Eagle94-A1

@Scouter20 1. WELCOME TO DA FORUMS! 2. I have been to 3 ECOHs where multiple Scouts have been recognized, and was friends with an Eagle that was in a troop that din 1 ECOH a year. All of the scripts were modified individual ECOH scripts. In fact the 1st multiple ECOH's script was the one I used for mine. 3. As Fred said I can attest to that. One of those ECOHs was over an Hour and a half, not including the reception. Some advice, FWIW. 4. As the father of an Eagle who had their ECOH during the COVID Pandemic, you need to keep up with the local laws on outdoor gatherings. You may need to limit the number of family and friends each Eagle can have. And do not rely on folks RSVPing. My son had over 75 people attend his. Thankfully we were doing it at the church we meet at, and the pastor was involved, so we were met the religious institution clause. 5. Have masks and handsanitizer on hand. Yes folks will forget masks. 6. If you have a reception, individual servings. More expensive, but a lot safer 7. Plan on set up taking a lot longer. Normal ECOH takes about an hour in my experience. It took a lot longer measuring distances and setting up chairs. 8. If you have known high risk folks attending, set up a separate area for them. We had 3 folks at my son's. We had two areas set way apart, but great views, for the two families,. More later.

We have been fortunate. Since COVID hit, we lost 1 to a death in the family, and 1 to aging out. We had 3 come in due to word of mouth, and 2 cross over. But we have been active this time. First with zoom, then with physical meetings and events. We have problems, i.e. cannot meet inside the CO at this time (we were meeting in a tent), we are limited to 1 hour one way drive for camp outs, and we have been doing more day trips than usual. But we are doing our best to keep the "OUTING in ScOUTING." But LDS was a 20% hit. And yes, we lost some folks with girls coming in. Also for Exploring and Venturing, are they including 18-20 year olds in that number? If they are, that would also affect comparison in the past.

If memory serves, individual councils paid insurance premiums to National, so National would be on the hook for claims.

BSA is being generous IMHO. I would give them nothing since they deliberately called themselves Scouts and not Guides to piggyback on BSA.

I kid you not, SWMBO told my Eagle Son that his ECOH is like a wedding, except he has a voice in what is planned as his fiancee/wife and mother/MIL will be taking over his wedding planning. 😅 One reason why an Eagle may want to hold their own outside of a normal COH if out of town family and friends. I know for mine, There were some folks I wanted to attend from out of state, and picked accordingly. Thankfully one was able to get leave to attend. Didn't know if he was going to be able to make it or not.

One of the reasons I hate BSA's legalese. And multiple publications state multiple things. What I would like to know is how is an Eagle Court of Honor benefitting the community? First it is a unit activity, even if the Eagle Scout does all the work in planning, preparing, and decorating. Second it benefits only the Eagle(s), and not an organization. How long has this SM been involved in Scouting and Scouts BSA specifically? Have they done any training?

1) WELCOME TO DA FORUMS! (and yes I am shouting in joy at ya;) ) 2.. You new SM is incorrect. BSA's definition of community service is found in Eagle Scout requirement 5 which states, " "While a Life Scout, plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious institution, any school, or your community. (The project must benefit an organization other than the Boy Scouts of America.) (emphasis added) A project proposal must be approved by the organization benefiting from the effort, your Scoutmaster and unit committee, and the council or district before you start. You must use the Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook, BSA publication No. 512-927, in meeting this requirement. (To learn more about the Eagle Scout service project, see the Guide to Advancement, topics 9.0.2.0 through 9.0.2.15.)" So no, participating in an Eagle COH is NOT community service. Nor would I say it is troop service. I is a troop expectation, obligation activity, whatever you want to call it. In every troop i have ever been in, it was expected that we would be there. Also in regards to community service at the lower ranks, this definition has been used in every unit I have ever been in. So working CS day camp, serving as a volunteer at summer camp, doing an OA Ordeal also do not count as community service.

Since 2018 or 19, dodgeball is now banned. In fact at one point, National stated in the FAQ that Dodgeball had never been an approved Scouting Activity. It took a while, but they finally corrected the FAQ. Dodgeball has been an approved game since as early as 1929 when the 3rd. Edition SMHB listed it as a recommended game. Even after it was banned in the Guide to Safe Scouting, you could still find it on the BSA's website as a game to play at troop meetings. Next game to get banned will probably be GAGA Ball. National has already said they were looking into it.

