Scout - Joining Requirements

1. Meet age requirements: Be a boy who has completed the fifth grade and be at least 10 years old, or be 11 years old, or have earned the Arrow of Light Award and be at least 10 years old, and be under 18 years old.
2. Submit a completed Boy Scout Application and health history signed by your parent or guardian.
3. Find a Scout troop near your home.
4. Repeat the Pledge of Allegiance.
5. Demonstrate the Scout sign, salute, and handclasp.
6. Demonstrate tying the square knot (joining knot).
7. Understand and agree to live by the Scout Oath or promise, Law, motto, and slogan, and the Outdoor Code.
8. Describe the Scout badge.
9. Complete the Pamphlet Exercises. With your parent or guardian, complete the exercises in the pamphlet “How to Protect Your Children from Child Abuse: A Parent’s Guide“.
10. Participate in a Scoutmaster conference. Turn in your Boy Scout application and health history form signed by your parent or guardian, then participate in a Scoutmaster conference.

Tenderfoot

These requirements may be worked on simultaneously with those for Second Class
and First Class; however the ranks must be earned in sequence.

1. Present yourself to your leader, properly dressed, before going on an overnight
camping trip. Show the camping gear you will use. Show the right way to pack and carry it.
2. Spend at least 1 night on a patrol or troop campout. Sleep in a tent you have helped
pitch.
3. On the campout, assist in preparing and cooking one of your patrol’s meals. Tell why it is important for each patrol member to share in meal preparation and cleanup, and explain the importance of eating together.
4a. Demonstrate how to whip and fuse the ends of a rope.
4b. Demonstrate you know how to tie the following knots and what their uses are:
two half hitches and the tautline hitch. |
5. Explain the rules of safe hiking, both on a highway and cross-country, during the
day and at night. Explain what to do if you are lost.
6. Demonstrate how to display, raise, lower, and fold the American flag.
7. Repeat from memory and explain in your own words the Scout Oath, Law, Motto and Slogan.
8. Know your patrol name, give the patrol yell, and describe your patrol flag.
9. Explain why we use the buddy system in Scouting.
10a. Record your best in the following tests:
o Push-ups
o Pull-ups
o Sit-ups
o Standing long jump
o 1/4-mile walk/run.
10b. Show improvement in the activities listed in requirement 10a after practicing for 30 days.
11. Identify local poisonous plants; tell how to treat for exposure to them.
12a. Demonstrate the Heimlich maneuver and tell when it is used.
12b. Show first aid for the following:
o Simple cuts and scratches
o Blisters on the hand and foot
o Minor burns or scalds (first degree)
o Bites and stings of insects and ticks
o Poisonous snakebite
o Nosebleed
o Frostbite and Sunburn
13. Participate in a Scoutmaster conference.
14. Complete your board of review.

Second Class
These requirements may be worked on simultaneously with those for the Tenderfoot and First Class ranks; however the ranks must be earned in sequence.

