gcnphkr

When would they be worn together? OA sashes should only be worn at OA events or during OA service. Wear them to a call out, ordeal, chapter meeting, conclave or during a OA conducted ceremony if you are a part of the ceremony team. They should not be worn to troop meetings, patrol meetings, inspections, boards of review, courts of honor, etc. The merit badge sash should be worn at formal events, courts of honor, boards of review, perhaps elections. The only occasion I can think of where they might both be worn would be at a chapter or lodge award ceremony. In that case the OA sash would be worn and the merit badge sash left at home.

Neither should be worn on the belt.

What I want is official, BSA suspenders. I'm tired of seeing scouters pulling up their 46's. It would also provide additional space for pins and buttons that end up wandering from pocket to lapel. Also, expanding waist bands would be very helpful.(ducking for cover)(This message has been edited by jet526)

This requirement, done correctly, is a truly daunting task. It would indeed be a simple matter to find 50 species of insects and mount them correctly. However, the identification to species part is far from trivial. Even college entomology classes that require collections do not much exceed this task. I also suggest that the counselor who thinks he/she can judge those identifications must be especially highly trained. Or else the exercise is hopelessly full of undiscovered errors and the boy has learned less than he thinks.

Indeed. I believe my Aquatic Insects course only required us to collect and correctly identify 25 species and that was much more work than your typical term paper. Working through a diagnostic key takes time. Considering the lists of deer, bird, bear, etc. or worse oleander, daisy, cactus, pine tree, etc. that are submitted for their 2-1 Lists. Ask them what kind of deer or if oleander is native to the American Southwest and they go into deer caught in the headlights mode. I'll guess that most insects never get past their common (and generic) name.(This message has been edited by jet526)

With the exception of butterflies, most insects need to be examined under a microscope (or a good magnifying glass) for species identification. You need to look at mouth parts, the underside of the thorax, wings, etc. This generally involves manipulation with tweezers and needles. Trying to do this with a live, struggling specimen would result in sever injury and would amount to torture. Better to euthanize the creature.

Thank you everyone. I'm sure it will be found once he finishes cleaning his room (A Scout is Clean is another talking point for his conference). He has found the folder he was keeping the workbook in, but it was empty. But he is concerned that he will have to start over and do another project. I wouldn't think that was the case, but you never know. I told him to relax, finish with his room and that we would go from there.

There is a scout in the troop. He did his Eagle project last year. He finally finished all of his merit badges this summer and was in the process of getting ready for his scoutmaster conference. But he cannot find his workbook with the signatures. He has everything in electronic form, but has not been able to find the hard copy--the search continues. What should he do if it cannot be found? He could get signatures from the organization and the troop as we all recall what was done. I'm not sure about the District Eagle Advisor, it would seem unlikely that he would recall the project. I'm guessing this isn't a unique event. I had another scout in a panic last month in a similar situation (but he found the workbook), so, even if this workbook is found, I foresee this happening again and I might as well find out what to do. Fortunately this scout is just over 15 so there is not the turning 18 axe hanging there.

They might have a hard time fitting in 3 scoutmaster conferences and board of reviews in one night. Many troops only do boards once a month. As BW said getting 3 overnighters and 7 other troop or patrol activities takes some doing. Doing it in four months is pushing it. Five to six months would be a fairly busy scout.

evmori and CalicoPenn

By your logic I can raise funds (or materials) to support our local Hooter Girl's Daycare and be able to identify myself as being a part of the Boy Scouts to do it (after all it is outside the sphere of scouts). If this is not the case, then please explain why the same reasoning will not apply to the scout working on his Eagle project.

jblake47

These are not intentional groups just clusters of scouts that happen to be finishing up about the same time. While most are in their 7th year, they have taken very different paths.

acco40

"one of his goals - in so many words - to advance at the rate of some other Scout."

I've got four new scouts that are very much in competition. Not just with each other, but one of their older brothers is the troop's youngest Eagle and they all want to beat his 36 months.

"Looks at the amount of advancement that takes place the prior two weeks before a Court of Honor vs. any other time."

I can see that for the lower ranks, but we don't do troop ECOH. I don't know why, but they are always put on by the Eagle's family. So there is no particular schedule. Part of this last group could be their wanting to be finished before school starts.

The troop has had three Eagle Scouts so far this year, I did their conferences back in March. I just did three conferences in the last week. I have yet another two that will be doing their SMC in August. So why do they tend to group together instead of being distributed through out the year? So has anyone else noticed this? Is it just competition? They see their peers finishing and start working a bit harder to finish as well.

The things you know they did, camp overnight for example, sign them. If it were me, I would go ahead and test him. It is ultimately my job anyway. If there were things they had problems with I would help him get the hang of the task and then schedule another time for him to demonstrate it. I am becoming reluctant signing off on summer camp T-2-1 classes. They may give them the basics but generally do not do a good job of making sure they have learned the skill.

Just because a rule is referenced on the Unit Money-Earning Application and the application is not applicable to a Eagle project does not mean that the referenced rule does not apply is situations apart from the application. In this case the rule is:

The BSA Rules and Regulations state, Youth members shall not be permitted to serve as solicitors of money for their chartered organizations, for the local council, or in support of other organizations. Adult and youth members shall not be permitted to serve as solicitors of money in support of personal or unit participation in local, national, or international events.

