Wearing your Scout badges on your Leader shirt?

[NWScouter]

On OA flaps they have you in a catch 22. You may only wear the flap of the lodge you belong and you may only join the lodge in the council you are registered in. So it excludes you wearing a flap from your youth if you have moved or the lodge is no longer around.

[Twocubdad]

That may be technically true, but I don't think anyone is going to bust you for wearing your old flap, especially if you are currently a member in good standing.

 

I have, from time to time, hauled out my old flap. My old lodge has merged at least twice and changed names, although they still use our old, two-digit lodge number. They sure make a great conversation starter. You will be surprised at the number of people who ask about it.

[dsteele]

With all due respect to my friend, (which, by the way, is a considerable amount of respect due,) there is no BSA definition of "Temporary." Wear those patches as long as you lke.

 

My old Scoutmaster still wears his temporary patch from a 1960's camporee where it rained like the dickens all weekend. As long as he doesn't try to put one above it or below it, he can do that.

 

It is true that you can only be a member of a lodge in the council of your current primary registration.

 

DS

[KA6BSA]

You might be surprised when you get back into OA there are opportunities to collect vintage pocket flaps and your old one might be a sought-after edition. If it was my uniform I would save the old flap for my patch collection and wear the one they give you when you pay your dues... at most it might cost $2 and the old one could be worth $100 if you are lucky! Sewing it on and puting it through the wash is going to reduce its value. Still it is normal for OA Scouters to wear all kinds of different flaps even in the same lodge, because there are various fund-raiser flaps, memorial flaps, NOAC flaps, Jamboree flaps, regional flaps, anniversary flaps, etc. so don't worry about being different with a flap. As someone else stated, it could start many interesting conversations about your Scouting history.

[Twocubdad]

My old flaps are worth a little bit of money, if they were mint. All the ones I have I wore. I wish I had a box full of them. The flaps, Tali Tak Taki 70, were restricted to two per year. But it never occurred to me to buy the two extra flaps at the beginning of the year. Hey, I had one on each uniform shirt, why do I need another?

 

Actually I've discovered a trick for wearing old and semi=valuable patches without sewing them on or using those plastic protectors. I picked up a bag of brass backers for military service ribbons (KS, Matua, help me out. What do you call those things.) I got them to use the pin back as replacements, but I've discovered that you can sew or hot glue patches onto them without harming the patch (the hot glue only works on plastic backed patches. This lets me pin them on my uniform and then take them off for the wash. I wear my OA flap and a few others that way. I wouldn't do that with a truely valuable patch, but just those I want to take better care of.

 

[EagleInKY]

I didn't see it mentioned, but there is also a square knot for the Arrow of Light. I wear it and my Eagle Square Knot on my uniform.

 

As for temporary badges, I've never heard of a time limit. I have three Philmont Arrowheads from the 70's and 80's that I continue to wear.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Every time I get in a conversation like this there happens along either a military type or a nontradionalist that clobbers me pretty good. So, I almost always get it from both sides. I suppose I should simply shut up but then where is the fun?

 

I sewed most of my Scout patches on one of those small official Scout trophy hides when I was younger and ignorant of life's many obstacles. At the completion, I stood back and gazed the glory of it all. I had been an avid Scout and achiever of most any thing with a patch attached, so you can imagine what it looked like. It took me about five years before I cut them all off and decided that plastic bags in a broken suitcase was an even better idea. I am not sure about the quality of life that existed for me at that moment but it was for all practical purposes the best I could do. Later, I decided that the trophy hide held merit but that it needed to be bigger for effect. Since there wasn't an official Scout hide that was large enough, I held off for another 10 years or so. One day I found my old official Scout hide and gazed at the many holes in it and contemplated the loss of revenue from Scouting collectibles. Then, like a shout from a far cliff an answer appeared to me out of nowhere, which was in the resewing of the patches to the hide but as I looked at the pattern of holes from the past I noticed that many of the patches had been sewn in a straight line but at odd angles to the plane of the horizon of the hide. Once again I had been thwarted but not beaten. (Maybe this would be a good question for us to discuss in another forum, that is, is there hole filler for holes in things like this.)

