smtroop181

Could anyone please help locate the web address of the scout uniform exchange. I found it on the usssp web site once, but haven't seen it since and of course I can't remember the address.

Mike Thanks for all the input. I am from NW Iowa, a little town of less than 800 people named Merrill.

I personaly don't buy the advice of the new scoutmaster handbook on this one. Our Troop used a system from a 1972 scoutmaster handbook and it has been working very well. The only criteria the scoutmasters have added is the policy of seperating brothers. (1)Each scout puts his name on top of a card and underlines it. (2)Each scout then lists names of other scouts he would choose to be with in a patrol. (3)Cross reference and match up names accordingly. I imagine that you could do this before or after the troop elects a SPL. Our main goal is that the troop is boy run and when a new boy joins the troop if he was not recruited specifically by a certain patrol, the troop (boys not leaders) along with the new scout decides which patrol he will join. We have found this system works very well, of course there will always be small adjustments, but overall it allows for maximum boy input.

Thanks again Mike, I used the software you suggested to do a search and was surprised to find it right away, mattter of fact it should be here tomorrow. What area of the states are you in? I would enjoy swapping ideas and stories at a camporee sometime. Any thoughts on uniforms and alternatives to official shirts and such.

Call me naive, but I've never heard of it, sounds familiar though. Please enlighten me.

Mike, I wondered how you were responding to all of these posts so quickly and frequently. Hey, I just wanted to thank you for your input on the troop flag issue. A local tailor found a company in Chicago that carries the correct flag material. I will find the name and address and pass it along to you. By the way a "guideon" is exactly that, a smaller version of a unit flag. Any ideas on my post about a reprint of the original handbook for boys?

When I say "original", I mean the original by Lord Baden-Powell himself. I don't want the original just a reprint. I have tried contacting the British Scout Base and had no luck so far. I even tried searching amazon and and other online book stores. Does a reprint even exist? The reprint I have or the original BSA handbook has exerts from it so I imagine it must have some different contents than ours. I am not a collector, I just find it useful for our troop to do things the old fashioned way sometimes. There seems to be such a wealth of knowledge lost in the newer handbooks. Also are there any other reprints available for BSA handbooks, other than the 1911 reprint sold in the scout catalog. I am afraid that someday i will ruin an original "1940" handbook I regularly take on outings. Wouldn't it be nice if the new books would fit in your pocket like the old ones????

Thanks again Mike. I thought I had read somewhere that making or having your own troop flag made was discouraged. I think we are going to go ahead and arrange to have one made. What did you think about the idea of making a "guideon" style flag like the one in the reprint of the original handbook for boys, pg 367? It would be used for hiking and excursions of a nature that wouldn't lend themselves to a full size troop flag. Thanks again for your opinion.

Don't worry we would never think of getting rid of it. I actually think it is quite a bit older than 30 years. We were actually planning to do just what you suggested, Mike. Thanks for the input. Any ideas on where we can by the cotton troop flag. I know you aren't suppossed to make them, but to be frank, I get so tired sometimes of expensive or cheaply made "official scout" items.

Does anyone know, is it still possible to purchase the cotton bunting troop flag. Our present troop flag is 30+ years old and in need of retirement. I wish it wasn't so, It is the same flag from when I was a boy and when my father was in the troop. It is just too stained and can't be mended anymore. I seems so cheap to replace it with a nylon flag. Has anyone seen the old style "guidon" style flag in the reprint of the original handbook for boys? Is it acceptable to make one like it for campouts and hikes. Thanks for any opinions and suggestions.

Consider this: The United States Marine Corps will automatically promote a Private to Private First Class "if he has earned" Eagle Scout. I think this says something about the Scouting Movement, but it should also say something to the Scouting Movement. I am a new scoutmaster, I was never an eagle scout, I am former active duty marine corps and presently in the marine reserves. My scout experience was invaluable to me in the corps, as it so happened I was a combat engineer. When I say experience, I not only mean knots and general pioneering and outdoor skills, but leadership and just general responsibility and accountability.