Re: Venture Uniform
Brown Michael-EMB021 (Michael_Brown-EMB021@EMAIL.MOT.COM)
Fri, 4 Jun 1999 11:46:51 -0400
>From: The Hammons family <hhammons@LAUSD.K12.CA.US>
>
>To add to the fuel of the Venture uniform discussion, A report from the
>National meeting where a venture Scout was Chosen as MC for the National
>Awards Banquet. Christina Farrell appeared in a Khaki Shirt with Green
>Pants and Scarf and looked quite Natty. She also showed a level of class
>not reached prior to this point by the presentors. She also appeared in
>Civies ( an Evening Dress ) which she jokingly refered to as her
>father's hope to save money on her wedding dress which I think is still
>way off. Her poise and charm showed many of the reasons she was chosen
>for this task. Oh, yes prior experience with public events. She is the
>Reigning Queen of the Tournament of Roses.
Excuse me, but Christina Farrell is NOT a 'Venture Scout'!! There is no
such thing. Ms. Farrell is a Venturer, and a member of a Venturing Crew.
To be honest, according to National rules, Venturers are NOT supposed to
wear the tan shirt with the green loops, but only the forest green shirt (or
whatever the Venturing Crew decides). However, am sure many are not aware of
it, as it is something I recently learned from reading National literature
on Venturing. Under Exploring it was ok to do so.
People need to understand that these are two different programs that
unfortunately have very similiar names. One is the Venture program, the
other is the Venturing program.
The Venture program is an optional in-troop program for boys 13 and older in
a Boy Scout Troop. Members form as a Venture Patrol under the leadership of
a Venture Patrol Leader to do high adventure or sports activities. This
program has been around since 1989. While there is no term for these
scouts, some have used the term 'Venture Scout' which is NOT official. The
wear the regular Boy Scout uniform of the tan shirt with the RED shoulder
loops and the 'Venture' strip above the BSA strip. They work on regular
scout advancement plus the Venture/Varsity Letter and activity pins.
The Venturing program is the new older youth program that REPLACED
Exploring. It is for young adults ages 14 to 21. Units are called
Venturing Crews and members are called Venturers. This program was created
last August from high adventure/sports/youth ministries/and other non-career
awareness Explorer Posts. All the Career Awareness Explorer Posts are now
part of LFL. Sea Explorers are now Sea Scouts and also part of Venturing.
Venturers wear the forest green shirt formerly used by Explorers. They now
have their own advancement program of Bronze/Gold/Silver, and Ranger.
Note to be testy, but these programs have been in place for awhile and
everyone needs to use to correct terminology.
For more info on these programs, check out the NEW Scoutmaster Handbook and
Venturer Leader Handbook.
