Adult mini-medals? And related queries.

[Protoclete]

First, let me acknowledge that i am fairly familiar with the basic uniform regulations about adult recognition - usually wear the knot, no more than five medals across (on formal occasions), ideally wear one or the other, etc. (I also acknowledge the healthy tension between two concerns - that on one hand this is about the scouts and adults should not be overly concerned with their own 'bling', and that on the other hand this about the scouts and adults honor the scouts by dressing 'formally' for their formal occasions, including wearing awards earned.)

 

What has always struck me as strange is this... The Training Award and Key are presented as miniature medals, but nothing else is. There was briefly a miniature Eagle medal (http://www.nesa.org/eagletter/2006-F.pdf), but was discontinued since the military did not want it promoted for their uniforms.

 

There are a plethora of medallions suspended by neck ribbons, but wearing more than one of these at a time looks tacky, even if there is no particular regulation about how many can be worn. I understand that the move to more neck-medallions instead of chest medals, especially with regard ot the cub scout training awards, was in part out of concern for women scouters. It still seems excessive.

 

The 'five across the breast pocket' rule also seemed a bit strange. Given the preponderance of neck-medallions, how many people actually have five medals to be worn over the pocket? Especially when, as an adult, most youth awards are no longer worn? But let us say you have the Eagle, a youth religious emblem or two, and the two training awards... it might stretch from seam to armpit for some folks, and looks a bit unkempt with everything a different size.

 

It seems that having miniature versions of medals for wear as an adult scouter would be a solution.

--You can fit five medals the size of the training awards more neatly across the pocket than the full sized youth versions.

--It looks better than having five medallions hanging from your neck.

--Even wearing some things earned as a youth (Eagle, religious emblems) in miniature as an adult would simultaneously keep a (literally) bigger focus on the youth and yet still acknowledge the adult, while keeping everything tidier.

 

Even to have a miniature-medal version of all awards, leaving the neck for the one deemed most important by the scouter, or for the one being awarded at that time, etc.. It's the same principle as the square knots but for formal occasions (COH, etc). Say you have someone who has earned an adult relgiious emblem, a silver critter or two, most cub scout training awards... they look like Mr. T. to wear them all. It seems like it would make sense to have the option for several of these to be worn above the pocket rather than around the neck (the current training award set-up works toward this, certainly, but more could be done overall).

 

I suppose it has been thought of before, probably even thoroughly discussed, but i just have not seen it. I would be interested to know what that discussion and decision was, or anyone's thoughts.

 

[qwazse]

I am not a fan of lots of bling. So take my opinion with that grain of salt ...

 

To me, knots serve the purpose of "mini medals" just fine. That spares the scouter worrying about pins and such when he/she takes that field uniform on a march, and might not have the nicest accommodations to keep things in order. I keep my medals in a box. If I'm at a CoH or awards ceremony, I would only select the medal relevant to the award being given.

 

For truly formal occasions, the dress uniform has a decent lapel that should hold a couple of medals, and neck-ribbons look quite nice. (Again, discretion is the better part of valor in this case. E.g., I would probably hang the Eagle and Leadership award at a Silver Beaver recognition ... God and Country, if I had one, at a religious award recognition, etc ...)

 

So the only place that "mini medals" would make sense to me is for the dress uni ... where someone is frequently before diverse audiences, has little time to think in advance about what medals are commensurate with each event, and it would come in handy to have more than 3 or 4 important awards on display.

[desertrat77]

I can see the advantage to having mini medals available, but I doubt there would be an audience big enough to support the effort to make it happen. Lots of folks don't wear medals, even at formal occasions, and these occasions are usually just once or twice a year.

[LeCastor]

I like the idea of wearing appropriate medals to the individual event. Wear your Silver Beaver around your neck when you go to the Silver Beaver recognition dinner. When you participate in Scout Sunday, wear your religious award medal. If you are super proud of your Scoutmaster's Key, Commissioner's Key, etc wear it to a Court of Honor.

 

For me the knots are the best way to show adult recognition. Medals are for memory boxes or shadow boxes that you hang on your bedroom wall. But that's just, like, my opinion, man.

