Eagle Scout in '96. Did my Vigil the same weekend as my court of honor. And my vigil name is stupid.
Minnesota, now. Grew up in Michigan.
Maybe the kids got them when they were younger back then… and they just SEEMED so much older! 
I’ll have to ask my mom and brothers.
And, maybe my boss is known for being an “easy mark”, and the slightly less motivated scouts may take advantage of her…
Have you seen the arrow, stupid? 
Eagle in 2000, with the board 9 days before my 18th birthday. If I had gotten it earlier I could have easily had at least one palm. Ordeal member of the OA (again, got it fairly late.)
Fetchund, I’m not sure. I was in a troop that, while it was not an Eagle factory, believed that if you wanted to be an Eagle they’d do everything they could to help you. As a result, many Eagles have come out of that troop over the years. Heck, my patrol (well, the patrol I was in the for the longest period of time–approximately 5 years–and the one I think of these days when I think about my time in scouting) had the six regular guys all make Eagle. But we didn’t have it easy. We still all had to work hard and we were good at what we did. If I started to think about it, I could tell so many stories about what we got up to (nothing bad.)
Somehow, it seems like Boy Scouts (or at least the way it is seen in society) has changed from the way Heinlein likes to describe it (yeah, I know that’s not exactly a real good reference, but it’s not like I have many) from the 40s and 50s to how it is seen today. The BSA v. Dale decision didn’t help, I’m sure. I’d like it if you started that thread, clnilsen.
Actually, I’d like it better if it was actually “stupid.” It would mean someone put a little bit of thought into it.
Eagle Scout here, finished my Eagle Project 2 days before my 18th Birthday (NOT the encouraged method of doing this).
Have been in the scouts since I was a Tagalong at a girl scout summercamp (bascially Tagalongs were the little brothers of scouts at camp who, for whatever reason, couldn’t be left at home, such as in my case, my mom was a scout leader, and my dad was on TDY with AAFES). I’ve been involved in the Boy Scouts of America in Yokota Air Base, Japan, Fort Lewis, Washington (where our scout hut was under the flight path of Air Force C-141 Starlifters as they made their landing approaches :D), Copperas Cove, Texas (Troop 258, Heart Of Texas Council, IIRC), Cache, Oklahoma (Troop 180), and Cedar Hill, Texas (Troop 520, I think in the Circle 10 Council, and the troop I went with to Philmont).
Thanks to being an Eagle Scout, if I enlist, I get to join as an E3, and if I re-enter ROTC, I get a nifty tricolor ribbon to wear on my uniform while in ROTC. Aside from that, there are the bragging rights and the beautiful women who just throw themselves at me due to my presumed skill at knot-tying (sadly, I never bothered to remember most of that, failing to realize the creative ways it might be useful later in life).
Eagle Scout, 1987. Sam Houston Area Council. One bronze and one gold palm.
OA Brotherhood member, Colonneh Lodge
Philmont trek 1986 (crew 6-18-S3, if memory serves)
Know what’s funny? I actually heard a fundamentalist, evangelical Christian co-worker say an anti-Scout thing, and he’s an Eagle too.
He was never in the OA because he and his folks thought it was some form of idolatry and some kind of secret society with non-Christian rituals.
I laughed out loud when I heard that. (so much for the reverent part!)
Started here…
Fetchun, it sounds like you are somehow involved in the approval process for merit badge or Board of Review. If you believe that the Scout did not do the work required why are you approving it (or him)?
I busted my tail for Eagle and most of the Eagles I’ve met over the last 40 years busted theirs. We all knew someone who got theirs because their parents were heavily involved and neither the Scout or the parents were respected.
In my Eagle board I was asked a few questions about “how I practice my religion,” “how my belief in god effects decisions,” “how do you act reverently in everyday life”.
I sat in on another Eagle Board (as a reviewer) when I was 19 or so and an Asst. Scoutmaster, and other board members asked a number of religious questions.
My father was on the districts Eagle review committee for a few years, and told me that religous questions were always asked (not by him)
Now, I guess I don’t know what would have happened if someone answered that they didn’t believe, but based on my own experience they were really pressing me on my own answers (as I didn’t attend church, and was tryign to be very vague) and didn’t seem too happy with them at all.
During my BoR there were no significant comments of religion, but there were a number of questions about current events and especially current (to 1989) world leaders.
I think part of this was because my Board of Review Chairman (and my OA Asst. Advisor) was Jewish, and knew I wasn’t. He didn’t know much about my religion, so he didn’t bring it up.
Now that I’ve sat in on the BoR training, the chairman has a fair amount of leeway in his questions. There are some specifics, but overall, he/she can interpret the BoR (and certain other requirements) very liberally if necessary. There have been several battles over what an appropriate Service Projects should be in our district.
