Re: Special Council Shoulder Patches
(no name) ((no email))
Mon, 18 Jan 1999 11:01:33 -0600
*sigh* I would have HAD an example of such a patch if my scanner
wasn't acting stupid, Ted!!
Ted Burton <scouter@VALINT.NET> wrote:
>I did mean the older position patch for the currently held
>position. Thus not long ago the background on the position patch
>was green, and before that the trained patch was a mylar bordered
>position patch, not a separate bar under the position patch.
The patches Ted was speaking of, are called "Cornerstone" patches
after the program in which the patches were created for.
I have a webpage on the Insignia site which explains it, but
there's only a graphic of the Scoutmaster patch and NOT one of the
"Cornerstoned" version of the Scoutmaster patch, which I've tried
since Friday to scan without luck. I'm checking the local library
today to see if they have a public scanner, and I'll check with the
Kinkos up the street too (I know they do; will they scan it for
free?)
When the BSA modified it's program in 1972, calling itself
"Scouting/USA" (remember those days?), they also introduced the
current larger circular position patches with the position that the
Scouter holds right on the patch. For Scoutmaster, Cubmaster and
their Assistants, this wasn't much of a change; for all of the
other positions in Scouting, this was a BIG DEAL because up until
then, you had to use a manual to figure out the cryptic seals,
symbols and colors used.
Now, you can look across the room and see that a person is a
District Executive, a Unit Commissioner, a Chaplain, or Scribe. By
READING the lettering appearing with the design.
The BSA also hit on a GREAT idea (poor implementation, SUPER idea!)
as to how to tell the "trained people" from those that "need
training." Those Scouters that participated in an introduction to
Scouting, outdoor skills program, and basic training course
received a green card. This green card must be presented at local
Council offices when you purchased your position emblem; and those
emblems cost more than the "standard ones" because they were fully
embrodered, with Mylar (shiny threads) in silver, gold and bronze
as part of the emblem. The emblems were absolutely beautiful, held
up to repeated washings, and quickly IDed the wearer as a "trained
leader" without a doubt.
When you moved from that position to another, you had to wear the
"standard" patch of the new position until you participated in a
Cornerstone (for the cornerstone of a building, the block on which
all other blocks built upon...great name!) course corresponding to
your NEW position. Then you would get another "green card" (I
still have mine after ALL those years!) which entitled you to
purchase the new emblem through your local Council.
Training course participation SHOT UP; enthusiam from the field was
REALLY HIGH, and at one time, the BSA considered doing the same
"Cornerstone" type course for its increasingly large professional
staff (it was quickly nayed but not before one batch of the
special emblems were made!) and because we were getting a lot more
volunteers, special "commissioner" patches were made also with the
Mylar border (which by then, caught on as "meaning" "I'm trained"!)
Then, a combination of things happened to put the whammy on the
Cornerstone program. The training teams stopped putting their
hearts into it, and gave the materials to new Scouters and said
"here...listen to these tapes, fill in the pages, and let me know
when you're done. I'll sign the card for you."
Field professionals, envious of the volunteer patches and their
"parading around" with them, started their *own* additional
requirements to "get Cornerstone certified" and volunteers balked.
Those "additional requirements" included staying registered in one
position for at least a year (as they and some volunteers found,
that many were "signing up" to become Scoutmasters or Assistant
Scoutmasters JUST FOR THE PATCH and not to "really be
Scoutmaster.")
Council Service Centers stopped demanding to see the "green
certificate" and was selling Cornerstone patches to anyone that had
the other kind of "green certificate." At $2.25 per patch, the
Councils were doing great sales of the patches and frequently ran
out of the more popular ones, the Scoutmaster, Assistant
Scoutmaster, Cubmaster, Assistant Cubmaster and WEBELOS Den Leader
and Assistant WEBELOS Den Leader emblems.
National finally had enough of the complaints from the field, and
abandoned the Cornerstone training in favor of the Bill Hillcourt's
back to Scouting fundamentals (where we got the name "Scouting
Fundamentals") series of courses called ALL OUT FOR SCOUTING!
While the patches would be still available, a new "Trained" strip
(again, my scanner isn't working so the website won't have one
shown!) was made available with a set of REQUIREMENTS and
GUIDELINES as to who would wear it and under what circumstances.
The "Cornerstone" patches are still "official" to wear, but I would
caution anyone wearing the special patch to also have on hand one
of those green cards or at least an understanding of why you're
wearing THIS emblem as opposed to the "official Scoutmaster emblem"
in khakitan and green.
The page is located within the Unofficial Insignia site, at
URL::http://www.mninter.net/~blkeagle/insignia.htm
In particular, the page is located at
URL::http://www.mninter.net/~blkeagle/trained.htm
(If anyone has a pre-scanned Scoutmaster Cornerstone patch and/or a
"Trained" strip, and wouldn't mind sharing the graphics with me,
please let me know privately...it would save me a trip. Thanks!)
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
---- FORWARD in service to youth ----
