Another story

[dan]

Attended a Eagles Court of Honour last weekend for 2 scouts. It was a very good ceremony, meaning I did not mess up to bad.

The troop has a tradition to have all of the Eagle Scouts stand up and give the troop number they where in, town and year they became Eagles. I was asked if I would do the Recognition of Eagles as it is called. I asked all of the Eagles to please stand up, there were 15 that stood up. Had about 10 from the troop so I knew them and the dates that they became Eagle where within the last 8 years. We have 2 ASM that obtained Eagle in the 60s had one from the 80s (one of the Eagles teacher from high school) and one from the 50s. One of the Eagles great grandfathers was there and is an Eagle he announced his troop, town and year of 1932 when he obtained Eagle. It was quite an honour to me to do this.

Talking with this man after the ceremony I was quite taken back when he said he thought it was a lot harder to earn Eagle now than when he was a scout. He went on saying on the kids these days have so many choices in life that it is really a special scout to obtain Eagle these days.

[ozemu]

Fair enough. I don't know about the specific requirments for Eagle but he is right about Scouting lining up with other distractions (is my bias evident?).

 

Good on him for not doing the '7 miles in the snow to Scouts and 8 miles back' type of yarn too.

 

Keep trotting out snippets like these dan. Keeps it real in here.

[packsaddle]

I was asked by one of the boys what my Eagle project was and at first I thought I had completely lost my memory. Then I realized....none was required. I too think Eagle is a more demanding rank today than it was back when no project was required.

 

On the other hand, our tents had no netting and no floors. We had canvas, not rip-stop. Our pack frames were home-made from steel conduit. Kapok filling in sleeping bags, ropes were hemp. Lots of cotton. No backpack stoves or freeze-dried food. Yep, I can remember the day....

[moxieman]

The requirements for Eagle Scout have changed quite a bit over the years. At first, it was for a scout who earned 21 merit badges, including some specific ones.

 

Eaglescout.org has a list of the requirements over the years on their history page:

 

http://www.eaglescout.org/history/history.html

 

The first major change was in 1927, when a time requirement and earnestly show attempt to develop leadership ability were added. These were the requirements in place when your 1932 Eagle earned his. Hold an actual position of responsibility for 6 months and conduct a service project were added in 1963.

 

It's still always great to see some of the 'experienced' Eagles at these events. It helps inspire today's scouts.

[dan]

Thanks ozemu

There are so many good stories from this scouting stuff!

 

packsaddle

I am glad I am not camping with the equipment that I used when I was a scout. I still have my pack from when I was a scout, it is small and heavy. Even little things like rain flys on a tent makes camping easier and more funner!