Camo Neckerchief

[Pack378]

A couple of weeks back I went to a council sponsored event where there was a Boy Scout Troop there with Camo neckerchiefs. It looked pretty cool and the boys wore them with pride but is this not against BSA regulations? Chime in with your opinion.

[milwscout580]

I think I read/heard somewhere that Troops are allowed to create their own neckerchiefs. I know of a local troop that has made a blaze orange hat and matching neckerchief. (Actually, they are the only Troop I can think of that wears ANY neckerchief in our Council).

 

I know my Council's Junior Leader training course issues neckerchiefs with our JLT logo, but that's not a Troop--it's only worn for the week.

[ozemu]

or Pack378, were you refering to the camo pattern rather than the neckerchief/scarf?

[Pack378]

the neckerchiefs had a camo pattern on them...

[Crew21_Adv]

Pack 378,

 

Greetings!

 

Here is the statement from the Insignia Guide online. http://www.scouting.org/pubs/33066/index.html

 

Imitation of United States Army, Navy, or Marine Corps uniforms is prohibited, in accordance with the provisions of the organization's Congressional Charter.

 

The exceptions which I believe national permits, are for the Venturing Sea Scouts whom wear naval uniforms. Venturing Sea Scouts sew on program identification patches to indicate they are not U.S. Navy. (Also found in the Insignia Guide).

 

I have seen a Boy Scout Troop which is sponsored by a High School U.S. Army JROTC program. (I'll stop there...)

 

But, the Insignia Guide tells Scouts what the guidance is. This manual doesn't tell Scouts and Scouters that it is a scout law, and that the Uniform Police will arrest violators. It does set guidance and common etiquette though..

 

I've got my own reservations about the behavior of some youth which desire to wear camouflage to a Scout meeting or a campout.

 

But a Camouflage neckerchief... Sounds like a unique and neat idea to me.

 

Scouting Forever and Venture On!

Crew21 Adv

 

[frank10]

Pack378,

I had to take a quick look to see if you were from CT since the scouts in our troop selected a camo print for their neckerchief. We hear from the

UP every now and then, but no one can come up with where it is written.

 

all they come up with is the "Imitation of United States Army, Navy, or Marine Corps uniforms is prohibited, in accordance with the provisions of the organization's Congressional Charter."

 

but since army doesn't wear a neckerchief I feel we are in the clear.

[scoutldr]

Camo does not equal military. Maybe they were imitating hunting attire. My eyebrows were raised when I got my winter BSA catalog...see page 38. Sure looks like imitation military gear to me.

[hops_scout]

I was waiting for somebody to copy the bit about "imitation of military uniforms."

 

Camouflage doesn't equal military. Why people think that I never will fully understand.

[Stosh]

>>> Imitation of United States Army, Navy, or Marine Corps uniforms is prohibited, in accordance with the provisions of the organization's Congressional Charter.

[Eamonn]

Last time I visited Gander Mountain, I seen all sorts of different camo, not being a hunter or into that sort of thing I didn't pay it any attention. It's just not my bag !! (Pun intended!)

Anyway as I sit here, I have a mental picture of a Patrol of Scouts hiking down the trail.

I see them wearing the red topped socks, green shorts, tan shirt and the BSA ball-cap. Along with this camo necker.

I might not have the greatest imagination in the world, but even when I really try somehow I just can't mistake them for anything but Boy Scouts.

This to me seems a long way from any "imitation of military uniforms."

I can't see me wearing it. -But if the Scouts choose to go with it? I fail to see any real harm.

At the end of the day it's just a neckerchief!

Ea

 

[epalmer84]

The BSA Rules and Regulations have been quoted in the course of this discussion:

 

b). Imitation of United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Air Force

uniforms is prohibited, in accordance with the provisions of Act of

Congress, approved June 3, 1916.

 

That particular act is part of the U.S. Code: 10 U.S.C. ch.772. This chapter covers the wear of uniforms by those who are not members of the armed forces. However, reading to the end of the chapter:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode10/usc_sec_10_00000772----000-.html

 

(j) A person in any of the following categories may wear the uniform prescribed for that category:

(1) Members of the Boy Scouts of America.

 

Early Boy Scout uniforms were copies of U.S. Army uniforms of the time; I speculate the intent was to allow the BSA to use military style uniforms. Scout uniforms began to change around 1923.

 

In Building Character in the American Boy: The Boy Scouts, YMCA and Their Forerunners, 18701920 (1983), David McLeod makes the case that 10 U.S.C. ch.772: and the federal charter and "made the BSA a national institution of a sort and provided the legal basis for its monopoly of Boy Scouting."

 

I don't agree with that, as many other early Scouting organizations used military style uniforms. The American Boys Scouts were particularly military-like, parading in uniforms and rifle. Other youth organizations such as the Royal Rangers use uniforms. I have not seen any references where any youth group has run afoul of 10 U.S.C. ch.772.

 

During my military career, I was active in Scouting in Germany under the Transatlantic Council. There were any number of youth wearing their parent's old BDU pants and the like. After working with some of the local Scouting groups, I banned the mix of Scouting and military uniforms; the German Scouts thought the official Boy Scout uniforms were military-like as it was.

 

Unless the BSA explicitly bans the wear of camouflage, this is going to be a perennial issue. Applying a does of common sense, I don't think it is a real problem if a Scout is wearing his warm woodleaf hunting jacket during the Klondike derby. On the other hand, I do have a problem when a fellow assistant Scoutmaster shows up wearing a full set of BDUs and LBE.

 

Ed

[kahits]

We have a relatively new troop here that adopted forest camo material for their neckerchief. The SM is an avid outdoorsman, and even got remarried in hunting camo clothing. The first time I saw his unit was two Camporee's ago, and all of his boys put matching camo face paint on when they showed up at the start of the camporee events, which was at night, so when you saw them in your headlamp light, you did a double take. I think they really got into it, and he sure likes his camo.

[John-in-KC]

kahits,

 

There is nothing wrong with forest camouflage. Since I bought my first sets of BDUs in 1980, lots... lots of patterns have been introduced to the market, trademarked, or copyrighted.

 

Around here I have a Cabela's super-mega-humongous-big-box store. I can get patterns for a treeline, a cornfield, down in the creekbottom, wherever I want to be.

 

Heck, even cutting open an old BDU shirt and making a neckerchief from the back wouldn't be that bad. SFAIK, no one made a BDU large bandanna, capable of being a necker. Besides, Mother Army has announced wear-out date for BDU of 1 June this year. That leaves only the US Zoomies.

 

All that said, I think the best option is a camo pattern which is appropriate to your own home grounds

[FScouter]

"I think they really got into it, and he sure likes his camo."

 

There's better ways than Scouting to get into camo. There are duck clubs, hunting clubs, gun clubs, military schools, ROTC, and psuedo-para-military orgs. Scouting isn't anything about any of that stuff.

 

[Hunt]

This has come up several times, and there doesn't seem to be any explicit BSA rule against camo clothing. However:

1. Some Scouters firmly believe that there is such a rule, and will react negatively when they see the camo. Some of these people might be camp directors, and they might even have a camp rule against it.

2. Some people argue that camo is inappropriate for Scouts because it suggests either military or hunting.