Neckerchiefs

Many years ago in my home town three troops all met within a couple of
blocks of each other. My troop met at a church on one corner. A block
south was another troop, and a block west was another. Three blocks away
was a wonderful city park with a triangular area bounded by roads. At
least once a month (and usually two or three), we had a giant three-way
game of capture the flag. Each troop's territory was posted on a map.
The whistle blew at 8 p.m. (standard time) and again at 8:25 if no
victory had been claimed. The only way to tell the teams apart was by
troop neckerchief (required to play the game). It always seemed a little
unfair to me that our troop neckerchief was green on red and one
neighbor's was black on red while the third troops was yellow on blue.
I'm not sure who was at the disadvantage but I remember we had a great time.
And, when it was all done, we gathered in the middle for a common closing
ceremony.

I like the uniformity of a common neckerchief for most events, but we were
allowed (encouraged) to wear "collector's neckerchiefs" much of the time--
except when we went to the battle field!! For public ceremonies, parades,
etc. we all wore our unit neckerchief with the overhand knot in the end to
remind us to "Do a Good Turn Daily." I tried to tie one in my son's
BSA issue neckerchief the other day but it was too short!!

jim Sleezer
Roundtable Commissioner, Pawnee Bill District, Will Rogers Council
Stillwater, OKlahoma
JHS8 at OSUVM1.BITNET JHS8 at VM1.UCC.OKSTATE.EDU (Internet)

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