As someone who has worked in the outdoors for the last 20 years and holds SML, WML, SPA, IML, MIA & is currently going through the MIC scheme I feel that on the whole the system works to cover as many bases as possible, there is a lot of misunderstanding about the requirements for each level and a lot of prejudice about the awards at whatever level but they each do their job of making people achieve a certain level before they can progress to the next one. I see 'creep' in all the awards on some levels and yet the general level of fitness and capability in the outdoors is very much open to question with regards to award holders both achieving the required levels and then maintaining those levels to keep their awards current. As a member of 2 out of 3 of the 'professional' associations which are only accessible as you achieve the higher awards I see some many levels of experience and skill levels as well as judgement levels, that sometime I question the value of the awards themselves, but the reality is it is the award holders that are in question, not the awards. As a way forward for the future, it would be good to have the levels evenly spaced and controlled under one system that covered all areas of the outdoors, from your Lowland Leader to a IFMGA Guide. Having separate bodies and ways to gain awards is at best confusing. Each step should have a logical next level and not have differing levels/approaches to their achievement. If these awards were being set up now instead of back in the mists of time, it would be more like this and would also allow for the many variations that have sprung up in the last 10 years. Installing a crossover system that suits multi disciplines and backgrounds would have been incorporated too, so the military guys could have their cross over as could people who move here from other countries. This review is an attempt at prodding this system into a more streamlined pathway which can only benefit all, however it would be a mistake to change things for the sake of change.