Archive for the ‘uniform’ Category


Some people involved with Scouting may collect handbooks. Others may collect coffee mugs. A lot of Scouts and adult leaders collect patches. How many do you know that collect bolo ties?

I have accumulated a couple dozen bolo ties over the years. I could have a lot more in the collection, but I have stuck to bolo ties from events or places that I have attended. That self imposed rule has kept the cost of this collection down a bit.

There are four bolo ties from Philmont Scout Ranch but only one from the Summit high adventure base. I think you can get an idea how many times I have attended each base. I was a little surprised that I only have 5 different bolo ties from Many Point Scout Camp since the troop has been going there for nearly 30 years. I wish I had bought a few more of the Order of the Arrow bolo ties.

Do you collect Scouting related bolo ties? Do the Scout of your troop? How many have you collected over the years?

Boy Scout uniform shirt.

It was time to buy a new Scout uniform. The one I have been using I have probably been wearing for ten years. The sleeves are starting to fray at the edges. Some of the patches are coming loose. The worse problem with the shirt is that it seems to be shrinking. It was fine when I bought it but during the last couple years it just does not fit as well any more. I just don’t understand it.

So I bought a new uniform shirt along with a new batch of patches. I did not want to go through the work of taking the patches off the old shirt. Many of them were applied with Badge Magic and I do not think they would come off easily. I will hang the old shirt at the end of the closet with the other old shirts from the last 38 years that may one day find their way to the Scouting display at our local museum.

Anyway, like I was saying, I bought a new uniform shirt. That was ten months ago. It has been sitting in a bag on my bedroom dresser since I bought it. Along with all the new patches. It appears the patches will not apply themselves to the shirt even if you wait ten months.

A couple weeks ago I decided to do something with the new shirt. I spread it out nicely on the family room table. I sorted through the collection of patches that need to be applied to the shirt. There would be eighteen patches, three of which I still had to order from somewhere. I dug through the closet and pulled out the Badge Magic I had left over from preparing the old uniform. I then cut pieces of Badge Magic and started applying some of the patches to the new uniform. I was using the adhesive strips to place the patches, not as the permanent application method. My goal was to bring the shirt and patches to Judy, a seamstress in town, to sew them onto the shirt. She is very reasonable with her fees.

The shirt laid on the family room table in the basement for a few more days since I forgot to grab it on my way to work. One day I went home for lunch, remembered the shirt, grabbed it on the way out, and brought it to Judy. She said she would call me after she finished sewing the ten patches. Yeah, ten patches. I could not do the left shoulder yet because I was waiting for the 40 year patch. I also needed a 2001 Jamboree patch for over the right pocket. The new Journey to Excellent patches have not arrived.

Within thirty minutes of arriving back at work I received a phone call from Judy to let me know my shirt was ready. As I drove up the next day to pick up the shirt I was wondering how much she was going to charge me for sewing ten patches. The Scout Shop charges $4.00 per patch. I was hoping she would be less than that. She was. The bill was less than $8.00, and she did an excellent job.

Once the final three patches arrive I will place them on the shirt and bring it back to Judy for another round of sewing. The Jamboree patch has arrived but I am still waiting for the other two.

I hope I get another ten years or more from this new uniform. I hope it does not shrink like the last one did.

The Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 began wearing a Troop T-shirt in the 1980s. The Scouts would wear the T-shirts for the summer outdoor troop meetings and some of the monthly activities. The full uniform was worn for winter indoor meetings, courts of honor, and other special events.

I do not remember Melrose Area Cub Scout Pack 68 ever having a T-shirt. Until now that is. About a year ago the pack committee decided the Cub Scouts should have a T-shirt to wear for certain meetings and activities. The parents agreed. The picture above shows the design on the pack’s shirt. The Cub Scouts like them. Even some of the parents wear one.

While the uniform is an important part of the Scouting program, it is not really needed for every event. I am glad the Pack finally has its own T-shirt.

IMG_5900The new troop tee shirts have arrived! After a few months of discussing logo designs, and type and color of shirt, the order of the new shirts has arrived. The troop ordered 80 shirts, all adults sizes from medium to extra large, in case a few adults would like to purchase one. We got a pretty deal on the order and are able to sell the tee shirts for $8 each.

During the planning stage, several ideas were tossed around the committee and the Boy Scouts. The Scouts finally decided they wanted to keep the gray color of the current troop shirt but go back to the logo we used when we first started using tee shirts in the 1980’s, with a couple color modifications. I thought it was interesting that the Scouts wanted a retro design on the new shirts.

The picture above shows the new shirts. The picture below shows the previous shirt, of which only a few are left. You can click on the pictures for a larger photo.

What do you think of our new troop tee shirts?

