Issue 615 – September 10, 2019

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Navigating the course to EAGLE – A Few Hints

My column last week apparently struck some chords. Thanks to all of you readers who let me know I was on the right track! Here are a couple of letters from you all…

Hi Andy,
I always look forward to Ask Andy but I loved this issue. I shared it with my troop as soon as I saw it. It’s Eagle Scout broken down into bite-size steps. Thank you. (Edward Steele, Connecticut Rivers Council)

Hi Andy,
My son just completed his Eagle Scout board of review. He’s 14 years old and just started 9th grade. Eagle is completely attainable and worth all of the hard and fun work. You’re correct; school band, Beta club, Robotics club, and honors classes and homework are very time consuming. Scouting, on the other hand, is pressure-free, except for leading appropriately. My son is now looking forward to earning additional merit badges and enjoying as many activities as possible. (Shirley Pfister)

The course to Eagle is mostly straightforward and clear. Requirements are stated. Timelines are pointed out. Your SCOUT HANDBOOK covers most all of what you need for this journey. But there are a few things that aren’t mentioned in your handbook. And there are a few things that sometimes get misunderstood or misinterpreted. That’s what this column is going to be about.

Scout advancement is definitely not a “hairball,” but it may get a bit sticky sometimes, when not everyone understands what’s supposed to happen, and how it’s supposed to happen. That’s why I’ve written this—so that you have a better understanding of some of the lesser-known twists and turns on the pathway before you.

And just so you know, everything here is based on BSA advancement policies and procedures; when it comes to specifics, none of what you’ll read here is my “opinion.”

Here’s one example: The next-to-last requirement for all ranks from Tenderfoot through Eagle is “participate in a Scoutmaster conference.” (For Scout rank, this one is the very last requirement—there’s no board of review for this rank—and it says the same thing.) So here’s the important part—and it’s really important!—the Scoutmaster conference doesn’t have to be done after all other requirements are completed! That’s right: A Scoutmaster conference can happen anytime between the day after your last board of review and prior to your next board of review! So don’t wait till you’re at the tail-end of your requirements. If your Scoutmaster hasn’t invited you to have a chat in the past month or so, then you ask your Scoutmaster (BTW, the BSA says specifically that your Scoutmaster can’t refuse or stall your request)!

Speaking of Scoutmaster conferences, do you know you don’t have to “pass” one, like in passing or failing a test or exam? In Scouting, almost nothing works that way! All you have to do is have a conference. It can last for just a couple of minutes if everything’s okay in your life, or it might be longer if there’s something you’d like to talk over with your Scoutmaster. And it’s definitely neither a review nor a re-test of all (or any) requirements. Whatever the situation, when it’s done you’ve completed that requirement and it should be recorded as “completed.”

As for the rank requirements from Tenderfoot through First Class, these also don’t have a time-order—not even across these three ranks. Here’s what I mean… If you’re a Tenderfoot Scout and you “demonstrate tying the timber hitch and clove hitch,” then First Class requirement 3b. is recorded as completed, even though it’s two ranks away from where you are when you did it. This means that you want to look for opportunities and take advantage of them. For instance, if your patrol is camping and those two hitches are needed for something in your campsite, and you know how to do them, volunteer to be the one to tie them! Then ask your Patrol Leader to get what you just did recorded as completed.

Folks often get confused about how many nights of camping you need to be a First Class Scout. The answer is six. First Class requirement 1a says this, and that’s that! But there are two “wrinkles” here. The first wrinkle is that all of this camping is done as a registered Scout and done with your troop or patrol since joining. Camping trips you may have done with your family before becoming a Scout, or camping trips that weren’t with your troop or patrol, even if you were a Scout at the time, can’t be counted. The second wrinkle is that “camping,” when not specified otherwise and when a rank requirement, means in a tent or other structure (lean-to, snow cave, or tepee) that you’ve set up or helped set up.

Camping for the Eagle-required Camping merit badge is handled slightly differently. For the merit badge, you can camp overnight “under the sky” or in a tent you’ve pitched, but not in a cabin, lean-to, snow cave, other anything else that’s not a tent. And, as you’ve probably guessed already, it must be done as a Scout (“family camping” doesn’t count). And here’s one fine point: Sleeping “under the sky” or even in a tent on the back porch of your home doesn’t count, either. Just follow the precise language of the requirements and you’ll never go wrong!

