Issue 583 – January 22, 2019

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Hi Andy,

I attended an Eagle Scout court of honor today. The new Eagle gave out five (FIVE!) Eagle Scout Mentor pins and apologized that he couldn’t distribute more. Two of the recipients were his boss in his part-time job and a teacher who arranged and led three foreign trips that he went on. At other such courts of honor, I’ve seen Eagles give ESM pins to a grandmother (“she always sewed the patches on my uniform”) as well as several fathers.

I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules about who can receive ESM pins, other than they’re not appropriate for parents because they have their own recognition. And I know that many people outside of Scouting mold Scouts to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout. But it seems to me that Scouts cheapen the award when they hand out four or five ESM pins and when those pins go to people outside Scouting or for reasons that have nothing to do with character development or Scouting advancement. Or am I just being an old fuddy-duddy? (Bill Stuart)

The only time, over the past 25 years and hundreds of Eagle COH’s, I’ve personally seen a perhaps questionable Eagle Scout Mentor pin presentation was when a Scout presented one to his father; however, his father had been Scoutmaster of the troop and so it was being presented on this basis, as other newly minted Eagle Scouts had also done. In this particular case, neither I nor anyone else had the slightest quarrel!

Per the BSA, there are only two specific limitations on this particular pin: It’s not for a parent, and it’s not for uniform wear. And of course it’s supposed to be understood that this is indeed for mentoring a Scout on his way to achieving Eagle rank.

For the grandmother handy with needle-and-thread, the BSA provides an “Eagle Scout Grandparent” pin, which, it seems to me, would have been the more appropriate choice. For the fathers receiving this pin, it appears that nobody bothered to follow the guidelines.

You’re right that there’s no set limitation on ESM pins other than good (not “common”) sense. If the five you saw presented indeed honored advice, counseling, and guidance directly related to the Scout’s advancement to the rank of Eagle, then they’re perfectly legitimate. (But, just to get it said, if these were instead handed out like lollipops to people in the Scout’s life whom he enjoyed the company of but really had nothing to do with rising to Eagle rank, then the guidance he was given by the troop’s adult volunteers was severely flawed…something I truly hope didn’t happen.)

So while I don’t consider you a “fuddy-duddy,” I also think this isn’t worth having your hair catch fire or falling on your sword over.
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Hello Andy,

I have a new Eagle Scout about to earn palms, and I figured, ok, how hard could the new requirements be? Then I did a search and found all sorts of conflicting information, especially regarding the three-month tenure in the troop per five badges. Each document I read seemed to become more obtusely written than the last. Are you able to shed some light on this subject? (Joe Rosenfeld, Westchester-Putnam Council, NY)

Luckily, it’s not quite as complicated as it may seem. There are two scenarios for palms. The first is a brand-new Eagle who, at the same time as having earned the rank has already earned at least five merit badges beyond the required 21. The second is a Scout who’s earned Eagle with somewhere between 21 and 25 merit badges, and then goes on to earn more merit badges.

In the first scenario (Eagle plus 26 or more merit badges), the Scout is entitled to receive a palm at his Eagle court of honor signifying—in groups of five per palm—the number of merit badges he’s earned as of his Eagle date. So, if he’s earned Eagle and 26 to 30 merit badges, he’ll receive his Eagle medal and a bronze palm; if he’s earned Eagle and 31 to 35 merit badges, he’ll receive his Eagle medal and a gold palm, and so on.

For the second scenario—Eagle and up to 25 merit badges—he receives his Eagle medal (only). Then, when he earns additional merit badges and fulfills the other palm requirements, he’ll receive a palm for each group of five beyond the Eagle-required 21.

This leads to a third possible scenario: The Scout who receives his Eagle medal plus a palm (for five, ten, fifteen, etc. merit badges beyond 21) at his court of honor and then continues to earn merit badges. In this instance, as he earns additional merit badges, reaching 31, 36, 41, etc., while fulfilling each palm’s other requirements, he’ll receive the corresponding palm.

One point should be added here: He wears only the highest-level palm (or palms) earned, in this manner: for 26 merit badges he wears a bronze palm; when he earns 31 merit badges (10 beyond Eagle) he removes the bronze palm and replaces it with a gold; when he earns 36 merit badges (15 beyond Eagle) he removes the gold and wears a silver palm; when he earns 41 merit badges, he wears his silver and adds a bronze palm (15 plus 5 more beyond Eagle), and so on all the way up to the 130 or so merit badges available.

I’m sure this turned out to be a bit longer than you might have expected, and I hope—by doing so—I’ve covered what you and your Scouts and your fellow Scoutmasters and troop advancement chairs need to know. Thanks for asking an outstanding question!
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Hi Andy,

The latest BSA Guide to Safe Scouting (www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/gss/gss01/) lists these acceptable tenting arrangements for Scouts in troops: (1) Separate tenting arrangements must be provided for male and female adults as well as for male and female youth, (2) Youth sharing tents must be no more than two years apart in age, (3) Youth and adults must tent separately. Just a few months ago, in retaking “Youth Protection Training 2” (aka “YPT2”) the statement was made that parents were allowed to tent with their own child.

All of our troop’s tents are two-person, and we have rule in our troop that no one sleeps alone, for both health and safety reasons. This sometimes means that fathers will tent with their Scout sons. In fact, this occurred at our district’s recent Camporee. But then I was told that this “parent-son” arrangement was reversed shortly after publication and training, making our need to “bunk” the occasional father-son combination in the same two-person tent “illegal.”

I contacted the council through my District Executive, because if this is that case, I would need to go to my troop and give them the new information. But, when the answer came back, it had to do with Cub Scout packs; not Scout troops, and that if I needed further clarification I should contact the BSA National Council in Texas.

So, is it now specifically disallowed by the BSA in all programs except Cubs for a parent to tent with their own child? Is this how they’re answering the question of whether or not to allow fathers share a tent with their daughters without addressing it directly? It was apparently never an issue with mothers and sons, so I can only assume that there is a prejudice when it comes to a father-daughter arrangement. (Andy Wickham)

You council has both a training committee and chair, and a health and safety committee and chair. These are the people you will want to reach out to, to find out what’s going on. (You deserve better advice than “call National.”)

I’m going to try Occam’s Razor here, and until I’m asked by a Cub parent or leader, we’re going to skip the Cub situations and address the troop situation only.

Let’s begin with this fundamental: “troop camping” is, for reasons essential to the Scouting program, PATROL camping. Ideal patrols have an even number of Scouts (4, 6, or 8 at the most) and they camp as multiple patrols, side-by-side. The only time there might be a “solo” Scout is when his usual buddy or tent mate didn’t make the trip. So when you buy one tent that holds three Scouts, your troop’s dilemma is solved: The solo Scout is buddied up with two other Scouts, making what’s generally called a “Trip” (for “triple”)—they’re buddied up and sleep this way as well. No male parent is necessary in this situation, and boys remain with boys, as the Scout program is designed. In addition, there are wonderful opportunities throughout the year to camp without tents, and this makes the whole issue go away! (Yes, as a Scoutmaster several times, I’ve faced this situation and this is exactly how I advised our troop’s Senior Patrol Leader.)

Happy Scouting!

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. 583 – 1/22/2019 – Copyright © Andy McCommish 2019]