Since that time, I have become worn and weathered by the many events of life, such as the one I am presently describing. I found that life no longer holds sway over me with the many mysteries of youth, so, I finally made a decision to sew the patches on a blanket but I knew that I only had military issue. From my many travels I had discovered that Scouting did have an official blanket but I had been unable to acquire one even from ebay because my funds were at low ebb. I tinkered with the thought of selling part of my collection to get a blanket but then where would I be? I would be warm but without a patch past. I now know that I probably would never use it as a blanket. I would most likely be looking for an official Scout frame that was large enough. I would then need a house with museum sized walls.

 

I can honestly now say that I would wear one of my old camp patches in an official plastic holder to Scout camp. I would then stand by the campfire and reminisce over the many trials that confronted me during those early days of problems without answers.

 

Fuzzy

 

[scoutldr]

You can wear a temporary patch until you die. Unless you are immortal, it's still "temporary".

[Region 7 Voyageur]

At a recent council event I had my red wool jac-shirt on. On that jacket I have a Philmont bull, a patch from Region 7 Explorer Canoe Base, and a 1977 National Jamboree Patch. All the patches are in the correct positions according to the insignia guide. Another adult scouter approached me and asked me if the patches on my jacket were earned as a youth. I answered yes. He commented that I had an adult jacket with youth patches. I cannot say for sure what he meant by that comment but I took it to mean that I should not wear patches earned as a youth now that I am an adult. My hope is that the patches that I wear, that I earned, will stimulate interest in someone else, hopefully a boy scout. I would love to tell them about the positive benefits of a canoe trip, or a jamboree, or a Philmont treck.

 

My son thinks that I am a member of the uniform police. I discourage him from wearing his OA sash to non OA functions or wearing the OA sash and then hanging his merit badge sash from his belt. I try to follow BSA guidelines for correct uniform wear. I see and read nothing wrong with wearing patches earned as a youth (activities, not rank) as an adult.

 

Dave

 

[Bob White]

Your doing just fine Dave.

 

Bob White

[Fuzzy Bear]

I have thought more about this idea of temporary patches today. I recently visited a school because it is part of my job. They gave me a paper stick-on Visitors badge. After my visit, I was driving down the street and saw a yard sell, so I stopped. I looked at the items, hoping for Scouting collectibles to be sold for a song but none were to be had not even the song. The lady sitting by the table with her zipper bank bag of money asked about my Visitor badge. I replied that I was here on earth only temporarily and that I did not expect to stay long. She agreed with me about how we are all faced with the same dilemma and that maybe we should all wear one or at least be prepared to leave like any other visitor. I later considered that maybe I should have taken it off when I left the school because its use had been discontinued and had only gotten me into another conversation with a complete stranger about life and death and questions beyond our grasp but not our interest. The fun thing about the interchange was that both of our spirits were strangely lifted and all because of one silly badge that probably should have been thrown away. It has been several weeks since that incident and it is still affecting me in the same way as it did then. Fuzzy

[NJCubScouter]

I wear my Philmont arrowhead hanging-patch, earned in 1974. (See thread next door.) It has become somewhat of a conversation piece with a couple of the Scouts. As in, "You went to Philmont? Cool!" That can't be a bad thing. (Of course, if they were saying what they were really thinking, it would probably be, "Wow, a fat old guy like you went to Philmont, if you can then I can." Of course, I was neither fat nor old at the time, but the point is that it gets them thinking about going. Adults wearing OA flaps, regardless of whether they did their ordeal as a youth, has the same effect. I have been meaning to rejoin the lodge and wear the flap but haven't gotten around to it yet.)

[NJCubScouter]

Fuzzy, I do that on a regular basis, forget to take my name tag off. Between school and professional functions I probably wear a name tag 15 to 20 times a year, and at least half the time I wear it out into "public." I'll be wheeling a shopping cart down the aisle at Shop Rite after stopping to "pick up a few things on the way home please honey" and I'll either notice someone reading my collarbone area or just happen to look down and see "Hi my name is..."

[captainron14]

I wear the knots for all my youth awards: Eagle, Arrow of Light, and Youth Religous Award. As well as my Adult award knots.

I wear my OA flap, and in the "Temp" position I wear the Camp patch from my days as a Scout and Camp Staff; Camp Hi-Sierra. I wear my Brotherhood Sash to all OA activities I attend, to include those at camp.

I hope your time at camp was great!