Uniform Changes

[yaworski]

Scottsmom,

 

The youth sized uniforms are only available in a poly/cotton blend. Comfort would be greatly enhanced if the boys wore a snug (gasp! Something that fits) cotton undershirt.

 

As for the shirts coming out, that happens with the boys who are wearing shirts big enough for their dads so length really isn't the issue.

 

There was a time when people wore clothes that fit and shirts stayed tucked in. Why? The trousers and shirts work as a system with properly fitted trousers keeping the shirts in. The currently popular baggy trousers hang too low and are too loose to keep anything tucked in.

 

I do wish that the uniform shirts had proper tails instead of the square cut bottom.

[FScouter]

I love my uniforms. They fit great and are as comfortable as anything else in my closet. The long sleeved shirt has tails long enough to suit me. The second button from the bottom is at belt buckle level, with a full 9 inches of tail below that. My short-sleeved shirt has shorter tails, 6 1/2" below the bottom button. Both are permanent press, 65/35 poly cotton blend, size medium. I wouldn't change a thing.

[Double Eagle]

Gotta go back a few years. Loved the green uniforms. They were cheap, could be found everywhere. Any garage sale, or thrift store seemed to have them. The short sleeve ones had no collar, so a neckerchief had to be worn. You blended into the forest, "Leave No Trace" principal? Scouts were not afraid to get it dirty or wear it. It could be recognized by everyone because the style was worn for so long. The current ones look good in pictures and public but are too pretty in the field. Give me one that is an earth tone and as durable as the BDUs.

 

OGE: I still have the green garters and socks. Someday maybe.

 

Overall, they cost too much to scout heavy in them.

[mamafox]

I think the current uniforms look sharp when properly (neatly) worn.

The cotton blend shirts are very resistent and even when found at the bottom of a duffle bag during summer camp, a little shaking out and usually within an hour it looks basically wrinkle free. Hung up and spritzed with a water bottle will also make them wrinkle free again.

 

My complaint is the way the shorts fit. They are extremely binding when you sit down. They need to be made of a stretch fabric blend so that they give when you take They are especially uncomfortable for us plus size people.

 

The cost of these uniforms have always been a thorn in my side. The mark up on these items are a very high percentage (my children worked for a BSA store at one time). Unless you can scrounge around and hopefully find some used uniforms, it's an easy $75-$100 to do a complete Class A uniform. This is making the organization an elitist group. At one time, all 4 of us were involved in scouting and we each had more than one uniform. (husband troop committee, daughter in Sea Scouts, son in troop and myself in troop and district level)

 

We are not a military organization, so we don't need to look any more like the military than we already do.

 

I do feel as if we need to keep the Class A uniform as it currently is, though. Field dress is an opportunity to wear the polo or t-shirts. Class A isn't worn all *that* much, so it's not a problem to me.

[eisely]

I am with those who generally like the current uniforms. The three changes I would go for are larger cargo pockets and shorts cut a little bit looser. The third thing relates to the insignia. I always liked the little strips that we used to wear on the shoulder before the council patches came out. These little strips gave the town and the state where you came from. Most people can relate to that better than they can relate to council patches.

[yaworski]

I too am a big fan of the community strips and I think that we lost much when they went away.

 

One of the most common questions that you hear at a gathering of Scouts or Scouters is, "Troop 999? Where you located?" Life was much simpler with the community strips, you could start the conversation with, "Hey, you're from East Awfulgosh. Do you know Bill Smith?"

 

If they brought back the community strips, the big danger is that they'd make the geographic area too big. We have roughly 300 units in my county so I'm sure that BSA would want to sell just one, "Montgomery County, MD" strip instead of strips for 30 or 40 different towns.

 

However, with the modern embroidery machinery that is in use today, each unit could order their strips to say exactly what they wanted.

 

 

[k9gold-scout]

Your troop can design it's own sholder patch as long as it meets certain standers and is approved by your dist exc and everyone in the troop wears the same patch. Many troops do this for their 25 - 50 - 75 anniversity, they look sharp and are usually cheeper than the council patches and numbers.

However less than 50 will cost more.

[SagerScout]

Mamafox, I'm plus-sized too and those shorts are the most miserable items of clothing I own in my current side. Hot, sticky, and those flat cargo pockets are absurd. At camp in South Texas, I could only wash them on a day when the sun would be out all day because if it were overcast they wouldn't dry in 8 hours on the line and I'd be all soggy at dinner. The shirt was less of a problem, it washed up pretty well.

