Crew flag ceremony for the District awards dinner

[kahits]

My daughters crew (she is the current Crew President) is wanting to perform the flag ceremony for the District awards dinner (actually it's dessert). The District commissioner is encouraging but wants to see something more then what the previous troops have done, in just posting the colors and saying the pledge. Does anyone have some ideas of a venturing flag ceremony they might consider for this honor? She wants to do it with the two other girls in the crew, which will be very different, from all the previous troops that have done it up until now. Thanks.

[Eamonn]

You don't say what sort of Crew?

If you have the capability to use audio and video? The girls might want to work on a short video or power point presentation to go along with the posting of the flags?

Adding music shouldn't be hard. I'm sure that they could find their own but Johnny Cash, Ragged Old Flag comes to mind. As does Cash and the Song of the Patriot.

Finding some way of recognizing the service men and women / Veterans in the District might be nice.

Eamonn.

 

[TheScout]

I guess it depends if the Commissioner wants a true flag ceremony or some theatrical patriotic show.

[kahits]

This crew is going to attempt to do just about everything that a crew can do, in terms of high adventure. Right now they are planning on doing some cave science for a science academy program on the base, here in town. No idea what they are going to do next summer, but it won't be a high adventure base, not this year.

 

As for the flag ceremony, I think it will have to be more like a traditional flag ceremony, and will not involve any kind of media presentation. They are talking about some sort of honoring of the veterans, but that might be hard to do as an introduction to the District awards program, itself. I guess I was hoping for something that may have been written by or for a crew that could be incorporated. Thanks,

 

Wallace.

[John-in-KC]

Our Troop has done a District dinner ceremony before. IIRC it was the Flags of the US over time, with many Flags presented in terms of where they fell relative to B-P, Boyce's and West's lifetimes.

 

Something which comes to mind is leveraging the development of the older Scouting programs, starting with the British Rovers and working up to today's Venturing.

 

Trust me, the kids will turn off unless finding pre-packaged is their idea. These are older teens, they have a sense of independence.

 

Have you thought of asking the DC to sit down with the Crew leadership, explain his vision, and see if the Crew buys into it?

 

There's lots of info out there. Let your young people go for it. They probably have better multimedia skills than we do!(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

[OldGreyEagle]

I would think a standard presentation of the colors would suffice, after the posting, I would have placed at the seats a copy of the Venturing Oath and Code and the leader of the Ceremony could read the Oath and Code or have the members present recite them as well.

[kahits]

Thanks, very much for your ideas... the crew meets next Wednesday, and they will have to make a decision. We as advisors have ideas of our own, but will let them decide what it is they would like to do.

[kahits]

I have a simple flag ceremony question, that has to do with the conventional flag ceremony that involves the American and unit flags. As you see it from the audience, the two flag bearers walk to the front of the room, with the American flag on the right. When they reach the front, and do the crossing, which flag is closest to the audience? My son's troop always makes sure the American flag is what you see, and the unit flag goes behind it at the crossing. The boys in the crew, who are from another troop, insist, the American flag goes behind, which from the front, would be seen continuously (which was their explaination, when I questioned it...) but not by the audience. Which is correct for a crossing, 2 flag ceremony?

[Stosh]

If 2 flags are used before they get to the stands, both stop, the US flag goes forward and posts, then the other flag. So the US would pass in front of the other flag being obscured from the audience for a second.

 

If 3+ flags are used, the US precedes the other 2+ and would always be "blocked" by the other row of flags once they reach the front of the audience anyway. The US would be posted and then the second row of flags would be posted accordingly.

 

 

[Stosh]

By the way, as far as my vote for a Dinner Flag Ceremony?

 

Full uniform with belt pants, etc, cleaned wrinkle free. white gloves and all due respect and honor possible. Rehearsed if the flag is to be presented in any other way than on the staff already. Walk in step and basically make it look like you aren't doing this for the very first tme.

 

If you do that much, you will do better than most flag presentations I have seen for a while.

[kahits]

I found this note on another scout flag ceremony, that had this specifically to say about the crossing of the colors. I like the idea of posting the colors, seperately, which would eliminate this confusion of which side the US flag is on, when the colors cross. I think the idea of full uniform, with white gloves, with a full flag ceremony will be enough for the district awards (but the crew will need to decide). That note as it was written:

 

Note about the "cross the colors" command: The US Flag is always on it's own RIGHT - so when marching in, it will be the rightmost flag in the line. But, when posted at the front of the room, it still needs to be on its own RIGHT, but now from the perspective of facing the audience from the podium/front. This command is used in the opening ceremony to get the flags from the color guard formation to their appropriate flag stands, and the flag bearers need to cross to the opposite side as they do this. You could alternatively omit this statement, and just have each flag move from the formation to the flag stand as each is called out to be posted individually.

 

http://www.scoutorama.com/ceremony/ceremony_display.cfm?cer_id=11

[Stosh]

I looked at the website of the previous posting and the commands are far too many and mostly contrived.

 

First of all if more than two flags in the ceremony the US flag preceeds the other line of flags. It doesn't have to cross over at any time and can merely go to where it needs to post, having come up the center of the aisle in front of the others.

 

The only commands are "Please rise" and "Post the Color" (No, it is not plural, there is only one flag, that's why we don't have a colors-guard) The members of the audience come to attention as the flag comes within 10' of them as if it were any other parade. There is no command to "Salute". In the out of doors, the military uses the command "Present Arms". There is no "Two", it is "Order Arms".

 

Traditionally, or for whatever reason the scouting organization has gone to great lengths to make up their own set of rules along the way. If they were to adopt the US Flag Code etiquette most people would no longer recognize the flag ceremony of the scouts.

 

Actually, inside a building, the military does not salute the flag as it passes, they only come to attention.

 

As far as I can tell, what is proper for Scouts is just about anything they can get away with and still be considered somewhat respectful.

 

Oh and by the way, the color-guard does not salute. The color-guard does not retrieve the color, they retire them. There is no command for crossing over, etc. etc. etc.

 

Remember the flag is not a civilian item, it is a military one. Up until the 1920's civilians could not fly them. The flag flew only over governmental and military installations. Only with a Congressional Code of Flag Etiquette was the public allowed to display the flag and then only according to the Code. For many years the Scouts supported that Code, but in recent years have pretty much abandoned it for their own set of protocols.