Eagle Scout

[vigil051988]

I am an eagle scout; however, I have not yet been able to have a court of honor and it seems (due to scheduling) that I will not be able to within the next 3 months. Am I allowed to wear my Eagle scout patch, even though I havent had a court of honor?

-B Calder

[ASM-142]

If you have gotten word back from National that you are an Eagle Scout then there should be nothing that prohibts you from wearing the Eagle Scout Badge. A Court of Honor is not a requirement.

[EagleBoy62204]

You can only wear your eagle badge until your 18th birthday. After that you have to get the Eagle Knot to replace the badge.

I may be wrong but this is what they told me.

[wagionvigil]

Except for Eagle Court of Honor

[Warwickfishman]

You're an Eagle once you've had your "Council" BOR. and as stated before you can wear your Patch till your 18th Birthday than you wear the knot over your left pocket...

Congradulations!

[PaulSWolf]

You're an Eagle once you've had your "Council" BOR.

That's not quite correct. ASM-42 had it right.

Technically, you're an Eagle only after the National Court of Honor has approved your application, which is submitted to them by your local Council after your Eagle Board of Review. However, once that approval is obtained, it is retroactive to the date of the Eagle Board of Review.

You may NOT wear the Eagle Medal, Badge (oval patch), or Square Knot (patch) until approval from the national office has been received by the local Council. Once the approval from National is received, you may wear the Medal for ANY formal occasion (regardless of age), the Badge until you turn 18, and the Knot from that point on.

And of course, the Eagle Board of Review is not necessarily a "Council" BOR. Depending on the policy of the local Council, the Eagle Board of Review is arranged by EITHER the Council Advancement Committee, the District Advancement Committee, or the Unit Committee. In each case at least one representative of the District or Council Advancement Committee must be a member of the Board of Review, while the other members of the BOR need not even be members of BSA.

[Warwickfishman]

I stand corrected, though this is what OUR councils EAGLE BOARD tells the Scout once he passes the Councils BOR...
That if they have College applications, letters etc. that they can use THAT date as when they became an EAGLE...

[vigil051988]

All: Thanks for the responses

[ASM-142]

I stand corrected, though this is what OUR councils EAGLE BOARD tells the Scout once he passes the Councils BOR...
That if they have College applications, letters etc. that they can use THAT date as when they became an EAGLE...

The problem with this is if National turns the scout down then the college application is not true.

[Scouting179]

vigil051988:

You can't arrange a COH for 3 months due to schedules? Whose schedule is causing a problem. You don't need the whole troop there. You do not need to use a troop meeting night. I suspect a little flexibility here on someone's part would enable you to have the desired COH earlier than 3 more months. I have seen Scouts whose dad was in the Navy and the Scout, by choice, waits til dad returns many months later. But I've found in most cases such a delay is not warrented.

Paul Wolf, as usual, is totally correct.

[WhtHawk]

You can only wear your eagle badge until your 18th birthday. After that you have to get the Eagle Knot to replace the badge.

I may be wrong but this is what they told me.

I'm pretty sure that you are officially allowed to wear your youth insignia until your 21st birthday. You could take a gander at the insignia guide next time you have one handy to find out for sure.

[gwd-scouter]

Eagle Scout badge may be worn on the tan shirt by a youth member in the Boy Scout Program until age 18, and on the green shirt by a youth member in the Venture Program until age 21.

[PaulSWolf]

You can only wear your eagle badge until your 18th birthday. After that you have to get the Eagle Knot to replace the badge.

I may be wrong but this is what they told me.

I'm pretty sure that you are officially allowed to wear your youth insignia until your 21st birthday. You could take a gander at the insignia guide next time you have one handy to find out for sure.

ONLY on the GREEN Venturing uniform shirt.

Venturers between 18 and 21 may wear the Eagle (Oval) Rank BADGE on their green Venturing uniform shirts, since they are registered as YOUTH members of BSA.

Assistant Scoutmasters, Asst. Cubmasters, and/or Merit Badge Counselors between 18 and 21 (the only positions available to young men in that age bracket) wear the Eagle KNOT on their khaki Boy Scout uniform shirts, since they are registered as ADULT members of BSA.

