Thank you! We had a great Scoutmaster and he deserved something special.

Will the troop have a big ceremony recognizing several boys as they did with Son1? Our Eagle Scouts usually want individual ceremonies but last year 4 boys who squeaked under the wire opted for a group ceremony near the time of their high school graduations since many of them had extended family in town.

Probably group; I only recall one boy who had an individual one. Meanwhile, our third son is one rank behind him! I hope that they all become Eagles.

My son received his Life rank at tonight's Court of Honor! We are almost there :) I'm really surprised he has stuck with it this long. He's in 9th grade now so he has a while to finish up the Eagle. There are a couple boys in his troop who are seniors this year who are racing to get Eagle done now. I asked my son if he was going to be like them and dilly dally around since he has 3 1/2 years to finish up. He said "Why would I waste my time like that?" I was relieved to hear that!

^^Congrats to your boy! I'm sure you've heard the Scoutmaster encourage the boys to earn Eagle Rank before the 3 G's take over in the latter part of high school. Girls, Grades, Gas (ie car)

Don't forget that every 5 MBs earned beyond the ones required for rank translate into a Palm every 3 months. So the younger the boy is when he earns ES rank, the more potential Palms. My son passed his Eagle BOR at 14.25 years so he has the potential of earning 14 Palms before his 18th birthday. He is about to get his 9th at the DEC COH.

Yay to both of you and your sons! :)

We always called it Wings Before Wheels.

Congrats to your son AGDee!!

I wish my son had stuck with Scouting, but I'm glad he's not doing it just because I want him to. That's the wrong reason.

I was in Cub and Boy Scouts since first grade. I quit at Life, the rank before Eagle. I'm pretty sure I only had like 4 or 5 more merit badges to go and my Eagle project. I was in the Order of the Arrow and had most all of my other requirements done. Looking back I sometimes wish I had finished it because I was so close but it was definitely more my parents' wish than mine. The only reason I moderately enjoyed it was because my best friend and a few other good friends were in my troop. My best friend's dad was heavily involved in the troop and he subsequently earned his Eagle rank pretty quick. After that, I just didn't care anymore and lost all interest. My parents were really frustrated when I quit. Unfortunately there is a big perception in the junior high and early high school years that Boy Scouts is for nerdy kids and I imagine that had a lot do with it for me back in the day. What junior high kids weren't insecure about their social standing in school lol. I'm far more of an outdoorsman now than I was then, and would probably find it so much more rewarding now but c'est la vie. It's really true how the say youth is wasted on the young.

I will say I learned a lot through Boy Scouts about the outdoors and other areas of life as well. I think it is a great organization with the best of intentions, but I think there are also far too many pushy parents making their kids do it. I will probably sign my kid up for Cub Scouts and see if he likes it, and if he pursues it and earns his Eagle Scout than awesome, but if not...no big deal either.

Regarding the 3 G'S. We call them the "fumes" car fumes and perfumes(girls). My son got his Eagle when he was 14 in part because of the fumes had not yet taken over. He was also trying to beat his father who had also gotten his Eagle at 14. (yes, he beat his dad by a few months.) My husband who has worked for umpteen years, always includes Eagle Scout on his resume. My husband is still very involved in scouting and my son is representing the USA at the International Jamboree in Sweden this summer.(2011)