Question on Eagle Required Badges

[frankj]

If a Scout earns both Cycling and Swimming MBs can the both be counted toward the number of Eagle required? It is my understanding that only one out of the group of Cycling, Swimming, Hiking can be counted as one of the Eagle req'd badges. Is this correct?

[MaScout]

Correct. While working his way up to Eagle, they can each be counted...for example, Swimming might be counted as an Eagle required for Star, and Cycling might be counted as an Eagle required for Life. However, only one may be counted in the Eagle required for Eagle rank. The other may count towards elective MB's or towards a Palm after he gets his Eagle.

 

[scottteng]

The other may be counted for eagle but not as a required it is just another elective merit badge at that point.

[FScouter]

Refer to the Boy Scout Handbook pages 444, 445 (see the asterisk at the bottom), and 446.

[frankj]

Thanks for your help. I am still not out of the woods on this one. The Scout is a recent transfer to our troop a few months back and his 18th is coming up in less than a month.

 

He has earned ALL of the ER badges except for Hiking. He earned the Cycling and the Swimming Badges in fulfillment of the Star rank in the previous troop and they were entered on the advancement record as 2 out of the 4 Eagle req'd for Star.

 

MaScout's answer indicates this is not right.

 

Scott's answer indicates one of the two should not have been counted as an ER at the Star Level.

 

and FScouter the footnote contradicts both of the above .. it says "...may choose any of the 15 req'd mb's in the 12 categories to fulfill req'mt 3" (for Star and Life Ranks.)

 

I guess "it is what it is" and the council reviewer will pass judgement.

 

Thank you for the info and I will stay tuned here for further info.

 

[EagleInKY]

Okay, if I'm understanding correct, the scout counted both Cycling and Swimming as Eagle Required MBs in order to obtain Star. He has now earned all the necessary ER MBs for Eagle. One of those, let's assume Cycling, is listed on his Eagle Required list on his Eagle application. Swimming is listed as one of the additional MBs.

 

Am I correct? If so, this is perfectly legitimate. Confusing as all get-out to explain, but very, very legal. I've seen it done.

[FScouter]

MaScout is correct. Scotteng is correct. And of course the Boy Scout Handbook is always correct.

 

A candidate must earn 12 Eagle required merit badges. There are 15 on the list. They are listed on page 446, A through L. For G he has two choices, Emergency Preparedness OR Lifesaving. Its OK if he earns both, but he MUST earn at least one of them. For J he has three choices. If he earned both Cycling and Swimming, thats great. He only needs one of the three and there is no need to also earn Hiking unless he wants to.

 

Next, he must have earned a total of at least 21 merit badges, including the 12 Eagle required badges. He can earn any merit badge at any time during his time as a Scout including merit badges from the Eagle list.

 

Next, he must have successfully and correctly earned the ranks of Star and Life. For Star he must earn 6 merit badges including at least 4 from the Eagle required list. ANY 4 on the list of 15 are OK. (Read the footnote at the bottom of page 444.) Its OK to earn more than 4. These merit badges can be earned at any time while a Scout, Tenderfoot, 2nd Class, or 1st Class. But before he can earn the Star rank he must have completed at least 6 including ANY 4 from the Eagle list of 15.

 

For the Life rank, he must have 5 more including at least 3 more from the Eagle list of 15. ANY 3 are OK. (Read the same footnote at the bottom of page 445.) It doe not matter when he earned the 3 more. Conceivably he could have earned 7 Eagle required badges by the time he earned Star.

 

At the footnotes say, the categories mean nothing at the Star and Life ranks.

[evmori]

FScouter, MaScout & scottteng are right on the money and do not contradict each other. I would concur with their responses.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[frankj]

responding to EagleInKy "Okay, if I'm understanding correct, the scout counted both Cycling and Swimming as Eagle Required MBs in order to obtain Star. YES.

He has now earned all the necessary ER MBs for Eagle. YES. One of those, let's assume Cycling, is listed on his Eagle Required list on his Eagle application. Swimming is listed as one of the additional MBs. I HAVEN'T SEEN THE APPLICATION YET. IF SWIMMING AND CYCLING WERE CREDITIED AS EAGLE REQ'D IN FULFILLMENT OF STAR, THEN WHY WOULDN'T IT BE LISTED ON THE APPLICATION AS ONE OF THE EAGLE REQ'D?

 

PS: In case there's any doubt: I WANT this young man to achieve the rank -- I'm trying to anticipate any minor glitch that might hold things up because of the time element involved.

 

[evmori]

I HAVEN'T SEEN THE APPLICATION YET. IF SWIMMING AND CYCLING WERE CREDITIED AS EAGLE REQ'D IN FULFILLMENT OF STAR, THEN WHY WOULDN'T IT BE LISTED ON THE APPLICATION AS ONE OF THE EAGLE REQ'D?

 

Because only one of those may be counted as an Eagle Required MB on the application. These are listed as swimming OR cycling OR hiking.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[OldGreyEagle]

If the scout has 21 merit badges and at least 12 are from the Eagle required list, then he has enough merit badges to be Eagle

[gwd-scouter]

Oh this is such a confusing topic. I don't know if this will help, but....

 

I had an Eagle candidate who did both Lifesaving and Emergency Preparedness during his time working on Life. Both were counted toward the 3 Eagle required badges for Life.

 

So, that actually left him with having to do 6 Eagle requireds for Eagle rank instead of 5, because even though you can do, say, Swimming and Hiking for Star or Life, only one can count as required when filling out your Eagle application (you cross out those that do not count toward your 12 requireds - i.e., count Swimming so cross out Hiking and Cycling; count Emergency Prep so cross out Lifesaving).

 

If you use Troopmaster software, it demonstrates this very effectively when it posts merit badges. If you look at an Eagle rank page, it may say something like 3 of 5 MBs remaining must be Eagle required. But, because above mentioned Scout did both Lifesaving and Emerg Prep, his Eagle page showed 3 of 6 MBs remaining must be Eagle required.

 

So while he actually did 13 of the required merit badges, 12 counted for Eagle and one counted as an elective.

 

Hope this helps.

 

[frankj]

He has 21 total and 14 of those are ER. Thanks to all for leading me out of the woods. I find it confusing that he could earn 2 from the same category and have them credited as Eagle Req'd for the Star rank, then when it comes to listing the Eagle req'd, on the application he lists only one from that group.

 

[ljnrsu]

MaScout, scottteng, FScouter, EagleInKY, and Ed have all given correct information.

The choice between optional ER badges occurs when completing the Eagle Application. A scout could have earned all 5 of the optional ER badges in order to fulfill requirements for Star and Life as the requirement states any of the 15 ER badges may be used.

 

The Eagle Application has the following footnote in requirement 3:

 

*Cross out badges not earned. If a crossed-out badge was earned, it may be reentered in 13 through 21.

Four of these required merit badges were earned for the Star Scout rank and three more were earned for the Life Scout rank.

Effective April 1, 1999.