[SSScout]

I say make your own awards. At the 2005 Jamboree, things got so dreary at the amphitheater, they started throwing out Dixie cups of Ice cream to placate the mob. Some of us started poking holes in the cup covers (those round things) and tying string to them. Presto! A patch to hang from your pocket! The next day I saw several while walking around the grounds.... Mine is in the bag o'Jambostuff in my closet....

[Protoclete]

*Sigh*... i was trying to avoid flippant responses by acknowledging, and moving past, the whole debate about whether adults should even care about recognition/awards/etc, but thanks for the humor. Though, if i wanted to invent my own awards, i'd go for something a bit more bedazzling than a dixie cup. A Perrier bottle perhaps.

 

My first adult scouter role, after college, was in a troop that had been on both sides of the discussion. At one phase, the adults never wore anything other than the knots and required patches.. At another stage, they wore whatever was allowed and in good order, thinking that looking more formal on formal events was encouraging the scouts to do the same. Both attempts to focus on and support the youth, with good rationale on both sides.

 

And for the more reflective replies, thanks, too. So far, nothing really answers the question of *why* a more cluttered look was preferred, officially, with all the neck medallions for adults. Though i see that the cub scouter training awards revisions has reduced that somewhat.

Unless someone, somewhere, is really thinking the knots should suffice even in formal occasions (and by formal, i was thinking COH, not black tie.)

 

I tend to follow lecastor's thinking in practice, but was just curious why a more 'uniform' option was not pursued for the uniform!

 

 

 

 

[qwazse]

... So far' date=' nothing really answers the question of *why* a more cluttered look was preferred, officially, with all the neck medallions for adults. ... Unless someone, somewhere, is really thinking the knots should suffice even in formal occasions (and by formal, i was thinking COH, not black tie.)[/quote']

 

Why? Well, I don't think folks were thinking of the scouters who would earn more than one or two neck medallions! Lots of people everywhere think knots suffice for CoH or any other place the field uniform would be worn. And many folks (the prestigious scouters in my troop for example) keep any knot except those representing their youth awards in a drawer. So, you are talking a very small market who would "buy in" to a pin system ... no matter how much it would tidy things up.

 

Above all, the majority of scouters disdain excessive conformity. Just look at the council patches and lodge flaps. There is absolutely no reason why they all couldn't be simply white block letters on red cloth. Same goes for position patches (maybe with the background color varying according to the program of service). I think it harkens back to those images of native American chiefs. Each would allow himself to be regaled quite differently, but their was no mistaking his significance to the tribe.

[Twocubdad]

We have a guy in the council who wears something on the order of 22 square knots. Even him I don't think I've ever seen wear multiple medals or ribbons.

 

I think d-rat has the right answer. There probably isn't the market to support mini-medals. Our council doesn't even stock the training awards or Scouter's Key medals. I think you would have a better case if there were consistency between the medals and ribbons. But thinking about it, silver beavers, antelope and buffalo and the religious emblems can be awarded to non-BSA members (religious emblems are't even BSA awards), so I suppose that could be the distinction between medals and ribbons.

 

Personally, I think I'd be eligible for five medals, but never wear them together now -- I don't even own the medals for a couple of them. I do make it a point to wear my Eagle to Eagle courts of honor and my God & Country to Scout Sunday. Because our troop wears neckers, I find the Silver Beaver cumbersome and a little too conspicuous so don't like to wear it. But since I was nominated for the SB fairly recently by some of my ASMs and parents, I wear it at a courts of honor mostly to show my appreciation to them.

[mgood777]

When I was District Advancement Chairman, I went to a lot of Eagle Courts of Honor. I bought one of the poly/wool uniforms just for that and didn't put any knots on it. I wore my two medals, Eagle Scout and Scouters Training Award, pinned to the shirt. I'd occasionally break it out for a council annual banquet or something like that. For pretty much everything else, I wore other shirts with knots but no medals.

 

I like the idea of medals sized - uniformly - so that five will fit neatly above the pocket. But I don't have enough to worry about it.

 

Not telling anyone else what to do, but if I had multiple neck medals, I think I'd only wear the one I considered the highest honor, or the one that was relevant to whatever ceremony I was attending. I don't have any, so again, I don't have to worry about it.

Edited April 5, 2015 by mgood777