Speaking of “the language of requirements,” do you know that nobody—nobody!—can change a requirement? That’s right—nobody can say to you “in addition to the two hours of service you just did for Second Class (req. 8e) I’ve decided you need to do another hour (or another minute).” That’s absolutely not allowed—ever! It’s the same thing with “slicing-and-dicing” requirements. No one can say “well, you hiked four-and-a-half miles and the requirement says five, but that’s close enough.” Just like no one can say (see Communication merit badge) “the requirement says ‘give a five-minute speech’ and yours was seven minutes, so I guess that’s okay.” Requirements are requirements, period.

“Blue Card”—that’s the usual name given to the record you’ll use when earning a merit badge, instead of its more formal name: Application for Merit Badge.

For each merit badge you’d like to earn, go to your Scoutmaster first, and tell him of your interest. After a brief chat with you, your Scoutmaster will give you a signed Blue Card along with the name and contact information for at least one registered Merit Badge Counselor. Now some Scoutmasters may think they can “approve” your interest in earning a particular merit badge, but that’s not how it works. The BSA specifically tells us that any Scout can work on any merit badge that the Scout wants to. Period. And—with a few special situations when safety is involved—there are no restrictions on your merit badge selection…not age or rank or anything else, except for when a Merit Badge Counselor needs to have special additional qualifications.

Next, let’s talk about merit badge “partials.” Sometimes a Scout runs into a problem completing all requirements for a particular merit badge with their initial counselor. A fairly frequent example of this happens at summer camp, when weather forces the waterfront to shut down before the Scouts earning Swimming merit badge can finish up, so that by the time the sky is clear again it’s time to leave camp and go home. When this happens, all Scouts in this situation are given “partials”—a written, dated, and signed document that states what requirements have been completed as of that date.

The first thing to know is that “partials” are good right up to your 18th birthday—that’s their only “expiration date”! Scouts with “partials,” once home again, can get a registered counselor’s name for that merit badge from their Scoutmaster and then finish up what’s remaining with that counselor, so that no Scout is ever required to do a full “repeat” of the requirements that are already shown as completed. Done is done!

Finally for today, your Eagle Scout Service Project.

The first bit of great news is that you absolutely don’t have to wait till you have all other requirements done before you start in on your project. (This is BSA policy, so you can ignore anyone in your troop who says differently and you district’s Advancement Chair will defend your position on this.) This means that the very day after your Life rank board of review you can start writing down your ideas on the kind of project you’d like to do; use the Project Proposal section of your workbook to describe the nature and purpose of your project, work together with your project’s beneficiary till they approve your ideas; and get sign-off on your beneficiary-approved proposal by your Scoutmaster, troop committee chair, and your district or council project approval representative.

Yes, you can have a “project coach” or “Eagle advisor” (different titles are used by different troops, but the job’s basically the same: to help Life Scouts navigate the Life-to-Eagle process, as needed) guide you with your idea and proposal, if you want, but this person can’t in any way “dictate” to you either what to do or how to do it. (This last part’s important because sometimes—and this is horribly unfortunate—some misguided adults in this role think they’re the “Eagle Czar” of the troop.) So here are three actual BSA quotations on this, from the BSA GUIDE TO ADVANCEMENT—2019:

“Even though the [Eagle] project coach may provide guidance critical to success, final design issues are ultimately between the Scout and the beneficiary.”

“[Eagle Project] Coaches do not have approval authority. Instead, they serve to encourage—not direct—the Scouts to make the kinds of decisions that will lead to successful outcomes.”

“Eagle service project coaches do not have the authority to dictate changes.”

The BSA does stipulate that you use the EAGLE SCOUT SERVICE PROJECT WORKBOOK (BSA publication No. 512-927). Happily, this workbook is available online and it’s in “fillable” PDF format. This workbook makes life soooo much easier for you, because it’s already constructed in exactly the order you need—Proposal-Plan-Report—so that all you need to do is “fill in the blanks” and you’re all set! And, in case you’re wondering if you need to fill in every single dialogue box, or all three sections, here’s what the BSA has to say:

“While the use of the workbook is required, this does not mean that every line or even every form must be completed. In most cases, Scouts should fully complete the proposal and project report, and be strongly encouraged to complete the project plan.” [Underlines mine]

Well this is probably a good place for me to stop. So if you have a question about anything I’ve said here, write to me. You’ll get your answer directly from me in a reply email—no waiting!

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. 615 – 9/10/2019 – Copyright © Andy McCommish 2019]