1a. Demonstrate how a compass works and how to orient a map. Explain what map symbols
mean.
1b. Using a compass and a map you’ve drawn, take a 5-mile hike (or 10 miles by bike)
approved by your adult leader and your parent or guardian. (If you are using a wheelchairor crutches, or if it is difficult for you to get around, you may substitute “trip” for
“hike”.)
2a. Since joining, have participated in five separate troop/patrol activities (other
than troop/patrol meetings), two of which included camping overnight.
2b. On one of tehse campouts, select your patrol site and sleep in a tent that you pitched.
2c. On one campout, demonstrate proper care, sharpening, and use of knife, saw, and ax and describe when they should be used.
2d. Use the tools listed in requirmenet 2c to prepare tinder, kindling, and fuel for a cooking fire.
2e. Discuss when it is appropriate to use a cooking fire and a lightweight stove. Discuss the safety procedures for using both.
2f. Demonstrate how to a fire and lightweight stove.
2g. On one campout, plan and cook over an open fire one hot breakfast or lunch for yourself, selecting foods from the four basic food groups. Explain the importance of good nutrition. Tell how to transport, store, and prepare the foods you selected.
3. Participate in a flag ceremony for your school, religious institution, chartered
organization, community, or troop activity.
4. Participate in an approved (minimum of one hour) service project.
5. Identify or show evidence of at least ten kinds of wild animals (birds, mammals,
reptiles, fish, mollusks) found in your community.
6a. Show what to do for “hurry” cases of stopped breathing, serious bleeding, and
internal poisoning.
6b. Prepare a personal first aid kit to take with you on a hike.
6c. Demonstrate first aid for the following:
o Object in the eye
o Bite of a suspected rabid animal
o Puncture wounds from a splinter, nail, and fish hook
o Serious burns (second degree)
o Heat exhaustion
o Shock
o Heatstroke, dehydration, hypothermia, and hyperventilation
7a. Tell what precautions must be taken for a safe swim.
7b. Demonstrate your ability to jump feet first into water over your head in depth, level off and swim 25 feet on the surface, stop, turn sharply, resume swimming, then return to your starting place. (This requirement may be waived by the troop
committee for medical or safety reasons.)
7c. Demonstrate water rescue methods by reaching with your arm or leg, by reaching with a suitable object, and by throwing lines and objects. Explain why swimming rescues should not be attempted when a reaching or throwing rescue is possible, and explain why and how a rescue swimmer should avoid contact with the victim.
8. Participate in a school, community, or troop program on the dangers of using drugs,
alcohol, and tobacco and other practices that could be harmful to your health. Discuss
your participation in the program with your family.
9. Demonstrate scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your
everyday life.
10. Participate in a Scoutmaster conference.
11. Complete your board of review.

First Class

These requirements, and those for Tenderfoot and Second Class may be worked on simultaneously; however the ranks must be earned in sequence.
1. Demonstrate how to find directions during the day and at night without using a
compass.
2. Using a compass, complete an orienteering course that covers at least one mile and
requires measuring the height and/or width of designated items (tree, tower, canyon,
ditch, etc.)
3. Since joining, have participated in ten separate troop/patrol activities (other
than troop/patrol meetings), three of which included camping overnight.
4a. Help plan a patrol menu for one campout that includes at least one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner and that requires cooking at least two meals. Tell how the menu includes the foods from the food pyramid and meets nutritional needs.
4b. Using the menu planned in requirement 4a, make a list showing the cost and food amounts needed to feed three or more boys and secure the ingredients.
4c. Tell which pans, utensils, and other gear will be needed to cook and serve these meals.
4d. Explain the procedures to follow in the safe handling and storage of fresh meats, dairy products, eggs, vegetables, and other perishable food products. Tell how to properly dispose of camp garbage, cans, plastic containers, and other rubbish.
4e. On one campout, serve as your patrol’s cook. Supervise your assistant(s) in using a stove or building a cooking fire. Prepare the breakfast, lunch, and dinner planned in requirement 4a. Lead your patrol in saying grace at the meals and supervise cleanup.
5. Visit and discuss with a selected individual approved by your leader (elected
official, judge, attorney, civil servant, principal, teacher) your Constitutional
rights and obligations as a U.S. citizen.
6. Identify or show evidence of at least ten kinds of native plants found in your
community.
7a. Discuss when you should and should not use lashings.
7b. Demonstrate tying the timber hitch and the clove hitch and their use in square,
shear, and diagonal lashings by joining two or more poles or staves together.
7c. Use lashing to make a useful camp gadget.
8a. Demonstrate tying the bowline knot and describe several ways it can be used.
8b. Demonstrate bandages for a sprained ankle and for injuries on the head, the upper arm, and the collarbone.
8c. Show how to transport by yourself, and with one other person, a person..
o From a smoke-filled room
o With a sprained ankle, for at least 25 yards.
8d. Tell the five most common signs of a heart attack. Explain the steps (procedures) in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
9a. Tell what precautions must be taken for a safe trip afloat.
9b. Successfully complete the BSA swimmer test.
(Jump feet first into water over your head in depth, swim 75 yards in a strong manner using one or more of the following strokes: sidestroke, breaststroke, trudgen, or crawl; then swim 25 yards using an easy, resting backstroke. The 100 yards must be swum continuously and include at least one sharp turn. After completing the swim, rest by floating.)
9c. With a helper and a practice victim, show a line rescue both as tender and as rescuer. (The practice victim should be approximately 30 feet from shore in deep water.)
10. Demonstrate Scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your everyday life.
11. Participate in a Scoutmaster conference.
12. Complete your board of review.

