26 March 2010
Yes, The President Does Send Eagle Letters
Posted by admin under: recognition .
There was some question a while back about whether or not President Obama was going to support the Boy Scouts of America in the same way his predecessors had, with a letter of congratulations for attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. Since my son had his Eagle court of honor last weekend I finally have some background on this. We had sent requests for letters about 3 months ago as well as a request through my Congressman’s office for a flag flown over the national capitol. The request to Chuck Norris came back as a wrong address. Or maybe I should say the mail was too scared to go to his house. The letter to the Army got routed to the wrong location (insert your favorite military intelligence joke here) and ended up coming back after the court of honor and written out to me. Heh. I never even did a project and now I’ve got government proof I’m an Eagle Scout.
On the all-important question of whether or not President Obama is sending out letters the precise answer is no. The real answer is yes because it comes as a card with the President and first lady’s signatures. The envelope was hand-addressed which impressed me. Responses were also received from California governor Arnold Schwarzenneger, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Vice-President and former Cub Scout Joseph Biden (who wrote that attaining Eagle rank is a pretty f’ing big deal [just kidding]). Even better than all of these, my father who is a retired Chief Master Sergeant in the Air Force and my sister (oops don’t remember her rank – think she might have made First Lieutenant) who is also currently in the Air Force personlly presented a certificate on behalf of the Air Force Sergeants Association. Kudos to my sis who had to wake at the crack of dawn to drive from Vegas to L.A. and then right back so she could be at work that night.
Pix of these awesome missives are shown below.
- Clarifying President Obama’s Policy Regarding Boy Scouts of America
- But Will He Be President of the BSA?
- Someone Thinks Obama Won’t Hire Boy Scouts
- Focus on the Ridiculous
- Scouting Helps Army Brats
8 Comments so far...
Scouter Doug Says:
26 March 2010 at 5:36 pm.
Our Scoutmaster isn’t pleased – the recession is over right? Pres can’t afford a full sheet of paper?
LauraB Says:
26 March 2010 at 11:01 pm.
For the record, my Gold Award letter (in 2005) from the President was also a signed card (President and First Lady), with handwritten address. So it’s not really a new thing, as I assume they did the same for Gold and Eagle.
New York OA Trader | Shared Items From Around The Web – March 27, 2010 Says:
27 March 2010 at 9:02 am.
[...] Yes, The President Does Send Eagle Letters [...]
Dave Scocca Says:
27 March 2010 at 7:56 pm.
re: Scouter Doug’s comment about “afford a full sheet of paper”: presidential congratulations have been sent on a smaller piece of card stock rather than a full sheet of paper since at least the Reagan administration. If anything, the card from the Obamas looks larger than what I recall my fellow Scouts getting from Reagan. (I did not request or receive a presidential card myself.)
Boy Scouts Eagle Certificate Without President Obama Signature | BoyandGirlScouts.com - News, Opinion, Advice Says:
6 April 2010 at 12:42 am.
[...] has a signature on it. Not on my son’s. Didn’t think it was important since both President and First Lady Obama sent the note I previously referred to. Just thought I’d show what the current certificates look [...]
kip Says:
28 July 2010 at 8:51 am.
dear god, obama would rather apologize for america then honor it’s youth in the boy scouts. president bush would have been loud, proud and front an center.
obama disgusts me
Eagle Parent Says:
11 August 2010 at 4:09 pm.
WOW!! So the White House requires the date of the Eagle COH in order to send out some lame little post card that is neither personalized nor dated? Go figure!
Eagle Scout Says:
5 February 2011 at 12:49 pm.
Chill out kip. Obama is bigger on public service than Bush ever would have been. Of course he honors the scouts. In case you guys haven’t noticed… There’s kinda a lot of stuff going on in this country and inter-nationally at the moment and I personally, being a recent recipient of the Eagle Scout rank, understand why he didn’t send a personal handwritten note congratulating me on my accomplishment. It’s because the leader of the free world has some really important things to do, being… you know, the leader of the free world and stuff.
