Issue 590 – March 12, 2019

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Seven years and 266 issues ago I wrote a piece called “EAGLE—IT’S A NO-BRAINER!” A lot has happened since then, and a bunch of readers have asked me for an update. So here it is…

This is for all Scouts BSA troop members but especially for the girls who joined beginning February 1st this year. If you’re parents of Scouts, be sure to show this to your sons and daughters; if you’re a Scouter, please pass this along to your Scouts. Here goes…

For you, the Scout: You didn’t join up to chase ranks; you joined for fun, adventure, friendships that can last a lifetime, and learning and challenges you’ll find nowhere else. As part of all this, advancing in rank is a great learning and skill-development opportunity—from Scout rank all the way to Eagle. What’s coming up is how to do it in a way that’s fun and pretty fast-moving when you have a plan (like this one)! No, this isn’t a race, but why dilly-dally along when you can keep yourself motivated and moving forward.

Let’s start by talking a little about what’s really going on with Scout advancement. For each rank and, in a little while, for merit badges, you’re going to see a whole bunch of “requirements.” There’s a good chance you may think of these as “burdens” or “tasks” or “hard work.” Requirements aren’t any of these things. They’re actually opportunities to learn stuff that only Scouts get to learn, like how to build a fire in the wilderness (without a Bic), what to do if you ever get lost, how to keep from drowning if you get in trouble in the water, how to help your buddy if he or she gets injured or sick, where to find plants in the wilderness that are edible (and which ones you’ll want to stay away from), how to deliver a speech that gets applause, how to pitch a tent or build a shelter from bad weather, how to use a compass and a GPS, what healthy citizenship is all about, how to be the best family member you can be, ways to build yourself in strength and agility, how to lead and how to be a great team member too, how to be skilled in all sorts of watercraft, how to “read” the weather, how to rescue someone in trouble in the water, and hundreds of other skills that you won’t find in school, team sports, at a dojo, or almost anywhere else but in Scouting.

As you learn and practice these skills and put this new knowledge to use, you’ll discover that lots of them will help you advance in the ranks of Scouting. And, no matter what age you are when you join a Scouts BSA troop, you can advance yourself through all seven Scout ranks in about two to three years if you choose to (although you do have till your 18th birthday to do this). Let’s go—

The very first thing you’ll want to do is get yourself a copy of the latest Scout Handbook and start reading it.

Yes, your handbook is definitely for reading and not just carrying around with you. Read a couple of the starting chapters first, and then skip around and read whatever looks interesting. Do this before your first official troop meeting, so that when you get together with your other patrol members, you won’t feel left out or wondering what they’re talking about.

Next, take a look at what you need to do to earn the first rank: Scout. I’ll bet you already know some of the stuff, and you can quickly learn the rest without much help. Your handbook will give you everything you’ll need to know!

With that done in a couple of weeks (probably just one!), your next rank is Tenderfoot. To get started on it, do the personal fitness “baseline” (requirement 10a) right away, so that, at the end of the 30-day training period, you’ve got everything else done and can have your first “board of review,” which cements the fact that you’ve just completed the second rung in advancement (all the while having fun with your patrol and troop).

Go to summer camp first chance you get! Ideally, this is with your own patrol and troop, but you can go with a buddy or even as a “solo” too, where you’ll be assigned to a camp troop that’s made up of Scouts from all over your council area. (Hint: It’s pretty cool to meet Scouts from different towns and troops—you’ll learn a lot and make new friends along the way!)

Once you’re a Tenderfoot, doing everything needed for Second Class and then First Class should take you no more than a year at most, give or take a month or so. Once again, you’ll be learning new skills and becoming proficient in them—maybe even starting to teach other Scouts what you’ve learned!

Now stop for a moment and look back. You accomplished your first four ranks—going from zero to Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class—in just about a year. Congratulations! (And don’t ever let anyone tell you you’re “going too fast” or “you’re an over-achiever”—becoming an accomplished and competent achiever is part of why you joined Scouts in the first place!)

The next three ranks—Star, Life, and Eagle—each have minimum “tenure” provisions. Once you’re First Class, it’s four months before you can be eligible for Star rank; from Star to Life rank it’s six months; from Life to Eagle it’s also six months. Although these are the minimum tenures-in-rank, you can take as long as you like to earn the next rank, but here’s where you need to really set a plan for yourself.

Since the total minimum time from First Class to Eagle is one year and four months, if you’re First Class well before you’re 16 years and 8 months old, time is on your side. But if you’re close to 16 years-8 months, time isn’t so much your friend anymore. You’ll need to hustle if your end-goal is Eagle.

If you’re older than that 16+8 mark, you’re probably out of luck for Eagle, with one exception: If you registered this year for the first time as a Scout after your 16th birthday, the BSA will grant you a once-only time extension. (I’m not going to go into the details of this here—check with your Scoutmaster.)

But let’s say you joined up around your 11th birthday. If you apply yourself and you’re in a troop that encourages and supports you with a quality program, you can be an Eagle Scout right around your 13th birthday or so, and this gives you a whole five years to enjoy wearing that Eagle badge on your uniform!

