rickmay

when was the Gettysburg trail award founded? before 1985?

are parent rank pins allowed on the bsa uniform for adult leaders? my daughter is a 2nd class scout and I thought i'd represent her. I am an assistant scoutmaster and wanted to know if the parent pins were allowed. thanks. --rick

our new troop (an all-girl troop) just had its first court of honor (coh). by far, this was probably the worst coh I have been tied to. the average amount of time a coh honor should last should be about an hour and a half or until the scouts get tired (at least enough time for one to enjoy themselves); about the same size as a usual scout meeting. I am an assistant scoutmaster (as) in this unit and I tried to find out from my scoutmaster (sm) what he had planned for the coh. he didn't want to tell me anything. once I clarified to him that I was willing to help prepare the coh (based upon my experiences--very positive experiences) and would love to assist in the logistical aspects of getting this done, he more or less told me to mind my own business and he could get all of the coh work done on his own. never-mind the fact that he had cancelled the coh three times for misc. reasons. I was cool with that answer he gave me and moved on with my life. the night of the coh, the sm opened his 'welcome' address by saying that he was not staying any longer than 30 minutes and he was leaving. he only shook hands with 1/3 of the parents, couldn't say anything positive or memorable about individual scouts to either the scouts or their parents, to show the parents that they were equally involved in scouting and that we were happy to have their child with us. he did go around to a few tables and imply to the scouts and scout-leadership that we were not eating fast enough and he was ready to hand-out awards. when it came time to hand-out awards, he had mashed all of the merit badges and rank patches into these tiny zip-lock bags and given them out to the girls. one couldn't even tell what was being given to the girls or what was in the bag--until he read-out the awards' citations. when he read out what each girl was being awarded with, he read it so fast and low-soft that we didn't even know much of what he said. halfway into the awards, he thought it might be a good idea to start actually shaking the girls' hands as they walked-up to receive their awards. at the end of the night, most of the female scouts and their parents were all pretty ticked-off at what had just happened. to make up for it, myself and another AS threw a party at a local ice cream shop, where we showed funny slide shows of the girls' past scouting experiences and talked to the parents and spoke positively about each individual scout and what they mean to the troop and to the leadership. needless to say, the sm was not invited--this was because the actual girl scouts had (namely the senior patrol leader and patrol leaders) requested we not let him know until after the fact, when pics of the event would probably be posted on social media. is there a template for how COHs are supposed to be run and what all is supposed to be conducted and how? I didn't think a COH could get screwed-up, but apparently it can. was my sm correct afterall with the way he handled this? ANY insight would be greatly appreciated. --rm

my unit recently completed a historic trails activity and earned a patch in the process. can it go on the uniform, and, if so where? I think it can go above the bsa-name patch on the uniform, right?

how many merit badges does a scout need to start attain before putting them on his/her sash?

what is the best way to measure a scout for a merit badge sash, besides having them there to try them on?

are adult leaders supposed to be wearing the "scoutmaster merit badge"?

are adult leaders supposed to be wearing merit badge college patches; I thought they might only be for the scouts?

I notice some of the adults in my daughter's scout troop wear patrol patches from previous scouts units they've been involved in. I am an asst. scoutmaster in my daughter's unit and they're about to get their patrol patch for the 1st time--they're a new troop. am I supposed to wear the patrol patch as well?

what year was the religious emblem square knot (purple on silver) established? was it before 1991?

I am interested in doing wood badge and also ding the outdoor leadership training for my growth as an assistant scoutmaster--which one should I try to attain first?

I was looking around on the internet and was surprised to see that the "red wool jac-shirt" is still an attainable item through bsa/ebay. that thing's been around since I was a scout in 1991 and probably way before. what is the story behind that shirt? it seems it's got a "Mountie-feel" going on, but there's bound to be some history.

thanks everybody for your replies and comments

thanks everybody for your replies

lol, I agree

while I was in the military (in 2005), the catholic archdiocese of military affairs asked a bunch of us soldiers to hop onboard several scouting activities to do field stuff with the scouts. after our time was up, catholic archdiocese of military affairs and catholic scouting organization gave us the "Adult Religious Service Award" knot as a thank you. they offered no paperwork and I have no physical proof of receiving the award [paperwork]. Personnel from the catholic archdiocese of military affairs have been promoted and moved onto better things. they have no record of issuing this to us, nor does the catholic scouting organization. if I wear it, am I out-of-uniform? 2005 is a long time to expect anyone to hold onto those kinds of records.

I see some scouts wearing state flag patches under the American flag--texas is a good example>>>is this authorized?

are assistant scoutmasters authorized to wear the troop's neckerchief? I wore mine in my old troop to set a uniform-standard for the scouts to follow after, but my new troops I am assisting in seems to look down on it.

some of us Minnesota scouts like to show-off our Scandinavian heritage. is there any rule that says we cannot wear a Norwegian pin on our uniforms?

thanks, brother

are state flag patches allowed on the uniform, beneath the American flag? I see some states, like texas, doing and others not.

My child is crazy-proud of her Scandinavian heritage and wants to wear a tiny "thor's hammer" pin on the uniform. Due to the changes in bsa based upon allowing neo-pagan elements to be allowed in bsa, I don't see this being an issue?

I earned the "Youth Religious Emblem Award" through the Moravian church back in 1991. That was a long time ago. I thought once I earned it, I was good for wearing it. I tried to find the paperwork for it a few days ago and realized that, after 14 years in the army, that knot award paperwork is gone. The council/troop/church have no records going back to 1991 (and my scoutmaster from that time is dead). So am I screwed with wanting to wear it but not being able to prove that I earned it? My council makes it sound like I need to be able to "prove" I earned this award--especially since I am an assistant scoutmaster--but, seeing as that it was earned back in 1991 (28 years ago!) and as a child, that's a little ridiculous to demand. as a former-scout, I will obey whatever the chain-of-command says goes. Youth Religious Emblem Award

I see; thanks for the input.

I keep seeing sanctioned boy scout stores that are selling 30's-80's era position patches. are these even authorized for wear on the current uniform? I think I have seen one person actually wearing one at a recent multi-troop court of honor (there was another guy also wearing a kilt, so what do I know?).