ANY Eagle Scout may wear the Eagle MEDAL. (Usually for formal occasions, of course)

[MisterChris]

vigil051988:

You can't arrange a COH for 3 months due to schedules? Whose schedule is causing a problem. You don't need the whole troop there. You do not need to use a troop meeting night. I suspect a little flexibility here on someone's part would enable you to have the desired COH earlier than 3 more months. I have seen Scouts whose dad was in the Navy and the Scout, by choice, waits til dad returns many months later. But I've found in most cases such a delay is not warrented.

Paul Wolf, as usual, is totally correct.

Well, smack me down, but our troop as a general rule attempts to have ONE eagle COH per year. Some boys have waited 11 months to receive their Eagle.

This is because we make it as big as a wedding. We have powerpoint slideshow presentations, assemble the Troop in Class A uniform, have a soundtrack we use, candles and light box, necklaces for the Grandmothers, an Eagle Challenge and an Eagle Charge, reservation of the church worship center (which takes a few months advance notice as a rule) and the Fellowship Hall (same) for the reception following. A full sheet cake is made, relatives contacted, there is usually 500 people assembled for it, from Alumni of the Troop to Uncle Jed in Timbuktu.

The entire thing takes about a month for us to plan and execute, 2 Troop Meetings given up to practice the troop's parts in the presentation (Color Guard, Scout Oath and Law, operating the Light Box, Presentation of God's Word, Bugler for Taps, the entire troop takes part (except the candidates, who already have a job.)

The entire ceremony takes about 1.5 hours to put on, and costs the Troop hundreds (bulletins, fliers, invitations, decorations, awards, candle rental (dripless candles), Neckerchiefs, necklaces, and frames for certificates.)
Hundreds of people look forward to taking that one Sunday to come see the latest 'graduating Class' of Eagles from Ole97.

Because of all this we attempt to have the ceremony once per year on Scout Sunday. One boy had to come home from college for the weekend for his ceremony.

All that having been said, we have changed the DATE for the once-a-year ceremony about 5 times since I've been in the troop, and had 2 mid-year ceremonies in addition. We really DO have a heart and try to work with the parents.

But this is why we try to get the boys to finish their eagles before December, so that in Feb they can have their Eagle Ceremony, and also in Feb/Mar they can attend the District Eagle Recognition Banquet.

[maricopasem]

Maybe I come from a different mind-set, but the lavish production you describe seems a tad overblown. Simple and tasteful is the route we go and feel is keeping with the dignity of the award.

[ASM-142]

As a troop we do not plan the Eagle Ceremony. That responsibility belongs to the Eagle Scout himself and his family. The troop is there to support the ceremony that he comes up with.

[2boysRscouts]

I think that big ceremony is awesome. Our troop each boys plans his own and we want to have a big blow out when our son earns his eagle. I can't think of a bigger honor for a young man to achieve or a better reason.

[wagionvigil]

Our boys plan their own ceremony with the help of their family and the troop. I had 15 Eagle during my tenure as SM and the boys did all the planning.

[ICanCanoeCanU]

Our troop and Eagle families do a big deal but not like MisterChris's troop does.
There's usually a pretty formal presentation including a few readings ( Eagle Charge, It's only a pin) and each Eagle Scout being honored with their new rank speaks about his experiences through the years, and we usually have a video with music made from pictures of the boy from Cubs all the way through.
Each Eagle scout family with the support of the troop, plans their night. Troop volunteers do the decorating, set up and cooking.

It's very nice and we too like to make a big deal out of the occasion for the boy and his family.

[Mrw]

We have a nice ceremony with the "Voice of the Eagle." The family plans the ceremony and pays for whatever things they want to go with it. We have had ceremonies for multiple boys, but because they earned them about the same time and wanted a joint ceremony.

Most of our boys seem to want a fairly low-key event, not the big wedding party type event described about. They are proud of their accomplishments, but seem to not want to be the center of attention because of it. The more elaborate parties after the ceremony have been more of a need for some guy's mom than what the boy really wanted.

Our council has a lighted Eagle display that makes a nice backdrop and the troop buys the award and an Eagle neckerchief.