WmSprague

My Council Advancement Chair has ruled that each letter must come from a different person. The Scout is required to submit a revised Letter of Recommendation list using an individual for no more than one reference. My Council Advancement Chair said the parents might each write one letter, one for the parent letter and one for the religious letter. The Scout is instructed to find another educational reference if his parents are writing his parent and religious letters. I do thank those who have read and posted their thoughts on this matter. I have learned from this. That is funny (eisely) about the letter from a teenage sibling. How true.

As always the opinions, comments, and different points of view are very much appreciated. The wealth of knowledge and experience from members of this forum is without question. I have submitted this situation to my District Advancement Chair and District Executive. I have not yet received an official reply. It is my impression they have kicked this up to Council. This is a copy of my latest letter to them. We are anxious to move forward on this. Unless I hear otherwise from District, Council, or National, I am going to process the letters as presented. The Eagle requirement is for the Scout to provide a list of names. The Scout did that so it appears the Scout satisfied that requirement. I don't want to be surprised at Council when I attempt to certify the Eagle application. That is not the time to find out he needs a list and letters of five different people. If the Scout needs five different names than I need to know that now. Eagle Requirement 2 from Boy Scout Requirements 2011: "Demonstrate that you live by the principles of the Scout Oath and Law in your daily life. List the names of individuals who know you personally and would be willing to provide a recommendation on your behalf, including parents/guardians, religious, educational, and employer references." Now that I look closer at this requirement, where does it say he needs five references? It looks like a Scout needs only three, four if employed. It is the Eagle Application is where it is implied that five references, six if employed, are required. So why is this not spelled out in the Eagle requirement? I have yet to meet a Life Scout who has read the Eagle Application prior to his Eagle Scoutmaster Conference. I will keep this forum informed of any developments.

An Eagle Candidate in my unit, who is not affiliated with an organized religion and is home schooled, has submitted a Letter of Recommendation list with the same person(s) for three of his reference letters: mom and dad for the parent reference, mom for the religious reference, and dad for the education reference. I was under the opinion all letters were to come from different people. But where is it written that the letters must all come from different persons? The Guide to Advancement 2011 actually seems to validate that more than one letter may come from the same person. Section 9.0.1.3: "3. References: Must list all six (five if not employed). If not affiliated with an organized religion, then the parent or guardian provides this reference. If this were acceptable for the parent/religious references it seems reasonable to it would be acceptable for the parent/education references for the same reason.

I just got off the phone with my Council Eagle Desk representative. Citing many years experience processing Eagle Applications, on the few occasions a date was rejected by the computer, he just adjusted the date a day or two until it accepted his entry. His view is that if the Eagle Applicant and his Advancement Chair, in good faith, were off a day or two on a Board of Review, he would not penalize the boy on a technicality. He said he never really thought about how it actually calculated the dates - problems are so rare. Obviously the computer has an algorithm to calculate the proper period of time but he does not know what that is. As a rule, he uses the add-the-months-to-the-start-date rule for a quick check. The possibility of the target date being nonexistent never occurred to him. So, what I learned from this is the Scout will not be penalized over a technicality, which is as it should be. I thank all for their comments. As always, I learn new insight and wisdom from others. I was hoping for a definitive answer from a BSA source but apparently there is none. My background is engineering and it is in my annoying nature to be meticulous. Sorry.

A Scout must be First Class for a minimum of four months before advancing to Star and a minimum of six months at Star and Life to advance. Defining exactly what four (or six) months is my question. I have received many opinions but have found no definitive BSA clarification. I apologize if this reference is readily available but would be very appreciative to have this clarified. In order to make Eagle before a Scout reaches eighteen, the Board of Review dates for some of my Scouts must be scheduled to the absolute minimum number of days. The consequence of an Eagle Application rejected for having a Board of Review date either too early (or too late) is too horrible to contemplate. The consensus is to just add four (or six) to the beginning date month to arrive at the target date. For example 1/4/10 plus four months is 5/4/10. This does not work if the target date does not exist. For example 10/31/09 plus 4 months is 2/31/10. Since 2/31/10 is three days past the last day in February is the target date 3/3/10? Another school of thought says that if the beginning date is the last day of the month than the target date is the last day of the month four (or six) months hence. So 10/31/09 plus four months is 2/28/10. I have also heard that you add to the beginning date 122 days for four months and 183 days for six months. If I counted right, adding 122 days to 10/31/09 is 3/2/10. So depending on which method above is used, four months past 10/31/09 is either 2/28/10, 3/2/10, or 3/3/10.