Interesting. Has he been pinned yet? This sounds a little odd since you throw in the date 8/20/05, and today is 9/21/05.
Perhaps each chapter does it differently. But when I pledged we got our "pledge fathers" as you call it, right away.
To answer your question. Yes, we do formal pledging.
Best wishes to your son. He made a wise decision. Keep us posted
Take Care