drockstur

Wow let me go into detail and see if I can answer some questions.

-First of all Im not looking for support or to cause controversy, Im just curious to see if there is any other troop without class A (defined by me as a typical beige shirt with badges and patches etc.) uniforms.

-I am a senior in high school, soon to be Eagle Scout(waiting for board). I dont know of many other scouts my age. Most have either become an Eagle and have left or they quit several years after joining because of the *scouts is for dorky kids* attitude that a typical teenage guy has. Lets face it, most high school boys would find it socially devastating to be seen at Walmart doing a fundraiser in a scout uniform with a group of 6th-8th graders. But for the few who dont care about popularity, scouts is still there. I dont have a problem with uniforms, and im not going to make fun of someone for wearing one (im in marching band after all). Im just in a troop that chooses not to wear them.

-My troop is comprised of about 14 scouts and many adults (about 15 (not including leaders), however, not all come every week to meetings) that choose to hang around. Many of my friends that have already become Eagle still hang around. There are guys in their 20s 30s, who arent leaders, that still come to meetings almost every week. Sometimes we have more adults than kids go on campouts, just to hang out. We recruit our scouts through friends, family, and the church we meet at, no cub scout feeder troops. Almost all of our kids stick with it all the way through Eagle. Why? I cant say its because we dont wear uniforms, but i think it is a significant factor. At meetings sometimes we work on advancement or we plan campouts. We go on a campout once a month (the smoky mountains are 30 min away) and in the summer we go canoeing a lot on our regular meeting night. I think this is what keeps everyone around in our troop. We all love going camping and doing things outdoors. We also spend a lot of time going over first aid and various boy scout lifeskills and we do a variety of activities such as orienteering, canoeing, hiking, and rifle shooting. By using our week of summer scout camp as our major source of merit badge advancement, someone who starts when they are young has plenty of time to have fun in the troop without constantly having to worry about advancement. Although im not certain, I believe that our troop has been around almost 40 years or longer, with the same policy. We wear the red polos ( I hear people to it as *Class B* although we dont wear anything else like a belt or socks) at scout camp just to dress up for events so were not in our sweaty clothes that we have been wearing all day.

-User johndaigler said- Speaking of assumptions, it sounds like the uniforms are desired for Eagle events and other "photo ops". If that's the case, I would suggest that, THAT decision cheapens the original choice. Either believe that uniforms are worthwhile or believe that they are not.

In my opinion, we buy class as before eagle ceremonies to show the heritage and traditional customs of scouting. Its also a good way to proudly show off in a visual way the accomplishments weve made to our family and friends. We just dont use our time at meetings and campouts dealing with uniforms.

-Although we are smaller than a lot of troops, I know that I have had more fun in scouts than any other activity. I plan to hang around and continue going on campouts for as long as possible.

I am open to anymore questions or comments. Please place them on the forum for all the view.

I am in a troop that chooses to not wear Class A uniforms until their Eagle Boards and Ceremonies. Once a year, we attend scout camp and wear a Class B (red polo shirt with the scout logo on it) to dinner and campfire. We come to troop meetings and campouts in plain clothes. Are there ANY other troops that operate like this?