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\nI tried jeans. Just once. I thought, well, as a Commissioner visiting one of the troops I serve, maybe I should look like the Scoutmaster and his assistants, and most of the Scouts. Big mistake. The first comment when I walked into the troop meeting was, \u201cHey, Andy, you\u2019re outa uniform!\u201d This from a guy dressed exactly like me: Scout shirt and jeans. Go figure.<\/p>\n
Honestly, I don\u2019t get it. When I was a Cub Scout, the old blue \u201cbeany\u201d hats with the gold piping were di rigueur and yet we all wore them with aplomb if not swagger. And, as a Boy Scout in khaki, I walked a good mile each way (dads didn\u2019t drive their kids anywhere in those days; they read the evening paper after dinner and told us what time we were expected to be home \u201cor else\u201d) to my troop meetings with nary a thought that, to other guys I passed in that twenty-city-block walk, who were my age but who weren\u2019t Scouts, I may have looked odd. It didn\u2019t matter to me. I thought I looked okay, and that\u2019s all that mattered. And when, during the troop meeting, our Senior Patrol Leader did his usual uniform inspection, I was pretty proud that I\u2014along with a bunch of other guys\u2014had gotten it right\u2026right down to our socks. Later, as a camp staffer, it was the same: We were all in full uniform, always, so that the now-frequently-used term, \u201cfull uniform,\u201d wasn\u2019t even necessary. It was \u201cthe uniform.\u201d That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
All sorts of people\u2014all ages\u2014wear uniforms, even today. Rescue squads, peace officers, clergy, garage mechanics, UPS drivers, airline pilots and flight attendants, even restaurant servers and fast food counter-people all wear uniforms. Full uniforms. No jeans or khakis with just a uniform shirt. Except Scouts.<\/p>\n
Somehow, I think, we\u2019ve forgotten that, when we\u2019re in uniform, our posture changes: We straighten up; we\u2019re sharper; we\u2019re more aware of ourselves; we\u2019re more conscious of what we represent. We\u2019ve forgotten that our behavior changes, too: We\u2019re more respectful of others; we\u2019re more polite to each other; we give and take orders better.<\/p>\n
Not too long ago, I was interviewing a Scout who\u2019d just completed his service project for Eagle. In our conversation, he expressed his disappointment that he\u2019d been able to get only half the materials he\u2019d needed at no or a reduced cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you visit these hardware and paint stores in uniform?\u201d I asked him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah,\u201d he said, \u201cI did. But I still got only half of what I asked for.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you wear,\u201d I pursued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, my shirt, of course,\u201d he told me, but then he mentioned that he\u2019d worn his Scout shirt with jeans and Air Jordan high-tops.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you think, maybe, that may have had an effect?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
He thought for a moment; then I saw a light click on behind his eyes. \u201cI wonder,\u201d he said. \u201cI wonder if they gave me half what I asked for because I looked like half a Scout?\u201d<\/p>\n
Maybe that\u2019s the point.<\/p>\n
Happy Scouting!<\/strong><\/p>\n Andy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Write to askandybsa@yahoo.com. Please include your name and council. (If you\u2019d prefer to be anonymous, if published, let me know and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll do.)<\/strong><\/p>\n [No. 450 \u2013 8\/25\/2015 \u2013 Copyright \u00a9 Andy McCommish 2015]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ________________________________________ I tried jeans. Just once. I thought, well, as a Commissioner visiting one of the troops I serve, maybe I should look like the Scoutmaster and his assistants, and most of the Scouts. Big mistake. The first comment when I walked into the troop meeting was, \u201cHey, Andy, you\u2019re outa uniform!\u201d This from a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-23"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1873"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1877,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1873\/revisions\/1877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}