That is being quoted from the Bylaws of the Boy Scouts of America, Article XI, Section 1, Clause 2. Are you claiming that this clause does not apply to scouts working on an Eagle project? That the most readily available documentation of this is on the Unit Money-Earning Application does not change the rule.

Are you thinking that "knots" are meant to include lashings and whippings? Or are you questioning the inclusion of the square knot because it in a requirement for becoming a scout not for advancing?

So the short answer is "No, unless he gets permission from the Council Executive Committee".

The policies on fundraising state if the Council Executive Committee give you the OK to wear you uniform while fundraising, then you can.

Do you know of any scouts working on a project that have received this? Or of an Executive Committee that has granted a blanket, "go forth in your uniform and solicit" to the Life Scouts in the council?

Jet - how could you cover this at your ASM meeting? How do you know what the answers are, and what the real answers are? We still haven't seen a posting of the "answer key" - and there are some legitimate challenges to some of the answers provided. BW posted them the other day.

It appears that only programmers and marketers refer to "Scout" as a rank--not the most reliable sources for this definition. The discussion on the use of "Boy Scout" or some other such representation is clear as well. The fundraising form and other policies on fundraising prevent the scout (or anyone else) from representing themselves as an agent of the BSA when soliciting for donations. To claim that because it is outside the sphere of scouting so the rules don't apply is silly. I couldn't wear my uniform if I was raising money for the soccer team.

I don't know if there is one. We are asked to submit the application 10 days prior to the EBOR. The EBOR should be completed within 3 months of the birthday. I don't recall a deadline beyond that at the Eagle Packet training we had at roundtable in May. I'll ask at the next one. In theory, the scout who had his birthday on Monday (he turned it in last Thursday) would need to have his EBOR by October 28th. The district holds the reviews on the first Thursday of the month which would be October 2nd so he would need to get his paperwork in by September 22nd. I can't imagine circumstances that would nessecitate such a delay, and would not consider 2 months as being prompt.

Of course all of this just makes me want to make the program such that the scouts finish their Eagle by 16 which is when the big drop off seems to occur in our troop. Half the scouts get their Eagle between 14 and 16.5 with the other half getting it at 18 with almost nothing in between.

From The 12 Steps from Life to Eagle:

3. It is imperative that all requirements for the Eagle Scout rank except the board of review be completed prior to the candidates 18th birthday. When all requirements except the board of review for the rank of Eagle, including the leadership service project and Scoutmaster conference, have been completed, the enclosed Eagle Scout Rank Application must be completed and sent to the council service center promptly.

"Promptly" does not mean "before". But you are stuck with what the Council demands, just as scouts are stuck with being retested at SM conferences and all the "you have to be active in the months prior to" requirements that units impose on them.(This message has been edited by jet526)

this may be a local thing, but in the Council I serve, the application et al must be in Council Office before the 18th birthday. Don't know if its right or not, but if you bring the paperwork in on the 18th birthday or after, its a no go to anything.

Yes, the Council. At least ours doesn't require that it be turned in by the birthday. They do require that letters of reference is included. What is the point of BSA policies and procedures when even the Council ignores them?

So then were is the problem? Hold the conference before the SM leaves for vaction. The scout can finish his merit badges and have his birthday. When the SM gets back, with everything finished in time, he and the CC sign the Unit Approval section, which can be done after the birthday. The scout turns in his packet to district and he is good to go for the next EBOR.

Excuse my ignorance, and this may be question 20 on the quiz.

Were does it say that the Scoutmaster conference can only be held after the other requirements are complete? I do find this in the four steps of advancement: "3 The Boy Scout is reviewed. After a Scout has completed all requirements for a rank, he has a board of review." But I can't find a similar statement regarding the Scoutmaster conference.

Well, we did the quiz during our ASM meeting tonight. There we many a gasp of disbelief and must explaining was needed. The most common response was "but every troop in the district does this". Others were "ever since you went to Philmont you been finding this stuff" and "we need to install an Internet filter on your computer". Most we a bit overwhelmed with how to get from were we are to were we need to be.

I went to my report, and counted the ranks earned, and the Scout badge is counted as a rank!

Programmer do not care what it is called. If it has feathers it is a bird. If it has feathers and squawks it is an overridden bird. [rim shot] Programmers are only concerned about function, it looks like a rank, and acts like rank, so we call it a rank.

From the Director of NAYLE:

Actually, the only patch that can be worn above the right pocket is a Jamboree patch. The NAYLE patch is considered a temporary patch and can only be worn on the right pocket.

There's a nice training opportunity.

I don't think this is so bad. PTC is under utilized and many have not even heard of it. Anything to encourage the instructors, they pay for their week just like the participants. It is a bit odd that they did not make it retroactive.

My son got back for NAYLE on Saturday. When he received the recognition patch he was told that when the NYLT patch is worn on the right pocket that the NAYLE patch can be worn above the pocket where the jamboree patch goes. This strikes me as odd. The only rational I can think of is that it is a "national" event as opposed to regional or council. Has anyone else heard of this? As he was leaving for to staff NYLT that evening I allowed him to put it there, but I'd rather it not stay there if it really shouldn't. I must say it does look a bit impressive though.

Thank you.