Re: adults wearing the eagle medal
(no name) ((no email))
Mon, 11 Jan 1999 15:04:06 -0600
"W. Scott Smith" <wsbsmith@INTELOS.COM> related his own experiences
with wearing insignia at events.
It's a shame that there's some people out there that don't just
look at someone's shirt first and later on, after they're taken a
look at the Insignia Guide or other publications, find you in
private and ask about what you've got on (or don't).
I get a LOT of these, which in part is why I bring a copy of the
"square knot" part of the Insignia Guide with me whenever I go to a
Council or Regional dinner or event.
I'm thinking of getting the thing laminated! *laughter*
Two short examples:
In 1978, the BSA decided (*yea*) that those new holders of the
Explorer Achievement Award would also wear the same square knot
insignia that previous holders of the Ranger, Silver and Ace Awards
get to wear. I was sent two in the mail from the National Director
of Exploring, along with a letter that thanked me for my efforts.
It wasn't even *two weeks* after I sewed that bugger on my uniform
shirt (the dark green one, the one hanging up in pieces on my wall
now), that I had "well-meaning Scouters" (nice words for them!
*heheheehe*) coming up to me TELLING ME and everyone present that
I'm NOT SUPPOSED TO WEAR THAT...I DON'T HAVE THE SILVER AWARD!
Once they finished their tirade about "people thinking that they
can wear anything they choose and get away with it" yadda yadda
yadda, I finally had my time.
I showed him the card (the earlier holders of the Exploring
Achievement Award also had a card with the award illustrated) and
in small letters on the backside is the following:
"Congraduations on your acheievement in bettering yourself through
the Exploring program! As a symbol of this honor, you may wear the
Lapel pin at any Exploring or personal occasion you choose. On the
official Exploring uniform, a special square knot (#5636) may be
worn. This is the same square knot worn by holders of previous
Exploring awards and may be purchased through your local Council."
It's amazing how facial expressions change very fast. Naturally,
most apologize, saying "how they weren't familiar with Exploring"
and "how the program has changed since they were a kid" and other
lame excuses for practially calling me a liar in my face and in the
prescense of others!
Good thing I've always let things like that go straight over my
head and in one ear and out the other! It's always "It's okay. I
get this a lot. Too bad _Scouting_Magazine_ hasn't told everyone
yet."
(yeah, lay it on the national organization when you can, especially
since National has been trying to promote this thing and that thing
and the other thing for months...we just don't READ the stuff when
its sent to us...or we don't GET the news from our Councils (which
goes down another path! *hehehehehehe*)
Later onward, some other "well-meaning Scouter" decided that I
shouldn't be wearing the old Southeast Region shoulder emblem along
with my gold shoulder loops during a Council recognition dinner.
This guy, seeing me, literally raced from his side of the room to
the area where I was just about ready to enter the "guys' room."
He never bothered to look on the program to see that later that
evening, I would be presenting their Exploring Executive (in my
capacity then as a member of that Region's Exploring Committee) an
award for hosting a very successful Area Exploring Conference. All
this guy saw was an Assistant Scoutmaster's patch (and he had words
to say about the "Cornerstoned version" (fully embrodered; even
though the program's over, the insigna can still be worn by those
completing the training) of the patch), a unit number and a
CSP...and assumed that "I just picked the patch up somewhere and
decided to wear it because I live in the Region."
"Don'tcha know that only those serving on the Region or
professionals get to wear it??", he asked. I had to pull out one
of my calling cards which ID'ed me as part of the Southeast
Region's Exploring Committee before he would shut up and go back to
his part of the room and let me go to the restroom!!
I've been working on a card version of the "essences of the
Insignia policy" but I haven't went very far with it with other
projects going on. Maybe I need to continue to work on this thing;
it would sure resolve a lot of those constant conflicts which, with
a little education and a little attitude and a little understanding
that most that raise such issues do so out of real concern that "we
don't know what we're wearing."
Thanks, Scott, for sharing! I know that its really hard sometimes
not to cop a real attitude and *give them what for*, but this too,
is a part of our "hike down the Scouting trail"!!
Settummanque!
(c) 1998 Mike Walton ("no such thing as strong coffee,...") blkeagle@mninter.net
http://mninter.net/~blkeagle Burnsville, MN 55306-7130 (612) 435-3085
privately at kyblkeagle@aol.com or waltonm@server.kaiserslautern.army.mil
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