newman111

Consider: The time limit for the Eagle BOR was amended to give scouts a bit more time in case of scheduling conflicts with the adults to be present in the review.

A question for those who don't think the regulations on patches should be changed: Do you also believe that anyone who had their BOR after their birthdays are not truly Eagle Scouts?

If a rule like that could be changed, I don't see how anyone couldn't accept a change in something as sacred as patches on a uniform.

1. sure

2. June, 2009

Following a trend of many Eagle Scouts I've known, I earned my eagle rank only days before my 18th birthday. I have never worn my uniform with the patch, but I would love to. Maybe if I had earned it earlier in my scouting career and wore the patch with my friends (my patrol of four boys all earned eagle over the course of two years - I was the last) I would probably take up the knot as a less obtrusive, more reserved, adult symbol of the eagle, but I don't. And I don't regret the way in which I got my eagle either. Sure it was a rush at the end, things might have gone better, but I would not have sacrificed any time I spent outside in the freezing cold trying to start a fire for time sitting alone, planning each step on my way to eagle. I don't think I would have appreciated the journey as much.

What I am trying to say is that my troop focuses more on teaching skills and leadership as well as the qualities of a boy scout to its members (as demonstrated by my patrol sweeping my district's Klondike derby in 2007) and less on memorizing the insignia guide and figuring out which patch goes where. For years, I never knew what the knots meant, but am I a worse scout for it?

I am an official Eagle Scout, I have the paperwork and will always be proud of what I did, but somehow I will never be allowed to wear the iconic patch signifying a rank held for life. I won't break the rules as they are now, but what is wrong with changing policies.