Wood Badge Jim

As many have expressed, I'm not a huge fan of this change, but now that it's been put into effect I believe it's obvious that the new rule is creating an unfair situation for Eagle Scouts who are still active. First and foremost, I am not indicating that it should be retroactive for Eagles who have aged out. For example, I am an Eagle Scout who earned my Eagle just before aging out and didn't earn any Palms. I am not suggesting, nor do I believe that I should now, retroactively, be "entitled" to the two Silver Palms that my number of merit badges, and roles of responsibility, and active time would, under the new rules, qualify me for. But, here's the situation that the Boy Scouts has created... I have an Eagle Scout who earned his Eagle in June and still has two more years before he ages out. I have another Eagle Scout who just earned his Eagle post August 1st, and he is now wearing one Silver and one Broze Palm. So even though the Eagle Scout who earned it back in June has almost 70 merit badges and is one of the most active Scouts I have in the Troop would/should be entitled to 3 Silver Palms, he has none and he has expressed how unfair it is that for the next 2 years he will be earning just one palm every three months while this other Scout has a Silver and a Broze and he'll never be able to catch up. This is beyond unfair, and in my opinion goes against the Scout Law and the purpose of Scouting. Again, I don't believe we should make this retroactive for Scouts who have already aged out. As has been expressed with any rule change there must be a line drawn, but this one is so simple to fix, making me feel that there must be other motives for National to not do this. Here is the simple way to "ix" this: *** As of August 1st, any active Eagle Scout should be entitled to all Eagle Palms that he has merit badges for, provided he is still active and has had a position of responsibility in the Troop. Then moving forward the same rules apply to every Eagle for an subsequent Palms. *** Again, simple. How National didn't forsee this as a problem and this as a fair solution is beyond me. Here is one thing that I can see being an issue for them... The Electronic Advancement System. The program has a check for the 3 months requirement and won't allow a date that doesn't meet the 3 months. This would require a change to the program, or a lot of man-hours of work by the local Districts, to administer. Maybe they could remove the 3 month check for a period of time, allowing the Troop Advancement Coordinators to go in and make the active Eagles up to date following the same rules and then close it so we go back to the 3 month check. Just a thought! Sorry to all of the aged out Scouts. I get that this isn't the most fair change, but for the currently active Eagles having to stand next to younger Scouts who are wearing more Palms, even though the other, older Eagle Scout "deserves" to be wearing more, based on the same rules, is beyond unfair and is something that the Boy Scouts needs to fix!