I need an expert in the Boy Scout Order of the Arrow, please - click here!

[Rabrrrrrr]

I have a young boy child in my life (sadly, not the Kwisatch Haderach) who has been invited a couple weeks ago into the Order of the Arrow.

I never made it that far into Boy Scouts, leaving my troop in favor of independant thinking with intelligent people and countless hours of D&D (meaning no offense to scouts - sadly, I ended up in the scout troop in town filled with assholes, ignorance, morons, and degenerates).

Apparently, the Order of Arrow invitation is not an invitation to join the Order of Arrow, but seems to be an invitation to attempt to be one of the very few who can withstand the ordeals and then be chosen at the end of either a 10 month, 1 year, or 2 year process of weeding out the invites and finding the 1 in 50 invitees who are worthy of getting it.

But, I could be entirely wrong.

So - here's the actual question I'm interested in - I'd like to send him a congratulatory note, but the whole process is so goddamned confusing that I can't tell if I am sending a congratulations on receiving the award; a congratulations on being deemed worthy of attempting to win the award; or something else.

I've spoken with him about it, but even he is confused. I don't know what the hell is happening, other than that he has been exceedingly honored in some way.

HELP!!!!!!!!!

[Lars39]

1. You could call the regional scout office for your area.

Someone there would be glad to explain it.

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. That would take *effort*, thank you. I'm here on the Internets

because I'm lazy, and I know someone with these tubes will have an answer.

[rug]

3. Oh, stop your whining. Here:

http://www.main.oa-bsa.org/

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. How about one of those 99 cent,"Hey! Good Job" cards you can

get at Hallmark?

I don't know a thing about Boy Scouts. I thought Eagle Scout was the huge thing.

[WeRQ4U]

5. It's actually a club so to speak...

That recognizes Scouts that have shown exemplary abilities in camping. I was in Boy Scouts as a kid and spent a LOT of time camping, hiking and backpacking either with or without the troop. I was one of those kids that realized that although it was geeky to others, it was something that I could enjoy and use to my advantage...hence the stress on camping and "high adventure."

You're generally right about the organization's process. As for sending a congratulations note, this is my advice. First, I never recieved anything from anybody when I was in OA. In fact, I was actually awarded the second "level" so to speak, from those already chosen to be OA...I got nothin'. Not sure it's really necessary at all.

If you're dead set on getting him something, any congrats card would do. Make it general, like "Congrats on your accomplishment." I'm not sure what it's like where he's from, but where I was from, once you were "called out" and you passed your "ordeal" you were in. It wasn't very exclusive. But it could be different there.

Hope that helps.

I'm such a fuckin' dork.

[Jara sang]

6. Don't bother. Once he's in he'll sever relations with you.

It is the way of the Arrow.

[ScreamingMeemie]

7. Really?

Really?

[Jara sang]

8. Yes, he will go out on walk about and eat peyote.

Only to return when he can build the perfect pinewood racer. One that he can move... with his mind.

[ScreamingMeemie]

9. ...

you had me going there for a second.

[petronius]

10. It's been a long time, but IIRC from my BSA days you are first

nominated for the OA (we had a tapping-out ceremony at an annual regional jubilee) and then you go to an OA campout where you are subjected to myriad ordeals to prove your fitness. So, you should congratulate him on his nomination; however, full membership is basically assured...

On a side-note, I think we were in the same troop - I was a degenerate asshole! I've been laughing for 10 minutes remembering our games - one of our favorites, on desert campouts, was to have a bunch of people climb into the boulders around camp. Then, one person would circulate through camp pointing out tents, and the people in the boulders would throw rocks to try to hit the specified tent. Once we'd caused enough damage and injuries to get the attention of the adults we'd blame the whole thing on the CAP group camped nearly, and offer to go kick their asses! Damn, I loved the Boy Scouts...