EAGLE PALM

If extra merit badges are earned BEFORE the scout becomes an Eagle Scout, are they counted as part of the Palm Badges?

One son will have 3 extra badges when he goes Eagle.

I hope I said that clearly.

Yes. It does not matter when the MB's were earned. For the first palm, as long as he has 26 merit badges in total, has satisfied the time and other requirements, and is not yet 18, he should be entitled to the palm. One boy in our troop had about 60 MB's when he earned Eagle (at age 16) and then just started racking up palms, one for each 3-month period before he turned 18. There are other examples in our troop but they are less dramatic.

Yes - merit badges earned before a Scout earns his Eagle Scout will count towards palms, provided they were not part of the merit badges needed to earn Eagle Scout.

The requirement is to earn 5 merit badges (for bronze) beyond those required for Eagle. It isn't since earning Eagle.

A Scout could have earned 15 merit badges beyond those required for Eagle before he becomes Eagle, and without earning another merit badge since becoming Eagle, provided he meets all the other requirements, could earn Bronze, Gold and Silver palms.

I've actually seen a couple of cases where the young man's ECoH was more than three months after his EBoR, so he was presented with his Eagle Medal with a bronze palm attached!