Two friends of mine were in my troop, and their younger brothers were in another. One reason was the younger brothers were in Cub Scouts, and all their friends went to the pack CO's troop.

I am one of the dissertation writers for all the awards I nominate people for. I was once told the more eloquent, and fact filled a nomination is, the better chance the nomination will pass. This is especially important for those serving in a variety of roles in the background . Summer camp staff, lodge officers, ceremony team members, and American Indian Affair members, the ones who are the 'public face" of the OA are a lot easier to get Vigil. People remember them easier and can put a name to the face. Best example of that is the Vigil I nominated in which I used his legal name throughout the nomination. No one knew who he was. But when I ended the nomination with his legal name, and added his camp name, everyone knew immediately who he was. So those in the public view in general tend to get the awards. So a detailed dissertation of the activities is vitally important to recognize those in the background. Best example I can give is actually a Silver Beaver recipient I nominated. This guy has served Scouting in a variety of roles for over 50 years. But those roles have never been in the limelight. He served on the unit, district, council, and national levels, but always in a support role in the background. When i discovered he did not have the Silver Beaver, I was shocked and immediately nominated him. At the recognition lunch, I had the chance to talk to friends on the Silver Beaver committee, and a ALL OF THEM (emphasis) were shocked he did not have it already.

I stand by what I said based upon my research on this subject matter. In the overwhelming majority of cases, BSA did everything they could legally do AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENTS (emphasis). Were some mistakes made? Yes. Was the system they had in place perfect? There is no such thing as a perfect system. The problem is that it appears to me that this lawsuit, with one case going as far back an circa 1939-1946, is using today's Mandatory Reporting Laws as the legal standard which did not come about until circa 1988/89 nationally.

1. Bravo Zulu! 2. BEST. RECOGNITION. OF ALL!

Actually BSA IS a victim. With very few exceptions, BSA did everything it could legally do at the time the bulk of the abuse took place. People are forgetting that mandatory reporting laws did not affect the BSA until the late 1980s/early 1990s, about the time Youth Protection Training came about. Prior to that time, if BSA accused anyone publicly of abuse, they could have been charged with libel. BSA encouraged parents to press charges, because their hands were tied.

Welcome back. As you noted, the ODR and Centennial uniforms are fully interchangeable. So yes you can wear current insignia with the ODR and wear vintage insignia with he Centennial Uniform. BSA even published information stating full interchangeability. While some folks will argue you can no longer do so, once uniform, always uniform. So you can wear your "vintage 2009+" uniform.

@fred8033, No worries.. My apologies if it seemed as if I was attacking you, that was not my intention. Although these incidents were 2.5-3 years ago, it still rubs me raw. My boys have lost some friends as a result of switching. And friendships I have were weakened as well. It was a rough decision to leave, but the right one.

@fred8033, I do not think it was a case of not communicating the expectations. The families in question were told repeatedly that it was hurting the Scouts and affecting the troop. See some of my posts from the 2018 time period.

I can only find my old Eagle info, and even then it is incomplete. As for my logged in profile, nothing is showing. And folks wonder why they have people who do not rely on My.Scouting and Scoutbook.

Yes, I truly believe it is NOT okay for a Scout to sleep with their parents, barring medical exceptions. I saw to much disruption, and too many problems because of it. I'll give you the worse example, which almost led to a campwide lost camper drill at summer camp. ASM dad had his wife an younger son come to family nite. Instead of wife and son going home, they checked into a nearby hotel. ASM dad and son went with them for the night. Not only did they not tell anyone they were leaving, they also did not sign out with the camp office. They texted a message to the other adults that they were at the hotel. There are very few spots at camp with cell service, and the campsite the troop was in was not one of them. One of the other ASMs happened to be at the office with cell reception doing work, and got the message. Folks at the campsuite were getting worried and almost reported it as lost campers, when the other ASM showed up, and told them about the message. This was the same ASM who allowed his son to sneak out at nite and sleep with him. In my experience, 99% the Scouts do not want to be with the parents or siblings. Last camp out all three of my sons wanted their own tents instead of sharing a tent. The Scout who had a documented medical condition, and needed an adult with them wanted to be with their buddies. The two new Cross Overs both wanted to be on their own the second nite of the camp out. No, you got the question right, can a parent stay with their Scout, Sea Scout or Venturer while doing BSA family camping, and the answer is no.

