An Eagle Charge for 21st Century Scouting: "Where have all the Eagle Scouts Gone?"
Volume #1 Issue #4 July 2024
Over the weekend, I was privileged to be asked by a family friend to give the Eagle Charge for two new Eagle Scouts including her son. In my opinion, The overall message is important for the future of the Scouting movement in America. In this version, I removed some more personal stuff in the charge.
The charge today will be framed by the art storytelling. Storytelling is one of the most foundational of human traditions especially around a campfire—exemplified in Scouting.
A few months back, while working out in the gym, an older gentleman, who use to be a weightlifting coach at one of the local high school’s football team, pointed out to me one of his former players. The gentleman said, “Phillip, that’s a state champion right there.”
I replied, “How come you never point me out to anyone and say that’s an Eagle Scout.”
The gentleman taken back responded with an “Oh.”
I followed up by saying, “If he and I were both lost in the woods—he dies first.”
Naturally, the point is hyperbole, I exaggerated to illustrate the skills learned being a state champion football player were limited while the skills learned in scouting are both endless and enduring. Eagle Scouts are an elite group—Elite. The most quoted statistic regarding Eagles Scouts is only 4% of all youth who join scouting earn the rank of Eagle. It is an honor. The fellowship of Eagle Scouts lives vicariously among one another. We share each other’s accomplishments. My wife will tell you when folks ask me what it means to be an Eagle Scout one of the first things out of my mouth is “first to the moon—Neil Armstrong, Eagle Class of 1947.” Eleven out of the twelve people who have walked on the moon—Eagle Scouts.
Neil Armstrong, born in western-Ohio, like us, was a Midwesterner, Purdue Boilermaker, Navy Pilot, Astronaut, and Professor—but always an Eagle Scout. Armstrong biographer James Hansen notes those who knew Armstrong attest, “The Scouts can take a lot of credit for Neil Armstrong.” The key take regarding Scouting and Neil Armstrong is scouting never ceased to be important to Armstrong. During my days as a Scout, there use to be a legend among us Scouts at Camp Saukenauk. A few of us would be sitting at the picnic tables at the Trading Post looking up at the night sky. And then, a Scout would point to the moon and remark, “You know Armstrong left his Eagle Scout Medal on the moon.” There’s no historical evidence for this being anything more than a legend. But Scouting did mean enough to Armstrong in the moment of the moon landing, when only a limited number of items could be brought by the astronauts, Armstrong brought a World Scout Badge with him to the surface of the moon which can be seen today in the WOSM headquarters in Switzerland.
Scouting is a family values movement. No one earns the Rank of Eagle without the commitment of his or her parents. At the time of publication of the book The Spirit of Adventure, Navy SEALs candidate Eric Ramirez, who had spent a month in SEALs survival school in Kodiak, Alaska related calling his father after returning to base to say, “Dad, thanks for putting me through Scouting—it actually works!”
I want all of you to look at the Eagle Scout medal on my chest—it is not the medal I was awarded at Lake Mt. Sterling. My medal is pinned and buried with my Dad who died in an accident in 2010. I would not be an Eagle Scout without him. Parents: trust me, there’s no way you could know, but you do not grasp the importance, the love, and the appreciation in the hearts of your Eagles for helping them to earn this rank. To the Parents: Thank You.
So, I am bid to give you Eagles your Eagle Charge—a challenge. I want to ask you a question to ponder during this charge:
Where have all the Eagle Scouts gone? Where are today’s Armstrong(s) bringing badges back from the moon for Scouting? Off the top of my head, I can think of about five or six Scouts who earned Eagle with me or near my years in Troop 11—and they are no longer in Scouting.
September 15th, 2003, I journeyed to a red brick Catholic Church for my Eagle Board of Review. I only remember one single question from it: As an Eagle, How will you give back to Scouting? What did I say? I said, “When I have kids, I will probably get back involved in Scouting.”
I waited too long to return to Scouting.
Looking at Armstrong as a model, he became a Scoutmaster for a time, but he never stopped being an ambassador for the purpose of Scouting. He never forgot what it meant to be a Scout; what Scouting meant for our nation to thrive by living out the principles of Duty to God and Country; Duty to others and oneself exemplified in the three points of the First-Class Scout fleur-de-lis and the Scout Oath.
Many Eagle Scout Ceremonies and Charges assume to some degree the journey of Scouting is over—you’ve graduated from Scouting. It is no wonder why so many Eagles never return to the movement.
In July of 1907, the first Scouts awoke hearing the call of the Kudu war horn on Brownsea Island. The beginning of the Scouting movement originated from Lord Robert Baden-Powell’s use of boy cadets during the siege of Mafeking in the Boer War. Baden-Powell transitioned the outdoor skills of war Scouts into peace scouts knowing that the skills of the outdoors would be more than just useful but foundational for the success of youth into their adulthood. Always keep true to the Scout Oath and Law and never forget the first call at Brownsea Island.
Eagle Scouts: You will undoubtedly live out successfully the values of Scouting in the many successes in your future families, careers, and service as Eagle Scouts. The Boy Scouts of America for over 100 years has been the foundational youth movement in America. And Scouting needs its Eagles. So, I charge you to remember the question posed to me at my Board of Review—how will you give back to Scouting? I challenge you to think about the friends you’ve made in Scouting, friends who turned into your Scouting family over the years—this is a bond that will last a lifetime. I can see friends from Scouting who I haven’t seen in 20 years; Ricky, Pat, and Jacob for me. We nod at each other in acknowledgment, we talk about the good ole’ days around the campfires—this will be your experience too. And the youth of America need this experience, but whether it can provide it depends on us Eagles as leaders and ambassadors of the Scouting movement.
There is an ole’ saying at Philmont Scout Ranch after you’ve completed your trek and begin the journey home, if you look back at the Tooth of Time when you’re leaving the ranch, someday you will return to Philmont—let this be your Tooth of Time moment. Look back over the years of your Scouting journey, tell others about your experience here, always be an ambassador for Scouting, and someday return.
On behalf of the Court of Honor of the Council, Scouting America—I welcome you both to the fellowship of Eagle Scouts. I congratulate you, your parents, and Scout leaders.