IMG_5901

I finally did it! On Wednesday, after thirty years of holding the position, and after one month of retiring from that position, I pulled the Scoutmaster patch off the left sleeve of my Boy Scout uniform. I have been wearing that patch since September 1981. I think I have now been traumatized. I pulled it off myself. I should have left someone else do it. It may take months of psychiatric therapy to get over this.

A few years ago I bought a new uniform, so this was actually the third shirt on which I wore that patch. And I should mention that this was not the first Scoutmaster patch that I have worn. The first patch is still on the first uniform shirt. This was the latest uniform, with the latest patch, the one with the current meaning.

That patch did not come off easily. I had decided during my lunch break to bring my uniform to a local lady who does sewing. I stopped at home, grabbed my uniform out of the closet, and grabbed a Troop Committee patch along with a new Journey To Excellence patch. (Our troop earned the silver award this year.)

I had applied the Scoutmaster patch to the sleeve with Badge Magic adhesive. I was in a hurry so I grabbed the edge of the patch and pulled. And pulled again. And yet again. It was being stubborn. It did not want to easily come off. Either the Badge Magic was working well, or the shirt did not want to lose a trusted friend. I slowly, finally removed that round piece of cloth, leaving much of the plastic backing on the sleeve. I didn’t care, much. The new patch would cover up the mess. I grabbed everything and left the house.

I do not think I will be wearing the uniform very often anymore, but is was important for me to change the patches. I have always stressed to the Boy Scouts that they should wear they uniform correctly and proudly. I scoutmaster should set the example. Only one person in the troop should be wearing that patch and that person is no longer me.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have to leave for my appointment with my therapist. He is going to help me remove the scoutmaster patches from the top of my shoes, the car windshield, my neighbor’s nose…

The last few times I attended a trek at Philmont Scout Ranch the crew had tee shirt printed to wear during the adventure. Most of these stated the crew number on the front with a map of the trek on the back. Nothing too special, but a nice souvenir. I still wear a couple of them since I have not wore them out yet. They are quite comfortable.

I recently was cleaning out my email box of old messages when I came across one from a Philmont forum I belonged to that talked about humorous Philmont tee shirt slogans.

One writer wrote of a shirt he saw that read,
“I hiked ’till my heart raced and my muscles burned, And then I hiked some more. Philmont 2006.”

Another shirt stated,
“Another day,
Another dozen miles,
Same socks.
Philmont 2006”

My favorite one had this printed on the back of the shirt:
“IF YOU CAN READ THIS SHIRT, I’VE LOST MY PACK !!

Did your crew have a great saying on its shirt? Leave a comment here and share it with us.

(BTW: The picture is one of the many shirt designs available at ClassB.com.)

One of the reasons I enjoy Twitter is that I can keep in touch with Scout leaders from around the country, and around the world. Sometimes they post links to something that is pretty cool. Like today, for example, David Copeland posted a link to a thread about wearing the Scout uniform. It is a fun video created by a troop in Utah featuring the Boy Scouts singing a rap about wearing the uniform properly. I enjoyed watching the video and thought you may enjoy it also, so here it is.

What do you think about the video?

I was the only guy in my high school (grades 10-12) who was an active Boy Scout. When I was in the tenth grade my scoutmaster told the members of our troop that we should wear our Boy Scout uniforms to school on February 8 for the Boy Scouts of America anniversary. Yeah, right, okay, I’ll get right on that.

I did it. I wore my uniform to school. I was already the smallest guy in school who got picked on regularly by some other guys. I was already the shy quiet dork. Wearing the Boy Scout uniform to school could not make things much worse. Could it?

Well, it did not make things any worse. Almost no one teased me about it. In fact, a few girls even talked to me about the colorful patches on my shirt. All in all, it was not a bad day. I guess no one cared if I wore my uniform, but to tell the truth, even though I was proud to be a Boy Scout, I never wanted to wear my shirt to school again.

Turn the clock forward several years. I was now the scoutmaster of my hometown troop. Scout Anniversary Day was coming up. Should I ask the Boy Scouts to wear their uniforms to school? I thought about it. I brought it up to the troop, but I did not tell them they should wear their uniforms to school. I could not ask them to do something I did not want to do when I was a youth (even though I did do it).

The biggest factor in my decision was not my feelings on the subject but the reaction of the boys. They flat out refused. They did not want their classmates to know they were a Boy Scout. They were having fun in Scouting, but they did not want to advertise they were a Scout. The boys’ attitude surprised me. I could only hope that it would change over the years and that at some point the boys would not be ashamed to tell their peers that they were a Boy Scout.

Many years have come and gone since then, and many boys have joined and moved on. I still do not ask the boys to wear their Scout uniforms to school, even though the boys today seem to be a lot more comfortable about Scouting then the boys were in the early 1980’s. I have even heard about a few boys over the years who wore their troop tee shirt to school.

On a final note, I stated earlier that I never wanted to wear a Scouting uniform to school again. As an adult leader I have wore my uniform to school many times. Wearing it in public is not a big deal anymore.