Re: Yet another uniform question...

Kevin Doyle added to my posting; I stated:
>>There should be at least a one-inch space between the bottom of the CSP
>and the top edge of the position patch (any position patch). When you >get
your trained strip and arrowhead, yes, it will be crowded on a SHORT
>SLEEVED SHIRT, but I have done it with several short-sleeved shirts.
>The Arrowhead Honor Award hangs a little bit below the cuff of the shirt
>but it's there.

And Kevin added this information, which completely went over my bald
spot when I posted the above:

>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Except in this case. The position patch under discussion is the Boy Scout
>Roundtable Staff postion patch. It is no longer a commissioned position
>as Mike pointed out in an earlier post. The Arrowhead Honor can only be
>worn with a Commissioner position patch and shouldn't be worn beneath >(or
with) a Roundtable staff patch.

Great point, and I forgot that Kathie and I had both sent letters to folks at
National about that point a while back when it was announced!!

Someone asked me to (briefly) explain why they made the change and made
Roundtable STAFF members "not commissioned".

No, any adult that holds a registration card is "commissioned". What the
BSA did was to make Councils and Districts more honest in their counting of
members of their Commissioners' Staffs. In the past, anyone that a District
could get to help out was given a patch and registered as a member of the
District Commissioners' Staff. This included Scoutmasters and Assistant
Scoutmasters, Cubmasters and Assistant Cubmasters and Den Leader Coaches and
Den Leaders and Committeemembers and "uncle Joe"
that has been registered for eons as a leader in one unit or another
somewhere in the District and......

.....it became a royal mess!! Everyone was wearing a Commissioner Staff
patch and the Council was counting those folks as "Commissioners". That's
great! That's a great way to get a lot more people involved in the
operational aspect of Scouting above the unit level.

It was giving Scout Executives bald spots and grayer hair, because when they
tell their Region and in turn National that they have 85 Commissioners in a
District and only 31 units; and when only 17 of those units recharter
on-time; and when there's a loss of 15 units from the previous
year....something's wrong. What's all those Commissioners doing?? They're
not doing their jobs....

Yes, they are. They are working with their unit in their primary role. So,
the
BSA realized what was going on and told Councils "okay, so the Roundtable
COMMISSIONER Staff idea wasn't a good one. We're keeping the concept, only
we're removing the Commissioner status so that you can't count those 15 or
22 or 37 people as Commissioners!"

This has made Councils work HARDER toward making up the difference in that
loss of Commissioners (it wasn't a loss; the Commissioners were never there
in that large a number in the past!!) and has made counting the number and
"grading" the level of support to units a lot easier. The ONLY Commissioner
for the Roundtables or Huddles is *the* Cub Scout Roundtable Commissioner,
the Boy Scout Roundtable Commissioner, and the Varsity Huddle Commissioner
(and in Exploring Divisions, a Service Team Member assigned to serve as the
Quarterly Leaders' Exchange "Commissioner").

All other "straphangers" are registered with a unit or with the District
Committee, but serve as Roundtable/Huddle/Exchange STAFF MEMBERS.

Now about that Arrowhead Honor Award:

>(This never made sense to me since it's an earned award and isn't
>"unearned" when one ceases to be a commisioner of some type.

That, Kevin, I agree as well. However, the Commissioner Arrowhead Honor
is one of those things that when you change positions, you have to take it
off, even though you earned it. What I've suggested to former "Commissioner
Staff Members" that have taken the time and earned the
Arrowhead, to wear it as a temporary patch centered on the right pocket of
their uniform or centered on the right pocket of their jac-shirt. That white
arrowhead stands out in both, and does exactly what you've stated here:

>It seems to me that the Arrowhead patch would serve as a "heads-up" to
>others that here's a resource that that knows something about something
>and could be called upon, if not to return to the commissioned ranks, to
>assist in a critical project or two or just give some sage advice.)

Thanks for the add-on and for the comments....I strongly agree with you and
hope that the Arrowhead on the pocket thing takes off and other Districts
and Councils will do the same thing.

Settummanque!

(MAJ) Mike L. Walton (Settummanque, the blackeagle) (
co-Owner, Blackeagle Services of Kentucky (502.826.7046) __)_
174 Chapelwood Drive, Henderson, Kentucky 42420-5036 | ** |]
(H) 502.827.9201 (F) 502.826.7046 (W) 888.284.4848 (yea!) coffee?
anytime!
(Email) blkeagle@midwest.net/kyblkeagle@AOL.COM
(WWW) http://www.vhm.com/~uscardnl/index.htm
"Geoworks & Leaders' Online--because EVERY PC can open doors!!!"

• Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
• Next message
• Previous message