can stay to take care of him or her, while the other two can safely travel to summon help.

The buddy system isn’t only for the spring, summer and fall, or for camping or hiking; it is also for canoeing and portaging and it is critical to safe adventuring in the winter wilderness.

“Two people employing the ‘buddy system’ can periodically check each other for telltale white spots on their faces…Frostbitten feet are best thawed under the warm clothing of a partner”, an excerpt from Survival In Antarctica

During the winter, it is even more important to have a buddy with you, because they will be able to check you for the early signs of frostbite and help you rewarm frostbitten extremities.

And as a guide with Birchbark Expeditions, I always teach the three-canoe buddy system, since we usually travel in groups of three canoes.  This is because in Algonquin Provincial Park you are only allowed to have nine people per campsite and since we usually put two packs and three people in the canoe; three canoes make a total of nine people.  A three-canoe buddy system means that all three canoes stay together so that each can help if one of the canoes has an emergency.  And since there are usually three people in each canoe, when we get to a portage, the members of each canoe become buddies for the walk to the next lake or river.  This keeps everyone safe on both the water and the land.

So, Buddy Check!  And the next time you venture out into the wilderness take a buddy or two.

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and my videos at BandanaMan Productions and don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube, and if you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

Sources

Boy Scouts Of America, Field Book For Boys And Men, [New Brunswick, NY, 1967] frontispiece, p. 126 and 242

Cave, Edward; The Boy Scout Hike Book, [Doubleday, Page & Company, Garden City, NY, 1920] frontispiece

https://books.google.com/books?id=B3NLAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA57&dq=mess+kit+cooking&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQv9vR7u_cAhVtx1kKHRhMAkQ40gEQ6AEIRTAG#v=onepage&q=mess%20kit%20cooking&f=false, accessed 8/15/2018

National Science Foundation, Division of Polar Programs Survival In Antarctica, [Government Printing Office, Washington D.C., 1984] p. 8

The Boy Scouts Of America, Handbook For Boys, [New York, NY, 1916] p. 199