Flag etiquitte

[scoutmom111]

When I was at Wood Badge, we had a flag "thing" happen. They wanted us all to leave our hats on while the US flag was lowered and raised. This should only be done if we were wearing an official BS hat. Our troop does a week of service at Mackinaw Island each year. THey are very strict on flag regulations. So for us, to leave our hat on, would have felt very wrong. So each time, we took our hat off. The CD was furious with us. She wanted everyone to be the same and wouldn't listen to why we felt as we do. I will be checking out the web site to see what it says. I don't know that I would change how I feel.... but I will check it out and pass it on to our boys.

 

Oh, and when we were at a camporee in Canada, they had a class in flag folding. THey taught the US flag and the Canadian flag. The Canadian flag is folded so that it goes up the pole looking like a ball and unfurls when it reaches the top. Really cool.

[eagle-pete]

The only references to headdress in Title 4 of the U.S. Code refers to those NOT in uniform (see section 9). The headdresses should be removed. As far as those in uniform it does not specify.

 

You may recall seeing a military flag ceremony. If you notice, those in uniform do not remove their headdresses, as it is part of the uniform and should not be removed.

 

Eagle Pete

[scoutmom111]

that's kind of the point. The hats weren't part of the official bsa uniform so, according to what Mackinaw parks states as "official" , they should be removed.

[eagle-pete]

scoutmom111

 

I would agree. If you are at a flag ceremony, any headdresses not part of a military, police, fire, or BSA uniform should be removed during the ceremony. This would comply with the U.S. Code. I apologize, but I may have interpreted your post wrong. I thought you did have a BSA uniform with a BSA hat at your Wood Badge course. If I misunderstood, I apologize.

 

I find it strange that your CD was so adamant about everyone wearing hats during the ceremony, especially those without official BSA hats. Also, the fact that your CD would not listen seems strange. I mean, the listening skill is an integral part of the Wood Badge course and syllabus. Were you a participant at that course or were you on staff (i.e., was the CD reprimanding the staff or participants)?

 

In either case, the CD might have done better to fully explain their intentions for the headdress requirement for flag ceremonies. It is important to do your best to achieve a "win-win" situation. It doesn't sound like that was achieved. Too bad. The CD won't ever get another chance to "Win All You Can", if you know what I mean.

 

What a tragedy... to end Wood Badge like that... Sad.

 

Eagle Pete(This message has been edited by eagle-pete)

[Gonzo1]

Scoutmom111,

If you had your flag "thing" happen at WB, you should all have been in uniform, same hat, right?

 

At camporee or other outings, you can solve the hat "thing" by either all having uniform hat on, or all taking off hats (either everyone is in BSA hat or not), then there would be no problem.

 

[scoutmom111]

My CD wasn't at all good at communication from the very beginning. But that's another post... well... several of them! I've gotten over her and I've learned a lot about how NOT to treat people. Hey, I'm a computer programmer and I'm am very into communicating information. Why confuse people on purpose, I'm confused enough with out someone going out of thier way!

 

Our hats were not BSA hats, though the rest of our uniforms were BSA. My thing was that altought everyone had been told to leave the hats on during the flag ceremony, and everyone but my husband and I did leave them on, for us it was disrespectful and we took them off. We just tucked them into our belt and continued the ceremony. We didn't make a big deal about it, we just did it. Our CD made a big deal about it. We were participants, not on staff. We tried to explain why we felt as we did and were told that we just needed to "Play the game and quit thinking". Not really the way we work! When the SPL asked us about it, she listened to our explaination and said "Oh, I see. Do what you need to do."

[Lisabob]

"Play the game and quit thinking".

 

Ugh. This attitude, which I believe is all too common in the "real world" (ie, not just scouting), is a HUGE turn off for me. Any time someone tells you to "quit thinking" they're either wrong and they know it, or they themselves don't have a good understanding of what's going on. This is a tactic for intimidation by those who can't be bothered to show true leadership.

 

Scoutmom, this was the same kind of attitude my CD gave us at various stages in our WB course. Made me hot under the collar then too. Sorry to hear you had to deal with it too.

 

Lisa'bob

[scoutmom111]

LIke I said, it taught me what not to do! **smile** And everyone of my tickets is about giving people information!!!!

 

The worst part is that in our council they will probably try to have her be CD again. Unless national checks these things. I would be willing to work with the SPL. She was great.

[Vicki]

While I would not appreciate your CDs attitude either, might I suggest that if you were wearing the hat assigned to you at check-in - the green hat with the ax and log logo - you were in official BSA uniform. That hat is part of the official BSA dress uniform for Wood Badge. If you were wearing, for instance, a Cardinals hat, well, that's a whole different matter.

 

We kept our hats on for flags and I had no problem at all wearing my hat.

 

Vicki