If You Could Design a New/Ideal Scout Uniform:

[Owl62]

If you could design a new/ideal Scout uniform (for any one or all of the program areas, what would it be?

 

 

[kraut-60]

I am rather partial to the existing uniforms for the BSA as they are now. But I would like to see the old overseas or flat hat be manufactured again. At our recent yearly fundraiser for our troop (an election night chili dinner), my son's old overseas cap was constantly turning up on his fellow scouts heads. It turned out to not be a game of keep away, but a genuine admiration for the older headgear. Since then I have bid on and won several on e-bay, and am selling them at actual cost to scouts in our troop who want to purchase one. A functional but uniform outdoor parka with hood and rain shell would be a welcome item seeing as most scouts choose to forgo the cost of the Jac-shirt. Such a jacket or parka would need to be affordable yet still seem "cool" enough that scouts would really want to wear it and not just to scout functions. Also, as long as we're dreaming here, I would welcome a return of a scouters dress uniform that isnt a blazer/white shirt and tie with slacks. I would like a light jacket or tunic styled coat that would be "dressy" enough for a COH, but still be functional for a roundtable or most outdoor activity, think bush jacket? Well, you asked, and heres what my $.02 says. Will

[anarchist]

Shirt- for activity use and dress similar to current, fuller cut shoulder (w/yoke?) for arm motion, would be long sleeve with an in the sleeve 'keeper'button system found on flyfishing shirts. Rolled-up sleeves stay rolled-up! and in summer- sunburn/'skeeters' could be avoided by unbuttoning and rolling the sleeves back down.

pant should be modified BDU. large pockets, reinforced seat and knees pleated for leg motion and waist tabs for adjusting.

hat (or two?) like the crusher style with 'hurricane string' (chin string) also wouldn't mind the newer mesh-crown breezer style for summer...darn near the perfect canoe hat!

This is fun but will never be looked at by the nearly 'brain dead' folks in supply...they'll most likely pick some 'outdoor challenged' french designer ...like the people who design the silly costumes/uniforms our olympic teams get to wear.

 

or we could all just wear light tan dockers, fusica golf shirts and penny loafers without socks!

nuff said

anarchist

[Bob White]

A telepathy enhanced holigrapic uniform projector that would be able to sense what people thought was the perfect uniform and would adjust its image to meet that persons expectation thereby allowing everyone to only see only the uniform that pleased them.

 

Of course then we would have to deal with people who thought the projector was:

too heavy,

too big

too small

a bad color,

the batteries didn't last long enough,

too expensive,

hard to get repaired,

made overseas, not made overseas,

could be better,

knew someone who made a better one,

 

we have over 3 million members in the traditional program. If 99% loved the uniform and 1% hated it that would be over 30 thousand people complaining about it.

 

 

Do you really believe anything you do will improve those figures?

 

[purcelce]

keep same design but make a few bucks cheaper.

[FScouter]

It's perfect the way it is. Well, maybe the cargo pockets are small, but come to think, I don't carry much in pockets anyway. On with the program.

[fotoscout]

Beam me up Bob!

[ScoutMomAng]

I would only put epelletts on the Class A blue cub scout shirt and I would change the pants by making them more cost effective, more rugged with cargo type pockets and more durable. Boys enjoy being on their knees but they hate those patches at the knee that reinforces the knee. Boys enjoy collecting things in their pockets and bigger square pockets would give them more room to put their "stuff".

 

The pants would have more cotton in them than the existing pants or at least a more durable cotton similar to jeans.

[NJCubScouter]

kraut-60, I find your comment about the flat-hat interesting because a couple of times I have pulled out my own old flat-hat and shown it to my son, and jokingly suggested that maybe the Boy Scouts should go back to that hat. He was appalled. I don't have my old "Smokey the Bear" hat (which became an option, along with the red beret, while I was a Boy Scout), but I don't think the reaction would be much better.

 

My son's troop did recently share a campsite with a troop that wore the red berets. I don't know if they were the official BSA red berets from the "old days" or if there were knockoffs, or a mixture of both. I asked my son what he thought about them, and got a lukewarm reaction. That's better than the reaction to the flat-hat, but I don't think he or any of his troop-mates will be voting to abandon the baseball-cap-type hats anytime soon.

[BPwannabe@137]

Before I start babbling on someting not relatred to the question, I will cut to the chase:

 

Keep the colors as they are for all programs. Pants can be a little more roomy with large pockets and possibly eveny convertable to shorts. Shirts should have a yoke and real collars. Bring back a uniform necktie (olive or tan) for adult optional wear. Also bring back the flat overseas hat for optional wear. Make a cheap campaign hat for youth optional wear. Keep the ball caps for scouts but get rid of the stupid red front and go all green. Go import to cut down price.

