Jump to content

Changes to Official Venturing Uniform?


Recommended Posts

I have heard rumors circulating that national is redesigning the uniform shirt and pants for the official Venturing uniform yet again. After I conducted some Internet research, I was unable to find any information to confirm the rumors. I know by a secondhand source that my local Scout store has stopped restocking the current Venturing shirt. Honestly, a redesign of the uniform would be welcome news to me. The ones the have right now are 1) too oddly stretchy, 2) meant to be worn by someone with a stocky or rectangular build (even the female sizes), and 3) the buttons are impossible to repair, especially since they come off from doing any actual work in them. Also, the pants are impractical when worn as shorts. They might as well be capris when the leggings are zipped out. May I just say that the Boy Scout uniform is definitely doing something right with its new uniforms. If they could just take their shirts and pants (especially the cargo shorts) and sell them in Venturing colors, I would be most pleased. But going back to my original thought, are any of the new uniform rumors true?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Also, the buttons no longer have the fleur-de-lis on them -- a point not lost on the female venturers in our crew, and a show-stopper for them. (They aren't looking for any more reminders that they are a different program from boy scouts.)

 

In May, National announced planned changes to the awards and recognition:

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/venturing/newprogannouncement.aspx

 

It alluded to uniforming becoming more of a method, and allowed for the "field uniform" to undergo revisions, but it did not specify a time line or any specific design changes.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Since uniforms have always been and will continue to be optional in Venturing it really doesn't matter what National does. If the new uniform is horrible few crews will wear it and instead will choose from a myriad of options as our crew has done. The current Venturing shirt is pretty pathetic in both looks and style so almost anything would be an improvement.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Has Any Crew Opted to adopt the Boy Scout Shirt as their "main" shirt?
Based on the area meetings that I've attended, about 1 in 5 crews use the national field shirt as their crew uniform. All of the council, area, and regional officers should wear the national uniform when performing their duties.

 

 

 

No crew is permitted to use the tan Boy Scout Shirt (or any part of the BSA uniform) for their crew uniform,

Link to post
Share on other sites
Has Any Crew Opted to adopt the Boy Scout Shirt as their "main" shirt?
I copied this from ussscouts, but it cites the governing language on this. We see this occasionally here (San Diego), too, but it is rare and usually elicits a comment from the youth:

 

The 'Official' word on Venturing uniforms comes from the Venturing Reference Guide, included with the Venturer/Ranger Handbook (#33494B, 2005 Printing) on pages 78-95 (Venturer half) and Venturing Leader Manual (#34655D, 2003 printing) on pages 328-336. The current version from the Venturer Handbook (pg 93-94) and Venturing Leader Manual (pg 335) says:

 

Uniforms and Insignia (BSA). The BSA green Venturing shirt is available for wear by Venturers and adult leaders. The green Venturing short-sleeve shirt with green shoulder loops will be worn with charcoal gray shorts or long pants as the recommended field uniform for Venturers. Male and female Venturers should not wear the BSA tan shirt with green shoulder loops. Existing insignia placement policies related to BSA uniforms shall apply to the green Venturing shirt. Crews choosing to wear a patch related to their specialty may do so on the right shoulder sleeve. District, division, council, and national adult leaders related to Venturing may wear the green, silver, or gold shoulder loops with the green Venturing shirt. Sea Scouts may choose to wear nautical-style uniforms using Sea Scouting insignia available from the BSA Supply Division. For further information on BSA uniforms and insignia, contact your BSA local council or refer to the Venturer Handbook. A uniform, if any, is the choice of the crew.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Has Any Crew Opted to adopt the Boy Scout Shirt as their "main" shirt?
My read of the task force recommendations suggest that the "if any" phrase would be deleted. I think a lot of adults are bothered by venturers not being recognizable as such.
Link to post
Share on other sites
Male and female Venturers should not wear the BSA tan shirt with green shoulder loops.

 

I don't see where it say..Can Not...What about if they Don't wear the Green Shoulder Loops?

If you're asking if I have venturers take their tan shirts off on the nights our crew meets immediately after a troop meeting ... No, I don't. But, if your asking if a crew can adopt the tan shirt as it's uniform, no it should not. In my training, I was told that crews don't use any part of the Boy Scout or Cub Scout uniform.
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 3 months later...

Changes they are a comin ... and not just to the BSA offered uniform, also the option to not wear it. There has been a great deal of talk about the need to uniformly, pun intended, apply "the methods of scouting" to all scouting programs. This talk has been in the focus groups who are driving the program changes. Although I've not seen a final resolution, I have seen proposals to make the venture uniform required. I would not invest a lot of time of effort into building a unique crew uniform at this stage.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Even if they do adopt a Uniform look, I have a feeling many crews will not buy into it as many are specialized in what they do and that dictates what their uniform needs are. The other thing that needs to be considered is how many will they lose if they try to push it on everyone. We have all seen local troops register with other associations after their last debacle.. Many other groups would welcome us in with open arms right now.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I ran a VC for 15 years and I'm sure none of the participants knew there was an official uniform or any uniform at all.

 

Even if they did buy the uniform, they would never have an opportunity to ever wear it.

 

Stosh

Link to post
Share on other sites
I ran a VC for 15 years and I'm sure none of the participants knew there was an official uniform or any uniform at all.

 

Even if they did buy the uniform, they would never have an opportunity to ever wear it.

 

Stosh

Yep. Most of my crew is clueless. We try to require it if a youth is on the VOA, but even then you're herding cats. Now that we're phoning in cabinet meetings, there is no way of policing uniform compliance. (Unless somebody invents uniforms that are cell-phones which only operate when the wearer has them on properly!)
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
Changes they are a comin ... and not just to the BSA offered uniform, also the option to not wear it. There has been a great deal of talk about the need to uniformly, pun intended, apply "the methods of scouting" to all scouting programs. This talk has been in the focus groups who are driving the program changes. Although I've not seen a final resolution, I have seen proposals to make the venture uniform required. I would not invest a lot of time of effort into building a unique crew uniform at this stage.
That will be a big letdown to the crew, but then again, its national thats after the money for "uniforms" to heck with the youth.
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...