As a former pro, I've seen all the above. One that is missing is "Never received it in the mail." One factor, at least when I was a pro many years ago, is that you have do have special training to enter the information. Out of all the staff, only 3 people had that training, and two of them were basically backups for the registrar. And with the number of applications the staff receive, it can be a nightmare. After we found out my wife was ineligible for one of the lifesaving awards because she was still unregistered, that is when I collected all the signatures and hand delivered the application, and it still was not registered. And it was not as if she had never registered with the BSA before. She was an associate advisor for the council's Explorer Post/Venturing Crew she was trying to register again in, and was a troop committee member in a different council.

Whatever you do in Scouting, KEEP COPIES OF YOUR RECORDS!!!!!!!!!!! Before you turn in anything, please make a copy. I've been in multiple councils over the years,, and BSA's records keeping and IT systems are not the best. My wife turned in about 5 applications, one I hand delivered, and was never registered until I emailed a copy and asked if they could finally register her. While officially "Unregistered" she served as a assistant Den leader, Webelos den leader, and day camp staff. Lots of complaints about SCOUTBOOK losing records recently. A few years back 95% of the volunteers in my district were "untrained". I spent several months getting the records, recording the records with the codes, and turned it in to teh council. about 2-3 years later, Those records were missing again. Thankfully I had the original records I recorded saved and resubmitted.

I guess cooking, door to door sales, and maybe even Scouting For Food, and other activities are on their way to being banned since OSHA requires cooks to be 16+ and going door to door is 18+.

Yes, this is a program rule, like no towers over 5 feet, no water guns, etc. It really needs to be elsewhere, but here we are. And as foolish as this rule may seem, there is a reason for it. I was in a troop that was "family friendly." Two families, who treated every camp out as a family camp out, nearly destroyed the troop. Bringing siblings who interfered, allowing their Scouts to sneak into their tent at night (abandoning buddies), allowing the Scouts to hang out with them and eat with them instead of being with the patrols, ad nauseum. The worse was the unregistered parents overruling the SPL and PLs on a variety of things. Morale among the Scouts was rapidly falling. Complaints at BORs at which the registered parents were not on arose multiple times. Finally my family left. After I left, the COR intervened, which caused some issues. Then this rule appeared. Thankfully the troop turned around, and we only took 1 other Scout with us. I was afraid 1/2 the troop would leave over those two families. And the impression I get was it almost happened. That said, do I know of units that violate the rule? Probably, but no hard evidence. Unofficially my troop violated the rule. We had 2 new Scouts who had just crossed over into the troop the week before the troop went camping. They had never camped with us before, nor any troop due to COVID. While they turned in applications to transfer into the troop from the pack, we wanted them to camp with us before committing. While they were treated as Scouts and assigned to patrols, the first night they did sleep with the parents instead of on their own. Second night they were in their own tents. AT the next meeting, they came back, said they were 100% committed to the troop, and we sent in the applications.

I got one worse. The worse lifeguard I ever worked with initially failed the class. The attitude was horrible, and he didn't know the skills. The instructor, when questioned why the student failed by the aquatics director, laid out a litany of issues with the student. Instructor was fired and the director, who was an instructor-trainer, passed the student. The student also happened to be the instructor-trainer's son. After that situation, I understand why my Lifesaving MBC wanted to review the skills to insure I knew them. Yes, I asked if my YMCA Lifeguard certification would suffice for Lifesaving MB. And my MBC went over the skills with me. I paid the guest fee for him to come to my pool and test me.

First and foremost, do you meet the current, 2019 Guide to Advancement, standards for being a Lifesaving MBC? Page 44 states Once upon a time I was a Lifesaving MBC. Only time I accepted a Lifeguard certification without question was the Scout I certified as a YMCA lifeguard. He passed the class another Instructor and I taught with flying colors. I then went over the extra stuff. What I have done in the past was do a quick review of the skills with them, to make sure they actually know their stuff. If you don't practice those skills, you will lose them. Yes, Muscle memory helps, but you got to do the skills a lot before they become automatic.

Not everyone who does not want the vaccine is a denier. A lot of folks in the medical field have reservations about the vaccines. One of them stated that they had serious questions about one company's study methodology after reading a peer reviewed medical journal article on the vaccine. Others have questions about the efficacy of the vaccine, and whether it will really make a difference or not based upon their reading of the ongoing research of the virus. I have read of hospitals offer bonuses in the form of cash and extra days off as an incentive for their staff to get the vaccine. Trust me they know it's real. They know they have to be cautious. But they have legitimate concerns because these vaccine have been fast tracked. They do not know what long term effects the vaccines will have.