Now, turning this around, let’s “cruise” a little bit. After all, Scouting is hardly the only thing you’re into. There’s your church or synagogue or temple; your school, including homework and extracurricular stuff; intramural and outside sports; and of course hangin’ out, Facebooking, texting, Twittering, and whatever your personal hobbies might be. So, let’s say you capture First Class by the time you’re 12, and let’s suppose you decide to take a year each for your final three ranks.

For Star, you get yourself elected Patrol Leader or Senior Patrol Leader, or you volunteer for one of the appointed troop leadership positions, or offer to be a Den Chief at a local Cub Scout pack. Meanwhile, you’re making sure you show up for troop and patrol meetings and outings. You’re also showing up for troop service projects and helping other Scouts in your troop complete their Eagle service projects. Give yourself up to a year for this and you’re a Star Scout by your 13th birthday.

Along the way, you’ve started to earn merit badges—you’re going to need six for Star, five more for Life, and then ten more for Eagle. Merit badges are fun! You’ll get to meet and work with a great bunch of different Merit Badge Counselors who specialize in each of the merit badge subjects, and who really like helping Scouts learn new stuff. You’re going to learn about things like first aid and emergency situations; the way the governments of your town, country, and the world work, and the responsibilities of both citizens and those whom we elect to represent us; communication skills; gaining physical strength and leading a healthier life; knowing how to care for our environment; earning, saving, and managing money; camping; family dynamics and responsibilities; and a hundred other subjects that you choose, from robotics to aviation, chemistry to zoology!

Next, it’s on to Life rank. Earn five more merit badges, take on another leadership position or continue with the one you have, continue helping others, and continue showing up, and Life’s in the bag by your 14th birthday…or sooner!

For Eagle, it’s mostly continuing what you already know how to do: Complete your merit badges so you have 21 including all the required ones, continue being active, hold a leadership position, and so forth. There will be a couple of added wrinkles here, like coming up with a list of up to six references, writing a concise “leadership bio” and writing about what your future life plans are at the moment. And then, of course, there’s the semi-infamous Eagle Scout Service Project.

Now most folks talk about the service project as if it’s a fifty-foot high pole-vault bar and the pole in your hands is made of rubber. But that’s not right at all! Or somebody tells you you’ve got to build something. Again, not true. Or somebody tries to tell you you’re not “mature” enough. Your answer is simple: You’re already a Life Scout and you’ve demonstrated all the “maturity” you need to get where you’re headed!

An Eagle Scout Service Project is simply putting together what you’ve learned about service to others and how to lead a group, and then focusing these on something you’d like to do that would benefit your community. The BSA even provides a “template” for doing this, called the Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook. This workbook may look a little intimidating, but it’s not—it’s going to be your best friend, because it’ll do a lot of the “pre-thinking” for you, so that you don’t accidentally leave something out that throws a glitch into what you’ve decided to do. Follow the workbook, fill in the boxes, make some notes, and you’ve got your concept and then plan; just get this approved by your project’s beneficiary plus a couple of other important signatures and then just follow your own “recipe.”

So now you’ve got your Eagle requirements done, and your 15th birthday is still a ways off. You’ll conference with your Scoutmaster, just like you did for all six ranks before this, and then you’ll have your board of review, where you’ll really shine!

And that’s it! You’re an Eagle Scout right around your 15th birthday, and you still got to do all the other stuff that makes your life fun and exciting!

So what’s the big deal? Why go for Eagle by 15? Heck, why go for Eagle at all!? Hey, there are lots of good reasons! Here are some…

You get to wear your Eagle badge for the next three years, showing everyone you’re a top Scout who knows his stuff without ever having to say a word! It’ll simply show!

In high school, sometimes classmates joke about guys or gals who are Scouts. But I’ll personally guarantee you: Nobody pokes fun at an Eagle Scout. Ever.

Imagine how proud of you your family’s going to be, and the example you’ll be setting if you have any younger brothers or sisters! Plus, you’ll be setting a great example for the other Scouts in your troop.

You can also keep finding merit badge subjects you’re interested in, earn them, and receive Eagle “palms” for every five more you earn (plus three months of staying active in your troop). If you want to, you can actually earn as many as four Silver Palms for the 60 more merit badges you can earn in those three years!

Think about all the free time you’re going to have in high school—time you can put to use joining a Varsity team, or marching band, or orchestra, or choral group, math club, chess club, theater, and more.

When you go to a National Jamboree or attend your council’s NYLT (National Youth Leadership Training), or the NYLT Leadership Academy or NAYLE (National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience), you’ll go as an Eagle!

When you decide you’d like to run for election in your high school’s student service club, like Interact or Key Club, or you want to run for president of the student council, Eagle puts you way ahead of the competition!

Think how you’ll feel going to an International Jamboree as an Eagle Scout, and the troop chooses you as Jamboree Senior Patrol Leader!

Imagine taking a Philmont or Northern Tier trek as an Eagle Scout, or going to Sea Base as an Eagle. These are the ones who get elected Crew Leader!

Finally, and this one may not be important to you just yet, but I’ll personally guarantee it’s a “topper”… Being an Eagle Scout will absolutely delight the parents of your date!

Which way is the “Eagle trail”? You bet it’s UPWARD!

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. 590 – 3/12/2019 – Copyright © Andy McCommish 2019]