Cub Scout awards on the Boy Scout uniform

[Laurie]

"The Webelos badge on the Boy Scout uniform should be a moot point. If a boy has his Arrow of Light, why doesn't he have his Scout badge by his first or second troop meeting?"

 

Good question. For my son, he didn't receive his Arrow of Light insignia OR Webelos badge of rank until he bridged. Therefore, since he had worked hard and waited so long, I did put both on his uniform after asking about it and noone having a conclusive answer for me. He earned Boy Scout right away, but he was made to wait 6 months for the badge, and by that time he received Tenderfoot too. The delays create a problem when a boy is excited about wearing his rank badges, so though I'm a stickler for rules, I did put my son's Webelos insignia on so he could enjoy it for awhile. A loooong while.

 

[EagleInKY]

Our practice is to give the cloth badges to the Scout the night they earn them. For Scout, that is the night that they tell me they have comleted the Youth Protection requirement. For all other ranks (except Eagle), it's the night of the BOR. We give cards & parent's pins at the COH.

 

The biggest complaint I get is from the moms (who typically do the sewing). They get the AOL around February, the Scout rank around March or April, Tenderfoot around May... By this time they are talking about investing in velcro!

[scoutldr]

"Our practice is to give the cloth badges to the Scout the night they earn them. For Scout, that is the night that they tell me they have comleted the Youth Protection requirement. For all other ranks (except Eagle), it's the night of the BOR. We give cards & parent's pins at the COH. "

Many Councils (mine, for one) will not sell rank badges without a signed advancement report being turned in.  Therefore, "instant recognition" is difficult, if not impossible.  The excuse given is that too many Units were stockpiling badges, and the paperwork never got turned in, resulting in many disappointed would-be Eagles.

 

[Fat Old Guy]

"Our practice is to give the cloth badges to the Scout the night they earn them. For Scout, that is the night that they tell me they have comleted the Youth Protection requirement. For all other ranks (except Eagle), it's the night of the BOR. We give cards & parent's pins at the COH."

 

What about the Scoutmaster Conference? If you are counting all the things that they did for AOL as meeting the requirements for Scout, that isn't right. He can't start working on Scout until he has joined Boy Scouts.

 

 

[fgoodwin]

Bob White wrote:

 

Yes, to the religious knot, "fine why not, no harm" to the recruiter strip, Council strip, American flag, yellow backed service star, World Crest, any temporary patch, no ranks except for Arrow of Light. I think that's all of them.

 

 

RE: service stars: there is one more. This year's (2003-2004) first year Webelos are the last group to earn the Tiger Strip. They are allowed to wear a one year service star with orange backing. That "orange star" can be carried over to the Boy Scout and Adult uniforms.

[Bob White]

I am afraid you are incorrect fgoodwin.

 

The orange background has not represented Tiger Cubs for over 7 years. That's longer than this years Wbelos have been around. Tigers have for some time started their first year with the yellow background of cub scouting.

 

As evidence here is a PDF of the 1997 Cub Uniform inspection sheet. You will notice in the instructions for the left pocket area that even then it specifically said that Tigers use yellow and not orange.

 

http://www.scoutstuff.org/misc/isheets/34282.pdf

 

BW

[Fat Old Guy]

Interesting. Very interesting. I wonder when the Orange Circle officially went away for Tiger Cubs. Our Scout Shop carried them until the program changed in 2001. When I was involved with Cub Scouts, we gave the Tiger Cubs orange circles until Spring of 2001. Oddly the guys at the Scout Shop never mentioned anything when I bought all of those orange circles.

 

Does anyone have a collection of Insignia Guides to check back?

 

 

 

[fgoodwin]

BW said:

 

I am afraid you are incorrect fgoodwin.

 

The orange background has not represented Tiger Cubs for over 7 years. That's longer than this years Wbelos have been around. Tigers have for some time started their first year with the yellow background of cub scouting.

 

As evidence here is a PDF of the 1997 Cub Uniform inspection sheet. You will notice in the instructions for the left pocket area that even then it specifically said that Tigers use yellow and not orange.

 

http://www.scoutstuff.org/misc/isheets/34282.pdf

 

 

You sound pretty sure of yourself, BW. I would make just a few comments:

 

(1) The URL links to an inspection sheet that is listed as a 2001 revision -- the very year they made the change in the Tiger Program. So it is irrelevant to how orange stars were worn prior to 2001.

 

(2) As FOG said, my Scout Shop (NCAC) also sold the orange backing until sometime in the 2000-2001 timeframe; my Pack (468) awarded my son an orange backing at the end of his Tiger Year (June, 2001).

 

(3) My copy of the 2000 supply catalog shows orange backings on page LE5 (item #X00062). I'd be happy to email you a color PDF copy of the page if you'd like.

 

Right or wrong -- those are the facts.

