Re: Wood Badge and Uniforms
Bill Case (billcase@ROMULUS.NCSC.MIL)
Wed, 8 Jan 1997 06:54:42 -0500
Interesting reading all the discussions. Let me add my two cents
worth on this issue. Easy one first - shorts. We advise
our course participants that the standard Wood Badge uniform for
our course is shorts. Participants are told that exceptions
are allowable for medical and religious reasons. Coming down
with a cold or suffering from hypothermia are certaily valid
health reasons.
Patches/badges. In Wood Badge, leadership is expected to be shared
among the patrol members. I'll not go into that aspect further. If you
don't understand, please take the course. Back to my point. If a
patrol contained (among others) two people, one a recent Scouter with
no knots and another who was a long term Scouter who had been a member]of
his Council's Jamboree troop (and thus wearing the Jamboree patch), and
was also wearing perhaps fifteen knots I'd suspect that the first
individual might feel a bit intimidated by the second, regardless of
how deferential the second was to the first. Sharing leadership,
remember? So, to help start everyone off at the same level, all
badges, knots, and so on are removed. Everyone starts off at the same
level. Personally, I have several shirts, one of which I've kept
clean for Wood Badge courses. Shirts aren't really all that expensive,
especially "experienced" ones found at yard sales. Sewing isn't
all that difficult, either. C'mon people - lighten up. Sewing
(re-sewing) insignia and knots back onto a shirt is a tiny price to
pay for all one gains from attending a Wood Badge course.
Oh, by the way, since I'm talking about a Boy Scout Leader
Wood Badge course, we expect Boy Scout uniforms to be worn. That
means a Post Advisor is expected to have a Boy Scout uniform, too.
Bill Case NE-VI-28
THE Capitol District I used to be an Antelope ...
Baltimore Area Council Assistant District Commissioner
billcase@romulus.ncsc.mil
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