Issue 594 – April 2, 20I9

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Hi Andy,

I just attended a College of Commissioner Science. At several junctures, other Commissioners mentioned uniform inspections as being “old-school” and for fuddy-duddies. I’ve poked around on BSA and affiliated websites, and found plenty of PDF versions of the BSA’s Uniform Inspection Form as well as some PowerPoints of indeterminate vintage, but I haven’t found anything on “uniform inspection” as a Commissioner duty. What’s the current status of uniform inspections by Commissioners? And what are your thoughts about the priority of uniform inspections among the myriad duties that Unit Commissioners must/should/can do to strengthen the units they serve and improve the Scouting experience for our youth? (Mitch Erickson, UC, Patriots’ Path Council, NJ)

Great question! Uniform inspections were and remain among the formalities performed by commissioners. These are considered morale features and there’s an excellent “How & Why” Power Point presentation, written in 2009, available just by plugging “commissioner uniform inspection” into your preferred search engine.

Here’s a part of the “why”… Scouts are always encouraged to look sharp and snappy. When correctly uniformed, right down to their belts, socks, and neckerchief slides (instead of knots, rubber bands, and so forth), you get a unit of boys or girls who feel good about themselves, feel like they belong to something special, and encourage their fellow Scouts to do the same.

The Commissioner isn’t there to find as many ways to “gig” a Scout as possible; the Commissioner’s role is to praise and compliment wherever possible. So whoever puts such uniform inspections in the “fuddy-duddy” category probably needs to be put in the category of clueless.

As far as this being thought of as a “duty” (which carries a sort of onerous connotation), maybe thinking of it as an opportunity to promote teamwork and high standards, and to promote one of the eight methods of Scouting might help.
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Dear Andy.

At our most recent pack leaders meeting, we discussed plans for summer resident camp, which our pack will be attending for a full week. When I brought up the new 72-hour rule about parents coming to camp, and how they’d need to either register as members of the BSA or spend less than 72 hours at camp. I got a lot of push-back on this point. Several asked, “What 72-hour rule?” so I showed them a copy of the page in the GUIDE TO SAFE SCOUTING that I’d made and brought with me. But then I got, like, “Who’s gonna check?”

I could let this go, but I think short-cutting any barrier to abuse is a slippery slope at best. I’m pretty sure that, as a registered leader, I have a duty to report a violation if I am aware of or see one.

How can I get our pack leaders and parents on-board with this without alienating everyone? (Name & Council Withheld)

It seems to me that the fundamental—and critical—issue here is this: “Okay, we know the BSA rule; now we’re going to break that rule on the basis of ‘who’s gonna know’.” Is this the kind of thinking you all really want from people who are supposed to be modeling ethical thinking and behavior for youth?

And, for goodness sakes, why do you even care about “alienating” anyone who’s not willing to follow the BSA’s rules on safety and youth protection? (“Conscience” is what we do when no one’s looking.)
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Hi Andy,

I’m looking for wording for our son’s Eagle court of Honor to recognize his additional badges and earning 3 palms. (Linda Carr)

Congratulations to your son!

Before we talk about wording, let’s be sure we’re on the same page about palms. When you say your son earned “three palms,” do you mean he earned 15 merit badges beyond the 21 for Eagle? If this is what you mean, then he’s earned the Silver Palm.

Here’s how palms work… Earn 21+5 merit badges=Bronze Palm. Earn 21+10 merit badges=Gold Palm BUT the Bronze is removed—it’s REPLACED by the Gold Palm. Then, earn 21+15 merit badges=Silver Palm, which REPLACES the Gold Palm.

This is the same way Scout RANKS are earned… When your son earned Tenderfoot, his Scout badge came off; when he earned Second Class, the Tenderfoot badge came off, all the way to Eagle when the Life badge came off his uniform.

The only time more than a single palm is worn is when a Scout earns 21+20 merit badges and beyond. At the point, the “cycle” repeats itself: 21+20=1 Silver Palm (15 MB) plus 1 Bronze Palm (5 more), 21+25=1 Silver Palm plus 1 Gold Palm (the Bronze comes off the medal as the Gold goes on), and you can see the pattern here…

So, if I’ve guessed correctly, all that needs be said at your son’s court of honor is that he’s earned the rank of Eagle-with-Silver Palm.

(BTW, he can continue to earn merit badges—and Palms—right up to the day before his 18th birthday!)
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Dear Andy,

Last night we had an Eagle board of review, and the district advancement chair made comments to the other board members about how thin the final report was, how the Statement of Life Purpose was too sparse, and how the project only took two days to get done. He also commented that we, the troop’s adult leaders, should be going over these things to make sure that the final report is nice and fat, the Statement of Life Purpose is essentially an essay, and that projects should take more time, or involve more people and hours.

It’s always been my understanding that the Scout’s work is the Scout’s work; it’s not the work of the adults making the Scout’s product into an image to fit some biases of the advancement committee.

Consequently, I let the Scout do the work and he and I went over his Eagle packet to make sure it’s complete before being submitted, but I always felt that the Scout does the service project final report in his own words, without constantly being given feedback to keep making it perfect. And I treat his Statement of Life Purpose the same way—it’s the Scout’s; it’s not the vision of some adult.

I’ve read the GUIDE TO ADVANCEMENT and the preface in the EAGLE SCOUT SERVICE PROJECT WORKBOOK. They both specifically state that there is no minimum amount of hours that must be met, or that the volunteers must be Scouts or Scouters.

I have always managed our troop as Scout led, which means to me that the Senior Patrol Leader is the true leader of the troop, and that my assistants and I guide by asking questions to keep them on track, ensure that no one gets hurt, and there’s no property damage—but THE SCOUTS RUN THEIR TROOP, and this carries over to Eagle projects and final report, courts of honor, and so on. The Scouts do the work and, if they do make a mistake, it’s a learning experience for them. From everything I’ve read, this is the correct way to do it. But in our council and district there seems to be bias toward the adults being the ones who should be doing all these things. Am I wrong here? I’d appreciate some feedback. (Josef Rosenfeld, SM, Westchester-Putnam Council, NY)

It’s unfortunate when an advancement representative from one’s council or—in this case, district—gets something wrong. But it’s completely appalling when that representative gets everything wrong.

– There’s no BSA stipulation on how “thick” or “fat” an Eagle Scout Service Project Report must be.

– There’s no BSA stipulation on any sort of “minimum” hours or days that service project should take; in fact and as you saw, the project workbook specifically states that there’s no minimum time required.

– There’s no BSA stipulation for the format, length, or style of the “statement of life purpose.” So long has addressed the information requested, it should be considered completed, even though this is not a “requirement” per se.

So I hope you know that you should continue doing exactly what you’re doing, and do so with pride for getting so much exactly right!

Meanwhile, your troop’s adult volunteers have the absolute right to insist that this particular advancement representative not ever visit your troop’s Eagle boards of review again. (This would be much more polite than carrying this jerk out the door and dumping him in the drink. Shame on him for being that clueless!)

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. 594 – 4/2/2019 – Copyright © Andy McCommish 2019]