 

I have a wonderful pair of lightweight khaki shorts I bought at Walmart with pockets all over them, including a pocket on the lower side of the legs which is the perfect size for sunglasses and puts them in a safe location whether standing or sitting. If the scout shorts were like those only green I'd wear them daily.

 

The zipoff leg idea is a good one also. And when at camp I was jealous of my husband who had the kind of shorts that would dry in an hour.

 

[Bob White]

A quick update-

 

I can tell you for sure that the the zip-off leg uniform pant is not going to happen. The military has tested this uniform option and has scrapped it as well. The zippers do not meet their durability testing and unless you wash them as a complete unit they fade at differing rates and look tacky. For those reasons the BSA has dropped them for now. I got this from a panel of BSA professionals at Philmont.

 

Bob

[yaworski]

For my part, I don't like those zip-off leg trousers. I find that in shorts mode, the stiff zipper around the bottom of the leg tends to rub on my leg, chaffing me.

[acco40]

Overall, I like the shirt, socks, pants, shorts, etc. My only complaint is that the shirt collars tend to "pill up" after only a few washings. I don't know if this is because of the cotton or polyester but the shirts should last more than a few washings before the collars start self destructing. And no, I don't wash them with a rock down by the river.

[mamafox]

Sagerscout> *chuckles* yeah, south Texas is not a good area to line dry your clothes - unless you have a couple of days to wait for them! I lived in Houston for 12 years, so my entire scouting "life" was done there - no matter what I tried, the shorts still chaffed and stuck. I found some "almost" scout shorts at Wal-Mart too and would wear them when I could get away with it

 

On the unit names and location patches - I'm trying to remember what was once explained to me about that... something about BSA decided that they didn't want the units to be *too* individualized - they want to scouts to be represented as a whole and not as separate units. The unit number is all that they want on the uniforms (that identifies a specific unit) with special allowances for exceptional service i.e. service years

 

I'm glad that they are not going to do the zip off legs... can you imagine what it would be like with 25 scouts at summer camp trying to find their "legs"? *laughs*

[ExperiencedUniforms]

Hi All:

 

I beleive the community strips were replaced with council strips for economic reasons. It is more cost-effective to stock one patch that all your units need than to stock 100 different community strips that *may* be needed by 30 different units.

 

At one time, the Cub Scouts even had their own gold and blue community strips and gold and blue numerals to match the cub uniform. Do you think this added to the confusion?

 

Our troop and pack has a distinctive numeral patch. While not "legal," no one has objected to the insignia and forced the boys to remove them. If you are interested in the design, please see http://www.geocities.com/yosemite/trails/3142/. The Troop patch is on the top, scroll down a bit to see the pack patch.

 

When I was a Boy Scout youth in the late 1970s, I designed a troop patch for the members of our troop. It was worn on the right pocket in the "temporary" position. It had our Charter organization and town information. I now see many troops use thier neckerchiefs to display this type of information.

 

Of course, if you really wanted to know where someone is from, you could break down and ask.

 

Keep on Scoutin'

ora

[yaworski]

I kinda like those spiffy unit number patches. There's a little too much information there for me but that's just me. I like the idea of the town name on the unit patch. Although I think that I'd be happier if they simply went back to the community strips.

 

One thing about these CSPs is that they change constantly. Remember the days when a state had only one style of license plate and you could tell a car's state of origin from 100 yards away. Now every state has dozens of plates and it is a big mess. The same is true about CSPs. My council has issued dozens of special patches. Now, you have to get close enough to read to make sure the guy's from your council.

 

 

[KoreaScouter]

A well-designed pair of convertible trousers will not chafe when zipped off, because the zippers will not touch the skin.

 

The issue for the military is not the durability of zippers -- two things would survive a nuclear war: cockroaches and military zippers. I had an opportunity to speak with uniform field test specialists about convertible trousers a couple years ago. They're a popular recurring suggestion, but the standardization problems and "uniformity" concerns outweigh the comfort advantages.

 

Convertible trousers made of a quick-drying, wicking material (which they should be anyway) should not fade at all, but even if they did, the slight shading differences would be far less "tacky" than some Scouts in official pants, some in jeans, some in technical clothing, some in gym shorts, and some wearing the very convertible trousers we "don't allow".