Oh the pain!

[dan]

Fscouter

Can you

[Fat Old Guy]

"Excuse me Mr. Persnickety. Youre the one making the claim that BSA has a guideline that says no uniform is required. That erroneous claim is totally off base and anyone pushing that point of view is not supporting the aims and methods of Scouting."

 

FScouter, FScouter, FScouter, what will we do with you? Two people have provided citations that state that a uniform is not required to be a Scout but yet you don't believe it.

 

If you require the uniform, do you also require advancement? What if you have a Scout that simply doesn't want to progress past 2nd Class? He's happy just going camping and tramping about in the woods? Do you kick him out of the troop? Do you force him to advance?

 

What about a Scout who doesn't like camping? He made it to First Class but never wants to sleep outside again. Do you make him go camping?

 

The methods are not requirements. The methods are tools. The methods are exactly that, methods, ways to reach a goal but they aren't requirements.

 

 

 

 

[FScouter]

Oh, the great oracle and grand pooh-bah of Scoutodology mr. Fog-Between-the-Ears has spoken. How grateful and indebted we are for your gifted visions. We can only hope that someday, after years of studying the lessons you offer, that somehow we can learn to achieve the aims of Scouting, as you have, by ignoring the Scouting methods because they arent requirements.

 

You seem to be hung up on requirements. Something in your childhood perhaps?

 

[Fat Old Guy]

Oh dear, the illiterate are calling me names. I am hurt. I am wounded.

 

F Dude, you really don't have a grasp of the program, that much is obvious. Maybe the problem is that you don't understand English. You still haven't been able to use BSA literature to refute the statement that a uniform is not a requirement.

 

Please play again later when you actually know what you're talking about.

 

 

 

[VentureScoutNY]

 

A Scout is Courteous...

[Fat Old Guy]

I've been wondering, what's a "Venture Scout"?

[NWScouter]

I was the weekend ranger at our council camp this weekend and there were 200+ Scouts and a 100 Scouters in camp. A district campooree, two Webelos dens on their overnighters (separate from the camporee), a troop of Girls Scouts, and Vigil going on. I could have looked for a uniform mistakes but I was so impressed with the rest of Scouting of that was going on that I didnt even notice.

 

The only pain I had was from my recent ingrown toe surgery.

[Fat Old Guy]

"I could have looked for a uniform mistakes . . . "

 

Don't have to look for them, they just kinda leap out at you.

[BPwannabe@137]

FOG you are all right. (I don't know if I should be scared that I agree)

People just don't want to be told what to wear. My cub pack is in a community where money is not a problem (except for me). I run across parents all the time and I tell them that if they don't want to pay for official cub scout pants, just go to any store and buy a pair of blue straight leg trousers. The answer I got back was, "my son is uncomfortable wearing slacks he only wears sweat pants, event to church." I asked what they do when they need to go somewhere formal, they respond, "either we dump him off on the neighbors or he just wears what he wants."

 

Thats whats wrong with this generation.

[Bob58]

So where does the Insignia guide say that one should wear the "Totin' Chip" & "Fireman's Chit". Or is that ...painless. ...harmless.

 

Just wondering!

[boleta]

In January 2000, our Troop Committee voted that full uniforms would be required at all Troop meetings and when traveling to and from weekend events. My son and I joined this troop in May 2000. Our pack did not have an associated scout troop and my son knew the boy who was the SPL. We bought our uniforms and placed the insignia correctly. To my surprise, my son was one of only 3 or 4 out of 20 active scouts that followed the rule and always wore his uniform. I became an ASM.

This troop had a reputation (unknown to me at the time) for boys that misbehaved. I asked why the uniform rule was not enforced and was told that no one wanted to enforce it. I asked if it was OK if I enforced it and was told by the SM that it was. We decided that a scout would have 3 passes where he did not have a full uniform and would be advised about the rule. After that, the parent would be called and the scout would be sent home to get his uniform. NO baseball player would be allowed to play if he was not wearing his uniform.

In 3 months, everyone was in a full uniform. We lost 2 or 3 kids who refused to follow the rule and stopped coming. These kids were hooligans anyway. They were in a group that constantly hazed younger scouts, disrupted meetings and even bragged to younger scouts about shoplifting at a museum gift shop that the troop had visited! We had a new SM who took over from the last one who had a stroke. The adult leadership would not or could not enforce discipline in this unit.

In 2000, none of the webelos scouts bridged into this troop from the pack. They all went to other scout troops in our area. The parents had heard about our problems. In 2001, five scouts came from the pack. In 2002, eight scouts bridged. This year, 20 webelos bridged into our troop. It is a boy run troop of 50 active scouts now. The adults are rarely involved in discipline issues. No one has to tell a scout to go home and get their uniform. There is improved order in the troop. We look good at camps and assemblies and represent BSA well.

Did the problems in this troop go away because the boys are in uniform? Was it the change in the adult leadership? It is true that BSA does not REQUIRE a uniform. But it sure can help when the boys know what the rules are and that they will be enforced uniformly.