National Honor Patrol

[theysawyoucomin']

Just a quick Roll call.

How many of you have Patrols in your Troop who have earned this small gold star in the past two years.

 

My Troop has no patrol that has earned this device

[orennoah]

1 out of 2.

[Lisabob]

None.

[TheScout]

I have never seen a Patrol get it.

[theysawyoucomin']

Thank you for your responses, I would be curious to know ho many National supply sells each year.

[Aquila]

The problem is the last requirement - HAVE EIGHT MEMBERS IN THE PATROL OR INCREASE PATROL MEMBERSHIPS OVER THE PREVIOUS THREE MONTHS.

 

Most patrols are probably not bigger than 8 boys.

[OldGreyEagle]

Have had numerous patrols ask me about this honor and many have told me they were going to be the first patrol in the troop to earn it, so far the honoe of being the first patrol to earn it has gone unfilled

[FScouter]

We had a patrol go from 4 boys to 5 and earn the award. 8 members is not required. Shuffling boys between patrols does not meet the spirit of the requirement in my opinion.

[Aquila]

My bad. I read that as eight boys increasing in rank, without the OR. My son just took over as patrol leader and is gung-ho to prove his patrol is better than the others (it is ;-).(This message has been edited by Aquila)

[FScouter]

"Have eight members in the patrol or increase patrol membership over the previous three months." -- page 23, Boy Scout Handbook.

[FScouter]

"Help two patrol members advance one rank."

 

The requirements are also listed in the Patrol Leader Handbook.

[Lisabob]

The new SM in my son's troop issued a challenge to all the patrols to try to earn this honor. We'll see...my son (a newly elected PL) is excited about it, though he's a little worried about the 2 members in his patrol whose attendance is sporadic. I'm really happy to see the patrols work toward this though!

[Lisabob]

Question - does anyone know of alternate requirements for this award, other than the ones listed here:

 

http://usscouts.org/awards/HonorPatrol.asp

 

I am asking out of curiosity because the requirements my son was describing to me the other day do not seem to match this. For example, he said that one of the requirements they were given was to have ALL patrol members in full uniform at all patrol meetings for one month (not three). He also said there was nothing in the requirements they were given about camping or patrol outings. I''m asking purely for informational purposes; I don''t plan to get involved (this isn''t my issue, it is his). I just wondered if maybe the troop is using something they made up on their own? Or if there is another variation on this honor patrol award that I''m not aware of? Or I suppose my son could have misunderstood the requirements.

[FScouter]

Suggest to the boy that he take his book to the adult that stated the requirements and ask him to explain why his requirements are different that the requirements in the book.

[Buffalo Skipper]

Nothing to brighten the day like reviving a long dead thread.

 

I have been strongly encouraging our patrols to earn the National Honor Patrol, and they appear to be doing so; but 6 weeks ago, the patrols decided to change names (and I told them that the "new" patrol could only begin the required 3 months once the new name was adopted), so they have 6 more weeks to go before they are eligible.

 

My questions are on the second and third requirements:

2) "Hold two patrol meetings each month."

Does this include meetings at a troop meeting, if this time is designated or should this be a stand alone meeting? Our patrols are holding one stand alone meeting a month (which I think is pretty good, in the greater scheme of things), but they also meet 4x a month at troop meetings, and often conduct enough business at troop campouts that I may consider that a "patrol meeting."

Your thoughts?

 

and

 

3) "Take part in at least one hike, outdoor activity, or other Scouting event."

Does this mean a "patrol level" activity (ie, not a troop hike or campout)? And would the patrol competing at a district camporee qualify for the aforementioned "Scouting event"?

 

Is there a ribbon for this to go on the patrol flag? Seems like the logical place to publicy recognized this. If not it would be neat to have a gold star to sew on the patrol flag. To take that a step further, the uniform recognition is representative of how/when the individual participated in earning this. So if a patrol earns this in 6 weeks (from now, totaling 3 months), and 6 weeks later, they have the Webelos cross overand join, and 6 weeks after that (2nd 3 months) they earn it again, then the "original" members would have two rockers and the newly crossed members would have one. Right?

 

If this were something patrols would work towards and earn, it would be a significant source of pride, wouldn't you think?