Eagle rank: Joining date discrepancy - is THIS really the solution?

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This is a follow up to Eagle rank: Joining date discrepancy - How to correct

I have asked the council registrar to use this process to change his start date (from Jan 2020 to March 2019). I appreciate your time and knowledge. This is a great community!

That said … this seems like an arduous process (see process below provided by council registrar) for a mistake made by a troop 7 years ago (which has NOTHING to do with the scout or his achievements)… and nobody disputes that he did what he did … just that we need to get him recognized as a scout member … this is bordering on ridiculous. Once this is mailed in, I will be calling national daily asking about the status of the application. We need an application for his transfer for 7 years ago?! That’s crazy. Who will sign that? The previous scoutmaster has passed away!

Is this really THE process from national? This seems archaic. I am sorry but if this is where scouts has gone. The system is broken. At this point, the scout won’t have a board of review until he is 19 because 7 years ago there was a mistake in his paperwork from cubs to scouts … totally outside of his control. I have pictures of the crossover. His week at summer camp. Why is this so difficult?!? I understand that we want to make sure that people earn what they did but nobody disputes he was in scouts.

-Ken

My Council Registrar emailed me this information today:

"Good afternoon,

I wanted to provide you with an update on where we are with Joseph’s backdate request.

According to the registration request form from National, which was last updated in July 2025, requests for prior registration years must be mailed to National and cannot be submitted electronically. I contacted National to see whether I could submit the request electronically, but they confirmed that I must follow the instructions listed on the form. I have copied the applicable note from the form below.

With that being said, I will need a youth application completed for Joseph for the 2019 registration year. The application must be signed by a parent or guardian and the Unit Leader of the troop he would have been registered with at that time, which was Troop ##. Registration fees will not be required for this request.

Once the application has been completed and signed, please mail the original application to me at the Council office. Once I receive it, I will include it with the required request form and mail everything to the National Office through USPS.

National also confirmed that there is no rush process available for these requests. They were unable to provide an estimated time frame for when the request will be reviewed or approved.

Note from the National form:

“Prior year requests: Mail in the request form along with a copy of the individual’s application and a check for the registration fees.”

>>My question: Do I really need to get a paper application backdated to 2019? To complicate matters, the SM has since died. Do I have the current SM who was not in the troop in 2019 sign the form? This is really complicated. Surely National has a better plan than this?

Ken

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@KennethKnapp

Thank you for the update. I know National processes can be frustrating. If it were me, I would request the Council send the paperwork in a manner that can be tracked, either via USPS, UPS or FedEx.

I suspect that any signature from the current Key 3 of the troop would be sufficient.

Fortunately an Eagle Board of Review can be held anytime in the 25 months after a Scout turns 18 without an extension from National. In addition, a Scout does not need to be registered for the Eagle BOR to be held.

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Unfortunately, the folks who make these decisions aren’t on these boards, so odds are you’re not going to get any kind of official response here.

I tend to agree that the situation is ridiculous, and I think indisputably it isn’t the scout’s fault or responsibility to solve. Personally, I think that the issue is rooted in the assumption that everything is done perfectly, and that everyone knows what’s going on (e.g. the unit somehow should have known the scout’s transfer wasn’t processed). It’s not even a guarantee that the scout’s transfer application was never received by the council at the time he moved up. The only thing actually known is that the scout was not transferred into the troop in the system, according to the data available on the system.

As Ed noted, there are at least some mechanisms that should mitigate (not eliminate!) the headaches that this is causing the unit and scout. Best of luck with the resolution, and an early congrats to your scout on their achievement!