FEBRUARY 16, 2021

[ISSUE 667 – 20TH YEAR OF HELPING SCOUTS, SCOUTERS, & PARENTS]

Last week and the week before, I handled some letters about uniforms and flag details. Turns out we have a couple more points to cover, so here we go—

Hi Andy,

A “uniform” might even be uniform. But as it is, there’s actually no uniformity and there’s a wide price range among BSA-branded garments. Look at male youth Scout pants—they range from $20 to $45, and today’s teens know who’s in the cheapest version and who’s wearing the most expensive. Wy different price-points? Simple: “choice drives sales,” and revenue is a primary goal here.
This is why I stopped leading training sessions on “The Uniform—A Scouting Method.” I found that almost nothing I was saying was saying was true. (Tom Linton)

Thanks for pointing this out! So I did some checking at scoutshop.org, and here’s what I found for the Scouts BSA program:

– Boys’ short-sleeve (the most common) shirts— There are SIX different styles or fabrics, ranging from $21 to $45. (To me, who grew up and was an adult volunteer in the era of one Scout—one shirt, this borders on silliness.)

– Girls’ short-sleeve shirt— Just one, for $35. (Why not a $21 shirt, like the least expensive boys’?)

– Boys’ long pants— $35 and $45.

– Girls’ long (actually half-calf-length [no, I don’t mean from Starbucks], popular in the 50’s–60’s, kinda “clam-diggers” style) pants— $45. (Again, seems pricey to me!)

Girls’ shorts— $20. (This makes sense!)

Knee Socks (w/red tops)— $17 (again, top-dollar for a pair o’ socks but, paired with shorts, still the least expensive way to go, compared to pants!)

Of course, the craziest thing is the variety of Scout shirts for males—pretty much throws “uniform-in-appearance” out the window. So yes, your point is very well taken, and I’m not sure why there’s so much variety and such a big price differential in some of these garments. (In my teens and early 20’s, I ran a “Scout Trading Post” inside a large, prestigious men’s and boys’ clothing store in the Northeast. At the time, there were two shirts for Scouts: long- and short-sleeve, and that was that. And there was just one type of pants and one type of shorts. Simple and economical–the object then was to provide a practical, inexpensive uniform…period!)

Today, whether teens today pay attention to different uniform parts and their prices, I’m not so sure. But I still get your point.

Hi Andy,

About flag details and uniforms, I’ve always felt that it’s the American flag and that any ol’ American can honor their flag. While we like to teach good uniforming, “American” is more a value and a state of being. We should teach respect for the flag and what it means, regardless of what we’re wearing. The uniform standard tells Scouts that they don’t qualify to honor their nation’s flag by being part of the ceremony if they aren’t in uniform. (Dave Klein)

I absolutely agree with you about honoring our flag. So does our American “Flag Code”— We salute whether we’re in uniform or not; it’s simply a question of which salute we employ. But we always salute.

As for flag details (which is what Scouts are—they’re not “color guards” because they carry neither saber nor rifle), the concept is “uniform” meaning “alike” in appearance. This is because where there’s a flag detail there’s usually an audience, and this is, in part, a “performance” for that audience. Consequently, a sense of decorum is certainly appropriate. And—importantly—it’s not meant to embarrass anyone, because the ideal is that all youth and adult members of the Scouting unit are dressed the same anyway—thus, they are ALWAYS part of the ceremony, as are their parents and all others in attendance. Thanks so much for writing—and thanks for all you do for Scouting and our youth!
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Hi Andy,

I continue to enjoy your columns, especially the stumpers you address. Here’s one that’s not really a stumper, but bears a look-see—

For the Collections merit badge, are Scout/BSA tchotchke collections permitted? Also, if you’ve been given various pins, patches, and other stuff that sort of becomes a collection all by itself, can you count this, or do you have to do your own collecting? Thanks! (Mitch Erickson, Patriots’ Path Council, NJ)

“Collections” MB is interesting… It doesn’t demand that you acquire your collection while working toward completing this merit badge; in fact, its requirements assume that you’ve already done this part! Instead, this is all about doing much more than just the collecting. It’s about describing its history and how you got started, how to preserve and display it, how to calculate its value, and so on. In fact, what the merit badge is actually doing is “connecting” you more intimately with whatever it is you’ve been collecting and encouraging you to continue. So whether it’s Scouting patches and memorabilia, or snake skins, or dried buffalo chips, you’ll have a much closer relationship with your collection when you’ve completed this merit badge, because you’ll be so much more knowledgeable about it!
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Hi Andy,

In this Covid environment, my son’s troop still goes hiking and occasionally overnight camping on weekends (we don’t have “buddies” in tents anymore, so we usually take just one or two patrols overnight, so as to not have to buy a raft of new tents).

