Switching To Old Uniform

[LeCastor]

I noticed that the Scouts in my Troop were starting to get lax in keeping their uniforms up-to-date. So last Saturday I dug out my old ODL uniform shirt from when I was a Scout and stripped off all of my old badges and insignia from another council/lodge.

 

After about an hour, I had my new CSP, Troop numerals (red), current lodge flap, SM badge of office and trained strip (tan and red) sewn on to the old uni shirt. Then, on Monday night at the Troop meeting almost all of the boys noticed right away that I wasn't wearing the new Centennial shirt with the green accents. And you could see the outline of my old rank patch and Arrow of Light, so they thought that was pretty neat.

 

I explained that it's ok to have pride in your Troop and be proud of being a Scout, too! It doesn't take much effort to make sure you have your must current rank badge sewn on. If you've earned it you should show everyone your accomplishments.

 

It's these small things that I think make the uniform the most important. While I always wear the green Scout pants, I don't expect that the Scouts are going to do this. The least I expect is that they have all of their insignia up-to-date.

[Eagledad]

While I was a scout in the 60s and 70s, I wore the scout shirt and hat my dad wore in 1940. I got a lot of complements from the adults. Sadly, my mom gave them away while I was in college.

 

Barry

[Stosh]

I have a whole series of uniforms and do presentations on it. Normally I come dressed in the 1910 uniform, demonstrate the 1960's and both tan w/red and w/green current uniforms. The uniform that gets the most attention is the 1960's and boys have gone on to Ebay and gotten them to wear. The boys have no problem with the red trimmed mule-eared pockets and like wearing those pants over the new ones. And heaven only knows why but the garrison cap is also a big attention getter.

 

Stosh

[allangr1024]

I have a uniform shirt from the 1960's that I wear every now and again to show the boys what they looked like (No shoulder bars? weird!) But I do not have any scout pants from that era. Did they have the red piping around the pockets like the youth sized pants had? I also remember a scoutmaster tie or bolo that our revered scoutmaster, Mr Reynolds, wore to every meeting. Do they still sell those?

[Stosh]

Only the youth pants had the red piping.

 

The green ties are available on EBay. Bolo's weren't a big option, don't remember anyone wearing them back then. The adults normally wore the tie if any neckwear was used.

 

Stosh(This message has been edited by jblake47)

[chaoman45]

Yes, adults had red piping on the pockets as youth did (not to be confused with the 1950s style, which was darcon). No, they don't have the green SM ties unless you can find them on eBay.

[Trevorum]

Barry, LOL, we have more in common than we thought. As a youth in the 60s, I too wore a 1940s uniform shirt. I was very proud of that shirt.

[Tampa Turtle]

My son found his uncles 1970 green and (almost orange) BSA kerchief--man it was HUGE. You could actually use it for something!

 

He wore it to the Troop meeting (I told him about mixing and matching)but the Scoutmaster loved it and the older guys smiling.

[John-in-KC]

I still have my youth uniform. It's not being stripped. Period.

 

My son has his youth uniform that he wore for his ECOH. It's not being stripped either.

 

Trev: Remember when Walika would only let us have 1 flap every 3 years or so, and one necker patch per lifetime?

[emb021]

"Bolo's weren't a big option, don't remember anyone wearing them back then. The adults normally wore the tie if any neckwear was used. "

 

When I was a scout (late 70s, very early 80s), we pretty much only had the no collar shirts, as it was expected we wear a necker. But most of us didn't like them.

 

Once we found that we could get youth shirts with collars, we got those, but our troop we went with wearing bolo ties, usually scout related ones. For many many years our OA section conference made bolo ties and they were pretty plentiful. At the 81 jambo I got a nice SE Region bolo and wore that as my standard bolo. (sadly, I lost it, but later found a replacement). When I went thru WB, my beads replaced bolos.

 

 

[TAHAWK]

"Trev: Remember when Walika would only let us have 1 flap every 3 years or so, and one necker patch per lifetime?"

 

 

San Gorgonio (298) was the name on the neckerchief patch. You got one when you passed the ordeal and that was it. If you wanted another neckerchief patch you had to get it from another member who, for some reason, didn't want it. Today, no one knows what they are. Flaps were readily available.

[Thxcuz]

I still have my odl but there is no way it still fits me. I was going to give my son my red vest but it was full of moth holes. I got a 3xl shirt from the 70's that I stripped and put new concil patch and pack numbers and wear that when uniforms aren't required but I still want to represent. I liked the old olive uniforms. If I was born a year earlier, I could have worn one as a scout.