[Bob White]

OOPS, You are correct, I missed the 2001 revision mark. Here is the 2000 printing in cache form from the national site. it says the same thing. So again none of todays cubs should be in the orange backers according to the uniform policies of 2000. The 1999 tigers would already be in Boy Scouts.

 

http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:BiiC8TnobksJ:www.scouters.org/scouters/uniform/cub.pdf+2000+cub+uniform+inspection&hl=en&ie=UTF-8(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[fgoodwin]

RE: "Orange" Tiger service stars:

 

One more thing I'll leave this dead horse alone:

 

Mike Walton has a discussion of this issue on his webpage, and it is consistent with what FOG and I wrote:

 

http://www.mninter.net/~blkeagle/yearpins.htm

 

**NOTE ON TIGER CUB YEAR PINS**: The BSA has informed local Councils that starting with the 2001 program year, Tiger Cub Scouting will be fully integrated into the Cub Scouting program and will no longer be a stand-alone program. As such, some Councils have already started the transition THIS YEAR (2000) to get ahead of the game, so to speak. This presents a slight problem with awarding the year pin for Tiger Cub Scouts. While your Pack is free to award the tenure stars any way they feel (see comments above), here's the RECOMMENDED WAY to accommodate this:

 

If your Council has chosen to WAIT until August 2001 (the actual date of the consolidation of the Tiger Cub program with the Cub Scout program), then you may continue to award the one year service star (plain or with the number 1 in it, as seen below) with the ORANGE backing. Subsequent year pins are with the YELLOW backing as the person will be a Cub Scout and starts with the ONE year pin (so that a Cub Scout starting his second year should wear two one-year pins: one with an ORANGE backing representing his first year as a Tiger Cub Scout and a one year pin with a YELLOW backing representing his first year as a Cub Scout). Subsequent years he will replace the one year pin with the yellow backing with the two, the three and the four year pin.

 

 

[scoutldr]

I have found that Scout Shops (at least those run by the local Councils) will continue to sell stuff until they are gone, whether they are proper, current or otherwise useful. The excuse I have been given is "we paid for that stock, we can't just throw it away." I was able to buy the latest version of the Training Committee Guidebook at a National-run scout shop a full year before it appeared on my local council's shelves. Caveat emptor.

[KoreaScouter]

I don't agree that AOL requirements are not synonymous with Boy Scout joining requirements. In fact, there's virtually 100% overlap, and the AOL requirements seem deliberately designed to seamlessly transition a boy from the Cub to the Boy Scout program.

 

Age: AOL waives the age requirement

Application/health history: AOL and joining requirement

Find a Troop: AOL and joining requirement

Repeat the Pledge: Webelos badge requirement in Citizen activity pin and joining requirement

Sign/Salute/Handclasp: AOL and joining requirement

Oath/Law: AOL and joining requirement

Describe Scout badge: AOL and joining requirement

SM conference: AOL and joining requirement

square knot: joining and AOL requirement

 

The pamphlet exercises are not an AOL requirement, but they are a requirement for the Bobcat badge, which all Cubs must earn before they can earn anything else.

 

When we cross over Webelos Scouts, part of the ceremony is presenting them with their Boy Scout handbooks. In my post-ceremony meeting with the parents, while the SPL is with the new Scouts, I ask them to review the pamphlet again with their sons, even though I know they already have, or they wouldn't be there.

 

This does bring up what may be an interesting point, though. Regarding joining requirements, it's impossible to require a Scout to have joined a Troop before he can begin working on the requirements, because one of the requirements is to find a Troop -- you have to find a Troop before you can join. Therefore, I make no distinction as to when the joining requirements were completed for an AOL Webelos Scout. I get Troop visits in autumn, and crossovers in March. I get some applications months in advance of crossover, and some on crossover day.

 

This year, we crossed over AOL Webelos Scouts on a Wednesday, they went on our advancement report, and were presented with their Scout Badges as an NSP at our COH three days later on Saturday.

 

KS

 

 

[Bob58]

 

KS,

 

You do mean "Boy Scout" application / health history don't you? I've just run into a few troops (with "feeder packs") that have discovered unregistered (new) scouts in the Fall because they "only crossed over" from the pack. Ergo no one (leaders or family) asked for a new application Nyet, the boys changed programs.

[acco40]

A Webelos Scout can get a SM conference from Troop 1 and may join Troop 2. If he has earned his AOL and his Scout Badge (it is NOT a rank) as minimum, he should have participated in at least two SM conferences.

 

One can receive instant recognition without receiving a piece of cloth. "Hey everyone, Johnny just earned his 2nd Class rank!" The next week, he is presented with his cloth badge (recognition #2). The next month, he presented with his cardboard card at teh quarterly COH (recognition #3). It is all in the advancement guide folks.

[Region 7 Voyageur]

I believe that the Honor Medal, Heroism Medal, and the Medal of Merit or the square knot representative of the medal may be worn on the Boy Scout uniform if they were earned (awarded) to a boy as a Cub Scout.