Issue 579 – December 11, 2018

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Hi Andy,

Our troop is going to have a court of honor for our newest Eagle… He just turned 18 and earned, in total, 33 merit badges. As I understand it now, he can receive “palms” for the merit badges earned beyond the 21 required for Eagle rank at this court of honor (he won’t earn any more than these because he’s officially “aged-out”). So, if I’m adding them up correctly, he gets a bronze palm for badges 22-26, and then a gold palm for badges 27-31. This seems pretty cool! He receives his Eagle badge and medal, plus two palms! Do I have this right? (Proud Scoutmaster)

Congratulations to your Scout for sticking with it—all the way to Eagle!

You have it almost right. Palms are cumulative, in groups of 5, 10, 15, and so on. They work like Scout ranks: When the next rank is earned, it goes on the uniform and the previous rank comes off. (This is unlike Cub Scouts, where the ranks are added on as earned—Bobcat [which used to be just a simple pin] and Wolf and Bear and Webelos all on the same pocket.) So, for palms in this situation, this new Eagle should be presented a gold palm, signifying ten merit badges beyond the Eagle 21. That gold palm, by the way, is worn pinned in the center of his Eagle medal’s ribbon.
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Hi Andy,

I just received an invitation from the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic for our troop to participate at a fund-raiser for the orchestra and receive a donation in return for services.

The event is a “Lobster Fest.” The food will be prepared by a professional Maine lobster dinner provider and served to paying guests in a temporary tent at a downtown bank’s parking lot on a Saturday evening in May 2019. For the event, the Scouts (and their friends or family) would help serving the lobster dinners, buffet-style, plus helping with cleanup, trash removal, etc., for approximately three hours. They’ll be working alongside other non-Scout volunteers. The Philharmonic says they’re hoping for at least 20 Scouts that evening, and each will be given a “Lobster Fest” t-shirt to wear while helping. Our anticipated result would be a significant donation to the troop.

It seems like a job ready-made for our Scouts, but I’d like to check with you…any thoughts on how we should proceed with this? Thanks! (Steve Stanton, SM, Crossroads of America Council, IN)

This sounds like a win-win! The Philharmonic gets enthusiastic helpers and your Scouts get to serve their troop in a high-visibility event. Of course, you’ll want to fill out and submit the Unit Money Earning Application. I’ve just read the eight guides to unit fundraising and it’s clear you’ll be in compliance with BSA standards.

You might want to ask the Philharmonic if your Scouts can perform their activities in full uniform, for local visibility. If they agree, you’re golden. If not, it’s not a “biggie” so long as all your Scouts are neat and clean in appearance while wearing the Lobster Fest t-shirts. Use the Buddy System, of course, and also make sure you follow “two-deep leadership” guidelines.

Finally, since they’re performing two types of service—to the Philharmonic and to their troop—there’s no doubt that this qualifies for your Scouts’ rank-appropriate “service-hours” (although I definitely wouldn’t use that as a “carrot” to encourage Scout participation—make it a “happy surprise” instead).

Based on these considerations, all-in-all, I’d say go for it!
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Hi Andy,

This is sort of a weird question… In our council, boards of review for Eagle rank are done on a district basis—we have a “team” in our district, made up of district advancement committee members, and they assemble whenever there’s a Scout ready for his Eagle board of review. By and large, this works fine. But I’ve noticed that one of the guys who usually shows up for these—a nice guy in general—is a bit of a prankster. For instance, he likes to do fake “skills tests” in the review. In one recent review, he gave the Scout being reviewed a chunk of rope the thickness of a ship’s hawser but only about 12 inches long, and asked the Scout to tie a square knot. He chuckled the whole time while the Scout tried to do what he’d been asked—which was quite impossible, actually. In another review, he gave the Scout a can of beans and a P-38 military-style can opener, and asked the Scout to open the can o’ beans with it. What the Scout didn’t know is that this guy had hand-made the opener (which is tiny; just an inch-and-a-half long) out of soft metal instead of rugged steel that the “official” ones are made from. After first trying to figure out how it was supposed to work (the Scout had never even seen one of these before), which took several long minutes, the Scout applied it to the bean can and…it bent like a wet pretzel; impossible to make work. All the while, this reviewer was laughing his butt off and encouraging the rest of us to do the same with his guffaws.

Is this sort of thing really okay for an Eagle board of review? What do you have to say, Andy? (Name & Council Withheld…obviously)

I have to say I have mixed feelings about this: I can’t decide whether this so-called prankster is stupid, insensitive, or simply a jerk. (Maybe all three are accurate.)

This is tantamount to “hazing.” It doesn’t belong in any review for any rank! This nonsense is all about that reviewer having the time of his life at the expense of a young man at the peak of his Scouting career. My only question is why you others on the review board haven’t booted him out on his ear. Permanently.

Happy Scouting and Happy Holidays!

Andy

Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Write to askandybsa@yahoo.com. Please include your name and council. (If you’d prefer to be anonymous, if published, let me know and that’s what we’ll do.)

[No. 579 – 12/11/2018 – Copyright © Andy McCommish 2018]