Eagle Merit Badges...when can they be earned?

[Navigator 10]

Hello fellow scouters:

 

My son recently transferred to a new troop. One of the reasons was the troop was extremely slow in rank advancement for scouts who weren't in the "original" patrol who crossed over to create the troop about three years ago. He was finally presented first class by his new SM last week. It's a long story so I'll skip it and move on to my question.

 

As my son was unable to advance in rank he focused on MB's. He has only three left to complete that are required for Eagle.

 

There was some inference by an ASM that he needs to complete specific number of Eagle MB's while he is 1st class, star, and life. This was only casual conversation. I see some requirements state "While a first class scout,...", etc. However, I can't tell be reading the MB section if that is necessary.

 

As this could result in my son having to do these MB's a second time I would appreciate any suggestions including any reference to official BSA literature that might leave no doubt as to the policy.

 

Thanks,

 

DK

[evmori 11]

The ASM is incorrect. MB's can be completed anytime before the Scout needs them to advance.

[kbandit 10]

I would politely ask for a council produced advancement record for your son. Your district executive (DE) should point you to the right person to request this. You can probley find out who your DE is by council website. If not available there try calling your council office with your district name. This may take a week or two but this is the official record for your son and badges earned will be listed here. New troop cannot dispute want is on the record. No adding or deleting merit badge requirements. Now if a scout would join a new troop and walk in with completed blue cards to the new troop there might be some questions as to why they were not recorded with old troop.

 

Since he got his 1st class recently there are time limits to each rank and requirements that need to be completed within that time frame such as service hours. Have your son stay on top of his time line and request a scoutmaster conference and board of review when the requirements for each future rank are complete and time at rank have been accomplished.

 

http://www.meritbadge.com/info/policy2.htm

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/GuideforMeritBadgeCounselors.aspx

 

www.meritbadge.com keeps their site up to date on rank advancement and merit badge requirements.

[GKlose 24]

Wow, this is so sad --

 

As evmori said, any merit badge at any time. Of course, if a young Scout isn't mature enough to handle, say Environmental Science, that will be pretty obvious to the merit badge counselor and it will take extra time.

 

My own son, who I don't think has moved very fast at all, recently completed his Star Board of Review, and he only has 3 more Eagle-required merit badges for Life to go (he's started one of them, and has appointments for two others, and has implicitly started Camping merit badge with his SM, a registered counselor). If he chooses, he can have his Life BoR by September. He will have only been in the troop about 2-1/2 years at that point.

 

Another data point: our troop has one young scout who is a self-directed "merit badge mill", so to speak. He has been cranking through merit badges as fast as he can make appointments with merit badge counselors, and he has devoted two evenings a week specifically to working on merit badges. A neighbor/buddy has been working with him, although he is an older scout. The young one joined the troop last June. He hasn't progressed past Second Class yet, but I would guess that he has more than 30 merit badges already (I'm unsure of his actual total).

 

Guy

[BDPT00 41]

Although I've never heard it before, it's a reasonable question.

It's simple. Just read the book. It doesn't say "While a First Class Scout" for the merit badges. Yes, he needs a certain number for each rank, but it doesn't matter when they're earned (as long as they're earned before the next rank's board of review).

BDPT00

[CalicoPenn 729]

Welcome to the forums Navigator. It sounds to me as if the casual conversation and comment has simply led to a misunderstanding.

 

First - a Scout can start working on any merit badge at any time (don't let anyone tell you that in order toearn Personal Management, a Scout must be 14, or First Class, or any other nonsense). There are no merit badges with pre-requisites or age limits.

 

Second - once a Scout has earned a Merit Badge, the badge is earned - and the badge is earned when the Merit Badge Counselor says it is earned - there is no review by the Scoutmaster, Troop Advancement Committee Chair, a Board of Review, etc. When the MBC says the badge is earned - it's earned so no one has to earn it a second time.

 

Third - there is no requirement to earn any Merit Badges to become First Class - the requirements to earn Merit Badges begin with the Star Rank. These requirements are fairly simple - for Star, it is earn 6 Merit Badges - it doesn't say "While a Star Scout, earn 6 Merit Badges - it only says earn 6 Merit Badges. The rank requirements don't care when they were earned - just as long as there are 6 of them.

 

Where the confusion may come from is the additional part of the requirement - "Including 4 from the required list for Eagle". In other words, of the 6 Merit Badges required for Star rank, 4 must be from the required for Eagle list. If your son has only 3 Eagle required badges left for Eagle then he's fulfilled this part of the requirement - and there's a good chance he's fulfilled the requirements for Life as well. Here's a hint - it's tempting to use all Eagle rank required merit badges for the Star Rank - don't do it - the Life rank requirements are worded slightly differently than the Star rank requirements - Life rank reads "earn 5 MORE Merit Badges including any 3 MORE from the required list for eagle" - I think most would interpret that to mean if you've already counted them towards Star you can't count them again for Life.

 

Of course it's possible that the ASM was a bit fuzzy on the requirements as well - a friendly conversation with the Scoutmaster should clear that up if that is indeed the case.

[Buffalo Skipper 13]

As for the Star requirement regarding merit badges reads:

3) Earn 6 merit badges, including 4 from the required list for Eagle.

 

There is no mention of "while a First Class scout" in this requirement. "While a First Class scout" does appear in reqirements 4 and 5 on Service project and position of responsibility tenure, which, of course, must be done while a First Class scout. This leaves no room for misinterpretation.

 

I believe that MBs should be self-directed. I have one scout who transferred in who has earned about 30 badges in his 2 years as a boy scout. Though he has been pushed by his parents, this is something he appears to enjoy doing. I wish we had more scouts more interested in merit badges like he is. Interestingly, my son is taking Environmental Science (he needs another ER for Star), and I have tried to encourage him to read his MB book over the weekend before meeting with his counselor this coming Saturday. This morning he asked if he could take his MB book to school because he really thought it was interesting and was enjoying reading it.

[Navigator 10]

Thanks for your replies. My son is also working hard on the merit badges. He received 12 at the COH last month in his prior troop. He has started 8 more for the next three months or so and is registered for two summer camps this year which should give him the opportunity to earn 11 more.

 

I'm sure now that we won't have a problem with his Eagle badges counting down the road...I just wanted to be sure we understood the policy correctly.

 

He is very happy to be in the new troop. They nearly broke his spirit at the old one.

[Knot Head 10]

It's too bad some troops make boys wait to advance. It seems like we should applaud a scout's achievement and enthusiasm in the earning a new rank, not discourage it by saying you can only earn one rank per year or some other arbitrary timeline.