The trailheads are often an hour to two hours’ drive away from our home town because we try to find places that don’t get a ton of hikers or campers—this helps keep our Scouts safe. Usually, a pretty good-sized bunch of parents do the driving (we do our level best to “keep our distance” and keep our face masks on while driving to and from the trailheads), but we’re running low on parents, especially now that gas prices are starting to climb. Plus, a lot of them aren’t really all that interested in camping on the ground and doing “trail-cooking.”

We do reimburse all drivers for gas, from our troop treasury, but this is depleting our reserves pretty fast. Our Scoutmaster suggested that, while we know this is “for the Scouts,” maybe we should have a rule for overnights that the patrols should be Courteous and Kind and “Do A Good Turn” by cooking the meals for the adults who did the driving. After all, he pointed out to our committee, the benefit to having so many drivers is that the boys can get to know our assistant Scoutmasters, troop merit badge counselors, and committee members—plus the parents of their troop friends—better. He thinks this isn’t too much to ask, since these parents are giving up their weekends!

On the surface, it all seems sort of okay, but my Patrol Leader son says his Scouts don’t really want to have to cook and also have to clean up after maybe four to five adults in addition to their patrol of six. I tried to explain the concept of “quid quo pro,” but he didn’t buy it—“We’re Scouts, we’re not a mess crew,” he finally said, and I can’t say I completely disagree. What are your thoughts on what we should advise our Scoutmaster? Thanks. (Lynn Guinne, MC, Florida Panhandle Council)

So I’m taking this to mean that the adult drivers will get free gas, plus free food, free cooking, and no clean-up, all on the backs of their own sons. I’m actually surprised that pitching and packing up the adults’ tents isn’t on the list, too.

Let’s start with how the BSA describes “Associations With Adults.” Here’s what the Scouting.org website says: “Boys learn a great deal by watching how adults conduct themselves. Scout leaders can be positive role models for the members of the troop. In many cases a Scoutmaster who is willing to listen to boys, encourage them, and take a sincere interest in them can make a profound difference in their lives.”

Notice that this is all about the Scoutmaster (and it’s a short step to ASMs as well). It’s not about committee members or “troop only” merit badge counselors. Committee members don’t very much interact with Scouts except at boards of review and perhaps marginally in other ways, but committee members receive no training in youth-specific relations and they’re not intended to be “role models” (that’s the Scoutmaster’s province).

Those two points of the Scout Law are next. “Courteous” means polite. It includes saying thanks; it doesn’t extend to meal prep. “Kind” refers to those in need of help or who are less fortunate than ourselves and is a variation on the Golden Rule; it doesn’t include cooking or cleaning up for adults who should be able to take care of themselves.

The Scout Slogan is indeed “Do A Good Turn Daily,” but that hardly includes “pay back with your own sweat” when you’re supposed to be learning how to become an adult yourself. Distort this into a “quid pro quo”—”I did this for you, so you owe me”—at your peril.

So find another way to do get your drivers. How about two pools: One is a pool of “get ‘em there” drivers and the other is “bring ‘em back.” Yes, it may take two to four hours—one time—to do this, but that may be better than an entire weekend for those who want to keep their golf foursome intact. But so what? These are their own sons, for goodness sakes! And, as for gas, how about a Covid-safe troop fund-raiser if you want to keep reimbursing drivers. The other way is to observe that in 180 minutes (I took the midpoint) out and back you’ll drive about 150-160 miles and at 20 MPG and average gas price at $3 a gallon (I’m figuring premium), the cost is about $23. So ask yourself, are your son and his Scout friends worth less than two burgers at Chili’s?

Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay positive!
Happy Scouting!

Andy

I personally answer every message I receive. There’s no “writing staff”—just me. When writing, please include your name & council. If you’d rather be anonymous—if published—just tell me and I’ll honor that. Although these columns are copyrighted, you have my okay to quote or reproduce any column or part, so long as it’s attributed: “Ask Andy” by Andy McCommish.

[No. 667– 2/23/2021 – Copyright © 2021 Andy McCommish]