SPL and ASPL do they belong to a Patrol?

[Bob White]

A scout active as a junior leader in a troop position during the tenure of his rank advancement still meets the requirement. If he is active in his troop that's enough, you cannot expect him to be active in a patrol he doesn't have. I cannot imagine an adult leader not realizing that, or detaining a scout from advanceing based on it.

 

 

[evmori]

Am I reading correctly?

 

The requirement states

 

Be active in your troop and patrol for at least x months as a xxx Scout.

 

Troop AND patrol not troop OR patrol.

 

Bob, are you saying it's OK to pass a Scout on one on the ranks this is a requirement for if the Scout was ONLY active in his Troop because he was the SPL or ASPL? Isn't that subtracting from the requirement?

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[Hunt]

"Be active in your troop and patrol for at least x months as a xxx Scout."

 

This sentence is a good example of how hard it can be to apply rules, especially when they seem inconsistent. It simply cannot be that an Eagle Scout who is SPL for the entire three months after receiving his Eagle isn't eligible for an Eagle Palm. That would be an absurd result. So, most likely, Bob is right that if a scout is in a non-patrol position, he meets the spirit of this requirement. The only other alternative I can see is that the SPL is supposed to somehow remain affiliated with a patrol and be "active" in it to some extent--and that, apparently, is contrary to other BSA documents.

So really, what we have here is a simple rule which simply does not take into account all the situations in which it may be applied. Really, it should read: "Be active in your troop and patrol (or non-patrol leadership position) for at least x months as a xxx Scout." I don't think it likely that anyone would seize on this to make a SPL spend additional months in a patrol in order to get rank, but they could if they insisted on applying the rule literally.

[FScouter]

SPL and ASPL are approved leadership positions for Star, Life, Eagle, and palms. I hope no one is suggesting that those positions are not valid ???

[Bob White]

Ed I doubt that you would accept any explanation of the scouting program that came from me, so I will sit this one out and let others explain to you how incorrect you are on this.

[mdutch]

I agree with what Hunt said. The plain reading of the requirment makes it seem like time spent as ASPL or SPL doesn't count towards requirment one. I also agree that that is completly unreasonable, and unfair. So, for the purposes of that requirment, I concider myslef in the "senior patrol" which acts only to give the SPL/ASPLs a place to be in.

[evmori]

FScouter,

No one is even remotely suggesting that.

 

Actually, to fulfill the letter of the requirement, the SPL & ASPL could be a patrol. Being active in his patrol doesn't meet the letter of the requirement.

 

It sort of makes me scratch my head that some of the poster are adamant that we can't add or subtract from any of the requirements and yet are willing to because their interpretation of the "spirit of the requirement. Reminds me of the hanging chad election!

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10