 

Now for my two cents-as a collector of uniforms, I have alot of different styles. Depending on my mood, I will wear the current tan and green (with nolice necktie and campaign hat) or the older style poly wool dress uniforms (forest green tie and overseas cap or campaign-for blue and gold and COH I have a blue cub leaders tie for this uniform). For hikes and camping I am wear the 1960's wool (I have cotton for the summer)with leggings and campaing hat (and yes a tie-hell if Patton's troops could wear one in combat, so can I).

 

Alot of the leaders really like the styles I have. They even said that if they were available and not expensive, they would even buy a complete uniform. About half the adults i know like the older green unforms. Most cubs like the campaign hats too and think that all boy scouts wear them. I bunch of adults have been asking the scout shop in NYC for ties and overseas caps.

 

The answer??? The BSA needs to realize that the kids should have more activity based uniforms (not dockers and polos) that also double for parades. The adults need the option of looking more professional.

 

kraut-60: I have a dress tunic and with the square knots and a campaign hat and it looks really cool. Pie in the sky, that would be a really cool if the BSA brought it back, but I don't think most people would go for it. At least a neck tie would work.

 

[cajuncody]

I think I like it the way it is. It has gotten me a free drink or two and plenty of conversations started. While walking through Walmart with 2 cubs in uniform (all 3 of us) after a fundraiser I heard "Oh look! Cub Scouts!" from people young and old. I don't think we need drastic changes because what we have is easily recognizable to the general public.

It would be nice however if the world scout crest came pre installed. I always sew it on crooked the first time.

Kristi

 

Uniform Closet

c/o Kristi Cantor

PO BOX 1111

Kodak Tn 37764(This message has been edited by cajuncody)

[kraut-60]

NJcubscouter; The popularity of the flat hat in our troop started with a single Eagle Scout at this years Grant Pilgrimage at Galena,IL. This young man was in full uniform and wearing a mint looking flat hat. My son, a new 2nd class Scout, asked the Eagle Scout about his hat and was told that the hat had belonged to his grandfather. My son told me that he hoped we could find a similar hat as he would prefer the flat hat to the current cap. Long story short-eBay to the rescue! Since my son wanted one, I thought I'll get one for myself too as my original flat hat was given to a neighbor boy who joined Scouts after I joined the USN. Since then, our troops 3 newest Scouts have had me hunt down flat hats for them via e-Bay, and just tonight at our troop meeting, the latest large size flat hat that only came in the mail today went to our former SPL. I keep getting requests to locate these great old hats from the boys, and I'll keep hunting them down. The thing I think is way cool isnt just that the Scouts look sharp in them, but the fact that an Eagle Scouts example has had such a positive effect on uniforming new Scouts. One Scouts good example does have a far reaching impact,..awesome!BPwannabe137; I agree with your post and your views on uniforms, especially that wearring COMPLETE older uniforms correctly is a great way to show some class and let todays Scouts and Scouters how we used to look. Uniform heritage is a great concept, I also have an older uniform that is complete and fits too. I plan to put the correct insignia on it that reflects my current position and wear it to roundtable and a couple of meetings. I'm waiting for a servicable tunic in my size to hit e-Bay, and yes, the leaders tie needs to be availible again-along with the sharp chain style tie retainer. Pie in the sky? Yes, I'll have a slice. Will Kirchmayer ASM T131

[BPwannabe@137]

thanks for the complements. Food for thought...

 

My pack meeting last night was a combination of showing off collections and a salute to veterens. I brought down my collection of American military uniforms (from 17th century new england militia to 21st century) and had a cub model the uniforms (hat jacket and cartiridge box) When we were done, we had a timeline of 11 uniforms representing the major wars of our nations. For each war, I mentioned some small piece of trivia (like the tricorn hat on the continental solider is why we fold the flag in a triangle, the nichname "doughboy" comes from the Mexican War nickname for US soldiers "adobes").

 

When I dressed the scout in the WW1 unform, I just stood next to him in my vintage scouter uniform. One of the boys yelled out, Mr. Keenan, you look like a WW1 soldier. I then explained that scouting started in 1910, and well, you know the rest of the story.

 

Uniform heritage is a wonderful thing. We call it customs of the service. If and when we redesign the BSA uniform, lets not throw out the baby with the bathwater. (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

[SWScouter]

...why we fold the flag in a triangle...

 

All fixed-- hops (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

[BPwannabe@137]

"why we fold the flag into a triange"

 

I had to read that at least three times to see my error.

 

Darn it.

 

It has been corrected wherever I found the phraise. (This message has been edited by a staff member.)