Who wears a District Patch?

[MVScouter]

Okay. I know right away that wearing a patch that represents the district a scouter is in, is not authorized by national policy and the insignia guide. Districts are not considered a recognized body unto themselves. Yes, it states that in the insignia guide.

 

With that in mind, about 4 years ago, our then District Commissioner, with the blessing of the Council Executive, issued a District patch. It was to be worn on the right sleeve. Other districts in our council created their own district patch as well. The Council adjacent to us across the river made a few negative comments about it, but we ignored them. I'm sure every scouter is proud of their district in some manner, and we are no different.

 

Currently, I would say there are at least 50+ scouts that I see at the Roundtables and other events that still wear our district patch, myself included. We are proud of our district and we choose to display that pride. At our Roundtables, we ask all newcomers to come to the front of the room to introduce themselves. As a token of welcome, our Cub Scout and Boy Scout Commissioners give them our district patch.

 

Now, it's placement on the uniform is certainly open for debate. We were told on the onset that is could be placed on the right sleeve. No one discourages this. Some wear it (probably more correctly) as a temporary patch on the right pocket. Personally, I won't do this because I was lucky enough to get an extremely rare 2005 Chief Scout Executive National Jamboree patch when I was on staff there. It is on my right pocket. So technically, adhereing to the strictest rules and policies, I am out of uniform. But if BSA National places on the front cover of the latest scout magazine a scouter who is grossly out of uniform, what's the diff.

 

So, I'm sure this will generate many opinions, pro and con. Does anyone else wear a District Patch and if so, why?

[FScouter]

If one chooses to wear an unauthorized patch, it doesn't make much difference where it's worn.

[ASM416]

If the Council Executive "blessed" the patch then I would not call it unauthorized. That being said, if you like to keep your uniform by the book, you should not wear it on the sleeve. The only place, to my knowledge, that it can "legally" be worn is on the right pocket.

 

I would probably wear it on the right pocket but not on the sleeve. I like to make sure my uniform is by the book, I think it sets a good example. I would not give anyone a hard time about putting it on the sleeve, thats just rude.

 

Another idea might be to put the patch on the front of a plain baseball cap. Some of us in our district did and it looks pretty good.

 

Tim

[frank10]

on the neckerchief is always fair game.

[BadenP]

Right on Wing nut, thats what our district did with their patch. We had a district necker that was quite a popular trade item at different scouting events as well as giving the boys and venturing girls a sense of pride in their district at council and regional events.

[John-in-KC]

IN OUR COUNCIL, EVERYBODY.

 

Kids, grownups, unit serving, silver tabs... makes no difference.

 

The only folks who do not are Council level Council professionals (SE, FD, etc).

[Lisabob]

I've never seen anyone wearing a district patch in our council. We're a new (re-drawn) district and at the moment we don't even have a district logo, let alone a patch.

[Oak Tree]

I've never even seen a district patch. Our district does have a logo, but no patch.

 

I think it would be a nice stripe to add underneath the council patch to show where you're from, but if so, I'd prefer that to be an authorized change.

[acco40]

Is the idea of the district patch (right or wrong) that it takes the place of the council patch? For Jambo, our council issued unique (per troop) council patches. Also, they have council patches with district names (only one district name per patch) on them.

 

Hey MVScouter - the 2005 Chief Scout Executive National Jamboree patch isn't that rare. I have two (one signed by the BSA President), I gave my wife another and one of my sons picked one up too.(This message has been edited by acco40)

[Gold Winger]

I once made the suggestion that our council patch be altered to have the district name on the bottom edge like they do with the boro name in New York. That idea was met with scorn. I'm glad to see that someone has done it, maybe it will catch on. With the computer driven embroidery machines, it should be a snap. Heck, it would be easy to add a strip to the bottom of the CSP with the town name on it.

 

 

[John-in-KC]

Acco,

 

No. I wear one of several variants of my CSP.

 

We are a BIG (300 series) council. My District has 140+ units (55 Troops, 80 Packs, and a few Crews). Our most rural districts cover 4-8 COUNTIES.

 

There's also a lot of historic area identity, dating back to the first rounds of Council mergers in the 70s.

 

So.... Everybody, from kids in units up, wears a District patch.

[Trevorum]

As I recall, several councils have issued district strips to be worn underneath the CSP immediately following a multiple council merger. I think Buckskin may have been one of these, but I'm not sure.

[MVScouter]

Acco, you may be right about the National Jamboree Chief Executive patch. I only said I thought it was extremely rare because I had heard or read somewhere that only 200 are made each Jamboree. If that's true, and last Jamboree had 40,000+ participants, I would consider that being very rare, but I could be mistaken.

 

John-in-KC--WOW! You really have a big district. Your district Key 3 must be the Key 6, or the Key 9! Your district must take great pride in showing its identity in you council with you district patch. I have not seen many youth wear it in our's, mostly adults, although any unit could buy them for their youth members at any time. Again, no one would discourages this.

 

I don't see the harm in any district showing its identity on the uniform in some manner, whether it's on the right sleeve or right pocket. Yeh, you old time scouter's remember the red strips that was before the CSP? I still have my old Explorer uniform and mine said, "St. Paul" with "Minn" as a second strip underneath. The name of the district could be shown as a strip underneath the CSP.

[John-in-KC]

MVs

 

District Director, Senior DE, DE... Professional Staff

 

District Commish

 

District Chairman...

 

Still Key 3

[Sprocket]

In my council, every adult leader wears a district patch on their right sleeve. It's been that way for well over 20 years (they were doing it when I was a scout). It's an approved council variation that has withstood several SE changes.

The scouts don't wear district patches.

 

I've yet to be in a situation where I was in uniform around folks from other councils, so I haven't had to deal with people questioning our district patches. But in our big council, it does help us to know what general part of the area people are from when you are at camp or some other council event.