(Note that I don’t sit in on BoR’s, but I have sat in with the district Advancement Committee when these issues have been raised).
As far as my Vigil Name; my Chapter has a tradition of choosing LONG specific names for every Vigil Candidate. Our Chapter is the reason why a cap of 36 characters is the maximum length allowed for a Vigil Name. We have one member with a 121 character Vigil Name.
Mine is a mere 34 characters; translated it means “One who is Pleased to Help Others Become Better Leaders”. Not as good as some, but better than others.
I was a cubscout back in the day. Peer pressure and razzing about wearing the uniform in the school I was bussed to (the meetings were right after) made me quit. I never even got to go camping once. Of course back then, my Dad never went to any of the meetings with me, never encouraged any of the things he did with my older brother. I lost out.
My eldest needed an activity, and baseball was ruined for him. He didn’t like football and in fact wasn’t all that athletic. He came to me and asked to sign him up for scouting.
When I took him, I realized that the troop at his school were much cooler than the one I had gone to as a kid. That Pack was in a Protestant church and the Catholic kids were kind of shuffled off to the side and looked at with evil looks. In this new pack, cubscouts could go camping if their father went along (Yay! I Finally got to go camping!). {CAMPMOR is still one of my regular email Spams. }
I have taken him places and have done more one-on-one male bonding than I ever thought possible…and I never get a complaint from the wife about ‘bugs’ because she doesn’t have to go. Sure, its absolutely no alcohol, but besides that, its one hell of a good time. He’s a Webelo now and he’ll probably make it into Boy Scouts. I’m pretty sure that I won’t be able to tag along on the cool trips then unless I take steps to join the leadership, but I think a lot of his self confidence will be about him doing things on his own and being responsible for himself as well as others.
My youngest just turned 4, so maybe by then I’ll be taking him camping…
First, put down your ground cloth. Next, lay out the tent flat on top of the ground cloth. Put in all the tent-poles next. Then raise it and do you best not to snap the tent-poles…
I don’t recall being asked the Fun and God questions at my Board of Review, but I don’t particularly remember my BoR at all, so it’s possible. Religion wasn’t a big deal in my troop, as we were a pretty mixed bag of Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish.
Nope, I don’t get to do the paperwork. I’ve been going out to the projects and “fixing” them. My boss asked my input, and when I said that it was pretty bad, I had to replant 300 seedlings before they all dried out and the scout was useless, she said “well, I’ll send them the letter saying it is done, but I won’t be as effusive as I usually am.” The thing is, my boss is a pro at teaching - every age. I was part of the team that trained the scout how to do it. We made sure he KNEW the job - he just didn’t bother to do it. He was WAY proud that they finished in record time, though…
Bumped.
A Scout with nonverbal autism has earned his Eagle Scout: Most badges require speaking, but one Boy Scout with nonverbal autism has earned the highest rank | CNN
13 years and a lot has changed with the Boy Scouts.
My son has been through Cub Scouts and jumped into Boy Scouts with both feet. I’m a leader with his old Cub Scout Pack, but hope to let him be more self sufficient with the older boys.
Eagle, 1991.
I’m an Eagle Scout, and have been a scoutmaster, but my church’s relationship with the BSA is ending in a few months.
Eagle, couple of decades before 1991…
By the way, when I was a scout, there was a Christian component to our troop. We always did a two-week canoe trip in August, and had a church service on Sunday morning. But I’ve been a scout leader for my son’s troop, and stayed on after he quit. This troop was strict on skills, but much looser on uniforms, reciting oaths, and (thank God) the religious aspect.
We had a kid casually mention he was an Atheist during his board of review. All the dads nodded okay, then we remembered that we had a 75 yr old Scouting Elder sitting in. He got red in the face and started sputtering *“Wha… you can’t… who approved… what did he say?” *
Our Scoutmaster (a Federal Judge) quickly called for a vote and the kid passed unanimously, because Mr. Old Timer couldn’t stop ranting to notice we were voting.
I was only a lurker in 2006, must have missed this thread.
- Age 15, 1966: Eagle Scout, with three palms (maximum at that time).
- Summer '66: Counselor at Camp Mataguay, San Diego County, helping Scouts earn the Pioneering merit badge.
- 1967: OA
- 1967: Ad Altare Dei (the Award for Catholic scouts), easily earned because I was still a very active believer at that time.
- Last year+ in scouting I was also a Sea Scout.
I haven’t had any involvement with the BSA since late 1967, but from what I’ve seen and heard I get the impression that Eagle Scout is a much more difficult and significant achievement today than it was in my time.