Missing Blue Cards / Badge Cards / Patches

[BSA167]

I am a Life Scout who is currently on my path to Eagle. I have been going through my old records and getting my merit badges in order. I discovered that for some badges, I am either missing a blue card, badge card, or a patch. I have searched everywhere and cannot find them. Is it more important to have the blue card than the patch or the badge card? Is it possible that my troop could have what I'm looking for or even the summer camp I got the badges from? Finally, when you become Eagle to they actually collect your cards? Thank you for your help!

[Hedgehog]

Reach out to the folks at council.  Find the general number off the internet site and call it.  They will help you.

 

Council has the official records and they should be able to give you a printout of what they have.  You should be able to use that print out to get any missing patches.

 

The portion of the blue cards you get after completing the merit badges are not collected and don't need to be reviewed.  The print out from council is all the proof you need.

[jr56]

Your copy of the blue card signed by the counselor, comes in useful if for some reason the council does not have a record of you earning a merit badge.  You can produce your blue card as proof of earning the badge.

[cyclops]

I agree with Hedgehog and jr56. The only potential problem is if both you and the council are missing those records. That would probably mean a do-over. The merit badge counselors should also have records but in my experience it is rare for them to keep those.

[qwazse]

The badge card is a half-decent backup for the blue card. Your troop should have one third of that card in their records, and your counselor (or the summer camp) should have the other third. sometimes, boys neglect to get their third of the card from the SM when they turn it in, so you should talk to him/her first. Either third will help you in a pinch.

 

Here's how it happens in our council:

The scout fills in the Eagle application based on the information available to him. Often there is an adult in the troop responsible for recording advancement and will be able to privide a print-out of what they recorded. (He/she probably won't even charge for the ink and paper.)

After his scoutmaster conference, the scouts application gets turned in at council HQ. Since we are nearby, we often have they boy take it in himself. Every bit of data on that application is cross-checked with council records.

 

They will point out, for example, if the date you earned camping MB on your application was one day off from the date on their records. If that happens, you will pull out your blue card (or the copy of the troop's portion if you didn't have yours). They will pull out their advancement sheets, and make whatever correction is necessary so that all of their data is consistent. After all of the information is confirmed to be correct, they will file your application and let your district advancement chairperson know that you are ready to schedule your board of review.

 

Every council works differently regarding the details, but basically you want to make sure you have a complete record as you fill out your application.

[wdfa89]

and I am aware this is closing the barn door after the horses are gone but the topic got me thinking...

 

For my son I scan all his MB cards, blue cards, key pages in his handbook (rank pages, camping & service logs) as a back up to his card book, troop and council records into a computer file. I also do this for my portion of the blue card I keep as a MB counselor.   Figure I can always produce this as proof of completion if all the normal record keeping fails/

[Stosh]

There's no such thing as too much backup of one's records.

[Eagle94-A1]

Every council and district is different, so contact your district/council folks to find out what to do.

 

Some ways I've seen records verified in order of importance:

 

1) Advancement Records in the Boy Scout Hand Book.  Because dates need to be entered into it for advancement, and the BOR needs to sign off on it,  MBs used for Star, & Life have already been verified. Its the MBs used for Eagle that may be a challenge since a BOR have not verified them.

 

1a) Also some units will allow the MBC to sign off that section of the advancement records in the BSHB. That has worked in instances I've been involved in or knew about.

 

1b) Some units have their leaders sign off on the MBs in the advancement records as soon as the MB is earned.  That also has worked.

 

2) Unit Copy of the Advancement Report. Units have to submit copies of an Advancement Report for purchasing advancement. It is a one page form with 2 carbon copies underneath. The top and middle copies are turned it to buy the advancement, The troop keeps the third for their records.

 

3) Copy of the SM portion or MBC portion of the Blue Card. However some MBCs only keep them for a specified time. And some do not keep them.

 

4) Copy of unit's records.

 

GOOD LUCK!