{"id":2772,"date":"2022-01-19T16:29:46","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T21:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/?p=2772"},"modified":"2022-01-23T13:53:06","modified_gmt":"2022-01-23T18:53:06","slug":"january-19-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/2022\/01\/january-19-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"January 19, 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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[NO. 676]
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Hi Andy,
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As a sort of \u201cfree-ranging\u201d commissioner, I get invited to lots of courts of honor and I\u2019m always happy to attend. But I\u2019ve noticed two general habits that, when I stop to think about them, puzzle me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The first one is about the two kinds of courts of honor (aka \u201cCOH\u201d). Most Scouts BSA troops in my council have two kinds. They hold COHs for Scout through Life ranks. And they hold others for Eagle only. Why? Yeah, it\u2019s the top rank, but it\u2019s still a rank.
Often when I ask, the frequent reply is, \u201cThat\u2019s how we\u2019ve always done it,\u201d or sometimes, \u201cThat\u2019s what our district trainer told us to do.\u201d
My second question is this: At COHs for Eagle, there\u2019s often a display that includes photos often going back to Cub Scouts. Frequently there\u2019s a \u201cportrait\u201d photo of the new Eagle in uniform. Okay so far, except the Scout is still wearing the Life rank badge; there\u2019s no Eagle in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


I know these points won\u2019t make or break a Scout troop, but I\u2019m wondering what\u2019s going on. (Mitch Erickson, Commissioner, Patriots\u2019 Path Council, NJ)

Thanks for writing to me\u2014sharp observations and good questions! This is how we learn from one-another! T find your answers instead of me just \u201cwinging it,\u201d I started by checking the BSA GUIDE TO ADVANCEMENT; I discovered quickly that this book is silent on courts of honor. So I turned to the TROOP LEADER GUIDEBOOK and found twelve references. Three are relevant (boldface mine):<\/p>\n\n\n\n


– Courts of honor provide deadlines for Scouts to complete advancement requirements and an opportunity to reflect on their progress during Scoutmaster conferences and boards of review. (p.30)
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– Every three or four months, the troop should hold a court of honor\u2026all Scouts who have advanced to any rank\u2026or\u2026earned merit badges since the last court of honor should be recognized. (HOWEVER) Scouts should receive their new badge as soon as possible. (p.100)
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– Courts of honor\u2026held three or four times a year\u2026offer formal recognition of Scouts who have advanced in rank\u2026or earned merit badges or other awards. Most troops hold separate COHs for Scouts who have reached the rank of Eagle Scout. (p.61)
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So there you have it for your first question. Although it hasn\u2019t always been this way, separate COHs for Eagle rank are indeed encouraged. But this isn\u2019t a \u201crule.\u201d A COH can certainly include all ranks, culminating with Eagle and followed by Eagle Palms (although, strictly speaking, palms aren\u2019t ranks; there is no higher rank than Eagle).
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Between you n\u2019 me, there are lots of advantages to \u201call-rank\u201d courts of honor. Many more Scouts and their parents will be there than at an Eagle-only CoH. More local media folks will be there. More Scouts in the troop get to see \u201cthe mountaintop.\u201d Parents of Scouts moving along on the trail to Eagle will\u2014perhaps for the very first time\u2014get to see what happens when their daughter or son reaches the summit of Scouting advancement. Finally and importantly, the Eagle Scouts themselves will enjoy having a much larger audience than if they were \u201calone\u201d on the stage.
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Yes, I\u2019ve seen those \u201cLife Scout\u201d photos, too. And I think I know why. It\u2019s mainly because far too many troop advancement coordinators (a troop committee position with a very specific set of responsibilities) and Scoutmasters don\u2019t understand that, in this particular regard, the Eagle rank is exactly like all the other six ranks.
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The Scout earning the rank is given the badge he or she has earned \u201cas soon as possible\u201d (see that boldface up above in the second TLG quotation? Yup, that\u2019s it!).
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So what does \u201cas soon as possible\u201d mean, from a practical viewpoint? Simply this: Present all badges for ranks and merit badges to Scouts who have earned them at the very next troop meeting! Yes, this means the Scoutmaster and advancement coordinator will need to hustle\u2014get the troop advancement report filed at the council service center and go get the badges. Right now. But heck, what are we here for, if not to encourage and support Scouting Advancement?!
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NEWS!
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The BSA just announced that on March 1st this year all temporary changes made to Scouts BSA advancement requirements to address the COVID-19 pandemic will expire, and the standard rules for Scouts BSA advancement will return on the March 1st date.
This will include the temporary deferment of some swimming requirements for Second Class and First Class, the virtual activities temporarily substituted for Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class ranks, and requirement 9b for the Camping merit badge; in all of these instances the regular requirements will return on March 1st, 2022. The GUIDE TO ADVANCEMENT, Section 10.2.2.0, states: \u201c(Youth) members must meet current advancement requirements as written for merit badges, all ranks, and Eagle Palms\u2014no more and no less\u2014and they are to do exactly what is stated.\u201d Direct any questions directly to Garfield.Murden@Scouting.org.
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Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay positive!
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Happy Scouting!
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Andy
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I answer every message I receive. Please include your name position, and council. To remain anonymous if published, just tell me and I\u2019ll honor that. Although these columns are copyrighted, you have my okay to quote or reproduce any column or part, so long as it\u2019s attributed: \u201cAsk Andy\u201d by Andy McCommish.

[No. 676 1\/19\/2022 Copyright \u00a9 2022 Andy McCommish]

21st YEAR HELPING SCOUTS, SCOUTERS, & PARENTS
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[NO. 676]==================================================================================== Hi Andy, As a sort of \u201cfree-ranging\u201d commissioner, I get invited to lots of courts of honor and I\u2019m always happy to attend. But I\u2019ve noticed two general habits that, when I stop to think about them, puzzle me. The first one is about the two kinds of courts of honor (aka \u201cCOH\u201d). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2772"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2777,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2772\/revisions\/2777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}