Star
1. Be active in your troop or patrol for at least 4 months as a First
Class Scout.
2. Demonstrate Scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and
Scout Law in your everyday life.
3. Earn six merit badges, including four from the required list for Eagle.
4. While a First Class Scout, take part in service projects totaling at
least 6 hours of work. These projects must be approved by your Scoutmaster.
5. While a First Class Scout, serve actively 4 months in one or more of the
following troop positions of responsibility (or carry out a Scoutmaster-assigned
leadership project to help the troop):
o patrol leader,
o senior patrol leader,
o assistant senior patrol leader,
o Order of the Arrow troop representative,
o troop guide,
o den chief,
o scribe,
o librarian,
o historian,
o quartermaster,
o bugler,
o chaplain aide,
o junior assistant scoutmaster, or
o instructor.
6. Take part in a Scoutmaster conference and Board of Review.
7. Complete your board of review.

Life
1. Be active in your troop or patrol for at least 6 months as a Star Scout.
2. Demonstrate Scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your everyday life.
3. Earn five more merit badges (so that you have 11 in all), including
any three more from the required list for Eagle. (A Scout may choose any of the 15 required merit badges in the 12 categories to fulfill this requirement.)
4. While a Star Scout, take part in service projects totaling at least
6 hours of work. These projects must be approved by your Scoutmaster.
5. While a Star Scout, serve actively for 6 months in one or more of the troop
positions of responsibility listed in requirement 5 for Star Scout (or carry
out a Scoutmaster-assigned leadership project to help the troop).
6. Take part in a Scoutmaster conference and Board of Review.
7. Complete your board of review.

Eagle
1. Be active in your troop or patrol for at least 6 months as a Life Scout.
2. Demonstrate Scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your everyday life.
3. Earn a total of 21 merit badges (10 more than you already have),
including the following:
o (a) First Aid,
o (b) Citizenship in the Community,
o (c) Citizenship in the Nation,
o (d) Citizenship in the World,
o (e) Communications,
o (f) Personal Fitness,
o (g) Emergency Preparedness OR Lifesaving,
o (h) Environmental Science,
o (i) Personal Management,
o (j) Swimming OR Hiking OR Cycling,
o (k) Camping, and
o (l) Family Life.
o (You must choose only one merit badge listed in items
(g) and (j). If you have earned more than one of the
badges listed in items (g) and (j), choose one and list
the remaining badges to make your total of 21.)
(Graphic of Eagle required merit badges)
4. While a Life Scout, serve actively for 6 months in one or more of
the following troop positions of responsibility:
o patrol leader,
o senior patrol leader,
o assistant senior patrol leader,
o Order of the Arrow troop representative,
o troop guide,
o den chief,
o scribe,
o librarian,
o historian,
o quartermaster,
o chaplain aide,
o junior assistant scoutmaster, or
o instructor.
5. While a Life Scout, plan, develop, and give leadership to others in
a service project helpful to any religious institution, any school,
or your community. (The project should benefit an organization other than Scouting.) The project idea must be approved by the organization benefitting from your effort, your
Scoutmaster and troop committee, and approved by the council or
district before you start. You must use the “Eagle Scout Leadership Service
Project Workbook”, BSA publication No. 18-927A, in meeting this requirement.
6. Take part in a Scoutmaster conference.
7. Complete your board of review.

Eagle Palms

After becoming an Eagle Scout, you may earn Palms by completing the
following requirements:

1. Be active in your troop and patrol for at least 3 months after
becoming an Eagle Scout or after award of last Palm.
2. Demonstrate Scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and
Scout Law in your everyday life.
3. Make a satisfactory effort to develop and demonstrate leadership
ability.
4. Earn five additional merit badges beyond those required for Eagle
or last palm. (Merit Badges earned any time since becoming a Boy Scout
may be used to meet this requirement.)
5. Take Part in a Scoutmaster conference.
6. Complete your board of review.

You may wear only the proper combination of Palms for the number of merit
badges you earned beyond the rank of Eagle. The Bronze Palm represents
five merit badges, the Gold Palm 10, and the Silver Palm 15.

Last Updated: January 7, 2005