Re: Questions from my Troop&Patrol

Jim Sleezer, Branden Morris and a couple others replied to my
longish posting to Anthony Robinson reference the wearing of BOTH
Order of the Arrow AND Merit Badge sash together.

Here's what I stated to Anthony, followed by an extract of
Branden's followup and finally, my own followup:

Anthony asked:

>7. What do you do if you are in the OA and have a honor sash, and
>you have a merit badge sash. How would you wear them. I have seen
>scouts wear their merit badge sash tucked into their belt, is that
>oficially allowed?

First off, you would only wear the two sashes during formal
occasions, and there's not many of them that you would wear BOTH
sashes to. I can only think of perhaps one or two events that you
would wear both to.

If you wear both, the OA sash goes in front of and over the merit
badge sash. Not under the merit badge sash. The OA sash is only
worn as part of performance of Order of the Arrow-related duties:

*escorting reciepients of special awards to a podium or platform
*showing people to their seats during a special Council event or
program

You wouldn't want to wear your merit badge sash while you are
directing traffic, or working outdoors, or while participating in a
active OA activity or event. Likewise, you wouldn't want to wear
your OA sash during a Court of Honor in which you're getting an
award. That's the purpose behind the OA flap that you and I wear;
to show others that you are an Arrowman without wearing the sash.

Why wear the OA sash in front of the merit badge sash? Because the
OA is an honor and the activity you're performing while wearing the
sash is an honor.

Second, when a sash is NOT worn, it is to be put away someplace. I
remember as a kid wearing my merit badge sash on my belt. Not only
does it tend to weaken the sash, it's not neccessary. The same
goes for the OA sash. Again, the recognition comes in the form of
the OA flap that is worn on the shirt (and the OA pin suspended
from the flap in some Councils), not from the sash. Yeah, you can't
see the flap in wearing the merit badge sash, but others will know
if you're an Arrowman.

---------------

Branden and a couple others correctly pointed to the source
documents (which I was aware of an an Arrowman):

>Insignia Guide, page 45:
>"The OA sash is not worn with the merit badge sash."
>
>Order of the Arrow Handbook, page 59:
>"The sash is worn diagonally across the chest. It is not to be
>worn in any other manner."

Which begged the question "If you know that's the deal with the OA
sash, Mike, why didn't you say that?"

Because in REALITY, Branden (and others...and that's what we deal
with many times with regard to questions on this list!), OA
brothers are COMPELLED or even FORCED to wear the OA sash AND their
merit badge sash together. No, my answer is NOT an official answer
but it is one that MAKES GOOD SCOUTER'S SENSE IF one or the other
of those two ISOLATED EVENTS above occurs.

And for a select number of Scouts, IT DOES HAPPEN. For instance,
during the President's Partnership for a Drug-Free America
appearance last week, in which he appeared in front of youth groups
(including Scouts!), four Arrowmen from the Atlanta Area Council
served as "special guest escorts". Did they wear both OA sash and
merit badge sash together?? Yep. Is that a violation of both of
those policies you explained above? Yep. Did anyone chastised
them for doing so?? Probably not, seeing how this was an extreme
ceremony and they wanted to "look their very best" for the cameras
and the press and their parents (and perhaps their girlfriends too,
if truth be known).

If you look back at old photos of the Report to the Nation event at
the White House, you'll find even former National OA Chiefs wearing
both sashes. Again, an extreme "exception to written policy" event.

Another, more frequent occurance when the wearing of both sashes
occur is during local Councils' presentations of the Silver Beaver
and/or Silver Antelope Awards. The Council Scout Executive
frequently calls upon the Lodge to provide escorts, and guess what
happens a lot of times (more than average)?? The escorts, already
in merit badge sash, dons the red and white sash *while escorting*
the honorees to the podium for their award. At other times, the
sashes are off, and are on the table or perhaps they are sitting on
them.

I agree with the both of you, however, when Branden states:

>There is no provision whatsoever for wearing both of the sashes at
>the same time. Simple as that. The Scout should decide which one
>it is appropriate to wear, with the understanding that the OA sash
>is worn at OA-related or OA-specific functions.

But it's a fine grey line, folks, between escorting digitaries as
an OA-specific occasion and "looking your best" with merit badge
sash across the chest. That is what prompted me to answering
Anthony's posting the way I did....I couldn't think of but those
two extremely special events in which both sashes would even be
*considered* for wear!!

Branden went onward to comment that in dealing with questions here,
one should always display the facts, which I agree with him.
However, facts alone doesn't explain to Anthony the reasoning
behind not wearing or wearing both sashes; nor does it explain many
of Scouting's "here today, tomorrow, it's over there" policies and
rules. *Why* are the two sashes NOT worn?? was the underlying
question raised there, and I feel that I've answered it as
throughly as possible. We deal a lot with the AFTERMATH of what we
do as Scouters, Branden and others...a lot of time, there's not a
lot of time to actually think through as I've been able to do
between the time of Anthony's question and my response to the list.

What probably prompted Anthony's question dealing with this issue
is the fact that him or one of his Troop members *got some grief*
from someone else (probably some adult) that told him correctly
"you can't wear those together" with no more explaination than
"because it says so in the OA book".

The source documents are clear, but it doesn't mean a thing if they
are not accessible or read beforehand. Also, in those two extreme
cases, Arrowmen are either not going to question the "authority
figure" be he Council Scout Executive or Lodge Advisor -- or even
Scoutmaster -- for fear that he would be "taken off" this special
and very visible "detail". Remember what I stated about it being an
"honor" in doing this??

We should all follow what the BSA's insignia and program guides
tell us...and I'm a big one for trying to get others to do this, as
you know; but there's a time where the GUIDE is just that: a
baseline for decisionmaking and prudent judgement ("Scouters'
Sense", or what's good for the program and the youth involved).

Officially, what the Insignia Guide and the OA Handbook goes. They
are our baseline documents in this case. But if a situation comes
up whereby one of my Scouts is asked to seat the President and his
or her cabinet members or to escort our former Council Commissioner
to the front of the stage, and he's an Arrowman and we're asked (or
told) to wear our OA sashes as part of the proceedings....

.....I'm going to go with what I recommended to Anthony as an
*extreme* "exception to policy" case.

Thanks to those whom posted me advising me of the current policies
as well as to Branden and Jim both for posting the OFFICIAL
information to all of us!!

Settummanque!


(c) 1998 Mike Walton ("no such thing as strong coffee,...") (502) 827-9201
(settummanque, the blackeagle) http://dynasty.net/users/blkeagle
241 Fairview Dr., Henderson, KY 42420-4339 blkeagle@dynasty.net
privately at kyblkeagle@aol.com or waltonm@hq.21taacom.army.mil
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